August 2019 Resources: Attendance, Academia, Apps & Addiction to Power

Hope your summer has offered respites from work in some new and surprising ways. I got home late last night from the Rose Bowl, where a bunch of us reveled in the victory tour of the US Women's National Soccer Team. It was a hoot, and I celebrated halfway through with a bacon-wrapped hot dog! #noshame

In the midst of fun has been plenty of work too, and here are some great resources I've stumbled upon during those times.

How to attend a conference without feeling overwhelmed. In mid-July I participated in an international, quadrennial conference for my denomination in Orlando, Florida. The heat was oppressive and the air conditioning cranked on overload, but what was most challenging was the multi-tasking! Between the "how-are-you's" and meetings and over-stimulation of twice-daily worship times, I felt flooded as I tried to also serve as a delegate for important discussions around racism, poverty and injustice AND run a 3-day focus group on leadership development.  Some of the suggestions in this article didn't apply to my experience (I couldn't NOT stay at the conference hotel), but I give a giant YES and HALLELUJAH to the third suggestion of planning for downtime. This is a gamechanger. I repeat, GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO NOT GO TO EVERYTHING. I have another conference this week (in Malibu, CA, thankyouverymuch) and I've already mapped out my breaks. #justdoit.

Jesus, Judaism & Christianity. I am always on the hunt for more academic input to keep those intellectual, theological and spiritual juices flowing. This is a fascinating interview from a Jewish NT scholar who teaches at a seminary, on interpreting the Jewishness of Jesus. And while you're in learning mode, listen as well to this informative podcast from Harvard Business Review on the history of US involvement in Central America titled The Controversial History of United Fruit. It helps to explain the massive instability now existing in Central America and explains some of the reasons for the migrant crisis south of our border. It is crucial that we understand and educate others about the context around this huge and divisive issue.

These 5 free apps make it easy to improve your writing. I finished teaching a class in June at Westmont College and was reminded once again that the majority of people do not know how to write coherent sentences. (Yes, I'm a snobby former-and-eternal English major.) But being a good writer is a commitment, and there are some great resources available here.

Power & Wise Boundaries. I just listened to this yesterday from Pete Scazzero. Apparently there is a worksheet available with it (he explains that at the beginning). I would HIGHLY recommend this for a staff meeting or mentoring.

Quotes that moved me this month.

“The one journey that ultimately matters is the journey into the place of stillness deep within one’s self. To reach that place is to be at home; to fail to reach it is to be forever restless. In contemplation we catch a vision of not only what is, but what can be. Contrary to what we have thought, contemplatives are the great doers." 

--Gordon Cosby, Founder of Church of the Saviour

"In his spiritual classic Abandonment to Divine Providence, Jean-Pierre de Caussade wrote that the single most important concern of the soul is to seek and accept the present moment." 

--Sue Monk Kidd, When the Heart Waits 

"Our union with God--his presence with us, in which our aloneness is banished and the meaning and full purpose of human existence is realized -- consists chiefly in a conversational relationship with God while we are each consistently and deeply engaged as his friend and co-laborer in the affairs of the kingdom of the heavens." 

--Dallas Willard 

Blessings to you! Feel free to pass this along to others. Contact me at kelly.soifer@ksleadershipdevelop.me with questions or comments. 

 

 

 

Pray for our friends who suffer

Since 2000 I have tried to be committed to praying for fellow Christians around the world who suffer horribly simply for being believers. While there is a lot of confusing information flying around, I have found a website that appears thorough and reliable: EA.org.

Each week I use it to pray daily for whichever country they highlight, with a world map in front of me. I circle that country's name to remind me that I have prayed for them. In reviewing my current map, it is profoundly tragic to see how many places around the world where followers of Jesus are suffering horribly.

