Influence - A New Journey

 

I have been thinking about INFLUENCE for quite some time.

As a pastor, I met so many people who are struggling in life because of the negative influence they have received. Maybe it was when they were a child, maybe it was a bad marriage, whatever caused the pain, the influence it has on the person's life has a profound impact.

I also met people who have had an incredibly positive influence on their life! A parent, youth pastor, teacher, or friend are just some of the examples of stories I have heard of individuals who played a huge part in someone's life and journey.

Not only do people have an influence on us, but we also have an influence on others! It can be positive and it can be negative.

The question each of us has to ask is do I want to have even more of a positive influence on the people around me? I hope for you that the answer is YES!

In order to do so, we each need to battle against the negative influences of the world. Whether it's something in us that needs to be worked on or resisting outside temptations that come our way.

I've been wanted to write a book on this topic of influence for quite some time. And that time has finally come! I've been pretty slack on my writing over the past few months. I guess 19 months of working from home has made the days blur into one another :) Regardless, I have finally begun to write!

My plan is to have the first draft completed by mid-January, 2022. I'm going to use the book's material as a study in my church LifeGroup. From there, I will take their feedback, clean it up, and get a final draft out by early spring. From time to time, I'm going to share some excerpts from the book here on my blog. I'm also planning on starting a podcast on the topic of Influence as well. That should be coming out in about a month.

As you reflect on the influence you have, I hope you'll join me on this journey so we can see together just how God may use all of us to increase our positive influence!

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