A Leadership Development Project Design For Financial Stability And Missional Momentum At The Houston Northwest Seventh-day Adventist Church

Problem The Houston Northwest Seventh-day Adventist church, located in Spring, Texas, has experienced very little membership growth and a decline in attendance and contribution in the ten years from 2003 to 2012. Due to financial challenges during this period, the church did not develop any defined and significant outreach or evangelistic strategies. The need to create financial stability and missional momentum consisting of leadership development is needed. A lack of such intervention the church would continue to remain stagnant in its membership growth with a decline in its contribution and attendance. Method This project document explored the Houston Northwest Seventh-day Adventist church\u27s lack of evangelistic strategies and leadership development. In addition to a community demographical surveys and a spiritual health assessment evaluation a series of contemporary evangelistic methods and strategies, were deemed the best antidote for the problems of the church. This study also took into account the church\u27s demographics and their culture of origin, religious convictions, racial make-up, traditional practices, and economic conditions. In order to develop these methods and strategies, this project used the examples set forth by the Old Testament model on revitalized worship, the example of King Hezekiah, the New Testament model on leadership, and the example of Jesus Christ to His disciples. This mandate notes that once leaders are led by the Holy Spirit to bring the people of God back to worship they must proclaim the advent of Jesus Christ. In addition, leaders should, as Jesus did, teach members how to become steward leaders. They should teach members on how to use their spiritual gifts, talents, and skills to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Finally, church leaders should develop members into disciples and church leaders themselves. Results Upon implementation of the series of contemporary evangelistic methods and strategies that were presented to the Houston Northwest Seventh-day Adventist church leaders and members, which had a stagnant membership growth and a decline in contribution and attendance over the past ten years, contributions increased by 38.23%, church membership by 41 members an increase of 12.58%, and attendance by 50 individuals a 39.68% increase over the four-year period of the project. Based on these significant increases, the project was a success. -- Solutions. The outcome of the methods and strategies used to stabilize financially and create missional momentum for the Houston Northwest Seventh-day Adventist church demonstrated the divine authority and power of God to grow His church when its leaders come back and lead others to worship Him. It also demonstrated how Christ’s method of leading people to the good news of the gospel is the only method that adds to the body of Christ, the church. It uplifts the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of His people. The members of the church, once lost in knowing how to evangelize and whom to evangelize, have now been reenergized to do great things for their church and their community. Challenges still lie ahead for the church. These challenges will be overcome when the leaders continue to provide a vision and enlist members to participate in achieving the mission of the church. These members are also to become leaders themselves and efficiently disciple new members to become involved in achieving the church\u27s mission. The development of the systematic approach to change as explained in this project should continue to be used by its leaders. Change is necessary and critical for church growth. Learning how to implement, manage, and deal with change within the church will be an ongoing practice for church leaders. Following Christ’s method is the solution for this challenge

Deep Thermoacoustic Imaging Using Scanning Electron Acoustic Microscopy

Entirely new sensors are emerging that are either of a microelectronic circuit or are made by integrated circuit fabrication techniques. These small integrated sensors interface naturally with microprocessors, and they are capable of being made economically and reproducibly. Integrated sensors for at least the following quantities have been built and tested: mechanical variables (force, pressure, acceleration, normal and shear stress, proximity); electromagnetic fields (electric field, magnetic field, infrared and visible light); temperature; chemical quantities (ions in solution, vapors); and biological quantities (internal temperatures, ions in solution)

Programmable Filter for Ultrasonic NDE Systems

Transversal filters based on the charge-coupled device (CCD) technology may be applied to processing received signals in an ultrasonic NDE system. Filters having a fixed response (fixed tap weightings) could be used to compensate for the characteristics of a given ultrasonic transducer. A more flexible arrangement allowing programmability employs a CCD delay line whose tap electrodes are accessible externally for weighting. The response of this device can be altered by changing a set of resistors mounted on a printed circuit board which can be plugged into a socket connected to the CCD. Proper response for a given ultrasonic transducer is obtained by plugging in the proper circuit board. Because present commercial CCD\u27s allowing programmability have clock frequencies too low for direct processing of ultrasonic NDE signals, the filter is preceded by a CCD video delay line which quickly stores the return signal and then outputs it more slowly for processing during the time between successive excitations of the ultrasonic transducer

Lessons on transparency from the glassfrog

Transparency in glassfrogs has potential implications for human blood clotting

An assessment of residents’ and fellows’ personal finance literacy: An unmet medical education need

Objectives: This study aimed to assess residents' and fellows' knowledge of finance principles that may affect their personal financial health. Methods: A cross-sectional, anonymous, web-based survey was administered to a convenience sample of residents and fellows at two academic medical centers. Respondents answered 20 questions on personal finance and 28 questions about their own financial planning, attitudes, and debt. Questions regarding satisfaction with one's financial condition and investment-risk tolerance used a 10-point Likert scale (1=lowest, 10=highest). Of 2,010 trainees, 422 (21%) responded (median age 30 years; interquartile range, 28-33). Results: The mean quiz score was 52.0% (SD = 19.1). Of 299 (71%) respondents with student loan debt, 144 (48%) owed over $200,000. Many respondents had other debt, including 86 (21$25,000. Respondents' mean satisfaction with their current personal financial condition was 4.8 (SD = 2.5) and investment-risk tolerance was 5.3 (SD = 2.3). Indebted trainees reported lower satisfaction than trainees without debt (4.4 vs. 6.2, F (1,419) = 41.57, p < .001). Knowledge was moderately correlated with investment-risk tolerance (r=0.41, p < .001), and weakly correlated with satisfaction with financial status (r=0.23, p < .001). Conclusions: Residents and fellows had low financial literacy and investment-risk tolerance, high debt, and deficits in their financial preparedness. Adding personal financial education to the medical education curriculum would benefit trainees. Providing education in areas such as budgeting, estate planning, investment strategies, and retirement planning early in training can offer significant long-term benefits.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Adult zebrafish as advanced models of human disease

Modelling adult diseases to understand their aetiology and progression, and to develop new therapies, is a major challenge for medical biology. We are excited by new efforts in the zebrafish community to develop models of adult diseases that range from cancer to heart, infectious and age-related diseases, and those that relate to toxicology and complex social behaviours. Here, we discuss some of the advances in the field of zebrafish models of adult disease, and where we see opportunities and challenges ahead