Encouraging Words from Cary Schmidt

The Right Spirit Toward Spiritual Leaders

By Cary Schmidt | July 11, 2009

fingerpointing There are two very different attitudes towards spiritual leaders. Some Christians seemingly never see anything good, and in fact have given themselves over to criticism and fault-finding. While other Christians opt to be prayerfully and joyfully supportive and encouraging toward leaders. Which position have you taken in life? Just a couple of quick thoughts to challenge your thinking:

1. Spiritual Leaders Need Encouragement and Support—they are just as human as you and I, and they have opted to carry a larger burden in life—the burden of public scrutiny and influence. Influence brings with it both blessings and burdens, but the burdens are greater. A leader’s easiest path would be to leave the podium and re-enter private life away from the scrutiny of others. If you have a leader who has embraced the burden of influence, make that burden lighter by being an encourager.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged church staff, danger, leadership, local church, ministry, team | 2 Comments

The Power of a Question

By caryschmidt | July 9, 2009

Helping Others by Asking the Right Questions

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Not long ago I was on our church campus on an off day. As I left the building, headed home, there was an unfamiliar man taking photos of our buildings. Trying to be hospitable and also cautious, I approached him and kindly asked where he was from. He refused to answer me and became instantly defensive and sarcastic. A few seconds later, he was angrily walking toward his car, leaving campus—simply because I asked him a question.

Have you considered the power of a question? Just as my question revealed a problem, a question can also open the heart and give way to a world of insightful dialog when you are trying to help someone.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged communication, counseling, family, leadership, ministry, parenting | 2 Comments

Living Hymns—A Personal Story

By Cary Schmidt | July 8, 2009

Living Hymns2

During my senior year of high school, the Lord allowed me to meet Dr. Al Smith and have lunch with him. I was visiting Bible colleges with my father and praying about God’s will for my future. Little did I know that God’s will for me would include serving in music ministry. I’ll never forget that lunch. It came during a time in my life when Christian music was changing rapidly, and I was forming what would become life-long convictions about how the Lord would use music in my own life, home, and ministry.

Dr. Smith was a servant-hearted, joyful man with a large personality and a happy disposition. He had never seen me before, but acted over lunch as if he had known me for a long time. He shared his life story with me—going back to directing music for Billy Graham and then publishing his first song book and starting Singspiration—the first Christian music publishing venture in modern times.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged book review, Books, local church, ministry, music, Striving Together | 2 Comments

Getting Teens to Air Their Questions

By Cary Schmidt | July 1, 2009

How an Honest Q&A Time Can Help Your Students

This week we’ve been at teen camp with 275 of our teens from LBC. It’s been a great week! One of my favorite aspects of camp is something we instituted a few years ago called “Answers to Tough Questions.” It’s a one hour Q&A time before dinner. I can’t believe how the kids enjoy this time, and I thought it might be helpful to share the idea with others who could find it beneficial.

Students have a lot of questions—and most of them never get asked. They just hold them inside, often afraid they will be condemned for even having a question. Sadly, the questions and often the conclusions they draw are based on faulty information—immaturity, skewed perspective, fallible logic, or just bad assumptions. We have found that the teens really open up to this Q&A time! They ask deep, sincere, and well-thought questions. Actually, I’m always amazed and deeply impacted by the questions they ask. My burden for teens greatly increases when I get a glimpse of what’s really on their minds through their questions.

If you haven’t noticed lately, the “because I said so” approach doesn’t work with teens. This Q&A time creates an hour where the teens are given the opportunity to “set the agenda.” Here are a few thoughts:

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged adolescence, parenting, student ministry, Sunday School, teen life | 6 Comments

Groundbreaking Time Management Starter Kit

By Cary Schmidt | June 25, 2009

Only for Those Looking for a Simple First Step Towards a More Productive Life

Ok—this one is just for laughs, but I couldn’t resist! This past Sunday our Pastor’s son, Larry Chappell, preached a message in our PM service and used this photo from Skymall magazine as a part of an illustration of ridiculous products. I laughed my head off and just had to share it!

For those who tend towards a disorganized life, this might be a good place to start your new time management system.

Have a great weekend!

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New Website and Book—Church Still Works!

By Cary Schmidt | June 23, 2009

One of the Most Important Books I’ve Ever Read!

Striving Together Publications is happy to announce the new book Church Still Works from Paul Chappell and Clay Reed—available July 13! (And sooner for Amazon Kindle.)

