by Aarron Pina | Nov 1, 2012 | Uncategorized
Ten Years Ago
For about the past ten years, Cristine and I have been in discipleship ministry in some way or another. It wasn’t until about 7 years ago we began hearing God’s call to “full time” vocational ministry. Several wise friends of mine have taught us that “men and women who walk with Jesus walk with men and women who walk with Jesus”. It was 5 years ago this month that we heard God and the wise counsel around us say “you should do that full time”. So today, as then, we help followers of Christ bridge the gaps between “real life” situations and applied biblical truth.
Now…
For the past 5 years, Seasons of Life Ministries has been a true “walk of faith” for me and my family. It’s a strange animal – you never know if you’re getting 100% of your paycheck or 20% of your paycheck. God has answered all of our prayers, sometimes with a “Yes”, other times with a “No”, still others with “Not Yet”. But, what He has given us, through the support of some amazing givers from $10,000 a year down to $20 a month is this: 100% of what He intended us to have. Wow.
All that remains to land 2012 “on target” is about $14,500. That may seem like a large number, but I can tell you three things about that –
- That’s over 30% less than what God has raised for those two months over the last 5 years.
- This year, we’ve got roughly $5,000 in matching funds committed so far toward reaching that goal, so any giving done from this point forward counts double up to $5K.
- As in every year past: “many hands make light work”.
The “Brutal Facts of Reality“
Every month, we start out an average of $3,000 in the hole as a ministry. Call that a small gap or a canyon. You may be right. Call it foolish. You may be right. Call it “trusting God” you may be right. Bottom line, He has provided all He’s wanted for us for 59 months in a row, not for our glory, but for His. Over $250,000 has been raised over these 5 years – a lean $50K a year to run the entire operation. But, God has been faithful to His promises and built bridges of provision for this ministry.
Why Matching Funds are So Important
Matching gifts have helped us achieve that. Matching funds make Seasons of Life a wise place to do giving beyond the tithe. It’s like building a bridge but having one side of the canyon come closer to what you’re building. When I know a dollar that I give to a local or foreign mission is going to be matched with another dollar for free, I don’t have to think long or hard about the return on investment – the match makes my giving go farther. How about you?
So, what can you do?
1. Get/Keep Your Toe In ’til You’re Ready for Deeper Waters
Many of our supporters started giving something “small” and eventually increased. Others, started “small” and stayed there. If you wade in right now as a monthly supporter “cheaply”, your giving will count double for November and December because of the matching gift. This is a big deal for you, because you may only have $25 available for sacrificial giving this month – but it brings us $50 closer to meeting the urgent need at hand. (See links at the bottom if you care to do this through our secure online giving portal).
Some of our supporters tithe a percentage to their own church and give proportionally to other ministries as well – have you considered Seasons of Life as a percentage for 2013? Now might be a great time to give it a try. What would it look like if you gave 10% to your home church, 1% to Samaritan’s Purse, 1% to foreign missionaries, and 1% to a local ministry like Seasons of Life?
2. Delegate Socially. (And, What Does That Mean?)
General Contractors hire people who swing hammers, hang drywall, paint and finish so they don’t have to. Delegation. The most pivotal financial “shot in the arm” God gave this ministry in our first year was through a friend who invited her small group and neighbors over for dessert, to have Cristine and I share the story of how God called us to one on one discipleship ministry. That one friend delegated fundraising to her friends and in one afternoon, God breathed over $300 in regular monthly support and $1,200 in one-time help into Seasons of Life Ministries! Social delegation.
With social media at your fingertips all you have to do to delegate fundraising to others is click “share”. Wow. Could it be more simple? Consider your small group, church, or family & friends:
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Invite them to subscribe to our newsletter by texting 42828 to “SEASONS”,
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Send them a link to our blog (where you’re reading this now), or
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Encourage them to follow or “like” us on Facebook or Twitter.
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Invite one of us to share our story at your small group (we’ll even bring dessert!)
Share any of the links above with people you know and you may turn out to be one of our cornerstone supporters without a dime out of your own pocket! (Or, just go ahead and send us a dime and call it a day? Who knows!)
Online Form – Constant Contact List Signup
3. Be a “Heavy Lifter” or Tell One About Us
No “selling” required: If you have the capacity to give or know someone who does (which, you almost never know until you ask: “Hey, what ministries, churches, and non-profits do you support?”), forward them a link to this blog post and let them convince themselves.
