Jamie Booth

Don't Underestimate the Small Stuff

I am going to take the next several posts to reflect on some lessons I have learned in my first few years of working at the church.  Some of these lessons I have learned from watching others, and other lessons I have learned from the hard teacher of experience.   

Lesson #1 - Don't Underestimate the Small Stuff.  Even the smallest gesture of kindness can have an enormous impact on someone's life, and the relationship they have with you.  In fact, more than likely, it is the small stuff that you do for someone that they will remember most.  

Each week we have dozens and dozens of kids here at Calvary.  On most Sunday's even the most attentive of kids struggles to remember what I taught the week before; however, I have kids remember me coming to their baseball games years after I was there.  Kids may forget what I teach on, but they remember me sending them a birthday card, or a card congratulating them on an accomplishment. The personal touch of noticing the small details in someone's life is what people remember, and it builds trust in their relationship with you.

You could dedicate hours and hours in preparing sermons, and administrating the church, but if you don't take time to notice the small details of people's lives, your ministry will be flat.   Ministry is in the details of people's lives.

Free Apps to Make Life Easier

Here are a few free ideas I have found that are making my life a little easier to manage... 

1. xMarks - Keeps all the bookmarks I have saved synchronized on all my computers.  So whether I am at work, at home, or traveling, I have every bookmark accessible that I have saved, regardless of the computer I saved it on.  www.xmarks.com

2. Dropbox - Keeps all my files synchronized, accessible on every computer and backed up.  And hey, the beginner version is free!  https://www.getdropbox.com

3. TweetDeck - Allows for an easy way to post and track multiple people on both Twitter and Facebook, without getting overwhelmed.  http://www.tweetdeck.com/

4. Google Docs - Great way to share documents with the team at church.  http://docs.google.com/

5. Google Reader - Easy way to follow multiple blogs without having to go to each persons site, or get every post emailed to you.  Just log in and read.  http://www.google.com/reader/

6. Google Groups - Easy way to think through an idea with the team.  Simply create a post and let others chime in with their thoughts and ideas.  http://groups.google.com/

7. Logmein - Remote control several computers from any other computer.  Works well for troubleshooting without having to physically go to the broken computer.  https://secure.logmein.com/US/home.aspx

8. Mint - Still experimenting with this one a bit, but an easy way to track your finances online for free.  http://www.mint.com/

I'm sure there are other great free sites and apps out there, what are they?

October Means Missions

My favorite month on our church calendar is October.  I love October as that is the month we set aside for our missions emphasis.  For us here at Calvary, October means getting serious about missions.  Not that we aren't serious about missions year round, but October is a month we set aside for God to take us to a new level in our missions support.

Today we had Bob McGurty, who serves as the India Area Director, with us.  He had a lot of good stuff to say, but he had one great quote that I keep thinking about..."Sometimes a nurse with a stethoscope can get in somewhere a pastor with a Bible cannot."  The bottom line is that we all have a part to play in supporting missions.  For some it is preaching, for some it using technical skills like nursing or computers to open doors shut to most, for others it may be praying for missionaries, giving to missions, and even going on short term trips.  The bottom line is that God is not limited in how He can use us, so we shouldn't put limits on ourselves.  Maybe you don't have a degree from a Bible college or seminary, but God still wants you to be a part in supporting missions.

Not For Sale

It is not an easy book to read. 

I just finished Not For Sale by David Batstone, which documents perhaps the greatest moral crisis of our day...human slavery.  To me it is unthinkable that human trafficking worldwide generates $31 billion annually and currently enslaves over 27 million people, half of them under the age of 18, but it does.

Again, it is not an easy book to read, as the stories of those who have been exploited will break your heart, but Batstone weaves their stories with stories of people across the globe who are fighting to end human slavery.  These encouraging stories share how people are fighting to make a difference in places like Cambodia, Thailand, Uganda, Europe, Peru and even right here in the United States. This book forced me to look for ways I can make a difference in fighting this global problem from where I am at, right here just North of Boston.

I would encourage everyone to read this book.

Also, it is not an organization mentioned in the book, but you should check out The A21 Campaign (http://www.thea21campaign.org/).  They are doing some pretty amazing work to combat human trafficking.  

Poor Customer Relations

My insurance company needs some help with the way they relate to their customers.  I have been with the same insurance company for over four years now, and during that time I have made every single payment on time.  Most months I pay well before the due date, and quite often pay more than the minimum balance due for my policy.  In short I have been a pretty good customer.

This past month though was an exception to my pristine record.  Life was just a little crazy and the bill got put in a pile with some other papers, and I was late in making my payment by a few days (that's days, not weeks).  The day after I paid my bill, I received this letter from my insurance company that must have crossed paths with my payment in the mail.  They wrote...

