Are you genuinely excited about the direction of your life in the coming year? You can be. The life God has for us is, "above all that we can ask or even think".I guess we've all figured out by now that although planning our destinations (goal setting) is important, “living” is more about the process of finding enjoyment in the journey itself as we do life with others. I go on my first big tripWhen I was eight and living in LaGrange, Georgia, Mom and Dad announced that we were going on a road trip. I would get to see where they had started their life together in Washington DC, our nation’s capital. It was going to be a long, long journey. They gave me a gift for the road, a small transistor radio with an earpiece to help me deal with the endless hours of riding in the car. They were smart enough to give it to me a month before we left so I had time to explore what a radio was and fall in love with the magical thing. (Did you have one of these as a kid?)All the way to DC and back I was plugged into radio magic and expanded my mind with all the things I heard city by city.Our journey through life is long and demanding, so God has given all of us some gifts too. Our First GiftImagine being trapped in a life where others chose our thoughts, words, and direction. It would be like one of those nightmares where there’s an attacker and you can’t run or hit them or even shout out (don’t tell me I’m the only one).Thank God, we aren’t trapped in such a powerless existence! The first gift God gave humans when Adam and Eve opened their eyes was dominion, rulership over their own existence. Their thoughts, words, plans, and actions would be under their sole control.In other words, our first great gift is the key to the car. It’s your life and you can drive it anywhere you decide. Slow or fast. In the middle of the road or off a cliff. It’s completely up to us and only us.This has to be our journey and the sooner we take charge of our direction the better it will be for us. We should all be forever grateful for this gift alone.Our Second GiftThe second power is the ability to conceive a favored future in our mind, and then focus on it until it comes into being. It’s called belief or faith. We would all do well to expand our awareness of the power of our own faith and vision for our near and longterm life. Before Jesus laid hands on people he often asked them, “Do you believe that I can do this for you?” After their miracle, he would say, “Your faith has made you whole”. Medical science has long recorded the amazing ability of placebo medications to cure serious diseases although the pills were made of nothing beneficial. It was the faith that brought the cure. Self-healing.According to Jesus, faith has the power to kill fig trees, move mountains, and allow a normal human like Simon Peter to walk on water. Your own vision for your life, if you lean into it, can bring that God-honoring future into existence. So let me ask you again, are you genuinely excited about the direction of your life in the coming year? Let’s Get Our Vision OnWe all need to get a compelling vision of ourselves in a better state 12 months from now. Imagine yourself physically healthy, taking long walks and full of energy. See your closeness with your family, especially if you don’t click well with them. Describe out loud the life you know God wants for you. Then put it in writing as a declaration on a card and tape it to your bathroom mirror. Believe it. Have confidence in it.Then take your dominion and align your gifts and abilities—your mindset, your attitude, your speech, your actions, your relational ability—and drive into that future.Dominion, plus a compelling vision of a favored future—that’s powerful stuff! Dominion and Faith in World MissionsIn urban barrios, mountain villages, and college campuses in Southeast Asia, we and our partners watch repeatedly in happy wonder as these two great divine gifts completely rewrite life stories. Time and again we have watched kids from the hardest backgrounds you can imagine catch a vision of themselves in a different life. They start to see themselves through God’s eyes of unlimited possibility. They accept our word to them, that they are the child of promise, and they take on the vision of lifting their family out of spiritual and material poverty. They see themselves as the hero in their family’s story, of God giving them the breaks as they apply themselves with all their might. They say no to destructive friendships, no to drugs, no to sexual immorality. They use their dominion and rise from brothels, from the generational poverty of the barrio and from the despair and depression that is sweeping across college campuses everywhere.Jesus changes lives, but this is how he does it. He empowers humans to live as the image of God on earth. And that, my dear friend, is how we get ourselves equipped to face the next 12 months with genuine excitement.This Week’s VideoThis week’s video was shot in the raw borderland of Thailand and Myanmar. Denzel Washington’s breakout hit, American Gangster, tells the true story of the drug cartel that was (and is) operating in that region. The actual village is just over the mountains behind me. It produced 70% of America’s heroin during the Vietnam War.Many, many lives have been destroyed in this place, but many amazing stories of transformation are also being written there as well. I hope you enjoy the video and will put the power of dominion and faith to work in your own life this week.This post is public so feel free to share it with your friends.*If you would like to be part of Emerge Missions initiatives in Southeast Asia you can donate here. On behalf of the thousands of young people impacted weekly, we thank you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chuckquinley.substack.com

