I always watch CBS Sunday morning and was surprised to see a story about Life coaches


You may have noticed the picture and saying in the top right hand corner of the blog, "Graduation in December" What many may not know is, I have been pursuing a certification as a Coach for a couple of years now through Coach-U. Coach-U is considered by most one of the premier coach training programs available, with some of the toughest standards. I was introduced to Coaching a few years ago at a management school that I attended in Kansas for a few months. I had lunch with the Coach instructor one day. I found out he was a former Pastor who found coaching a natural fit. My current Coach is also a former Pastor who's coaching mostly Pastors who are working through directional challenges for their congregations as well as themselves.
The Coaching Federation defines coaching as:
Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.

Professional coaches provide an ongoing partnership designed to help clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives. Coaches help people improve their performances and enhance the quality of their lives.

Coaches are trained to listen, to observe and to customize their approach to individual client needs. They seek to elicit solutions and strategies from the client;

I will share more on the subject as we go along. In the mean time here is a link to the story. It focused more on the money and niche side of the profession, but all in all not a bad story.

CBS Link

Opportunities

A longer post than I would normally do, but I read a great story by Beth Moore that I had to share:

April 20, 2005, at the Airport in Knoxville, waiting to board the plane, I had the Bible on my lap and was very intent upon what I was doing. I'd had a marvelous morning with the Lord. I say this because I want to tell you it is a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really working in you. You could end up doing some things you never would have done otherwise. Life in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand reasons not the least of which is your ego.

I tried to keep from staring, but he was such a strange sight. Humped over in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in clothes that obviously fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier. His knees protruded from his trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coat hanger was still in his shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of veins and bones. The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy, gray hair hung well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were long, clean but strangely out of place on an old man.

I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my face. As I tried to imagine what his story might have been, I found myself wondering if I'd just had a Howard Hughes sighting. Then, I remembered that he was dead. So this man in the airport...an impersonator maybe? Was a camera on us somewhere? There I sat; trying to concentrate on the Word to keep from being concerned about a thin slice of humanity served on a wheelchair only a few seats from me. All the while, my heart was growing more and more overwhelmed with a feeling for him. Let's admit it. Curiosity is a heap more comfortable than true concern, and suddenly I was awash with aching emotion for this bizarre-looking old man.

I had walked with God long enough to see the handwriting on the wall. I've learned that when I begin to feel what God feels, something so contrary to my natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to happen. And it may be embarrassing. I immediately began to resist because I could feel God working on my spirit and I started arguing with God in my mind. "Oh, no, God, please, no." I looked up at the ceiling as if I could stare straight through it into heaven and said, "Don't make me witness to this man. Not right here and now. Please. I'll do anything. Put me on the same plane, but don't make me get up here and witness to this man in front of this gawking audience. Please, Lord!" There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His Highness, "Please don't make me witness to this man. Not now. I'll do it on the plane." Then I heard it... "I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to brush his hair."

The words were so clear, my heart leapt into my throat, and my thoughts spun like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his hair? No-brainier. I looked straight back up at the ceiling and said, "God, as I live and breathe, I want you to know I am ready to witness to this man. I'm on this Lord. I'm your girl! You've never seen a woman witness to a man faster in your life. What difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is not redeemed? I am going to witness to this man." Again as clearly as I've ever heard an audible word, God seemed to write this statement across the wall of my mind. "That is not what I said, Beth. I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to go brush his hair." I looked up at God and quipped, "I don't have a hairbrush. It's in my suitcase on the plane. How am I supposed to brush his hair without a hairbrush?" God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to walk toward him as these thoughts came to me from God's word: "I will thoroughly furnish you unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:17)

I stumbled over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself. Even as I retell this story, my pulse quickens and I feel those same butterflies. I knelt down in front of the man and asked as demurely as possible, "Sir, may I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?" He looked back at me and said, "What did you say?" I said, "May I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?" To which he responded in volume ten, "Little lady, if you expect me to hear you, you're going to have to talk louder than that." At this point, I took a deep breath and blurted out, "SIR, MAY I HAVE THE PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?" At which point every eye in the place darted right at me. I was the only thing in the room looking more peculiar than old Mr. Longlocks. Face crimson and forehead breaking out in a sweat, I watched him look up at me with absolute shock on his face, and say, "If you really want to." Are you kidding? Of course I didn't want to. But God didn't seem interested in my personal preference right about then. He pressed on my heart until I could utter the words, "Yes, sir, I would be pleased. But I have one little problem. I don't have a hairbrush." "I have one in my bag, " he responded.

