Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself. H Fierstein

Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. Norman Vincent Peale

Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it. Soren Kierkegaard

Real Life Survey

The best thing in every noble dream is the dreamer... Moncure Conway

Axioms to Live by:

1)          You reap what you sow - whether it’s in your relationships, career or personal life.

2)          You are what you eat – everything we assimilate, whether physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually will affect us either positively or negatively.

3)          Don’t keep doing the same thing expecting different results.

4)          Treat others as you would like to be treated.

5)          Life is about the journey, not the destination (stop and smell the roses).

6)          Don’t take yourself too seriously.

7)          Don’t live an ordinary life – extraordinary people are much more interesting.

8)          The worst thing that could happen is probably not as bad as you image.

9)          Be grateful – give thanks each and every day for at least one thing.

10)       Take healthy risks – you’ll never know your potential until you know your limitations.

11)       Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.  Bobby Unser

12)       Don’t expect anything in life to be fair (we are not entitled to anything).

13)       Forgive those who hurt you - your health depends on it.

14)       Decide to be happy (smiling and laughing helps).

15)       Never give up – Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up. Chinese Proverb

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. Agatha Christie

Thank you to those of you who participated in the short-term missions research survey; results will be tabulated tomorrow. If you would still like to help me here is the link: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDBGNDlWTmFXTFF2NEY4RlQxZ2R4ZXc6MQ

The biggest aha today was Jim Collins exhortation to create a, "not-to-do" list. That's Good to Great!

First morning at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit... more to come.

Please help me with a research paper - 7 question survey on short-term missions/ volunteer service projects. Thank You! https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDBGNDlWTmFXTFF2NEY4RlQxZ2R4ZXc6MQ

Our Story

Response to Haiti

Photos taken from previous trips to Haiti
People have been contacting us with questions about how IGN is going to respond to disaster in Haiti. Because we mobilize volunteers and have spent time in Haiti, most people assume that we will be taking a team to help take care of the hundreds of thousands of grieving, hurting people.  This is a course of action that I would discourage anyone from taking right now unless they have formal disaster relief training or they are a medical professional of some kind.  Here is the thought process behind this advice: 

1. There are no lack of volunteers: Remember hundreds of thousand of people lost their homes and are fully capable of helping each other.
2. If you go, who's going to take care of you?  It will be more of a burden having to feed you, provide potable water and a place to stay.
3. Wouldn't the money you would spend on plane fare, food, water, housing, not to mention taking time off work be more efficiently used to buy food, clothes, water and basic necessities for people who are in terrible need.
   
4. Consider the dignity of the people.  How would you feel if people invaded your home after a natural disaster, helped you pick up a few things but took pictures and video of the wreckage and of you in your distress and angst and then left after a few days?
5. There are a lot of fantastic organizations that are there doing the difficult work of restoring the broken lives of the Haitian people and have been there long before the earthquake ever took place.  Consider supporting of them.  Here are the ones that I would recommend:

• World Vision
• World Relief 
• Food for the Hungry
  
• Del Camino Connection  - A local, grass-roots ministry based in the Dominican Republic.
• And here is a link to the CHE Network in which we are a part of.  Here you will find more specific ways to serve organizations working in Haiti.
  

Invision Global Network will be working with our partners in Haiti and the Dominican Republic to see how we might be a part of a long-term strategy to rebuild and restore so many fractured lives.  We will keep you informed on how you might also be a part of that process.