Holistek by Mike Gold

Fluence

Wrecked Again

Once again I have been shaken up...Gary Haugen from International Justice Mission, http://ijm.org, recently spoke at our church. It is hard to listen to this message without being overwhelmed with the vision and mission that Christ has for all of us.

Thank You...Amazing I.S. Volunteers

To Our Dear I.S. Volunteers on Christmas 2008,

I don’t take enough time to truly share my appreciation and respect for all that you do to serve throughout the year. As technologists, engineers and such, many of us like to look past the surface of things. We like to go deeper into issues, to figure how and why things work. And so…I thought you deserved more that a trite thank you note; I thought I would take some time today to really study you, our volunteers…to truly express to you in real terms how valuable your effort is to the community of Christ and God’s great purposes here on Earth. When all is said and done, you are not simply just a volunteer; you are a Kingdom volunteer for our most high God. This may sound dramatic and emotional to you analytical types out there. Read on…After Careful analysis, I have discovered three words that prove how amazing you are…volunteer, purpose and you.

Word # 1 – Volunteer
Volunteer – It really is an amazing word that describes exceptional people carrying out an amazing concept. It is a word that deserves exploration. Dictionary.com defines this word as a noun that describes a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking – willingly and without pay.

It is actually rooted in the Latin word voluntarius which means “of ones free will.” Voluntarius is rooted in the Latin word voluntas which is translated as “will”. I could keep going with the etymology of this amazing word, but I will spare you further details. For our purpose it is safe to say that when we take a close look at the this word, the concept of volunteerism, at its core, is a matter of one’s will…one’s free will to wish, desire, want and choose.

Think about it. Throughout our lives we are faced with countless choices to spend our time, talent and treasure on an endless array of activities. So often we are faced with the temptation of submitting to the pursuit of answering the question, “What’s in it for me?” I did a quick little search at http://www.amazon.com for books on the subject of “self improvement” and found 44,980 resources to choose from. While I think it is critical for us to own our responsibility to grow, develop our gifts and reach our full potential as we live out our one and only lives on Earth. I also believe that if we are not careful, we all can find ourselves applying the entirety of our precious “free will” toward the lonely and futile pursuit of self gain. We can all too easily miss the richness and true fulfillment that is found when we voluntarily offer ourselves for the service of others.

Perhaps that is why I love the word volunteer so much. First…it is a noun…that is… it is a person…someone of substance…real…taking up space and time. Second, since the word volunteer is rooted in the verb “will”…we can conclude that the concept of volunteerism is…at its core, a verb…that is…it is bent on action; action that is focused on serving others, and that’s pretty cool.

In contrast to a world that seems to be intoxicated by its devotion to personal growth and improvement. The volunteer chooses, of his or her own free will to give themselves toward the pursuit of helping others. Ironically, people who choose this life style often discover that volunteerism offers more personal growth than when they pursue self improvement alone.

Word # 2 - Purpose
Now that we have established how precious the concept of volunteerism is, let’s take it a step further. When we combine the concept of volunteerism with the power and purpose of God, we have a true force to reckon with.

You don’t have to be a Bible scholar to discover God’s great purpose. Matthew 28:19-20 tells us to go out into the world and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything Jesus taught us. Isaiah 58:6-7 tells us to loose the chains of injustice, set the oppressed free, share our food with the hungry, provide shelter for the poor wanderer, and clothe the naked. There are countless more examples of God’s purposes for us here on Earth, the point is that there is something profound and amazing about combining the concept of freely and willingly offering ourselves to the service of others with the eternal, transformational power of God. I am overwhelmed by the thought of what could be accomplished if more people would choose to be this kind of volunteer.

Word #3 - YOU!
Finally, this comes back to you. You are “this kind of volunteer.” You could choose to spend your weekends, evenings and days doing all kinds of activities. Instead, you choose, of your own free will, to spend your precious time, talent and treasure to serve others for the fulfillment of God’s great purposes here on Earth.

You are living examples of God’s word as you fulfill passages like those found in Matthew 25, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." You live out First Corinthians 15:58 where it tells us to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the God’s work. You know that your labor is not in vain. You live out Christs greatest example of volunteerism in that he willingly and freely offered himself to come to us and to die for our sins.

After careful study. I can say with great conviction, humility and gratitude that I hold you in the extremely high regard.

To those of you who:

• write software
• provide strategic analysis
• provide technical support
• serve in our Computer Connection
• provide wisdom, leadership and direction
• improve the quality of our data and information
• share their spouses and loved ones so they can serve
• manage projects
• develope training materials and documention

I can’t imagine how our websites, Promiseland checkin, Seeds Bookstore, Computer Connection, Telecommunications, Regional Churches, Weekend Services, Camp, Classes, Harvest, Email, Events, eTickets, Volunteerism, Connection, Membership, Accounting and Finance and so much more would function without you. As volunteers in Information Systems you really do impact all facets of our local church and through our Computer Connection, you have a significant impact on our world as you connect job skills and computer resources to people in need.

Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for so many…

Now without further delay, some other folks at Willow wanted to express their appreciation to you. I have posted it below for those of you who could not make it to our Christmas party...enjoy

Most Sincerely, Mike

Dominican Republic 2008 - Day 4

We've just ended day 4 of our trip. I don't have internet access so I don't believe that I will be able to upload our last video until I get home. Terry and I got to our hotel room from ICC just a little while ago. It's about 2:15 a.m. and Vicki, Arman and Carlos just got back. Everyone is exhausted but very happy. With the help of many, and the power of God, a thriving church has a working, state of the art phone system, our Santa Domingo office has a functioning video conferencing system and the community of Consuelo has a new, cutting edge, computer lab. Hundreds, if not thousands of people will gain job skills and education from this lab, People will have opportunities to learn and grow, and the local church who hosts the site will have a chance to be Jesus with skin on. Who know just how many people's eternities will be transformed through this space.

