Today I spent the day with the Leadership Clay crew from the Clay Chamber of Commerce. The theme for today was "Education Day!"

To be honest, it wasn’t the most interesting day to date, but it was useful to gain insight into the various educational opportunities that exist within our county.

The day started at Sylvan Learning, of which I am intimately aquainted as our son got help from them a couple of years ago. They did a great job in getting him up to speed. I would highly recommend them, but they are not cheap.

School Superintendent David Owens kicked off the day for us sharing about the school system from his perspective. I have been pleased to have heard his heart on a number of occasions. He is a faithful believer in Jesus Christ and he seems to have a great vision for the school system. I like his non-top down leadership style, and have heard great things about our school system. Every year since grading has begun the school district has scored an A and Fleming Island Elementary school where my kids attended has consistently been in the top 5 in the state – wow!

We continued on to Center Academy with Jerry Stigliano. I love Jerry and have known him for a few years. He and his wife are awesome and are also believers.. Go Jesus! Center Academy is for learning challenged young kids. They offer 1 on 1 instruction to help make them successful!

We also had the opportunity to visit Annuciation Catholic School. Another great place.. and guess what Christian! wow.. a 3 for 1 deal.

We concluded the day at Saint Johns River Community College, our only post graduate school in the county. I have been mildly impressed with them, yet continue to hold a grudge that they have never let a church meet at their facility. I don’t get it. But the new Thrasher Horne Center is amazing and is a must see!

Carol Studdard from the School Board closed out our day. She is a wonderful servant of God who is praying for and believing God for a better future for our children.

Today was an incredible day as we had the first gathering of area Pastors. God blessed us with 35 pastors from other churches and some 10 or so wonderful folks from our church who helped make it happen. God really showed up at the meeting. I believe that God will use it to begin to create synergistic relationships between the churches in our area so that God’s Kingdom can be furthered to an even greater degree.

The setting for the event was the wonderful Club Continental on the river. Our wonderful team of volunteers and staff worked tirelessly last night and this morning to get everything set up by 11:00am. People began arriving on time at 11:30. We began introductions around 11:45 and everyone sat down for a great meal by the clubs staff.

Eddie, Angel, Brian, Renee, Diane, Craig, and Rick stepped up and played 2 wonderful songs to get people into worship. Most everyone seemed well engaged and seemed to enjoy the experience.

I was then given the blessed opportunity to share the vision for the churches to come together primarily around 5 points. (see other post with podcast of message!). Here are the 5 points. Here are 5 things they did:

1) They focused on the absolutes of scripture.
   a) They stopped looking at the ways they were different and started to function in the ways they were alike.
2) They encouraged the leaders and individual Christians in town to promote Christ and His Word above their particular church or way of doing things.
3) They prayed to raise the water level of the Holy Spirit in their city.
4) They appreciated one another’s respected interpretations of scripture.
5) They practiced supportive speech and actions towards others.

Here were some opportunities that were highlighted:
1.    Networking–
a.    Get to know one another,
b.    Events like this
c.    To start a dialogue,
d.    To begin to learn about each other
i.    personally and our churches corporately.

2.    Prayer –
a.    gather together periodically to pray for
i.    our city,
ii.    our churches,
iii.    our communities,
iv.    our government, etc. –
b.    Maybe even dream about a world prayer center.

3.    Benevolence –
a.    I’ve heard of other church alliances that collaborated to centralize benevolence in their area so that people couldn’t work the system and so that they could more effectively steward their resources in this area.
b.    Today there is no catalogue of available resources or needs in our community on issues such as:
Addiction
Elder care, clothing, finances, etc.
What if we cataloged that and leveraged it so that we all knew what resources and needs were out there to meet them together?

By not working together we might be actually wasting kingdom resources that could help more people because of our inefficiencies.

4.    Collaborate on important social issues of the day.
a.    Example for you today.
b.    CCVCS – Assistant State Attorney Sam Garrison here today.
i.    <Bring Sam Up>
c.    Diane Hutchings here today –
i.    Through the American Family Forum they polled all of our local candidates on issues pertaining to church and family to hear how they stand in an effort to better educate church goers without bias..
d.    Fred Meiners – Sea Mark Ranch
e.    Many more of these exist, yet lie uncovered,
i.    What if churches worked together to address these social issues?
ii.    What kind of impact might we have on our community?

5.    Evangelistic Events –
a.    Serve Tampa Bay-
i.    series of simple acts of Christian kindness that culminated in a worship event where 1500+ got saved and then directed into local churches.
b.    Family Fun Fest
i.    Pastor Wayne – Come share for just a few minutes.

Pastors were then given an opportunity to fill out a connection card if they wanted to engage in any of those areas. Which many did.

I stand in awe of God for giving me the opportunity to share with this fine group of Godly men and women. I continue to join with others to believe God that amazing things will happen as a result.

A special thanks to my loving wife Mary Jo for supporting me in this, my awesome friends Amery, Pam, Erin, Eddie, Angel, Brian, Renee, Diane, Craig, and Rick who worked so hard to make this happen. I love you all dearly and couldn’t think of doing life without you!

