Blog Moved

All future blogs will be at:

www.nolangalido.com

Thanks,

Nolan

Planning A Future

As some of you may know I’m in the pre-step process of planting a church in Philippines and it is exciting times. I’ve been reading every book under the sun about church planting and so many thoughts and ideas are floating in my head. Thoughts of vision statements, values, purpose, goals, plans, etc. My wife and I have continually been talking about the needs in the Philippines. We’ve been discussing things were we believe God is already working in that area and ways of how we can partner with Him. Just looking into the future and anticipating what God can accomplish.

So one day I was driving home with these various thoughts in my head, mainly trying to come up with a vision/purpose statement, and then it hit me. I should rephrase that… God hit me! Out of no where a thought popped into my head, “What is your vision for your marriage?”. Was it just a random thought…maybe? Could it be a prompting of the Holy spirit…probably!

So for the past few days now I have been looking at my marriage, specifically my wife. I was convicted that I seem to be focused on planning a future for a church more than planning a future with my wife. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally not ignoring my wife or putting ministry before her, far from it. But when it comes to having a vision/purpose statement, goals, values, etc… I just don’t have one yet.

I find it interesting how Christ compares himself as a groom and the church as a bride yet so many resources for churches seem to compare church to a fortune 500 company (another blog for another time). So I’m not sure I can take those resources and instead of applying it to church I apply it to my wife. It just seems too corporate. Right now all I have is to love my wife as much as Christ loves me, I even think thats in the bible

So for the next couple of weeks I’m going to take the focus off planning for a church plant and place my focus on planning a future with my wife. If you have any resources you want to recommend please feel free to post them. I wonder if there is a book “Purpose Driven Husband”?

Nolan

God, are you here?

How many of us have ever heard these sayings or have said them ourselves “God come into this place”, “Wow God showed up big time”, “I really felt the presence of God in this place”, etc. I must admit I have prayed a few of these and even more but the question I have is, Do we have to pray for God to show up or is He already there? I’ve learned that God is omnipresent, yet I still pray for Him to show up at times as if he was not there. Do we ask him to show up because it is something we’ve just learned by hearing others pray that or is it biblical to ask God to come into a place?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

The Shack – Fictional Theology?

“The Shack” by William P. Young is a new book out that deals with God and his relationship with our world. A description of the book from amazon is:

“In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain? The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book. “

I’ve read many reviews on this book, good and bad, and I wanted to share a review that I think is important before we dive into this book. In Ben Witherington’s blog he goes through the theological problems of this story.

“This novel is not a literary masterpiece. Its value stands or falls on some of the provocative and interesting things it says about our relationship with God, and it is in regard to its theology that I want to comment in this post. I accept that this novel has gone through various revisions, and rewrites, and could be called a work in progress. What I would suggest is that it needs considerable further theological refinement.”

You can read the rest of the review here.

Time-Management Part 1

So I promised to post a few resources on time-management and of course I lost track of time. But seriously I have been getting better in managing my schedule. What I have been using lately is Google Calendar. I found a great video that breaks it down. Let me know if it helps!

You can view the video here!

What is the Gospel?

What is the Gospel? Do you know or has it become a word often used but rarely explained?

I’ve read a great article by CJ Mahaney that sheds light on what the gospel is. Here is an excerpt:

“It’s not difficult to identify distortions of the gospel. But as a pastor, one of my main concerns for genuine Christians is a more subtle one: either assuming the gospel or neglecting the gospel. I have found this to be the greatest threat to the gospel in my own life. Jerry Bridges echoes this concern when he writes, “The gospel is not only the most important message in all of history; it is the only essential message in all of history. Yet we allow thousands of professing Christians to live their entire lives without clearlyunderstanding it and experiencing the joy of living by it.”

You can view the rest of the article here.

