Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Spirit Savvy Business ... the heart and principles behind it

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

www.spiritsavvy.net



People on a mission, whether it's a great cause or a business venture,
live by five power principles. They refine them and execute them well on a regular basis.

In investigating what works for building a vision, I found these
underlying principles in all of them. Going back to the best-selling business books of the post depression era, these principles rebuilt America then, and they can rebuild American enterprise again today.

These strategies are also the foundation for how the Spirit Savvy Business goes about
building noble business ventures, and worthy causes.

A consistent thread became clear when reviewing
Napoleon Hill's findings, commissioned by Andrew Carnegie in the early 1900's to find what creates wealth; W. Clement Stone, who built a magnificent company in the ghettos of America; Og Mandino, the philosopher of riches in life and happiness; Dale Carnegie, the guru of personal relationship power... all of which are post-depression business thought leaders. They led us out of the Great Depression, and they remain the foundation for advanced thinking today. What are the threads that when woven together form invincible strength in a business vision or mission?

1. Faith. They all had faith, believing in something much better than themselves can happen. Their
faith was enlarged by their faith in God. Everything was believed to be possible, because they saw God as an active part of the process, since His Spirit creates through those who believe in His Power at work. This bred enthusiasm... (enthusiasm means God is within). So all things are possible outside of them. Vision faith then becomes a powerful force in their lives... a creative vision of new potential.

2. Transformation of the mind. The mind had to be reprogrammed to a new way of
thinking, continuous learning and learning from others. It takes deliberate mental rehearsal to accomplish this.
Moving the mind from negative to Positive,

from critical to the Possible,

from what's wrong to "How I can fix it!" way of thinking.

We do this by inundating our mind with Spiritual Thought, continually; by listening, thinking, speaking, reading, interacting... constantly cultivating a frame of mind of positive potential.
 

3.
Form Dreaming Teams. A Dreaming Team includes those who dream with you for positive solutions. Those who collaborate to find ways to carry them out, to create new results. Napoleon Hill called them mastermind groups. Jesus said where two or three agree it will be done. When minds are in harmony great power is released... ideas which engage the powers of God's Spirit.

4. Strategic Action

Hill, Stone, Mandino all had Strategic Action in their plans. The strategic actions included Divine Guidance as part of them. In other words, they relied on God-Inspired ideas and sought God-orchestrated direction. They believed everyone can hear from God and have His High level of intelligence at work with them.

They combined knowledge with Divine Strategy and added collaborating, cooperative action
.


5. Making Noble contributions to a society is what motivated them.
They become cause based and labored in a strong sense of mission. All problems that they solved had a Higher purpose. The opportunities which become evident were an important contribution to society and met the needs people were struggling with.


Today's statistics verify how inept business is today.

Two skills are essential.

Having personal skills of business, and mission,

and effectively using Spiritual skills.

Stephen Covey, author of
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, says the one critical intelligence lacking in America is the use of Spiritual Intelligence. We don't understand it or know how to use it. We get hung up on religious themes and over look the fundamentals of its power.
Unity of minds and spirit is where the power is. We must unite.

To develop people in using the skills of business and Spiritual skill enhancement,
two hurdles needed to be crossed. Business people are busy and they have little time to attend meetings, or take time from the rush of a day to learn, refine and execute these skills in an accomplished way.The business owner is task based, so taking time for Spiritual preparations is many times rushed by. Many even believe in its value, but the pressures of the day cause him/her to be on the go without getting that in focus during the day.

To solve this problem, to efficiently develop these skills and help business
create the foundations essential pointed out by our great business thinkers, I streamlined a development service, and use technology to assist in delivering information.

I email links on the internet of the best info from the best business minds in America
to business/mission based people. From their best-selling business books I summarize their key business principles and post them on my blog. I add a study of Spiritual principles vital to business vitality at the end of each. Using the teachings the Bible (with an emphasis on the New Testament community), I share the powerful principles of Scripture showing how to use these in the every day goals, objectives, tasks of a business/mission effort.

Over a year, principles from 30 great best-selling business books are revealed.
It's a year long "in the trenches" development program. I have used insights from the late J. Robert Ashcroft, visionary founder of Evangel University, on how Biblical power is available for us in the marketplace and how to be Spiritually empowered within your business skills each month. (Contact me and I would be glad send you the titles of business books featured.)

