Rescue Mission Blog

Why Your Belief System is Important

  

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Everyone has a belief system. I'm not talking about a religious belief system, a number of people see themselves as without any religion, I'm referring to a set of theories, values, and ideas that you assume or accept as true. A belief system could be made up of ideas as simple as "Nothing good ever happens to me", "Good things come to those who wait", or "Money corrupts everyone".  

We all have hundreds of these kinds of ideas, sayings and myths as a part of our life. Some are true and some are not. 

A couple of important thoughts about belief systems:

If you don't know you have one, you are in trouble - Some people don't recognize that they have a belief system. Because of this they find themselves unknowingly controlled by a set of beliefs that they have never examined. They don't know what they believe, so they don't see where their beliefs are taking them. It's always better to know what you believe even if your ideas are not fully formed yet and are "under construction."

Deciding on your beliefs is better than blindly accepting them - We all receive programming in our youth, at work, from our friends. The culture we live in also pushes a set of beliefs upon us. Whatever set of beliefs you were given as a child, or by the culture around you, examine and study whether or not they are true, helpful, and are serving you well.

Every belief system produces results - If you believe that "Money corrupts everyone" then that will produce results in your life. It will lead you to make decisions based upon that belief, choose your friends based upon it, judge others, and make career choices. It will affect you in many seen and unseen ways. This is true of every belief - they all produce a result. If you study the circumstances of your life with absolutely honesty you'll see that many, if not most, are the results from your belief system.  

Are you aware of the messages you believe? Do you examine and question the assumptions that run your life? So many people have negative and destructive beliefs about themselves, their potential, and about life in general.  

In my own life I realize that I've had negative beliefs about my own talents, how much my time was worth, whether I controlled my own destiny and other important issues. What beliefs did you have in the past that you now realize were producing a negative result on your life? Share your ideas with me, I'd love to hear from you

David Curry

Graduations to a New Life

  

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Each year, The Rescue Mission holds quarterly graduation ceremonies to honor clients that have completed the requirements for the New Life Program. These ceremonies are a time of reflection and celebration, as each graduate shares their own story of overcoming challenges ranging from homelessness, to domestic abuse, drug addiction, or other difficult circumstances, and ultimately achieving a new life of stability, hope, and joy.

On December 10th, 2012, at our most recent graduation ceremony, eight men stood on the stage and told their stories of struggle, hope, and triumph over difficult circumstances. Each graduate shared a unique and moving story, including Casey, who shared his testimony of what brought him to the Mission, and how the New Life Program changed his life. Here is an excerpt from his story:

“I was released for prison March 14th, 2012 and. . . . entered the New Life Program. The first few weeks, though, I doubted if I could do it, or if this was what I wanted after all. By God’s grace, and His grace alone, I am able to stand here today. A son of God, a changed man. A god-fearing man, a praying man. A husband that loves his wife, a father that loves his children. A man that, thanks to God’s grace, has earned the respect and trust back of his family. A man that God has delivered from drugs, and now I’m 20 months clean and sober.”

Congratulations to Casey, and all the New Life Program graduates. Our heartfelt thanks go out to all of the staff, volunteers, and donors who make the New Life Program possible.

To learn about upcoming graduation ceremonies, visit the Graduation page of our new website.

To read client stories, including Casey’s full testimony, visit the Client Stories Page.

View a video celebrating the December 10th, 2012 graduation ceremony, on our Youtube Channel.

Who Says? How to respond to other people's rules

  

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When I was a child I would say, "Who says?" to any suggestion from my siblings that I couldn't do something I wanted to do.  It mattered if they were saying it, or if my parents had said it.  Often enough, it was just my siblings, and not a rule from my parents.  

Civil society runs best when citizens respect and honor the laws made to protect them and to manage large groups of people.  In addition, there are moral laws which help us to grow in character and integrity.  Unless you're living under a tyrannical situation, lawful = good.  However, people sometimes become conditioned to accept other people's rules, opinions, and perceptions as law themselves and stiffle their own growth and opportunity. 

Here's a list of things people say and hear every day that are other people's rules, but not laws, and therefore can and often should be ignored:

You can't do that: What people say when they reflexively react to what you dream to do, but haven't any authority to stop you.

That's not possible: What people say when they don't want you to attempt something.

It will not work: What people say when they want to scare you from trying.

That is dumb: What people say to make you feel inferior so you'll give up.

I'm not worthy: What we say to ourselves when we are afraid to grow.