4. Pray for Us
Hey, prayer only costs time and energy and if you’re out of work, struggling to get by, or just fully committed on your current giving priorities, even you can lift up this ministry in prayer. Incidentally, if you’re in one of those first two categories, email us and we may have some help for you!
Bridge, Meet Sides; Rubber, Meet Road:
Whatever your current or projected-year-end giving capacity is, we’d love your help as soon as you feel prompted and sure this is where the Lord wants you do give. Below are some links for immediate online giving. FYI – The only immediate needs for November are about $1,800 for expenses due by the 15th of the month. Can you help bridge the gap?
For getting your toe in the water:
For heavy lifters
For others – email or private message us on FB if you’re in a position to help in any other way at this time.
FINE PRINT: Seasons of Life Ministries is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization according to IRS tax codes and all gifts are tax deductible to that effect. [Year end giving must be postmarked by Dec. 31st, 2012 or done online by midnight of Dec. 31st 2012.]
To give offline, make your check payable to Seasons of Life Ministries and send it to us at:
2659 Freedom Pkwy.
Suite 285
Cumming, GA 30041
Thanks, for reading, considering, giving, praying, and helping us to build bridges…
in Christ,
AP
by Aarron Pina | Nov 1, 2012 | Uncategorized
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| Seasons of Life Ministries Discipleship Update |
Wherever You Go, You Bring You with You…
Moving from Cumming to Gainesville, I thought I might discover a whole crop of men with new problems to drag to the cross. Nope. Today, I have one foot regularly in Alpharetta/Cumming and the other in Flowery Branch/Gainesville. Totally different demographics, right? But, the issues men face are the same – integrity in the workplace, trusting God in an “uncertain” economy, purity vs. pornography, “quiet time guilt”, loving our wives as Christ loved the church, addiction, and on and on. Every guy I sit down breaths and bleeds further evidence that “no temptation has seized you except what is common to man. (1 Cor. 10:13)” While the issues are many, the solution remains singular – abiding in Christ.
“My job goes back and forth from being terribly frustrating to the most enjoyable calling on earth. I watch men, though grown physically, “grow up” in their faith as God challenges them, tests, them, stretches them by His power. Sometimes, they succeed, sometimes… they… grow. But, growing in faith resembles growing in muscle like this: without breaking and tearing the fibers, the muscles never increase in capacity. Some of these guys, like me, have had to be “wrecked” by circumstance and God’s hand of discipline in order to grow. But, I see growth in them – I see Christ in them. Praise God.
My Addiction:
This year, I’ve had many opportunities to say “no” to new things that have come up. Odd, while many are looking for work, I have an abundance. But, not all work is paying work and not all that we’re paid for is what we’re supposed to be doing. Case in point – me. I’ve recently begun managing my workflow differently and in the process discovered I had too many commitments. Good had become the enemy of God. Underneath the many commitments I had made to do this, be that, go here was a horrible addiction that had ruined my productivity in some of the key areas God had called me to. I was addicted to the approval of men and progress.
With all the projects and subprojects I had going on, I had to dramatically improve my ability to say “no” to several “good things” in order to do the best I could at the “God things”. Now, this is a lesson I’ve been learning for several years now, but this summer was a major breakthrough and I’m witnessing clear productivity spikes as a result.
His Addiction
I’m currently meeting with a guy who’s been battling an over the counter addiction and has been for over 7 years. He takes comfort in knowing that my addiction can be just as detrimental to my family as his can be to his, but knows that if God can sanctify me, He can do a great work in him, too. Watching this guy abide in Christ for 30 days, 60 days, and longer between relapses is remarkable. This week, it’s back to “day 7” again, but I can tell his prayer life and the one on one accountability of another Christian guy who has his back is a key component to his successes. Lasting life change is under way. Long term freedom is in the works.
The Solution:
Abiding in Christ has always been the only solution to any problem. Drinking in the Word until people smell truth on your breath, receiving specific encouragement from men who know you well, accountability from godly men, and biblical comfort, rebuke and counsel are all elements that enhance our connection to Christ. More importantly, they help us plug back into the vine when we fall away. There is strength in numbers, especially when God + anyone = a majority.
Moving Forward – 2012 & the 2nd Half of our First Decade
Wrapping up 2012 could look like this (unless God “calls an audible”): continued one on one discipleship, a step back from DivorceCare for a season (which is hard to step away from at a time when they’ve just updated all of their videos & curriculum!!!), leaning more heavily into a writing project involving interviews with over 50 men regarding their discipleship upbringing and/or their discipleship of the next generation.
