by Aarron Pina | Dec 14, 2017 | discipleship
Two Words:
The two words: “undiluted devotion”. Can you imagine your family and the families around you living every day with undiluted devotion to Christ? That’s the vision we’ve been called to.
The two families: “ours” and “theirs”. And, over the next two weeks, we invite you to partner with us to help these two families make those two words part of their daily reality.
Two Families:
Family # 1 is “theirs”. “They” are families recovering from infidelity, addiction, or divorce. Rough terrain. Right now, we’re in the thick of it with 4 couples whose families can either be shattered or shored up. I (Aarron) am meeting with several men whose daily desire is undiluted devotion with Christ, but need a “battle buddy” to help them navigate from “here” and “there”. Crisis Discipleship – one on one or couple to couple – is the way we help them walk out of “survive” mode and into “thrive” mode.
Our family… For 10 years, our family has relied on the support of people like you to help us reach people like them. We have 3 simple tools for freeing people from the distracted life – That Day, Clean Slate, and Discipleship. As a missionary family, we traveled from Dawsonville to Alpharetta to Tampa, Florida to put hundreds & hundreds of faces in front of That Day.
Next year, we hope to partner with dozens of pastors to bring That Day to thousands and thousands. We have individuals, couples, and families in need of continued Crisis Discipleship. And, we have dozens of pastors who could benefit from an extra 4 hours carved off their work-week overwhelm (Clean Slate). Your financial support will help make all of those things possible.
Two Weeks:
Right now, we have opportunities for people passionate about evangelism, discipleship, and pastoral care:
- Pastoral Care – $125 a month will scholarship one individual or one couple in need of financial assistance (see “Theirs”, above) as they recover from divorce, depression, debt, or all three. Your gift means a LOT to them and their families.
- Discipleship – help bring a Clean Slate Lunch & Learn to pastors struggling with personal productivity challenges from delegation to overcommitment to inbox overwhelm. $125 reaches 1 pastor and may help us disciple their leaders and members in Gospel-Driven Productivity.
- Evangelism – help bring That Day Leader Lunches to pastors seeking an extra tool in their toolbox for reaching the lost. $125 reaches 1 pastor and either hundreds or thousands of people who will be directly impacted by That Day.
For the next TWO WEEKS (roughly through year-end), we have a challenge match of about $5,000 pledged to reach our year-end need of over $15,000. So, if you give $1,000 it will be matched $1,000 and so forth.
Would you consider “adopting” a pastor or other person in your regular monthly giving for now and 2018? To give, download PushPay or tap here to give online through their secure, online portal.
by Aarron Pina | Sep 25, 2017 | Uncategorized
If life on earth is just preparation for the new heaven and new earth, why would we spend so much time, money, and brainwidth on things that aren’t going to last and instead focus all of our efforts on building for a retirement that will never end?
What About the Mundane?
Yes, the oil needs to be changed, the conference table has a big scratch and needs replacing, and your middle child needs help on her math homework. But is there anything in this list that can’t be done out of a spirit of eternal responsibility, faithfulness, and stewardship? Am I the only one who sees the connection between present obedience and eternal rewards? When we look at the menial tasks of daily living, do we do them knowing God is watching and waiting to reward us for being productive in all things, large and small?
Don’t Efficiency and Effectiveness Matter?
When it comes to productivity, I used to think only in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. But, if that’s where productivity ends, all I’d have wound up with are a lot of to-do lists converted to “to-done” lists. Gospel-driven productivity contains efficiency and effectiveness as elements, but the core of Clean Slate is not so much about getting more done in less time, rather being found faithful in the face of the Father.
The Aim of the Game
Jesus never told parables that ended in “well done, good and efficient servant”, did He? While Paul does command us to be fruitful or effective, God is the ultimate judge of what was effective or not. He will be the one to weigh both motives and outcomes and promises to reward us accordingly.
If we look at individual scriptures, we’ll find efficiency (Prov. 21:5, Eph. 5:15-16, Matt. 25:14-30, etc.). We’ll find effectiveness (1 Cor. 16:9, Philemon 1:6, Phil. 1.22, etc.). Heck, we’ll even find excellence & zeal, (Col. 3:23, Eph. 6:7) right? But, I believe if we comb the entirety of scripture, we’ll see something much more sizeable, significant, and simple as we seek God’s definition of productivity. Here’s my definition from a biblical perspective:
Gospel-driven productivity: Right things, done well, in God’s power and timing, for His glory.
Productivity happens when faithful followers take extreme ownership of the stewardships God has entrusted to them and in gratitude for what Christ has done and will do (2 Cor. 5:10), work diligently at them. It involves everything that comes across our desk, our phones, our inboxes and beyond.
What are you doing regularly at work, at home, and elsewhere to ensure you’re doing right things well in God’s power and timing and for His glory?
by Aarron Pina | Apr 13, 2017 | Uncategorized
As March came to a close, Seasons of Life Ministries packed all of our gear into a big truck and made a 4 hour journey to Tennessee!
Coincidence?
Pastor Bill Requardt has been leading a growing church through 2 years of transition and invited us to bring the live parable “That Day” to his church. West Hills Christian Church is a small denominational church on the Tennessee/Virginia line. In fact, Bristol is featured in this Geico Commercial: whether you live in Bristol, TN or Bristol, VA you can save a lot of money by switching to Geico.
Universal Story Geico Doesn’t Know…
Both Pastor Bill and I agreed: whether you live in Bristol, TN or Bristol, VA you can save a lot of waste at the judgment seat if you’re living every day with eternity in mind. So, it was fitting that the latest rewrite of the That Day script opens with main character Dan Matthewson telling his story in terms of 3 words – “‘why‘ are you here?”, “‘what‘ do you do about that?”, and “‘how‘ do you do what God’s called you to do along the way?'”
