#11 – I carved out time to study One thing I have done since we started is make time to study. I take 2 full days for studying. These are days that I don’t take any appointments and I don’t come into the office. I am totally immersed in my message. If you don’t make time to study, everything else will creep in and devour your time. There are many needs that come up throughout the week. Allow your staff to meet those needs and take care of things while you do what’s most important and be prepared to communicate … Read More
Top 33 Mistakes Part 11
#11 – I didn’t deal with problematic people quickly enough I am yet to see a problematic person turn around and become a productive person in the church. Yet every time I have to deal with a “problem person”, I hesitate because I have this hope that they will turn it around. Here is the reality, after a conversation or two, it’s time to cut that person loose. The Bible says, “Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.” (Titus 3:10-11) Yet I let it go after … Read More
Katrina and the Waves…
Well, in case you were wondering…we’re still alive! In fact, we didn’t even lose power. That’s not the case for some of our staff. We’ve got a couple of guys with power out and some flooding. But all in all, we’re OK. I did suffer a loss…my BBQ grill! I woke up this morning and my grill was in the lake behind my house. I guess it was a burial at sea. Perhaps the fish in the lake knew how many of their comrades had been grilled there. It is a loss we will mourn. The picture is a tree … Read More
Top 33 Victories Part 10
#10 – We made creativity a priority I know everyone talks about this and there isn’t much that I can say that is going to be earth shattering on this subject, but creativity has always been important to us. I love it when people say to me, “I never thought I’d see __________ in church!” I’ve always taken that as a compliment (even when it wasn’t meant to be one).
Top 33 Mistakes Part 10
#10 – I didn’t wait for people to catch up As a leader, you are reading books, listening to messages, and talking to other leaders about what needs to take place in your church. Yet once you are ready to make a change, it’s really time to start casting the vision about the change or new initiative. Yet because we are 5 steps ahead of people because we’ve read the book, heard the CD, or had the conversation, we don’t want to wait for people to catch up with what we have already wrestled through. It’s funny because it took … Read More
Drive ’05 – Session 5
Andy Stanley brought it home during the last session as he talked about gaining and maintaining momentum. It’s amazing how simple stuff can be so profound. 3 things create momentum according Andy: #1 – Something New #2 – Something Improved #3 – Something Improving I just kept coming back to this whole idea thread that I heard over and over again that incremental change doesn’t really do much. Sometimes you just have to make a 180 to get to where God wants you. The whole experience was fantastic. I got visit Buckhead Church and spend some time with the amazing … Read More
Session 4 – Drive ’05
Andy gave a great message about the importance of preaching with life change in mind. He challenged every communicator to think about 5 things before they open their mouths: #1 – What do they need to know? (Information) #2 – Why do they need to know it? (Motivation) #3 – What do they need to do? (Application) #4 – Why do they need to do it? (Inspiration) #5 – How can I help them remember? (Reiteration) He also shared about preaching a 1 point message. I adopted this style over a year ago and it has been one of the … Read More
Session 3 – Drive ’05
Reggie hit another one out of the park this morning with a message on creating synergy with our ministries. Too many times, ministries have their own agenda and vision that does not line up with or support the vision of the entire church. The result is ministries competing for time, resources, space, etc… Instead, our goal should be to create synergy or focus in which all of our ministries are headed in the same direction so we can get see the most important thing take place, which is for people to grow in their relationship with Jesus. Reggie pointed out … Read More
Message in a Bottle
I’m really excited about the new series that I’m starting this weekend called, “Message in a Bottle.” We’re going to explore the call that every believer has to share the message of the Gospel. God has placed His message in earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:7), or otherwise put – A message in a bottle. I think this series has the potential to wake up some sleeping Christians to the opportunities that are all around us to be used by God to reach out to others…
Top 33 Mistakes Part 9
#9 – Everyone’s life doesn’t revolve around church I didn’t realize that fact for a long time. What I thought was that if I could get people into church enough times a week that I would have mature believers who could reach the world. Right? Wrong! If you keep people in church every night, they aren’t going to reach anyone because they don’t have time to reach out. People have lives outside of church. This was a hard thing for me to take because church is such a big part of my life. I am always thinking about it and … Read More
