Artifacts from my single life

Inspired by Joshua Steele’s review of the exercises in What Color Is Your Parachute?, I dug up some ancient artifacts from my own exercises when I was a single man.

⚠️

These documents were written a LONG time ago. I was single and had almost zero responsibilities. My life has changed in so, so many ways since I wrote all this down, but these documents were guides and regular exercises for a number of years.

Vision & Mission Statement

This vision and mission statement goes back before 2014 and any exposure I had to the Parachute book.

Καί κηρυχθήσεται τοῦτο τό εὐαγγέλιον τής βασιλείας ἐν ὅλη τῇ οἰκουμένη εἰς μαρτύριον πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν καί τότε ἥξει τό τέλος

Jesus is my king and treasure, companion and Lord, and I am his dependent disciple; God is my Father, and I am his beloved son; the Spirit is my counselor and guide, and I am his dwelling place. All I desire is that Jesus’ kingdom come, consummating a reign of endless joy and peace while eradicating suffering, futility and sin. This will occur when Jesus, through his people, gathers the last of his elect from every people.

The most effective way to hasten Jesus’ kingdom come is to begin movements among unengaged peoples. And the most effective tool to do this is to become like Jesus Christ in all things, reflecting his goodness in my conduct and words: first in my marriage and family life, then in my external ministry.

My dream is that the world and every spiritual power be confounded at the transformation of Pakistan and Afghanistan by the inimitable gospel of the risen Christ. Amie’s dream is to see the healing of the nations. We sense our piece in this includes:

On-field, 2nd tier, family support for both arriving and ongoing apostolic workers.  Our goal is to get these sent families to where the Lord’s leading them by receiving them for the first transition (like the gateway concept of Bob’s team) and preparing them for field work with example-driven instruction, relational health, and networking opportunities.  The outcome we desire is a network of teams/families who are blessing one another with counsel and experience, our contribution chiefly to help develop this atmosphere rather than becoming a lone point of contact.

We love the people of God, and especially those who have responded to the personal call of our Father to carry Jesus' Kingdom to the most light-deprived peoples. This motivates us towards an emphasis upon serving them. At times we are uncertain how our contribution will directly impact the people among whom we work, be it our neighbors or distant peoples, yet we are confident that the Lord has equipped us with many good things and will direct our path. At no time is this ever, ‘as good as it gets’ or as far as we’ll come. The now will not be the future.

Two points have formed upon the spear of my life’s trajectory: a passion for refinement in the workplace and a desire to bless the people of God through discipleship. These are broad categories, as they have extended from computer language programming to business analysis, small group leading to overseas ministry in supernatural power.

Spiritual Gift Inventory

This is taken verbatim from my personal development plan circa 2014:

(somehow I must also take into account the blatantly supernatural gifts, such as words of knowledge) Three gifts make up the core of my spiritual gift cluster: knowledge, teaching, and wisdom. By God’s pleasure I am uniquely fitted to discover, accumulate, analyze, and clarify information and ideas which are pertinent to the wellbeing of the body (knowledge), to communicate this information in a relevant way to the health and ministry of the body and its members so that others will learn (teaching), and to know the mind of the Holy Spirit in such a way as to receive insight into how given knowledge may best be applied to specific needs arising in the body of Christ (wisdom). These gifts are tuned specifically for ministry among those of another culture (missionary).

Five gifts make up my support cluster: leadership, administration, pastor, exhortation, and intercession. My gift of wisdom is often channeled to set goals in accordance with God’s purpose for the future and to communicate these goals to others in such a way that they voluntarily and harmoniously work together to accomplish these goals for the glory of God (leadership). My gift of knowledge tends to channel in a way to understand clearly the immediate and long range goals of a particular unit of the body of Christ and to devise and execute effective plans for the accomplishment of those goals (administration). All three of my gifts are motivated by the desire to assume a long-term personal responsibility for the spiritual welfare of a group of believers (pastor), which I often do by using my gift of teaching and wisdom to minister words of comfort, consolation, encouragement, and counsel to other members of the body in such a way that they feel helped and healed (exhortation). My support gift of pastor is supplied by the need to pray for extended periods of time on a regular basis and see frequent and specific answers to my prayers, to a degree much greater than that which is expected of the average Christian (intercession).

At times three other gifts manifest themselves: giving, helps, and hospitality, often expressed on account of the pastor gift. That is, I often find myself called to contribute my material resources to the work of the Lord with liberality and cheerfulness (giving), to invest my talents in the life and ministry of other members of the body, thus enabling those others to increase the effectiveness of their own spiritual gifts (helps), and to provide an open house and a warm welcome to those in need of food and lodging (hospitality).

