This is Irritating

Are you interested in knowing what is bugging me lately? I thought you might. Several things come to mind rather quickly. I caution you though. It could get ugly. Not for you but for me. It seems that anytime I post I get in some kind of trouble. Today will not be any different.
First thing that is bothering me is communal suicide/victimization/apathy. Face it we have a lot of issues in our county that is killing us. Drug use, health issues, child abuse, family breakdown...I could go on. We face huge obstacles daily. It appears as though that we have resigned ourselves to failure. It's as if we cannot solve everything or this one thing we cannot do anything. Really? The war on drugs appears to be lost so we cannot address the issue of obesity or child abuse? It feels like a new study comes out every week saying we are number one is something bad. We're number one in obesity, number one in diabetes, number one in drug overdoses, number one in... Yet where is the outrage? Who is standing up demanding change? What brave soul is willing to take the hits for proclaiming the truth? Who will say "we are hurting and our ranking is not good, the reality is what it is but we can change that reality today and going forward. Long before we had a followership problem we had a leadership problem. Leaders need to say "enough is enough" and start leading. Lead by example. We have an obesity problem. What would solve that? Diet and exercise (yes, there are some who have medical issues beyond this but the rest of us cannot use that as an excuse to apathetic and obese.) As a leader, I have the power to influence those who are around me. I do that be leading the way. The people who follow my lead will become leaders in this as well. Eventually, we will not be number one in obesity. Some day we will be number one in fitness! It starts today and it starts with leadership.
Second thing that is bothering me is board work. It seems to me that boards do not work because either the board member says nothing or the CEO makes sure that the board is neutered. The deal seems to be, recruit people who are nice and have a rubber stamp. Honestly, I want to be nice but I do not have a rubber stamp. I want to make a difference and a rubber stamp does nothing to improve the organization. Funny thing is I tell people that and they say great we need a guy like you, until the 2nd board meeting. You realize that they do not want input, they want status quo. Improvement requires change and change is painful. Besides, most agency directors are ego driven, it's what got them there. Who are you to tell them anything? By the way, don't you dare mention the elephant in the room.
There's an elephant in the room. No, there is a herd of elephants in the room. What? No, we can't talk about that! It's personal, it's taboo, it's status quo endangering... Call me crazy but does character matter? Depending on your personal candidate it does or it doesn't, but maybe character does matter. Preachers who fool around on their wives, lie, cheap and steal should be run out of town. Most people would agree with that. Politicians who make laws should obey them. Those who fight big tobacco should not smoke. Those who teach nutrition and fitness should be fit. I am not talking perfection but I am talking progression. Practice what you preach? I think that's fair. It certainly should be talked about especially in a board meeting.
There is a saying that says, "do what you love and you never have to work a day in your life." We have too many people doing work and not enough people pursuing their passion. Is it your passion that people are fit? If not, then don't be a fitness guru. Is your passion to see people cured of a disease? If not, don't work in the medical profession. Is it your passion to see lives transformed by the gospel? If not, get out of the way of those who are passionate about the spreading of the Kingdom. Community builders, Kingdom builders, health care people, local office holders need to passionate about the people they serve not how they can climb the corporate or political ladder. You got data and statistics? Fine but tell me how many beggars found bread because of what you do.
Lastly, though not the last of my pet peeves, excuses. Is it just me or does everybody seem to answer concerns, critiques or complaints the same way? "Yeah but..." Or even worse the answer is "true you are right and yes I should but I won't." Hang on for a second before killing the messenger. I have spent most of my adult life with the knowledge of what I should do or need to do and not doing it. Today I have a choice. Do I continue with my knowledge and not be obedient to the call of change or do I change. I could have failed a thousand times before but today I have the opportunity to succeed. With the gun up to my head, what's it going to be? Sadly, its not just friends who are concerned about our change. God Himself, through His Spirit, has us under conviction and we treat Him the same way we treat our friends, co-workers and people who have authority over us, none of your business, God. Sorry, Lord, we can't talk about that.

Of course, it's hard to see God or people in a room with all of these elephants.

There is an old saying that says,"times are a-changing." That is so true especially right now. We were taught to pray for God's will be done which requires more than the spoken word. It requires discernment, faith  and obedience. We need to "know" what God is doing and what He is saying. That in itself is no easy feat. With all the noise in our lives including our own voice its difficult to really hear God at times. Once we think we know then we have to belief Him. Admit it or not we don't always understand what He is saying or Why is He doing what He is doing. We sometimes think we are the final judge not God. Knowing what God has said and seeing what He is doing is not enough. We must be obedient and willing to serve at His pleasure not our own. Know, trust, do sounds easy but how often do we fail. There are times that we convince ourselves that we don't know for sure so we do nothing waiting for God to burn a bush for us. In my life God has burned whole forest down while I wait for a sign.
For several years now I have felt God moving us away from short term youth group mission trips. Not completely, maybe but certainly not to the degree we once did. Recently, God hit me with my own preaching. Bloom where you are planted! I have preached that with groups every summer for the past 14 years. How does that apply to us? We were called to make a difference in McDowell County, WV. We work in the community all year long until the summer hits. In the summer we spend all our time and strength on managing the work teams. They do good work and its much needed but it takes us away from the community for 3 months. Come September we start all over again in a community that feels we abandoned them. So change is here.
This summer we are partnering with ASP to host work teams at our facility in Welch. This gives us the best of both worlds. The work continues and our staff is freed up to continue the ministry in our community. We will still host some teams but it will about a fourth of what we did in the past. We believe this is what God is doing and we believe we are being obedient to what He has said.
Times are a-changing, praise God!

