4 Steps To Identify Core Values And Make The Best Decisions

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In 1994 I was leading a church that Carolyn and I had planted 13 years earlier. We had wonderful people, a supportive staff and had experienced significant growth. It was a great church, so why would I leave that stable environment to start a new church from scratch with no guarantees?

CC Image courtesy of Nina Matthews Photography  on Flickr

Because reaching new people through starting new churches was more important than the risks involved. We valued outreach more than security.

Identifying “Core Values” such as this has helped me decide when to make major life changes. It will help you also.

What are Core Values? “Values are traits or qualities that are considered worthwhile; they represent your highest priorities and deeply held driving forces.”

Unless we consider and identify our Core Values, we will waste time doing things we really don’t value and miss doing things we truly value.

Here are 4 steps to help identify and live in harmony with your Core Values: 

Answer these Strategic Questions

Here are some questions to help determine what you truly value:

• To which causes do you voluntarily contribute resources of time or money?

• Describe your greatest passion for life in one sentence.

• What lessons have you learned about character?

• What makes you scream or pound your fist on the table?

• Think of two or three people you really respect. What characteristics do you admire in them?

• If your home were on fire (and all the people and pets were safe), what three objects would you save? Why?

• If you could change one thing in your community, what would it be and why? What would you change in the world at large?

Reflect on Past Experiences

Think of a time or experience that most satisfied or fulfilled you.

What made you feel that way about it? For example:

• Loyalty

• Respect

• Faith

• Family

• Harmony

• Happiness

• Friendship

• Success

• Honor

• Wealth

• Self-reliance

Write your Top Core Values

Based on your answers to the questions above in point #1 and the values you listed in point #2, write your top Core Values. Consider what you truly value, not your current realities, which might need to be adjusted.

List 3 to 10 things you value the most.

NOTE: This article is based on one of the chapters in my eBook called Don’t Miss Your Life. You can get it for free when you sign up to receive my updates via email.

Reevaluate Your Priorities

Now reevaluate the investment of any resources (of time, energy and money) that are not aligned with your Core Values.

For example putting your job before your family can create a false sense of security and fulfillment. Yet it might eventually destroy your family. So step back, reassess and prayerfully choose another path.

Choosing another path might involve:

• A new attitude

• A new career

• A new commitment

Examples: Some of My Core Values

As a Christian, my values flow from my faith and my life purpose. The Bible is my handbook for life, so I anchor each value with a supporting Bible verse.

Here are four of my personal Core Values:

• FATHER – I live to please my Heavenly Father: A good day is when I do everything to please Him: “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10 NIV)

• FAMILY – I put my family before ministry and after the Lord: “If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?” (1 Timothy 3:5 NIV)

• FAITH – I live by faith. I have a hopeful and optimistic attitude that allows me to get the most out of life by trust in Christ: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” (Ecclesiastes 9:10 NIV)

• EXCELLENCE – I strive for excellence, which pleases God: “‘When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?’ says the LORD Almighty.” (Malachi 1:8 NIV)

What are your Core Values? Please share them below either in FaceBook or the comment section of this blog (better option).

A Core Value You Mustn’t Miss

Sometimes people overlook the most important value—eternal peace.

Zig Ziglar used to say that you better take care of your eternity since after all, you’re going to be dead a lot longer than you are alive.

The Bible says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)

Click here to learn how to be “justified by faith” and receive eternal salvation through Christ.

This article is based on one of the chapters in my eBook called Don’t Miss Your Life. You can get it for free when you sign up to receive my updates via email.

6 Answers To Questions About Church Planting

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I started planting a church at just 26 years of age. Having no prior experience in serving on a church staff, I really didn’t know what I was doing. We started in a living room with only 13 people on the first Sunday. Remarkably, the church is still going over 30 years later. Also, many other churches have been started out of that church.

Every church was started by someone sometime. Snapped this photo of one in Hawaii recently. Christians hear about church planting but have questions.

Here are answers to these 6 common questions about church planting:

WHO Plants Churches?

The Bible says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10 NIV)

Jesus provided salvation when He died for sins and rose again. But He passed the torch of spreading the Good News to His followers after He ascended into heaven.

We can learn about how the early believers spread the Good News in the “Acts of the Apostles.”

There we find:

• The disciples going from town to town, preaching and starting churches

• The Gospel spreading throughout Asia and Europe through evangelism and church planting

• Everywhere the Gospel was spread there were churches planted

We must do what the original believers did.

Every Christian is called to church planting. Some are called to go and plant. Others are called to stay and support church planting through prayer, finances and in other ways

WHAT is Church Planting?

Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18b ESV) This means the universal church and local churches as well.

Church comes from EKKLESIA: a Greek compound word literally translated as “an assembly of called out ones.”

Definition: A church is a group of believers in Christ who meet for biblical worship, learning, and mission.

Starting a church does not require:

• A lot of money

• A big staff

• A large building or any building

It just takes willing hearts!

WHEN Should We Plant Churches?

“While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.’” (Acts 13:2-3 ESV)

This verse is the beginning of the church planting journeys of Paul and many companions.

