Introverts in Meetings

7 Ways to Help an Introvert Engage in Meetings

“Express genuine and specific interest in their ideas – Introverts, like all of us, love to be respected for our thoughts and ideas. If you want an introvert to share more, remind him or her how valuable they are to the team and how much their thoughts are needed. This is best done before the meeting starts”

7 Reasons Why the Introvert Is Not Talking And The Team Misses Out

“Introverts are often NOT opposed to making a presentation. (The “not” is capitalized on purpose.) The myth is that introverts are always silent. Not true. Or that they have nothing to say. Not true again. They simply want to be prepared before they share.”

7 Suggestions to Get the Introverts Sharing in Your Meetings, So You Don’t Miss Their Input

“Give them proper warning before the meeting to get them thinking ahead of time and let them know you’ll be expecting their input. With time to collect their thoughts in advance they’ll be more likely to share.”

From blog of Ron Edmonson, quoted Pulse Check

Every day sabbatical

On a sabbatical, I asked Dallas, "How do I help the church grow spiritually?" because I get frustrated by the church not growing spiritually. He looked at me, there was a long pause, always with Dallas a long pause, and then he said, "You must arrange your life so that you're experiencing deep joy, contentment, and confidence in your everyday life with God." I actually have that as a sign up in front of my door because it was so striking to me.

John Ortberg, Leadership Journal

Willard: sin looking good

"The failure to attain a deeply satisfying life always has the effect of making sin look good."

Dallas Willard, quoted John Ortberg, Leadership Journal

What we do with the Word according to Psalm 119

The goal of this book is to get us believing what we should about the Bible, feeling what we should about the Bible, and to get us doing what we ought to do with the Bible. Given all that we’ve seen about the psalmist’s faith in the word and passion for the word, it’s no surprise that Psalm 119 is filled with action verbs illustrating the Spirit-prompted uses for the word:

• we sing the word (v. 172)
• speak the word (v. 13, 46, 79)
• study the word (vv. 15, 48, 97, 148)
• store up the word (vv. 11, 93, 141)
• obey the word (vv. 8, 44, 57, 129, 145, 146, 167, 168)
• praise God for the word (vv. 7, 62, 164, 171)
• and pray that God would act according to his word (vv. 58, 121-123, 147, 149-152, 153-160)

SOURCE: Kevin DeYoung, Taking God At His Word, p. 22.
Quoted: Thrivingpastor.org

Comparative suffering

One of the most important truths about the war, as indeed about all human affairs, is that people can interpret what happens to them only in the context of their own circumstances.  The fact that, objectively and statistically, the sufferings of some individuals were less terrible than those of others elsewhere in the world was meaningless to those concerned.  It would have seemed monstrous to a British or American soldier facing a mortar barrage, with his comrades dying around him, to be told that Russian casualties were many times greater...

Max Hastings, All Hell Let Loose, pxvii

Welch: a big key to anxiety

Sometimes we are anxious because there is no larger agenda that occupies us in the present. Love, however, is an expansive agenda. 

Running Scared, p139

Welch: preparing for the apocalypse

Anxiety asks for more information so it can be prepared for the coming apocalypse.  It also asks for more information so it can manage the world apart from God...Worry and anxiety think that more information will help.  The truth of course is that it won’t...  

Running Scared, 137-8

Tozer: getting still, drawing near, hearing.

It is important that we get still to wait on God.  And it is bets that we get alone, preferably with our bible outspread before us.  Then if we we will we may draw near to God and begin to hear Him speak to us in our hearts.  I think for the average person the progression will be something like this: First a sound, as of a Presence walking in the garden.  Then a voice, more intelligible but far from clear.  Then the happy moment when the Spirit begins to illuminate the Scriptures, and that which had only been a sound, or a best a voice, now becomes an intelligible word, warm and intimate, and clear as the word of a dear friend.  Then will come life and light, and best of all, ability to see and rest in and embrace Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and All.

AW Tozer, The Pursuit of God,  quoted in Come Boldly, p 72.

Welch: God's treasure

The reason we are called to lay up treasures in heaven is because we are his treasure.  When you are confident you are the Father's treasured possession, you are also confident that his loving care will continue forever.  Building warehouses is a waste of time and space.  His gifts to you become things you want to give back to him in gratitude.  Then he gives you even more.

Running Scared,  p134.

Welch: stewards don't need to worry

The kingdom is God's....Owners are the ones who do all the worrying; stewards simply listen to the owner's desires and work to implement them.  Owners are repsonsible for the outcome; stewards strive to be faithful.

Running Scared, p133

Miller: problem-centred

The devil's strategy is to get us problem-centred rather than Christ-centred...
It is so easy to write daily our own little book From Praise to Prison or How to cultivate ministry paranoia.  I have found it in myself, seen it in others and now in Fred.  Sure we may have failed him in more ways than we can count, but let's not fail him now by not drawing him back to a spirit of praise...

The Heart of a Servant Leader, p122

Welch: life and strength in Christ

The pattern is this:  The Father genuinely cares about the daily needs of His children, and he is constantly caring for us, but he wants this to point us to something better.  If we don’t find our life and strength in Jesus Christ, we will go from one worry to the next.  

Running Scared, p131

Welch: pointing to something better

Remember that God’s stories in Scripture are progressive – they keep getting better. It is as if we are goven small doses of reality when we are very young and cannot grasp God’s sophisticated love and care.  When we are older and have witnessed more of God’s ways, we are prepared to hear it all.  When we are young He gives us manna;  when we are old He gives us his life.  We get him. 

Running Scared, p129

Welch: hoarding

When trouble is on the horizon, we already feel alone.  We feel like we have to rely on ourselves.  We might know what God says but it doesn’t seem relevant to the emerging crisis  We have a sense that the kingdom is for the future but our needs and worries are in the present.  In other words, the Evil One doesn’t have to do much more than say, “Yes you are right to think that you have to hoard to protect your own kingdom.”  

Running Scared, p125