New Website: www.brianandmalisa.com

Hi Everyone,

Now that I’m married, I’ve got a new website- www.brianandmalisa.com that will have all of our combined prayer letters and updates. We hope you’ll take a look. You can even see our wedding photos.

God Bless,

Brian (and Malisa) Ellis

Help me trust in the Lord – I’m overwhelmed

It’s been great to watch Eric (with me at Thanksgiving above),
one of my supporters and friends,
grow in His relationship with God in the last few years.
My prayer is that each of you would continue to grow closer to Jesus Christ.
There’s no particular connection to the rest of the letter, just a fun picture!

 

I suppose it’s been a while since I’ve told you what’s going on in my personal spiritual journey. So here’s how you can be praying for me.

I feel overwhelmed thinking about this semester. I think for the first time in quite a while, I’m hitting the limits of my own abilities, so I’m tempted to settle for what I can accomplish in my own strength. But when I think about what it means to lead spiritually, that doesn’t seem right. Somewhere I’ve got to trust God, right?

I’ve been reading a book by Steve McVey called Grace Walk with some of my team this month. Here’s what he says: “You’ve probably heard all your life that God won’t put any burden on you greater than you can bear. Don’t mark me off as a heretic just yet, but I don’t believe it. I believe God will put heavier burdens on you than you can bear, especially when he is trying to bring you to the place of brokenness. God will allow the burden to be greater than you can bear so that you will finally allow Him to bear it for you. God’s purpose in the breaking process is to bring you to the end of your own resources so that you will be ready to understand that He is the only resource you need in life. As long as your own abilities are sufficient to rise to the challenge, you will never understand that He doesn’t just give strength. He is your Strength. In the breaking process, God has no intention of helping you get stronger. He wants you to become so week that He can express Himself as the strength you need in every situation.”

I like trusting in my own strength. I like performing. And that’s a problem. “Faith” is just a fancy Christian word for “Trust.” and so when I trust in my own strength, I’m putting faith in myself and not in God.

I’ve been reading a little in Psalms:

“Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you” (Ps 55:22)

My only reply is Psalm 38:22.

Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!”

I thank you so much for your continued support. I feel your prayers and I need them. God Bless, Brian

Tara Leads a Life Group – Summer Project

I keep sharing about my summer in these letters because the students who were part of the Boston Summer Project have returned to campus as key leaders. Tara from Babson is no exception. Here’s what she shared about leading a “life group” bible study”

“What makes or breaks this group is not only our study of the Word, but whether or not the girls (in my case) felt comfortable to open up about who they are and their lives.

The first time I led the group, I was pretty nervous. While I was preparing the bible study, I felt God asking me to do something that I was trying to avoid. I have always felt the need to meet high expectations; so naturally, I wouldn’t want to tell others of sins I have struggled with. However God has really been working on my heart to admit to myself and to others how much we need Christ in light of all of our sins.

So I made the decision to share these struggles with my group, even though I wasn’t sure how they would receive this information. I have to say, this was one of the biggest blessings God has given me, because this group of girls was so supportive and understanding. As a result, all 3 of the other girls opened up about their struggles, and our bond of sisters in Christ was definitely strengthened.

I looked forward to our Life Group time every week, because I knew God would speak to us through the Scriptures and the other girls in my group would continue to share their hearts with everyone. These were definitely some of the great moments of mine on the summer project, but the Lord really helped me grow throughout the entire experience.”

It’s letters like that from students that make me realize why I’m doing what I do. It also makes me realize how thankful I am for each of you. I thank you so much for your continued support. God Bless, Brian

How to Pray

For the 16 students on the Boston Summer Project as they return to campus—that they would continue to lead by depending on Jesus Christ.

Gail’s New Confidence – Summer Project

Gail has always struggled with a lack of confidence and self worth. But, she says, it was “only because I wasn’t finding my identity in Christ alone. I found my identity in how I performed in school, work, and relationships. Not only was I a “performer” but a perfectionist. This faulty identity resulted in constantly feeling frustrated with myself for always falling short. This summer, God broke me of this identity when He gave me the opportunity to lead project as a co-director. When the staff left and we took over our jobs, I came into the position very aware of my faults and weaknesses. On top of that, God continued to reveal to me more of my faults and weaknesses! But the true blessing in all of this was that I realized how God’s grace covered everything that I lacked. It allowed me to see how much I needed Him. I realized that I could not lead just by my own strength. I needed to allow Him to work in me and give myself up to Him. Each day, I learned to become more dependent on the Lord. I started asking for His guidance when making decisions and asking and accepting His forgiveness when I made mistakes. I’ve been relying on who He created me to be (Ephesians 2: 1-10) not who I or others think I should be. I’ve been filled with His love so I can serve and love those around me, understanding what it really means to lead in Christ and be “light and salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:14-16).