Next year, we’re offering a half day workshop on “Getting Things Done God’s Way” and will follow God’s prompting down that trail as He leads. “That Day” should see a new stage here and there over the next two years at least, and thanks to a very generous donation, we’ll be exploring video media over 2013 & 14 in an attempt to reach more people with out compromising impact or relationship.
How to Pray for Seasons of Life:
Most often, when a guy is caught in the middle of addiction, those whom he has betrayed – wife, family, co-workers, friends – absorb the wound of betrayal and become embittered against him. I would ask all of you to pray for this guy and every guy who struggles with addiction as God helps them and their wives to resist the temptation (trap) to turn against each other, rather to stay united in prayer against the addiction.
Pray for Seasons of Life as we do our best to stay out of God’s way and allow Him to grow, sustain, and use this ministry to impact the people and community around us. Pray for financial support as we’re in roughly the same place we are every year at this time – fully dependent on Him, praying for obedience, and making the need known.
That’s the story – thanks for reading it!
in Christ,
AP
by Aarron Pina | Nov 1, 2012 | Uncategorized
The short answer is “no”. Men Step Up, Gwinnett is still a place where men can go to think out loud. But, a few years ago, Kelly Talamo sent out an email telling the guys who regularly gathered at the Cabernet Steakhouse on Friday mornings that he sensed the Lord leading him to step into content development and out of running the MSU venue every week. For a while, the Cabernet went dark on Fridays.
But, a few years ago, Dan Diaddigo had Ron Dunn step up to lead a very similar truth & lie environment where men could be spurred on to the truth of Christ. Today, ONE TH1NG meets every Friday morning from 7AM to 7:55 on Windward Parkway at the Cab’. Below, I wanted to share with our readers Ron Dunn’s note regarding the truth about a lie we’ll be talking about tomorrow morning, bright and early.
So, What’s the Co-ed Thing
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot – the tag line that got you to read this article in the first place. My bad… For years, women of all ages have been begging to know what it’s like to sit at the same tables and chew on the same issues their husbands or boyfriends or guys in their church get to talk about each week. As of this Fall, Ron has added a unique “re-run” to the mix: ONE TH1NG Co-Ed. On Sunday nights (this is the LAST Sunday for 2012) from 5PM to 6:30, men and women will gather at the Cabernet to look at a lie, learn from the truth, and be truly set free by the Word of God.
Mark your calendar. Call your sitter. That barking you’re hearing is me hounding you to show up this Sunday (and only this Sunday for the remainder of 2012) at 5. No food, no admission, just show up as you are, hungry for the Truth.
Ron’s notes:
If it feels good…
It looked good. It was a delight to the eyes. It was desirable.
(Genesis 3:6)
This wasn’t the first time Eve saw the tree. She passed by it many a day. It was positioned in the middle of the garden. On this day, however, Eve was looking at it through a different lens.
Her emotions were engaged. She was feeling it. She wanted it.
Satan engaged Eve in a well crafted conversation, then slyly slipped a pair of shades on her eyes and said look again though my lenses.
Now, lets be clear. Despite what Flip Wilson might say, the devil cannot make us do anything. When we came to Christ, Satan lost power. He was defeated. Christ overcame him by the greater power of His sacrificed blood.
Satan can’t force sin, but he does suggest it so vividly that men chose it on their own volition.
Satan created an image of God and of the tree that paved a path for Eve to take the forbidden fruit.
With his skills to deceive, He perpetually tries the same with you and me.
Eve wasn’t seeking sin; sin was seeking her. On this day it looked desirable and permissible.
Satan would have us believe that he is where fun and freedom reside, so party here and party on.
Truth is no one has more fun or feels better than God.
What a bummer…all these people thinking they went to the fun party only to find out they missed the best feel-good a person can experience.
Lie #6 is: If it feels good, do it!
If it feels good… I mean really good… and lasts forever…. then you are giving glory to the God who created you, drawing near to Him.
Join us at the tables as we unpack this uncommon truth and refreshing freedom.
This Friday morning at 7 or this year’s final Sunday night COED at 5, we hope to see you at Cabernet.
– Ron
by Aarron Pina | Nov 1, 2012 | Uncategorized
Great post from Daniel Diaddigo’s recent email newsletter. Had to pass it on to our readers. Great insight for living.
