Monday, December 23, 2019

The Great Things Of God - 1529 Words

Chapter 1: Reacquaint Getting to know missions again. â€Å"Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.† – William Carey â€Å"It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbor.† – Martin Luther Jesus knelt to pray. He was facing the most momentous event in all history. The Righteous Father was about to mete out on Him the most awful punishment. So what does this Jesus do? Cry for help for Himself? No. He prays for His twelve brave, but vulnerable, followers. In a display of sacrifice, love, and selflessness, He asks His Father to protect them, unify them, overflow their joy, sanctify them. Jesus reminded His Father He was leaving them in the world for a mission. Rather than take them straight to glory, He†¦show more content†¦Our dream is for every follower of Jesus—every man, woman, child, every generation and every church—to live on mission for God. This does not necessarily mean becoming a missionary to Africa or India (although that may be the calling God has for you), but that you begin with obedience and trust and accept what is as plain as the nose on your face—you are commanded by Christ to be involved. We believe that the normal way to think about global missions is that missions = discipleship. A lot of people believe that global missions is only about evangelism, but to be effective evangelists, we are to be devoted disciples first. A fully devoted disciple will naturally be an evangelist from the overflow of their hearts and souls as they are grounded in the Word and attuned to the Sprit of God. If you are a disciple, then missions is your DNA and you will live daily on mission with Jesus. It is who you are and how you choose to live: living radically, passionately, sacrificially for a God who wants all to be saved. We want you to live a passionate, missional life for the Kingdom of God. Jesus has called every follower of His to be His messenger. Every disciple needs to rise up and carry the message of God s love, grace, forgiveness, and redemption with them through everyday stuff of life to the world out there. This is not just our dream, this is Jesus’ message to you, His disciples. â€Å"Therefore go and make disciples of

Sunday, December 15, 2019

The Hunters Moonsong Chapter Thirty-Seven Free Essays

Ethan had Chloe, was holding her tightly in his arms like a parody of a lover’s embrace. Matt moaned deep in his throat and strained toward her, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t even open his mouth to shout. Chloe’s large brown eyes were fixed on his, and they were fil ed with terror. We will write a custom essay sample on The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Thirty-Seven or any similar topic only for you Order Now As Ethan bent his head to her neck, Matt held her gaze and tried to send Chloe a comforting message with his eyes. It’s okay, Chloe, he thought. Please, it won’t hurt for long. Be strong. Chloe whimpered, frozen, her eyes on Matt’s as if his steady gaze was the only thing keeping her from fal ing to pieces. Keeping his eyes on hers and his breathing slow, Matt tried to emanate calmness, tried to soothe Chloe, as his mind worked frantical y. Including Ethan, there were fifteen Vitales. Al of them vampires. The other Vitales were watching quietly from behind the altar, letting Ethan take the lead and sire the pledges. The bodies of four of the pledges lay at Ethan’s feet now. They’d be out of the picture for several hours at least, their bodies going through the transition that would take them from corpses to vampires. Including Matt and Chloe, there were six pledges left. The longer Matt waited to fight back, the worse the odds would get. But what could Matt do? If only he could break this involuntary stil ness, if only he weren’t a helpless prisoner. He tried again to move, this time focusing al his strength on lifting his right arm. His muscles tensed with effort, but after about thirty seconds of trying, he stopped in disgust. He was exhausting himself, and he wasn’t moving an inch. Whatever held him was strong. But if he could figure out a way to get free, then he’d be able to grab a torch from the wal , maybe. Beneath his robe, his pocket knife weighed heavily in his pants pocket. Vampires burned. Cutting off their heads would kil them. If he could just hold the vampires off long enough to pul Chloe and whichever other pledges he could grab out of the room, then he could come back later with reinforcements and fight them with a chance at winning. But if he couldn’t break this spel or compulsion that was holding him in place, any plan he came up with would be useless. Ethan raised his head from Chloe’s neck, his long sharp teeth pul ing out of her throat, and licked gently at the red blood trickling from the wound in her neck. â€Å"I know, sweetheart,† he murmured, â€Å"but it’s only for a moment. And then we’l live forever.