Lessons from the Juniper Tree

By Daniel Darling
If Hollywood commissioned a biopic of the Old Testament hero, Elijah, they would probably end the movie with his epic holy war on Mt. Carmel. It would be a fitting ending for such a bold, courageous, insurgent leader.

But alas, this is not how Elijah’s story ends at all. If you turn the page one chapter, from 1 Kings 18 to 1 Kings 19, you see a completely different side of this seemingly bullet-proof warrior. You find a fragile shell of a man, in a fetal position, begging God to end his life.

Elijah doesn’t look much like a leader here. But as I’ve studied his life, I’ve gleaned more lessons in leadership from Elijah’s meltdown than from his mountain-top successes.

Here are the five leadership lessons I learned under Elijah’s juniper tree:

#1 - Even great people break down
Elijah is one of those mythical figures in the Bible, someone whose larger-than-life exploits make our everyday walks of faith seem pedestrian by comparison. And yet here he is: weak, feeble, and discouraged. The truth is that every great leader has had one or more seasons just like this. And so will you. This doesn’t make you weird or exceptional. It makes you human.

#2 - Take care of your body
What was God’s first response to Elijah? A counseling session? Another small group Bible study? More church? No. God simply brought Elijah a meal. In all of his working for God, Elijah forgot to take care of the basic needs of his body, as if ignoring his humanity would somehow earn him more points with God. The truth is that physical needs often cloud our judgment. God wired our bodies in such a way that they need regular rest, nutrition, and exercise. Often the first step back to spiritual health is a good night’s sleep, a hearty meal, and a few days off.

#3 - We measure success by the wrong metrics
You would think Elijah would be celebrating. All of Israel turned their back on the false worship of Baal and embraced Jehovah. And yet Elijah considered himself a failure because Jezebel and Ahab, the corrupt monarch, refused to change. So, in Elijah’s world, he was a failure. God reminded Elijah, through a series of natural phenomena, that He is sovereign—not only in the big stuff of life, but in the small stuff as well.

#4 - We’re not indispensable
Elijah copped a martyr mentality, common in Christian circles. (I’m the only one who cares. It’s all on me. And nobody else is as devoted as I am.) God destroyed this faulty thinking by reminding Elijah that there were 7,000 other capable believers in Israel. God wasn’t dependent on Elijah. He could easily have raised up someone else to do the job. And so it is with us. The entire sovereign plan of God isn’t dependent on our feeble, clever efforts. Thankfully.

#5 - It’s not about you—it’s about God’s glory
I think it’s telling that God’s next mission for Elijah, post depression, was to train his successor. What a humbling and invigorating experience for this do-it-yourself prophet! I think there is a subtle message in this: we don’t own our ministries; they are gifts from God for us to steward. And thus, the work that was here when we left, will be here when we are gone.

About the Author:
Daniel Darling is a father, pastor, blogger, columnist and author. His most recent release is iFaith, Connecting to God in the 21st Century, which looks at contemporary prayer and faith, calling us back to a place of rest and silence and peace with God. More of Daniel’s writings can be found at danieldarling.com.

Relocation Update: Contacting PCG Staff

Thank you for your patience as our general headquarters continues to migrate through our relocation transition. It has been a challenge for many of you and we apologize for any difficulties you have encountered as we endeavor to complete this massive process. Our staff continues to convey excellence in task management while this transition is ongoing.

We hope this information will assist you with daily operational and procedural questions affecting many of you. If there is some item you need assistance with, please email generalbishop@pcg.org, generalsecretary@pcg.org or call 417-624-7050 extension 301 or 302.

• Mail – All correspondence should now be sent to PO Box 211866, Bedford, TX 76095.
• Phone – You may use either 817-554-5900 or 417-624-7050 and the extensions you hear on the directory to reach someone who can promptly and efficiency serve you.
  Please note: if your call is directed to voice mail, please leave a message and your call will be returned promptly.
• Email – All email accounts are fully functional and operative.
• Ministry Resource Center – We have maintained the operations of MRC in Joplin in correlation with The Letter Shop. Since these two enterprises are directly related due to their functions, it is cost effective and operationally efficient to maintain proximity. Your orders and mailings will continue to generate from this location. Phone and email access remain the same.
• Departments – All offices will be fully functioning in Bedford by January 16, 2012. Youth Ministry Directors, Joe and Teena Skiles will continue to function from a home office in Missouri until the Summer.
• Messenger College – MC remains in Joplin until the conclusion of the current academic year and commencement in May of this year.

Thank you again for your patience with us during this Herculean process. We value your ministry and continue to seek to serve you with the highest standard of excellence.

Serving You for Him,

Charles G. Scott
General Bishop

PCG Mourns Loss of Bishop Norvell

On Saturday afternoon, August 20th, the covenant family of the Pentecostal Church of God was shocked and saddened by the passing of Assistant General John K. Norvell. Bishop Norvell was working at the Southwest Texas District office and grounds when he suffered a cardiac event.

