Category: Journey

Our world is so full of depressing news right now.  It seems like every day something else bad happens.  2022 has been a rough year!  Here are just some of the things that have happened:

• War in Ukraine
• School shootings
• Parade shootings
• Mass shootings all over
• Higher inflation
• Higher food and gas prices
• Ongoing political division
• Supreme Court decisions that have either caused celebration or anger
• A mother killing her three young children and then herself after her husband committed suicide.

You wonder when it will end and what can you do to stop it.  It seems like our world is getting more divided and all we are doing is shouting at each other.  Our elected officials are working to pass laws and regulations to fix the symptoms of our problems, but the reality is we have a heart issue.  Laws and regulations may impact behaviors, especially for those who are rule followers, but they do not change the heart.  Yes, people are making bad decisions and doing bad things, but when you hear their stories, they are almost all loners, outcasts, come from abusive backgrounds or have been victims of trauma somewhere in their past.  That does not excuse their actions, but it does give us things to think about.  As I have been thinking about these tragedies, I feel there are three things we can do to make an impact:

PRAY

When Nehemiah was made aware of the hardships and difficulties his people faced in Jerusalem, his first action was to pray.  He prayed for the people who were impacted. He prayed for wisdom on what to do and then he acted.

When Daniel was threatened with death because no one could tell Nebuchadnezzar his dream, Daniel’s first response was to pray that God would show him what the dream was, and then he went to the king.

When Jesus was facing his arrest, trial, and execution, He first went into the garden and prayed.  He prayed that the upcoming burden would be taken away from Him, if that was God’s will, but then prayed for strength for Himself and His followers.

I know that far too often when I experience bad things, my first reaction is to get mad or express my emotional reaction, but I am trying to learn to first take it to God in prayer.  Let it break my heart.  Allow myself to be empathetic to those impacted and to pray for them first and then pray about what my response should be.

LISTEN

How different would our world be if we spent more time listening and seeking to understand other people’s point of view rather than working hard to make sure that people hear our opinion?  It seems like we have lost our ability to listen first and try to understand the other person.  Now if somebody doesn’t agree with an opinion, we just try to shut them down and exclude them.

I also think that is true in our communication with God.  We tell God what we want, but our busy schedules and addiction to social media keep us from listening to the quiet voice of God trying to tell us what we should do for His glory, not ours.  We have our agenda, and we want God to bless our plans, but we often don’t slow down enough to ask God if these are His plans and listen for His promptings and guiding.

I have struggled with this throughout my life.  I have been one to act and then ask God to bless my plans, but over the past 10 years, God has taught me the importance of listening to Him and waiting for His direction.  Often it is not what I thought I should do but looking back I could see it was God plan at work.

ACT

The third thing we need to do after praying and listening is to act on what we hear God asking us to do.  When we pause to listen to the needs of others, we hear ways that we can be an encouragement or helpful to them.  We hear about the challenges others have and we ask ourselves what we have that we can use to help that other person.  When we listen to the news and hear all the things happening, we can feel like the problems are too big to help, and the reality is that we cannot solve all the world’s problems.  We will always have difficult times and bad things happening because we live in a fallen and broken world.  But we can make an impact in the lives of at least one person.  Our actions to help someone else may be just the encouragement that person needs to change the direction of their life.

You may ask, why should we do this?   It gets back to the cause of the problems in the first place.  We have issues with the heart.  Our world is missing the love of Jesus.  If we want to change hearts, we need to show people the love of Jesus which is unconditional love.  Love is what will change the heart, which then will change the behaviors we want to fix.  When we show unconditional love to others, we should be prepared to share why we are able to this – which is because of what Jesus did for us.  Our greatest testimony of a changed life is not our words, but our actions and whether we are able to show love to others, especially those that are not like us or who have different beliefs than we have.

When I was young, I was taught the saying “hate the sin but love the sinner”.  And while that statement may be true, I have often been more focused on judging the actions and less on loving the person.  The reality is that the faith that I have is only contagious and interesting to others if people see that my life reflects the love that Jesus showed to me and that I can be accepting of others, even when their actions reflect values I do not agree with for my life.  But in the end, God will hold me accountable for what I have done in my life and the love that I have showed to others, not for the actions that others do with their life.

In closing, let me encourage you to do the following:

PRAY for those who have been impacted by tragedies.  Pray that God will put people in your life that you can show love to.

LISTEN to the needs of the people that God brings into your life and listen to what God wants to you do to be an encouragement to them.

ACT by showing God’s love to at least one person that God brings into your life.  We can’t impact everybody, but if each person could impact one other person, we could make an impact!