† Chloe’s eyes glazed over and fluttered shut, but she was stil breathing, stil alive. There was stil a chance for her. At Ethan’s feet, Anna stirred and moaned. As Matt watched in horror, her eyes snapped open, and she looked up at Ethan, her expression confused but adoring. No! Matt thought. It’s too soon! As if he had caught the thought, Ethan turned to Matt and winked. â€Å"The herbs in the mixture you al drank worked to thin your blood and speed up your metabolism,† he said, his voice as casual and friendly as if they were chatting in the cafeteria. â€Å"I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it looks like it does. Makes the transition go a lot faster.† His smile widened. â€Å"I’m a biochem major, you know.† Ethan’s mouth was smeared with blood, and Matt shuddered but couldn’t look away from the golden eyes that held his. It’s possible, Matt thought for the first time, that I might not survive this. His stomach rol ed with nausea. He real y didn’t want to become a vampire. If the newly transformed pledges were waking up so soon, the already slim odds would quickly become impossible. New vampires, he remembered from Elena’s transformation back in the winter, awoke vicious, unreasoning, hungry, and fanatical y committed to the vampire who had changed them. Ethan lowered his head to bite at Chloe’s neck again, as Anna climbed to her feet with a fluid, inhuman grace. On the other side of the altar, Stuart was now beginning to stir, one long leg shifting restlessly against the dark wood of the floor. His throat burning with unvoiced sobs of frustration, Matt felt his last flame of hope begin to flicker and die. There was no escape. Suddenly, the door at the far end of the chamber burst inward, and Stefan swept in. Ethan looked up in surprise, but before he or the other vampires could move, Stefan flew across the chamber and ripped Chloe from Ethan’s arms. She fel flat in front of the altar, blood running down her neck. Matt couldn’t tel if she was stil breathing, stil clinging to life as a human, or not. Stefan grabbed Ethan by his long robe and slammed him against the wal . He shook the curly-haired vampire as easily as a dog might shake a rat. For a moment, the terrible fear that held Matt in its grip loosened. Stefan knew what was happening, Stefan had found him. Stefan would save them al . The other Vitales were racing toward Stefan now as he struggled with Ethan, their long robes flowing behind them as they smoothly came forward, moving as one. Stefan was without a doubt much stronger than any of them. He flung a black-clad female vampire – the one who had handed him the goblet, Matt thought – away from him easily, and she sailed across the chamber as if she was no heavier than a rag dol , landing in a crumpled heap against the opposite wal . Smiling viciously, Stefan tore at the throat of another with his teeth, and she fel to the ground and lay stil . But there were so many of them, and only one of Stefan. After just a few minutes of watching the fight, Matt could see that it was hopeless, and his heart sank. Stefan was much older, and much stronger, than any other vampire in the room, but together they outweighed him. The tide of the battle was turning, and they were overwhelming him through the sheer strength of their numbers. Ethan was free of him now, straightening his robes, and four of the Vitale vampires, working together, pinned Stefan’s arms behind him. Anna, her eyes shining, snapped at him viciously. Ethan grabbed a torch from the wal behind him and eyed Stefan speculatively, absently licking at the blood on the back of his hand. â€Å"You had your chance, Stefan,† he said, smiling. Stefan stopped struggling and hung limp between the vampires holding his arms. â€Å"Wait,† he said, looking up at Ethan. â€Å"You wanted me to join you. You begged me to join you. Do you stil want me?† Ethan tilted his head thoughtful y, his golden eyes bright. â€Å"I do,† he said. â€Å"But what can you tel me that’l make me believe you want to join us?† Stefan licked his lips. â€Å"Let Matt go. If you let him leave safely, I’l stay in his place.† He paused. â€Å"On my honor.† â€Å"Done,† Ethan said immediately. He flicked his fingers in the air without taking his eyes from Stefan, and Matt staggered, suddenly released from the compulsion that had held him in place. Matt sucked in one long breath and then ran straight for the altar and Chloe. Maybe it wasn’t too late. He could stil save her. â€Å"Stop.† Ethan’s voice cracked commandingly across the room. Matt froze in place, once again unable to move. Ethan glared at him. â€Å"You do not help. You do not fight,† he said coldly. â€Å"You go.† Matt looked imploringly at Stefan. Surely he wasn’t just supposed to leave, to abandon Chloe and Stefan and the others to the Vitale vampires. Stefan gazed back at him, his features rigid. â€Å"Sorry, Matt,† he said flatly. â€Å"The one thing I’ve learned over the years is that sometimes you have to surrender. The best thing you can do now is just leave. I’l be okay.† And then, jarringly intrusive and sudden in Matt’s head was Stefan’s voice. Damon, he said fiercely. Get Damon. Matt gulped and, as Ethan’s compulsion released him once more, nodded slowly, trying to look defeated while stil signaling to Stefan with his eyes that his message had been received. He couldn’t look at the other pledges. No matter how much he hurried, some or al of them would die before he returned. Maybe Stefan would be able to save some of them. Maybe. Maybe he would be able to save Chloe. His heart pounding with terror, his head spinning with fear, Matt ran for the exit and for help. He didn’t look back. How to cite The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Thirty-Seven, Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Organization Development and Change Management