A big thank you to the Clay Today who now has me writing an occasional article for it’s "Pastors Corner". Opened the paper when MJ and I got back from Orlando.

Here is what was published.

Relationships Matter

There are many different types of people you will meet in life. There are those who always seem to be the life of the party. They are very charismatic and have networks of friends and associates. Others are more subdued, but value relationships that add meaning to their lives. A few are grumpy and maybe even a little like a porcupine sticking those who come too close.

If you ask most people on the streets they will probably tell you that relationships matter. Positive relationships are part of the fabric that makes life really worth living. Good relationships can make or break a business deal, a marriage, a church, or a friendship. Bad relationships can drain our lives causing a great deal of hurt that can sometimes lead to depression. That being said, few people ever take the time to learn the skills of building healthier relationships.

Relational skills can be learned and like our mothers taught us, first impressions do matter. Every interaction we have with others leaves the person with either a negative, neutral, or positive reaction towards us. Whether it’s a job interview, a sales call, or an opportunity to ask someone out on a first date – relationships matter. How they feel about their experience with us can affect us in big ways. That interaction might be the difference between getting that second interview, big sale, or first date.

There are many books on the market that teach us about building effective relationships in various circles. One of the most famous was Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” In church circles there is Gary Chapman’s “The Five Love Languages”. More recently Jerry Acuff and Wally Wood wrote, “The Relationship Edge in Business”. These titles are but a few that fill bookstore shelves.

Various motives exist and are highlighted in the above works regarding building relationships. The motives range from personal advancement to profit, but the best motive is to express a genuine interest in the person with whom you are interacting. Having a desire to really get to know those you come into contact with throughout the course of your day.  When you are genuinely interested in another person, they sense it, and it opens up doors for relationships that you never thought could have existed.

The book, “The Relationship Edge in Business” highlights five relational levels you can have with another human being using the form of a pyramid. They start at the bottom with people who know your name, people who like you, people who are friendly with you, people who respect you, and at the peak are people who value relationship with you.

In reality, it would be hard to have a great deal of people at the top of the pyramid because relationships take work to start, build, and maintain. Relational capital is built over time through predictable and consistent actions that put deposits into another persons relationship bank. If your always taking from a relationship eventually the relationship will become bankrupt.

Here are a few basic skills needed to jump-start a rise up the relational pyramid.

1) The best word of advice an old pastor gave me was, “You have to be friendly to make friends.” – It was a real revelation at that time in my life, but also proof positive that a person can turn around and learn the skills needed to enjoy the meaningful relational opportunities that life presents.

2) Listen – This demonstrates that you care about what the other person is interested in.

3) Simple Acts of Kindness – Send a note or a small inexpensive gift. Something thoughtful regarding your conversation that makes you stand out in the other persons mind.

4) Finally, learn to use names – This is a tough one for many, but people love to hear their own name. If you browse the Internet you can find many tricks and tips for name recognition.

It is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of life. When at work it’s easy to focus on the tasks at hand and our workloads without ever really getting to know those whom we spend so much time with. In the malls, at church, on the soccer field, or waiting in line at the grocery store we can be keep to ourselves or take a risk and strike up a conversation. You never know where that next friendship will come from. Begin to expect it. Take an interest in the lives of others and how you might make a positive difference in the lives of those you encounter. If you do, you will end up with more meaningful relationships in your life than you could have ever imagined. You will be living the life you have always dreamed of!

Eric Jaffe
http://www.ericjaffe.org
ejaffe@celebration.org

I had 2 important meetings today I wanted to throw out there for you to pray about and consider supporting.

This morning the Clay County Victims Advocacy Task force officially turned over it’s recommendations to the Clay County Victims Advocacy Center for which I was selected as a board member. We need a great deal of prayer, and at some time in the future potentially even financial support. We have tentative approval from the Clay County Government of which we are believing for official support to fund an Advocacy Center which would assist victims of physical or sexual abuse in Clay County by providing a local place of examination and care so that they don’t have to leave the county for examinations which are forensic in nature, but also at a time in a persons life where they really need a loving caring environment. Full details will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead, but none the less, I encourage everyone to pray that we continue to see the support of the county and other private entities to fund this project in such a way that the hurting people in our county have a place of hope to turn to in their time of need.

Also, Stovall and I attended the Seamark Ranch golf tournament today. What an awesome turnout for the ministry and what an awesome group that is coming to Clay County to provide help and support to young people in serious need. Listen to this statement from thier homepage: Seamark Ranch exists to provide a Christ-centered, non-denominational
children’s home committed to sharing the Gospel, hope, healing and a
brighter future with abused, neglected, abandoned, orphaned and
homeless children. We are dedicated to an environment filled with
grace, love and service which fosters emotional healing in reclaiming
the lives of children who have suffered unimaginable abuse, neglect or
tragedy.

Would you pray for them as well as they continue to move forward in developing their property just East of Penny Farms. They are looking to open up sometime in the Spring of ’07.

I think you will find that both of these things flow right with the heart of Celebration Church – The Lost, the hurting, and the next generation. Might we continue to reach out to them with all our hearts that our area might be changed for Christ.

If I can get you further details about either of these initiatives, or how you might get involved, don’t hesitate to contact me.