Minutes by Minute

Jamaica is famous for Sandy beaches. That meant an entirely different thing for the island when hurricane Sandy barreled through on the eastern side of the island during the middle of last week. Unfortunately, one elderly man lost his life in the storm. I have not heard of other fatalities in Jamaica tied to Hurricane Sandy. However, the damage reported in three parishes (St. Mary, Portland, and St. Thomas) is extensive.  I have talked with a pastor who lives in St. Andrew, north of Kingston. Even there the damage is very bad. Many residents in that area rely on public transportation to take them on a 45 minute ride down into the city for work. Since Wednesday last week they've been stranded without power or running water. The road is blocked to the city still and they don't expect power to return for at least another week. This pastor shared with me that his church buildings are safe and undamaged, but that many of his church members lost roofs in the storm. The loss of ro...

I'm an ideas guy. I love new ideas and I love improving ways of doing things. The idea of making something simpler, creating a new product or service, or improving on a process excites me. I'm also a fan of cool TV shows. One of my favorite shows from the past few years is called Shark Tank. It's on ABC on Friday nights and is followed by one of my other favorite shows called What Would You Do? The concept of Shark Tank is simple. A panel of wealthy investors welcome entrepreneurs who present their product or service to the sharks. The sharks listen to the presentations, drill the entrepreneurs with questions and attempt to poke holes through their concepts while analyzing the prospect of a successful investment in their companies. Inventors and small business owners come to the sharks with ideas ranging from bakeries to workout videos, from new pickup truck bed products to concierge services. The idea is awesome, educational, and exciting to watch. One lesson I tak...

Currently I'm sitting in a Caribou in Spring Lake Park, MN, not far from my home in Blaine, MN. Actually, I'm about a mile from where our old PPM office used to be and my car is in the same parking lot where our old office used to be. That's because I got to know a guy a few doors down when our office was located there who was doing some small business car sales and repairs. Turns out he persevered and continued his hard work and he now has like 5 or 6 other employees and a booming business of used car sales and a mechanic shop in the same lot where our old office is. I've stayed in touch with him and he's my go-to guy when it comes to car trouble or car buying!  My 2001 Buick Regal is in the shop. It's getting a bit old. I got it in 2007 after my 1995 Oldsmobile 88 died while I was on a trip to Minnesota during college. I've driven my Buick for five years now. My goal is seven years, meaning I need to keep it going until 2014. I drove my previous car for ...

Last weekend in church I taught in our Sunday school class on the parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10. It is fascinating that Luke, being a physician, shares this powerful story of how a Samaritan (who wouldn't typically associate with a Jew- See John 4:9) had compassion on the man who was beaten and taken advantage of by the robbers on his journey from Jerusalem. There are a number of really profound things we find in this story. I want to focus on just one though. Maybe the most important message of this account is the concept of the diffusion of responsibility. The Priest & Levite diffused the responsibility of helping this half dead Jew. Their perspective likely was that they had other, more important things to take care of and that someone else was sure to help this man. This is a very real thing in our world today. When we see or experience others in need, we're quick to diffuse the responsibility and assume others will help, rather than stepping up to be a ca...

I've been blessed with the opportunity to attend graduate school during my last year and a half of serving with Praying Pelican Missions. One of the things I love about my job is the flexibility I have to be involved in extra-curriculars and the leadership philosophy of our organization. I'm studying through Liberty University seeking my masters in management & leadership- concepts I've been able to apply directly to my areas of leadership at PPM. In my current class, nonprofit management, I'm studying leadership theories of CEOs, function of boards, etc. One thing that stood out to me as I studied last night was a section on transactional leadership vs. transformational leadership. Sadly, I believe that even in the nonprofit sector, many organizations are stuck in the transactional leadership phase. Transactional leadership is the idea of a leader or manager rewarding or punishing employees for their behaviors- an exchange or transaction system of cause and effect...

My past twenty four hours started fairly regularly. After work on Thursday I stopped home and met up with Em as she was getting home from work around the same time. We grabbed Chiquita and some food and headed to our friend's home- the Blossers. We enjoyed some quality time with them and grilled some brats while watching the Green Bay Packer's first preseason game. All is good. Until about 10pm. That's when Emily's mom called and said she received a notification that Susan, my sister-in-law, was able to check in for her flight to Jamaica. Susan is a part of the Edinbrook team coming down to Jamaica tomorrow (August 11th). She joined the team late and I helped get things arranged by finding and booking her flight so she could join the team and travel with the rest of them on Saturday. What I didn't realize (at least until Bonnie called me at 10pm Thursday) was that I accidentally booked Susan's flight for FRIDAY instead of Saturday! Well, Susan can't travel...

For those interested in what I'm doing in Jamaica- I'd love to give you a little update. Last week I served in the Old Harbour area of the parish of St. Catherine. I had three different teams from different churches- they were all fantastic. Our teams served in three different communities including Bannister, Hartlands, and Old Harbour Bay. The ministry activities including interactions with children through Bible curriculum, sports, crafts, etc. Our teams also engaged in physical work- constructing a chicken coop in Old Harbour Bay for a church member, building a sidewalk in Hartlands to help with the flooding situation, and doing some painting and helping construct porches on the church building in Bannister. God surely was at work through the week. One of our teams connected strongly with some young adult men in Old Harbour Bay through basketball ministry- playing games of basketball on a nightly basis which opened the door for relationships to be developed and seeds of th...