Poverty & Injustice 

Posted on by Adam LiVecchi

On December 23, 2015 We See Jesus Ministries and our Haitian partners visited the children’s prison in Delmas, Haiti. Delmas is a suburb of Port Au Prince, Haiti. Port Au Prince, Haiti is the 18th most dangerous city in the whole world. Our team was going to this prison for the third time. We were going to deliver dessert and soap so the young men would be able to clean their clothes. When we arrived there was a police pick up truck that had just arrived also with new mattresses for the kids. That was very encouraging. In spite of a great deal of poverty and injustice progress is happening in the poorest country in this hemisphere. As we were getting ready to see the kids there was a small problem. The kids were playing soccer and were dirty and smelly and they had no water at the prison for the boys and young men to shower. So at first they didn’t want us to see the kids in that dirty/smelly condition. So we ordered for (70 USD) a truck full of water so they could shower after we would leave. So we went into their cell block preached the gospel and passed out crackers, soda and soap to clean their clothes with. All of the young men received what we were delivering, some of the young men received Christ. It was also encouraging to see how well the police were treating the kids.

There was a young man in prison who was out helping everything go smoothly. His name was Makson. His story was very moving. I am not writing to say whether he is innocent or guilty. I am writing just to show you another reality. The reality of those who are poor and have no voice. Makson has been in prison for three years so far. He was accused of raping a young girl and getting her pregnant. In three years he has not seen a judge once. There was no DNA test proving him to be guilty. So when poverty is your reality you are actually guilty until proven innocent, unlike when you have money you are innocent until proven guilty. The deeper your pockets are the louder your voice is. If your pockets are empty you have no voice. He is not a victim of racism, he is afflicted by poverty and injustice is his reality. If he gets a just trial with a DNA test and is proven to be guilty then he needs to serve his due sentence. But what if he is not guilty? Then what? Precious years of his life may have been stolen simply because he is poor and the system, even where there is not racism, is corrupt. It is the government’s job to punish him and the church’s job to love and visit him. It is important that we don’t confuse these different but God ordained roles. All authority comes from God, but that does not mean all people use the authority God gave them correctly. To administer the authority God gave you correctly is called Justice. The more poverty there is, the more injustice there will be. The more poverty there is, the less police there will be. Remember police are just like you and I they don’t work for free because they to have mouthes to feed. As I write this I am sitting on a deck on an island off of Haiti watching my son play in the sand with his Haitian friends. The question I am asking myself is my son, Justice, has justice but what about Makson? What about the poor who have no representation? What about the Fatherless who have no defender on earth? What I am saying is that it is important that we leverage our voice, influence, relationships and resources for the poor

Donald Trump

Posted on by Adam LiVecchi

Donald Trump is fascinating to some and terrifying to others. He is either loved or hated, there is no neutral ground with the Donald. There has never been a more entertaining time to be engaged with politics. People don’t know how to handle him because he can’t be controlled. He is not intimidated by the media. On CNN he rebukes them while they host the GOP debate at his hotel in Las Vegas. He goes after Megan Kelly on Fox, he says Hillary Clinton lies profusely. He says, “I would bomb Isis and take their oil.” Some Americans are repulsed by him, personally I am very entertained by him. I am not saying I agree with all his tactics because I don’t. But more people listen to him speak on TV than they do President Obama. The media who hates him covers him more than they want to simply because he is entertaining. He is good for ratings, he is inflammatory and many Americans love it. Many Americans hold the freedom of speech and the right to bare arms very closely. He is very pro say whatever you want, to whoever you want, however and whenever you want. He is honest, courageous and arrogant. Many Americans will overlook his arrogance because they believe his honesty reveals his intentions. He truly wants to make America great again. The more he says what he really thinks the more people feel like they know him, the more they feel like they know him the more they trust him. 