I can't do it: What we say to ourselves when we are afraid to try.

I can't stop: What we say to ourselves when we are in a rut or addiction and believe our chemistry rules our lives.

You'll never do it: What people say to us when they think we are stuck in a rut.

There are nearly endless such rules, opinions, memes and ideas that people create and use against others and themselves.  It's dangerous to accept other people's rules without asking under what authority and expertise they are trying to keep us from doing what we dream to do.  We also must challenge our own rules, often just rules we've adopted from others without first checking to see if they are legitimate, if we are to grow beyond our borders and live our dreams.

Dream Big.

David Curry

Steve Jobs: Vision of life.

  

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Before things can get better...

  

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So many people want to have a great life, a healthy family, and live in peace and prosperity. Even with those dreams, it's very common to see people sabotage themselves! Just as they are starting to make progress, they make obviously horrible decisions, returning to abuse, addiction, chaos and fear. Here's a little secret: Before things can get better, you've got to stop making them worse!

The idea that there is some conspiracy that is holding you down is not true. Most of the time, we are our own worst enemy. I speak from experience, because the biggest obstacle to meeting my goals is myself. The way we think, the way we act on a daily basis is what keeps us from achieving the goals and dreams we have. Of course, many people don't believe that. They believe they are controls by forces outside of themselves.

Challenge yourself every time you are tempted to blame others, or circumstances for your current situation. If you look closely you'll see in most cases you have the ability to create a new situation. It's time to get out of your own way.

Before things can get better, YOU have to stop making them worse.

I know this is challenging. What about this idea don't you believe? What makes this hard for us to grasp and accept?

David Curry

Non-Profit Leadership: Is Your Charity Prepared for the Future?

  

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The future is coming, and faster than you think.  What are you doing to prepare your charity, church, division, department and cause for the future?

This isn't a theoretical question, it's something every none profit leader must be asking themselves today.  Rather than give you answers to what the future looks like, let me give you some questions that I ask myself:

1. Are you preparing for putting your content online?

2. Can you expand your service through technology?

3. Are you training your specialists in use of technical multipliers (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.)?

4. Are you using social media to expand your fan base? 

5. What if your support was derived 100% from individual donors, could you reach them easily, inexpensively?

6.  What would you do to communicate if you couldn't use paper?

7. How would you expand if you couldn't build any more buildings?

8. How would you lead if you had to use volunteers and no paid staff?

9. How can you reach the most people for $0?

10. Are you defending the status quo for your comfort or on principle?

There must be dozens of other great questions that could be prompters, share them with me as you think of them.  

The answers will vary, but when thinking of the future, it's most important that we be asking questions. Lots of questions, crazy questions, so that we have thought about alternate paths to success.

David Curry

Things I'm Learning

  

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It's been some time since I've had a chance to share a few of the many resources that I've been reading, viewing and experiencing that are influencing my thinking on leadership, management, inspiration and more.  It's not because I've not been reading, but rather it's due to the fact that I've just not been excited about any books to the point where I'd recommend them.  This probably isn't even a reflection so much of the content, as if could be that I've probably read too many of the types of books of late.  At any rate, here's a few things I think you'd find interesting.

Scrabble for Ipad

This one is just for fun, but I highly recommend Scrabble for the Ipad. It's fun to see a company figure out how to make their old games, new and fun for the next generation.  Basic idea: Ipad is the scrabble board, everyone uses their smartphone scrabble app as their tile rack. It's fun, easy and cool.  Never in a million years could I get my boys to play Scrabble with a board, but they love this game.  A++++.

Monocle Magazine. A european briefing on global affairs, business, culture and design, this magazine is always full of interesting perspectives on the world at large.  Not all of it is golden and it has a european take on the world you might not agree with, but this is one of the rare magazines which is going against the flow of dropping circulation of magazines and is actually flourishing. There's a reason for it, it's good and interesting.  In a world economy where Newsweek sells for $1, it's worth studying the handful of cases where a magazine is making money and asking, "why?".  

Chasing Stars: The Myth of Talent and the Portability of Performance. By Boris Groyburg

This book seeks to answer the question "Are those who excel in the workplace free agents with highly portable skills, or is their performance primarily driven by the adept use of the resources of the organization in which they thrive?"  Most people think that they could do their jobs anywhere, but this study shows that environment matters bigtime.  Who might want to read this? Anyone who is ever tempted to try to hire a A+ player from another team/company and expect that person to perform to the same level on your team.  Might not happen, unless you understand what makes people excel. Good book.