No official word has been released at this time for the cause of his death.

Bishop Norvell was a beloved leader, having served as Assistant General Bishop, World Missions Director, and Southwest Texas District Bishop. He was a favorite speaker and teacher of our church family.

While our hearts are grieved personally we feel his loss most for his wife, Marilyn, his two sons, Jason and Justin and his daughter Amy. The entire Pentecostal Church of God extends their love, prayers and support at this time.

Bishop John Norvell's memorial is Wednesday, August 24 at 2pm at Coastal Bend Family Worship Center, 700 W. Greenwood, Aransas Pass, TX. Visitation will be on Tuesday (August 23) from 6pm to 9pm at Charles Marshall Funeral Home.. The nearest airport is Corpus Christi. The church has a mapquest for directions on their website www.cbfwc.com.

Relocation Update!

By Charles Scott
In the afternoon of August 11, the Bedford property closed, and the PCG now owns the Rosemont Building. The keys, documents, etc. are being sent to me this week.

The buyer of the Pentecostal Church of God and Messenger College properties in Joplin has made a public statement and disclosed their plans for the property.

The General Council met August 16 to begin the decision-making process concerning the remodel of the Rosemont Building in Bedford. Next week, I will meet with contractors and work with the General Council to establish the budget and begin Phase 1-A of the remodel.

Messenger College is continuing to operate on the Joplin Campus as projected until May, 2012.

The purchase and closing of the Joplin property is slated between October 1 and November 10. All proceeds from the sale will be paid to the Pentecostal Church of God at that time.

Our hope is that we will begin the first phase of transitioning the headquarters in mid-October. On November 9, we plan to have the General Board present during our November meeting in Dallas (information is coming soon, awaiting General Council approval of everything) and on November 9, we will have the dedication ceremony for the new building.

The second phase of transition will hopefully occur before Thanksgiving.

The final transition phase will begin in December. We hope to close the Joplin headquarters on December 21st as the last day in the building and load all final FFE (furniture, fixtures, and equipment) the 22nd to the 23rd. We have bids and offers from trucking companies willing to donate to us and help.

We will transport the week of December 26th and begin final test phases that week. It is aggressive but we hope to reopen by January 9, 2012 in the new PCG headquarters – debt free!!

Please help us convey that this transition is massive and in spite of all we are doing, we will probably miss some communication, emails, phone calls, orders, etc. We have project management in place. Team communicators and I have spent hours in documentation of the details but in spite of all these efforts, we are human and limited in many ways in personnel and resources. We will give 100% of our best effort but we humbly ask for patience.

Updated details will be expressed weekly. Each Friday I will post on www.pcg.org as well as send emails to the General Board in an effort to maintain constant communication. I have had to be silent on specific information up to this point but praise God, that is changing soon!

I appreciate the opportunity to connect and communicate.

I look forward to seeing many of you in November.

Serving You For Him,
Charles Scott
General Bishop

St. John’s Mercy Reveals Site of New Hospital

Committing nearly $1 billion to health of Joplin in next two years

The new hospital (above) will be located
three miles from the St. John's campus
in Joplin.

Joplin, Mo. – [From Mercy Press Release]
Mercy announced plans Tuesday night to build a state-of-the-art hospital in Joplin, at I-44 and Main Street – along with plans to build additional health care services elsewhere in Joplin. In total, Mercy’s commitment to Joplin will include upwards of $950 million – something unheard of in most communities today.

“We are making this commitment because it’s the right thing to do for Joplin,” said Lynn Britton, president and CEO of Mercy which includes 28 hospitals and more than 200 outpatient facilities in a seven-state area. “The May 22 tornado devastated our community here in Joplin and destroyed our hospital but we’ve promised all along we would rebuild. We plan to break ground January 2012 and open the new hospital, as well as a secondary northeast campus, in 2014.”

Committed to the community since 1885 when the Sisters of Mercy first provided much needed health care to local miners, those efforts continue today, as evidenced by:

• An integrated electronic health record that preserved sensitive patient information and was instantly available after the tornado
• A 60-bed field hospital, a tent-like structure, up and running within one week of tornado
• A transition currently underway to a hard-sided modular facility as field hospital comes down
• A component hospital by spring 2012 which allows St. John’s Mercy to regain its Level II Trauma Center designation
• A promise to keep all Joplin co-workers on the Mercy payroll

“There was never a thought to close down and walk away,” said Gary Pulsipher, president of St. John’s Mercy. “In fact, Mercy immediately pledged to keep more than 2,000 St. John’s Mercy co-workers employed. That’s the kind of commitment that makes me proud to be Mercy.”

Theresa Ukena is living proof of that commitment. Ukena worked in the finance department at St. John’s in Joplin. Today, she and five other co-workers carpool two hours each day to Mercy Hospital in Fort Scott, Kan.