The power of dream teaming is added to the formula. Small cells of mind and Spirit power groups
are formed to bring creative thinking, idea sharing, problem solving fulfillment into the mix. The group size is deliberately kept small from three to ten, of like-minded, compatible people. Meeting once or twice a month as needed, (in person, phone, email, video). The Special Forces in the military find that small, tightly-knit, well-trained groups, of 6 to 8 people, are quite powerful in executing important assignments.

The nucleus is Spiritual development from prayer and the Power of the Scriptures, integrated as
part of the business operating philosophy. Prayer is learning the skill to tap into God's Great Power of Spirit, who empowers great things to happen.

The business transformation process is then in place.

Faith, belief in God's power in Spirit;

mental renewal, disciplined thinking and focus;

dreaming teams, of diversity but like-minded in heart and Spirit;

strategic action, from ideas which come from this Master mind of power;
a cause/mission emerges that transform society for a greater good of humanity.

(Dale Shumaker, founder of the Spirit Savvy Business,
M.S.,Educational Communications and Technology, researcher of entrepreneur skills, and student of the Bible and Spiritual applications in lifestyle. 417-224-3517, and I would be elated to show you ways to become one in business and Spirit and fulfill God's mission in your life through your mission and within commerce.)

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Social Boom! ...the power of small communicating

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com


Social Boom! by Jeffrey Gitomer is about how to attract, engage, and connect on
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Gitomer simply outlines what to use each for(the unwritten internet protocol), and how to go about it. It's one of those books that really needs to be on your business bookshelf as a reference guide to follow. Here are a few areas that are emphasized in the book.

The social media mentioned above are growing quickly. Social media is instant
and you have to be ready to participate consistently, if you want to win. They need to be used interchangeably, and a business strategy for you is necessary. It's not like the old mass media that is constantly pushing their product on us. Value must be created, so people want to visit you, listen to what you have to say. From that the relationships formed produce business relationships that are solid and enduring. What you build in social media will last longer n business because you formed a relationship of value first that creates a connection. It's giving people a clear picture of who you are and who you aren't. So before they ever meet you, they know you.

What you should do?

Observe what your competition is doing on line.

Talk to your customers and ask what they want.

Communicate value messages, not product offerings.


To build influential messages...

be the one most fascinating on line; message first, media second, identify what
makes you fascinating, start with information and then add insight, think in verbs, hit hot buttons, don't moan, stand out and don't be a bother... be fascinating. Social media is your personal brand, it's like a river, and you are in a fish bowl.

Eight steps for using social media are:

Find your prospects, follow them, read their posts, collect information, listen, connect (or
share their ideas with others), reach out to them, align yourself with people that you know they follow and pay attention to.

Facebook

Create value. The more you give, the more attractive you become. Become a community.
As you build a Facebook, keep in mind...
All social media is interconnected. You have to
do ALL of them consistently to gain effective results. And you have to do them well if you expect to monetize your efforts.(Gitomer)
When starting your own business Facebook page, the five step formula is:

Gather the email addresses of each of your customers.

Begin gathering valuable content that your customers would perceive as usable
and profitable. Have your business page designed graphically and strategically. Your Facebook page has to be a door that swings both ways. Use Gitomer's page as an example. (Search Jeffrey Gitomer on Facebook.)
Invite your customers to your page, and ask them to press "like".

Promise to be sending them information of value to them.


LinkedIn

Go to your LinkedIn page and look at three things.

How many connections do you have?

How many recommendations do you have?

What is your summary statement?


The imperatives of LinkedIn are:
Complete your profile. Update and engage frequently with your connections. Recommend others. Solve other people's problems. Join and participate in groups. Start your own group. Search companies and harvest new leads. Respond to everyone who communicates with you. Set up the SlideShare application and add value. Change your status regularly. Put a video on your profile. Promote your blog. Add a portfolio. Integrate Twitter. Leverage LinkedIn's search power and be found.

To build rank on your LinkedIn:
Make the most of your headline. Make your current and past work experience keyword rich.

Make the most of the summary section. Specialties should equal keywords. Add key-word
rich website links.

