We kicked off our colors series this morning and talked about stewardship verses ownership. We talked about who has the pink slip on the stuff that has been entrusted to us. One of the things we have been intentional about over the last couple of years is to talk about stewardship, not just tithing. Unfortunately, in the first 3 years of our church, I’d talk about finances once a year and apologize the entire time. The health and wealth thing is pretty big in Miami (to the degree of credit card machines at the front of the stage) and I … Read More

I was blown away to learn that since we started almost 6 years ago, I have taught 17 books of the Bible. I feel doing that consistently has given the people who come to our church a hunger for God’s Word. I find there’s a disconnect between the guys that want to be creative and the guys that want to teach expositionally. I have always sought to be the middle ground of teaching through the Bible creatively. We think through the theme of the book we are going to teach and title it appropriately. Our graphics and videos reflect that … Read More

Since buying the Schoolhouse Rock DVD, I’ve gotten a bunch of e-mails and comments about how much people have learned from watching Schoolhouse Rock and it got me thinking about something. These short cartoons are proof positive that you can be informational in your teaching as long as you make it memorable. Schoolhouse Rock engaged us in a story and along the way taught us some facts about History, Science, English, or Math and we didn’t even realize we were learning. Maybe people aren’t learning and growing because sometimes we share information for the sake of sharing information, and it’s … Read More

I was talking to a friend of mine last week and he was asking me about my teaching style and what I’ve been teaching lately. I told him some of what I’ve been sharing lately and he said the most interesting comment I’ve ever hear about my teaching. He said, “It sounds like you’re teaching people how to be human.” I said, “Huh. I never thought about it that way, but I think you’re right.” People reaching their full human potential as intended by God… I like the sound of that!

We had a great creative planning meeting today. We’ve got our next few teaching series planned out in rough form. This way we knew where we’re going until mid-October. I always feel relieved when I’ve got a plan. Of course, God has ultimate veto power and anything is subject to change, but I never want it to said of us that we failed because of lack of planning on our part. Too many churches think that failure to plan is relying on the Holy Spirit. We call that something else where I’m from: laziness! I see that especially in some … Read More

I just saw that Churchonomics had posted something about our latest series (Thanks for the props by the way). But I wanted to let you know that we have on our website all of our messages since July. They are there for you to download for free. Or you can subscribe to our podcast and get them delivered to your itunes. I love what churches are doing in making their content available for free. It shows a kingdom-minded approach that says, “Freely you’ve received, freely give.” We’ll probably put our graphics and videos up at some point. Mark puts up … Read More

I wonder if Pastors who like creating and writing messages in teams are naturally extroverted people? We have a creative planning meeting every week and we plan series titles, decor, and music. Yet I write my message alone. The creative team will throw some ideas my way, but I could never dream of writing my messages with a group of people because my messages tend to be very personal in nature. So, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d love to hear what you think and what you do. Are you introverted or extroverted and do you craft your messages in teams … Read More

I was going through my message files and I found 9 messages that are 1/2 written. It looks pretty good, but I guess I didn’t use it because I went in another direction. I don’t want to let anything go to waste that could make a difference in someone’s life, so I think at some point I’m going to make some sermon chili. Chili is the blending of a bunch of stuff that had a different use but put together make a great meal. So I’m going to look through this stuff and see if some it fits together… Some … Read More

As I mentioned yesterday, I think that our teaching as Pastors resembles TV writing in several ways.   Here’s another… Great TV shows create discussion long after the TV show has aired.  The link I gave to Lost yesterday was the a site called www.the fuselage.com.  It’s a site where people can talk about the show and share their theories (Some intersting, others bizzare) and ideas about the show.  But the important thing is, it creates further discussion.  That’s why I like teaching messages that answer some questions and create new ones.  It forces us to think and further the conversation.  … Read More

My wife just attended a screenwriting seminar (She’s writing an amazing screenplay!) and one of things discussed was the difference between writing for movies and writing for TV.  The instructors spoke about how different of a discipline each are.  I think because we meet in a movie theatre, I always compare my messages to movies.  But in actuality, what we do as Pastors more resembles TV writing than the big screen.  Here’s what I mean… TV writing moves the "big" story an inch, while movies have to give you the whole thing.  A movie gets 2 hours of my life, … Read More