Do you have a mission statement?

Most companies whether for profit or not for profit have some type of corporate mission or vision statement. It is a document that provides and understanding of purpose and helps to provide direction for the company. In essence, it is something that answers the questions “What are we in business for?” It is the glue that holds the fabric of a company together and provides purpose for its employees.


So don’t you think that if it is this important for companies to have mission statements, that we should too. After all we are the CEO of ourselves. We are the employees that make ourselves go. We are the maintenance staff, support staff, and doings of company “Me.” So if we are serious about ourselves, then we need to be serious about putting together a mission statement to help define purpose for us, to provide direction and help us to harness out abilities to reach our goal.

For me, I started the process of developing my personal mission statement about 12 years ago. I did it at the behest of my FranklinCovey Planner, which had a section in it titled mission. I have spent most of the 12 years honing it, praying about it, refining it and changing it to get where it is today. I use it every day of my life. I read it each day before I look at the task that I need to do. I reflect on it each week when I plan for the following week and I spend time pouring over it and refining it once a year when I do long range planning for my life.

So how do you get started? There are some links to mission statement builders such as this one from FranklinCovey or this from Nightingale Conant. You can use these if you want, or you can consider the following steps to help you create your own person mission statement.

1. First, think about your passions in life. What is it that gets you up in the morning? What is it that makes you tick? What is it that when you do it time seems to fly by. Whatever it is that drives you, write that down because you will need it through the process of putting together your mission statement.

2. Also, Identify your Core Values. What is it that defines you? What are the core ideas or attributes that describe you? After you put your list together, consider talking to some close friends or a significant other or spouse and get their take on what values they see in you. You may come up with a lot, but I would try and keep it down to 5 to 7 values that are really important. When you get those, then consider writing a statement that expresses that value and how it functions in your life.

3. Next, consider the various roles that you play. What are the different hats you wear? For example, for me it is father, husband, disciple of Christ, worker, project leader, minister, me, family/friend and so forth. I suggest that you limit this to 7 at the most. Once we get past seven you start to get into analysis paralysis. When you have determined the roles, then put together a statement about what success looks like in the different roles.

4. Finally, what do you want said at your funeral? I know this sounds a little weird, but it is the best test to determine who you hope to achieve. Stephen Covey tells us that we have an innate desire to Live, Love, Learn and Leave a Legacy. The Leave a Legacy part is how we want people to remember us. So think about that and consider using that as part of the creation of your mission statement.

Take the answers to these four questions and started crafting your mission statement. It can be whatever format you want it to be because it is yours. It can be poetry, prose, bullet points, hymns, songs or paragraphs and just do it.

Consider these steps and put together your own personal mission statement. I believe that you will find that you will be more focused, it will be easier to say yes and no to request in your life and get more stuff done that you had before. A personal mission statement will provide clarity for your live. Couldn’t you use that?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Missional Faith Communities

When did we start going wrong with the mission of Jesus, to go out and evangelize to the world and make disciples? We went out into the world and tried to take Western Christianity and imprint it throughout the world in total disregard for their cultures and their ways of life. We try to find ways to “Christianize” them make them more like us rather than reaching them where they are.


I had the pleasure of listening to missionaries recently who talked about this concept. They asked to remain anonymous, but I wanted to provide you some things that they talked about that they do to make missional faith communities.

Use you gifts to reach them. God has gifted us with something. It could be that we can dance, or do art. We may have been gifted with the ability to do sports or teaching or even bean counting. The point is that we are all gifted in something and in a missional faith community; we have to find ways to take our gifts and what we do and turn it around for the glory of God and to express what it means to be like Jesus to others.

Live Amongst Them. Don’t try to make them look western. Instead try to understand their culture, their ways of dress, speak their local dialect, understand their local music and arts and find ways to incorporate that into you missional faith communities and outreach. Don’t forsake local values and customs; they can be powerful if used properly to win souls for Christ.

Find People of Peace. Find people who are spirituality open and influential in the community. Even if they are not Christians, if they practice God’s truth in the real world that gives you a sign that the Holy Spirit is at work and if you can bring that spiritual leader over to the Lord’s side, they can have tremendous influence over others in the community.

Following Jesus. Think about what Jesus did. He lived and preached among the people. He went out to the poor, the meek, the hurt, the dirty and downtrodden. He was among them doing something. Not preaching to them or standing from on high in an ivy tower pointing out what they should or should not do. Same holds true with the missional community model. You have to live with them and understand them and show them the light in Jesus. You have to be following Jesus before you can convince them to be following Jesus and they have to see it happening.