Create, promote, moderate, and leverage your own LinkedIn group. Be a group owner. This is a power feature of LinkedIn. Go to the Group tab and begin. Invite others to your group. Control undesirable comments. (Block out chronic toxic contributors, or make it by invitation only.)

Personalize your invitations to your LinkedIn and let them know why you would like
to connect.

Twitter
Twitter is not about meaningless chit chat. It's about sharing of meaningful information, ideas,
events, that others will want to retweet... something of great interest or value. The goal is tweeting something others will retweet as a result of a compelling interest. Include original thoughts or ideas and add your name at the end. This re-enforces your personal brand.

The power of Twitter is staying in touch every day with your network with information that is interesting, of value. It's simply about informing and sharing. A tweet of value is something new, let's your personality shine, asks questions, original in thought or observation, and shows you listen. You don't need 10,000 tweets to get 20,000 followers. You need 200 quality, relevant, valuable messages that are retweetable. (Gitomer)
People are sick and tired of being sold to. They are sick of being marketed to. They
come to social networks for fun, information, connection, and entertainment.
A tweet of value a day will keep your business in the main stay. (dale)


Target connections with meaningful content is the goal. Content can come
in many forms... link to your blog, a retweet, comments on your LinkedIn, anecdote of the day, a special event, content of value from your business or industry.

Twelve things to know about Twitter.

You have to be on Twitter regularly. A great source to traffic people to your website.
Sharing information. Respond to people who contact you. Get your message across in few words. All tweets should be 20 characters short of the 140 limit to make it retweetable. Use hashtags to categorize. Tweets have a short lifespan. Great for finding new information or look for opportunities. Use Hootesuite to schedule tweets. Best tweet times are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m Eastern Standard Time. Twitter followers are great people.
The world is not just small, it's instant. (Gitomer)

YouTube

YouTube provides the biggest opportunity to promote your name, brand, anyone
in the world can watch and its free.
YouTube opportunities include a place to share client testimonials, share your
business philosophy and best ideas, record your favorite customer, and anything else your imagination can conjure up. It's an entertainment, informational marketplace so others see your heart, spirit, with your ideas. Start with what you have, don't create videos, create a series of videos(brief and to the point), use videos of you speaking to others, build yourself an audience(invite, invite, constantly invite others to watch), change your business model to include YouTube and work from a strategic plan. Instead of taking 20 minutes to get your 4 points across, create a series of 4 videos, five minutes for each point.

Use a blog to glue everything together... Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
Your blog should have current photos and updated biography, value in why you're
blogging, news, fun, insight, information, humor, and pass-it-on information.

The glue process is your personal website, your weekly e-zine, and your blog.
Ask for email addresses, and email your email magazine. This is a weekly value message that reaches your customers and prospects. Ask first, send value, and they will stay connected and pass it on.

Messages of value have to
be genuine, authentic, without an offer to buy. It must be transparent without expectation of return or response.

Since everything is interconnect, a person has all the options to find more of you and see all you have to offer. You stimulate word-of-mouth marketing by being interesting, making it easy, make people happy, and earn their trust and respect.

To capsulize... The formula for business social media success: Attract people,
engage people, connect people. The best way to accomplish all three is with value. (Gitomer)

Read Gitomer, brainstorm with friends and create your business social
media game plan. For a taste of Jeffrey Gitomer
http://www.facebook.com/JeffreyGitomer

The Strength of Spiritual relationship is in communication.
When we pray we communicate. When we pray for others we communicate. When we speak to others we empower them. Our words empower others.

The Scriptures say by the word of your testimony, it is done.
God spoke and the world formed. His words shake the universal violently.

We speak and people respond. When in a position of authority
people do as we say, become as we say. Communication is powerful. The Holy Spirit puts us in a position of authority. When it is spoken by the unction of the Holy Spirit there's transformational, convicting, responsive power. The Words from Spirit are invincibly, persuasively powerful.

Power is manifested and Supernatural results come about when people are in unity. Unity requires communication. When there is agreement, one-in-thought and Spirit, all Heaven comes to earth. All of Heaven surrounds our purposes.

The teachings on the Body of Christ, by Dr. J. Robert Ashcroft surmised this well.