I went around to the back of that wheelchair, and I got on my hands and knees and unzipped the stranger's old carry-on, hardly believing what I was doing. I stood up and started brushing the old man's hair. It was perfectly clean, but it was tangled and matted. I don't do many things well, but must admit I've had notable experience untangling knotted hair mothering two little girls. Like I'd done with either Amanda or Melissa in such a condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of the strands, remembering to take my time not to pull.
A miraculous thing happened to me as I started brushing that old man's hair. Everybody else in the room disappeared. There was no one alive for those moments except that old man and me. I brushed and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle was out of that hair.

I know this sounds so strange, but I've never felt that kind of love for another soul in my entire life. I believe with all my heart, I - for that few minutes - felt a portion of the very love of God. That He had overtaken my heart for a little while like someone renting a room and making Himself at home for a short while. The emotions were so strong and so pure that I knew they had to be God's. His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant's.

I slipped the brush back in the bag and went around the chair to face him. I got back down on my knees, put my hands on his knees and said, "Sir, do you know my Jesus?" He said, "Yes, I do." Well, that figures, I thought.
He explained, "I've known Him since I married my bride. She wouldn't marry me until I got to know the Savior." He said, "You see, the problem is, I haven't seen my bride in months. I've had open-heart surgery, and she's been too ill to come see me. I was sitting here thinking to myself, what a mess I must be for my bride."

Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment when we're completely unaware of the significance. This, on the other hand, was one of those rare encounters when I knew God had intervened in details only He could have known. It was a God moment, and I'll never forget it. Our time came to board, and we were not on the same plane. I was deeply ashamed of how I'd acted earlier and would have been so proud to have accompanied him on that aircraft. I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things to board, the airline hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She said, "That old man's sitting on the plane, sobbing. Why did you do that? What made you do that?" I said, "Do you know Jesus? He can bet he bossiest thing!" And we got to share.

I learned something about God that day. He knows if you're exhausted, you're hungry, you're serving in the wrong place or it is time to move on but you feel too responsible to budge. He knows if you're hurting or feeling rejected. He knows if you're sick or drowning under a wave of temptation. Or He knows if you just need your hair brushed. He sees you as an individual. Tell Him your need!

I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way. . . all because I didn't want people to think I was strange. God didn't send me to that old man. He sent that old man to me.

John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather, to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly shouting, "Wow! What a ride! Thank You, Lord!"

Be Blessed!
Beth Moore

I am back!

Not being slothful in the Blog, our Internet has been down

Another Pastor Starts Blogging

Many of you many know Roger Wetstone. he moved to Alexandria Virginia with his wife Glenda. Pastor Weststone spoke at the NLR Church shortly before he left. Roger, it is always great to hear from you, in what ever form!
Pastor Greg

http://lwcsrpastor.blogspot.com

A little story from my other life


As you have heard by now a coach was killed Sunday night at the Dickey Stevens Baseball field in North Little Rock AR. Initial reports from Fox news was that it took MEMS (the ambulance service) over 10 minutes to respond. The truth is much different, in fact I spent much of Monday debunking rumors.
The truth is that when the first base coach was initially hit the team trainers, and eventually three MEMS Paramedics as well as least two MDs and several nurses came to the field to help with the coach, however no one had notified MEMS dispatch that an ambulance was needed, non one called 911. Finally sometime into the call a Sheriff's Deputy who was on scene called the county dispatch and asked that a MEMS unit be dispatched because a player had been hit. He asked that they meet him in the parking lot where they would be directed to the patient. The MEMS unit was in house at station 8 (across the street)and responded to the call. Total time from call to patient was two minutes and fifty three seconds.

I learned at least 2 lessons.
1. Everyone thought that someone else was taking care of calling. In CPR one of the first things you are taught is, when calling for help designate someone and say, "you go call 911" in the past we may have thought this was funny, after all who would forget to call, right?
2. In the mean time, my crew was booed when they arrived on the field because everyone thought the reason for the delay was the ambulance crew, when the truth was much different. I learned be careful in your judging, sometimes you don't know all the facts.

