FROM THE DAWGHOUSE…
DO YOU HAVE A MISSION STATEMENT?
Before Father’s Day I had a great phone call with my son Jon in Atlanta. We were talking about his stage of work and life and ended up talking about life mission statements.
Do you have one? In discussing my mission statement with Jon I wrote this email to him…maybe this will jump-start you working on your mission statement! It was short and to the point to prompt his own thinking as I hope it does yours:
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Jonny!
Hey man, here’s my mission statement:
“My mission is to enjoy God as Father and glorify Him by being fiercely loyal to my Lord Jesus Christ, and filled with the Spirit, living out radical grace, passionately loving my family, and impacting my world by building men who do the same.”
It took many years to develop that and I finished it one Saturday afternoon in the St. Louis airport after an event I spoke at there while waiting for a plane to fly home.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism, which the PCA holds to has the famous and oft used question:
Q What is the chief end of man?
A The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Due to my story of father wound, it seemed right for me to flip that answer as I did in my purpose.
Ultimately, any mission statement that can be called Christian in any sense ought to have the idea of glorifying God as it’s supreme object as well as keeping the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 in mind.
I also find myself going back almost daily to these summaries during my DAWG:
- Oath of a Man- which the police chief in East Auburn, Maine wrote up after I finished my DANGEROUS FREEDOM/5 MARKS Seminar there in 2016:
“As a son of the Most High God I will on my honor, defend who I was created to be. I will lead with courage those who are in my charge. I will be a warrior for the Kingdom of my Father until death. I will love God and love His people.”
- Interestingly, I have been reviewing, again almost daily, what I reviewed almost daily as a Boy Scout…from ages 11-18. The Oath and the Law are really Biblically Based, as the Founder of Boy Scouts in England, Lord Baden Powell, was a believer and started Boy Scouts to develop boys into men:
Oath: “On my honor, I will do my best, to do my duty to God and my country. To obey the Scout Law. To help other people at all times. To keep myself physically fit, mentally awake, and morally straight.”
Law: A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
When I look back, I am amazed at how the Scout Oath impacted me so much! As I said, it is, as is the Scout Law, Biblically based.
As I write this up I realize I’m gonna use it for a Dawghouse blog!
Love you my son! We’ll talk soon…
Dad
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Challenge: Do some thinking about your mission statement, which is a Biblically informed, personally shaped statement about WHY GOD PUT YOU ON THIS PLANET!
That is so important as you move ahead in the process of becoming a great man as God defines greatness!
Strength and Courage!
Pete Alwinson