NOTICE OF CANCELLATION: NON-PAYMENT OF PREMIUM.  Cancellation Date 10/11/09  ***Cancellation Notice***  Due to your failure to remit the premium due, we hereby cancel the above mentioned policy, effective on the cancellation date stated above, at 12:01 AM....A late payment fee has been included.

Now I know that it probably gets old dealing with people who don't pay their bills, but I think my insurance company could use some help in drafting a letter to their customers who miss paying a single bill by a few days, every 4 or 5 years.  Maybe their letter could go something like this....

Dear valued customer,

We just wanted to check in and be sure everything is alright as we didn't get your insurance payment for this last month, and since you have been with us for so long we know that this is out of the ordinary.  We realize that a million things could have happened.  Perhaps our bill, or your payment, got lost in the mail (it happens from time to time).  Or, maybe you have been our of town or just haven't had the time to drop your payment in the mail.  Whatever the reason we just wanted to be sure you were aware we hadn't received your payment yet, and if you haven't already we simply ask if you could get it to us as soon as possible.

Unfortunately we do have some pencil pushers in our office that give us rigid deadlines we have to enforce, so we really need to have your payment by October 11th.  If we don't get it by then we have to close your account, which is something we don't want to do since you have been such a valuable customer for so long.  If there is anything we can do to help you in order to be sure this doesn't happen just let us know what it is.

Sincerely,

_________  __________  Insurance Company

Now that may not be the perfect letter, but opening with "Dear Valued Customer" and closing with "Sincerely" beats opening with "NOTICE OF CANCELLATION" and closing with "A late fee has been included" anytime.  To be quite honest, I am so annoyed by their letter that I am considering going through the hassle of changing insurance companies.  Which is a shame as they would have probably had me as a customer for another 4 or 5 years if they would have approached me being late this one time just a little differently.  

The way you relate to people is important.  Whether you are talking about insurance companies, churches or even friends and family.

The First Four Lessons I Learned in Pastoral Ministry

I made an offhanded remark yesterday that the fourth lesson I learned in pastoral ministry is that you should always have a backup plan.  It took me about 1 week to learn that lesson.  After a single Sunday running Kid's church and I quickly realized that there will always be something that doesn't turn out the way you anticipated it would.  Could be a game you thought would be great, but that the kids think is lame.  Could be an object lesson that works great the 6 times you practice it, but fails miserably when it comes service time.  Could be a million other things. So a quick lesson learned...always have a plan B.

Well, my off handed remark about having a backup plan being the fourth lesson I learned prompted someone to ask, "what were the first three lessons you learned?"  Here is the answer to that question...

1. Always Have a Great Mentor.  Allow me to tell a story.  I will never forget the first emergency call I took as an associate pastor at Calvary.  A lady in the church had a stroke and so I went to the hospital to pray with her, and introduce myself to her family since they didn't come to the church.  When I arrived at the hospital her condition was much more serious than I was expecting.  I walked into the waiting room and up to the family, and before they even gave me their names, they said this, "Our mom's stroke was massive.  The doctors are asking if we want to remove life support.  You're her pastor, according to my mom's religious beliefs would she want us to take her off life support?"  Now before you judge my response, please remember this was literally my 3rd day on the job...but my answer seriously went something like, "Uhhh.....well......ummm.....err.....yeah, about that....hang on, let me step out in the hall and call Pastor Tim.   I am sure he would want to know how serious your mother's condition is, and I am sure that he would be able to answer that question for you!"  

Pastor Tim did come, and he did have a great way of framing a response to their question about whether to take their mother off life support.  The response that I listened to him give that day is the exact same response I have used a few times since, and will probably be the same response I use the rest of my life.  Lesson #1 Have A Great Mentor.

2. You Must Be a Reader of God's Word.  It's tough to get far in pastoral ministry if you are not reading God's Word.  And you can't read it just looking for your next sermon.  It needs to be read devotionally, not just professionally .  Many have tried to get by without this, and many have failed.

3. You Must Be a Reader of Books.  You can expand books to include magazines, journals, blogs, even listening to Podcasts.  The bottom line is that you have to always be exposing yourself to new ideas.  I know for me at least, it is easy to get stuck in a rut, especially if that rut seems to be going more, or less, the right direction.  It is good to get out of the rut every once in a while and blaze a whole new trail.  New ideas from others help get the creative juices going.

10 Things I Love About Peru

I shared these today at Calvary, but I thought I would post them here for posterity sake.  In reflecting on my time in Peru this summer, there are several lessons I learned and several aspects of the Peruvian culture that I fell in love with.  Here are 10 of them...