SWOT Analysis

Around the same time as my vision and mission statement was formed, I’d learned about the SWOT analysis. It’s a business concept to review an entity’s risks and opportunities.

Some of these are still true of me, others not so much. Still others I would word differently after thirty-four years with myself.

Strengths

Opportunities

The opportunity to manage others is something that excites me. I’m not a people-person; that is, I drain quickly interacting with others. But I’m skilled at the organization, brainstorming, and explanation side of management, and I have the sort of people skills to handle the smaller role management plays there. Although I’m an analyst, I’m not a technical person; I don’t have any interest in becoming a subject matter expert in a limited set of information. I am motivated to work at the high-level view and drill down to details only when necessary. The responsibility for developing others and facilitating teamwork are exciting to me. According to Schien’s theory, I’m General Managerial, then Lifestyle.

There are few obstacles to join a Frontiers team overseas. I am flexible with a variety of team compositions and personalities. Supporting a leader and pursuing the fulfillment of his vision is something I’m particularly equipped to do. It is also possible for me to lead, but I tremble and prefer to do so from the background.

Weaknesses

Threats

My lack of perseverance can limit my capacity to produce fruit, for I am prone to give up before it has ripened. Without strong direction I soon begin to slide into a self-centered, anxious mode of life. Decision-making is incredibly stressful, and I feel likely to crumble if left in a lead position for more than a few weeks. Two inclinations in particular feel like weak points: my constant judgment of others and my hunger to please people. In the first, Jesus’ words “For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you,” are realized in my life almost every day. Not only do I have no right to stand in judgment over another, whether it be their physical features, decisions, or actions, but I’m also drained of life under the rebound of this heavy judgment upon myself. In the second, there’s great danger I’ll obey man rather than God, especially in relationships where I’m greatly affected (such as Amie and I). The long-term damage this could cause is incalculable.

Curriculum for Christlikeness

I used to keep a regular log of activities that I was doing to grow deeper in love with Jesus. I called this my Curriculum for Christlikeness, though I stole the language from Nathan Lutz, who stole it from Dallas Willard.

I’ve tried most of these, but almost none of them are reasonable for my current stage of life. Ah well, have to think up some new ones…

Enflame heart for Jesus

Kill Sinful Habits

Parachute Plan

And most closely relevant to Joshua Steele’s own post, here’s my Parachute Plan. This was accomplished just after college in the first years of marriage, before any children.

Seven Stories of Achievement

Goal – Hurdle – Action – Result – Measurement

I wanted to equip the Jordan team with solid preparation, on-field support, and a smooth re-entry so that they would be effective, unified, and ready to move forward. I’d never been in the situation they would experience nor would I be present with them. Also, I didn’t have sufficient man-power to receive them back well. I decided to participate in all their meetings to remain connected to their needs. I spent time each day praying for individual members and taking action to meet their needs. Also I was able to answer detailed travel questions having co-planned the previous year’s trip. During this time I developed a plan to connect each team member’s friends and family into a single network that could be updated daily on prayer requests and encouragement needs in Jordan. I used a combination of email and SMS to keep the eighteen support members updated daily. Also, I enlisted the help of three friends and connected with a professional counselor for the team’s return, so that we could meet individually with many of them. The team left with confidence and all the details they needed for the trip met. For twelve consecutive days I sent SMS and email to all the team’s supporters, cataloging the team’s daily experiences and present needs in understandable and security-wise language. When they returned I and my friends met one-on-one with some of them, and I scheduled two meetings with the professional counselor. Every one reported that the trip was a success; one couple has already moved overseas, one woman and another couple are making their final preparations.

I wanted to visit India with my fiancée and plan our wedding during our five month engagement. The timeline was tight, most resources were designed to span a year of wedding planning, she would be out of the country for a month, and the location was in another state at a place we’d never been. First, we planned out our trip to India. We organized the trip with our host and defined our expectations in detail. We budgeted for ten days including travel and purchased our tickets. Meanwhile, we selected a number of close friends, some nearby and others on-site, to assist us with the wedding planning. I treated the opportunity as a project, creating a custom spreadsheet to track time, budget and tasks. We met daily to discuss and refine our vision for the wedding, decide upon details and adjust for changes. Together we carefully researched options for location, timeline, events, and more, often receiving invaluable details from our friends and family. Our trip to India accomplished the goals for which we went. In spite of a two week separation while my fiancée was in Jordan on the aforementioned trip, all major details of the trip were decided before leaving for India, or in three months. Two weeks before the wedding we traveled to the site and refined the finer details of the wedding. Tasks were defined and roles assigned to over a dozen people involved in the wedding. The project was ready on time and within our $5,000 budget.

