Recent Reads | Mid-Late 2011
Here are a few of my ‘non-review’ reads over the past few months:
The Boy The Kite and The Wind | Al Andrews
I blogged about this book earlier this year anticipating it’s release. It was cool to finally get my copy and have a chance to give it a read. The story is moving and the illustrations are excellent. I’m really hoping that this book finds a wide audience because the proceeds are going to help those most needy in our world. Find out more about the book and order a copy here.
Start Your Own Coaching Business | Monroe Mann
I found this book to be insightful and interesting. Motivational Coaching and Speaking are difficult career paths to break into, but Mann gives some helpful direction to the entrepreneur willing to make that leap. I enjoyed his distinctions between coaching and consulting. There were also some easy-to-understand business accounting methods introduced that could be quite helpful to the first-time small-business owner. Overall he does a good job of covering a lot of ground in a short amount of time. Not a bad read if this is a subject you’re into. Check it out on Amazon.com.
How To Start A Home-Based Consulting Business | Bert Holtje
This book is dually geared towards someone looking to break into the consulting industry and the person utilizing a home-based office for the first time. I appreciated the authors insights on consulting as a career choice. There are many factors to consider. Especially useful was the emphasis placed on writing a business plan. Many books talk about the need to write a solid business plan without giving direction as to how to write said plan, but that was covered in detail within this book. Check it out on Amazon.com.
Start Your Own Consulting Business | Eileen Figure Sandlin
I love the practical way Entrepreneur Magazine presents information. Consulting and Coaching are burgeoning industries in the current economy and they have done a good job of exploring what it takes to start a consulting business. While a great deal of the information is pretty basic for anyone who’s been in business for themselves, I can definitely see how a lot of this could help someone just venturing out on their own. There were some great ‘nuggets’ that I was able to pull from this book.Check it out on Amazon.com.
World Vision Gift Catalog
“We have a lot more stuff than we need.”
“We don’t need more trinkets for our shelfs.”
“We seem to accumulate things and just store them.”
“We want the gifts we give and receive to have meaning.”
These are the realizations that changed how we do Christmas.
Several years ago we stopped buying ‘stuff’ for people at Christmas…and we stopped asking for ‘stuff’. We started doing our Christmas shopping through the World Vision Gift Catalog…and if someone wanted to shop for us, we asked them to do the same.
We decided we wanted our gift giving to matter…to have purpose…to bring hope and joy to our world. Now, I’m not saying we don’t buy gifts for our kids and lean into the magic of Christmas…I love the wonder of Christmas that happens with my kids…but we also wanted to teach our kids that we believe there’s more to the Christmas season than just hustle & bustle and consumerism and want…we get to do more than that.
The World Vision Gift Catalog lets us give a gift in someone’s name that brings life-changing possibilities to those needing it most. We can buy a goat or a chicken to help a family feed and provide for themselves. We can help orphans go to school or pitch-in to help dig a clean water well. There are a lot of creative ways to give and each one makes a powerful impact on someone’s life.
I love it!
Mission Community Church | December 18th, 2011
This weekend I had the privilege of leading at another church plant here in the North San Diego County region. The Mission Community Church has been meeting weekly for about 3 months now and they already have about 150 people attending each week. Not sure how much you know about church planting…but that’s AMAZING!
They meet in an elementary school and the team really works hard to get everything set up quickly for the service. The band did a great job in working out the songs with me and helping to create a worship driven experience. With Christmas a week away, it was a lot of fun to throw a couple traditional-ish Christmas tunes in the set.
I didn’t have time in the service to do my usual presentation about World Vision, but was still able to mention briefly the needs of kids in Africa because of HIV/AIDS. It was great to see 2 kids sponsored this week…an awesome Christmas present for those children.
This was the set I led:
Joy To The World | Andy Allen arrangement
How Great Is Our God | Chris Tomlin
O Come All Ye Faithful | Andy Allen arrangement
Our God | Chris Tomlin
Forever Reign | One Sonic Society
This was the final service for me in 2011. I’m very excited about spending the next couple weeks hangin’ with my fam. I L.O.V.E. Christmas!!!
What are you doing for Christmas this year?
Leave a comment below…
A Christmas Card From Thailand
The season’s first Christmas card arrived in our mailbox.
It was from our sponsored Daughter in Thailand.
Her name is Pornjaratsri and she is 17 years old.
She wrote a sweet note in her best English…
Dear Sponsor,
Wishing you peace, love and fun in Christmas and New Year.
So…definitely a good reminder that I have just enough time to send Christmas cards and letters to all our sponsored children. You can too.
If you sponsor a child with World Vision you can send a card or small 6×9 envelope with gifts via air mail to your child. You can also send an email now to your sponsored child in most countries.
When you write, it tells them they are loved and valued.
They don’t always feel that way.
Christmas is a great time to give a little hope.
A quick card or letter really does make a huge impact.
Check out the picture to the right and see the journey your letter takes…
To send an email to your sponsored child, you can CLICK HERE.
If you’re not sure what address to mail a card to, call World Vision at (888) 511-6548 and they’ll help you out.
Don’t sponsor a child yet? You can start today by visiting www.worldvision.org.
[HOPE FOR THE HOLIDAYS | I believe that goodwill and love actually trump consumerism and materialism in the hearts of most people this time of year. Several years ago, my family and I began a tradition in our home of giving away the money that we used to spend every Christmas on gifts. We began investing in gifts that bring hope to the widow and the orphan instead of gifts that would sit on a shelf or hang in a closet. The results have been huge...both for us and the beautiful people who live in places of great need. Our hearts have been moved to give more than gifts...but to give hope for the holidays.]
