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There's a question I asked in the message yesterday that seemed to get a lot of traction in the hearts of people.
I was speaking in reference to change, and I asked, "How would the person you want to become handle this?"
This is a question I ask myself regularly. "How would the leader, Pastor, father, husband, friend I want to become handle this situation?" I believe if we starting acting the way we answer that question, we'd eventually become that person.
- Without the help of the Easter Squirrel, Sunday went great!
- I am loving teaching 3 times on Sunday.
- Band was great. I'm amazed at how many solid musicians we have.
- Spring Break hurt us today. I'm hoping it doesn't carry over too much into next weekend.
- We still had a lot of first time guests! That was great!
- Our set up guys are amazing! Their commitment is inspiring!
- I love our "I AM" series. Teaching some of the names of God has been good for our church.
- I'm looking forward to our next series which starts on Mother's Day.
I like to read. I believe leaders should be readers and that reading is one of the main vehicles to our development.
My goal this year is to read 80 books. But since there's so much more to read that I may never get to, I like to read book summaries also.
What I love about summaries is they will give you a 200-page book in 8 pages. They eliminate most of the stories and just give you the big ideas.
I like to read summaries of books I've already read as a refresher of the big ideas.
Anyway, here's 2 companies that do great book summaries:
I personally subscribe to Executive Book Summaries. The thing I like too is they have mp3's of the summaries, so you can listen to it in 20 minutes.
If you subscribe, tell then I sent you :) Enjoy your reading!
(btw - just in case you're wondering, I only review books on my blog that I've read. I don't review summaries.)
I color code my message notes and the color I use for scriptures that I'm going to read is yellow (I don't know why I picked yellow, I just did).
One of the things I look at each week before getting up in front of the church is, "How much yellow am I sharing?"
I love sharing stories and I feel storytelling is one of my giftings, but I want to always have plenty of yellow on my pages as I communicate.
I Watched Rob Bell's Everything is Spiritual the other night. Absolutely phenomenal!
Rob spoke for over an hour with no notes, recited Genesis 1 from memory. and recited a lot of technical info without so much as a reference sheet. Rob is a master communicator that we could learn a lot from.
Rob walked us through the creation story, gave us a great science lesson, and then brought it back to what the meaning of all it was.
I was challenged, encouraged, moved, educated, and entertained (I appreciate not being bored) by his presentation.
I would highly recommend that you pick this DVD up and watch it. It's worth the 75 minute investment.
This is post # 1,000 for me! When I first started blogging 2 1/2 years ago, I didn't think it would be as much fun as it has been!
I saw myself approaching 1,000 posts and I started to think about how things have changed since I started blogging.
Here are my thoughts:
1. The content has changed from "This is what I think" to "This is what I'm learning". I think this is healthy.
2. Blogging is finally getting some respect. We can thank guys like Seth for that.
3. I've gotten to know a lot of guys through blogging and those friendships have been a great blessing to me.
4. Successful conferences (like this one) are being promoted almost entirely through blogs. Who would have thought?
5. The "discernment" type blogs are still out there. It's just that no one really cares anymore (at least I don't).
6. I've gotten a lot of free books because of my blog :)
7. Church planters have raised tons of money through their blog. Who knew? (I can't wait until a school starts teaching that - Fundraising 101: Blogging for Bucks :)
8. People have changed ministry roles due to blogging (see this guy serving with this guy)
I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of right now... Here's to the next 1,000 posts and the journey continuing!
I have been recommended The Aladdin Factor several times by friends and just finally got to reading it. Let me say, I loved it! I liked it so much I bought the audio and went through it again!
The book is about learning how to ask. Most Pastors struggle with asking. We struggle asking people to serve, to be committed, to give, or to sacrifice. This book really helped me get to some of the core of why I don't like asking.
It was a fun read. I really enjoy Canfield and Hansen's style of writing.
Here's a few good quotes from the book:
"Asking increasing your chances of receiving by 200%."
"Setbacks are given to ordinary people to make them extraordinary."
"Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better."
"What am I pretending not to know?"
"How would the person I want to be do the things I want to do?"
- Today was absolutely amazing!
- The numbers were just under 1,000! Awesome!
- Lots of people said yes to Jesus. Lots of first time guests.
- We did 3 services for the 1st time. I loved it.
- 3rd service was completely overflowing!
- It was also the weirdest day in the history of our church
- We lost power at 8:30AM and never got 100% power back.
- Why you ask? A squirrel. I'll tell that story later.
- Our volunteers were unbelievable!
- I really believe there was a special anointing of this Easter. It's so exciting to read about that God has done in churches all over the country!
- I'm wiped out...
"It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last." (Luke 23:44-46)
I heard so much about The 4-Hour Work Week that I had to pick it up. I loved this book! Tim Ferriss is a very witty writer and very articulate in expressing his ideas.
I loved his passion and the resources and tools he gives to accomplish what he's talking about. Tim's premise is that people don't live the life they want because of fear. They stick with a 9-5 job because it offers security when they could be living so much more.
Tim's goal is to go wherever he wants, live wherever he wants and do whatever he wants (not a bad desire). He does this by building systems into his his life that create income and free up time.
If you're in ministry, think about what could happen if you created systems that worked for you and free up time from your schedule:
Could you get more involved in the things that are most important in your ministry?
Could you spend more time with your family?
Could you take a real vacation without worrying and stressing out?
I thought this book was really helpful and offered solutions to people who are overworked and/or frustrated with their current situation.
As always, I leave you with some of my favorite quotes:
"Inactivity is not the goal. Doing what excites you is."
"People who avoid all criticism, fail."
"Never check email first thing in the morning. Instead, complete your most important task before 11AM."
"Never automate something that can be eliminated and never delegate something that can be automated or streamlined."
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