Now that project is over and a new school year begins, I look forward to taking on the ministry God placed before me on my campus. I am ready to move forward with this new found confidence and self worth because it is He who gives my life purpose.”

It’s letters like that from students that make me realize why I’m doing what I do. It also makes me realize how thankful I am for each of you. I thank you so much for your continued support. God Bless, Brian

More than a Bike Ride – Summer Project

As part of the Boston Summer Project that I led this summer, we took our students to Acadia National Park for a weekend. One group went mountain biking with two leaders Geoff and Tara. Everything was going well until the afternoon. That’s when Carl got off his bike to walk it up a particularly large hill.

Carl hadn’t been on a bike for at least five years. I’m still not sure how he got placed in the mountain biking group. Geoff said it looked like he was afraid to petal. You get the idea. The leaders of the pack stopped and waited about 20 minutes for him to catch up. When everyone was finally there, Tara asked, “So, what just happened?”

No answer.

Geoff: “There’s clearly an elephant in the room that no one is talking about.”

Still nothing. Everyone in the group was in performance mode—trying to look good.

Geoff: “What needs to change?”

Jim: “Well, I think our good can get better and our great can get greater still.”

Geoff: “But what about your crappy?”

We’ve been using that line as a staff team for the rest of the project: “What about your crappy?” It helps us get behind the masks people wear. Since there’s no isolated behavior, the group dynamics we noticed on the bike ride continued for the rest of the project. In response, we chose not to give Jim any leadership role because he was always performing –so much so that he never realized it. The bike ride crystallized for me things I had seen but ignored and allowed me to have a “carefrontation” meeting with him before the staff left the project and I got to ask him, “Is there anyone for whom you’ve taken off all the masks? For whom you don’t perform?” The answer: a very quiet, sheepish, “No.”

Kim, one of our staff women, said, “You know, what I love about this trip is that “junk” comes up.” Now, change in character takes a long time, so I’m not sure how much movement we’ll see in Jim this fall, but I’m so thankful for our experience in Maine that brought about the conversation.

I thank you so much for your continued support. God Bless, Brian

Liza’s Story – Big Break

I just got back from two weeks in Florida for Big Break, our annual evangelism conference. It’s fun to see students share the gospel for the very first time. But rather than have me tell it, let me share a letter from Liza Pope, a freshman at Boston University:

I was impacted by the worship throughout the week. A room full of over 400 people stood together singing as loudly as possible praising our amazing God. A couple of times I was brought to tears because the words in the songs seemed to be directly addressing me and some of the spiritual questions or struggles that I had been going through that week. By the end of the worship, I felt so connected to God, ready to learn more about his Word, and I was eager to find out how I could honor and glorify him that day.

I was exposed to many Bible passages for the first time. The speakers during each session did a wonderful job not only interpreting God’s word, but also eliciting a clear idea of ways to apply His Word. One particular morning we discussed the parable from Luke 18:18-29. The speaker addressed the central place that money and materialistic items take in our society today. She explained, though, that ultimately, this parable was God teaching us that we should not get caught up in the things of this world. In the end, he says, the only thing that will matter is our faith in Him. God is the only thing that we can hold on to, and He is the only one that can meet all of our needs, financial or otherwise. This really struck me because I definitely let money and “things” hold too much importance in my life. These things not only cause frustration for me but for my friends and family as well.

A few nights later our team was eating dinner at a BBQ-southern style restaurant-a long standing tradition of the Big Break experience-and the waitress began telling one of our tables about her children. She explained that her two younger ones had been really sick on and off for couple of years. They had battled with pneumonia and various other viruses and illnesses for most of their lives. To make matters worse, she was unable to pay for any of the medicines that her children needed to get better.

After hearing her story, a few of the team leaders felt convicted to help this woman in any way they could. They found some verses from the Bible that they wrote down and offered to pray with her. And then, towards to the end of the meal, one our leaders came over to the other Boston Metro tables and asked if we would consider giving a $5-10 extra tip to their waitress. Everyone pitched in what they could, and by the end we had gathered $200. I had a limited amount of money left for the trip and still plenty of meals left to pay for, but I remembered God’s words from Luke and gave the few dollars that I had left to our waitress. I knew God was going to take care of me financially for the rest of the week, and it was clear that this woman needed money a LOT more than I did. When we gave her the check she burst into tears out of disbelief of the kindness of strangers. We reminded her that there was a God out there that loved her just as much as we did, and that our compassion and love was unequivocal to that of our savior, Jesus Christ.