Question: Discuss about the Organization Development and Change Management. Answer: Introduction The author in this assignment analyzes an article titled The critical challenges facing New Zealands chief executives: implications for management skills presented by Ann Hutchison and Peter Boxall. The aim is to analyze the article and mention the strength and weaknesses of the article. It mentions the challenges that the executives in New Zealand face that have an impact on the management. The article illustrates the management skills that are required to operate the organization. Three managerial skills are required to operate the business and the country efficiently. The three managerial skills are managing humans and the limited resources, managing business partners and stakeholders and managing uncertainty and transformation (Hutchison and Boxall 2014). The environment that the executives work in greatly affects the operation. This can be seen from the case of New Zealand where the executives face challenges due to the environment and the economy that they operate at. The aim o f the article is to recommend the executives of New Zealand to improve its managerial skills. Thesis statement or questions from statement Thesis statement: the thesis statement and question of the article is the challenges faced by the chief executives of New Zealand and its implication on the management. Chief executives are a body of authority that holds power and are placed above the managers and employees in an organization. The article identifies the challenges that the executives in New Zealand face and the reasons for the facing the difficulties. The article specifies the challenges that the executives of New Zealand face and the reason being challenging environment and economy of New Zealand. Challenges faced by the executives have an implication on the managerial skills and management (Ehambaranathan, Chalapati and Murugasu 2015). The question of the article is related to the challenges that the executives of New Zealand face and the skills that can be applied to overcome the challenges. It also specifies the environment and the economic condition of New Zealand and the way it affects the management department. Challenges faced by the executives have an implication on management. The financial condition of New Zealand is not good, due to which the executives have to face many challenges. The human resource department can be supportive to the development of skills of managers. The article is based on examining two hundred and sixty five executives of New Zealand and the challenges that they face in the economy. The country is at risk because of the global financial crisis in 2008-2009 that was followed by earthquake in 2010 (Walsh et al. 2002). Management team has many roles to play in an organization. New Zealand has many opportunities to grow and develop which if operated efficiently will lead to development and eradicate challenges that the country face. The challenges faced by New Zealand are due to brain drain, financial performance and economic condition of the country (Green et al. 2011). Strengths and weaknesses of the article The article explains the topic in detail and includes all the information that is necessary for the readers to understand. The article not only specifies the economic aspects and conditions of New Zealand but also the reasons for the condition. The article explains the challenges that executives face and its implication on the managerial skills. The article does not only is descriptive but also explains its findings using statistical tools and graphs. The article also clearly specifies the managerial skills and development that is required to manage the business and country effectively and efficiently. The article has explained the three sectors in New Zealand in detail that is the private, public, and non profit organization. The author has used integrative and descriptive approach to explain the article. The article explains the types of managerial skills that are the management of humans and limited resources, management of business partners and customers and management of uncerta inty and risk. The article specifies the roles of manager in different sectors and how best it can be utilized to improve the efficiency (Tyson 