this day

I will never forget this day. Rather, I will never forget this date. December 13, 2003 the most amazing woman in the world became my wife. There is so much about that day I will never forget. How I got choked up during the vows.

How beautiful she looked in her wedding dress.

How we got out of town on our way to the honeymoon just before an ice storm hit.

The last seven years have been more than worth it. We now have two kids. Two dogs. A mortgage. A minivan.

Sometimes I look in the mirror and I have to laugh and asked "when did you become an adult?"

I wouldn't trade the last seven years for anything. I can't wait to see what's next.

Today Allison had to go to work. Working for hospice provides many moments people will never forget. Today she told a family that their loved one would likely die within the next six months.

I'm sure they will never forget this day either. I'm sure they will never forget this Christmas.

Sometimes we remember because we want to.

Sometimes we remember because we can't forget.

Sometimes we remember because of the lessons we learn.

Sometimes we remember because we just can't help it.

Even though I can't remember every single day that I have lived I do remember people that God has used throughout my life to impact me in an empowering way.

My prayer today is that I may walk in a manner so that one day, maybe a day someone will never forget, they will remember me and think, "wow, he helped me walked a little closer to Jesus."

Leadership Lesson of the week

Check out these thoughts from former NFL quarterback Steve Young on accountability. It does make you think.

New Blood/Fresh Ideas

We had our monthly Daycare Board and Church Board meetings. We welcomed 4 new people onto the Daycare Board this year and last night was their first meeting. It was, by far, the best one we've had since I've been a part of the ministry here. With new people came new ideas for how to improve the function of the already great daycare. People shared new marketing strategies, helpful personnel approaches, and even some financial aspects that we had not seen or taken before.

As much as I pride myself on trying to look at things in several different ways last night reminded of a very important lessen. Team effort, rightly directed, is a much stronger and more productive force than individual elbow grease.

Some times you have to shake things up a little to get different results. I can not wait to see what God does with the rest of this year.

Is Zechariah 4:6 really true?

I like to think of myself as a fairly competent person. If a problem arises I can think through it and come up with a course of action to solve it. I love information and learning new things. If there is something I don't know I can usually find someone who does so they can educate me in the matter.

I have put together enough furniture in our house to have a sense of accomplishment in that area. I am also certain this Christmas will provide several opportunities to install batteries, open difficult toy packaging, and simply "make it work Daddy".

In thinking through all of the above the word "I" keeps jumping out at me...reminding me of Zechariah 4:6...

Zechariah 4:6 (English Standard Version)
6"Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts."

Some times I realize that I have WAY too much confidence in myself and pay WAY too little attention to the real power of the universe...GOD's SPIRIT!!!!

What are you trying to accomplish today? What are you surrendering to the Holy Spirit today?
Notice a difference?

Jesus wants the rose

Today I really had the urge to blog something but I really didn't know what. I've been reading and studying several passages in the Bible today and God really spoke some good stuff to me. I thought "I'll share some of that". I've also listened to some good music. I've spent some time with my son Micah. All of these things were good experiences and very blog worthy. But as I was preparing for Sunday's message I came across this video clip. It may be a little offensive to some. It may be a little distracting to others. However, the last few lines are worth the 4 minutes it takes to watch it. This video is not meant to promote anything or anyone other than Jesus himself and how much He loves you and me.



I hate that this type of thing happened in a church setting. I love church and as a pastor I am always trying to be creative in my attempts to communicate the gospel. My prayer for all of us is that in our efforts to be creative we would not distort the true gospel message. Jesus wants the rose!

Friday's randomness

• Check out Mark Batterson's 5 creativity equations...good stuff.
• This is, in my opinion, Perry Noble's post of the week for pastors and church leaders check it out here.
• If you ever get the chance to look at Ed Young's blog at http://www.edyoungblog.com/ you will notice that under other bloggers he has his wife Lisa listed before TD Jakes. Good move! I always knew he was a smart man.
• Leadership/team lessons we can learn from the rock band U2...mmmm....check it out here.
• Finally...here is a video about managing money that is priceless...enjoy it and your weekend.

