– Am I loving teaching Song of Solomon! – People are really excited about CF. I had several people tell me today that there’s a buzz in the air. – We announced today that we’re going to 3 Sunday Services starting on Easter (9:30AM, 10:15, & 11:15) – We’re going to be staggering the services between 2 theatres. That should be fun 🙂 – Our Easter stuff looks awesome! Props to Gus for his graphic magic! – People are coming to know Jesus every week. This is why we started CF! – Vision isn’t so much something you teach. It’s … Read More

I recorded a podcast with the guys at Flamingo Road Church a couple of weeks ago for their Potential Podcast. I had a good time hanging with those guys talking about the Red Sox, 24, Time Management, and coming up with teaching series. By the way, if you’re interested in hearing me answer Red Sox trivia, we do that as well. FYI – I did miss a couple of questions when I was asked about the Sox in the 1940’s. It was slightly before my time 🙂 You can listen to the podcast here.

– Today was amazing! – The place was jam packed. We officially have a space problem! – I taught on “God’s Guide to Great Sex” (Song of Solomon 4). – The message was very well received. – We’ve ran out of CD’s for every message in this series! – Easter is going to be nuts! – The Small group videos our guys produced have been out of hand! I’ll post them here when I get a chance. – I love seeing students inviting their parents to church. – Totally excited about our Assimilation seminar! It’s in a week and a … Read More

Registration for our Fusion Seminar is going very well! We’re blown away at how many people have registered already. This is the perfect time to think through your assimilation system and get it in gear before Easter! So if you live in South Florida, I hope you take the time to come to this event. We’ve growth by 50% in the last year and I can tell you that part of it is figuring out a strategy that work with connecting First Time Guests. You can register for the Fusion seminar here.

#5 – Experience There are some things you can learn from books or from other leaders, but some things you have to learn through experience. What’s interesting is that these lessons are the ones that make us grow the most. They are also the ones that usually hurt the most as well. Here’s the truth: Lots of people have experiences and never learn from them. To learn from an experience, you have to evaluate it, reflect on it, and pray it through. God has plenty he wants to show us through our experiences, we simply have to slow down enough … Read More

#4 – Challenges Muscles grow when they’re under weight and leaders grow when they’re under a challenge. Show me a leader who’s coasting along and I will bet this leader isn’t growing. God brings challenges into our lives to grow us as leaders. It’s how Moses, Daniel, David, and Paul all grew. There’s something about a challenge that causes us to think differently, pray more fervently, ask questions, and explore possibilities we never thought possible. Most innovation is simply a response to a challenge. Thomas Edison said “Necessity is the mother of ingenuity.” Right now the growth of our church … Read More

#3 – Change First, let me say that I’m a routine guy. I go to work the same way, get up at the same time, and follow a basic pattern for my life. But when we get out of our routines is when we grow. That’s why conferences are so helpful. It doesn’t even have to be the content. There’s just something about getting on a plane, getting out of the routine, and getting into a new environment that causes us to grow. That’s why I take one day a month to drive to Tampa to be with a group … Read More

#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