As a faithful member of a local church, I have seen and experienced the “force” of those stones in very recent days.

I want to build with them....I really do.  But right now that seems to be the last thing on the list of possibilities.

Pray for me...please.

This article is timely for me today. I’ve been trying to be diligent in using stones for building but it seems that some people are always trying to knock down the rock pile. My encouragement and help comes from Scripture (Psalm 40:9-17 has been helpful lately), talking with God and with those whom I trust completely.

I’ve struggled with calling people who make things especially difficult, and who attend church, enemies. We are called to unity and to peace. But sometimes it seems that I’ve never been disliked more than by people in church. This comment is coming from someone who has taught in public school and seen some pretty nasty behavior.

Scripture tells us to be strong because God is with us and that nothing can overwhelm us that is beyond His knowing and His strength (Haggai 2:4-5).

Yesterday the local nay sayer said the service went wel and teh sermon was good.  Now I have to determine was there a hidden meaning or was he just being overly nice.  The stones will just have to be planned ot build but for now we just gather them up for the future.

Perhaps the most difficult thing to admit is that sometimes pastors can be their own worst enemy. We want things to go our way and we may be insensative to those in the congregation who have invested many more years into the church than we have. So we set ourselves up to think changes will be accepted and even embraced whole heartedly. Ministry can be discouraging if our mindset is to work for an agenda instead of with the people.
I have made a lot of mistakes in ministry and building something with those stones is probably the greatest challenge because it can be an affront to my pride. So honestly, is it my own pride that prevents effectiveness and discouragement? If I’m not willing to lay down my agenda for the sake of unity and to be a blessing then how on earth can I expect that from others?

THANKS!  I NEEDED THAT!

I am a lay person and have been reading the blog for months now. I find encouragement and reality in comments, sprinkled with a generous supply of negative on some topics.

Having lived my life with business, public school administration, and consulting for business, schools and churches I find piles of stones throughout the country. In recent years has it become so obvious that the underlying challenge is steadfast alignment with vision/purpose.

God’s purpose and the ultimate completion of his plan, whether we understand it or agree with it, is going to be the end result! 

Keep up the good work in your assignment for His work, and do not stray for the Kingdom vision.

Let the stones fall.

Obviously, throwing, complaining, and stumbling on stones is a definite no-no. However, I’ve seen more leaders struggle with climbing over the stones rather than buiding with them. My theory as to the reason for this is that leaders have simply found that it is easier to go around or over the problem than to face it. Its a critical balance that requires a risk on the leaders part and if things are handled incorrectly the result is more damaging than the alternative approach. So, a leader looks for support instead. Its a logical plan but not a people builder. In fact, it can create damage in other ways as well. Its says to your supporters that you would rather find a way around the problem than to resolve it. That of course, is a persona that says, “I cannot be trusted”. If a leader looses trust then he has lost everything. Trust by definition really covers a broad spectrum of qualities and if missing it leads to a complete break down of the whole process. Trust is synopsis with dependability, integrity, predictability, and a fine judge of characer who can make good decisions. You see, if the leader has trust he/she will be able to stray from his consistent pattern of handling problems without damaging his character with the people. Because the outcome of handling problems is unpredictable and may require say a “Climbing method” then people will know that you had no other choice. The trust you have with your followers will surpase the difficult circumstances surrounding the conflict resolution. Being predictable, right as rain, and straight as an arrow is probably the biggest key to unlocking the challenge of working with others. Just a thought. God bless.

I am sometimes like David.
I throw mine.

TO: Phil & everyone on the blog,
I want you all to know that I love you all very much, and you are in my prayers everyday. God bless you.

there is one option that was forgotten - and that’s probably because of the nature of the reaction: it’s harder to detect, but still quite damaging. Here it is: Burying the stones. Some people have stones thrown at them and they just bury it because they don’t want to deal with it. This is avoidance. It grows a deep root of bitterness and distrust. This one’s a tougher one to deal with but still very important. We have some stones buried deep down. There are also stones that we’ve thrown that we don’t realize were stones and can’t try and resolve the problems because the recipient has buried it. just my two cents.

Sometimes it’s an ego/pride thing.  The enemy moves in wherever there is an opening.  Hurting people hurt people!  -Even in the church.  Many times it’s a cry for help.  Try to consider the source and test the validity of what’s being “hurled”.  Christianity is not measured by our actions, but our reactions.

someone said i was not committed, it hurt me and i thoufgt may be he was right. i decided to be more loving and lool for ways to be more effective

My husband and I have been youth ministers at our church for 11 yrs. We had what was to us a boulder thrown at us that devastated us on several levels. Three of our youth (relatives) that we’d known for yrs. lied about us to their parents, who in turn added to the lie and met with us and our Pastors to discuss it. (Yes, deliberate lies.) Their son accused my husband of getting in his face and yelling at him for a long time over inappropriate behaviour. Another adult youth leader was present and said that it wasn’t true. The parents said we had lied to them and then conspired to cover up with our other leader. We took these accusations very seriously. What if the accusations had been sexual? We could be in jail.
All of us are members of the same church and we’d seen this family manipulate and attack secular authorities in their lives and make lying accusations against 2 other church members, but it still took us somewhat by surprise. Our Pastors voiced support to us privately, but said they had to be “pastors of all of the people” and never brought this matter to any real conclusion. The family continues to allow their youth to choose to come to our youth activities, which they do,even to our camps.  We are careful NEVER to let these youth ride in our cars or to be the sole adults responsible for them being aware that other false accusations could be levied. These are not people of the world. They are people in our church of about 125 people who we are “serving the Lord” within “community”. They have made sure that their story was passed on to a few other people, as well. Since then there have been a few smaller events, but we just press on. Time has now passed since this occurred and we have forgiven, but we are still affected . The advice to build with stones is good. The only way to do this is to depend on Jesus, especially when the stones are too heavy to pickup on your own.