Sharing Truth. It is good to live amongst people and serve them, but sooner or later you will have to share the truth. Share stories from the Bible with people. It will come up in day to day conversation, most people are not going to sit down and ask you to tell them some stories of the Bible. Stories are powerful and can really make a difference in the lives of people. Stories need to be done in a contextual way though, you don’t preach King James to them, you use words that they understand and can relate to. Contextualization is extremely important in being mission. It is a way to speak the truth in a way that they understand.

Building Hospital Community. A lot of places that you go and visit out in the non-westernized worlds are built around community. Decisions are made at the community level, not as individuals. In order for people to engage Jesus and explore the Gospel it is best done in the context of community. Where community is a place of discovery where they can explore and discover for themselves the truths of Christ. That also means that you accept people where they are in their lives. You have to welcome people into the community regardless of their background, beliefs, addictions, or what they wear or even if they have tattoos.

I will leave you with this thought about how they decide if something is worthwhile:

1. Is there an opportunity to share the gospel?

2. Is it meeting the need of the local community?

3. Is this really building community?

This was an enriching conversation and discussion with the missionaries. They use their unique talents and gifts to reach people where they are. If they can do it, shouldn’t we?

Gold Nuggets for the Professional Life

I just got the Classic Wisdom for the Professional Life to review. This is a Thomas Nelson book that was edited by Bryan Curtis. It is an easy read to get through since it is just quotations. Classic Wisdom is a book of gold nuggets from successful business leaders, politicians and cultural leaders around the world. The book is relatively small and compact at about 8 x 5 inches so it is not a difficult book to keep around at any time to get insight and motivation.


In a day where most professional have very little time and read more Executive Summaries than books, this book provides the ability to provide insight without having to feel like you have to sit down and read the whole book. This is the type of book that could be put on your night stand or desk and read in the morning or at the office at that time you need a pick me up or just plain old motivation. You don’t even have to read it linearly. You could practically open the book to any page and find a quote that will lift you up, motivate you, drive you and help you to become focused.

This book will also help you to find ways to love your job. These quotes will ground you in what you do and provide ways to understand and see your professional life differently than you do now. It will push you towards the rich life you can have when you love what you do, do what you love and make a difference each day. I think that if you can internalize this, it will definitely bleed over into your personal life and make a huge difference.

Take-a-ways from the book

1. You can take control of your professional life.

2. There is wisdom in the quotes of others.

3. No matter what your state during the day, you can find motivation.

4. You can love your job.

I will leave you with this quote from David McCullough in the book. “Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love.” You can find your lifework in the work you love and this book can help you to be motivated to realize that. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for motivation and gold nuggets to help you realize your dreams.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: The Noticer

I like to read and I also like to try and blog a little bit....I know I have been bouncing back and forth for a while keeping up with it, but when I cam upon Book Sneeze I thought I have died and gone to heaven.  Review books and blog about them, the best of both worlds.

For my first foray into this world, I picked Andy Andrew's book The Noticer to read.  I have to admit that this was not that hard to do, after all I have read The Traveler's Gift and The Lost Choice and thoroughly enjoyed each of them.

It is hard to classify Andrews writing style.  While it comes across as fiction, it is almost more of a parable that inspires than anything else.  The books stars a mysterious man named Jones.  Jones shows up, in seems, at just the right time.  He shows up in the middle of people's crisis.  Jones speaks like he is right from the Wisdom Literature of the Bible and he "notices" things about the people who he interacts with and provides some practical and common sense things for them to think about.  Often times it is just a way of pointing out the alternative ways to look at the situation.  In a way, he lifts up people above the trees so that they can see the forest.

Perhaps one of the most important things that Jones does is to remind the characters in the book and the readers that the most important part of our lives is not what is happening or what has happened, but what it is that is ahead of us and how we can take hold of that and change our lives.  No matter how back it is now or was, we have the chance to choose to look forward to what the future holds.

Jones finds ways to bring perspective to people who are going through a variety of difficult crisis in their life such as marriage issues, dealing with bankruptcy, feeling like you have no hope, and a variety of topics that could apply to your everyday person.  Jones provides the perspective so that  you can look at the situation differently and reclaim the situation to make a bad one better.

The book was a great read for me.  I think that you will find that once you start, you cannot stop and will find it difficult to put it down.  Andrews does a great job of providing nuggets all through our the book that we can take and use in our own lives just as much as those lives in the story itself.  He walks us through how we can put on our "new perspective" glasses and look at the situations in a new light.

Another part of the book that I appreciate is the reader's guide.  It takes the story and makes it more personal to the reader by providing some thought provoking questions that can be used individually or in a group setting.  That in itself is a blessing to me as I continue to read the book again and think about how it impacts me.

I recommend this book whole heartily.  You will be hard pressed to not read this book and be touched by it.



Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger Program.  I was not required to write a positive review.  The opinions I have expressed are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255:  "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."