God's Economy, Israel and The Nations

Book Summary
Genesis 26 describes the dynamic of God's economy. It says: "There was famine in the land and the Lord appeared to Isaac and said, 'Dwell in this land and I will be with you and will bless you and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.'" God's economy operates against all odds, which isn't an option for those living in lands of persecution and distress"and it is emerging as a chief strategy for operating a business or ministry in this post- 9/11 environment. God's economy is based on God's Kingdom rule and embraces not only the realities of God's spiritual riches, but also the community (social) and economic riches outlined throughout the Word of God. It is the reemergence of the ancient biblical principles of entrepreneurship, business, and Kingdom wealth.

In the face of political instabilities, economic reversals, fear, and uncertainty, Kingdom opportunities not obvious to the world are quietly on the rise. These Kingdom agendas reflect an interlinking of secular enterprises with overriding ministry objectives.
What is emerging is a move of God in the marketplace that will parallel the rise of the parachurch ministry movement of the early fifties. At the forefront of this movement is a group of men and women of God called in the same way as Joseph and Daniel of the Bible. Modern-day Josephs and Daniels will serve strategically as instruments of God’s purpose in secular positions of influence within seats of power of this world. This book addresses the dynamics of this calling, God’s economy, and the preparation, character, and challenges of these uniquely called Josephs and Daniels. Among other agendas, they will be facilitators of the release of the wealth of the wicked into Kingdom initiatives.

Author Profile:
The author was recently described by a long-time ministry associate with these words: "Morris Ruddick heads several organizations and corporate entities, including Global Initiatives Foundation, The Ruddick Int'l Group, and a global intercession network. He has led development of entrepreneurial activities in critical needy areas and brought together business and ministry in several nations, including the Messianic Jewish community in Israel, as well as in Africa, Afghanistan, Belarus, and elsewhere." Mr. Ruddick's Kingdom agendas reflect a unique merging of the secular and the spiritual. He sums it up as "an interlinking of secular business enterprises with overriding ministry objectives." Since 1995, Mr. Ruddick has been a voice encouraging and mobilizing Kingdom business leaders and entrepreneurs.
http://strategic-initiatives.org/pages/products.htm#jdcalling

Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN)

Serious Times Require Serious Intercession

S.I.G.N. is an Intercessory ministry designed for the Time and Season We are In!

Please read about it below. then click on it's link and learn more

The material below is from the Sign Web Site
http://www.strategicintercession.org/

Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN)
is a select group of committed intercessors, connected globally by the internet and e-mail, with a calling to intercede for "strategic level issues impacting the Body."

SIGN is not intended to be a "catch all" prayer chain. There are other lists that are dedicated to personal prayer for individuals and local groups.

SIGN addresses issues that are strategic in nature, that typically involve regions or nations, which are global in their potential impact.

Our Purpose is...
To intercede for strategic issues impacting the Body on a transnational or global level. The primary purpose of the Strategic Intercession Global Network is to provide an effective means of communication between intercessors for the purpose of coordinated, Spirit-led intercessory prayer.

SIGN gathers input from reports, as well as the prayer closets of SIGN members. Prayer targets and insights which bear on the issues being targeted are then summarized on www.strategicintercession.org, as well as being sent in more frequent, detailed form to those who have become members of the SIGN e-mail list.

The SIGN email list members consists of individuals, as well as groups (churches, ministries, intercession groups). The task is to provide coordinated, targeted posts that address significant issues and trends impacting the Body that are typically longer term in nature, but which also include shorter term issues, events and occurrences that bear strongly on the longer term trends.

We consider the ministry of intercession as a part of the prophetic giftings, specifically oriented by the description of the sons of Issachar, who were known as "men who understood the times and knew what to do."

Why Is There A Need For The Strategic Intercession Global Network™?