With pews that haven’t been this crowded in years, the Sunday, April 2 church service opened with worship leader Dani Gibson singing “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” and Dan Matthewson, Joe the Shoeshine Guy, Juanita the Cleaning Lady, and eventually Jesus Christ taking the spotlight… and the judgment seat. Not only did I get to play all of the above characters (and more), I also got to watch the crowd’s reactions in real time. There were smiles, laughs, tears, a few elbows and pokes, and many pensive looks of introspection. By grace, viewers were clearly moved.
Based on our conversations afterward, some were also awakened and motivated to live more intentionally for Christ’s kingdom, rather than their own. Big win. Praise God.
“We really were uplifted!!!! Thank you for Blessing us!!”
Mission – Invest & Invite
West Hills brought us to Tennessee in order to create some buzz and a big event to which their members could invite people. Pastor Bill, his wife Holly, the elders, and members were diligent in inviting people from the surrounding community. From where I stood, I could see about 30-35 new guests attending – with a church that typically runs about 100-120 attenders, it sounds like this was a very successful outreach.
An Investment in Prayer
Here’s how you can pray for West Hills Christian Church:
- that many of the guests who came to see That Day return,
- that many of the returners come to saving faith in Christ and
- that all begin to really connect the dots between their days and that Great Day (2 Cor. 5:10, 1 Cor. 3:12-15, Rom. 14:10).
Our Hope Forward…
This year, we hope to reach 10,000 people with the message of “living every day with eternity in mind.”
That Day is “step 1” in that process: engaging eyes and ears with the story of eternal rewards – it’s about why each of us is here living from Point A (birth) to Point B (judgment). It’s mission/purpose/destination. Once people start thinking about why they’re here, it’s time for the second question: What?!
Part 2 of That Day is Clean Slate – either a conversation, a live workshop, series of webinars, or even leader training on “what do I do with what I now know about where I’m headed?” Clean Slate dives into God’s order, the nature of work and accountability to God for that work, two sections on neuroscience for dummies, and a comprehensive workflow process that helps people develop a plan or roadmap between point a and b.
Part 3 is a deeper dive into “how” each individual’s time, treasure, and talents apply to walking that path from point A to point B. It’s where coaching and discipleship have always come into play. For nearly 10 years now, we’ve been focused on “thinking out loud” with others in one on one discipleship about their walk with Christ.
Spread the Word!
We’d love your help to move this forward – prayer, share, and support:
Prayer – Pray that God opens doors with those who’ve seen That Day and we’re invited to do more of this kind of engagement. Pray that Aarron continues to refine the story and tell it well.
Share – help us get as many eyes and ears on the That Day teaser video as possible. Share it on your social media channels.
Support – join Seasons of Life Ministries as a monthly partner and help bring That Day and Clean Slate to churches and organizations who value the alignment of vision, strategy, and execution and who want to make the right impact for God’s kingdom and glory. Setting up the next That Day Leader’s Lunch only costs us a few hundred dollars – maybe you’d like to help sponsor one? Click or tap here.
by Aarron Pina | Apr 12, 2017 | Uncategorized
What’s Killing YOUR Productivity?
As more people come to me for advice on productivity, the most common issue I’m asked about is this:
“urgent things keep intruding on important things” a.k.a., “distractions & interruptions”
My best response is God’s response:
“Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds. (Prov. 27:23a)”
Not the answer you were looking for? I’ll elaborate…
Meet Your Sheep
You’ve got stuff to do… That’s your flock.
You may not have actual sheep like Solomon’s audience 2,500 years ago. But, you do have a flock of “P.R.I.O.R.” commitments: Projects, Responsibilities, Ideas, Opportunities, and Relationships. For these God will hold you accountable and reward you (2 Cor. 5:10). Therefore, “knowing the condition of your flocks and giving careful attention to your herds” is of critical importance to you.
Gut Check:
Some translations even render this phrase “be diligent to know the state of your flocks”. So…
On a scale of 1 to 10, how diligent are you right now in knowing your state of flock?
(more…)
by Aarron Pina | Feb 3, 2017 | Uncategorized
Here’s a quick note on two special needs for Seasons of Life that are pressing and promising:
Bring That Day to the Kineo Leader’s Conference:
This is a conference for church leaders where I will have opportunity to bring That Day directly to our target market – pastors who want to see their people more engaged in living everyday with eternity in mind.
They represent churches from 7 states including IN, LA, VA, and GA. This could be very big for the kingdom and for Seasons of Life. Funding this will allow me the bandwidth to bring my A game to pastors really dedicated to kingdom building. In order to provide this special P/R performance for them at no additional burden to their respective churches, we’re inviting you, our key supporters to contribute to bringing That Day to their day.
Could we do it for free as a “marketing write off”? Sure, under normal circumstances, but right now it’s just not financially feasible to do much pro bono work until things really stabilize later in the quarter. So, we’re praying a few people might band together to help “prime the pump” with us. Would you be one of them?
GTD Training, Atlanta
I’ve been practicing a lot of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” (GTD) methodology for a little over 10 years now and teaching key pieces of it for a few years through Clean Slate.
GTD is the gold standard for personal productivity training and in 2017 will be in cities including Mumbai, Edinborough, Dublin, Tokyo, and… Atlanta. They will sell out and I only get one chance to get their certification before they’re off to another city.
Their blessing (and branding) could open a ton of new doors for us with our Clean Slate workshop, not only in churches, but also in businesses. Your help in getting me there in part or in full would be greatly appreciated.
The training is $600 and will (always does) sell out.
I’d love for you to pray about helping us with these two specific opportunities as urgent and important needs. To give, use our online portal
here.