Another reason some Americans love him is because America loves money. America values money even more than our children, this is really sick. For money a doctor will murder your child, its called an abortion. If that isn’t a good illustration for you here is another one. Armored cars that transfer money are bulletproof and the drivers are often armed. So we protect our money with guns, but security guards at schools can’t have guns to protect our children while they learn. Both examples reveal just how much America as a nation loves money. He is perhaps the only one who can beat Hillary Clinton and I am not even sure about that. He is not a perfect man. If America elects him we are electing him to be the President not to be our Pastor. My better sense tells me that Bernie Sanders won’t win the Democratic nomination unless he buys every millennial an iPad with Donald Trumps money. So with that being said in my opinion it will be between Donald and Hillary and I would choose Donald over Clinton any day. Donald Trump is a billionaire because he knows how to bring the right people together, that is how he made his fortune. I believe that Donald is secure with his fortune but is seeking significance beyond money for his future and his legacy. I believe he thinks America can be great again and so it seems that he believes that and has put his money where his mouth is. Funding his own campaign means he is serious about what he says. In the midst of all this campaigning his net worth has rose. He is a winner and even if he looses the election he is still winning either way. He may just be the next President. Believe it or not America is more of a corportation than it is a nation. To be clear I am not endorsing Donald Trump. And honestly I disagree with Federal Funds going to Planned Parenthood. With that being said I would still rather have him as the next President than Hillary Clinton.

Bar Outreach  

Posted on by Adam LiVecchi

After church on December 20th, 2015 at about 8:25 pm Rescue Church did an outreach to the bar across the street from the church. It is an El Salvadorian bar with bars on the windows. The music was loud, the lights were low, there was a man there drooling on himself. The owner was friendly, we were able to literally pray and give her prophetic words while she was bartending. We told her that God had a purpose for her life that was greater than passing out drinks. She allowed 6 of us to walk into her bar and hand out Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards to the people who were there. It was a pretty unique experience. Other people were prayed for, one guy gave my friend Joseph a hug and thanked him for the gift card. A few other guys were honest about saying they had already received a gift card when I went to give them one. A few others were prayed for. Some people didn’t want prayer, and a few didn’t want the gift card. All in all the people were pretty receptive considering how loud it was in the bar. Kindness is the seed that fertilizes the soil of men’s hearts. People respond to the gospel more when we extend a hand instead of pointing a finger. For a long time good hearted and well meaning people have pointed a finger at the world instead of extending a hand. It is important to remember that condemnation has never saved anyone. People are saved by grace through faith when we (the church) give them (the world) a reason to believe in Jesus. It is not us against them, it is us for them the same way that Jesus was for us.

When Jesus came to earth through the womb of a virgin, Israel was under Roman oppression. Israel was an occupied nation, their land was taken, they were heavily taxed and extorted, their women were raped. There was a genocide going on of the Hebrews boys. In that climate heaven responded in the opposite spirit. At the birth of Christ the heavenly host of angels declared “peace on earth and goodwill toward men.” The gospel that we preach and the life that we live needs to communicate and demonstrate “peace on earth and goodwill toward men.” The clearest expression of love and goodwill is generosity. Generosity gives prosperity a purpose. Your act of goodwill may just help someone find God’s will for their life.

How are your Emotions?

Posted on by Adam LiVecchi

How are your emotions? How you manage your emotions will determine the quality of your life. How you mange your emotions will determine how much people trust you. There is a direct connection between how you manage your feelings and how you manage your friendships. Many people are like a hard drive that is 98 % full and slowing down. When the hard drive is very close to full the computer is not only slower but it is also at risk of crashing. Crashing could mean that you loose what you have because you didn’t protect it well. Many people are one situation away from a meltdown. Your mind, will and emotions are limited in both strength and space. Keeping a clear conscience is not just about admitting when you are wrong or confessing sin, its also about managing your emotions. If you don’t manage your emotions you may have a meltdown. The same way if you don’t make space on the hard drive and just keep saving stuff your computer may eventually crash. The end result of not managing emotions could even be murder or suicide, so this is a very serious thing. Your emotional health is determined by what you internalize and what you externalize. Here is a model I have used especially during hard times.


What to Internalize and what to Externalize.

Internalize – think about and focus on.

  1. What God says in his word (the Bible) and by his Holy Spirit.
  2. What God does. (The Testimonies of the Lord)
  3. Success. (What I have learned from what I did right) 
  4. The lessons I have learned and why? (What I learned from my failures)
  5. Good advice I have received from wise counselors.

Externalize – write them down on paper until you are done processing what was presented to you. 

