Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Strengths

Luggage Lessons – Are you processing your life experiences?

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Which image best reflects your life experiences?

I recently sat through an excellent workshop by Hugh Phillips and wanted to share one of my takeaways.

He mentioned how we all have luggage, which are processed experiences, and that our luggage will yield much wisdom and some of our greatest life lessons when they are reflected upon. This is wisdom! This is praxis! Character formation best happens through our life experiences. I love how Hugh mentioned that our luggage can either make us better or bitter, and that it’s ultimately our choice.

I want my luggage to make me better, so here’s my “work luggage” – how my most recent work experiences have shaped who I am:

  • Moving to, living in, and pastoring in Korea: I learned how important it was to place my trust in God, rather than people. Yes, people can be trustworthy, but we are called to love people and place our trust in God. Unfortunately, we too often love God and trust people. We have it mixed up.
    • Jeremiah 17:7 – “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.”
    • Matt 22:39 – “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
    • Listen to this message by Wayne Cordeiro who unpacks this concept – http://media.enewhope.org/audio/W1046.mp3

    • [Read more…] about Luggage Lessons – Are you processing your life experiences?

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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Discovering Myself and My Calling Through Writing

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I recently began to write for a monthly devotional publication – Living Life: A Journal of Spiritual Formation & Reflection (It is published by Duranno and the English version is translated into Spanish and Russian), and guess what I’ve discovered about myself? I love writing. I even consider writing to be a potential strength for me as well – albeit I do still need to improve many aspects of this skill.

In Marcus Buckingham’s Go Put Your Strengths to Work, he considers there to be four S.I.G.N.’s of a strength.

  • S uccess
  • I nstinct: How you feel before the activity
  • G rowth: How you feel during the activity
  • N eeds: How you feel after the activity

Based on these SIGN’s, I can deduce that writing seems to be a strength of mine.

  • S uccess: When I write assignments, I typically receive A’s.
  • I nstinct: When I even think about writing or having the opportunity to write, I get really excited.
  • G rowth: As I write, I can easily concentrate and get into the zone. Even if I am interrupted, I can easily begin writing again.
  • N eeds: Afterwards, I feel such a sense of accomplishment and joy.

But it wasn’t always like that…I didn’t always like writing.

Here’s my story… [Read more…] about Discovering Myself and My Calling Through Writing

Life in Korea: Priorities

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Upon arriving to Korea a few months ago, life has been hectic, and it’s been quite the struggle to find an opportunity to blog.  I love blogging, but life has just been overwhelming.

One of the blessings of being here and serving at Onnuri Community Church is that I get to learn from Pastor Eddie Byun.  I first met Eddie when he was my youth pastor at the Philadelphia Church of Vancouver (he was in seminary at the time).  I never thought that I would ever see or partner with him again, so it’s amazing to be here in Korea and have the opportunity to learn from him.

About a month ago, I asked him what sort of disciplines I should develop in my life if I want to grow as a Pastor.  He told me that one thing he does is to focus on a different subject each day, and to focus on learning about that subject on that given day.  Now this exercise isn’t reserved for pastors alone, but it’s useful for all people.

Here is how I’m organizing my week, and the books that I have chosen to read on the subject.

Monday: Prayer/Fasting
– Too Busy Not to Pray: Bill Hybels
– A Hunger for God: John Piper

Tuesday: Leadership
– Axiom: Bill Hybels
– Reformed Pastor: Richard Baxter
– Leading from the Second Chair: Bonem and Patterson
– An Unstoppable Force: Erwin McManus
– Envisioning an Apostolic Church: Yong-Jo Ha (The Senior Pastor of Onnuri Community Church)

Wednesday: Preaching
– Speaking to Teenagers: Fields and Robbins
– The Supremacy of God in Preaching: John Piper
– Biblical Preaching: Haddon Robinson
– The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching: Edited by Robinson and Larson

Thursday: Spiritual Warfare
– Spiritual Warfare for Every Christian: Dean Sherman
– Screwtape Letters: C.S. Lewis
– Powers of Darkness

Friday: Culture
– Third Culture Kids: Pollock and Van Reken
– Korea Unmasked: Rhie
– American/Korean Contrasts: Susan Oak

Saturday: Marriage
– Marriage Spirituality: R. Paul Stevens
– Sacred Marriage: Gary Thomas
– Every Man’s Marriage: Arterburn and Stoeker (This one I’m going to reread because I’m married now…I read the book while I was dating)

Let’s see how this goes. I’ve already done a week, I missed a few days, but on the days I did stick with the schedule, it’s been great.

I can’t wait to finish all the books on my list and add new ones.

Until next time…