I had the same challenge in 2005.  The more I think about it now, the ...]]> It’s not uncommon for one of our Halftime Coaches to hear someone say, “I’m willing and able to go make a positive difference in the world, but I’m not hearing God’s voice as I try to figure out His calling on my life.”

I had the same challenge in 2005.  The more I think about it now, the more I realize it wasn’t an issue of hearing God.  It was a matter of trusting Him.  You see, God has already spoken.  He already told us what we should do to experience heaven on earth and beyond:

• Jesus started with an overarching commandment:  Love God and others (Mark 12:30-31).  That’s a good place for us all to start… and keep coming back to
• Then He gave us the Great Commission: "Make disciples of all the nations" refers to (1) evangelism and (2)discipling (Mt. 28:19). The first is about creating believers in Christ, the second is about building followers of Him. This latter field of endeavor is what we at Halftime have dedicated our lives to
• He also said (3) feed the hungry and (4) give drink to the thirsty (Mt. 25:35)
• (5) Give hospitality and shelter to the stranger / foreigner / refugee (Mt. 25:35)
• (6) Clothe the naked, (7) care for the sick and (8) visit the imprisoned (Mt. 25:36)
• (9) Help widows and (10) orphans (Psalms, Isaiah, Acts and especially James 1:27)
• (11) Provide justice to the oppressed and disenfranchised (multiple references from Matthew, Mark and Luke)

There you go.  God already told us what we should do. The next step is to figure out how to use our skills, resources, platform and relationships to impact one or more of those 11 areas.

So here’s the formula (if I dare suggest a formula for anything involving the Holy Spirit!):

• apply the skills that give you energy
• to a cause that makes you and God mad, sad, or glad
• in an organization with the right role and culture for you
• do it all in Jesus’ name, and;
• you’ll be in the flow of what God wants done on earth.

Where that all intersects is where your greatest joy in life will be.  It won’t come from closing another deal, buying something else, or checking off your next bucket list item.

Hopefully this offers clues about what to do with your life.  Don’t overthink it. Trust that God’s love, flowing through you in one of the ways above, will lead you to the peace and joy you are craving.

by Jeff Spadafora
Director of Coaching and Product Development

The Halftime Roundtable process is a year long journey with a small group of peers that combines the very best of what we need to reinvent ourselves after a successful first half: time to reflect on our past; dig deep into who we are; create and test action plans; listen carefully to God. ...]]> By Lloyd Reeb

The Halftime Roundtable process is a year long journey with a small group of peers that combines the very best of what we need to reinvent ourselves after a successful first half: time to reflect on our past; dig deep into who we are; create and test action plans; listen carefully to God. In our quest for what's next, few think about their spouse’s dreams and calling. And even if they do, they are at a loss to know how best to begin the conversation, often underestimating the complexity of engaging their spouse wisely in this journey.

The Halftime Roundtable incorporates a dinner party that helps set the stage for the members and their spouse to go on this adventure together… the opportunity to move beyond writing two separate stories to writing a common narrative in the second half.

Here's a glimpse into what a recent evening like this looks like.

Before dinner, eight couples mingle over drinks, by a fire, with soft music playing. We take a few minutes to explain what the Roundtable experience is all about, and some details of what their spouses are experiencing in their lives. My wife Linda shares from her life about how this ‘disruptive’ season can be a blessing in our families, if they approach it with wisdom. We share from our Halftime journey and stories of others in an effort to open their hearts. A few questions over dinner get the conversation flowing.  Some spouses’ fears and challenges emerge, and we talk about them and gain comfort and courage from each other. As I look around I see tears. A deep longing is touched, yet fears remain unspoken. What does this really mean for me and for our family?

We linger over a delicious home-cooked meal. This journey is all about the heart. Around candle-lit tables, we chat about dreams, plans and obstacles.

Sitting in a larger room after dinner we provide them with a common language and some tools to help them continue this Halftime conversation at home. We want them to hear from their peers who have the same fears and longings they have, and from that interchange, gain confidence that their second half could be even more fulfilling together than the first.

As we close the evening, I encourage each Roundtable member to put their spouses’ dreams and calling ahead of their own. We wrap up our evening with a prayer of blessing for them at the nine o’clock official end. These eight couples are standing in mixed groups, deep in conversations they will later say were truly life changing.