Welcome friends! I’m Chuck Quinley and I want to welcome you to my new podcast, Grounded. In this episode I’ll explain what the podcast is all about and why I feel it’s important. A bit about me. My wife, Sherry and I have been living in Southeast Asia for the past 34 years, developing the broad work of a lean nonprofit called Emerge Missions which you can learn about here. such work is a lot more dramatic than you might imagine. We’ve been through three governmental overthrows, a killer earthquake, the great Tsunami, and the kidnapping and murder of good friends. Then there are the normal pressures of living across cultures, raising six kids, and narrowly avoiding burnout many times. So we’ve been around. We’ve tried many experiments that failed and even more that succeeded marvelously. We’ve journeyed with the rest of humanity from the world as we’ve always known it to this new tech-driven media age that is taking us to??? The jury is still out on that one. I would imagine it will be someplace wonderful with pockets of horrible like most ages. As in every time of massive disruption, the good news is that you can be steady even as the world tilts! Yes, it’s true! God has given us all we need to survive and thrive in times of great transition. This podcast is dedicated to finding stability for the journey of the next ten years. Being grounded comes from four stabilizers:* A trustworthy narrative, that you truly believe. I mean you have to go all in on this narrative and stick with it through your darkest hours.* A mindset that gives you mental toughness* The effective support of a carefully curated human network* A meaningful body of work, the sum total of your life’s actionsI’ve come to believe that category four is the most important by far. The others provide the strength, guidance and courage for it. I label content for category four as “Changemakers”. Because podcasts and YouTube videos, where this discussion is also hosted are consumed a piece at a time rather than in a series like a book I will bounce around from topic to topic.If you subscribe to my feed on chuckquinley.substack.com you can get in on the conversation and behind-the-scenes thinking that goes into each episode. The chat is for subscribers only so please join us!Subscribe for free to receive new postsMost episodes are done in video as a podcast. A few of them are concept videos that stand alone.I look forward to getting grounded together!Every Blessing!Chuck Quinley. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chuckquinley.substack.com

[Video Versions at the Bottom of the Page—Join the discussion in the Chat] Mentoring is key to advancement in life no matter our age. It’s the best way to make sure the advantages of the last generation’s experience in life aren’t lost so they can benefit the next generation.Hopefully, you’ve had some good mentors in life. I know Sherry and I have. The benefits we gained from these interactions made us determined to be the best mentors we could even when we were just in our early 20’s. It became our life’s calling. We call it, “Building Big People.” It’s not a transactional thing. It’s something more like friendship. If someone comes up to you and says, “Will you be my friend?” it feels like they might be emotionally unstable. Just spend some time together and if you are a fit, a friendship will emerge. If a friend gets jealous or shows up too often it usually leads to a cooling in the connection. Mentoring is like that too. It has a natural flow to it and if you make it official, like calling someone your “best friend,” you might just mess it up. A mentor isn’t an official job, it’s a kind of influence we recognize as beneficial on our momentum in life. Mentoring gives our life meaning and helps us pass on the ancient wealth of wisdom we have gotten from our elders throughout life. (Their’s is 100 year old wisdom, folks, so it’s the good stuff!)Mentoring is the most important thing we do as leaders at Emerge Missions. It is now the foremost thing our next generation leaders request of us. 10 Characteristics of Great Mentors* They intend to mentor. The best mentors have accepted this as a calling from God. It is their high work in life and a focus their intent on doing an excellent job as a mentor for the next generation. * They “see you”. There's a patients to them. They are not working so hard to be seen so they have more capacity to see others and where they are in their development.* They “read” you. Maybe the best word for this is discernment. They don't just scan people to see how attractive they are, or if their clothes seem to be expensive. They read deeper, and they analyze people that they interact with, but they do it with mercy, remembering themselves in all the various stages of their own development and awareness.* They have a hopeful vision for you. They are generous and upbeat. It is easy for them to become excited about the potential in another person's life. They have learned what works and they will quickly spot your tools and special abilities.* They don’t take you over. This is what separates them from cult leaders. Anyone who uses the vulnerability of you opening up to them to “power up” on you and start taking over your life has no business in this kind of work. Anyone who would say things like, “As your (sponsor/mentor/pastor/father/leader/discipler/coach), I’m here to help you but also to kick your butt if you do stupid things…” is toxic. Such people have unmet personal needs for power. Get away from them. The people who truly change your life for the better have no interest in dominating you. Your own dominion is what they want to see flower and expand. The ones who change your life have their own power. They rule their own world and they don’t need to rule yours.