This is one book every Christian and local church leader should read and re-read. It is fascinating, encouraging, biblical, and challenging. Clay Reed, from Global Church Planters, teamed up with Dr. Paul Chappell to outsource a nationwide survey of independent Baptist churches. The survey was unbiased, covered all groups of independent Baptists, and was conducted by an independent organization. The results were amazing!

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged book review, church staff, leadership, local church, ministry, Striving Together | 1 Comment

Honored to Work with a Winning Team

By Cary Schmidt | June 22, 2009

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What an awesome privilege it is to work on a team with incredible, talented, godly, committed people! The people I get to work with truly are great, in every sense of the word. Over the past week, I have been reminded, humbled, and sincerely blessed over and over again at the spirit and heart of our team—particularly those I serve closely with. Here are just a few things I believe make them great:

A Winning Team Believes in the Cause—This team is not made up of hirelings! They have bypassed worldly ambition—as every one of them could have been highly successful in the world’s eyes. They have embraced the eternal cause of Christ, and they contribute their gifts, abilities, and personal strengths without reservation! It’s awesome to work with people who are so committed to one cause, that literally, none of us have a “plan B”!

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged church staff, ministry, organization, Productivity, team | 1 Comment

How George Mueller Discerned God’s Will

By Cary Schmidt | June 20, 2009

georgemueller

This past week, my Dad sent me an excerpt from a George Mueller life story that reflected on how Mueller discerned the will of God.

Mueller listed the following steps he believed were necessary in determining God’s will regarding any decision. I thought they might be helpful to others:

“I get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to any particular matter.”
“I do not leave the result to feelings or simple impressions. That can make one open to great delusions.”
“I seek God’s will through, or in connection with, his Word. If you look to the Spirit without the Word, you open yourself to delusion.”
“I consider providential [God-controlled] circumstances.”
“I ask God in prayer to reveal his will to me.”
“I make sure I have a clear conscience before God and man.”
“Every time I listened to men instead of God, I made serious mistakes.”
“I act only when I am at peace, after much prayer, waiting on God with faith.”

Context Note: In the next to the last point, I believe the context is related to obeying God over the faithless cautions of those who don’t really understand God’s will. God’s Word is clear that seeking godly counsel from wise men of faith is a safe and wise thing to do.

“For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.” (Proverbs 24:6)

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged biblical living, counseling, Sunday School | Leave a comment

Spiritual Leadership Podcast Now Live!

By Cary Schmidt | June 17, 2009

A Complimentary Monthly Spiritual Leadership Lesson from Dr. Paul Chappell

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For several months now, our team has been planning and preparing for the launch of a new podcast from Pastor Chappell—The Spiritual Leadership Podcast. After much planning and work, the first four lessons of this podcast are now available as a free subscription through iTunes. You can read more about it and subscribe by visiting The Pastor’s Perspective. Previously released lessons will post once per month on iTunes.

If these podcasts prove to be an encouragement to you and you would like to receive the newest lessons, consider becoming a part of the Striving Together Monthly subscription which also includes regular mailings of new Sunday School curriculum, lesson outlines, and additional benefits throughout the year. You can find out more about the subscription here: Striving Together Subscription.

For over a decade, hundreds of Pastors across the country have received this subscription every month! This podcast opens up the door for many more to receive past lessons on a regular basis. If you’re looking for a lesson on a particular topic related to ministry leadership, visit the Spiritual Leadership Lesson Library where the lessons can be downloaded directly from Striving Together.

We pray that this new resource will encourage many spiritual leaders to keep doing ministry in a Christ-honoring way!

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Encouraging Words Goes Mobile

By Cary Schmidt | June 16, 2009

blogmobile

More and more people prefer to read blogs “on the go” through their mobile device. I am happy to announce that you can now view this blog in a mobile version through your mobile phone browser (designed for iPhone, Adroid, or iPod touch.) Simply type in the URL and the site should automatically detect your mobile device and adjust the site. If you prefer to view the site in it’s original form, scroll to the bottom and turn the mobile view off.

I pray the things you find here will be helpful and encouraging to your walk with the Lord.

You can also now view The Pastor’s Perspective from Pastor Chappell in this same format. Enjoy!

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blog, communication, Productivity, technology | 1 Comment

Helpful Tools for Personal Productivity

By caryschmidt | June 16, 2009

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This post is certainly not original. In fact, many of you will find it “old news,” but it comes with the spirit of “redeeming the time” and passing along good ideas—all of which are in no way original—practical tools for friends and co-laborers. So, here are a few things things that have made a difference for the Lord’s work that you might find helpful:

Evernote (computer, internet, and mobile)—If you haven’t seen Evernote yet, you must. Evernote is a free web service that provides an interface for creating a searchable, syncable database of any notations. It comes with a desktop, internet, and phone version. There are many uses for Evernote, but a few have proven extremely helpful.