SIGN's focus is globally-impacting events and issues that are strategic in nature. We live in critical times. These are times in which the time spent in intercession will bear much fruit.
Because of the tempo and prophetic nature of the times we are in, the following issues are ones considered pivotal by the SIGN intercession team:

Understanding the Times and Knowing What to Do
Israel and Jewish Revival
The Persecuted Church and Anti-Semitism
Spiritual Warfare Issues
Revival, Change and Emerging Moves of the Holy Spirit
Secular Enterprises Being Used for Kingdom Purposes
Kingdom Wealth Initiatives

In summary, the SIGN advisory team reviews and releases targets of significance as the Holy Spirit directs, without concern or apology for the volume or lack of it. Some may prefer to follow the summaries at our web sites. Others will want the more detailed posts and updates that come from being members of SIGN's e-mail list. Effort is made in the summaries to give evidence of the answers that have either taken place or are emerging relative to the issues we've been targeting.

Occasional mini-teachings on intercession are given as good reminders to the seasoned prayer warriors; and as good foundation for those just heeding the call to intercession, as well as those who are our seasoned

http://www.strategicintercession.org/

I encourage you to support S.I.G.N. as well!

Support SIGN Through the GlobalInitiatives Foundation

The Passionate Participation In God Project

Dear Reader

I was praying as to how I should focus my study and devotions in the year 2010 and I felt I should spend a year with God in my devotions, research and writing and invite others along for the adventure. I thought you might want to pass it along to your friends.

It offers various levels of involvement and allows each person to Grow in the application of the spiritual disciplines and in their walk with God as their time allows. Below is detailed info on the Passionate Participation in God Project/Adventure/Journey that will start Tuesday Jan 12, 2010.

It offers a simple plan with additional options for those with more time to dig deeper.

This will make your personal transformation into the likeness of Jesus the Messiah a practical and realistic option for your daily life.
Our desire to see this maturing process which we all long for but seem never to find a simple and practical plan to follow up on in our own lives is available "inch by precious inch" if we will seek it in small bites on a daily basis.

One of the key aspects of Spiritual growth is that of biblical spiritual disciplines, without which we live soulish lives ungrounded in God's Word, and subject to the winds of doctrine which men proclaim as new or deep, but which lack the stability found in a firm relationship with God through His written and living Word. This daily devotional adventure will advance us in our growth.

Passionate participation in God project Info
Start Date:1-12-2010

Objective:In A Year with God, will be transformed in your life with God, day by day. You will fulfill the promise of Ephesians 4:13

Place: Wherever you can read the daily devotion.

Required material:
1. 'A Year with God, Living Out the Spiritual Disciplines' by Richard Foster See ordering information below:
A Year with God offers a daily practice designed to increase your personal connection with God through the exploration of the 18 spiritual disciplines

Time required: Enough to do a daily devotional

Optional Items:
1. Online daily Community group interaction opportunity.

Our new Face Book Group is at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=237088564302

2. Daily Twitter bites to encourage your journey
3. Blog Articles: that will help you discover the King, His Kingdom and personally grow in measure and stature to the full measure of Jesus the Messiah. Eph 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Optional resources:

1. The Life with God Bible
In The Life with God Bible some of the most notable figures in Christian discipleship offer their insights to help
illuminate how the spiritual practices present in Scripture apply to our everyday lives and circumstances. This is the
resource for connecting Scripture and daily discipleship


2. Life With God:Reading the Bible for Spiritual transformation.
Too often, our study of the Bible focuses on searching for specific information or some formula that will solve our pressing needs of the moment. But what if we approached the Bible differently, and instead of transforming the text to meet our needs, allowed it to transform us?

You can get this online at http://www.renovare.us/buyresources/product/

You can also contact Renovaré USA
8 Inverness Drive East, Suite 102, Englewood, CO, 80112

The Longview Q&A Part 2

Q&A with Dr. Roger Parrott
Author of The Longview
Part 2

America is paying the price of short-term decision making (i.e., sub-prime mortgages, Bernie Madoff, health care costs, General Motors bankruptcy, et al). As more ministries adopt the prevailing short-term pattern, they move closer to the same outcome—the quick payoff—at the cost of a future crisis. In The Longview, Roger Parrott calls for a seismic shift in the leadership attitudes and actions of readers. Parrott is a seasoned, practical leader who is not afraid to challenge younger leaders to lead for lasting impact, not fleeting bragging rights. The book offers practical insights from both scripture and his own experience. Both young and seasoned leaders will uncover a solid foundation for success for any ministry, organization, or business.

