Archive for category: LivingEd – Charlotte

by Thomas White, Student at LivingEd-Charlotte

Assembly by Dr. Douglas Winnail

“Some people have estimated that over 200,000 people have gone through the Church of God over the years. … We had a lot of people that came into the Church, that went to Ambassador College, but they’re no longer around anywhere.” ~ Dr. Douglas Winnail

LivingEd-Charlotte Assembly: March 21, 2019

My mom used to tell me stories of Ambassador College. She would get excited as she did, her eyes coming alight with nostalgic reminiscence while she talked about the people she’d called her closest friends. But then she’d become a bit wistful, and wonder aloud where most of those friends were, because she didn’t know, not really. She would have, if they had stayed in God’s truth, but they didn’t. Most of them left, and of those, most never came back.

Dr. Douglas Winnail’s powerful assembly addressed that sobering fact, this week, as he asked us Living Education students where each of us will be in ten years. Of course, we all say we’ll still be here, carrying on the work, growing in Christ’s grace and knowledge. Everyone in Ambassador College probably said that too.

“Where will you be in five, or ten, or fifteen years? It’s exciting to be here together, but we need to think long-term.”

Dr. Winnail likened the not-quite-100 years since Mr. Herbert Armstrong founded the Worldwide Church of God to the 100 years Noah spent building the ark and warning people of the imminent flood. We’re used to cute illustrations of a wooden cruise ship boasting an onboard petting zoo, but in reality, that ark was enormous. One would need scores of uniquely skilled laborers to build it, especially without what we understand about technology. It had to have taken a great many people, but only eight boarded the Ark. Likewise, it took a lot of people to build the Church…but as Dr. Winnail posed, how many stayed with it? How many will?

“We need to be thinking beyond this world…and be prepared for what’s coming in the future. … Not everyone who comes to Church every Sabbath is going to be in the Kingdom of God. … Only those who do the will of God. ”

Dr. Winnail reminded us of the grim reality that according to Matthew 7:21-23, not everyone “in the Church” will be in the First Resurrection. There are those who are members of the Living Church of God, but not parts of Christ’s body. Members of a group can always cancel their membership, but body parts don’t just pop off of their own accord. We have to ask ourselves, “Am I a detachable member, or a permanent part?”, and we have to answer confidently in the direction of the latter, even knowing how hard Satan will try to tear us away. As Dr. Winnail addressed, we can’t take the cowardly option and disconnect ourselves from the world altogether; with God’s help, we have to brave it, while remaining irremovable from His truth. Staying the course, like building an ark, is a monumental task, but accepting that task leads to God’s protection from otherwise unbearable storms.

Books mentioned:

Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell

The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher

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Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

By Thomas White, Student at LivingEd-Charlotte

“You don’t want to step on other people trying to get a job, but the reality is…if you’re going to be hired…you need to look better than the other guy or other gal. That’s just the reality, because there’s competition for jobs.” ~ Dr. Scott Winnail

Dr. Scott Winnail focused this week’s assembly on strategies for building a strong resume, delivering a practical and beneficial presentation that was particularly pertinent in the lives of the eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds sitting in the room. The ability to write an effective resume is critical to those of us who would like to buy food on at least a semi-consistent basis, and two of the helpful resources Dr. Winnail provided are linked at the end of this post. But what struck me the most about this assembly was when Dr. Winnail spoke of the balance we all must use in showing humility and honesty at the same time. As he brought out, we’re all representatives of God’s Church, so if we make ourselves look worse than we really are, aren’t we not only lying, but making the very body of Christ look bad?

“People just lie. That’s what society is like, and lying becomes part of the character of the end-time Israelite society. And certainly, that’s something we don’t want to be part of.”

This topic certainly applies well to resumes, as Dr. Winnail proved. I had difficulty writing my first resume, largely because I felt like I was bragging. But I wasn’t lying on my resume; like Dr. Winnail said, I was simply putting my best foot forward. Do we ever view humility as thinking or speaking poorly of ourselves? I’ve thought of it that way, but that’s a pretty shallow idea of what humility is, and it leaves more room for dishonesty than true humility ever would. How often do we find ourselves being dishonest in the name of humility? “Hey, you did a good job on those spreadsheets,” someone might say. “Nah, it wasn’t much,” I might reply. Did I just lie? If I know I worked hard on those spreadsheets and delivered a quality result, then yes, I have indeed just lied. I might be well-intentioned, trying to obey the First Commandment by not making an idol of myself, but now I’ve turned around and broken the Ninth Commandment. How is that any better?

“We’ve got to speak truth to our neighbor, and any employer is our neighbor, in the context that God uses. … You can be a false witness of yourself, if you don’t tell the truth.”