  1. Problems
  2. Needs
  3. Temptation
  4. Criticism
  5. Failures

We should write down what we internalize as well. The reason I am saying to write down what you are externalizing is so that your problems don’t occupy precious and priceless space in your soul. I hope this helps you process what emotions you are feeling. Remember, emotions make a great servant but a terrible master. 

Poverty

Posted on by Adam LiVecchi

Poverty is not only a lack of money, it’s also a lack of opportunity. Steve Stewart founder of Impact Nations said, “opportunity unlocks potential.” Where poverty is, potential is not. Because human beings are priceless potential is expensive. The best thing we can invest in is people. The greatest investment is to give to someone who can not give you anything in return.

Poverty is also economic oppression. Sometimes the oppressor is without, and sometimes the oppressor is within. Sometimes the oppression is hopelessness. When someone is hopeless they feel helpless. When you give someone hope you are actually giving them help. When people are hungry and do not have access to clean water they suffer unnecessarily. It’s hard to work and learn when your stomach hurts because of you don’t have access to clean water, or you have a headache because you are hungry. Also the poor are also often oppressed by corrupt police or under policed because they have nothing. Not always but often your voice is as loud as your pocket is deep.

We should be a voice for those who have no voice. We should should extend a hand to the needy instead of just assuming they are lazy. The wisest and richest man to ever live said, “when you give to the poor you are lending to the Lord.” Jesus said, “what you have done to the least of these you have done to me.” In the kingdom of God you don’t have what you saved, you have what you gave. We store up treasure in heaven by giving to the poor of the earth. If you would like to invest in the poor click here.

4 Keys to Productivity

Posted on by Adam LiVecchi

Highly productive people are strategic about what they do, intentional about how, why and when they do it and are relentlessly committed as they are doing it. If you want to be more and do more this blog is for you. If you believe you can do more because of the vision, passion and mission you have been given then this blog is for you.

4 Keys to Productivity 

  1. Prepare – for what you will do. A man once asked Abraham Lincoln “If you had 8 hours to cut a tree down what would you do?” Lincoln replied, “I would sharpen my axe for 6 hours.” The more prepared we are the easier it is to execute what we are actually trying to do.
  2. Plan– for how and when you will do it. “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” (John C Maxwell) If you don’t care about what you are doing you will not prepare yourself for it or plan how and when you will do it. The more you care about who you are and what you are doing the more seriously you will take planning. Just think about how much planning goes into a wedding. The wedding is a very important and expensive day; therefore a lot of planning goes into that day. Whatever we value we plan for.
  3. Focus – while you are doing it. In reality most of us are very busy and easily distracted. When we are doing something that really matters we should give that something or that someone our undivided attention. The more we focus on what we are doing, the faster and more effective we will be. We spend a lot of time and money on unnecessary things because we don’t pay close attention to details. Only when we really focus can we really put our best foot forward.
  4. Persevere– following through until you have done it. Often the only difference between failure and success is perseverance. Most people quit right before they begin to win. If you are someone who is motivated and led by feelings you will struggle with perseverance. However if you value choices over feelings you will choose perseverance and have your due reward for not quitting. Often in life we come to a breaking point right before we enter into a breakthrough. If you are doing something good for God and people, don’t quit. I have never met someone that regretted persevering when it came to doing what was right and good. However I have met many people who live with “I should have”, “I could have” but “I didn’t”. If you are that person let go of regret and go finish that good thing you started. It is not too late to do what is right. You have a choice to make today. Don’t quit! 

How the Media Controls People

Posted on by Adam LiVecchi

What if the media was strategically putting their message directly into your mind? What if they had a proven scientific strategy to bypass your logic and implant their message deep into the recesses of your mind? They do. But who are they? I am glad you asked. They are communists, terrorists, liberals and even conservatives. I am not writing this to scare you. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I am not writing this so that you stop watching the news. However, I am writing this so you watch the news with a filter on so that their message doesn’t end up deep in your memory bank without you choosing to put it there. What is bizarre about this whole thing is that people who believe completely different things all use the same strategy. The strategy is very simple and I will illustrate it and then show you another unrelated example that has affected all of us. Step one: they show you a disturbing image that breeds fear. This shuts down your frontal lobe, which is your logic center. Step two: they take their message and bypass your logic and put it directly into your memory bank. They do this without you accepting or believing it. Practically and scientifically speaking here is how they do it. They show you frightening images with disturbing sounds they shut down the frontal lobe in your brain. Their goal is control. They accomplish it through fear. Remember this, whatever you are afraid of is what rules you. The media uses fear to bypass our logic and control us. If we reject fear they cannot control us. My friend Khalid from Pakistan said, “danger is real, but fear is a choice.” So reject fear and then process the information logically instead of just emotionally. Emotions are great, they make a great servant but a terrible master.

