Marc's Minute #12 - New Year Issue
The bi-weekly quick "K.I.T." equipping you with Knowledge for your Head, Inspiration for your Heart, and Tools for your Hands {1/22/24}
Please listen/read all the way to the end.
Feature Focus
JESUS! He is our Feature Focus!
Look back on 2023 and ask yourself, “Where was God with me?”
As you enter 2024, remember this: You were God’s idea! And God never has bad ideas. Many times we want to tell people, “God put you on this earth for a reason.” Then, we want people to discover that reason, whether it is to raise a family or make a difference or have a successful career. Those could all be great things you do, and they could all be part of God’s desires for you.
But THE reason, the main purpose you have, is because He wanted to have you in His life. Period. He wanted you to exist to receive and know His love. He wanted to create you, adopt you, and love you. He chose you from the beginning of time.
Before you were born, He frontloaded all the grace you would ever need so that you would not have to spend one moment, one millisecond of this life, trying to figure out how you could earn His love or be enough. You already have it, and you already are!
Wow! Is this ever a message I need to hear over and over again?!
My last “Feature Focus” in this final Marc’s Minute newsletter is not a resource, topic, or ministry. It is simply Jesus. Put your focus on Him, to not only find out who God is but to understand who you really are.
Keep It Simple Strategy
If you are meeting with friends, in small groups, or just working on your own faith journey, then check out this week’s simple and reproducible practice tip that you can try anytime.
This one is going to be more of a principle to apply.
Publicize What We Are FOR
Multiple surveys have revealed the number one description that non-Christians use to describe the church is "anti-gay." "Judgmental" and "hypocritical" were also high on the list. I suspect this is concerning, even alarming, to others besides me. Why in the world would followers of Jesus want to be primarily known as anti-anything?!? Is this the best we can do? To come across to people like we are against them when our Guide, Jesus, is FOR all people, is crazy, right?!
Too many times, churches will get labeled (often rightly so) because of what they are against rather than what they are for. Many people perceive Christianity only as a religion with a bunch of rules and "don'ts." Unfortunately, the Christian church in America has a reputation for being restrictive and oppressive. Often, churchgoers seem oblivious to how this attitude comes across to the rest of the world, or worse, they take pride in it.
I believe the Bible emphasizes the things that followers of Christ DO and ARE and HAVE, as well. The Christian faith is more accurately identified with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is more correctly associated with experiencing freedom because of the truth and the Spirit, finding wholeness and peace in all avenues of life, and the renewal of the mind. These are all positive, life-giving aspects that Jesus makes possible for everybody. These should be the main points of our message to the world. Furthermore, the Christian faith is best evidenced by action - serving, helping, caring - that promotes social justice and righteousness.
Isn’t our foundational belief that the Kingdom of God brings an entirely new reality to the life of a Christ-follower? As the Bible teaches, the veil has been removed by Christ so that we can now reflect God's glory. Through Jesus, we enter into existence that sees life differently. God should be able to be seen in us, and we can see God more clearly in others. The last can now be first. The weak can now be strong. The poor can now be rich. The least can now be the greatest. Everything that devalues a person is turned on its head. The new life that Jesus makes possible is radical and unmistakable!
Simple churches, and individual Christians, may need to take time to reflect on the legacy they want to leave. Rather than wasting time causing divisiveness by only concentrating on what we stand against, there must be devotion to what we stand FOR. After all, let's remember that the gospel is the good news, not bad news!
There is not much evidence to show that New Year’s Resolutions are all that effective in changing our long-term behavior or establishing new habits, but what you could do instead is take a few minutes to make a list of the things that you are for, the values you want to promote in your life and think of how you could reflect on, or measure, your capacity to show up that way consistently in 2024.
For those of you who are parents, educators, or church leaders, imagine the implications this could have on children and youth.
Envision a faith community that trains young people to be DO-ers of the Word rather than focusing on a long list of DON’Ts.
So, I leave you with this question: What are you for?
Recommended Resource & What’s Up
I’m going to combine these two sections (Recommended Resource and What’s Up?) for this last edition of the newsletter. Of course, I do want to plug my book one more time, but I have to use this chance to tell you the big news about what is ahead for us.
To say there will be substantial changes in 2024 for CLOSER THAN YOU THINK is an understatement.
Just as 2023 ended, I filed my DBA (Doing Business As), or Assumed Name, with the County Clerk to take step one of creating the business side of Closer Than You Think. Earlier this year, I filed for an EIN with the federal government and opened a new business account. This is more real for me than anything I have done before. In the past, I have dabbled with different ideas and projects, but this is the greatest commitment I have made. Besides writing and publishing my book in 2021, this is the biggest risk I have taken.
Currently, I am working with Thinkific on a platform to design my first online course. I am working through a training program to help me navigate the course development process, business management, and social media as I step out as a solopreneur.
Right now, I have begun sharing some of my plans and getting feedback from people on course content and promotional copy. In the coming weeks and months, you can expect to see new videos and posts on our YouTube channel and other places, including a new website.
So, let me transition into the final section of this newsletter as it relates to this endeavor.
Superhero Support
With this new direction for Closer Than You Think my biggest ask is for your support through prayer. I need heavy doses of wisdom and encouragement to turn intention into action every step of the way.
If you are reading or listening to this, then you are already one of my strongest supporters. I appreciate you and I take nothing for granted. Your time is a precious commodity and choosing to spend even a second of it on anything I produce is humbling.
Now, I ask for your support and cheerleading with these new efforts. As I release information and resources, I appreciate any way you can promote and share them with others. Reposts, shared links, word of mouth, and all that good stuff are so important.
Side note to those of you who are paid subscribers here on Substack as of this recording, you will have FREE access to all content and resources ever produced by Closer Than You Think from here on out. That means the online courses, tools, coaching materials, videos, community memberships, etc. will all be available to you for FREE.
It’s scary for me to say this out loud for the first time, but here’s the dream. This is my “WIG”, the Wildly Important Goal, with some 10x thinking mixed in. I want to help and equip 1000 people transform their spiritual lives by Christmas Day, December 25, 2024, THIS YEAR!! I want people to discover freedom in Christ and overcome the confusion, stress, guilt, shame, and emotional baggage they carry as a result of toxic, religious methods.
Ultimately, I want to grow the CTYT business to reach 100,000 people with the life-changing truth: GOD IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK! The plan and hope is to expand our community through more courses, materials and activities for groups, individual coaching, and more.
I invite you to join me and be a part of this journey. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, buying the book, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT, is always a way to show your love. Giving it a 5-star rating on Amazon is super helpful too.
In closing, I just want to say dealing with my own fear and anxiety and limitations has been a barrier for me for many years. This is frightening to me. All of it. I know the statistics. I know most business endeavors fail. I know most courses don’t perform well. I know most people have trouble building an audience. I know the odds of me falling flat on my face are greater than me succeeding. I know.
But I also know, just like publishing my book, this is one of those times it is worth it to fail. It is okay to be embarrassed if this dream stumbles out of the gate, if instead of 100,000 people I only reach a dozen, if I lose money, if I make a fool of myself…it will be okay…because I will be fulfilling my purpose and living with meaning. Sharing this message is what I am meant to do.
I want my daughters to know what a successful, meaningful, profound life looks like, one that is used up and spent when you get to the end of it, as it should be, and there is no way to show them that kind of success without risking and embracing and learning from failure to become the best version of myself.
I have quite the road ahead and it has already been a daunting process and hard work. I ask for your prayers and I thank you for your support! I believe it will all be worth it in the end.
To my family, thank you for putting up with me and all my quirks. I love you!
So, HERE WE GO!!! LET’S DO THIS!