You want to target Biblical perspective. So, you decide to include Biblical perspective on your course handouts.

Question: What 3 things will you put on your course handouts?

 

Here are sample things you could put on your handouts:

• A personal testimony that includes your passion about Biblical perspective.
• Bible verses that you want your students to learn. (I like Genesis 1.26-28, Micah 6.8, and Romans 12.2.)
• Biblical principles you want your students to learn. Here are 3 examples: All truth is God’s truth. Be content. Take care of God’s creation.

Question: What other things can you put on your course handouts?

 

Target Biblical perspective. Put 3 things on your course handouts. Today.

Good news—God has a plan. He’s already at work. And He’s prepared ways for you to join Him in His work (Eph. 2.10). So, you have the opportunity to be part of God’s plan and work. You don’t have to go figure it all out by yourself or do it all by yourself.

Point: Join God in what He’s already doing.

 

3 questions:

1. How clear are you on what God is already doing?
2. How clear are you on how God wants you to join Him in His work?
3. How willing are you to join God in what He’s already doing?

Tip: If you need increased clarity on what God is already doing:

• Pray daily for a minimum of 2 weeks.
• Read God’s Word daily.
• Seek wisdom from 5 of God’s people.

Remember: Join God in what He is already doing. Today.

Want to focus on your mission? If so, talk about it. Why? Because talking helps you focus. The more you talk about your mission, the more you’ll focus on it.

 

Want to find out how focused you are on your mission? If so, find out how often you talk about it. If you regularly talk about your mission each day, you’re focused on it. If you don’t talk about your mission each day, you’re not fully focused on it.

 

Consider 5 questions:

1. What do you talk about with others?
2. What priorities do your daily conversations reflect?
3. How does talking impact what you focus on?
4. If you talked more about your mission, what might happen?
5. What will you do?

Talk about your mission. Today.

You’re coaching Toru. You have 30 minutes to help Toru achieve his goal. To use this time effectively, make sure you are clear on Toru’s goal. Otherwise, you’ll waste Toru’s time by asking irrelevant questions.

Question: How often are you clear on the other person’s goal?

• Consistently?
• Usually?
• Sometimes?
• Rarely?

Make sure you consistently are clear on the other person’s goal. I know that I’m clear on the goal when I restate the goal and the client says, “Yes, that’s what I want to accomplish.” Here’s an example of what I do:

• Me: What would you like to accomplish in our session?
• Client: I want to find ways to get better at my job.
• Me: What do you mean by “get better” at your job?
• Client: Well, I’m having trouble with my boss. I’m not getting my projects done on time. I want to find ways to get my projects done before the deadline.
• Me: So your goal for our session is to identify ways to get your projects done before the deadline.
• Client: Yes, that’s what I want to accomplish.

Question: What action steps will you take to ensure that you consistently are clear on the other person’s goal?

Your 8th graders have finished the rough draft of their essays. The prompt required them to connect course content and Biblical principles. You want your students to make even better connections.

Question: How can you help your students use relevant Biblical principles?

 

Answer: By having them reflect on their rough drafts. By having them reflect on the relevancy of the Biblical principles they used.

 

Question: How can you do this?

 

Answer: By having your students ask each other the following questions:

• What’s your thesis?
• What Biblical principles did you use?
• What’s satisfying/unsatisfying about the Biblical principles you used?
• On a scale of 1-5 (5 being high), how relevant are the Biblical principles you used?
• What question do you want to ask ____ (teacher’s name) about the Biblical principles?

Help your students use relevant Biblical principles. Have your students ask each other questions. Today.

Want to improve your organization? If so, make sure your staff members understand what’s involved in organizational improvement. Make sure your staff understand that:

• The purpose of organizational improvement is increasing achievement of the mission.
• Improvement plans target mission achievement.
• When implementing improvement plans, staff are to live out organizational values, use organizational best practices, and collaborate with other stakeholders.

Question: How well do your staff members understand what’s involved in organizational improvement?

