one on one discipleship coaching

Probably my favorite part of coaching basketball was practice. Practice is where it all happened. We loved the saying, "Perfect practice makes perfect." So practice was intense. We put players through the ringer when it came to skill, fitness, and their mental toughness. We summed this up as Character. We had a distinct plan for players when it came to drills that we would put players through day after day. We wanted to push them to their limit and then push more. We would run them until they were tired and then run them some more. Then as coaches we would play with their minds by making them think that they had completed a drill successfully and then throw them off by changing the rules or something. We would push and push and push as we knew that those drills decided games that hadn't been played. We wanted our team to be prepared for tough situations in games and have the character to push through and win.

I think that God sees life in the same way. He knows that tough times are going to come and the question is do we have the character it takes to push through? This is why I believe James tell us this:

James 1:2-4 says, "²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

As coaches we are developing the character of those we are coaching. So as a coach I encourage you to push the person you are coaching. Push them beyond where they think that they can go. I can guarantee you that at some point in your coaching relationship you, the person you are coaching, or both of you will go through a significant life trial. It is what you do with that situation that will mark you as a coach and mark that person. Are they prepared? Have you prepared them? The coaching relationships are designed to help develop a person's character so that when they go through a tough time they can persevere and be mature and complete.

Calling

Pursuit of calling is never easy. God did not give us a task and tell us it would be easy. My experience in pursuing the calling of God has taught me that sometimes the road gets long, hard, and tough. But it is because we know our calling is from God that we push through.

Luke 9:23 says, Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

Taking up a cross is a tough thing to do. The significance is huge. But one thing I know is it isn't easy. Never said it would be easy. But we are called to follow Him. If God is calling you somewhere don't shy away from that calling because it is too hard. Don't shy away because you need more schooling or you won't get a full time job or you won't get health benefits. Know your calling and pursue it. Take up your cross to follow Him. You don't want to compromise that or your life will be bleak and lifeless. God WILL take care of you. The calling of God is too important to compromise for some short term worldly gain.

Brett Favre, Colts, and Monday Morning Prayer

Everything is right with the world. Brett Favre threw an unnecessary interception to cost his team a Super Bowl birth. The Colts dominated the miracle Jets like they were supposed to do and I was back at my Monday morning pastor's prayer time. It feels good to be back home and in my normal routine and sports back to normal.

But things won't be the same for me. My task is clear: help people understand the people acrossed the world need our help. They need our resources and things we can give them but more than that they need Jesus. Watch out Jesus is on the move.

Home Stretch

Today we decided on the area for the exact location of the ministry in Siam Square. It will be from Starbucks to MBK to the Train Stop. It is about 10 square blocks. Really cool. Today in the square there were bands set up playing. Really a nice atmosphere to meet and hang out with people. We then took Steve Strong and Jim Sappia out to get some Outback.

We are pumped about what God might do. Tomorrow we meet with the Field Leadership Team to discuss the ministry and hear some possible decisions.


Tomorrow at 11:30 we fly back to Taipei to begin our journey home. We are in Taipei for one day and then fly to LA. We will red eye it back to Detroit then on to EWR for a 8:47am arrival.


Short trip but great and I am ready to see my family. Miss them a lot.

Slumdog Bangkok

Today we saw some of the worst living conditions and how a lot of people live in across the world which makes you appreciate all that we have in America. Even the worst of living conditions in America don't compare to the slums of Bangkok. Things we have they don't: sewage system, trash pickup system, more than one 20x10 foot room, and much much more. We saw kids without pants or shirts. We saw feces everywhere and all we smelled was urine. Parents just put clothes on the children with whatever they had and it wasn't much. This slum will break anyone's heart upon visiting. The children wanted to be with you. They wanted to hang out and check out your technology just like any other child. Many children there probably don't experience much love and just wanted us to hug them. We saw people living in broken down shacks and living in an area that none of us would settle for. We saw trash everywhere, saw slums built on dirty water filled with sewage, children who didn't have a lot of food, and a slum lottery where the most they could win was 40 baht which is equivalent to about 1 dollar. Let me tell you it was bad and we have to do something. To know about this and not do something is just wrong. American's are a culture of being in the know. We know about Haiti and want to do something. We should do something but the people in the slums of Bangkok are living in a condition that many die every month just for where they live. I can tell you most of us would not live one month in those conditions.

I'm sure if they just had proper sewage and drainage more people would live. I'm sure if someone would bring them food they could not be hungry. If someone would clothe them their body could be protected. If someone would love and play with their children they would feel love. If someone would take the time to know them you could see their real need is a Savior and you could share the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus is what these people need. We can share the Gospel in real and tangible ways by meeting basic needs that none of us could comprehend.

It is my hope that through our ministry in Bangkok we can provide the hope of Jesus to the people of Siam Square as well as the people of the slums. It will look different in each location. One Rich and the other poor. One is our normal and one is nothing we have ever experienced nor will we. One has Starbucks at every corner and one lives on Starbucks' trash. There are so many differences but there is one thing in common: the people need Jesus.

It is time to do something.

Now that I know....

.....I have to do something......

To do NOTHING....

.....is to disobey God....

I will be obedient and I will not ignore.

What will you do now that you know?

I know we will do something...

Some images of our experience in the slum Klong Toey, Bangkok's largest...

Swaticup

Hello. Today we had a great day exploring Thailand for the first time. Bangkok is a big city that will wear you down. We hung out with our missionary Jim Sappia for the first half of the day and he gave us a tour of the area we are looking to do ministry, Siam Square. I think it will be a great place to do ministry. We had our first Thai contact Vrandy and found that many Thai in this area know some English. Enough to hold a conversation. The university closest to Siam Square has many of their classes in English. So knowing and being able to use English is a big in to this area of the city we are trying to reach.

I will let some of the images of today speak.

Siam Square where we are looking to do the ministry....lot's of people...

Our first Thai contact Vrandy
Marcos getting a fish foot massage
Yeah. yeah. we ate at Hard Rock Cafe
Us with the Sappia Family and Michelle Olsen

Land of the Thai

We have made it to our destination: Thailand. It is exciting to finally be able to explore the ministry in Bangkok. We have tons of meetings set up with local pastors and ministries. Pray connections go well and God moves in us as we come up with a strategy for ministry here.

One thing I have noticed while being around missionaries is that they have a huge vision for their countries. HUGE! Every missionary I have talked to has had the attitude of let's reach our whole country. How am I going to do it? I think this should translate back to us in Plainsboro. How can we think outside of our city box and have a bigger view of reaching people for Jesus. How can we have a state view and a world view? I am so grateful to be a part of a church that is about reaching the world for Jesus and investing in a ministry like one we are going to. But individually I think many of us miss the point of the mission God gave us. What are you doing to make disciples in the whole world? It starts with praying leads to giving and ends up at going. I believe if you aren't going you are disobeying God's Great Commission found in Matthew 28. "Go into all the world and make disciples..." Where are you going?

Our prayer is that through this ministry in Bangkok the masses find Jesus and many churches are planted in Bangkok as a result. It is so cool to be a pioneer of this new ministry. Please join us in praying over these next four days that we lay appropriate ground work for this pioneering. May God go before us and ordain connections and give us supernatural blessings. May we say God moved in a powerful way.