How does the Longview approach get lived out in the every-day demands of ministry leadership?

I suggest that leaders begin by leading as if you’ll be there forever. The heart of the Longview does not begin with actions as much as attitude. Imagine that the organization and position you are in right now is what God wants you to do for the rest of your professional life. For many, it might be discouraging to truly feel “locked in” to your job. But contrary to the mantras of popular career gurus, this is one of the best things that could ever happen to you and your ministry, because to lead as if you must remain in that same position forever—and live with the long-term consequences of every decision—will shift your perspective, align your priorities, and build lasting strength in your organization, rather than allowing you to settle for the comfort and accolades of immediate results.

When a leader is thinking, living, and acting in terms of only the short-range, everyone around him suffers and may be handicapped for years to come because the decisions of today will narrow subsequent options and opportunities. The compounding weight of each shortsighted decision speeds the deterioration of the ministry’s foundation, while a long-term perspective strengthens that substructure for a higher reach in the future. Whether new on the job, nearing retirement, or eyeing a climb up the career ladder, leading as if you’ll be in your current position forever will revolutionize the way you lead.

Give us some examples of leadership principles made with the long term in mind.

This book challenges leaders to think very differently about leadership, so some of the section headings can be a bit jarring because we need to radically break free from conventional leadership models if we hope to return to a biblical pattern of leaderships. So I’m suggesting to leaders ideas such as:

· Planning Will Drain the Life from Your Ministry
· Deflate Your Ego to Expand Your Influence
· Policies are for Cowards
· Learn to Work with the “Untouchables” Of Leadership
· Understand the Diagnostic Triggers to Preempt Conflicts of Interest
· Treasure the Four Gifts Found in Your Rearview Mirror
· Learn to Shepherding A Vision Without Scaring Away the Flock

We live in a quick-fix, immediate-impact, short-view world. But we serve a Longview God. To bridge this gap, Jesus became the ultimate example of Longview leadership amid the clamor for expedient results. Of course His sights were always aimed toward eternity (the ultimate Longview), and He lived and thought in that realm. But even in the practical everyday demands of leadership, Jesus showed us the value of investing in Longview solutions as we serve those in our care. And that’s what I wanted to address in the book – how Jesus lived our Longview leadership in the practical challenges of everyday leadership.

If you could summarize the Longview approach in one rule, what would it be?

To boil it down to one rule, it would be this: be prepared to catch the wind of God.

I am convinced one of the core problems of evangelical leaders is that too often we’ve stopped trying to catch the wind of God in our sails because we’ve become fairly effective at creating our own independent power to get God’s work done.

Would we rather set out to achieve a set of sharply defined goals by revving up the engines to create the best programs, the best ministry concepts, and the best future our well-trained minds could imagine? - OR - Would we rather go wherever the wind of God might take us? While the second choice is clearly our desire, too often we live, plan, and work as if our direction is totally dependent on the power we can generate and the best course we can envision.

There is a world of difference between powerboats and sailboats. And those differences are critical benchmarks for each of us in ministry leadership. (I lay out six of them in the book.) Leaders need to be willing to turn off the power of their organization’s agenda and the best ideas that drive them. We may feel proud when powerboats of ministry are big, well built, and polished, even a small, poorly crafted, and worn sailboat will outdistance a powerboat every time—because only the sailboat is able to catch the wind of God.

About the author: At age thirty-four Roger Parrott became one of America’s youngest college presidents. Parrott is currently the president of Belhaven University, an innovative liberal arts institution recognized as the leading evangelical college in the Arts. He earned a PhD in higher education administration from the University of Maryland. Parrott serves in leadership of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, Mission America Coalition, and Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He has advised a wide variety of ministries in the US and internationally.