Evenings like this are being replicated all over the world with couples from many different cultures. How, after 25 or 30 years of marriage, could one evening be so pivotal for these couples? Was it the intimate setting and good food, combined with powerful, emotional stories and conversation that opened their hearts in new ways? Or could it be that prayer and eight believers seeking God’s wisdom opened the way for His Spirit to do what He longs to do in all of our marriages... build a "three-fold cord between a husband and wife and God that will not easily be broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

Lloyd Reeb is the author of From Success to Significance.

Learn more about the Halftime Roundtable here.

Our last blog talked about imposing your calling on your calendar; a simple idea of creating a re-occurring appointment to focus on your second-half calling and asking your team to protect that time. Your assignment was to set up a block of time each week for that. How did that go?

Taking time to talk ...]]> by Linda and Lloyd Reeb

Our last blog talked about imposing your calling on your calendar; a simple idea of creating a re-occurring appointment to focus on your second-half calling and asking your team to protect that time. Your assignment was to set up a block of time each week for that. How did that go?

Taking time to talk with your spouse - learning about their dreams, sharing your second-half calling... it sounds so ideal! Your calendar is the key to making it real so here’s your second assignment. Schedule time on each of your calendars, a regular re-occurring commitment to talk about your second half together, and don't change it.  You’ll need multiple discussions, over time.

Stories will be helpful in those conversations. Often, one spouse approaches life more from the heart and less in terms of strategy and impact. If your spouse is like that, start this conversation around stories, not strategies. Share personal accounts from your past when you were most alive, or most at peace. Read the 25 Halftime stories of other couples in the coffee table book The Second Half and talk about which ones capture your heart, and why.

We have gone on this journey together, and looking back Lloyd wishes that instead of beginning by telling Linda all the great dreams he had to change the world, he had said something like…“Honey, we have an incredible opportunity now to plan our second half of life together, and I want to begin that conversation around what your biggest dreams are and how I can help you live them out. I know you may not have big ‘change the world’ dreams, and that’s OK. I would just like to listen to how you envision us living out our calling for our second half.” 

If this language says how you would like to begin this conversation with your spouse, you have our full permission to cut and paste this into an email and send it now.

I hear them say, “Gosh, I just didn't get around to visiting that ministry I wanted to explore” or “I was ...]]> It's been decades since we first learned to manage our time well. And yet surprisingly, more than 60% of those I coached through Halftime last year were limited in their progress by time management challenges.

I hear them say, “Gosh, I just didn't get around to visiting that ministry I wanted to explore” or “I was hoping to take last weekend with my spouse to really hear her heart and dreams, but I had a board meeting coming up.” Really?

So with their permission, I ask them about what's behind these excuses. After all, I know they really want to discover their second-half calling, so why would time be an obstacle?

What’s really happening?
Often a combination of things. Sometimes we are afraid of what God might call us to next. I am certain there’s spiritual or supernatural opposition we face as we set out on this journey. Urgent-and-important things scream louder than the not-urgent-but-priceless things ... like getting clear on your life purpose.

Frankly, I am less interested in what’s happening and more interested in what works to counteract this problem. So here's one thing that really works …

Impose your calling on your calendar!
When you have a moment of eternal perspective and clarity about something God wants to you do or explore, pick up your smartphone and block off a chunk of time on your calendar to do it. Then, email your team asking them to help you protect that time. Even better, set up a “re-occurring” appointment, an hour or two each week, so that you have time blocked off to focus on what you are hearing from God. Use that time to reflect, pray, explore ideas and research organizations in your area of passion.

Your Assignment – take a minute now to impose your calling on your calendar as a re-occuring appointment and ask your assistant to protect that time.

Join the conversation by commenting below.

Lloyd Reeb is the author of "From Success to Significance"

The United Kingdom is internationally known as a country with strong influence and leadership, and home to some of the most successful entrepreneurs and creative minds of our generation.

It is therefore with great excitement that we can announce the launch of Halftime UK, extending the Halftime mission and purpose into a region ...]]> By Dean Niewolny, CEO/Halftime

The United Kingdom is internationally known as a country with strong influence and leadership, and home to some of the most successful entrepreneurs and creative minds of our generation.

It is therefore with great excitement that we can announce the launch of Halftime UK, extending the Halftime mission and purpose into a region where many successful individuals also seek to do something significant with their lives. This is a landmark event and timely given current economic and social challenges worldwide. People are re-evaluating their lives. How am I making a difference in the world? What can I do to bring about change?

Pioneered by Rob Santer who first came in contact with us in 2010, Halftime has landed in London, the vibrant Capital City. “This is another new beginning for Halftime”, says Rob. “With any new initiative, it takes time to establish and build momentum. But in the future, I can see a Halftime presence in all the major cities of the UK serving individuals locally whom wish to discover and pursue significance".

