Archives by: Gary Hoag

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

“You don’t have to be very clever to see evil; but a deep Christian spirit is required to discover the presence of God in all circumstances. Let us keep our eyes open to good, like the true friends in Mark’s Gospel and let us see, following Paul’s advice, how to conquer evil with an abundance of good.

On many occasions the Christian’s task will be to point out whatever is positive, since things well done encourage us to be better and bring us closer to God. Let us be quick to notice the virtues of those around us: a friend’s generosity, the industriousness of one of our colleagues, our neighbor’s readiness to help, our professor’s patience…

If at times we cannot praise, let us hold our tongues. Or we will be of assistance with a kind correction and our prayer. Let us foster whatever good is born around us – sometimes with an encouraging word, at others with our help given in time and money… This takes little effort and is always fruitful.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 367.

Words like “discover” and “notice” are my favorite words linked to my wife’s service as a spiritual director. She encourages me and others to look for God and to notice His presence and discover what learning, lessons, or love He has for us afresh each and every day.

This echoes the exhortation of Paul and finds affirmation in the words of Fernandez. They seem so relevant in the times we find ourselves. I heard someone spout off all the problems around us. I retorted, “Are you going to do something about it?”

You will never believe his reply. He exclaimed, “I am. I am complaining.” Really? I pondered. Don’t let that be you. Let’s look for God. Get involved with Him where He is at work. Notice the good. Affirm and encourage it. And goodness, pitch in from what we have.

I am back home. Thankful to enjoy time with my wife, to see my granddaughters, to encourage my children, and to celebrate good around me. It’s only for a few days, but I will make them count. Do the same thing with the time God has given you. Make it count.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21

“The first Christians found a social environment very far distant from the doctrine they had so very much at heart. Though they opposed the customs that vitiated even human dignity, they did not waste their best energies in complaining about and denouncing evil. On the contrary, they chose rather to distribute the treasure they possessed by spreading it with a joyful and fraternal testimony, serving society through innumerable initiatives in the areas of culture, social service, education, ransoming captives, etc. They could have spent their lives observing everything that was out of keeping with an upright life; thus they would never have given a true solution to the world at large.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 366-367.

Thanks for your prayers. I got to train 70 CEOs yesterday at the Missio Nexus conference in Louisville which has over 1,100 participants in attendance. It’s the largest missions conference in the USA.

Based on the ECFA Press book, The Choice, I shared the 2 paths and the 3 temptations, a model for a discernment retreat, and coaching to map faithful activities with their teams using a 3D (Discerning Direction Document) for accountability and evaluation.

The response was off the charts. One bloke said, “The conference was worth it for this session alone.” Praise God! Others spoke of the freedom and joy that had eluded them and that awaited them by taking this new path.

I love to watch adults interact with each other as they embrace biblical and practical content with great receptivity. And all I could think of during discussion times was the “innumerable initiatives” that will move forward in the 70 ministries they serve.

Pray that readers of this post will shift their energies from denouncing evil to advancing good. Pray with me that the seeds planted in CEOs take root and bear fruit. And pray that together through our collective witness, we can show “the true solution” to the watching world.

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

“The positive obligation of cooperating in good should lead every Christian to bring Christ’s message to every human activity – professional work included – in the best way or she can. The true Christian cannot simply avoid doing evil himself, being careless about the influence actions have on the behavior of others…

Cooperating in good implies, of course, avoiding any cooperation with evil, not only in important decisions but also in the small ways that easily lie to hand not wasting money – even in small amounts – on magazines, newspapers, books, shows, and entertainment, which because of their sectarian, anti-Christian, or immoral character, damage the soul…

The Christian must cooperate in the common good by seeking and offering positive solutions to the perennial problems; he or she cannot limit himself or herself to simply not voting for a party or a program which attacks Christian family values… There must be a constant, deep doctrinal apostolate, free from false prudence, and not afraid of going against the stream…”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 365.

Yesterday was priceless. It started with an early morning zoom, then a drive through rush hour traffic to the airport and a typical domestic airline flight.

