Tag Archives: life

Perspective on Capacity from Ray Pitman (3 of 3)

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Rockhurst University

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I have had the privilege of spending time with Ray Pitman, a member of Resurrection, over the past several months. Several years ago, I officiated at the funeral for his wife, Betty, and we reconnected this summer when I lead worship at Leawood one Saturday night. I found his perspective on capacity to be particularly helpful as presented to an executive MBA class at the Helzberg School of Management at Rockhurst University.

As drinking glasses exist in different sizes, people have varying capacities in life and work. If you fill a glass to the point of overflowing it won’t do any good to keep putting water in it. When your own glass is overflowing you have to be able to recognize that and make sure that you are surrounded by other people who have some additional capacity.

Four Keys to Business and Entrepreneurship from Ray Pitman (2 of 3)

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I have had the privilege of spending time with Ray Pitman, a member of Resurrection, over the past several months. Several years ago, I officiated at the funeral for his wife, Betty, and we reconnected this summer when I lead worship at Leawood one Saturday night. He has shared with me over and over his four keys to business and entrepreneurship. I have found them to be applicable in a wide variety of circumstances:

  1. Opportunity – Be able to recognize an opportunity when it presents itself.
  2. Vision – Have the vision to project that opportunity to where it might go; Be able to recognize if this is the opportunity for you
  3. Ability – Have the ability to make it happen
  4. Passion – Have passion for what you are doing.

Wisdom for Life from Ray Pitman (1 of 3)

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Seal of Rockhurst University

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I have had the privilege of spending time with Ray Pitman, a member of Resurrection, over the past several months. Several years ago, I officiated at the funeral for his wife, Betty, and we reconnected this summer when I lead worship at Leawood one Saturday night. Last Friday he invited me to hear him speak to an executive MBA class at the Helzberg School of Management at Rockhurst University. He has told his life as a case study to classes at the Helzberg School for several years and I wanted to share a few tidbits for life, work and ministry.

  • Don’t ever be afraid to ask. Don’t worry if you don’t have the money to accomplish a project that you have in mind. If the idea is great, there will be someone that will be able to help fund it.
  • Just because your back is against the wall don’t think that there isn’t anything to do about it.
  • What may seem to be tragedy at the time may be the best thing that ever happened to you.
  • Surround yourself with people that are smarter than you are and your horizons will be broadened by their abilities.
  • Sometimes its best to ignore the details and focus on the people who are caring for the details.

Two Realities about Jobs

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Regional 17428, Estação de Briançon, 2011.07.24

Image by nmorao via Flickr

I had a great conversation with a colleague a couple weeks ago about the reality of jobs. Here is what he had to say:

  • When considerino possibile roles or commitments, play to your passions and don’t apologize for it.
  • There will always be a part of every job that you hate.

What would you add to the list of reality about jobs?

Top 10 Ways to Connect

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Connecting with people is one of the most important roles of being a pastor. I was inspired by Valeria Maltoni with her list of 100 Ways to Connect. I selected my top 10 from the list at Conversation Agent.

  • Introduce Peers
  • Tell Stories
  • Stay offline when you’re tired or argumentative
  • Brag about your fans’ products and services
  • Become the person you’d like to be
  • Stay soft on people, hard on issues
  • Thank often and liberally
  • Adopt and credit good ideas
  • Appreciate success is several years in the making
  • Set a good example
What do you find to be the most effective ways of connecting with people?

What do you want?

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I enjoy writing on this blog and want to be intentional about asking what you want as a reader. Will you please share:

  • What kind of posts on this blog do you enjoy?
  • What is a topic that you would like to have me address?
  • What questions do you have about faith, life or ministry?
  • What questions do you have about Resurrection Online?
  • How could this blog be more meaningful or helpful for you?

Please leave your responses in the comments or email me directly at andrew dot conard at cor dot org with “Blog Idea” in the subject line.

I look forward to hearing from you!

How do you know something is true?

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You know something is true when it is measured against something that is certain truth. In my case, I look to scripture as the primary source for understanding the truth about life, the universe and everything. As a United Methodist Christian, I seek to discren whether something is true by comparing it to what I find in scripture. I seek to understand the truth as found in scripture by using my own reason and intellect, the tradition of the church across time and the experience of a community of believers as well as my own experience of faith. These tools guide my search for truth and help me know whether something is true or false.

I recently met with a congregant who shared some deep questions with me. I asked for permission to share them on this blog to more broadly share my response.

Raking Leaves and the Spiritual Life

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I enjoy taking care of our yard. It is good for my soul.

Last fall, I did not have a chance to get in a final raking as the snow fell early and stayed on through most of the winter. This meant that we were left with a mess of wet and matted leaves to take care of this spring. I was outside raking and saw different results. Where there were thick leaves some of the grass had died and in other locations the grass was not as full and thick in coverage. A good raking cleared out the leaves as well as dead grass that had built up. This let air in and more importantly let the grass see the sun.

The grass is like our spiritual life.

There are places in my soul that are covered and matted down and not able to get the sustenance that is needed. These are the areas in my life where there continues to be sin. Confession and reconciliation clears away the sin, some of the effects of sin and more importantly lets my soul see the Son.