Starbucks Remix

Interesting Article:

http://blog.pentagram.com/2008/07/james-biber-remakes-starbucks.php#more

“Send Me” Lecrae and Tadashi Live

The Five Year Plan

Earlier today I was watching a show called The Big Idea hosted by Donny Deutsch. The topic for this specific episode was “Becoming a Millionaire in 5 years or Less” and they had 6 guests that actually achieved this. While listening to each guest there were a few common threads that held them together. Passion, Perseverance, and definitely a Plan. They spoke on how they were not happy with the normal 9 to 5, the rat race, and so they wanted to pursue something that they actually had a passion for. The guests ranged from shoe designers to makers of honey syrup. Then they stressed how they had a plan. From the first year selling everything they can to come up with funds, then persistantly networking and making conacts, until they were able to reach the goal they set.

Now I bring this up because lately I’ve been having a hard time with what you can call focusing, time-mangement, or setting up a plan. And I also noticed how each day I get the most hits on my blog from the tag “focus” so it seems I’m not the only person with this problem. Now I’m not trying to set up shop to make millions, which wouldn’t be bad, but I believe I’m pursuing something that goes beyond financial prosperity. My goal is to continue to pursue Christ and in turn share the story of Christ to the world, specifically to transplant from Los Angeles and embrace people with Gods love in Philippines. This is what I’m passionate about, this is my goal.

Now shouldn’t I have a plan?

I will definitely need a plan. I believe it was CJ Mahaney that said “If we don’t attack the week with a plan then the week will attack us.” and I have been allowing the week to control my schedule. So I’m going to start finding tools that help with time-management, planning, etc. As the weeks go by I will post resources that I will come across on and also post my progress.

If you have any tools or ideas you already use please feel free to let me know.

The Battle – Journal Entry

I recently went through my backup hard drive and I found a journal entry from 05 that I wanted to share:

“ The life I live is a life of constant battle. Born into a blood drenched battlefield where two armies are fighting for souls. The many who have no idea what is going on stand in the middle of this controlled chaotic field like targets on a range. Eyes shut and living in a world only fit for dreams. One side is simply allowing them to sleep knowing they are not a threat in their absent state while also waiting for the ones that seem to awaken ready to sing their melodic deceptive tune to sway them back to their sleep state. While the other side is quickly calling out to the hearts of the lost awakening them to an adventure that can not be delayed. In a sense it is a fight for the souls. The ending has been told from the ages but the enemy is trying to lull as many as he can before the book closes.
I am one of those have woken from the dormant curse. In my mind it took years for me to open my eyes, constantly hearing the call but fighting every urge to awake. There were a few times I opened my eyes but I foolish fell into the trap of that melodic tune the world plays over and over. But in 2001 I awoke to the call! I stand on this battlefield and I scan the horizon. So many people I have come to know are still in their gray state. The enemy in every corner with their watchful eye waiting to bring down any disruption to the rows of unaware pods. I stand with the army of the Lord despising the enemy. Looking into the dark crevices where their eyes should be. Sensing their anger, pride, jealousy, and diabolic way of contemplating. Beasts of Burden is what I have come to know them as. I stand fully armed now and running to fight! There are too many lives at stake to simply watch. Yes there are times were I have fallen, times where the call of the beast tugs so strongly to the desires of my flesh but I WILL NEVER ALLOW THEM TO BRING ME BACK TO A SLEEP DRIVEN STATE!! In the name of my Lord I get up and continue to fight!!!
I look around and I see many other soldiers joining the cause with me. But it seems we are all fighting this battle alone as unsung heroes. I see the mocking in the eyes of the beasts! We must regroup, and instead of fighting on instinct alone, listen to the wisdom of our king and see what we must do to form a true army to attack the enemy strategically!

Lord help me realize the battle I’m in when temptation comes. I continually fall asleep when temptation hits and I don’t do anything about it. Lord help me be aware so I may call out to your name and  thats where I will draw strength from! Thank you God! Hear my cry!”