They were no longer just a group meeting together, but an intimacy among them became obviously apparent. It was an intimate sharing fellowship as all things were considered to be in common and shared by all. This was done to such an extent, no one person in the group was without. All needs were met. Individuals seemed to lose individual identities in the group. There was a vicarious unselfishness to share all blessings with each other.

Unity in all things was the word of the day. (All of this involves communication.)
1. They were in unity as One with God.
2. They were one in themselves, one with the Holy Spirit now working vigorously through them. They turned over selfish ambitions for God's directives speaking unceasingly through them.
3. They were one with each other. As Peter spoke to the crowd afterward... He was speaking as the whole group of 11 disciples. A unique occurrence.
4. They were in unity with all Believers. Togetherness was the characteristic of the group, as well as the condition behind why they all had so much power now.
5. They were in communication. Now, the Spirit was communicating through them from the Spirit within them. They had God's voice in them speaking to them.
6. They were in unity in material things. They shared things of value with each other... food, clothing, shelter, houses, transportation. Even though most were in poverty, in their sharing they all become a group without any lack among them. Prosperity seems to promote individualism... individualism weakens Spiritual power. Their power came from their sharing... a new concept of power's origins.
7. They were in unity in witnessing. They had favor with all people and people listened to them. They were amazed that they seemed to know so much, and were bold as an authority in their field even though not educated. The warmth and love they had among each other, attracted many to them.

All this centered around the unity of Spirit as One Group they had. When there is disunity, the power is zapped. We should avoid disunity at all costs. Satan's premiere tool to make the Church powerless is to create disunity. When that happens, Power is diluted, exponentially, from the group. To the same degree, when their is unity, power is added exponentially to the group.

The Unity of Believers Brought the manifestation of God's Presence.


Today with all the social media, with a strategic use of resources, we can cause great things to emerge from the Power Principles of the Scriptures.
Facebook can be used to cultivate friendships, testimonies of life, share needs.
Twitter to keep in touch in sound bites, as well as texting, for instant updating.

LinkedIn to build a marketplace connection of Kingdom objectives with strategies to
inject the potency of Spirit in the marketplace.
YouTube to be our pulpit for sharing revelations as they come.
Blog to allow gifts of thought to flow.


We have tools to do great things in the Kingdom of God for the Kingdom
of God and mobilize an army for the Kingdom of God. We can be the army.

It's in sharing where the power is. Communicate and speak power into people. Use all the tools available. And then our coming together will be more powerful. So Powerful that we will see supernatural expressions of God's Spirit in all things around us.

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Absolute Surrender... kept by God's Great Power

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com


Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray (1828-1917) is a Christian classic on living in
the authority of God's Spirit and His Power in our life, visible daily. The section on Kept by the Power of God outlines the ingredients for experiencing this on a daily basis. Murray is a Spiritually anointed inspirational writer. Here are excerpts from this powerful guide to living in Spirit's power... Kept by the Power of God.

We have two wonderful, blessed truths about the keeping by which a believer is kept unto salvation. One truth is,
Kept by the power of God; and the other truth is, Kept through faith. We should look at the two sides... at God’s side and His almighty power, offered to us to be our Keeper every moment of the day; and at the human side, we having nothing to do but in faith to let God do His keeping work. We see there is a double keeping... the inheritance kept for me in Heaven, and I on earth kept for the inheritance there.

Keeping Includes All

Think, first of all, that this keeping is all-inclusive.

He knows you are not able to keep yourself. But God says: “My child, there is no work you are to do, and no business in which you are engaged, and not a cent which you are to spend, but I, your Father, will take that up into my keeping.”
God not only cares for the spiritual, but for the temporal also. The greater part of the life of many people must be spent, sometimes eight or nine or ten hours a day, amid the temptations and distractions of business; but God will care for you there. The keeping of God includes all. Now, I bring you the message that in prosperity as in adversity, in the sunshine as in the dark, your God is ready to keep you all the time. The meaning is, that if you will entrust yourself entirely and absolutely to the omnipotence of God, He will delight to keep you.

Keeping Requires Power

Second, if you want to understand this keeping, remember that it is not only an all-inclusive keeping, but it is an almighty keeping. Have you ever thought that in every action of grace in your heart you have the whole omnipotence of God engaged to bless you?