Five Years!  It is hard to believe that it has been five years since we started Potential Endeavors.  When I look back, God has given us so much more than we could have ever dreamed of when we started this ministry.  On May 31^st of 2017 we submitted our paperwork to the IRS for approval of our non-profit status.  The approval took longer than expected because we indicated that we were working with Ukraine, and we had to submit that we were not working with terrorist organizations in Ukraine due to the Russian takeover of Crimea.

The last five years have connected us with so many new people and opportunities that we could never have imagined. 

I think of Dima and Alla and our friendship and connections with Campus Ukraine.  I think of the many leaders of Campus and the students we have met and become friends with.

I think of Vasily and Alla and the partnership we have developed over the five years.  What started with 20 pastors and their wives in the Cherkasy Region has grown to working with Senior Pastors and their wives across 15+ regions in Ukraine.  We were beginning mentoring groups with new pastors to train and develop them to start new churches or lead existing churches and to be passionate about reaching new people for Jesus.

I think of Yan who is focus on caring for the homeless, single parents and addicts in his community.  He is helping get people off drugs, but with that comes the danger of drug dealers threaten his life.  But his church is growing and reaching people for Jesus.  Now with the war, they are caring for refugees who have settled in his town to avoid the war.

I think of Kiril and Yana and how impactful they have been in our ministry – from helping us dream about starting this ministry, to working in Ukraine, to publishing my book in Ukrainian.  We are always challenged by their ability to never let barriers get in the way of reaching their dreams.

I think of Adam and the friends we have made through Embrace Church and its network of churches.  We have been blessed, encouraged, and fulfilled through all the relationships and friendships we have made because of working with Embrace.

I think of the pastors I have met as part of Mission Minnesota and their heart for planting churches across Minnesota.  The opportunity to network and learn from this great group of leaders.

I think of the churches we have been privileged to work with and the people I have gotten to know because of our ministry.

The list can go on and on, but these are a few of the things I could never have imagined when we first started five years ago.

I also think about all of things that God has taught us during the past five years:

Dream God sized dreams. 

When we started Potential Endeavors, we selected our them Bible verse to be:

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish immeasurably more than we might ask or think.”
Ephesians 3:20

However, I am not sure we believed it based on what we thought we would be doing in our ministry.  To begin with we thought that maybe we would work with 1 church in Ukraine and maybe a couple in the upper Midwest.  But God taught us that we were not dreaming big enough.  We thought maybe 20 churches in one region of Ukraine and 5 or 6 in US, but God told us to dream bigger.  Now we are having an impact on hundreds of churches across all the regions of Ukraine and have worked with over 20 churches or leaders in the US.  More than I could have ever dreamed of, but nothing in God’s eyes.

Trust God and live by faith.

As followers of Jesus, we often talk about living a life of trusting God and living by faith.  While it is easy to say this, learning to truly do it is much harder.  Having a job and a steady income makes it easy to say you are living by faith, but we found that when you are dependent on the gifts from God to do your ministry it puts faith and trust in a totally different perspective.  Over the five years we have led Potential Endeavors, we have been blessed to see how God has given us what we have needed to do whatever door God has opened for us.  We have learned to say yes when an opportunity presents itself and then trust God to provide the resources needed to walk through that door. 

Let me share an example.  Early in our ministry in Ukraine, we were asked for resources to buy chairs for a new church that was being started.  The amount needed was $1500.  We did not have this money, but we felt that God wanted us to say yes and trust him.  At that time, I did a wedding for a friend from high school.  When he asked us how much we charge, I said to give whatever he felt led to give.  That next week we received a payment for the wedding that was exactly the amount needed for the chairs.  When I asked my friend why he gave us what he did, his answer was he just felt God was telling him to give that amount!  God works in amazing ways when we allow him to show up.

A second story of how God works comes from the recent war in Ukraine.  We have raised money to support the humanitarian needs of churches and pastors working with refugees from the war.  A driver of a bus in Mykolayiv transporting refugees from that war area was at a gas station to get fuel but did not have the money to pay for the fuel.  The driver contacted his pastor, who reached out to his regional Senior Pastor, who contacted our partner Vasily, who contacted me and asked if we could help.  I was able to send the money electronically and it was able to be transferred to the bus driver to pay for gas all within 60 minutes.  Only God could do that!

Its all about the relationship.