When do we plant churches? Whenever God calls us to, and when our hearts are:

• Open

• Willing

• Earnestly praying

Perhaps you think God has called but you didn’t answer. Remember this phrase: “The best next time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The next best time is now.”

WHERE Should Churches be Planted?

Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 ESV)

Jesus was instructing believers in Jerusalem to spread the Gospel:

In Jerusalem (their home town)In Judea (their home province)In Samaria (an area of cultural diversity yet close by)To the end of the earth (everywhere)

This same pattern is right for today:

• Plant in your hometown

• Plant in your region

• Plant in areas of cultural diversity

• Plant to the ends of the earth.

Start planting at home and reach out from there.

WHY Must We Plant Churches?

Jesus said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul.” (Mark 8:36 KJV)

Nothing is more important than one’s eternal destiny. But we have yet to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth as Jesus said to do.

We must plant churches because it is the most biblical and effective way to obey Christ’s Great Commission.

Local churches need to be established in conjunction with evangelism so people can grow in their faith and become true followers of Jesus.

Additionally, planting churches is the way to bring lasting social change and to make the greatest impact on issues such as:

• AIDS

• Hunger

• Unhealthy Water

• Lack of Medical Care

HOW Can We Plant More Churches?

IF YOU ARE CALLED TO GO, then let church leaders know of your interest in planting new churches:

• Let your pastor/s know

• Contact Dynamic Church Planting International about volunteer and staff opportunities

• Contact me for coaching in church planting

IF YOU ARE CALLED TO STAY and support, then give and pray for church planting around the world.

You can PRAY:

• For church planting among unreached people groups

• For my ministry

• For the ministry I work with: Dynamic Church Planting International

• For church planting in the persecuted church

You can GIVE:

To my ministry with DCPITo the general ministry of Dynamic Church Planting International

FOR MORE INFORMATION about church planting:

See my article “4 Obstacles to Church Planting and the Myths Behind Them”See my article “4 Reasons We MUST Start New Churches Now“Watch my message on “Global Church Planting Sunday”

How To Survive Rejection And Find Acceptance Today

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During high school I dated a girl who, along with her parents, decided I was not right for her. That rejection cut deeply.

CC Image courtesy of Linda Tanner on Flickr

In retrospect, that rejection was one of the best things that ever happened to me. God later gave me Carolyn to be my wife and spending life with her has been absolutely wonderful.

Garth Brooks sang about a similar experience in a song titled “Unanswered Prayers:”

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers

Remember when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs

That just because he doesn’t answer doesn’t mean he don’t care

Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

Unfortunately, it often takes years to see the good side of rejection. In the meantime, it can be devastating. And sometimes we never figure out the whys.

So how can we cope with rejection?

Here are four points to remember when you feel the pain of rejection:

Everyone Experiences Rejection–Even Jesus

Rejection is a fact of life—everyone faces it at times. And it can be one of the most hurtful emotional pains that human beings can inflict on each other.

There are many sources of rejection:

• Divorce, abuse or neglect by a family member

• A trusted friend betrays us

• Being cut from a team

• We are passed over for a job offer or promotion, or even fired

We should not be surprised when we suffer rejection. Both friends and enemies rejected Jesus, the sinless One. “He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3)

As with Jesus, rejection often has nothing to do with our doing something wrong—it is due to circumstances and even jealousy over how well we have done.

We Can Deal with Rejection in Healthy Ways

It is important to deal with rejection by responding in a positive ways:

• Pray honestly and share your feelings with God. He knows them anyway, so just go ahead and talk with Him about them.

• Study the Bible and learn how Jesus, David, Joseph and others handled rejection

• Talk through your feelings with a trusted friend and be open to receive their input. Be careful however not to gossip.

• If you are a Christ-follower, remember that God has fully accepted you. Scripture says that God “… made us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6 KJV)

• Set a time limit to process grief and consider areas for improvement. At the end of that time set aside the episode by forgiving those who have rejected you. Note: this does not mean trusting someone who has proven untrustworthy, it only means forgiving.

God is in Control and Has a Plan

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Christians have the assurance that nothing happens merely by chance. The Heidelberg Catechism put it this way: “All things…come to us not by chance but by God’s hand.”

It is far easier to make sense out of rejection when we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Invite Him into your life today if you have not yet done so.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11)

You will Someday discover the Underlying Purpose for Your Rejection

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

God is in control and does not waste any pain. He uses rejection in all kinds of ways:

• Perhaps our rejection is meant to build our character.God might be directing us toward a new and better path.

• God might be correcting us.

• Rejection by some can open the door to acceptance by others who will be a greater blessing.

Joseph was rejected by his eleven brothers. They nearly murdered him. Instead they sold him into slavery. But God used that rejection to save many lives.

Years later Joseph summed up the situation to his brothers; “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” (Genesis 50:20 NLT)

Sometimes we learn the underlying reason for rejection in this lifetime. Other times we must wait for heaven to understand. But what we know is that God has a deeper purpose in our rejection that we can rest in whether we understand it or not.