What are some things you've been learning, reading, doing that I might find interesting?

David Curry

Questions to Spark Creativity, Innovation, Growth at Your Non-Profit

  

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Here are four questions that I continually ask our team at the Rescue Mission.  I think they're great questions for every team.

What are we doing well?  Knowing what you are doing well can be a point of celebration, but it can also be a path that other departments can duplicate.

What Can We Simplify? Things tend to get more complicated with time.  It slows organizations down and adds unnecessary work. Simplify for efficiency and effectiveness.

What Can We Stop Doing? After a while, some projects just don't pack the punch they once did.  Sometimes organizations don't even know why they're doing them, they just always have.  Make a stop doing list personally and organizationally.

Where Can We Work Together?  Isolation usually brings organizational sickness.  We need to work together, have others challenge our assumptions and dogmas.  Get people together and push for answers.  

David Curry

Greatest Threat to Non-Profit Organizations? Pnuemonia

  

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When I was younger I vividly recall hearing with curiosity that several older acquaintances of my family had died, of all things, pneumonia.  I didn't know what it was, and I certainly didn't know how to spell it, but I knew it was getting people.  My young imagination feared dying by gunshot wound, or bizarre car accident, but that's not what gets most of us.  We age, we hurt ourselves, in our weakened condition pneumonia sets in and we pass.  

But what kills non-profit organizations and programs? With economic challenges affecting income, Foundations and traditional funders like United Way shrinking their direct investment in services, increased investment needed to fund raise effectively, growing health care costs, ever-rising need for the critical social services and more, giving non-profits organizations heartburn these days, it is difficult to pinpoint one poison pill that is the greatest threat to non-profits as a whole.  

Yet even with all of those external factors putting pressure on organizations, the greatest threat to non-profit ministries in my opinion is pneumonia, brought on by INERTIA, the lack of movement within organizations to change, adapt, reshape and create at rate that will keep pace with the rate of change forced by external forces.  

Most Organizational Deaths are not Murder.  If you watch american TV while traveling overseas you'll likely feel embarrassed by how many of our programs revolve around murder, and how often it seems that people die through murder.  While even one murder is too many, in real life it doesn't happen that way.  Most of us will die of natural causes.  

So it is with organizations.  Most non-profits will not die of some external, violent takeover, or because someone has decided it's time to shut it down, but of internal causes that precede the final death blow. These include: the inattention to detail, lack of financial wherewithal, discontent and lack of unity, lack of direction and purpose, narrow focus, non-essential service being provided, antiquated and expensive communication methods, and more.  

That's why it's so critical for leaders to spend their time working on those critical internal issues and functions that make an organization work well.  These issues aren't  nearly as exciting as working externally on committees, associations, denominations, task forces, and other community issues that get the leader exposure and a sense of importance within the community, but they are the things which will keep your organization healthy and will keep you from dying from organizational pneumonia. 

David Curry

Tempted to Give Up on Someone?

  

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Don’t give up on people, no matter how tempting it may be or how justified you feel you are in doing so. People are always capable of positive changes, even after years of going in another direction.  When you are dealing with someone who has years of drugs, alcohol or other types of abuse in their background, it sometimes feels as though they will never be able to break free from the negative patterns that have controlled them for so long.  They seemingly continue to go back to the old habits and routines which have been a part of their destruction, and it can be so frustrating to watch.  But don’t give up.

I’ve seen hundreds of lives literally transformed here at the Rescue Mission from habits and patterns that have controlled and destroyed for years.  Yet, when there is an internal change; a desire to get out of the rut, becoming sick and tired of being sick and tired, anything is possible.  As strange as it seems, a person can wake up one day and decide to go in a completely different direction, and start to build a life of success and happiness after years of pursing destruction.  The pages of this website are full of such stories, but it’s also true for your life.

Do you have habits or negative beliefs that you know are hurting you and holding you back from being all you could be?  Maybe you or someone you love is stuck in a destructive and dangerous rut and can’t seem to get out. Don’t give up.

1. Surround yourself with an environment of encouragement, inspiration, and information that will empower you in your life and in the changes you want to see happen.

2.  While you can’t make decisions for another, remain open to the possibility that someone can change, and begin a new way of living.

3. It’s not up to you if they change, but you can give a word of encouragement and let them know it’s never too late.  Don’t give up on yourself and don’t give up on others.  The future is bright.

David Curry