Here is another illustration of how fear shuts down the logical side of your brain in real life. You are watching a scary movie, you hear a loud sound coming from a darkroom in the movie scene and you jump. What just happened here? Fear shut down the frontal lobe or the logic side of your brain. In that moment you forgot that the movie was filmed long ago in a faraway land called Hollywood and that everything is happening on the TV screen. Because you forgot that, you reacted in fear to something that you have absolutely no reason to be afraid of.

If you would like to read an article that explains how fear affects the brain click here.

How Powerful People Think.

Posted on by Adam LiVecchi

Powerful people don’t think I can’t, they think how can I? They don’t think this won’t work, they think how can we make this work? Powerful people don’t focus on the problem they focus on solutions and strategies. Let me share with you a private conversation I had with a powerful person who is happy, humble and really down to earth. This man is an inventor, an investor, a philanthropist and an evangelist. He is a good husband to one woman for many years and a good father to his children. He feeds orphans daily and sends young people to college that are not even his children. God has blessed him and he has made some right decisions over the course of his life and now he lives to give. I have leaned a lot from him. His life has taught me that the purpose of prosperity is generosity. 

One day while in another country with my good friend I asked him, what does it feel like to be powerful? I said to him, you can buy a Mercedes or a house in the Caribbean or go on vacation for a few months. You can do virtually whatever you want. What does that feel like? When you get up in the morning what do you feel like? At first he really didn’t have an answer. In fact he said that it was a good question and that no one had ever asked him that before. From my question I learned that a good question is a question that has never been asked before. Not only will the asker grow from the answer, but the one answering the question will grow also because now he is thinking about something he never thought about before. The next day he answered me in a more clear and definitive way. He said, “to be honest it feels good to know that I can buy my wife a Lexus cash, but honestly I really don’t think about it until we need a car.” When he said that a thought hit me like a ton of bricks. Powerful people don’t allow useless thoughts to occupy precious head space. In other words my friend doesn’t wake up thinking about what he can buy or where he can go, he only thinks about what is pertinent to now. Because he planned for tomorrow he doesn’t have to worry about it. Powerful people live in now. They may plan for tomorrow, but they refuse to worry about it. Remember this if you are worrying about tomorrow you are probably not planning for it wisely, because fear and worry shut down the logical part of your brain. So worrying about tomorrow will mess up both today and tomorrow, making yesterday rather appealing. Powerful people don’t live in yesterday or tomorrow they live in now. You can’t be powerful living in the past or the future, because you live in now. If you are attentive to now, tomorrow will be better than if you focused on yesterday or worried about tomorrow. Whether you are day dreaming about the house or the car of your dreams, or worrying about how you are going to pay your bills. Dreaming and worrying are not how powerful think. Powerful think about what is the next right decision based on who I am, where I am, where I am going and what I value. Powerful people practice self control, which helps them to stay focused on what is most important. The more self control you have the more powerful you are. Powerful people don’t control others they control themselves.

3 things powerful people don’t think about.

  1. Powerful people don’t worry about what is out of their control.
  2. Powerful people don’t allow useless things to occupy precious head space.
  3. Powerful people don’t live in the past, they are focused on the next right decision.

A $4000 Mistake

Posted on by Adam LiVecchi

Money will not make you happy, but debt will make you unhappy. – John C Maxwell. If you have ever been in debt you know this to be a painful reality. King Solomon who was literally the wisest and wealthiest man to ever live said, “the borrower is servant to the lender.” Before we move any further I want you to see the connection between wealth and wisdom. Yes there are rich fools, but there is a undeniable connection between wisdom and wealth. With that being said, I want to share with you one of the stupidest things that I have even done. It cost me $4000 dollars to know the difference between faith and presumption. John C Maxwell said, “if you want to impress someone tell them about your successes. If you want to impact someone tell them the stupidest thing that you have ever done and the lessons that you learned from it.” I am more interested in having a positive impact than portraying a false image of myself. In others words I am sharing my pain for your gain.