Please look over the unbelievable ways that Christians are suffering in Vietnam right now:

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 017 | Wed 12 Aug 2009

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VIETNAM: BRUTALITY CONFRONTED THROUGH PRAYER
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As reported in the Religious Liberty Prayer bulletin of 17 September 2008 (link below), a prayer movement erupted in Vietnam's Catholic Church in December 2007 after Vietnam's religious liberty advocates, mostly Catholic priests frustrated by years of futile political activism, simply asked the people to pray. And pray they did. In Hanoi, some 10,000 Catholics came onto the streets to sing hymns and pray for religious liberty. They held flowers and crosses, and candles on dark nights and umbrellas on rainy days. The Hanoi prayer vigils for religious liberty have been the largest public demonstrations Vietnam has seen since the Communists came to power. As the prayer vigil movement spread, the clearly rattled Government lashed out with a virulent anti-Catholic propaganda campaign in the State-run media while blocking access to at least six major Catholic news agency websites. The authorities also started physically attacking the vigils -- beating even women, publicly shaming young children, arresting priests and their lawyers, and demolishing church properties. But despite abuse, slander, beatings and imprisonments, the public prayer vigils continue.

The parish of Tam Toa in Vinh Diocese (300km south of Hanoi) is a historic parish for Vietnamese Catholics. Founded in 1631, it quickly became the largest parish in the diocese, running a convent, orphanage and school. A beautiful Cathedral, opened there in 1887, was destroyed in an American bombing raid during the Vietnam War. The parishioners, whilst unable to rebuild the church, continued to meet and worship at the site in the open air until March 1996 when the Communists seized the property and declared it a War Memorial. Ever since then, the church has been seeking the property's return. The parish has over 1,000 parishioners.

On Monday 20 July, a team of Catholics was erecting a cross and temporary shelter at the site when they were confronted by some 100 police. Using tear gas, stun guns and batons, the police brutally beat the Catholics into submission. About 20 were arrested while others were made to sit on the ground where a Communist vigilante group was given permission to beat them. One of the wounded, Father Paul Nguyen Dinh Phu, suffered broken ribs and head injuries. When Father Peter Nguyen The Binh visited Fr Phu in hospital he was beaten and hurled from a second floor window. Fr Binh is now hospitalised in a coma. On the night of 8 August, all 178 parishes in Vinh Diocese held simultaneous processions that saw some half-a-million parishioners come out onto the streets holding candles and signs calling for religious freedom. According to several reports, many locals came out and applauded the Catholics for having the courage to stand up against tyranny. Standing in solidarity with Vinh Diocese were some 3,000 Hanoi Catholics who held a simultaneous prayer vigil at the Thai Ha Church. The next day some 2,500 Catholics in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) held a prayer vigil in solidarity at the Redemptorist Monastery.

Meanwhile, as reported in the RLPB 009 of 17 June 2009 (link below), Vietnamese Protestants have been experiencing escalating persecution ever since December 2006 when the US deemed Vietnam's religious liberty reforms sufficient to be rewarded with Permanent Normal Trading Relations status. Communist authorities, who will not register Protestant house churches, are raiding and breaking up house church meetings on the grounds that they are unregistered and therefore illegal. Pastors are beaten, publicly denounced and sentenced to 're- education' while members are fined and terrorised. Church leaders say the harassment is so widespread that it must have approval from the top level of the central government and be part of an unofficial policy to stop the spread of Christianity.

During raids on Protestant house churches, not only do the police confiscate property (from hymn books and Bibles to motorbikes and cash), they also tend to be very violent. Compass Direct reports that the Agape Baptist house church in Hung Yen province, led by Pastor Duong Van Tuan, was raided several times in June. On one occasion police assaulted Pastor Tuan's wife, Nguyen Thi Vuong, seizing her by her arms and repeatedly banging her head against a wall until she collapsed unconscious.


PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT:

* God will build and sanctify his Church through these trials.

* Those praying in prayer vigils will be drawn to put their faith in
Christ alone -- as our one mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), Great High
Priest (Hebrews 4:14), and divinely appointed Head (Ephesians
1:22,23); may all idols be brought low and may God alone be exalted.

* God will expose the ugly truth about the cruel brutality and
corruption of atheistic totalitarianism, and its inability to
produce an equitable, free and peaceful society.

'Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word: "Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name's sake have said [scoffed], 'Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy'; but it is they who shall be put to shame".' (Isaiah 66:5 ESV)

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