2014). The article is well arranged with an introduction that explains the topic. The body that contains all the information useful to explain the article and a conclusion that gives a conclusion and summary of the entire article. The article is written in an easy and readable language that is easy to understand for the readers. All the points in the article are clear and understandable (Daft and Marcic 2013). The weakness of the article is that it is made unnecessarily long that contains information, which makes the reading time consuming, and boring. The sample size of the article is 265 that are too small as the article has been carried out in large scale. The article should contain more pictures to make the reading interesting. The information that is provided about the country New Zealand can be shortened. In addition, the article should elaborate information on the roles and responsibilities of a manger in a country or business so that the readers will be able to understand what a manger actually does in the country. The article should contain more graphs and data to better understanding of the article (Panahi 2012). Hence, the article has both strengths and weaknesses. However, the article is well written that contains all the information that is required to clarify the topic. Personal viewpoint The organizational behavior is related to the case of New Zealand. The surroundings and environment greatly affects the executives in business and organizations as it creates a very challenging environment for them. However according to my view if a manger has a proper managerial skill then he will be able to work efficiently in any type of environment and economic condition. Managers have many roles and responsibilities in a nation. His work is to handle the operations of the country efficiently and utilize the opportunities at its best way. The aim of the executives should be to form such strategies that help the country grow and develop. Due to lack of organizational base, the brain drain scenario is hampering the country. The author agrees to the thesis statement of the article. As mentioned in the topic the article clearly specifies and reports the challenges that the chief executives of New Zealand face and its implication on the management. The entire article revolves around this topic and the thesis statement (Iravani 2011). Key points of the article The article has explained four key points. The first is the brain drain scenario that occurs due to lack of organizational base in New Zealand. The other challenges of New Zealand are due to global financial crisis, emigration, and migration. The other key points of the article are management of country by a team of efficient chief executives. The executives have three managerial skills to manage the business and organizations. New Zealand has many opportunities for growth and development that can be managed if handled efficiently (Mitchell 2013). Conclusion To conclude it can be said that the country has many challenges that affects the management and the managerial skills of the country. The article has analyzed two hundred and sixty five executives of New Zealand to analyze the challenges and productivity of the country. Although, the executives emigrate to different countries for career growth but this can be restricted by developing different skills like team building, job design as well as different skills like communication, interpersonal and innovation skills. References Cummings, T.G. and Worley, C.G., 2014.Organization development and change. Cengage learning. Daft, R.L. and Marcic, D., 2013.Building management skills: An action-first approach. Cengage Learning. Ehambaranathan, E., Chalapati, S. and Murugasu, S., 2015. The Determinants of Income towards Brain Drain-The Case of Malaysians in New Zealand.International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences,5(1), p.212. Green R, R Agarwal, P Brown, H Tan and K Randhawa 2011. Management matters in New Zealand: How does manufacturing measure up? Ministry of Economic Development, Wellington. www .med.govt.nz/about-us/publications/publications-by-topic/occasional-papers/2011-occasional -papers/11-03-pdf (Accessed 26 Sep. 2016) Hutchison, A. and Boxall, P., 2014. The critical challenges facing New Zealand's chief executives: implications for management skills.Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources,52(1), pp.23-41. Iravani, M.R., 2011. Brain drain problem: A review.International Journal of Business and Social Science,2(15). Mitchell, B., 2013.Resource environmental management. Routledge. Panahi, R., 2012. Factors affecting the brain drain from Iran.Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research,2(3), pp.3003-15. Tyson, S., 2014.Essentials of human resource management. Routledge. Walsh P, J Bryson and Z Lonti 2002. Jack be nimble, Jill be quick: HR capability and organisational agility in the New Zealand public and private sectors. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 40(2), 179194.