On June 27th, 2009 at 12:00 pm I married Sarah Bruce and in a moment she became Sarah LiVecchi. The next day we left for the beautiful Dominican Republic. There we helped lead a missions team and then stayed in the 5 star RIU Palace Punta Cana right on the beach for a 15 day honeymoon. We came home for about two weeks and then headed to Nicaragua to serve the poor with Impact Nations. It was exciting, we were newly married excited about life, each other and what we were doing. The $4000 mistake was the Nicaragua trip. The mistake wasn’t going and serving the poor. Remember what Jesus said, “what you have done to the least of these you have done unto me.” The mistake was not being prepared for the trip, not fundraising before the trip. The mistake was using a credit card when we didn’t have the money to pay for the trip. It became very apparent to me why MasterCard is called MasterCard. If you use the card and do not have the money that card will really become your master. What we were doing was right, but how we went about it was wrong. The problem was that we presumed we would have enough money from our wedding to pay for the trip, unfortunately we were both sincerely wrong. Our motives were right, our actions were right, but our presumption cost us $4000 dollars. Remember this, faith prepares not presumes. Faith is about preparation not presumption. Faith plans and prepares, faith does not assume and presume. It is important to know that having the right motives is not enough. You also need to make the right plans and the right preparations. I no longer have any regret from this mistake, now I have a lesson learned. I didn’t have foresight, but I gained some priceless insight for the price of $4000 USD. I am hoping that my lesson learned can be your problem avoided.

The $100 Rule

Posted on by Adam LiVecchi

Financial freedom is not just about having more than enough money. Financial freedom is also about money not having you. There are many people who have no money, but money has them. Then there are a few people who have money, but money doesn’t have them. The question is not how much money do you have. The real question is how much does money have you? As a young man I had an almost fatal attraction to money, and what you can acquire with money. Over the last 13 years I have learned that the most valuable things in life are priceless and no amount of money can buy what people really want. I know we need money to pay bills and live, I am not naive to the reality of real life, in fact the website you are reading this blog on isn’t free so I get it.

I want to share something that I did that was really stupid. This is very personal but I am sharing it with you because I think it can benefit you. Your well being is more important to me than my ego or image. About 6 years ago I was a newly married. Sarah and I were married less than a year or so when I made a rookie mistake. The mistake wasn’t what I bought, it was when I bought it and how I bought it; with a credit card. I bought a Thompson Chain Bible, sent it to Texas and had it wrapped in calfskin and then had it sent to me in New Jersey. This Bible is so nice, they wouldn’t write my name on it. When I asked if they could engrave my name on the bottom right of the front cover of the Bible they said, “we don’t do that, this is a calfskin Bible.” This was a $250.00 purchase. When my wife found out what I did she was pretty upset, and for her to be upset is very uncommon. In fact in my marriage if I don’t create a problem I will have no problems. My wife Sarah is a beautiful, patient, considerate woman. So this purchase led us to what we call the $100 rule. Neither one of us will spend more than $99.99 without the consent of the other. What this says is that – you are more important than what I want. We have both committed to value each other over what we may want in the moment. This rule is easy for her but hard for me. It has become easier over time now. If I was a perfect steward of money we probably wouldn’t need this rule, but it has served us well. As we pay off debt and earn more the rule may become the $250 rule but for now we are keeping it the $100 rule. A large portion of fighting and divorce is over money. Setting financial rules of engagement is very important especially if you want to have a peaceful and lifelong marriage. If you are single it still pays to set financial boundaries for yourself. I am hoping that my transparency and vulnerability can save you an unnecessary calamity. If you choose to be accountable now with your spouse or a trusted friend you are actually protecting your future. This is only the beginning. I can’t wait to tell you about a $4000.00 mistake I made. My intentions for sharing my mistakes is so that my lessons learned would be your problems avoided. I just want to save you pain, tears, money and time.