What leader do you respect most? What qualities does he or she show?

I respect a leader that shows he or she is incharge of a group, community or organization.  That leader must show that they have a great knowlge of the task at hand and be able to be encouraging to the one that they are leading along the way.

Often from the ruins of one era, a new one springs to life. Can you see this cycle of decay and revival in any of the families you know? In your own life?

I think we have all see the end and begining of an era within our own families.  An end of an era can occur with the death of a beloved relative, and a beginigng of a new one can quickly come with the birth of a new generation into a family.  This can also happen with the change of an occupation.  In my own family, an end of an era came upon us when my dad was let go from working for a life insurance company for  ten years.  Thankfully a few years back, a begining of an era was waiting in the wings for him when he got a call to be an interim pastor for two churches in the southern part of the state.  He has served a few other interim positions since then, but now he is a designated minister for a church not too far from home and hopefully by the end of the year, that position will become more full-time.  So we can say that and end to an era is about to come along with the begining of a new and joyful one!

Is some unfulfilled longingmaking you miserable? How can you take it to God?

I believe that the unfulfilled longing I have in my life is the want and /or need of asignifican other in my life.  I'll be honest that i really try to not let this make me a miserable person.  I do still believe that I was in a good relationship for quite some time, it just didn't work out as maybe hoped near the end of things.  Thankfully the significan other I did have and I are still pretty good friends and corespond to one another now and then.  The good Lord knows if things will turn aournd or change in the future, whether it be near or far down the winding road, or if we just keep going our seperate ways to find someone new, but how i have been dealing with this longing is just praying to God that he will one day deliver - and I know he will - when the time is right. 

Do you find it hard to accept and admire those who come from outside your group? What "qualifications" do you set up?

I don't think it's too hard for me to accept others into my group of friends.  I definitely try to keep an open mind about who a person is and accept them for who they truly are, despite some differences they may have from me.

In Judas's life, one sin led to other, bigger ones. Have you ever seen this process in action? Where and how? What steps can you take to counteract this process?

well, I don't think I've seen a process of this situation in action, but I'm guessing for an example we could use someone that is having drug addiction problems and the way to deal with that, I think, is to have an intervention to make that person realize that what they are doing is wrong

How can a behind-the-scenes person today have a role in introducing others to Jesus?

hmmm...well, I think the way I see it is that you don't have to be anyone particularly famous or special in order to have a major role in introducing others to Jesus.  For instance, I am no one who is famous or well-known in this world, but I, like many people have the capability of letting people know what Jesus is all about.

Imagine yourself in a private conversation with Jesus, music like the Samaritan woman's. What would you want to talk about?

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

  Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” 

John 4:25-26

There are porbably so many different things that He and I could talk about, but I think I would start the conversation out by saying how much I love reading his word and I do everythingi can humanly and possibly can to follow it.

Are there questions about God you feel you cannot ask in public? What are they, and who could you ask in private?

This seems to be a pretty simple question for me to answer.  Actually, I don't really have any questions about God - whether it's about how he exists or about what he does or what he is able to do - that I would be too ashamed to ask in public.  On a personal note, I don't question anything abut him or what he does.  It's ok if you, the reader, do!  On the chance that I did have a question about God, I would seek either a really close friend or even better yet, my pastor.