Monday, January 19, 2009

Long time gone!

Sorry about taking so long to update things. It has been crazy on this
end. I am grateful for the way God has blessed the ministry over the
years. In the past couple of years I have been gone more than I am home.
I average being home about 10 days a month. Last fall I began to pray
for wisdom on how to manage things better. I was wore out! I felt that
God was clearly at work and that I needed to adjust the way I was
operating the ministry to fit with what He is doing.

I've had an administrative assistant, Jackie, for a few years now. She
works out of her home in Arizona of all places. With the internet and
cell phones, it is not difficult to communicate. She has been a great
help to me. But I don't think I have utilized her help the way I should.
So I have been evaluating everything I am currently doing (or not
getting done!) and asking myself the question "Can Jackie do this for
me?" I am encouraged by the progress I am making in this area and Jackie
is quick to step up to the plate to take care of whatever I give to her.
It has already been a great help.

I will be delegating more of the web ministry to a contract worker so we
can move forward with online donations, etc. Also, I will be bringing on
staff someone local to help with a few task like banking, copying
checks, etc., that need to be taken care of when I am gone. Overall, the
plan is to delegate everything that someone else can do to focus my
energies on the few things that only I can do - like songwriting,
writing, producing a new CD, message preparations, keeping in touch with
Pastors, etc. All in all I am very encouraged.

In the mean time with all of this going on, I have been very busy taking
care of all the things that need to happen for the many Canadian events
I will be doing this year, which begin next month with the Mission Fest
in Edmonton, Alberta. We are now having CDs duplicated in Canada and
stored in Canada for all the Canadian events. That also meant that all
of the artwork for the CD had to be redone to reflect the duplicating in
Canada. We've also developed a system for handling the currency exchange
for donations from Canada and are creating a receipt specifically for
Canadian donations. It is like setting up a foreign office. Crazy! But
so exciting to see what God is doing.

And there is so much more. All that to explain why I have not taken time
to update the blog. I'll try to do better in the future.

Have a great day!