In Christ,
AP
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“Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Romans 12;2
This world has a pattern to it. I’m watching this pattern from the lobby of the Chase tower in Chicago.
The pattern repeats itself in leather satchels and smart, form fitting business skirts. Over there is a guy waving his arm to make an important point – he’s on the phone.
I’m people watching in the lobby because I’m early for a meeting on the 57th floor. The world says this is a good thing – to be on the 57th floor. Because the 57th floor is the top floor and important things happen at the top. This is the world’s pattern, the one the apostle Paul referred to in the twelfth chapter of his letter to the Romans.
Don’t misunderstand – we need to be excellent in all we do. We need to practice our crafts as living sacrifices to God. This is how we worship, but the world’s pattern diverts us to pursue worthless things. The exchange that runs the top floor trades acceptance for performance and rewards for pleasing men and owning things.
Easy to describe – not so easy to avoid.
I’ve known men who believe that avoiding the world’s pattern means checking out of the system. They think they’re coming out of Babylon. I think they’re mostly going into hiding, lights under bowls – Christian clusters fueled by fear and self-absorption.
Jesus engaged the world system in hand-to-hand combat and so should we. The battle, the Apostle Paul tells us, is not “out there”. It’s between your ears. Paul says renewal, not retraction, is the remedy to the world’s pull.
“[B]e transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Does your thought life follow the world’s pattern? When your heart speaks does it agree with the top floor? Do you trade pieces of your soul in order to go higher?
We’ve all heard the sermons – you renew your mind by replacing bad habits with good ones. Change gossip for encouragement. Trade the internet for Scripture. Replace worry with prayer. All good – but I think missing the center.
Look at verse 1. It’s the set up for what’s next.
“[I]n view of God’s mercy…”
My attention has been fastened to these words all week. I can’t get past them. The verses that proceed layout God’s pattern.
Fifty-seven floors is so, so very small when I consider the height and depth and breadth of God’s love for me. When I hold His mercy in view, how can I find satisfaction in anything else? No wonder everything else seems so empty! No wonder all those people are scrambling for the top. They know there’s more.
And the world tells them (and us) that “more” is higher, always higher. Work harder. Another compromise, another floor – until you reach the top. That’s where life is.
Do you want to renew your mind? Command the eyes of your soul to fix themselves upon Jesus until His mercy burns a silhouette into the fabric of your being.
Really, truly, there is nothing else!
In view of God’s mercy, we don’t have to search for life through the world’s pattern.
We don’t have to squeeze out performance or pander to please men. Jesus has already performed for us and God is now pleased with us. He has saved us from the top floor.
by Aarron Pina | Oct 29, 2012 | Uncategorized
Prisoners of Our Own Device
Overwhelmed? Overloaded? Overcommitted? Overworked? Overburdened?
Me, too. Or, should I say “I was living that way, too.” Until God broke the dam and gave me some great relief. Many of you have been following these strange posts on my Facebook page about “inbox = empty” and wondering either “who cares?”, “is it Christian to hate him?”, or “how can anyone get their inbox to empty so often and why is Aarron Pina taunting me?!”
Let me explain.
About 6 ot 7 years ago I read David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” and implemented a good portion of it, experienced great success for a time, but eventually fell off the wagon enough times that I think I broke (and subsequently, lost) my spine. About 2-1/2 months ago, after reading over our family mission statement which includes part of Romans 12:2 (“…be transformed by the renewing of [our] minds”), I started listening to David Allen’s podcasts and re-implementing the GTD system.
Ever pray to God for a breakthrough and hear no response only to find out He was silent now because He’d already clearly told you something several times before? God had given me an answer, freely and without reproach, but this time He made me uncover it when I was so fed up with my own mess that I moved Heaven and earth to find His answer:
1. Track your commitments. (Wait, something fell through the cracks?!)
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5)”
Every one of us has (at the 10,000 foot level) between 30 and 100 “projects” at any given time. (A project is any multiple step activity that when all the steps related to it are checked off, it can be considered “done” – closed-ended.) These commitments need to be tracked or they will “fall through the cracks”. Every one of us has (at the 20,000 foot level) between 10 and 15 categories of commitments, called “Areas of Responsibility” or “Areas of Focus” that cannot be completed because they are ongoing and open ended. Ex. “market research”, “bills”, “customer service”, “health”, “strategic planning”. These, too, must be tracked. Some people call this “getting organized”, but what I’m suggesting is a larger, richer, system of workflow management that includes “organize” as a component without being limited to just getting there.