I wanted to develop supervisory skills as a mid-level manager during my deployment to Afghanistan. I’d been promoted to an appropriate rank for the privilege of management only weeks before and had no prior experience in a supervisory role. I spent the first month being mentored by the person I was to replace. I learned the position swiftly and developed a new element in the workflow using existing software that simplified the analysis of a great deal of data; several hundred text reports a week. When I assumed the role I was also given one personnel to supervise. I strove to maintain a congenial work relationship and exercise leadership skills such as delegation, persuasion, and discipline. A few months later I was given a second personnel, and another couple months a third. Training the third was particularly challenging as he had no prior training or experience in the field. Even though my departure date was unexpectedly moved forward two months, leaving me only a couple weeks to pass the baton to my team, my second personnel stepped into my role to full satisfaction and minimal additional training. During my service I also delivered dozens of presentations to an audience that was unfamiliar with my work’s lingo, translating my findings and backing them up with solid data. I received one of the three exemplary awards for my service in Afghanistan. *While I was in Afghanistan, I wanted to strengthen my body until I could complete 30 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 100 lunges, and a two-mile run in under 90 minutes. I worked 12-hour night shifts seven days a week, and the environment was often dusty. I trained every other day, increasing repetitions by increments until I approached my goal in my usual 60 minute exercise time. When I felt ready, I raced through the entire exercise, completing it after about 75 minutes. *While I was in Afghanistan, I wanted to strengthen my body until I could complete 30 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 100 lunges, and a two-mile run in under 90 minutes. I worked 12-hour night shifts seven days a week, and the environment was often dusty. I trained every other day, increasing repetitions by increments until I approached my goal in my usual 60 minute exercise time. When I felt ready, I raced through the entire exercise, completing it after about 75 minutes.

I wanted to graduate from the six month intensive communications training at the top of my class. I had graduated from high school less than a year before with an abysmally low GPA of 2.1; just barely enough, and had little experience of rigorous study or memorization. Soon after beginning I discovered that I could memorize detailed alphanumerical data more quickly and with greater precision than my classmates, and recall entire lines of text from our textbooks. I soon pulled ahead to take the first position, which I maintained until the final exam. I also found delight helping others understand concepts, often sitting down with them on breaks to explain concepts they were struggling with. During the final exam I discovered I’d failed to review an entire area of study, resulting in placing second. The senior manager who placed first graciously allowed me to take the reward since I’d worked so hard and had more to gain from a prestigious award early in my career.

I wanted to place in the pinewood derby while in Cub Scouts. Severe asthma threatened to keep me from even showing up. Using a Dremel tool, paint, and a drill I designed, crafted and decorated the box car by myself, having been guided on the construction of my first car. Before the event my asthma had flared up to the point of requiring an oxygen tank. Undeterred, I arrived with my oxygen tank and competed in the races, coming home with second place overall. During Cub Scouts I also discovered a passion for marksmanship. As a scrawny and fearful child it wasn’t likely I’d be able to hold the rifle steady. Under the guidance of my grandfather I learned to fire a single-shot .22 rifle with high accuracy in standing, sitting, kneeling and prone positions. I rose to become one of the best marksman in my division, taking second place in target shooting in the regional contests.

I wanted to test the certainty of God’s promise regarding physical provision when David through the Spirit said, “I have been young, and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread” by living homeless for a weekend in downtown Denver with no rescue plan. I stood to lose much, for my faith would be shaken if my needs were not supplied and my view of God’s character was at stake. I was on break from college and had no other responsibilities at the time. With reluctance, I walked out my door carrying only my identification, $5 a friend gave me (which I resolved not to use for myself), a backpack containing a tent and sleeping bag, a coffee mug and the clothes on my back. I arrived from the 15-mile hike to downtown Denver with a collection of stories and an exhausted body. Staying the night in a park, I wandered about 16th Street Mall for most of the next day, spent a second night in the park, and on the third day, after overwhelming evidence, concluded that I could come home successfully, having affirmed the promise true – God did provide all my needs without the need to beg. I returned home, exhausted, triumphant, and with more confidence in the Lord than I’d left with.