But on the other end of that flight was a friend and a brother with whom I am “cooperating in good” regardless of what others are doing.

He collected me at the airport. Then we spent four hours together. A new park opened up on the north side of Nashville so we went for a hike. We walked a few miles over a few hours.

It was peaceful (see the path pictured above). We did not let the troubles of the world dominate our conversation. We reflected on the faithfulness of God, the gift of our families, and areas of service.

He’s knocking on 70 so I challenged him to do a discernment retreat to think about what God desires for his next year and decade. This time gave me insight on how to pray for my friend.

I added how God keeps stretching me as I trust in Him. We had no agenda other than to enjoy time together as spiritual friends. It was good, really good.

As members of God’s “constant, deep doctrinal apostolate” which is a fancy phrase for God’s fellow workers, we encouraged each other and experienced enrichment from God.

The walk in the woods was the highlight for sure. Over half our time was spent enjoying God’s creation. The trail led us to a small stream. The visit to quiet waters restored our souls.

After this experience we had dinner at Cracker Barrel and he ventured more than an hour south and a Lyft carried me two hours north to Louisville. What if you did something like this?

Schedule time with a beloved Christian worker. Go for a walk together. Locate a peaceful place to talk and pray. It might encourage and enrich you in indescribable ways.

And it may also empower you (like it did for us) to continue to cooperate in good in big and small ways and to encourage each other to keep walking the path marked out for us.

And I appreciate your prayers for me as I speak in the Executive Leadership track serving 30-60 CEO’s and Executive Directors at the Missio Nexus 2024 Mission Leaders Conference. Thanks.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21

“Frequently in social life many become mere spectators the face of serious problems that are affecting them, their children, or their social environment. They have the mistaken notion that others should be the ones to take the initiative, to stop evil and do good. They content themselves with sterile complaint. A Christian cannot behave in this passive way, because he knows that he should be leaven within society. In the midst of human affairs, ‘what the soul is to the body, Christians are in the world. Such is the place assigned by God to them and they cannot desert it.'”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 364-365.

Today I fly to Nashville, Tennessee, to meet up with a brother than is no passive spectator but aims to serve as active leaven. We will fellowship and then I will head to Louisville, Kentucky, to speak at the Missio Nexus conference on Wednesday.

Notice the wisdom of Fernandez today.

Think of the people you know that sit as passive spectators to the Christian movement. These people excel at offering sterile complaints. Perhaps like “armchair quarterbacks” the cheer on and criticize those on the field.

Don’t let that be you. Be active leaven.

Make it your aim, like my friend Randy Bury whom I will meet up with today, to lift up God’s workers, to encourage them, support them, and ask them ways you can pray for and assist them.

Do this and you play your role.

Here Fernandez concludes with the famous ancient letter of Mathetes to Diognetus: “What the soul is to the body, Christians are in the world. Such is the place assigned by God to them and they cannot desert it.”

Serve as a life-giving and generous soul that actively lifts others!

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:10

“Since charity must be ordered, the Christian should practice this virtue primarily with those that God has placed close to him [or her]; nevertheless, our respect and admiration for others should be in no way exclusive or focused on only a small circle of friends. Our Lord does not want an apostolate with limited horizons.

The union with God which we try to make fruitful in our daily life, with the help of His grace, must bring us to recognize the attractively human dimension of our apostolate. A Christian’s dealings with his [or her] fellow persons should mean a generous outpouring of supernatural affection and human politesse, overcoming the tendency to egotism and absorption to personal projects.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 361-362.

Sadly, too many people focus their charity on a small circle. But if God blesses us to be a blessing in our community, region, and the world, how do we get off track?

Fernandez points to the answer here. We focus on our own interests and not the things God cares about. We care about those close to us, and often the impact stops there.

What about you? What would it mean for you to move beyond giving attention to your personal projects? “Our Lord does not want an apostolate with limited horizons.”