We all piled back into the van, and people we were told exactly what had happened that night. Most of the girls, including myself, were brought to tears because of how appreciative this waitress was of our small gift, and also of the kindness and love that the team had brought to this stranger.

Later that night, our group met together in one of our condos for a mini-Bible study. We discussed Ephesians 4: 16-end. The passage explained wholesome and unwholesome words, and we talked about the importance of encouragement, the negative effects of sarcasm, and the repercussions of gossip. I felt really convicted after this discussion to be wary of the words I spoke, and motivated to give encouragement or compliments when I thought them.

For the rest of the week I not only noticed myself being more positive and trying to honestly affirm and encourage my teammates, but it was evident that the other people on the team felt convicted by the passage as well. For the remainder of our time together, people gave more sincere compliments, sarcasm ceased, and affirmations to one another increased. The team became tightly bonded and strong friendships centered on God were formed. By the end of Big Break, I felt left awestruck at the amazing things God does to our communities.

This trip really affected my walk with God. Spending 24/7 with a group of Christians allowed me to take a step back, and like a sponge, absorb to saturation what it is means to be a Christian. I learned that prayer is one of the most valuable ways we can improve relationships and ourselves with God. I pray a lot more now, and I really understand the importance of reading God’s word.

Since I have returned from school I have been praying A LOT more, trying to get into God’s word as much as possible, and I find myself really understanding what it means to surrender my life to God and live each day to glorify Him. Now, when I go to church, being there “fits” even better now, I feel even more convicted to apply God’s teaching from the sermon to my upcoming week, and I know ALL the worship songs. ☺

Overall, this was one of the most life-changing experiences I have ever had. Thank you so much for your financial support because without it I would not have been given this opportunity. I pray that God will continue to work in your lives, and that you continue to see what an amazing Father we have.

Love, Liza Pope

I thank you so much for your continued support. God Bless, Brian

Getting Things Done

Merlin Mann writes a lot about Getting Things Done. If you’re interested, here’s a great way to start:

Getting Things Done: Recap for ’07

via 43 Folders by Merlin Mann on Jan 04, 2007

Must be the dawning of the new year and the chance for a fresh start, but I’ve gotten several requests from readers for an updated primer for folks who are getting started (or re-started) with Getting Things Done.

I’m happy to oblige with this updated collection of 43 Folders’ most popular, most visited, most-commented-on, and my personal favorite posts about David Allen’s GTD. There should be plenty here to get you rolling. And thanks so much to everyone who wrote to request this.

