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If in a talk, I earnestly quote Pastor X or Speaker Y, I inherently give them authority. Be it intentional or not, I have endorsed them.

And even if the quote is Biblical, practical, and insightful – what if their theology is skewed?

One of the best practices we can have is to point our friends to the Bible, not to people. Yes, God inspires people to rightly interpret and explain Scripture. But it’s not a preachers job to convict – that is a role of the Holy Spirit.

Friends who have gone into banking tell me that they have training sessions with real, authentic currency – not the fraudulent bills. Fake money is altered and produced almost daily. The true money rarely changes. They are trained to recognize the truth.

We, too, much be trained to recognize the Truth. Spending time to understand other belief systems has a value, but we must first be firmly rooted in Scripture. Here are four quick thoughts when it comes to quoting from speakers or books:

1. Be careful which preachers, teachers, and Christian authors you recommend –  especially to young believers. Make certain they have a full understanding and teaching of salvation and the “essentials” of the faith.

2. Be Berean (Acts 17:11) and fact check everything that even the most reputable of preachers teach. If you’re not being fed Biblical truth, pray for that teacher and ask God to help you lovingly approach him or her.

3. If you are a Bible teacher, don’t “wing it” without Scriptural basis. We need to be careful whom we recommend and likewise then strive to be a Biblically-based person that others can rely on.

4. Test all teachings against the Bible, not theological or doctrinal books. These study books have a proper place but we are to study Scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Truth to us. Similarly, we are the hide God’s Word in our hearts, not the words of a reference book.

I was accused of acting like a kindergarten teacher last week. But you know what? If making pine cone turkeys is wrong, I don’t want to be right! Here’s my herd on display:

I asked my coworkers to write down a word or a phrase of what they are thankful for in the other coworkers. I wasn’t certain if many people would participate, or if they did, that the answer I received would be superficial. But as I transcribed the list onto the turkey “feathers,” I was encouraged at what others wrote.

Though I didn’t participate in thirty days of thankfulness on Facebook this year, I have given consideration to what I’m thankful for. And I realized something – it takes a while to get past the surface-level of gratitude.

It’s easy for me to rattle off a list like this: I’m thankful for …

• New house
• Healthy newborn nephew
• Job
• Electricity
• Chip’ins

But is that what I am really, truly thankful for? Is that really the list that I would write on a pine cone turkey? So this week I have been contemplating the deeper, less tangible blessings from God that I am thankful for.

• A house of safety and welcoming that I look forward to returning to every day after work.
• Unity in marriage.
• Laughter. What an usual blessing that God created in allowing us to laugh.
• Encouragement – both that I give and that I receive. I think I would melt into depression otherwise.
• Hope. God is at work in people’s lives, including mine.

I may have crafted like a kindergarten teacher this month, but I tried not to think like a kindergarten student. We need to list our physical and material blessings and be thankful for them, but it’s even better to realize that we have a whole host of spiritual and emotional blessings that affect us everyday that we may not acknowledge.

I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You. Psalm 119:11

I would venture a guess that most of us that were raised in church have heard this verse – no, more than that, we probably have memorized that verse.

But how many of us as adults are putting that verse into practice? In a prayer group this month, I listened as multiple women shared that they are not having a consistent quiet time. Some even recognized that the days that they do not have a quiet time are the days that their emotions seem to run rampant and they lack patience toward their children and husband.

We all live busy lives which is why we need to prioritize our activities daily. When I know that I am facing a particularly busy day or week, I write out a schedule. You may find this to be excessive, but I find it keeps me from feeling overwhelmed. Instead of mourning that I have 15 items on my to-do list, I know that I only have three tasks to complete before noon, 4 more before 2:00 p.m. and a wrap up time by 5:00 p.m.

You better bet that I schedule breakfast, lunch, and supper every day. I don’t believe in skipping meals or even working through lunch. I believe in my meals. So why should I forsake spiritual food when I wouldn’t dream of skipping a physical meal?