The Direction of the Mission!

You would think that if anybody knew the direction of the organization it would be its leader. If you were wondering what the direction of an organization then logically you would ask its leader. Yet, I come across people who hear about the 'direction of the mission" from a former disgruntled forced to resigned employee who has not been around the mission for about a year and totally disengaged for two years and they take her word on it. I find that interesting because if you had asked me 6 months ago I would have told you that I know God is moving in our area but I am not sure what that means for the mission at the moment. Today I feel real good what that means and the direction that we are going. With our new programs and with new staff, the future is bright.
A new friend recently told me that he heard some stuff from a former staff person but knew there was 2 sides to the story. I am thankful that he was able to discern the truth. Bottom line is Satan is busy spreading lies about the work of God and it would be a benefit to seek the truth and rebuke the liar and the one who sent him or her.

February? Really?

I am not complaining mind you but it sure is weird to have great weather in February. Up in till last week it has been a tough winter. Lots of snow and record cold temperatures had become the norm. I can get used to this. Of course weather like this in February can give you a false sense of spring. Cold and snow can come back but until then let's enjoy the weather.

It's been somewhat quiet at the mission lately. We normally have a lot more going on. We are still busy but not like normal. This has helped us think more about this summer. For the first time in years I (Jay, Executive Director) plan to be more involved in the daily activities of the summer program. From managing summer staff to leading worship I plan to be very involved. I sense we need to refocus our work in the summer towards more spiritual things. We need to be focused on Jesus not ourselves or the good work that is done. For the first time in our history we will start our week and end our week in worship. Instead of rushing off on Monday mornings to work sites we will gather for worship. We hope by starting off our week this way we will be focused on Jesus all week long. We end our week on Thursday night just like we started, in worship.

Jay Wilson

Snowing, so let's go to Bluefield.

That's a crazy idea. Traveling from Welch to Bluefield during the summer takes an hour. Going in the winner when the temperature is dropping to the low 20's and blowing snow is absolute suicide. Both Krynock families and the Wilson family decided we all needed to get out for some shopping and dinner. We went to Tractor Suppy, Sam's Club, Lowe's and Staples. We finished off the evening with Bellicino's Pizza. It's the best pizza in the area as far as we are concerned. The meal was good but the company was better. We laughed and talked for over an hour and a half. For some reason we were the only ones there! We had a great time. This is one of the blessing of ministering together. Sure, we had a long drive home and a few white knuckle moments but it was worth the drive.

When was the last time you went out with friends and just enjoyed the moment? No rush, no expectation. Just hung out. What a blessing!

Cynical

Have you ever found yourself fighting against becoming cynical? Recently, I am finding it harder to win the battle. Let me give you the list that I have or am dealing with.

1. A couple who had everything in their house stolen including the electrical wire. They drive to work every day where the wife works on the day shift. The husband works the afternoon shift. Same place, different shifts. They cannot afford multiple trips so while the wife works, the husband sits in the car for 8 hours. When she gets off, she sits in the car while he works. This just breaks my heart.
2. With the economy in a recession, giving at the mission is significantly down. We have and continue to cut every possible expense just to survive.
3. Keeping up with the wood supply has been challenging. We did not store enough wood last spring that we had hoped. That means we have to fetch wood in the cold and snow and it is not seasoned. We burn wood to heat our main buildings.
4. Our construction jobs have come to a halt. We do construction jobs to help offset the down turn in giving.
5. Finally, the amount of sin and lack of community safe guards is overwhelming. It's hard to see the Kingdom growing. Honestly, in my 10 years here I sense the battle has swayed away from us. I don't think all is lost, I'm saying I am concerned. At a time when we need more boots on the ground, more funds coming in and more hope in our hearts, we have less.

If there was ever a time to pray for us, it is now. Five things to pray for:

1. Couple is able to rebuild and get on same shift.
2. Funding to increase immediately.
3. We can get caught up with seasoned wood and normal temperatures
4. We get more contracts for construction
5. That God will reign

Thanks,

Jay

Life lesson

When the temperature drops to zero outside and you have an outdoor wood boiler, you can not go to bed early and get up late and still have a fire. I normally fill the firebox at 11:00pm and refill at 6:30am. Last night I filled it at 10:00pm and went to refill at 7:30am. Poor planning on my part. The water in my boiler needs to be above 180 degrees and it was at 82 degrees. So as the poem goes:

Late to bed

Early to rise

gives a man

heat where he lies.

Jay Wilson