Probably the biggest learning over the past five years is that having a relationship with the people you work with is the most important part.  When we started, we would lead conferences and share content that we felt would help make a difference.  While the content was good, it was not until we spent time getting to know the pastors and their wives that we saw ideas being implemented.  To make an impact, it is not just sharing content, it is taking the time to listen to their challenges, understand their needs and demonstrate that you care about them personally before they will truly apply the materials you share.  People needed to see that we cared and that we were going to ask questions about their progress and come back to follow-up on what we discussed.  Conferences are helpful, but they can never replace the time spent around a table having coffee or tea and just listening and learning about each other.

As we wrap of this review, one final story comes to mind.  It was one year ago that we were in the Donbas region of Ukraine and visited Sievierodonetsk. 

When we were there, we were told that we were the first Americans to visit since the war began in 2014.  We met to encourage the pastors and leaders because the war had made things so difficult for them.  As we were leaving, the Senior Pastor for the Region shared about a need in the occupied territory for resources so that a church could do a camp for kids.  What was needed was what we had available to give so we gave it to do this camp.  Now this area is in the center of the war between Russia and Ukraine.  I think about the kids who last year had a chance to be part of camp to learn about Jesus and are now in the middle of war.  My heart breaks.

As we look forward to what God has for us next, our plans are uncertain once again.  The war in Ukraine has put our mentoring groups and training on hold, but we know that there is still a need, and that God has plans for us.  The focus may change with a greater need for help with leading through trauma, but we will trust God and walk through the doors He opens for us.

Thank you for your support over the past five years.  We have felt your prayers and encouragement and could not do what we do without your financial gifts.  The needs are still great, and we appreciate all that has been given and that which will continue to be given.  You can give on our website at https://potentialendeavors.com or you can send checks to Potential Endeavors, 840 Aspen Circle, Little Canada, MN 55109.  We accept all forms of payment – credit cards, PayPal, Zelle or checks.  If you would like to designate it for Ukraine support for the war, just notate Ukraine Support on your donation.

It is the season of Thanksgiving and time to step back and look at all the things that I am thankful for.  This past year has been an amazing year, despite covid and all the impacts it has had.

We were able to return to Ukraine after 14 months of no travel due to covid restrictions. We had two trips this year and saw the impact of our ministry after being gone for a while. God has opened new doors for us and we are humbled by the opportunities we have been given to influence and impact the leaders of the churches of the Baptist Union across Ukraine.  God keeps reminding us that we often think too small and need to have God-sized dreams.  I am thankful for Vasily and his leadership and his willingness to let us partner with him in his work with the Baptist Union of Ukraine.

I am thankful for my family!  This year has seen the addition of a new daughter-in-law Maryn and a new grandson Owen.  To have all our kids married to such amazing spouses and to watch them raise our grandkids is truly a blessing and I am thankful for the fact that they all live close and we are able to spend time with them.  I am thankful for Beth who continue to work side by side with me in our ministry.  Working together can be difficult, but we have found it a real blessing to be able to share time and purpose together in this stage of our lives.  I would not be the person that I am without the support, encouragement, and partnership of my amazing wife.

I am thankful that we can live a life of purpose. We are so blessed to be able to do ministry that has purpose and meaning for our lives.  I believe that we often gain far more from those we work with than we ever have to offer, but it is so fulfilling to have something to give and share with others. 

We would not be able to do this without the support of so many who have faithfully donated to Potential Endeavors. Raising money is really hard.  It is hard to ask people to give to your ministry when there are so many other good organizations also asking for resources.  It is hard to take money from another organization, but we also know that when people give to us, they are investing in the future.  The money we receive is being used to invest in pastors and leaders who are working to reach the next person for Jesus.  At times it is hard to quantify the impact of what an investment in our ministry achieves, but I believe we are seeing results.  We are beginning to see that changes are starting to happen. People are recognizing the need for change and are looking for help in making these changes.  We have been able to help with developing the why and what of change, and as we continue to work moving into the how to make changes.

I have much to be thankful for.  I am thankful for a God who uses someone as flawed as me to help others.  I am thankful for the challenges I have gone through in the past that have shaped me into who I am today.  I am thankful that despite mistakes I have made I have been given a second, third or fourth chance.  I am thankful for a family that has its priorities aligned to Biblical values.

As you celebrate this Thanksgiving, be sure to stop of think about all of things that you are thankful for this past year.

It has been four years since we formed our non-profit, Potential Endeavors.  During these years it has been a time of listening and watching for God’s direction.  We have often thought we knew where we were going only to see God close one door and open another one.  During these four years our vision to help people find their full potential has not changed, but the way that we accomplish that vision has.  We are doing things now that we could never have dreamed of doing when we started in 2017.  In our fund raising, God has always given us what we need to cover our expenses, but never more than the minimum.  It is a constant reminder that God is in control, and we are not!

