As a volunteer or paid staff of your church, you are personally responsible for your own work. But others play an important part in how you accomplish your goals.

communication with the pastor -
It is almost always necessary to keep the communication between you and your pastor, or else, your work will suffer.

Churches are busier than ever these days. Even if you don’t see much of it while serving your duting in the office or from your living room, the pastor does. Weekly, even daily, events adjust office needs, alter assignments, change deadlines, etc.

You must keep a channel of communication open with your pastor to minimize the stress of completing your duties. Once you’re stressed, your performance lowers, and your enthusiasm for your job or volunteering your duties lowers.

Communicating regularly with your pastor does not need to be intrusive.
*Attend church on Sunday – this not only is good for your own happiness and spiritual growth, but also a good time to catch small notices of ongoing events and needs with the congregation and church.
*Make a habit of connecting with your pastor one-on-one. Visit your pastor on a regular basis, weekly or monthly, depending on the activity level for your church. Go to the church functions and chat with your pastor for a few moments.
*When you have a free moment in your life, call your pastor up. Ask if there’s a current need at the church. Perhaps this week’s cleaners are sick, maybe they’re behind in getting stuff printed for the upcoming event, or maybe the office needs some extra filing done.

However and where ever you connect with your pastor, it does not need to be invasive. Keep it short, sweet, and friendly. Stay tuned in to the environment around you and to your pastor’s body language. You’ll be able to tell if your pastor is really busy.

But for goodness sake, if you really have a problem and need your pastor’s help, don’t hesitate to ask and talk to your pastor about it. Even the most busy pastors know how to make time for the needs of their congregation, and it makes them happy to help out.

Ellen Datlow’s recent post about FTC’s ignorance has kept me busy this morning. I’ve known that the time was coming that even a basic book review would be subject to scrutiny and laws. That time is coming down fast with the new ruling…it applies to book reviews on your blogs – and it even goes out to the social sites.

I have a lot of websites to maintain. I’m now adding disclaimers to all about my reviews. And from now on, each review will have a disclaimer on it.

I’ve also been contacting Lilley Press book reviewers to let them know that they probably would want to add a disclaimer to their reviews.

This ruling is absolutely stupid and assinine…but it will stay…been coming for way too long.

And affiliates…better be safe and add disclaimers that your links are affiliate links. That ruling has been in a long time coming…might be here already if I’ve missed it. I know the pay per click ads are super picky about it now, and constantly getting worse. It’s one reason I don’t use them. Don’t want the headaches associated with them. I have enough going on as it is now.

For more information read Ellen’s post: http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/221907.html

She talks about this article: http://www.edrants.com/interview-with-the-ftcs-richard-cleland/

And there’s also this article for information: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10368064-36.html#

Nice to know where our tax dollars are being spent isn’t it?

*End cross posting

At Helpmychurchgrow.com, I post affiliate links and give reviews at times. From October 2009 onward, I will indicate if a link is an affiliate link and add a disclaimer to product reviews on how I got a product and that the review is my honest opinion.

I’ve got some updating to do…again…

With the Swine Flu or H1N1 Flu going around, I notice many are told to stay away from public places when an outbreak hits your area, including churches. That’s wise. Us Christians are noted for being very sharing with anything we have, including our illnesses. We shake hands, hug those who need support, and gather in general where it’s very easy to “share” whatever we may be carrying.

This flu will keep many of us at home. And that brought a concern to me.

While you may keep your family at home for their own protection during an outbreak, please remember not to keep your tithing at home too. The church needs to survive during this time also. It still must pay the bills in order to do so. Please remember that and mail in your giving if you find yourself having to remain at home for your health and the safety of your family.

For more information on the flu, see the CDC webpage here:
http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/qa.htm

I should be posting a few things to the membership site this week yet.

I created a print copy of the Church Library guide in paperback format. It looks really good, but I still need to upgrade it yet. The notes I’ve made so far will add about 50 pages to the final copy in the book format. Haven’t figured out what that would add to the downloadable report format.

When I made my goals for this year, I didn’t realize that my professional mentor in all this would be gone for a full month. So, it will be September/October before I’m ready to present anything of the Stewardship Growth Program again. I need to wait for him before finalizing all the upgrades, and I’m sure he’ll have to fit me in between all the million other things that will be waiting for him when he returns.

I’ll be gone for a time in August, but seeing as I have a laptop now, my work is mobile and that should not slow me down.

I’ve missed you all!

I have medication for the illness part, but the meds are high dose, of which I’m taking 1/2 doses. And they still make me very ill. But I’m finishing them for the entire duration because I want to be clear of this thing and get my “life” back. LOL

In the meantime, I’m working on low speed and very light work. Which means that my Christian work is on hold, as far as the online updates go. I still work with Bible and notebook, and will have plenty of updates to add in when I’m back up to speed. Might even have to ask daughter or son to help me get caught up with the typing.

Hopefully, I’ll be back to full speed next week. Just wanted to drop a line and let people know.

God Be With All of You!

Billionaire Dennis Cavendish uses his funds to build a facility on his island, the Paradise of Taino. His underwater, top of the line, first fully staffed underwater habitat, named Atlantis, will make history by gathering methane hydrate crystals from beneath the seafloor and give the world the only clean fuel that Earth has to offer. And make him the center of attention in the meantime.

But things go terribly wrong when a plane carrying the CEOs of nine of the world’s largest corporations to his island goes down, unleashing the first of sabotaging attacks from an ecoterrorist bent on destroying his beloved operation, and humanity with it. Soon, the ecoterrorist group kills his science team and destroys Atlantis.