* They create time boxes for you where you get 100% of their attention. They take your call and whenever you speak, even if it's just for five minutes, you can tell they are completely tuned in to you. Your conversations matter to them.* They really listen whenever you speak. They show with their body posture and their eye contact so strongly that you open your heart even more than you had planned. When they listen they listen with a third ear. Our words are just one layer. Wise mentors recognize how much of human communication is done through tone and gesture and timing. After selling them on your big new plan they might pause for a minute and say something like, “It’s exciting to start new things in life, isn’t it?! But, it feels like you aren’t completely sold on this idea yourself.” That’s when you realize that you only made that bold plan to impress your father in law whose approval you’ve never felt. You don’t even want to do it. Your mentor saved you a ten-year detour in life. That’s the power of a person in your life who simply listens deeply to you and asks questions.* They call out the strengths they see in you. Most of us see our weaknesses already. We don’t need another voice in our head about that. We win in life because of our strengths. The good mentor has a keen sense of what we’re good at. They notice things, like attention to detail, courage, working well with others, or bringing a six-pack of “enthusiasm” every day. These might not seem like important stuff, but a seasoned leader knows that so called, “soft skills” are the truly irreplaceable ones. Most hard skills can be gained through training and many of them become instantly irrelevant through one technological advance. The soft stuff is our core. It fuels our greatest contribution to the teams we serve in life.* They connect you to other healthy people, resources, and opportunities. In other words, they invest in you, sharing their accumulated lifetime social and professional network. They open doors for you if they can. Their network, like yours, is the backbone of their life. Meaning comes from making a valuable contribution to the network we build throughout life.* They cheer for you from the shadows backstage, versus stepping out to share the stage with you. Mentors have had lots of victories in life. They’ve won awards and been on stage. They don’t need more of that. Their joy is in watching you earn your moments in the spotlight.The Ironic GiftThe mentor will ask for little from you except to also pay attention and put wisdom into practice. There’s a bit of universal magic here, however. Although the good mentor asks for nothing, they really get the most benefit out of the relationship. Leadership studies have shown that having a dedicated mentor changes your upward trajectory by 15% in terms of the general markers of success. Becoming a mentor, however, has an upward push of 45% or more!So, if you’re only 15 years old, you should try to mentor some 12-year-olds. They will think you hung the moon and the posture you assume will begin transforming you into a life-giving leader. That change in perspective then sets you up for all kinds of success in life. Mentoring as MissionMentoring is the key to the success of the Batang Sidewalk program in Metro Manila. Kids mentor kids. It has been tested for 25 years now and the results are breathtaking. Hundreds of kids from families under the crushing weight of generational poverty have been mentored and later become mentors for kids younger than them. They all go to Jesus camp. They stay in high school and become the first in their family history to graduate college and move up in life. Then they return to the barrios every weekend in search of the next hungry generation and bring the gospel to them as well.This system is the ancient core of the Jesus community. “Making disciples” is about having a holistic concern for other people. You want them to be set free from their sin and their destructive habits. You want them to feel the embrace of their savior and to become aligned with their Creator so life works for them. You want to see their faith built up so they believe God is behind them, giving them dominion in life so they can crush the works of the devil and rise up as children of God.Mentoring changes us at every age. There’s always someone just a little bit younger than us, and behind us in our development in life. It can give retirement age individuals,It can give retirement age individuals a new purpose.This year my father passed away. It was agonizing to watch his body breaking down system by system over his last three years. He had been my mentor throughout life. The deepest investment he made in me was to share his personal mistakes and failures with me. He could have covered these things and persevered the legend, but he was committed to my development so he gave this costly treasure to me. I will always cherish this gift and be wary to avoid those same traps along my path.In his last year, I said, “Dad, you’re my mentor in all things. You are teaching me how to do the last hard mile of life. Any advice for me when I get to your stage?” Without missing a beat, he said with his wry smile, “I’d skip it if you can.” Mentors are with us forever. I love ya, Dad.Watch the video in this player:Watch the video on YouTube This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chuckquinley.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chuckquinley.substack.com