Well, I thought that I could do this. When I tried to post a blog earlier it wiped out my web site! It took me all afternoon to fix the problem. However, I’ve never been one to just quit so here we go again. Hopefully, I will remember some of what I had written earlier.
Perhaps I will learn how this all works. My minister has a blog. Some of my peers have blogs. My daughter even has joined the ranks of bloggers. (She really writes good stuff, and I am not biased in the least.) So, here I go jumping into the blogging pool too.
As you can see by the title of my site, this is a Christian site and I want to explain why and how this all began. As a career Army officer, my adult life was dedicated to service. This is probably a direct result of the value my father held in serving others. He too served in the military. He was not a career soldier, but a member of the “greatest generation” of World War II veterans. Dad served in the Navy during those years long before I knew him. However, he told stories (mostly funny stories) about helping others. He didn’t lecture us on serving. In fact, he didn’t really talk about service much. We learned through his example of serving. Dad often helped neighbors bring in their hay or cotton. He mowed the widow neighbor’s lawn. On Saturday, he always prepared the church building for Sunday services. He never sought recognition, if fact he hid from it. Dad’s values resulted in each of his six sons choosing to serve. Five of us joined the military and the sixth became a minister.
For myself, I enlisted in the Air Force after high school. Later, I graduated from Army Officer Candidate School and served in the Army National Guard and later the Army Reserve. Then I reentered active duty and have served for the past twenty years. As retirement approaches, I have prayed for guidance on what to do in the next chapter of my life. I have been blessed with wonderful experiences including multiple levels of command and three tours in the Pentagon. Each Pentagon assignment was very unique and a great experience. First, I served on the Army staff during the peacekeeping operations in Bosnia. I returned for my second tour after graduating from the U.S. Army War College to serve on the Joint Staff. That assignment began in June 2001, just three months before the world was turn upside down on September 11. Recently, after completing my assignment as commander, Fort McCoy, WI, I returned to D.C. to work on the Army Staff again. Now as retirement looks like a reality rather than a distant dream, I’ve prayed for guidance on what the next chapter of life will bring. The answer has become more clear and taken shape in the form of this ministry. I hope to serve God and His church by providing Christians training and materials to build visionary leadership and encourage unity of effort throughout the Christian community.
My family has lived throughout the United States and in Europe. Our church experience has noted a common, though to varying degrees, challenge – a lack of strategic leadership. Church leaders often express their desire for the church to do more, but can’t quite define what that more should be. When someone does state a goal, they seldom know how to plan and lead others to achieve the goal. Almost always when a goal is set it is the minister’s or the pastor’s vision and not the vision of the church itself.
The military is an organization that trains its officers as strategic planners. We go through a very deliberate process of education and experience to grow strategic leaders. The elements of strategic principles and operational art are as applicable to spiritual conflict as carnal warfare. I have taken some of the fundamental aspects of strategic military science and developed a series of lessons to introduce these tenets and show their application to Bible principles. The lessons are called “Put on the Whole Armor series” in reflection of Ephesians 6:11. Two more lesson sets build on this understanding. One is titled “Strategic Planning for Christian Leaders” and guides participants through 4-phases of long range planning to help establish and achieve group mission, vision, and goals. The other series applies the nine principles of war to our daily lives to encourage and help us achieve victory over daily challenges. More personal devotional studies will be developed soon.
Please pray that God will guide me into His purpose, opening doors for His glory and closing doors that are contrary to His will.
In His Grace,
Dan