“I am blessed to have a job and blessed to be paid,” said Ukena. “I could have been let go on the spot but I wasn’t. Everyone here at Mercy in Fort Scott has made me feel so welcome. They treat me like family.”

With the announcement of plans for a new hospital, hundreds of co-workers like Ukena have the assurance they will eventually be working together again in Joplin.

As a part of the new plans underway, Mercy will rebuild with 327 inpatient beds to support the region, and a planned expansion up to 424 beds. Plans include medical surgical, critical care, women’s/children’s (labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum rooms), behavioral health and rehab. This new footprint in Joplin will allow Mercy to deliver health care in a new way.

“By rebuilding our hospital, our schools and our community in Joplin, we rise out of the debris and look to the future, setting in motion a new Joplin landscape and economic recovery,” said Britton. “We will find innovative ways to serve Joplin and continue to provide compassionate, patient-centered care.”

Mercy – Sisters of Mercy Health System – is the eighth largest Catholic health care system in the U.S. and serves more than 3 million people annually. Mercy includes 28 hospitals, more than 200 outpatient facilities, 38,000 co-workers and 1,500 integrated physicians in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has outreach ministries in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. For more about Mercy, visit www.mercy.net.

Chaplain Jason Blake Memorial Service

Army Chaplain Jason B. Blake passed away during the evening of Wednesday, June 29th just after attending the 2011 General Convention of the Pentecostal Church of God.

Funeral services were held at 9:30AM on Wednesday, July 6 at Crossroads of Life Assembly of God, Duncanville, TX (www.colag.org), with burial following in DFW National Cemetery, 2000 Mountain Creek Pkwy, Dallas, TX.

The Pentecostal Church of God Chaplains Commission has promoted a memorial scholarship fund in honor of Chaplain Blake and his great passion for Messenger College. This scholarship will be granted to a student of Messenger College who is interested in pursuing the field of Chaplaincy.

If you would like to make a contribution to this scholarship, please make a check payable to Messenger College and designate "Chaplain Blake Scholarship" on the memo line. Contributions may be mailed to Messenger College, 300 E 50th Street, Joplin, MO 64804.

Internet links referencing Chaplain Blake:

• News story from the Fort Hood massacre
• A tribute written by seminary roommate Sam Chacko
• A letter Chaplain Blake wrote to the family of a fallen soldier

After the Tornado - Day Three Pics

Photos and text by John Mallinak

I have attached more photos of another part of town, Rangeline Road. It is a major commercial district.

I understand that many people were killed at Home Depot and many were injured or killed at the Rangeline Wal-Mart. Photos of both these places are in this group as well as photos of other places along this busy street.

Between these pics and the ones posted earlier this week, you will have seen just over 1/2 of the destruction.

FEMA upgraded the tornado to an F5 (strongest category) and says 8,000 structures (including individual apartments) have been destroyed or compromised in the Joplin area. FEMA now says that this is the 8th worst tornado disaster.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the Tornado - PCG Disaster Response

Photos and text by John Mallinak

PCG National Missions Director Andy Hunt mustered six disaster response teams from around the nation to come and assist in the Joplin tornado relief efforts.

Here, Hunt is scheduling each teams' duties for the day.


 

Here's a pic of one of the PCG National Missions Disaster Response Trailers. This particular trailer belongs to Unit Seven.


 


Disaster Response Unit Two deploys for the day from the campus of Messenger College.


 

 

PCG National Youth Ministries Director Joe Skiles gives water to a family.


 

These were taken at ChristPointe Church (PCG) at 23rd and Annie Baxter, just a few blocks NE of the hospital.
This is the site of one of the neighborhood feeding stations as well as a worksite.


 


 

Another crew in central Joplin working at the hope of a Pentecostal Church of God HQ employee who is recovering from a hospital stay. He is Ok and his house is livable.

My other post has some unreal pics of what it looks like just north of here, which is just south of the high school site.


 


 

One of our feeding stations is set up in the middle of the devastation between the high school and Iowa street.

Here, Pastor Joe Skiles, of Solid Rock in Jefferson City, is manning the grill.

After the Tornado - Day Two Pics

Photos and text by John Mallinak

Here is video taken while driving along 26th street, looking north.


 

 

These two pictures are of the hospital--St. John's--that was featured on TV from the west.
These views are from the east and from a few blocks north.


 

 

Here are a few pictures from 26th street, looking east.


 

 

 

 

These were taken at ChristPointe Church (PCG) at 23rd and Annie Baxter, just a few blocks NE of the hospital.
This is the site of one of the neighborhood feeding stations as well as a worksite.


 

 

 

These were taken just north of where a PCG Disaster Relief crew is working on Iowa and just south of the site of the high school.


 

 

 

 

These were taken between the hospital and the church in just a few blocks.
There are still power lines down and live wires wrapped up in trees.
The fourth pic shows another view of St Johns from the north.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are photos taken during a ride from 26 and McClelland and 26 and Main and then to the east of main.