The phrase 'Success to Significance' coined by Bob Buford in his first book Halftime, from where this movement began 15 years ago, doesn't necessarily mean giving up all you have or know to pursue something outside of your life experience. With help from a Halftime Coach, it is about taking a guided reflection of how you came to be where you are now, and how “what got you there” can be used for greater significance going forward”.

Rob adds, "Having been in business for 22 years and undergoing a life transformation of my own, this journey from 'success to significance' is proving to be an adventure of a lifetime, re-igniting passions and purpose, and redefining how and where my time should be spent for the greatest impact. I found having a Halftime Coach, whom understands this journey and shared insights and observations along the way, made the experience especially rewarding”.

“The most satisfying outcome of the Halftime process is accounting for all your strengths, talents, skills, abilities and gifting, being at one with how God made you, discovering the purpose for which you were created, the cause in which to live it out, and then......... doing it!” For Rob and all of us at Halftime, this is helping others through their Halftime.

Needless to say, we are excited to introduce Halftime in the UK. Each year, we see a growing number of successful people across the world that discover there is more to life than succeeding in business and they want to give back.

Rob concludes, “This gradual 'awakening' within individuals is creating results with fresh movements of philanthropy and action in pursuing how one’s experience and passions can be used in a significant way for a worthy cause. We serve at Halftime by helping facilitate this exciting journey from ‘Success to Significance’.”

To learn more about Halftime UK and how we can help you design a life with more joy, adventure, balance, purpose and impact, contact Rob Santer in London:

phone: 020 7193 9062

rob.santer@halftime.org

www.halftime.org/uk

Dr. Smith changed college majors to Pre-Med as a sophomore because he “liked the ...]]> I’ve been pleased to know Dr. John Wayne Smith of Hot Springs, AR since he attended the Halftime Institute in April 2011. And I’m thrilled that this Halftimer is being honored by the Arkansas Medical Society. More on that in a moment.

Dr. Smith changed college majors to Pre-Med as a sophomore because he “liked the science of it and helping people”. He added, “In High School, I discovered that sciences were a lot more fun. I could identify with the line from the movie Chariots of Fire: “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure”. Chemistry and Biology gave me that pleasure, and it was clear that God created me for this work.”

After medical school, he focused on nephrology since the physiology of kidneys was fascinating to him. His plan was to retire after 20 years in medicine, but as he approached that mark he had no reason to stop. He has now been practicing for 26 years.

Along the way, Dr. Smith has participated in medical mission trips to Senegal in Western Africa to treat and give hope to people who have never seen a Doctor. He has also been part of short-term missions to Russia, Algeria, and Trinidad to assist missionaries, lead Vacation Bible School, and provide church strategy and planting support.

His passion for helping people move toward greater acts of service led him to the role of volunteer Missions Coordinator at his church. Some who have been mobilized by the program have moved onto full-time missions. He is also a board member for Global Focus.

But he has a heart for more than missions in foreign fields. Dr. Smith founded the Charitable Christian Medical Clinic, a non-profit ministry that strives to improve the quality of life of the medically uninsured in his community. It does so by providing affordable general medical care, preventive medicine, health education and spiritual counseling for those who seek it. What a blessing this is to those being served!

Over lunch 10 years ago, Dr. Smith and a colleague were “talking about things you could consider Halftime Topics”. His associate referred Dr. Smith to Bob Buford’s first book and things snowballed from there. He says the Halftime Institute made him focus and re-examine where he was at the time. “Creating a mission statement there was a very healthy exercise, and I continue to mold it”. Lloyd Reeb served as his Halftime Coach.

In May, Dr. Smith will receive the Asklepion Award, given to one Arkansas physician each year that advances the art and science of medicine, embodies the medical profession through service and integrity, and contributes to their communities. That description not only describes Dr. John Wayne Smith, it details what God created him to do.

Are you living a life of Significance? Our next Halftime Institute is May 21-22 and we would love to have you. Click here to inquire.

Blessings,

Dean Niewolny

CEO / Halftime

dean.niewolny@halftime.org

It's the story of Russell Armstrong and his quest for significance. Until he took his life last summer at age 47, Russell lived with a friend in Los Angeles, away from his estranged wife Taylor and ...]]> Let me start by admitting the sadness in the story below. I'm writing about it because it was completely avoidable.