For all of us who are “just too busy” out there, we need to keep a few things in mind:

• Don’t use raising children as an excuse not to have a daily quiet time. How will our children learn to make time for God if they never see us living it out?
• It’s not good enough to say, “I’ll read my Bible more this week.” Write out exactly what you will read and when.
• Create a sticker chart and purchase gold stickers if that’s what it takes. If you need help getting back in the routine of reading, praying, and memorizing Scripture, implement a reward system for you. For a month, I would pack a dessert in my lunch that I could only eat if I memorized the next couple verses in James.
• Make it a natural habit to discuss what you’ve read in Scripture with your family. Just like a book of literature can be more enjoyable with a book discussion group, the Bible will jump to life and stick in your mind better as you wrestle through passages and rejoice in God’s promises together.
• Ask God to renew your desire for His Word. But don’t just sit on the couch and wait for a lightening bolt to strike your heart. Get into the Word and keep reading.
• Lastly, don’t wait for your New Year’s Resolutions to come around to get back into the habit of reading Scripture. You can start a special study or group study January 1st, but don’t neglect the next 39 days that you could have spent time with the Lord.

Last week I had the privilege of gathering with the women in my church family to hear Mrs. Lanese Dockery discuss the importance of hospitality. She began with a simple question: What do you think of when you hear the word “hospitality?”

Food? Entertainment? Welcoming?

Mrs. Dockery said that in Greek, “hospitality” means “taking in strangers.” I don’t know about your household, but if Kevin started grabbing strangers off the street and bringing them into our household, I’d be terrified to sleep at night!

Her key emphasis was that by practicing hospitality, you are “participating in the process of changing a person’s status before God from stranger to guest.” We need to reclaim the home as the key location for ministry and reconnect the home with the church.

Bringing an unbeliever to church is a good thing, but inviting them into your home to allow them to watch how you respond to each other, the good, the bad, and all the in-between will have an even greater impact on them.

The night after participating in “hospitality night” with my sisters in Christ, Kevin and I housed one of our college friends, Peter, for the night. How did I show hospitality?

1. A place to lie his head. I pumped up the ol’ air mattress and suited it up with my Christmas penguin flannel sheets.

2. Food to eat. I grabbed a can of pumpkin and baked up some delicious holiday cupcakes.

3. Entertainment. We organized a get together at a local restaurant and invited them to our house afterwards for dessert (hence the cupcakes) and board games. We even planned brunch with a church family the next morning that wanted to catch up with Peter.

4. Comfort. I replaced the 1-ply toilet paper with 2-ply. Apparently when we moved into the house someone’s house warming gift to us was environmentally friendly toilet paper. It may be kind to the environment, but it’s a pain to me.

5. Encouragement. Meeting physical needs were easy. But meeting spiritual and emotional needs proved more of a challenge. Each of us had experienced highs and lows in the past three months and we set aside time to sit and talk about how God is moving in our lives.

Hospitality is not about proving how many material items you have, how good of a chef you are, how many plies your toilet paper boasts, or even how many spare bedrooms you keep. Hospitality is about living life together to point people to Christ. If you host a believer, they ought to leave your house encouraged in their faith; if you host an unbeliever, they ought to leave with a clearer understanding of the Gospel.

Are you using your home as a launching pad for the Gospel or as an off-limits symbol of your social status?

Before the thought burrows into your mind let me address it now – yes, this book review is a departure from the usual book reviews I write.

On my own, this would not have been my first pick in books. I tend toward classic works of fiction and spiritual development. But I enjoyed every page and already have recommended Entreleadership to several of my friends and colleagues.

Here are a few lessons from Dave Ramsey’s “play book” that he communicates in his book:

• To build a successful business, you need team members, not employees. Team members are self-motivated and share common goals whereas employees clock in and out to get the paycheck.
• Sell to people the way they want to be sold to. If your customer has a tight deadline, don’t bog them down by reading every last detail. Likewise, if your customer is extremely analytical, review the facts and don’t just skip those pages and force them to sign the final page.
• Compensate fairly and frequently. Don’t wait until a year-end review and give a standard raise. Inspire your team members and instantly reward them for a good job.
• Treat others the way you want to be treated. Give grace to team members in difficult times. When you are loyal to them, they will be loyal to you.
• Involve your spouse. Run major decisions past them. And if a spouse can’t trust your team member, neither can you.

Yes, this book’s primary audience is the owner of a business. But the secondary audience is all of us.

We are all leaders in one capacity or another. Some  may be bosses, leaders of class projects, parents, or even babysitters. Whether we have consciously considered it or not, we all have a leadership style. Many people confuse power and authority with leadership. Leadership causes you to view the people around  your differently. You set them up for success whereas a person of power only sets up themselves.

In our Christian walk, our faith is to be evident in every aspect of our lives, not just in the category of church attendance and radio stations. It is encouraging to read books by unapologetically Christian authors who clearly and concisely share their business plan.