The destruction releases gigatons of poisonous methane into the water and atmosphere, killing everything in its path. The altered gas makes its way towards the Florida Keys and threatens to kill everyone and everything on Earth if it isn’t stopped.

Victoria Clark, Taino’s security chief, now suspected of the sabotage, teams up with the U.S. Government and Dr. Sam Briscoe, a methane expert, to find a way to stop the methane from spouting into the atmosphere and to nullify the methane that’s already making its way along the coast.

Bill Evans and Marianna Jameson team up once again with Frozen Fire to bring us a thriller that keeps us on the edge. The characters are vivid and the science is frightening real. Putting down this book before getting to the end is a very painful thing to do.

If you like to read about real people in potentially real situations, with real aspirations, talents, and flaws, you’ll love this book. The mix of science, deep characters, and believable twists brings a compelling story to the book.

You can preorder Frozen Fire by Bill Evans and Marianna Jameson here.

Book Review Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in ARC format from the publisher as an invitation to review the book. This review is my honest opinion. I give the reviews without outside influence or a guarantee of a good review.

For the few beta readers who haven’t gotten word to me yet, it’s not too late.

I’ll be working this series over through the summer and republishing it this fall. And it’s going to be awesome!

Don’t worry. All beta readers who participated with their feedback and current subscribers will also receive the updates. I haven’t forgotten that I promised that benefit to you.

In Helpmychurchgrow.com news, I’ll be updating the site some more this month. Look out for some goodies in the member’s area.

A lot of what we’re facing in life is not all that different than what you’re going through. There’s health issues, family issues, personal issues, and financial issues. In this way, we’re all going through the same struggles in life.

Our issues are not insurmountable. In fact, many of our issues just take a bit of patience to get through. But sometimes just knowing that there is an answer coming to your problems isn’t enough. Sometimes it still drives you insane.

I do a little bit of everything to alleviate it, ranging from allowing myself to go completely crazy for ten minutes to meditation. On bad days, I do both and everything in between that I can think of.

But there’s one thing that helps me the most. Reading God’s Word and praying.

I can’t handle everything this world throws at me alone. I can’t handle it even with the wonderful help of the people around me. I need God’s help to make it through each day.

Today, my chosen scripture was James 1:2-3 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”

Every so often, I feel that I’ve encountered one too many trials. That I’ve finally reached my limit and it’s time to give up. But even when the day doesn’t end favorably, God manages to pull me back. He brings me Hope that there is a day when the trial ends and I can relax. He brings me Assurance that His will is for me to keep going and to do good.

When I make a mistake, He teaches me to not dwell on the past where I created the circumstances that led to the error, but to look towards the future and find out how to fix it. That’s a gift from God. Another chance to make it right.

My mistakes are cumbersome and irritating, but I know they are small compared to others. (Thank God, I have not made a dire mistake that has harmed another in a serious fashion. And I pray I will stay vigilant enough to not do so in the future.)

But some people make bigger mistakes. Mistakes have consequences. The consequences vary in relation to the mistake made. Sometimes the consequences of those mistakes take longer to get through and are more painful than what you did to make the mistake in the first place.

That’s okay. God forgives. And he allows you to forgive yourself. He wants you to stand tall and do good, even if you must suffer through those consequences.

God doesn’t take our mistakes away. Rather he helps us deal with them and come out a better person on the other side of them. He helps us see how we can do better in the future. And the really cool thing is that we’re not allowed just one mistake. Life is full of mistakes.

In my writing, a mentor calls this “accelerated failures”. When you make a mistake, you don’t stop what you’re doing. You assess what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. You change what you’re doing wrong, and do it better the next time. My mentor also stresses that there may be multiple failures before you figure out how to do it right.

The same applies to life.

Psalm 145:14 shows this well. “The Lord sustains all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down.”

When you mess up, take it to the Lord. He will help you face your trials, settle your mind so you can deal with your mistakes, and help you see the way to fixing them. And provide you with the stamina you need to make the corrections in your life, to survive the consequences.

Life is a storm we must cross through. Have faith that He will see you through it safely to the other side. Mark 4:35-40

“Since nothing we intend is ever faultless, and nothing we attempt ever without error, and nothing we achieve without some measure of finitude and fallibility we call humanness, we are saved by forgiveness.” David Augsnurger

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Diana Cacy Hawkins works as The Digital Church Secretary, creating guides for churches and church members and volunteers. The Stewardship Growth Program can be found at http://www.stewardshipgrowthprogram.com

Answers to our problems are in that Great Record. Within its pages, we find solutions and tools that allow us to cope with life. We find inspiration to keep going and insight on how to help those around us deal with their troubles.

While the busy life may keep us from reading our Bible, it’s no excuse to not read a passage or two on a daily basis. If you start your day with prayer and with scripture, it works in your heart and in your life. You will meet the day’s challenges with more strength. That strength will help you find the answers you need and you will have increased stamina for those answers that do not come as soon as we want them to.

Reading your Bible on a daily basis helps fortify your ability to face the difficulties you haven’t seen coming yet. Sometimes a situation doesn’t become a problem because you’ve taken the time to prepare for your day. Prayer and Scripture can relax you and help you deal better with stress. When you deal with stress, you may see trouble in time to avoid it.

With daily scripture comes…

• Strength
• Clarity of thinking
• An open heart
• A controlled tongue
• A path to a better place
• Hope

When you’re closer to God and more aware of His Truth, the possibilities in life are endless.

Diana Cacy Hawkins works as The Digital Church Secretary, creating guides for churches and church members and volunteers. The Stewardship Growth Program can be found at http://www.stewardshipgrowthprogram.com