• Getting started with ‘Getting Things Done’ – “So you sprint from fire to fire, praying you haven’t forgotten anything, sapped of anything like creativity or even the basic human flexibility to adapt your own schedule to the needs of your friends, your family or yourself. Your ‘stuff’ has taken over your brain like a virus now, dragging down every process it touches and rendering you spent and virtually useless. Sound familiar?”
• How does a geek hack GTD? – “So I wanted to start a conversation about how geeks handle their lists, their projects, and their agendas–not so much in terms of the tool they use to store the information, although that’s fair game–as with how they segment the information and decide when to break it into pieces.”
• Next actions: Both physical and visible – “But, for me, turning anxieties into projects and projects into discrete physical behaviors has a lot of appeal. It takes all the pressure off your brain and puts it back where it belongs: on your eyes, on your hands, and on that fat ass you need to get into gear.”
• Does this ‘next action’ belong someplace else? – “I’ve noticed that there are often items on my ‘next actions’ list that hang around a lot longer than they should. I scan and rescan and sort and add and delete, but there’s always a few stragglers who hang out there for a week or more. Eventually this starts to vex me, and I try to debug why things aren’t getting done.”
• Mental dialogues, yak-shaving & the triumph of the ‘mini-review’ – “My mini-review falls somewhere between the glances I give my lists throughout the day and the comprehensive weekly review I do each weekend. It’s basically a 10-minute metamoment where I stop working and just try to re-focus on my goals, and the tactical adjustments needed to get them moved forward today.”
• What are you ‘waiting on?’ – “The thread that runs through all of these is that the onus is on me to a) make sure these items represent part of a commitment I’ve made, and b) make sure they actually get done (even if it’s not my direct responsibility); otherwise, they should get moved onto my ‘Maybe/Later’ list, right?”
• A Year of Getting Things Done – (3-part series: 1, 2, 3) – “I recently realized that this month marks one year since I started using Getting Things Done in earnest. With the calendar year closing, it seems like an apt time to look back at what’s worked, what hasn’t, and where I’d like to see GTD heading in the future.
• Choosing a daily GTD action plan – “I employ an informal Getting Things Done action strategy that’s similar to the one Chris lays out in his post. I often have a theme for a given day, where I choose an approach that’s suited to my mood, my energy level, and the kind and amount of work on my TODO list. (I’m especially a fan of days where I knock down ‘mosquito tasks’ as Chris calls them.)”
• Fractal Implementation, or, On the Dangers of David Allen’s Finger – “This is my stake in the ground about GTD: if you can stay focused on drawing from its best practices to get more of the important things in your life accomplished, then you’ll be a happy kid. For real. But if, like a seeming majority of people I encounter these days, you allow yourself to obsess endlessly over the minutest details of implementation and maintenance—well, you’re screwed. You’re wasting your time.”
• Inbox Zero: Processing to zero – “The more email you have been neglecting in your inbox, the more drastic and ruthless your processing must be.”
• Do a fast “mind-sweep” – “By and large, you’ll discover, your head is flooded with this stuff that you aren’t or haven’t been doing anything about. Not coincidentally, this is almost always stuff that represents some kind of incompletion, functional fuzziness, or procrastination on your part.”
• Simplify your contexts – “If you feel a gnaw about the loss of your old contexts, try to shunt some of the mental load into sub-projects and better verb choices in your tasks.”
• Folders for organization and action – “But, as ever, if you’re fussing and thinking and fiddling and wondering about this stuff, you aren’t doing it, and dammit, that’s what this is all about.”
• Priorities don’t exist in a vacuum – “Unless you can always satisfy the big red letter commitments you’ve created for yourself — as well as the ones that are constantly being generated for you by others — an obsession with priority alone is pointlessly stress-inducing, unhealthy, and unrealistic.”
• 6 powerful “look into” verbs (+ 1 to avoid) – “Decisions can only be delivered after you’ve nourished them with timely and thought-provoking information.”
• Productive Talk Compilation: 8-episode podcast with GTD’s David Allen – “Hope you all enjoy hearing the whole series, in order, all in one place. There’s some nuggets of GTD gold in there, if I do say so myself.”

Google Maps is the New Bible Atlas

www.BibleMap.org integrates Google Maps and the ESV text to create an interactive Bible atlas.

Enron

While at Babson, the Enron scandal broke. It was a fascinating accounting case (if “fascinating” and “accounting” can be used in the same sentence).

Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point and Blink) wrote an article back in January in the New Yorker that was interesting:

Enron

My semi-defense of Enron is now out, in this weeks’ New Yorker.
   
And here is the link  to Jonathan Macey’s wonderful law review article on the Enron case, which was my inspiration for the piece.

I also have a minor challenge for aficionados of the Enron case.

Years ago, when I was at the Washington Post, one of my colleagues on the science desk—Bill Booth—called up a dozen or so Nobel Laureates in physics and asked them to explain, in plain language, the nature and significance of the Higgs Boson atomic particle. None of them could. This was at a time, mind you, when the physics community was arguing passionately for the construction of a multi-billion dollar particle accelerator to look for things like the Higgs Boson.  So it wasn’t for lack of interest. They were gung-ho for nailing the Higgs Boson. They just couldn’t explain the Higgs Boson.

Can anyone explain—in plain language—what it is Jeff Skilling and Co. did wrong?

I’m not asking for an explanation for what they did wrong as businessmen. That’s plain. They did a mountain of stupid and arrogant things. Nor is this about what Skilling and company did that was unethical or in bad faith. There’s a mountain of evidence on that too. The question is strictly a legal one: according to the way the accounting rules were written at the time, what specific transgressions were Skilling guilty of that merited twenty-four years in prison? For the sake of argument, let’s stipulate that summaries must be three sentences or less.

When I was reporting the piece, I tried to get someone to answer this question. But everything ended up very Higgs Bosonian.

The Prodigal Sons

My Favorite Tim Keller sermon of all time is on Luke 15 – the story of the Prodigal Sons. Here it’s online. Worth a listen.

His sermon has helped me make the gospel incredibly clear to people.