The Longview by Roger Parrott, Ph.D.
David C Cook/October 2009/ISBN: 978-1-4347-6749-3/hardcover/255 pages/$16.99
http://www.davidccook.com/ – http://www.thelongview.info/

Life with God:Reading the Bible for Spiritual transformation

Too often, our study of the Bible focuses on searching for specific information or some formula that will solve our pressing needs of the moment. But what if we approached the Bible differently, and instead of transforming the text to meet our needs, allowed it to transform us?

That's exactly the idea behind Life with God, Richard J. Foster's much-anticipated book on the Bible. Foster, bestselling author of Celebration of Discipline and general editor of The Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible, claims that God has superintended the writing of Scripture so that it serves as the most reliable guide for Christian spiritual formation. According to Foster, the Bible is all about human life "with God." As we read Scripture, we should consider how exactly God is with us in each story and allow ourselves to be spiritually transformed. By opening our whole selves—mind, body, spirit, thoughts, behavior, and will—to the page before us, we begin to grasp all the Bible has to teach about prayer, obedience, compassion, virtue, and grace and apply it to our everyday lives to achieve a deeper relationship with God.

With a wealth of examples and simple yet crucial insights, Life with God is an indispensable guide to approaching the Bible through the lens of Christian spiritual formation, revealing that reading the Bible for interior transformation is a far different endeavor than reading the Bible for historical knowledge, literary appreciation, or religious instruction.

Approaching the Bible that God might use it to transform us, rather than insisting that it cater to our own needs and perspectives—this is exactly the idea behind Life with God, Richard J. Foster’s much-anticipated book on the Bible.

Written with Kathryn A. Helmers, Richard claims that God has so superintended the writing of Scripture that it serves as the most reliable guide for Christian spiritual formation. The Bible is all about human life “with God.” So as we read Scripture, we should consider how exactly God is with us in each story—and allow ourselves to be spiritually transformed. By opening our whole selves—mind, body, spirit; thoughts, behavior, will—to the open page before us, as Foster and Helmers show us to do, we begin to grasp all the Bible has to teach about prayer, obedience, compassion, virtue, and grace—and apply it to our everyday lives to achieve a deeper relationship with God.

With a wealth of examples and simple yet crucial insights, Life with God is an indispensable guide to approaching the Bible through the lens of Christian spiritual formation, revealing that reading the Bible for interior transformation is a far different endeavor than reading the Bible for historical knowledge, literary appreciation, or religious instruction.

A Year with God

A Year with God
Living Out the Spiritual Disciplines
By Richard J. Foster

'Many people are longing to find the footprint of God in their daily lives. This beautiful daily companion is comprised of 365 selections of scripture, commentary, meditations, and daily exercises to help readers see how they can bring their entire life into a life with Immanuel - a God who is with his people.

In Richard Foster′s best-selling book, Celebration of Discipline, he explored the "classic disciplines," or central spiritual practices of the Christian faith. Foster showed that it is only by and through these practices that the true path to spiritual growth can be found. In A Year with God, the spiritual disciplines are presented in such a way that does not destroy the soul but enables the reader to enter into a transforming life with God.

Through daily spiritual exercises and meditations, A Year with God explores eighteen spiritual disciplines. The inward disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study offer avenues of personal examination and change. The outward disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service help prepare one to make the world a better place. The corporate disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration bring one nearer to others and to God. Each discipline will be given twenty days of readings, beginning with scripture and followed by commentary, a meditation, and a spiritual exercise. Practicing these spiritual disciplines will help readers live intentionally, contributing to a more balanced spiritual life and a reformation of the inner self.'

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061768200/A_Year_with_God/index.aspx

'A Year with God, the latest presentation from award-winning author and Renovaré founder Richard Foster, offers a daily practice designed to increase the practitioner’s personal connection with God through the exploration of the 18 spiritual disciplines previously described in Foster’s best-selling book, Celebration of Discipline, and Dallas Willard's The Spirit of the Disciplines. Drawing from The Life with God Bible (which Foster himself edited), and following in the tradition of writers such as N.T. Wright, Eugene Peterson, and Brennan Manning, A Year with God presents 365 selections of Scripture, commentary, meditations, and daily exercises from the foremost names in Christian spirituality.'

HarperOne, hardcover, 448 pages.