What is Almighty God not going to do for the child that trusts Him? The Bible says: “Above all that we can ask or think." It is Omnipotence you must learn to know and trust, and then you will live as a Christian ought to live. How little we have learned to study God, and to understand that a godly life is a life full of God, a life that loves God and waits on Him, and trusts Him, and allows Him to bless it! We cannot do the will of God except by the power of God. God gives us the first experience of His power to prepare us to long for more, and to come and claim all that He can do. God help us to trust Him every day.

Keeping Is Continuous

Another thought. This keeping is not only all-inclusive and omnipotent, but also continuous and unbroken. God comes to us as the Almighty One, and without any condition He offers to be my Keeper, and His keeping means that day by day, moment by moment, God is going to keep us. Our whole spiritual life is to be God’s doing... "It is God that works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. ” When once we get faith to expect that from God, God will do all for us. Every morning God will meet you as you wake. If you trust your waking to God, God will meet you in the morning as you wake with His divine sunshine and love, and He will give you the consciousness that through the day you have got God to take charge of you continuously with His almighty power. And God will meet you the next day and every day; and never mind if in the practice of fellowship there comes failure sometimes. If you maintain your position and say: “Lord, I am going to expect You to do Your utmost, and I am going to trust You day by day to keep me absolutely,” your faith will grow stronger and stronger, and you will know the keeping power of God in unbrokenness.

And now the other side—Believing. “Kept by the power of God through faith.” How must we look at this faith?

Faith Implies Helplessness

First of all, this faith means utter impotence and helplessness before God. At the bottom of all faith there is a feeling of helplessness. And so faith always means helplessness. In many cases it means: I can do it with a great deal of trouble, but another can do it better. But in most cases it is utter helplessness; another must do it for me. And that is the secret of the spiritual life. A man must learn to say: “I give up everything; I have tried and longed and thought and prayed, but failure has come. God has blessed me and helped me, but still, in the long run, there has been so much of sin and sadness.” What a change comes when a man is thus broken down into utter helplessness and self-despair, and says: “I can do nothing!” It is possible that you might exalt yourself, and therefore I have sent you this trial to keep you weak and humble.”

It is when we sink down in utter helplessness that the everlasting God will reveal Himself in His power, and that our hearts will learn to trust God alone.

But how am I to get that trust?”

My answer is: “By the death of self. The great hindrance to trust is self-effort. So long as you have got your own wisdom and thoughts and strength, you cannot fully trust God. But when God breaks you down, when everything begins to grow dim before your eyes, and you see that you understand nothing, then God is coming near, and if you will bow down in nothingness and wait upon God, He will become all.”

As long as we are something, God cannot be all, and His omnipotence cannot do its full work. That is the beginning of faith... utter despair of self, a ceasing from man and everything on earth, and finding our hope in God alone.

Faith Is Rest

And then, next, we must understand that faith is rest.

In the beginning of the faith-life, faith is struggling; but as long as faith is struggling, faith has not attained its strength. But when faith in its struggling gets to the end of itself, and just throws itself upon God and rests on Him, then comes joy and victory.

Oh, friends, that is faith! When God comes to me with the promise of His keeping, and I have nothing on earth to trust in, I say to God: “Your word is enough; kept by the power of God.” That is faith, that is rest.

My God, let my life be a proof of what the omnipotent God can do. Let these be the two dispositions of our souls every day... deep helplessness, and simple, childlike rest.

Faith Needs Fellowship

That brings me to just one more thought in regard to faith... faith implies fellowship with God. No goodness or power can be received separate from God, and if you want to get into this life of godliness, you must take time for fellowship with God.

Leave your heart, and look into the face of Christ, and listen to what He tells you about how He will keep you. Look up into the face of your loving Father, and take time every day with Him, and begin a new life with the deep emptiness and poverty of a man who has got nothing, and who wants to get everything from Him... with the deep restfulness of a man who rests on the living God, the omnipotent Jehovah... and try God, and prove Him if He will not open the windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room to receive it.

Shall we not say: “All that that omnipotence can do, I am going to trust my God for”? Are not the two sides of this heavenly life wonderful? God’s omnipotence covers me, and my will in its littleness rests in that omnipotence, and rejoices in it!

This is from Absolute Surrender which is online at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/surrender.toc.html
Click on the chapter, Kept by the Power of God, for the complete chapter above.