10. The Schedule.  Every day we awoke to a rooster crow, usually around 3:00 am, which a touch earlier than what I am used to getting up, but I loved rolling out of my hammock around 4:00 or 5:00 and heading to work.  Generally we worked from 6:00, or so, in the morning till 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon.  Then we had our afternoons off to go swimming, hang out with the villagers and build community, or just take a nice siesta nap until the evening service.

9. Pastor's Who are Hungry for God.  We worked with two pastors along the Itaya river who were just as passionate about reaching their villages for Christ as the pastors at Calvary are about reaching our community.

8. Kid's Can Use the Restroom on the Church Floor and No One Cares.  It didn't matter if it was a kid who couldn't behave quite right, an old man who smelled a little odd, or if it was someone who was just a little "different", people were just glad that others were able to be at church....even if they make a little mess on the floor.

7. I Learned I Can Live with a Lot Less.  I realized that I really don't need my iPhone, my computer, or even that new Kindle I really want.  The people of Peru live without running water, electricity, and a whole lot less than what I have.

6. No Need to Go to Gym, Because Just Getting Through the Day is a Workout.  Just getting from point "A" to point "B" requires expending a ton of energy...and sweat.  

5. The "Downtown Square" of Every Village is a Soccer Field.  Enough said.

4. The people of Peru are Very Family Focused.  It didn't matter if they were cooking dinner, eating breakfast, going to work, going to church, or just hanging, out the people of Peru do everything as a family. 

 3. Everyone has a Place of Ministry in the Church...Including Kids.  I love being a part of a church that values kids, and it was great to see that same value in Peru as well.  The kids were a part of the church services, especially when it came to the music.

2. Hospitality on a Completely Different Level.  When the people of the second village we visited found out we were coming they actually built bridges to make our 2 or 3 day stay easier.  They don't use bridges.  They just walk down the hill, through the creek, and up the other side.  But they didn't want us to have to do that, so they actually went through the trouble of building us bridges to use.  Just one example of their amazing hospitality.

1. There are No McDonalds...so I Lost 11 Pounds!  We worked so hard that sometimes I didn't really even feel like eating, but when I did eat it certainly wasn't McDonald's.  Fish and rice made up the majority of our afternoon meals. 

Beyond the Soiled Curtain

I have been on a pretty good reading kick lately.  Just finished the book, Beyond the Soiled Curtain by David and Beth Grant.  This book provides a glimpse of Falkland Road in Bombay, and reveals the atrocity of human trafficking and what organizations like Project Rescue (http://www.projectrescue.com/) are doing to combat it. 

A few stats from the book regarding those sold into the sex-slave industry....

    - Some are sold into a life of prostitution by their families for as little as $150.

    - The average age of someone sold into prostitution is 13.

    - 1 million children each year are exploited in the global commercial sex trade.

    - 50% of all trafficking victims worldwide are children.

    - 2.3 million girls and women work as prostitutes and madams in India alone.

    - 400 million in revenue is generated each year by Bombay's red light district.

I could go on, but I won't.  I encourage you to check out the book.  It is an easy read in the sense that it is not dense reading, but in the sense you will come face-to-face with the ugly side of the world we live in, it is a very difficult book to take in.

On a related note, I was also introduced to another organization combating human trafficking, focusing on those in Greece.  You can check them out at http://www.thea21campaign.org/.

Would You Be Happy in Heaven If Christ Were Not There

I normally don't just reprint quotes, but this one by John Piper from God is the Gospel is so good I couldn't resist....

John writes, "The critical question for our generation-and for every generation-is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?"

I'll admit I paused to think about this question....and I have my answer....no.  But what does it say about someone's relationship with Christ if they answer "yes" to this question?

I Just Realized How Out of Shape I Am

Until you run around a soccer field with kids for a few hours, it is easy to forget how out of shape you actually are.  This week during our church's Mega Sports Camp, I realized that I am very much out of shape.

This year was our best year yet at Mega Sports Camp yet.  We introduced baseball for the first time, and we also had our traditional basketball, soccer, archery and sports swords for the kids to participate in.  I think all the kids had a great time, and I know for sure I did.  A few things I love about sports camp....

1. It gives me the chance to get to know some kids I haven't met before from Calvary, and the community.

2. It is a great event for kids to invite their friends to, as almost everyone loves sports.

3. It is a great mix of having fun with sports, and having fun during the coaches huddle times (devotional times).

4. It get's me out of my office and staff meetings for the week :)

In fact, I love sports camps so much that we are probably going to be offering some more soon.  So keep an eye out for some upcoming sports clinics.  We will probably be offering archery again in the fall, and then baseball in the spring.