We had terrible challenges at both locations. The truth is, challenges come everyday...but people who rise to meet these challenges are rare and precious. Everyone who served on this initiative worked 12 to 15 hours a day. They poured themselves out and excepted nothing less than pure excellence for their God; serving together with great joy and love.

The mutual respect between our Dominican colleagues and our team was amazing. The professionalism and Technical talent in the D.R. is absolutely outstanding. I would be proud to serve along side any of the technologists from the Esperanza, the Consuelo Lab and ICC (Christian Community Church) anytime, anywhere. They truly are exceptional.

Vicki, Arman, Carlos  Pedro, Mark and a host of others really stepped up to the challenge out at the Consuelo lab. They had one significant set back where they had almost completed configuring one of the main components of the lab when the power went out. They had to start the set up process over completely. I'll never forget the exhaustion in Arman's voice when he called me with a status report. It was a major setback. However, Arman and the team pressed on and finished the lab. All 30 of the work stations they set out to implement were working when the team left Consuelo. Arman even had the blessing of seeing some people use the lab before he left. Now I pray that this technology will serve this community for a long time to come. If this works, we will have a conduit for education and transformation that is cost effective, manageable and scalable. 

People from he community trying out the new lab.

Terry Rugg and I needed to address phone problems at ICC and Video Communication Problems at our Santa Domingo office. The phone problem ended up taking most of our time so I really relied on the leadership of Pedro, Arman, Vicki and Carlos. They all blew me away with their determination and ownership. It was fun to see Arman and Carlos build a friendship. I really do believe that they will stay connected when Arman goes home.

Back at ICC, I was so thankful to have had the help of Dan Rothstein, Jim Smeenge, Bill Marquardt, Terry Rugg, Brett Rogers and Rafael Hernandez on the phone challenge. Terry and I, along with Brett who connected to us via GoToMeeting  and Rafael who tirelessly helped us coordinate with ICC staff, ended last night with great frustration. After prayer...and sleep... I sent out a mass call for help to our volunteers. I also left a voicemail message for Jim Smeenge, a fellow I.T. Director who oversees a similar a phone system out at Christ Community Church in St. Charles, IL. Dan Rothstein, a Willow Creek Computer Connection volunteer, replied to my email call for help. Bill Marquardt, another longtime I.S. volunteer also replied to my email call for help. Dan, Jim and Bill all stepped up. Dan actually used his own support account with the phone system provider, Didium, to get us connected to R.J., a Digium engineer. Bill helped get Jim and I connect...and Jim offer his expertise; basically giving up his afternoon to help us. With Terry Rugg riding point, that team brought ICC's phone system back to life.

I have so much more to say about other close friends but I must get some sleep. I just want to end this email as promised. I give God all the Glory. I will not forget his great blessings during this initiative. He really blessed show up on this project.

Dominican Republic 2008 - Day 3

Today was a day filled with challenges. First...

We are experiencing significant trouble with the s800i Digium Appliance. Most outbound calls get fast busy...sometimes calls go out...but rarely. Tested lines directly and calls work all the time. We isolated wiring to remove cable variables. The phone service itself works fine. However, when we connect the Digium Appliance to the mix...fast busy.

I sent emails out and already I am receiving help...Wow...I would also like to thank Brett Rogers, a network engineer from Willow Creek, for joining us on GoTo meeting to help.

Second... Armand is having trouble with the Ncomputing devices. Three of the computers we are trying to use are only supporting a single x550 card...This will amount to 5 works stations from 1 computer instead of 10. Needless to say...this is not acceptable. Arman will be calling Charlie from Ncomputing to see if there is anything we can do. I know this should work. We do have one computer here that seems to work very well with all 10 attached. Perhaps tomorrow will be another day.

Video...

Day 3 Morning...
We got off to a great start looking back on some highlights from the day before.

Day 3 Afternoon... Technology Challenges...

Dominican Republic 2008 - Day 2

We accomplished a lot on our second day of our Journey to the D.R. I have so much respect for the leadership an staff of Esperanza International and Willow Creek Dominican Republic. I learned that we truly share similar ideas and vision for connecting people in need to job skills and computer resources. I am convinced that God is really blessing this efforts all over the world.

Dominican Republic 2008 - Day 1

We made it to the Dominican Republic safely. We left Willow Creek South Barrington at 6 a.m. and made it to our first meeting 10:30 p.m. We are staying at the Kellogg Center in San Pedro de Macoris. The retreat center is arount 25 minutes away from the small town of Consuelo where we will install the computer lab.

Last year we has several challenges getting our equipment through customs. This year...after we finish having our passports stamped, we went up to the Customs gate only to finv no one there. The attendant waved us through telling us that there is no one to check us in. Needless to say we just kept moving.

For the record...we weren't bringing anything illegal or taxable into the county anyway. And...we had all kinds of letters from our hosts to help us get through customs. Based on the difficulties we had with customs last year, this year's easy transition was a welcome surprise.

The rest is cover in the following video...

I apologize in advance for the first few seconds...the opening motion graphic didn't render right on my computer...I'll fix it when I get home. 

Mac Upgrades

Don't get wrong. In some ways I like Mac's upgrade strategy. However, sometimes I just don't get it.
This video helped me cope with the latest Mac upgrades.

Happy Birthday to My Bride...

To my bride. Today is your 40th birthday...I put together a short video of some amazing moments and memories of your life. I am more in love with you than ever. Happy Birthday to my sweet Dawn.

Oberhausen, Final Thought....

This video is a thank you to all who so joyfully went seen and unseen to make safe places in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for people to wrestle with unsafe things.