 

To get an idea of how well your staff understand what’s involved in organizational improvement, take the following assessment. Rate each item, using the following scale:

4: Consistently • 3: Usually • 2: Sometimes • 1: Rarely

• Staff members understand our values.
• Staff members understand our mission.
• Staff members understand our best practices.
• Staff members understand our improvement plans.
• Staff members understand the importance of stakeholder collaboration.
• Staff members understand how values, mission, best practices, improvement plans, and stakeholder collaboration are connected.
• Staff members understand what’s involved in organizational improvement.

3 questions:

1. How well do you want your staff to understand what’s involved in organizational improvement?
2. How can you help your staff better understand what’s involved in organizational improvement?
3. What are you going to do?

Bottom line: Pursue excellence. Help your staff understand what’s involved in organizational improvement. Today.

Here’s a set of DRAW questions you can use for a discussion of “How can you provide time during class for reflection?”

Define: Get the facts defined.

During the last week or unit, how much time did you provide students to reflect? to connect what they study and what the Bible teaches?

 

Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.

1. How you do feel when you’re given/not given time to reflect?
2. How do your students feel when you give/don’t give them time to reflect?

Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.

1. How does having time for personal reflection impact your learning?
2. How does having time for personal reflection impact student learning? impact students connecting what they study and what the Bible teaches?

What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

1. How can you provide time in class for your students to reflect?
2. How can you provide time in class for your students to connect what they study and what the Bible teaches?
3. How will you provide time?

By focusing, working smart, and pursuing excellence. To get an idea of how you can manage yourself more effectively, take the following assessment. Write the number that comes closest to representing how true a given statement is for you right now. Use the following scale:

4: Consistently • 3: Usually • 2: Sort of • 1: Rarely

Focus

___ I focus on joining God in what he is already doing.

___ I focus on doing right things, before I focus on doing things right.

___ I focus on my God-given mission.

___ I have defined my mission in terms of SMART goals.

___ I understand how my mission, goals, and daily activities are connected.

Work smart

___ I ask God for help.

___ I think big. For example, I ask myself questions like “What 3 dreams do I want to realize?”

___ I think clearly.

___ I think outside the box.

___ I document my goals.

___ I determine the actions steps I will take to achieve my goals.

___ I take SMART action.

___ I schedule my action steps.

___ I schedule my big goals first.

___ I plan backwards.

___ I track my progress on my goals.

___ I reflect on my goals.

___ I find better ways to achieve my goals.

Pursue excellence

___ I pursue my goals.

___ Before I start working on my goals, I get the resources I need.

___ I get the support, encouragement, and accountability I need to achieve my goals.

___ I pay attention to my goals (because I know that what I pay attention to gets done).

___ I target my strengths.

___ I eliminate my frustrations.

You want your students to develop a Christ-centered worldview. So, you decide to help your students deepen their Bible knowledge.

 Question: What 3 Bible verses will you help your students memorize, understand, and apply?

 

Here are sample Bible verses:

• Gen. 1.1, 1.26-28, 8.22
• Lev. 19.18
• Ps. 19.1-6, 104.13-16, 147.4
• Isa. 1.17, 61.1
• Mic. 6.8
• Matt. 7.12
• Luke 10.27, 12.7
• Rom. 12.1-2
• Phil. 4.8, 4.12-13
• Col. 1.17

Question: What other Bible verses could you help your students memorize, understand, and apply?

 

Target Biblical perspective. Start with 1 verse. Today.

 

Imagine asking 3 Christian leaders what their God-given organizational mission is. Imagine you got the following 3 responses:

1. To look busy.
2. To be busy.
3. To be productive.

How would you feel? I’d be stunned. And I’d feel discouraged and sad. Why? In part, because these Christian leaders have confused indicators of carrying out the mission with the mission itself. That’s dangerous.

 

It’s true that carrying out your God-given mission involves action:

• This means you might be busy. But being busy isn’t the mission. God’s ultimate goal for your organization is not to look busy or to be busy. If you fall into the trap of wanting to look busy or thinking that busyness equals your God-given mission, you can end up being overloaded.
• This means you will need to be productive. But God’s mission for your Christian organization is not simply about being productive. What your productivity targets matters a great deal. If you fall into the trip of striving for productivity (instead mission), you might be doing a lot of good things that don’t target your God-given mission.

Remember, your God-given mission is not:

1. To look busy.
2. To be busy.
3. To be productive.

Bottom line: Don’t equate your God-given mission with busyness or productivity.