As we begin our fifth year of ministry, God has been clarifying our focus and how we go about helping people reach their God-given potential.  We have begun to weave this focus into all or work and allow it to form the foundation of our ministry.

Our first area of focus is to DREAM.  We have found that it is hard to reach the potential that God has given you if you do not take the time to dream what is possible.  That might be in the impact your church could have in its community or a passion to reach new people for Jesus.  Our potential is limited when we do not have dreams for ourselves and for the ministry or work that we do.  In addition, these dreams need to be God-sized.  Not something that you could do on your own, but only through the help of God, so that He gets all the glory. 

Let me share how this has applied to our ministry.  When we started Potential Endeavors, we dreamed of making an impact in one church and one city in Ukraine.  God closed that door and told us to dream bigger.  We thought we could impact 20-25 pastors and churches in one region of Ukraine.  But God told us our dreams were not big enough, so we started dreaming about how we could impact all 24 regions of Ukraine and the entire country.  Now that is a God-sized dream that is far greater than our skills and abilities could do.  This year we will begin working towards this dream.  This will only happen through God’s power so that He will get all the glory. 

Our second area of focus is MENTORING.  Part of finding your God-given potential is through multiplying your impact by investing and developing others.  We have tried to model this in our ministry by intentionally developing leaders and helping them to grow and develop leaders themselves.  This idea of multiplication comes from Jesus’ teaching.  In the parable of the three servants in Matthew 25, the master gives each servant differing bags of silver, one 5 bags, one 2 bags and one 1 bag.  When the master returned, he asked each servant to account for what they did with their silver.  The one given 5 grew it into 10 bags, the one given 2 bags grew it into 4 bags and the one given 1 returned just the one bag.  Read how the man who gave the silver responded to the one given 5 bags:

“The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’” Matthew 25:21 NLT

Here is the response to the one given 2 bags:

“The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’” Matthew 25:23 NLT

Here is the response to the one given 1 bag:

“But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’”
Matthew 25:26-27 NLT

I believe that these bags of silver represent the God given potential that each of us have been given.  I believe that how we use this potential through our gifts and leadership will be assessed by God one day.  One of the areas that we can use our potential is by mentoring others and helping them to achieve their potential.

Our third area of focus is COME AND SEE.  We are using a theme from The Chosen to help leaders and churches ask some question:

• Is your ministry a “Come and See” place? 
• Can people “Come and See” Jesus in your life, church, ministry? 
• Is what you are doing representing who Jesus is so that others want to “Come and See” more?

We are not trying to teach people to do it in any specific way, but rather to always ask the question; Is what we are doing “Come and See” worthy?  This may look different with each person, church, or ministry, but this is what we exist for.  If people cannot see Jesus’ teaching and life represented in what you do, why would they want to come and experience it?  In John 4, the woman at the well has a transformed life that makes people want to “Come and See”, and ultimately that is what our potential is for – to transform lives with Jesus.

As we continue to follow God’s plans for our potential, we are working with leaders in Ukraine to bring this message to all the regions.  This fall we will be doing a training with the Regional Pastors; these are the leaders for the churches in each region and working to start mentoring groups in at least 10 regions.  We will be traveling to several regions and meeting with these leaders and these mentoring groups and training them how to replicate this vision across their region.  These mentoring groups are to grow future pastors and church leaders to help their churches and ministries to multiply both in the number of new churches and in the people existing churches are reaching.

These are God-sized dreams.  We cannot accomplish this without God opening doors and changing hearts.  This expansion of our ministry will require more resources and we are praying that people will step forward and be willing to help by sponsoring a region to do these mentoring meetings.  We are looking for $1000 per year for three years for each mentoring group.  This provides half of the costs for gathering the group, food, housing, and training materials.  We hope that each group will consist of 15-20 young leaders that we can work with to help them recognize and grow their potential.

If this is something you or your church would be interested in doing, please let me know.  I would be happy to talk more with you about this, or you can give directly to our ministry by clicking here.

https://www.potentialendeavors.com/donation/donate/

Today is a day of reflection.  A time to give thanks for the many blessings and people that have impacted our lives.  As I get older, I think about the people in my life who have had a significant impact in my life over the years.  This year I chose to reflect on some of those people.  There are many others I could think of, but these individuals came to my mind as I was writing this.

The first is the biggest impact on my life and that is my wife Beth.  Beth has been my cheerleader, supporter, and greatest champion in my life.  She has given me hope when I have been down, encouragement when I needed a champion, forgiveness when I have screwed up and unconditional love each day!  She is the reason behind every success I have achieved throughout my life!

