“Captain’s Log” is a series where I share a snapshot of how things are progressing across the ministry. Subscribe for the latest with Lightworks!
Captain’s log, stardate: April 22, 2022
Quick snapshot this week. Mostly a week of heads-down time on projects. Feels good to have significant clarity, clear lanes of delegation, and time to execute! [For those who don’t know, early-stage startups can feel like a nebulous, never-ending list of questions that you’re continually throwing darts at and hoping to hit somewhere on the dart board. i.e. “What should we build? What is something that people would actually find valuable, and accomplishes our goals?” Even in a Christian missionary startup, it seems like this is the case, too.] For more on how we came to that clarity, check last week’s Captain’s Log.
One learning and a healthy reminder this week:
You ever feel like you should have learned something already, and then God shows you that you need to learn it again? That’s me with Proverbs 16:9 - “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.” It’s really easy coming out of a period of strategic planning to feel good about yourself, and that if you work hard enough, you can accomplish your goals. Had a few moments this week where I realized just how much God is in control of our progress, regardless how hard we’ve worked or not.
For example, this call from a top lawyer in town [see below]. Sure, I shot over a call to his firm based on a recommendation, but he had no reason to call me back. I could just be a punk kid with nothing but a dream and a prayer that wouldn’t mean any business for him. But God gave us favor, and now I’m looking forward to learning from his expertise. Not something I planned would actually happen. Again, we may make plans, but it’s GOD who establishes our steps.
Yeah, I need to spend more time in dependent prayer about our work. Healthy, humbling reminder this week.
Are you praying for the tasks on your list this week? Leave a comment on how we can be praying for you and your projects!
Highs:
What did I consider wins from this past week?
Brought our goals down to an actionable plan and began executing this week.
Connected with a top lawyer in town (founder of a firm with 53 lawyers) who works with nonprofits and Christian organizations nationally. Excited to potentially get his input on how to structure our ministry in a way that maximizes our opportunities for growth & wise stewardship.
Started learning our no-code tool of choice to build the product MVP. It’s beginning to make more sense now, and I’m excited to build out a rough first concept functionally!
Lows:
What did I consider losses from the past week?
After learning more, better understand what it’s going to take to file for our 501c3. Will likely be a 100 page document when its all said and done - much more than I initially anticipated. I guess I should always expect legal stuff to take longer than I would wish?
Been fighting off a head-cold all week. Leah too, though a bit worse. Energy has been low. Thus is the way things go at times, and we have to trust that God has a good plan with the timing of it all! He’s in control!
Looking Ahead:
What’s coming up? Where are we heading / aiming?
Sharing a sharable executive summary of the product research completed recently.
v1.0 Map of the digital landscape to support someone’s discipleship journey. Will help us describe our work a bit more articulately in the weeks ahead.
Early MVP of a component of the discipleship platform - start testing in the next couple weeks!
Prayer Requests:
How can you be praying for us?
Pray for Leah and her family - her grandmother is not doing well, and we’re making a quick last-minute trip to see her in CA over next weekend.
Pray for our health as well! Would love to kick this head-cold to the curb so we can both be at 100% again.
Pray for productivity and the right steps. There’s a lot still ahead of us. Pray that the Lord would guide our every action, conversation, and decision in the weeks ahead!
Grateful to have you on this journey with us. Again, leave a comment on how we can be praying for you and your projects!
- Wes