Convention Update

We are just back from the regional convention in Fort Smith. I must say it was one of the best conventions that I have been a part of in years. There was a sweet spirit of unity and fellowship. There was more hugging than I have seen in a long time. I want to go on record saying that I appreciate our Overseer Bishop Pense and believe that he has God's heart.



One thing that was non traditional was bi-lingual worship. There is a growing Hispanic work in our region. Several of the Pastors and workers were on hand for the convention. Spanish interpretation was available for each session.

Special honor was given to the retired ministers. It was great to have Brother and Sister Wells back in the state. They were honored along with others during today's session. When their names were read a standing ovation was given.

An announcement was made that on the years between the Regional Convention, Celebration Conventions will be held one in Arkansas and one in Oklahoma. This is designed to keep us up to date, and in fellowship.

Today the traditional appointments were made made that will be good for 4 years. I am very glad to report that Debbie and I have been reappointed to the Church at North Little Rock. This is an appointment that we take very seriously. Please pray for us as we seeks God's face for direction.

Tammy Faye Bakker Messner Dies

I am sure that you have heard by now that Tammy Faye has died. I don't know you feelings about the whole PTL thing, but my heart goes out to a family that had to live out their struggles and failures in front of the world. Tammy seemed to do this with her own conviction and sense of style. Maybe we all can learn a little from the whole experience about pride, failure, love and forgiveness.
Tammy, rest in peace.

Channel 7 article

Great Cook Out!

I wanted to thank everyone that was able to attend the cook out Wednesday night. So many thank you's for everything from the ice, burgers and hot dogs (Mona) to the deviled eggs, beans cake etc.... You guys know how to throw a party! Thank you Olivia for sharing your birthday with us. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate this group and enjoy being a part of your fellowship.

No services Sunday

The regional convention starts this Thursday and runs through Sunday. The Pastor's appointments and dedication service will be Sunday, so there will be no service at North Little Rock. I will bring you back some highlights next week.
Pastor Greg

Fear is Conquered by Taking Action

I love some of the Blogs of Pastor Don G Brock. He writes today:

Nothing in life is to be feared.
It is only to be understood.
When you dare to face the things that scare you,
you open the door to freedom and success.

Most of your obstacles would melt away if,
instead of cowering before them
or procrastinating about dealing with them,
you make up your mind to walk boldly through them.

Don't be afraid to take the steps you need to take
to make those positive changes in your life.
To fight your fears, you must act.
Your fears increase when you wait, put off, or postpone.
If you understood your situation enough,
you would never be afraid.

The attainment of your dreams is but a determined action away.
Successful people take action.

Wednesday Night Cook Out!

We will be having a cook out Wednesday night. The church will supply the meat, bring a 'pass around' and join us for a time of fellowship. I want to try out our new hot dog cooker ! (OK I will bring a grill)
Pastor Greg

Those who laugh live longer!

Rick Warren


Did you know that people who laugh live longer? It’s true. Proverbs 14:30 says, “A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life.” (TLB)


Humour is an amazing thing. It’s a tension dissolver. It’s an antidote to anxiety. It’s just like a tranquiliser, but without any troublesome side effects. And it’s free! You don’t even need a prescription.

Laughter is life’s shock absorber. If you want to have less stress in your life, learn to laugh at your circumstances. Somehow, you must find the fun in the frustrating.

Someone once asked President Lincoln how he handled all the stresses of the Civil War. He said, “If it hadn’t been for laughter, I could not have made it.” Many famous comedians grew up in poor neighbourhoods with lots of problems. They coped with their troubles by learning to laugh and making others laugh.

So learn to laugh. If you can laugh at it, you can live with it. And besides, if you learn to laugh at your troubles, you’ll never run out of anything to laugh at! Life is full of funny situations. Will Rogers once said, “I don’t know any jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.” Proverbs 17:22 says, “Being cheerful keeps you healthy.” (GNB) We all need to develop a sense of humour.

Link to article

The Richest Family in Our Church

The Richest Family in Our Church is a story written by an author unknown to me. I love the way she makes the point that being poor or rich is all a matter or perspective.

Link to NLRCHURCH devotion page

High Tech Praying???