The next person who came to mind was my father-in-law John Sahlin.  John modeled for me what it means to be a sacrificial father and husband.  He models the life of a servant and I learned that the role of a father and husband is to provide and serve.

Next is Greg Duppler.  Greg was one of my first bosses at Target.  He gave me my first career opportunity and made a huge impact as I developed in my career at Target.  He gave me exposure to senior management and allowed me the freedom to explore new ideas.  He promoted me and laid the foundation for my financial success over the years.

The second leader from Target that had a big influence on me was Fred Argir.  Fred brought out the leadership and vision in me.  He was a big thinker, and we spent a lot of time dreaming about what was possible and how we could work together to accomplish it.  He believed in me and was instrumental in my career move into Information Technology and team leadership.

Next was Scott Anderson from Eagle Brook Church.  Scott was my boss for 4 ½ years.  He helped me to move from corporate leadership to ministry.  He was always honest and direct and gave me the hard feedback when I needed it, but never lost his trust in my ability to learn and grow.  He modeled servant leadership and taught me how to learn how to impact others in a positive way.

Also from my time at Eagle Brook Church is Byron Emmert.  Byron was a peer at Eagle Brook Church for 4+ years.  Byron is such an awesome coach and inspirational leader.   He was always there when I needed someone to encourage me.  He knew how to listen and provide the right words of wisdom you needed when you are down.

Last on the List is Kiril Abazher.  Kiril is a friend from Ukraine.  We met 5+ years ago at a meeting at church when he was visiting with a group of leaders from New Life Church in Ukraine.  We made an instant connection and have been friends since.  Kiril was a key impact in my life when I was going through a job transition.  He believed in me and pointed me towards the future potential I had.  Kiril is one of those people who never allows “No, or you can’t” get in his way.  His friendship and support have been so important to me and what we are doing today with Potential Endeavors.

These individuals are just some of the people who have impacted me over the years.  As I think of them, I wonder if I have ever thanked them for the impact they made on my life.  Sharing this document is one way of acknowledging them, but I should also send a note to thank them personally.

Who are the people that have made an impact on your life?  Have you told them how you feel about them?  Do not wait! You never know what the future holds!

Covid-19 has had an impact on all of us!  It has changed the way we interact, work, socialize and travel.  As I am writing this, my state (Minnesota) is moving towards another shutdown.  Restaurants, bars, fitness centers are closed to visitors.  We are being told to not gather for Thanksgiving with anyone who does not live with us.  We are seeing an increase in fear all around us.  This virus is getting close to our family as well.   My in-laws and my sister and her family have all been diagnosed with the virus.  Fortunately, it has been mild cases and no deaths close to me, but I know many families have lost loved ones due to this virus.

In our ministry work, we work with churches and pastors.  This virus has hit them hard.  Pastors have had to deal with difficult decisions at their church.  Things like opening or closing their in-person services; requiring masks or making them optional; budgetary challenges due to lost revenue.  They also face a new reality of less people attending church services in person and how to engage with their attenders and reach new ones in this new world we live in.  We have not been able to travel to Ukraine to do our conferences and training, so we have had to find new ways to provide resources and material to help the churches there as well.

With pastors struggling with burnout, fatigue, church conflict, staffing issues and purpose, the demand and need for our ministry has never been higher.  We are working with more pastors and churches than ever before.  Our ministry of providing encouragement, support and coaching is needed like never before, but we cannot do this without ministry partners.  We provide our resources at no cost to the churches and pastors who receive it.  This is intentional as many are small churches with limited resources to begin with.  Your support allows us to travel, as possible, and meet over video calls to listen to the needs of the pastor and provide help and encouragement.

We would love it if you would be willing to be a ministry partner with us.  We need your prayers and your gifts to do what we do.  Your financial contributions provide the dollars we need to travel and provide resources to train pastors from Ukraine to the upper Midwest.  While things are shut down now, we expect that with a vaccine, travel will be resuming in 2021 and we will return to Ukraine to work with leaders on how to learn from 2020 and make the change needed to reach the next person for Jesus.

We have created a fundraiser on Facebook for Giving Tuesday, which is December 1^st.  We are hoping to raise $20,000 for ministry expenses to wrap up 2020 and start for 2021.  Donations are accepted on Facebook on the Potential Endeavors page, or on our website at https://potentialendeavors.com/donate.   Will you pray about how God would like to use you to support our ministry?

If you would like to receive our newsletter, send us a message at rick.post@potentialendeavors.com and you can follow us on Facebook or Instagram.  Our Instagram ID is @potential_endeavors.