Compared to God, not one of us humans is anywhere near a big deal, so obviously, we shouldn’t parade around acting like one. We’d all hopefully agree that we should never lie about our accomplishments, but do we think about how short-changing ourselves is, essentially, doing just that? For example, if you’re a great singer, wouldn’t true humility be to recognize that God made you that way, that you owe your talent to Him, and then to sincerely thank Him for it? (Probably best not to do this on a resume, by the way. That might not go over well.) To deny that you’re a great singer, if indeed you are, isn’t that to insult the gift God’s freely granted you? When we dismiss the abilities and accomplishments God’s given us as “not much,” we’re not only lying, but failing to be thankful. With prayerful effort and God’s constant help, we can strike that balance of humility and honesty, recognizing that we’re nothing without God, and acknowledging that He’s given us something valuable.

 

 

Resume Resources Given:

Indeed.com’s “10 Resume Writing Tips to Help You Land a Job”

The sample resume of one Sparty Spartan.

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Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

By Thomas White, Student at LivingEd-Charlotte

“The social media in the Work is a good thing, a very good thing, and it’s reaching a lot of people that we might not normally reach. Rightly used, social media are very helpful to millions of people in their daily communications…we should learn as much as we can, and then apply it, and then act with knowledgewhen we’re using social media, either for the Work, or for other, personal use.” ~ Mr. Dexter Wakefield

This week, Mr. Dexter Wakefield’s thought-provoking assembly informed me that God’s Church is actually more active on social media than I am, and I consider myself a fairly hip millennial. (That was a joke. Please never say “hip” to millennials.) The Living Church of God is on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, and as Mr. Wakefield pointed out, there’s a very good reason for this.  “Of the four main platforms that we use,” Mr. Wakefield revealed, “we have over 700,000 followers.” He went on to say that approximately 171,000,000 minutes of Tomorrow’s Worldand Living Church of God video have been watched on YouTube. Even if you avoid social media like the plague, you have to admit that this is exciting! As God used radio to proclaim His message in Mr. Armstrong’s day, He’s now using social media and the broader internet to proclaim that same message in ours.

“Anonymity has its perils. … There’s a huge amount of money associated with social media activity, and if you’re going to avoid being taken advantage of, it’s essential that you act with knowledgewhen engaging with such media.”

But like sugar, alcohol, and croquet mallets, social media can be incredibly dangerous if used inappropriately, and Mr. Wakefield did not shy away from addressing its dark side. He described the “Social Validation Feedback Loop,” which is essentially the addiction that develops when we feel internet-popular. I’ve experienced it myself; if I post on Facebook, and people start “liking” that post, the amount of time I spend on Facebook skyrockets. It feels good to be liked, and the minds behind Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter are well aware of this. They want us to spend every evening entranced by our phones, because for them, that’s advertisement revenue. As Mr. Wakefield repeatedly and poignantly said, we have to act with knowledge (Proverbs 13:16), with an awareness of how God wants us to spend our time. Do we apply the principle of moderation to our screen-fueled socializing?

 “People behave differently when they are anonymous. … They’ll do hurtful things when they’re anonymous. … And how much more so when they’re typinganonymously? … When you use social media to communicate, just be sure you act with knowledge…”

If a random person on the street walked up and said, “Hi! Let’s be friends”, I would naturally be a bit suspicious. If that person wore a ski mask, I would be more suspicious, and probably run. As Mr. Wakefield pointed out, social media makes it possible for people to try to gain your trust while wearing fabricated identities as their ski masks, so socializing with people you’ve never met offline is usually a bad idea. Acting with knowledge means being careful about who we believe online, as well as being careful about what we put there. “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth,” reads Psalm 141:3, and today, as Mr. Wakefield said, “mouth” could just as easily be “keyboard.” The internet is a mixture of good and evil, and if we act with knowledge, God can keep us from the latter.

By Thomas White, Student at Living Ed – Charlotte

“We all understand that God is preparing us for big things, for being kings and priests…things we are doing today that may seem mundane may make all the difference in the future, in our future, in our destiny.” ~ Mr. Rod McNair

You know that nightmare where you randomly have to give a speech, and you didn’t prepare for it, and now everyone’s watching? Imagine that feeling multiplied by millions and you may have an idea of how Bhumibol Adulyadej felt when he was suddenly the King of Thailand at age 22. Mr. Rod McNair’s Assembly this week was largely based upon this singularly remarkable man, who had been so far down the line of succession for Thailand’s throne that he hadn’t been trained in any “kingly” subjects whatsoever.  What he did have, however, was an education in science, ecology, and conservation, and as the years went by, his knowledge turned out to be just what his people needed. King Bhumibol influenced the development of dams, reservoirs, water irrigation systems, and beyond. Since the top problem for 80% of Thailand’s people had been an inadequate water supply, he became an immensely popular ruler, all because of what he learned in his youth.