So we are retiring for the night, when Debbie says, "you hear that, someone is on the roof" I grab the gun and go to the back of the boat to see a raccoon sitting at our back door looking at us. Only he is not alone, he is on an outing with his five brothers and sisters. (a total of 6!)
We shared this story with all the neighbors and after a meeting on the subject we decided that a live trap was the answer. We would catch the family one by one and 'relocate' them.
Tuesday at 3AM Bailey wakes me up, "Dad I think something is in the trap" We get the flash light and sure enough, a raccoon in the trap, but the interesting thing is one of his brothers or sisters is outside the cage trying to get the cage open, in fact trying to untie the rope that holds the trap to the dock. I choose to go back to sleep.
At 6AM I get up to find the little fellow still in the trap, but more interesting to me is that his brother or sister has not left his side, they are sitting side by side one in the cage, the other free. I run the free sibling away and sit back from a distance to watch. In just moments it comes back and sits by the cage, as if to say, "I am not leaving you behind"
I am not prepared for this kind of decision at 6AM, what to do "relocate" or release the trapped animal. About this time my neighbor comes out of his boat and ask, "what do we have"? I relate what I have observed. He ask what are you going to do? I said, I know this sounds weak, and is not helping our problem, but...I am thinking of letting him go. My neighbor give me a knowing smile. As I release him from the trap, my neighbor says, "I didn't see a thing"

Building Ships

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the sea."

-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

7/7/07 Weddings Day

I am sure you have read the stories by now about the number of weddings held today. ABC New reports:

From tying the knot or hitting the slots, on 7/7/07, a lot of people are hoping to get lucky.

And if Pythagoras were still around, he probably would be too. The mathematician decreed the number seven lucky in ancient Greece, cementing in Western culture a belief that also reigns in Asia and the Middle East.


Wedding-planning Web site TheKnot.com has had 38,000 couples register 7/7/07 as their wedding date -- more than triple the number of couples getting married on any other day of the year.

"That concentration will make it the single largest wedding day in American history," said Carley Roney, founder and editor of TheKnot.com.

I too found myself in the middle of the wedding day marathon. I had three request to do ceremonies, but choose to accept only one. Stewart and Sarah Uzzell tied the note at the historic "Old Mill" in North Little Rock. The 7AM slot was taken so we settled for the 8AM slot. Congratulations Mr and Mrs Uzzell!

"Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting."

-Elizabeth Bibesco

"All other days have either disappeared into darkness and oblivion or not yet emerged from it. Today is the only day there is."

-Frederick Buechner

I send greetings to Americans everywhere celebrating Independence Day.

Two hundred thirty-one years ago, 56 brave men signed their names to a bold creed of freedom that set the course of our Nation and changed the history of the world. On this anniversary, we remember the great courage and conviction of our Founders, and we celebrate the enduring principles of our Declaration of Independence.

Through selfless sacrifice and unrelenting determination, the patriots of the American Revolution ensured that our Nation's claim to liberty and equality would not be dismissed or forgotten. The ideals they fought for and the country they helped establish are lasting symbols of hope to the entire world.

Our commitment to America's founding truths remains steadfast. We believe that freedom is a blessing from the Almighty and the birthright of every man and woman. As our Nation faces new challenges, we are answering history's call with confidence that our legacy of freedom will always prevail. On Independence Day, we express our gratitude to the generations of courageous Americans who have defended us and those who continue to serve in our country's hour of need, and we celebrate the liberty that makes America a light to the nations.

Laura and I wish you a Happy Fourth of July. May God bless you, and may He bless our wonderful country.

GEORGE W. BUSH

No Service Wednesday

I wish everyone a Happy Fourth of July. Because of the many celebrations going on there will be no Wednesday night services. Enjoy your family time, I will see you Sunday.
Pastor Greg

Admiring others

Whatever you find in others, becomes a part of you. When you criticize and find fault in someone, it only serves to bring you down. How could you possibly profit from embracing and expanding the negative?

When you admire someone, you share in their accomplishment. The things you admire in others will grow strong within yourself. The respect you give to others will bring more respect to you. The love in your life will grow to the extent that you give it away.

Your thoughts determine the quality of your life, so why would you want to focus them on the shortcomings of others? Instead, look for ways to admire and respect the very best in the people around you. That will bring out the best in you.

By Don G Brock