When you hear the word “apostolate” think “Christian stewards” all over the world. That’s us! God does not want us just to tend toward selfishness and egotism (pursuing the things we care about).

When we do, we have “limited horizons” and forget about the things He cares about. Take five minutes. Ponder what a generous outpouring might look like from you to a larger circle of beneficiaries.

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:44

“A Christian should always have a big heart and show respect for ask those who act as enemies, not because they are brothers, but because brothers they must become; one must show fraternal love towards him who is already a brother, and towards the one who acts as an enemy is that he may become a brother.”

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in Commentary on the First Epistle of St. John 4, 10, 7.

Today’s post requires a measure of maturity to swallow. If you imagine an enemy in your mind, Jesus desires that person to become to you a brother. Ponder that.

When you and I were enemies to Christ, He made us brothers by His great love. We get to do the same for others. This reading resonated with me as I woke up in Poland today.

Poland is a place where thousands of Ukrainian refugees have fled from the ravages of war. My prayer for each one is the same: Be not overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.

But how do we love our enemies? Of course, it’s easier said than done. But a great first step to getting there is imagining, with God’s help, our enemy becoming a brother.

It’s been a fast but fruitful visit to Eastern Europe. I fly home this morning and get home this afternoon with the time change. Appreciate your prayers for safe travel.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

“Charity makes us understanding, ready to forgive, fit to live alongside everyone, so that those who think and act differently from us in social, political, and even in religious matters will also have a claim on our respect and charity… Love and courtesy of this kind should not, of course, make us indifferent to truth and goodness. Love, in fact, impels the followers of Christ to proclaim to all men the truth that saves. But we must distinguish between the error – which must always be rejected – and the one who is in error, for he never loses his dignity as a person even though he flounders amid false or inadequate religious ideas. A disciple of Christ will never treat anyone badly. Error he will call error, but he will correct the person in error with kindliness. Otherwise he will not be able to help him, to sanctify him.”

Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975) in Friends of God: Homilies by Josemaría Escrivá (Sinag-Tala Publishers, 1977) 9.

In my reading of In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3, by Francis Fernandez, on my travels, I came across this quote. I loved it. It reminded me of the people I have been with: gentle and kind people.

What a gift to interact with gentle and kind people like Milan and Hana Hluchý. They exhibit charity, grace-filled love. Of course, this makes me think of my wife too. And today Escrivá explains the implications of this posture for our ministry.

Those who exhibit this gentleness and kindliness are able to help people and even sanctify them. Because they call error for what it is while not treating anyone badly, they have a unique position to minister and restore.

The lesson for us today linked to generosity is clear: as disciples of Christ, when we choose the path of gentleness and kindness, it makes us “understanding, ready to forgive, and fit to live alongside everyone.”

Thanks for your prayers for Gabriel Hakilín and me navigating 4 countries in 4 days. We slept in Vranov, Czech Republic, and fly from Vienna, Austria to Warsaw, Poland, this morning.

We will connect with the newest GTP staff member there, Olena Hetman. Pray for her as she begins her service this month as GTP Financial Controller and Regional Trainer for Europe.

Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. Proverbs 30:7-9

“I’m a panicky person about money myself (which is a most shameful confession and a thing dead against Our Lord’s words) and poverty frightens me more than anything else except large spiders and the tops of cliffs: one is sometimes even tempted to say that if God wanted us to live like the lilies of the field He might have given us an organism more like theirs! But of course, He is right. And when you meet anyone who does live like the lilies, one sees that He is… One of the dangers of having a lot of money is that you may be quite satisfied with the kinds of happiness money can give and so fail to realize your need for God. If everything seems to come simply by signing checks, you may forget that you are at every moment totally dependent on God.”

C.S. Lewis in a letter to Mary Shelburne.

Are you a panicky person? You know that God will look after you like He does the lilies but even the thought of poverty sends you to fright.

Last weekend, I walked through a field with my dog. I was convinced I would see a rattlesnake. I don’t know why. It just seemed like ideal conditions for one.