First, dictation—Evernote allows you to create a voice-memo from a mobile device that then uploads directly to your account. From there, someone with access can retrieve that note from any computer. No matter where I dictate from, I know the office has the dictation.

Second, phone calls—I’ve created a phone call note in Evernote. Any calls I need to make get pasted into this note with names, numbers, and notations. Then from the phone, I can call up Evernote, touch the number, and the phone is dialing.

Third-accessing vital information—Creating notes for trip itineraries, flight information, event information, etc. has proven to be very helpful.

Evernote can handle webclips, photos, audio, and text notes—and the developers are keeping the program updated consistently with new features. The fact that it’s free makes it unbeatable!

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged communication, ministry, Productivity, technology, Time Management | 3 Comments

What Spurgeon Says About Internet Gossip

By caryschmidt | June 13, 2009

The following is an excerpt from C.H. Spurgeon that speaks powerfully to how we as Christians should invest our time, our efforts, and our words. May we live our lives and invest our time into things that glorify Christ and edify people. This quote has a powerful significance in this day of internet gossip and slander through social networking, blogging, twitter, etc. A friend shared it with me and I thought it might be useful to you.

“But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.”

“Our days are few, and are far better spent in doing good, than in disputing over matters which are, at best, of minor importance. The old schoolmen did a world of mischief by their incessant discussion of subjects of no practical importance; and our churches suffer much from petty wars over abstruse points and unimportant questions. After everything has been said that can be said, neither party is any the wiser, and therefore the discussion no more promotes knowledge than love, and it is foolish to sow in so barren a field.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged biblical living, blog, communication, twitter | 1 Comment

Beating Post HS Challenges (3)

By Cary Schmidt | June 12, 2009

(This is the third in a series articles about the first big tests that high school graduates face. We’ve been studying them in our senior Sunday school class and I hope these ideas will be helpful to you or those you influence.)

fasttrain
The Challenge of Freedom—this third challenge speaks of the increasing freedoms that always accompany adulthood. These freedoms are well deserved, but they must be handled properly—for many abuse their freedom to their own demise. First Corinthians 10:12 teaches,“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

This verse reminds me of that scene in Bambi when he is trying to walk on a frozen pond. The slippery surface of the ice makes it nearly impossible for Bambi to get his balance and find stability. With every attempt to walk, he goes sprawling wildly out of control. Often, I see graduates step onto the slippery surface of adulthood only to soon fall and crack their heads open because they didn’t realize how slippery this new surface was!

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged biblical living, College and Career, counseling, student ministry, Sunday School | Leave a comment

Why I’m Thankful for a Godly Wife

By Cary Schmidt | June 11, 2009

On Her Birthday, I Say, “Thank You!”

Today is my wife’s birthday, so in honor of her, I want to share a few things that I really love in her. As we near our 20th wedding anniversary, I can’t believe how much more I love her today than I ever thought possible. This is a short list—for truly it could be much, much longer. Read More »

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Beating Post HS Challenges (2)

By Cary Schmidt | June 10, 2009

(This is the second in a series articles about the first big tests that high school graduates face. We’ve been studying them in our senior Sunday school class and I hope these ideas will be helpful to you or those you influence.)

fasttrain2

In the first article of this series we visited the challenge of a job—how graduates can get off track through their first employment opportunity. The big challenge is that of friends. Daniel chapter 1 is one of the greatest lessons on friendship in the entire Bible. Because one man took at stand, three others stood with him—regardless of the rest of the crowd. And in the end, all four of them ended up 10 times better than everyone else in the realm! What a huge lesson on carefully choosing friends and being willing to walk away from the wrong crowd.

After graduation—those who choose the wrong crowd basically choose the wrong life! It’s that simple.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged biblical living, College and Career, counseling, student ministry, Sunday School, teen life | 2 Comments

The Right Spirit Toward Spiritual Leaders

The Power of a Question

Living Hymns—A Personal Story

Getting Teens to Air Their Questions

Groundbreaking Time Management Starter Kit

New Website and Book—Church Still Works!

Honored to Work with a Winning Team

How George Mueller Discerned God’s Will

Spiritual Leadership Podcast Now Live!

Encouraging Words Goes Mobile

Helpful Tools for Personal Productivity

What Spurgeon Says About Internet Gossip

Beating Post HS Challenges (3)

Why I’m Thankful for a Godly Wife

Beating Post HS Challenges (2)

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