Straight From Pastor Ey

That’s one of the “ 7 Practices of Effective Ministry. ”  According to Andy Stanley, “Define what is important at every level of the organization. … It is impossible to know if you are making progress if you are not clear about your destination. This means examining each and every event and program and asking the question, When all is said and done, what is it that we want to look back and celebrate?” (Ibid)  Image credit How do we know whether our favorite basketball team is winning or not? Obviously, they win if they score more points than their opponents. No amount of fancy dribbling can ever make them win until and unless they score by putting the ball in the basket. How do we know if a business is winning? It’s making money! Stanley then asked, “How do you know if a church is winning? The very nature of what a church does makes it difficult to keep score. How do you create a scoreboard that measures intangibles like relevant teaching and changed lives? ” (Ibid) O...

Finally. After six months of agonizing silence, Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. delivered a privilege speech at the Senate today, following the footsteps of his co-accused senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada.  Revilla with alleged pork barrel queen, Janet Lim-Napoles (woman to his right) and co-accused Senator Jinggoy Estrada (wearing blue shirt, seated in front of him). (Image credit ) To summarize his speech, Revilla denied accusations that he was involved in the pork barrel scam and denounced the Aquino government’s “political wrecking crew.” (You may read the full text here . You may watch the video below.) However, due to the name-calling such as “Boy Pirma,” “Boy Xerox” and “Boy Pick-Up,” mouthing an expletive (“Anak ng teteng,” which according to Teddy Boy Locsin appears to be a clever way of saying S.O.B.) and quoting a Biblical verse as a conclusion, I really wondered if this speech was actually a spiel from the honorable senator’s TV show, “Kap’s...

Image credit On February 2008, at exactly 5:30 p.m., Starbucks closed all its 7,100 US stores. The reason? To “retrain their 135,000 baristas to pour the perfect shot of espresso. ” (Howard Schultz, “Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul.” Emphasis added.) The sign posted on the locked doors of Starbucks all over the US of A explaining why they closed that afternoon. Image credit Headlines about the closure screamed such as “A World Without Starbucks?” Competitors gloated about it, predicting that the move brought the brand down. To top it all, Starbucks lost approximately US$6 million. But for its CEO/Founder, it was one of their best investments. It was a strategic move, not a stupid one. Schultz explained why they took the risk: “Pouring espresso is an art, one that requires the barista to care about the quality of the beverage. If the barista only goes through the motions, if he or she does not care and produce an inferior espresso that is too ...

NOTE: This is my first letter to Filinvest Community Christian Fellowship (FCCF) as their pastor. I officially became their pastor last January 1, 2014. Other than my usual blog posts about faith, political and social issues, I will be posting here my weekly letters to FFCF. American football coach Vince Lombardi (Image credit ) When his Green Bay Packers team lost dismally, legendary football coach Vince Lombardi could not stomach it. “[They] lost to an inferior squad. It was bad enough to lose . . . but to lose to that team was absolutely inexcusable.” (Source: Insight for Living ) So, immediately the next day, he called the team for a practice. Being “a fanatic about fundamentals,” Lombardi stood before his team, held a football up and declared, “Gentlemen, this is a football!” (Ibid)  My favorite author Charles Swindoll wrote, “ How basic can you get? He’s got guys sitting there who have been playing on gridirons for 15 to 20 years . . . who know offensive and defens...