District NMI leaders, you are an amazing team. I appreciate each of you sincerely.
 
Thank you for embracing during the past two years at the Global Ministry Center challenges of financial reductions (50%) and staff reductions (Aimee Curtis, Shawna Songer Gaines, Tabitha Gonzalez, Jon Livengood, Giovanni Monterroso, Angel Sigui, Jason Sivewright) and opportunities to revision/redistribute our workload.
 
We thank the Lord for colleagues from other teams such as Ann Baldwin, Wayne LaForce, Bruce Nuffer, Gina Pottenger, and volunteers/interns. We really do need each other!
 
The Holy Spirit has enabled each of us individually and all of us as a team to face adversity as overcomers. We have avoided a minimum mentality and have pursued a maximum mindset. God is working in all of us His gifts of faith, vision, and passion for global mission in Christ.
 
We anticipate our NMI Office Team Advance (never retreat) on September 8-9. To contain costs, we will meet in my home one day and Rob’s home the other day with home cooking.
 
In preparation for those two significant days, I want each of us to pray, wait on the Lord, and envision God-sized dreams for the future of NMI. I invite each district president to present to the team an idea beyond anything NMI has attempted in the past several years. Our agenda will also include other strategic praying and planning.
 
We will refer to this initiative as Mission Maximum: dream primarily around the core objectives of NMI: praying, discipling, giving, and educating. If you have another idea beyond NMI for other partners in Global Mission or in the GMC, you may present that idea to the team after you have shared your dream for NMI.
 
NMI graphics and Web site are soaring. EngageMagazine.com is one year young. HeartLine and Mission Connection are online monthly. We launched Living Mission three months ago. We are creating a database and communicating with every local NMI president. District presidents are becoming more collaborative, strategic, and missional.
 
This fall will be the time to launch another extreme adventure. Project SMART goals as noted below. Please send your ideas to me by email no later than September 1. Grace and peace in Christ.
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S.M.A.R.T. Goals: Specific…Measurable…Attainable…Realistic…Timely/Tangible
 
Specific - A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal, you should answer the six "W" questions:
   1. Who: who is involved?
   2. What: what do I want to accomplish?
   3. Where: identify a location.
   4. When: establish a time frame.
   5. Which: identify requirements and constraints.
   6. Why: specific reasons, purpose, or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
 
Example: A general physical goal would be, "Get in shape." A specific goal would add, "Workout four days per week until I tone my body and lose 12 pounds within six months; then workout to sustain vitality."
 
Again, a general goal would be, “Have devotions.” A specific goal would add, “Meet with Jesus privately in worship, the Word, prayer, and accountability each morning for at least 20 minutes to become like Christ. Disciple my spouse and family daily with the same passion.”
 
Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as: How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?
 
Attainable - When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.
 
You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.
 
Realistic - To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward that you are willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.
 
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past. Ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.
 
Timely - A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it, there's no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 pounds, by what date do you want to lose it? "Someday" won't work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, "by January 1", then you've set your mind into motion to begin working on the goal.
 
T also Tangible - A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses: seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, or smelling. When your goal is tangible, you have a better opportunity to make it specific, measurable, and attainable.