I found myself feeling freaked out. I was not enjoying myself. I was so focused on my feet that was not really paying attention to the way I was going.

I was panicky, at least in that moment. Two things dispelled my fear. One, I got back on the safe path. And two, I focused my mind on what was true.

If you feel panicky about finances, get back on God’s path. To help you, register here for a free GTP on demand course based on my book, Faith and Finances.

If you don’t have time for the course, focus on Scriptures linked to the faithfulness of God to deliver those who trust in Him.

Life will still be filled with spiders, cliffs, and snakes. But those things don’t control people who have learned to depend on the faithfulness of God.

Today Gabriel and I travel from Sliač, Slovakia to Vranov, Czech Republic and will spend the evening with Milan and Hana Hluchý. Milan is like a Barnabas to me. Pray for a mutually encouraging overnight visit in their home.

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ Luke 12:20

“In the things of this world, no one lives for himself; the craftsman, the soldier, the farmer, the merchant, all without exception contribute to the common good and to the good of their neighbor. This happens even more fully in the spiritual life, which is the true life. He who lives only for himself and despises his neighbor is useless, is not a man, and does not belong to our lineage.”

John Chyrsostom (347-407) in Homilies on Matthew’s Gospel 77:6.

At GTP say, “Everything is connected to everything else.” It hold true here. The work of the craftsman, the soldier, the farmer, and the merchant are linked.

Their contributions matter and are all connected to each other. Consider these examples at play just from the past holiday weekend in the USA.

I needed the merchant to purchase wares for living. I enjoyed peace thanks to the soldier. I benefited from the work of the craftsman. And I ate the fruit of the farmer.

With this interconnected view, notice why Jesus labels the bloke a “fool” who stores up his harvest for himself instead of enjoying and sharing it.

Resources hoarded are useless and those who hold on to them are also useless for the kingdom. Got resources. Put them to work, Make them useful.

Give to your local church, support ministries in your region or nation, and include GTP in your global giving. To make a gift, click here.

And thanks for your prayers for me. I am safely with my co-worker, Gabriel Hakulín, in Sliač, Slovakia. If I am like Paul, he is a Timothy to me.

This morning and afternoon we meet with the task force drafting standards and aiming to form a peer accountability group (PAG like ECFA) in USA for Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Then tonight we attend the “Leaders Dinner” with about 150-200 influential Christians of Slovakia and invited guests from around the world. It’s a privilege to be invited to attend again this year.

GTP is working with many in attendance tonight to strengthen stewards and set up a PAG to shape the future of church and ministry administration and governance in both Czech Republic and Slovakia.

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Revelation 3:15-18

“The best for God: a worship replete with generosity – generosity in the elements that are used as well as in the giving of our time, and here it should be no more than the time required, without hurrying or shortening ceremonies… Lukewarmness, a feeble cold-hearted faith, would mean that we were not treating holy things in a holy way. We would be losing sight of the glory, honor, and majesty that correspond to the blessed Trinity… Our Lord should also be able to say of the dedication of our lives to Him, and of the generosity we can show in hundreds of ways (in time and in goods): he has acted well towards me, he has shown his love in deeds.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 321-322.

Fernandez contrasts a worship replete with generosity to “lukewarmness, a feeble cold-hearted faith” that has forgotten its purpose. I needed to hear this today.

The part that stung me was when he said, “without hurrying or shortening ceremonies.” Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, I am guilty of that.

I enjoyed a restful weekend at home with my wife and then needed to pivot to Eastern Europe for strategic meetings and to take supplies to a new GTP staff member.

When you read this I will be somewhere between Frankfurt and Austria with meetings in four countries in four days. We are not hurrying but not wasting time either.

I am thankful my old computer is working in the wake of my computer challenges last week. It derailed me not to post meditations for three days and have that rhythm with the Lord. I feel back on track but want to ask about you.

Are you giving God your best? Is your worship replete with generosity? Or are you lukewarm today? Only you can answer these questions. I pray the post helps you reset.