Elijah Offering Video from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

Leadership check

Just this morning God brought up two thoughts that compliment each other as I had some very needed quiet time.

As I was reading Isaiah 58 I found these words, "They delight in the nearness of God." (vs.2) This, to me, describes a life that is flowing in the waves of the Holy Spirit. God is always with us. God is always at work around us. A submitted life will see this and delight in it while a life that is in rebellion will resent it and even fight against it. One who delights in the nearness of God is one who has nothing to hide and doesn't want to hide anything because they know that God is love and grace and does not reject His own.

The other moment that connected with this was when a friend talked about pastors/leaders wanting accountability. His thoughts were that any pastor or leader with any decency about him/her would welcome accountability. This is especially true when the goal is not our own personal glory but the glory of God and the betterment of the organization/church.

Here's my encouragement today. Just take a few moments and "delight in the nearness of God". Then write down what He is telling you today. God is good and that never changes.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." (Romans 15:13 ESV)

Back to the Basics

I've heard people from time to time say, "we need to get back to the basics". When asked to define what the basics are many definitions surface. A lot of times people define the "basics" as their own personal preferences. However, I do think the basics are not only needed but necessary. What basics do I mean? I think Ed Young does a great job of describing it here.

Tuesday Morning reflect

I hope everyone had a great day yesterday. We took advantage of Chick-fil-a's free chicken sandwich offer for lunch and loved it so much we almost went back for supper. You gotta love the cow!!!

Sunday's service was a little low in number. A lot of people taking advantage of the Labor Day weekend. I hope and pray you all have been able to take advantage of a little more family time this weekend. We had a great service. The music was hummin' and God worked despite my state of sleep deprivation.

Speaking of which, Micah had his two week check up today and he is healthy and strong. He seems to be changing by the hour. I look at Natalie right now and find it hard to believe that 3 short years ago she was that small.

In any case, enough rambling. Here are some cool links for you to check out today.

• Perry once again has another great, humbling post on leadership here.
• Tomorrow is the free online leadership conference "The Nines". Check out the info here.
• Here's a quote from Duke Ellington-"The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen."
• Clayton challenges with the use of boundaries here.

Have a great day!!!

pastors/leaders

Acts 20:28 hit me square in the face today.

"Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood."

I think most pastors can agree that paying attention to the flock seems pretty simple. After all, that's really what the job is all about right? It was that first part of the verse that grabbed me.
"Pay careful attention to yourselves..."

That led me to ask several questions that I think are productive questions for every pastor and leader to ask themselves from time to time.

1. How am I doing spiritually? Am I spending intentional time with God and His word outside of sermon/lesson preparation? God has led me this year to systematically reading through the Bible and it is one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had as a believer. Am I being intentional about my prayer life? God is showing me the value of praying His scriptures. Wow! Now there is power!


2. How am I doing physically? Am I exercising? Am I eating healthy? Am I sleeping? I'm not the best at any of these areas. Actually, I even had a delicious bowl of cookie dough ice cream last night and did not feel bad about it at all. But am I consistently making healthy choices for myself or is that bowl of ice cream the most consistent part of my diet. Also, God has really pressed on my mind the need for a sabbath. Without proper rest we are not proper administrators of grace.


3. How's my family? I love my family soooo much. If something is not right at home it affects everything else in my life. Am I communicating love towards my wife? Am I available to my kids (both physically and mentally)?


4. How's my attitude? What is the state of my mental health? Am I more positive or more negative? Am I focused on spiritual things? Am I more concerned with what God wants or what anyone else wants (including myself)? Am I more irritable than calm? Do I have a sense of hope? Positivity is an intentional thing. I really don't think it just happens.


5. How are my relationships? Am I helping the people around me live out a Great Commission/Great Commandment life? Are they helping me in the same way? Putting God's purposes into every relationship really puts things in perspective.

I don't write all of this as if I have it all down. I write it to say these are things that God is putting on my mind. If I'm not checking my own health in these things then am I really being the most effective minister of the gospel that I can be? I pray that these thing may help you as well.

leadership video clip

Craig Groeschel made a great video clip about leadership. Try. Fail. Learn. Adjust. Try again. Great lesson for any leader especially pastors. Check it out here.