2. Run the Prison, Don’t Let the Prisoners Run You
God is a god of order and He designed our minds to be like “steel traps”, capturing thoughts and storing them. But, most of us are very sloppy in the way we run the penitentiary of steel traps in our head. I was taught a long time ago that when it comes to lust, there’s no excuse for sloppy thinking. However, the verse above isn’t just limited to lustful thoughts. Yes, we need to get unruly, unwelcome visitors like lust out of the lobby, but we need to make sure the rest of the prison stays in control.
The “to make it obedient to Christ” part means, from a practical standpoint, identifying a thought as either godly or wicked. Here’s a simple question I’d been blowing off hundreds of times a day, resulting in towers of clutter on my desk: “What is this?” Every email, every memo, every assignment, every “note to self” can either be acted on or not. That’s helpful information. It’s either a prisoner, a prison worker, or a visitor. Unfinished business is like an extra inmate with no place to go – accumulate enough of them and the guards… the prison… will be overrun and out of control.
Identifying each thought (email, commitment, inspiration, project) is vital information to me now, because I know there are only four possible places something can go once identified:
- A. Do – if it’s something that I, and only I, can do and it’s less than two minutes (I have a sand timer on my desk called the “2-minute Nazi” to hold me to this) I’ll knock it out, immediately. If it’s something that requires other input from other people or that takes longer than two minutes it gets “Dated”.
- B. Date – I’m funny like this: if it’s on my calendar, it’s pretty likely to get done on the day it’s listed on my calendar. If the answer to “What is it?” is “something that cannot or should not be done right now, it goes into my “tickler” file (see below for definition) on the appropriate day or gets scheduled on my calendar in a “free” block, so it doesn’t fall through the cracks so easily. No stray prisoners allowed in the hallways!
- C. Delegate – If this is something that should be done or worked on until done but just doesn’t fit into my job description (Disciple – Grow – Promote), it must be delegated. This is like transferring a prisoner to another facility into someone else’s care until their sentence is served.
- D. Dump – Can I tell you about two of my newly favorite tools in my office? The trash can and the shredder. Love ’em. Now, I even know how to use them so well, they get emptied sometimes twice a week! How awesome is that? Talk about freedom. Get them out of the prison if they don’t belong there and you keep the prison clean!
3. Roll Call – the Glue that Keeps It Running
Every week, I now have a sacred hour or two on my calendar called “Weekly Review”. Read Getting Things Done and you’ll get a better feel for what it looks like or email me about our upcoming “Getting Things Done God’s Way: Restoring Order to Your Mind, Work, and Life” workshop in January and I’ll get you more detail. Essentially, this is a time for me to clean out all of my inboxes (virtual and physical) update all of my “next actions” lists, get clean and clear on what commitments are still waiting for other peoples’ inputs, etc., and check off items that may have moved so fast I couldn’t track them in the moment – “Mom called, she’ll be coming for dinner on Sunday, at 5:30” – great, I don’t have to call Mom about that.
Freedom Found? Be Encouraged.
For me, staying on the GTD wagon for 9 weeks, the payoff wasn’t just increased productivity. I’ve never felt like I literally “found” two extra hours of time in a week before, but that wasn’t the payoff, either. It was an even cooler reward than I had imagined. Have you ever emptied out your sofa or even the back seat of an old car and found $20? A five? Okay, enough change to buy a #4 breakfast at the drive thru? It’s like all this STUFF was in the way covering a buried treasure.
My treasure was more than cash. It was an unexpected gift from God: once I had uncluttered my inbox, my “to do” list, and my “current commitments” pile, it was clear I had been making dozens of choices based on either fear of rejection or the approval of men. Idolatry no matter how I looked at it. That was a set of commitments I knew just what to do with: I wrote them on paper “fear of rejection” and “approval of man”, said a little prayer “Lord, you have set me free from these. Let me stay free, indeed”, rolled my chair to the shredder, and listened blissfully as is churned away.
Free at last, free at last…
AP
For about the past ten years, Cristine and I have been in discipleship ministry in some way or another. It wasn’t until about 7 years ago we began hearing God’s call to “full time” vocational ministry. Several wise friends of mine have taught us that “men and women who walk with Jesus walk with men and women who walk with Jesus”. It was 5 years ago this month that we heard God and the wise counsel around us say “you should do that full time”. So today, as then, we help followers of Christ bridge the gaps between “real life” situations and applied biblical truth.