It's the story of Russell Armstrong and his quest for significance. Until he took his life last summer at age 47, Russell lived with a friend in Los Angeles, away from his estranged wife Taylor and their 5 year-old daughter. He achieved financial success in the 90's dot com craze and in 2005 filed bankruptcy. Later, according to his laywer in published reports, his focus became "maintaining an illusion of wealth" so Taylor could remain a cast member on a cable TV reality show about excess and extravagance.

This delusion required a mansion, wardrobe, cars, jewels, all the typical trappings of worldly success. Russell was able to manufacture a lifestyle and for a period maintain an allure that he and Taylor were successful, wealthy and worthy of Beverly Hills social circles.

I can't imagine the stress he put himself under. But as the link above shares, it brought more anguish into the marriage and created a hole in Russell's life that he evidently felt he could
not escape.

It's tragic that Russell, a child of God, is no longer living and his young daughter will grow up without her earthly father, whose demise was widely reported. My fear is this scenario is more common than we know. Not every demise is carried for days/ weeks/ months as a news item like his was (and continues to be because of Taylor's new book on her life and Russell's death). How many people are just as desperate because of their distorted view of success and the complicated life they've created?

Heavenly Father, I pray for those who desire significance in their neighbor's eyes instead of Yours. I ask that you let those who struggle with this societal affliction come to understand that life is easier and full of freedom when we strive to serve You. In Christ's name, Amen.

Dean Niewolny

CEO / Halftime

Keith was remarkable in many ways. He was very successful and lived significantly for God throughout his life. See why in his obituary as it appeared in the Austin American Statesman earlier this year.

Keith also holds a ...]]> We received word from Andrea Miller of Austin, Texas to inform us of the passing of her husband, Keith.

Keith was remarkable in many ways. He was very successful and lived significantly for God throughout his life. See why in his obituary as it appeared in the Austin American Statesman earlier this year.

Keith also holds a special distinction as a Halftimer. In May 2009 at the age of 82, he attended the Halftime Institute, and to this day continues to be our oldest attendee ever (interestingly, that same gathering also contained our youngest attendee ever… a gentleman in his mid-20’s, and that record still holds as well). It shows that Halftime is less about age and more about wanting to please God by serving others.

Andrea told us that the painted plaque he received at the Institute (those of you who have attended over the years know what that is) was kept on display in their kitchen and it was quite a conversation starter for their guests.

Rest in peace, brother. We look forward to being with you again when we all gain our reward.

Halftime Through A Pastor's Eyes

I recently had the privilege of sharing a meal with several men from my congregation who have been going through a year-long Halftime Roundtable small group.  I know most of them ...]]> We have a guest blogger this week, Pastor RJ Caswell from Charlotte, NC about the process at Halftime as he looks at his congregation

Halftime Through A Pastor's Eyes

I recently had the privilege of sharing a meal with several men from my congregation who have been going through a year-long Halftime Roundtable small group.  I know most of them well and have loosely followed their personal journeys toward significance for a while.  I figured this "share night" as it was called would be a repeat of what I already knew was going on in their lives and how they were plugging in to Church at Charlotte.

In some ways I was right, but this night of sharing was much more than my limited view from the outside.  It was an intimate group of men challenging each other.  They shared personal mission statements and how they are allocating their time to career, family and Kingdom endeavors.  I saw their action plans and goals.  And if this was all that I experienced, it would have been a very productive night, in my mind.  A success.

But the evening held even more.  My eyes were open to how this small group became vulnerable with each other.  I saw first-hand how they encouraged each other as they shared their journey.  They verbally showed appreciation for one another.  They laughed hard and didn't let any fellow group members off the hook.  They truly wanted the best for everyone in the group and wouldn't settle for less.  Honestly, my few words will not do justice to the night.  Lives are being renewed in service to God and that is hard to capture.  So I thought I would share a few of the personal mission statements I heard that have come through the Halftime process:

I will combine my people skills with my business skills to meet people where they are, disciple them toward a closer walk with God and empower them to achieve dignity in their life.

Bring glory to God by living generously, loving well and utilizing my real estate platform to support kingdom ministries while seeking opportunities to bless my partners, associates and clients in eternal ways.

A catalyst for encouragement, awakening and transformation of 1000 high capacity marketplace leaders finding deeper meaning and satisfaction in their second half.

Use my business ownership and ministry experiences to mentor, train and challenge others for Life as Missions (LAM) for Christ.

This group is answering one of my favorite new questions, "What could be?" And in doing that, they are truly becoming transformed from the inside out.

RJ Caswell, Outreach Pastor

Church at Charlotte (NC)

rcaswell@churchatcharlotte.org

facebook.com/cacoutreach