I wake up between 3 and 4 every morning. It is like someone nudging me. I’m awake. It doesn’t matter if I am in another time zone in another part of the world or when I go to bed. I must get up and pray. In the stillness of the night I listen to God’s voice. Individuals will come to mind with their needs. I often can feel their pain and joys as I pray. These are individuals scattered throughout the world. I will think of Scripture as I will often email encouraging words to those whom I have prayed.

“Be still and know that I am God.” During the Vietnam war I woke with tears streaming down my face. I could hear the mortar rounds going off. The faces of children appeared as they screamed for someone to save them. I prayed until I felt peace and knew that God was answering. A few days later I saw a picture of the same children’s faces in a newspaper. A marine unit had gone into the village and saved the children.

I recently got rid of our television. It often would become a distraction in the early morning hours. Now, in this quiet time, I listen to God’s still small voice. The noise of the world so often distracts us from what is really important.

Turn the news off and in the silence let God speak. Your world will be brought into perspective without the noise and you won’t miss a thing.

Ken and Maggie
“Going before God on behalf of others”

That is a great video. I don’t find it surprising, and think the presenter mischaracterizes the studies by claiming that they indicate that “incentives don’t improve productivity in tasks involving creativity.” That sentence is only true if “incentives” is taken to mean “financial incentives.” Allowing people greater control, influence, and self-direction at a company is an incentive, and a powerful one. I’m not at all surprised that it is the kind of incentive needed for creative tasks.

It’ s the same in the classroom. You want students to learn? Don’t just threaten them with bad grades; make learning a precondition for some from of social incentive. Give young students special shirts to wear, allow them to ring a bell when they successfully perform some learning task (that sounds silly, but it works). Older students should be responsible for teaching some content and should be responsible for helping with the education of younger students.

I don’t think any of these things rule out the usefulness of financial incentives, though. I noticed that none of the social experiments to which he referred tested for the presence of BOTH financial and social incentives. What would have happened if a candle group had been told that their time would set the mark for future testers, AND that they would be financially rewarded if the beat some mark? I don’t know. The added pressure of the financial incentive might have still hampered them in that kind of context.

I think God’s word for a congregation should not be limited to one person as the conduit. I think we need multiple people “voicing” what God is doing in the world. I don’t think there is a formula for this and it takes contextual discernment.

It seems to be catching on though in our tribe…churches (albeit larger) now have two “teaching and preaching” ministers instead of the one sage on the stage.

On a related note, I do wonder if in five years if we will have the rock stars piped in to ever church. Driscoll does it already, so does Chandler and many more. Dangerous in my opinion.

Thank you so much for the review, for taking the time to digest the book and offer such a clear window.

On a personal level, I’m all up for editing the next reprint! I would be so grateful to know which portions fell into the “preachy” category. In very fabric, I’m a mentor who feels that influence is best offered through presence, listening, and an occasionally thought-provoking question. Downloads were not my intent. So your sight into where that line was crossed would be very, very welcome and could help the next generation of readers not stumble over my errors in their journeys.

Peace,
alicia