#2 – Through Reading Books I am a huge advocate of reading because it has transformed my ministry. When you read a book, you are gaining the wisdom of 1,000’s of hours of research, life experience, and knowledge. Plus, you get the opportunity to sit at the feet of men and women who may not even be alive anymore. I’ve read and re-read “Lectures to My Students” by Charles Spurgeon and have learned much from a man who died 80 years before I was born. That’s the power of books. It opens our minds up to the world from the … Read More

There’s tons written on discipleship and how Christians grow in their faith, but it begs the question: How do leaders grow? I believe there are 5 ways we as leaders grow that we’ll look at this week: #1 -Growing leaders learn from other leaders It has been said that “experience is a wonderful teacher if you can afford the tuition.” I believe we can learn a great deal just by being around other leaders and asking good questions. I can always tell a church planter who is going to do well and one who is going to struggle simply by … Read More

– Today was great! Great crowd and great energy. – Lots of newcomers. It was cool connecting with some new folks. – Loving teaching Song of Solomon. Everyone should teach it as some point. – There’s no place I prefer to teach that at Calvary. I always feel like I’m in my element here. – Our small groups sign up is going great. However, I think our percentage (of church attender to group attender) will be down because we’ve grown over the last few months. – Looking forward to hanging out with some Pastors this week. Always a time of … Read More

“What is the most valuable use of my time right now?” – this is a question that I ask myself a few times a day. I have a limited amount of time to accomplish a huge amount of tasks. This requires me to decide what gets done, delegated, delayed, or deleted. 1. What gets Done – this is the stuff that is most important on my list. It is the stuff that only I can do. 2. What gets Delegated – anything that someone else can do. The general rule is that if a person can do a task 75% … Read More

Plan your day the night before – Before I go to bed, I sneak into my home office and write down the 15-20 things I need to accomplish the next day. They vary in size, shape, and scope but once I write them down I know they’re going to get accomplished. If you wait until 10AM to plan our day, it’s over. Your morning is half over and several small fires have already hit your desk. But if you will take 15 minutes the night before to plan your day, you will get twice as much done, and more importantly, … Read More

Eat That Frog! – I got this tip from a book by the same title, but the principle is so true! If eating a frog is on your list of things you have to do in a given day, here’s the tip – eat the frog first! If not, the frog will be looming over you all day and you won’t accomplish much because you’ll be distracted. If your frog is a conversation you need to have, then have it first thing in the morning so you can get it out of the way and you can get on with … Read More

Manage your energy – Understanding your own rhythms is one of the best ways to get a lot done in a normal work day. Like many people, I have most of my creative energy in the morning, so I never book appointments in the morning (except our weekly staff meeting). This time I use to write, study, research, and create. Afternoons are when I’m at my creative lowest, so I use that time to have meetings, return email, write thank you cards, and clean my office. The point is, you have to manage your energy wisely or you’ll find things … Read More