Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Daniel Im

The Best Way to Empower Leaders

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While I was reading, Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders (click on the link to read my book review), one of the questions I wanted answered through the book was this one, “What is the best way to empower volunteer leaders?” After all, volunteer leaders are critical to the health of a church and really, any organization that is dependent on volunteers. Personally, instead of merely delegating tasks, I have found that volunteer retention and satisfaction is higher when they are empowered to a role with responsibilities.

[Read more…] about The Best Way to Empower Leaders

Why I ditched the M.Div…and am still a pastor

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dirt

Back in 2009, I wrote a post entitled, “Where to go to seminary? A preliminary comparison between seminaries in Canada, the United States, and Korea.”

Since then, a lot of things have changed – especially my outlook regarding seminary and the usefulness of theological education. I touched on that topic briefly in my post, “The Future of Seminary.”

Well, after viewing some activity over those two previous posts, I thought I’d give my view as to where I think the future of seminary education is heading by explaining where I’m at. Namely, why I ditched the M.Div (Masters of Divinity) and am still a pastor.

Here it is…

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Book Review: Together in Prayer – Coming to God in Community by Andrew Wheeler

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Together in Prayer: Coming to God in Community by Andrew Wheeler is a great primer that explains what praying in community looks like. The book could probably be summed up in one sentence – pray to God, not to each other. If you want a good overview of everything this book has to offer, read the last chapter of the book. The appendix also has a neat assessment to determine how “prayer-friendly” your group is.

Wheeler is very systematic in unpacking what it looks like to pray in community – explaining both tips that will enhance group prayer as well as prayer practices that will actually hinder it. For example, he explains how we oftentimes direct our prayers at each other, instead of God by instructing, exhorting, sermonizing, counseling, and informing each other through our prayers. Here’s an example, “Father, may people who are far from you come to our church today. They need to hear your Word and realize their need for you, rather than pursuing their own selfish desires. They need to repent and receive Jesus as their Savior, to save them from a Christless eternity. Their lives need your touch; may they stop making excuses and come to meet you today.” Compare that prayer, which is directed more towards people than to God, with the following prayer. [Read more…] about Book Review: Together in Prayer – Coming to God in Community by Andrew Wheeler

A Community of Deal Seekers

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This morning I woke up at 2:53 am to go to Old Navy to get a free Flip UltraHD Video camera! All I had to do was to show up early (the store opened at 4 am), spend $25, and then I would get the camera for free! Regular price on amazon.ca is $159.00, but on sale for $99.00. Check out the camera by clicking on the image.

The catch? There were only limited quantities.

So right after I woke up in the morning, I went with my father in law (he’s visiting for the Christmas season) and drove off to Old Navy. To my surprise, there were already tons of people there. So I quickly parked and rushed into line. It was quite exhilarating as others were also parking and rushing to line up as well!

Just as I got into the line, people started shouting to my father in law and I, “You’re number 28 and you’re number 29!” I thought it was a bit odd that they were numbering us, so when I asked why that mattered, they told me that there were only 30 cameras available for the first 30 customers!

WHOA!! Just as they said that, probably 3-5 people lined up behind us. [Read more…] about A Community of Deal Seekers

A Paradox? Are you going to rest during the Christmas Season?

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Work, work, work, eat, eat, eat, shop, shop, shop, work, work work.

If you have no idea what I’m referring to above then you probably aren’t that familiar with the typical North American holiday season…especially Thanksgiving in the States and Christmas in Canada.

Let me flesh it out for some of you:

  • Christmas in Canada: We work, then eat turkey (or some other big feast), then we shop on Boxing Day, and then we go back to work.
  • Thanksgiving in the States: We work, then eat turkey (or some other big feast), then we shop on Black Friday, and then we go back to work.

So many of us look forward to the holiday season, yet squander the time off with so many “things” to do, that we go back to work only slightly refreshed…if even.

When we look at the creation story, we learn the idea of rhythms. [Read more…] about A Paradox? Are you going to rest during the Christmas Season?