I wanted to evaluate if I had the stamina, tenacity and practical skills to complete a through-hike of the ~500 mile Colorado Trail by backpacking three days’ worth of the trail with what gear I had accumulated. I’d never done a multi-day hike, my gear was not weight or size optimized, and I had no partner to help or encourage me. After four hours of hiking I became convinced my path did not correspond to that illustrated on my map. Unable to identify where I was and unwilling to lose my first day retracing my steps I estimated where I was by the pattern of mountain peaks and blazed a trail in the direction I assessed would lead me to the trail (using the sun and shadows to determine cardinal direction since I didn’t have a compass). My trail meant climbing several hundred feet at a sharp incline, then down towards a creek which I could follow to the trail. When I found the trail again the sun had set and I had been hiking for over 9 hours and added nearly ten miles to my total hiking distance. The next day I made better progress on the trail, covering more than 15 miles in an eight hour interval. On the third day I discovered two things: my food rations didn’t include a buffer for mistakes, and my feet had more blisters than toes. Determined to finish what I’d begun, I pushed hard to hike nearly 20 miles the last day, completing the last leg of my journey with no food rations and swollen feet. I hitchhiked into Denver ahead of schedule, even though I’d added ten miles to my total hike, and lost about eight pounds. I’d proven to myself that I could complete the six week trek from Denver to Durango if such a span of time ever presented itself.

I wanted to identify my future goals, organize them into a simple, comprehensive document and develop an action plan to meet those goals. I’d never done anything like this before, was vague in my goals and had no existing template. I researched a variety of methods for ascertaining desires and skills, then developed an Excel spreadsheet to document my findings, add notes and draw conclusions. I revised this document dozens of times over two years, entirely replacing the document half-way with a text file after I’d begun to limit my goals to the past and stagnate in the accomplishment of them. As I look at an early copy of my future goals, all of them save one have been accomplished, and that one is still making progress. My current plan has clearly identified SMART goals in a simple structure, with a detailed description of how I will meet those goals.

Top Eight Transferable Skills

  1. Organizing mass information into a user-friendly, elegant, automated resource.
  2. Systematizing processes into an efficient, reproducible workflow.
  3. Designing creative solutions to immediate needs using customized software tools.
  4. Analyzing detailed charts and diagrams to draw evidence-based conclusions and troubleshoot errors.
  5. Writing engaging, detailed e-mail/SMS to inform or encourage both clients and teammates.
  6. Refining software tools or processes to generate more efficient, appealing reports or outcomes.
  7. Conceptualizing masses of data into graphical form to discover patterns or resolve discrepancies.
  8. Presenting evidence-based analysis of data before a group of peers and supervisors, often with engaging stories, in order to instruct or persuade.

My Style of Skill Usage

I am a person who is loyal to my leaders and friends, communicates ideas with clarity and comprehensiveness, is quick to forgive others, is a psalmist; able to worship with minimal structure from the heart, retains memorization easily, is committed to life-long exercise, listens actively, is often sensitive to the needs of others, especially emotional needs, is action-oriented and uncomfortable with talk that doesn’t lead to action, practices conflict resolution skills, possesses strength and tenacity, facilitates discussion and help others arrive at conclusions for themselves, summarizes ideas in common language, searches for the good characteristics in people and situations, and is transparent with others.

My Favorite Subjects

Subjects I Learned About in High School or College

Subjects I Learned About on the Job

Subjects I Learned About by Self-Study

Subjects I Learned About in a Workshop, Conference, Continuing Education or Training Event

Top Ten Subjects by Priority

  1. Languaculture
  2. Camping/Hiking
  3. Linguistics
  4. Project Management
  5. Theology
  6. Business Entrepreneurship
  7. International History and Culture
  8. Career Development
  9. Psychology
  10. Goal-setting

My Favorite Working Conditions

Conditions Distasteful to Me

  1. Repetitive
  2. No Feedback on Performance
  3. Inflexible
  4. Lacking Vision/Direction from Management
  5. Unmotivated
  6. jInconsistent
  7. Vulgar
  8. Distracting
  9. Isolated
  10. Cramped

Conditions I’d Like to Work in

  1. Varying Tasks
  2. Feedback on Performance
  3. Room for Innovation
  4. Vision/Direction from Management
  5. Motivated Co-workers
  6. Consistent Behavior
  7. Clean Speech
  8. Undistracting
  9. Team-oriented
  10. Unobstructed Workspace

My Favorite Level of Responsibility and Salary

I delight in working with a team of equals, especially when I have opportunity to lead by influence. As my level of expertise grows I’m looking forward to working as the leader of a team.

To entirely cover all expenses without debt, removing Amie’s income from the equation, I’d need to make approx. $56,000 as a salary or $28 as an hourly wage for a 40-hour work week.