“…maybe a hundred, or two hundred, or five hundred years from now, as you are in God’s government and His Kingdom, administering and serving…you may think back to 2018, or 2019, and the lesson you learned back then that you’re using at that precise moment.”

Thankfully, God’s word tells us in advance of our ultimate destiny, so kingship hopefully won’t surprise us the way it surprised King Bhumibol. Even so, we probably will be surprised by how what we’re learning now, no matter how inconsequential it may seem, will end up being used by God to immense effect. Mr. McNair used the example of Joseph, who probably never thought for a second that his time as a slave and a prisoner would teach him skills he would later use to govern the nation of Egypt. But (spoilers!) that’s exactly what happened (Genesis 45:3-8). Mr. McNair advised us to look beyond what we see, to consider how what we’re learning right now might be used to unexpectedly shape our lives and the lives of others. As Mr. McNair said, “It’s always easy to think that the big, valuable stuff will be somewhere else, will be at another time, will be in another place…and to miss the goldmine in front of you.”

“We all have different abilities, we all have different talents, all with the potential to be used directly by God for a specific purpose in His government.”

As Mr. McNair pointed out, if God is planning on using what you and I are currently learning for the benefit of tomorrow’s world, we need to take advantage of what is right in front of us, and learn to interact with a variety of personalities. A king’s major responsibility is to care for the people he reigns over, so it’s crucial that we expand our personalities enough to genuinely understand people who are vastly different from us. It’s easy to coast along if we seem to be doing well enough, but does God want kings and priests who think, “Eh, this city seems fine,” or does He want those who go all out? If we foster a habit of learning, keep God at the center of our lives, and appreciate “the day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10), we can look forward to being shown just how immense those small things really are.

By Thomas White, Student at Living Education-Charlotte

“You know, God gives us a certain amount of time. … We all know that it’s a resource that, once it’s gone, you can’t get back.” ~ Mr. DeSimone

Students everywhere will tell you that there always seems to be just slightly too much to get done, and just slightly too little time in which to do it. This week’s assembly was focused on minimizing that problem, as Mr. Mike DeSimone related three fundamentals to working effectively and efficiently. The first, naturally, is time management, which is simply the process by which we do the best we can with the minutes we have, not wasting any of the time God has gifted to us. This involves consciously tracking our time, and actively considering how we spend it. If we rely solely on our memories, which are often almost as deceptive as our hearts, we will never have an accurate perception of how our time is truly spent. As Ephesians 5:15-16 instructs, “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” In order to “redeem” our time, we have to know what we are redeeming it from, and making the effort to record the length of our daily activities is a solid way to find this out.

“…I’ll work on both [tasks] at the same time…Or…get one done more effectively, more efficiently…then I’ll get done the second task…more effectively, more efficiently, more accurately.”

Proverbs 22:29 reads, “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before unknown men.” An effective way to meet some unknown men, then, is to multitask, because multitasking is really only “switch-tasking,” and it’s both ineffective and inefficient. We can’t actually multitask; it’s an exceptionally rare person who can genuinely do two things at once. Most people who think that they’re multitasking are simply switching from one unfinished task to another, over and over, and spending very little time actually focusing on one objective. Switch-tasking only ensures that one is putting halfhearted effort into two things, and therefore taking twice as long to accomplish either one. I often find that while I might not be switch-tasking in a literal sense, I’m switch-tasking in my mind, mulling over an entirely unrelated problem or goal when I should be focused upon the task at hand. In what ways can we improve our focus, as students, employees, or even spiritual warriors, so that we may excel in our work?

 “…getting rid of waste…getting rid of things you don’t need, and…bringing things in so that you can work most effectively. …really, it comes down to organization.”

Often, being productive leans pretty heavily upon being organized. Organization is not so much an inherent character trait as it is the putting into practice of what manufacturers call “Lean 5S”: Sort, Set (in order), Shine (clean), Standardize, and Sustain. Organizing a daunting task into ordered, manageable chunks can reduce mistakes, improve focus, and increase productivity by giving one the confidence to actually make progress. Even in our spiritual lives, sorting through individual problems we need to overcome can often yield more fruit than thinking, “I have to reach perfect purity, and I have to reach it yesterday.”  We can all probably be more efficient and effective in everything we do, whether our tasks are physical or spiritual in nature, so it’s worth the effort to think about how we can better organize each part of the work set before us.

 

Books mentioned:

The Myth of Multitasking by Dave Crenshaw

The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker