Tag Archives: Infuse

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3 things I learned from Infuse: Thankfulness

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This is the last of the series of posts I have done talking about the three things that have most affected my life and ministry as a result of being part of Infuse. Those three posts.

1. Three things I learned from Infuse: Introduction
2. Three things I learned from Infuse: Ask good questions
3. Three things I learned from Infuse: Staff Level Volunteers
4. Three things I learned from Infuse: Thankfulness

The greatest thing I have learned from Infuse is the discipline of thankfulness. In life and ministry few things will destroy you like a lack of gratitude. Life is tough. Working in ministry can be thankless. The result is that we are tempted to see only the things that are frustrating and everything we see and do is based on that frustration. A lack of gratefulness taints all we do.

Francis Shaeffer says it better than I ever could:

The beginning of man’s rebellion against God was,  and is the lack of a thankful heart.

Tim Keller says:

Worry is not believing God will get it right Bitterness is thinking God got it wrong.

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3 things I learned from Infuse: Staff Level Volunteers

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One of the traps the enemy uses to marginalize leaders is envy. If I only had a bigger building. If I only had more staff. If I only had a bigger budget. The reality is that no matter how we don’t like to admit it none of us are immune from these thoughts. I know that I have struggled with each of these at different points in ministry. I remember having a conversation with a kids pastor who had less kids than we had and had 3 staff members to help. I left the call with this overwhelming feeling of frustration and discouragement. I remember actually breaking out a calculator adding up how many kids we had and what my staff to kids ratio should be.

It was on an Infuse call I asked Jim Wideman at what point is it reasonable to get help. Our church had grown and our kids ministry nearly tripled in a few months. Jim said I could use some help that having at least an assistant seemed reasonable but help never came like I expected it.

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3 things I learned from Infuse: Ask Good Questions

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One of the greatest things I got out of Infuse was a good ole fashion verbal butt woopen from Bro Jim. I went to a “Spend-a-week” Conference with Bro Jim and I didn’t even say Hi to him. I never asked a question and I never waited to speak to anyone. I always felt I would be bothering him or other speakers at a conference. I have learned that isn’t true at all and honestly it’s changed everything.

CS Lewis says “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”

I decided that I was going to get over myself and grow. Here is where we have add a disclaimer we have to know why we want to grow. If you are talking to Reggie Joiner because you want to impress him. Do you need affirmation Reggie that you can and should only find in Christ or do you want to learn from Reggie because you want to be a more capable servant.

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Resources to help you lead.

One of the things I love about going to conferences is coming home with more than I left with. Last week I was honored to be able to help Jim Wideman lead his Infuse 7 retreat. Infuse is like a conference for 20-30 people with fewer main sessions and way more opportunities to connect. I did a couple of breakouts which I enjoyed but I wanted to share with you some of the new things and resources I came away with that will help me and I hope they help you.

If you have never done Infuse and serve in Kids or Youth ministry you need to. It will transform how you lead.

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Who is Eric Newman?

The Eric Trap blog tour kicked off. There will be many posts, book reviews and give aways in the weeks to come. In fact you will not be able to buy a copy of the book until the end of the month but you will possibly win a copy of The Eric Trap.

Over the past year and a half I have been part of a group of leaders working on writing a leadership book. It’s a great book of leadership lessons learned from the second chair. If you are on staff at a church or are leading others in your organization I really think you will find our new book The Eric Trap helpful. It has been a lot of work but also a privilege to be part of something with a group of people I really respect. Get yourself a copy of The Eric Trap for you and your team.

Here is the 411 on The Eric Trap. 

What is the Eric Trap? – It is a leadership fable that discusses the 5 things every leader has to get right. The Eric Trap is a collaboratively written leadership book by a group of #kidmin leaders from one of Jim Wideman’s infuse leadership group.

Where can I find out more about the blog tour? Over at Kenny Conley’s blog Childrensministryonline.com

What are people saying about it?

Jim Wideman – Announces the start of the Blog tour
Jenny Funderburke – Kicks off the tour with the first review of “The Eric Trap”

Where can I find out more about The Eric Trap? You can visit the Eric Trap website www.theerictrap.com

How can you help get the word out? You can tweet about it. Be sure to include eric’s twitter address @e_newman or #erictrap you can also put a Eric Trap Badge on your blog or website. I have made some below for your convince.

How do I add one to my blog or website? Below each badge is the html code you can use to embed the badge above it on your blog or website.

How to embed in my WordPress Blog

1. Simply copy the html for the size badge you want

2. go to the widget section of your blog

3. Select a text widget

4. Paste the html code you copied into the text widget box

5. You should be good to go.

The Eric Trap Blog Badges

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