Archive for January, 2010
Sunday Night Reflections January 31, 2010
A few thoughts on a great day before I hit the hay!
- We saw over 40 people give their lives to Christ today…THAT never gets old!
- We talked about Isaiah 6:1-8 today, that particular passage of Scripture has always messed me up.
- The best thing God can do for a man is RUIN him…because then he will be completely surrendered and used for HIS glory!
- Ephesians 2:10 is true about YOU…He didn’t create you to be a chia pet…but an instrument used for His glory!
- God will often use a tragedy to get our attention.
- I don’t want a church with 10,000 regular attenders…I want a church with 10,000 MINISTERS of the Gospel!
- We will never do what God wants until we see who He is!
- AND…we will never discover who God is apart from reading HIS WORD. We launched a 30 day Bible reading plan today – HERE is the link if you are interested – come on and join us as we journey through the Proverbs, John and Acts.
- COME ON…it’s just 30 days…I believe that if you will commit to this that you will hear His voice clearer during this next month than you’ve ever heard Him before.
- We will never do what God wants for us until we understand we He’s done for us!!!
- When a person understands WHO God is and WHAT God’s done…surrender is a natural result. (See Isaiah 6:8)
- A person who is completely surrendered to God cannot sit still when He clearly says to move.
- Jesus did not promise a life that is free of pain and trouble (see John 16:33) – BUT HE did promise a life that is FULL and more amazing than we could ever imagine (see I Corinthians 2:9 and John 10:10.)
- I challenge EVERYONE to memorize Ephesians 2:10 this week…SERIOUSLY, get out a note card, write that verse on it and look at it often every day this week!
- Next week at NewSpring Church will be one of the most amazing weeks we’ve ever had, I will tell you more about it later on…but I can promise this…many of us will be MARKED by what happens on the 7th and 14th in a way we will never forget!
- Hey Anderson campus…remember, no 6:00 service next week…so SHOW UP at 4:00 and show up READY!
- Thanks to everyone who braved the “major winter storm” we had today! :-)
- I want a cheeseburger RIGHT NOW…hoping/praying that someone MIGHT want to cruise up to Copper River tomorrow and get one! :-)
- I am REALLY excited about speaking at this event next week. I feel like the mule that got invited to run in the Kentucky Derby…blown away that I have the privilege to serve with these guys for this occasion.
- We announced here on Thursday that we’ve opened up 500 seats for Unleash…and 250 of them are already GONE! If you want to come you had better sign up NOW!
- Looks like I am going back to Kenya in May…SUPER excited about it…it will be a “different” trip, praying for God to do GREAT things.
That’s it…I need SLEEP!
Yes, We WILL Be Having Church! January 30, 2010
Hey NewSpring Church…all campuses…church is ON tomorrow…and I can’t wait! The momentum from last weekend combined with our new series (Identity Theft) this weekend is going to be amazing.
Now…the reason for this post is quite simple, SOME people are going to be tempted to “play hooky” tomorrow because of the “major winter storm” that has passed through our area! :-) So here are a few things to keep in mind…
- Tomorrow we have a chance to experience in four locations what we experienced in one last week…and I am CONVINCED that the worship will be passionate and that God will draw people to Him…can’t wait to see what He does!
- Tomorrow if you are signed up to volunteer then you have a chance to make a tremendous impact as we are anticipating lots of visitors to attend every campus!
- We are launching a new initiative tomorrow that has me really excited…can’t wait!
- There is a rumor that I will be playing the guitar tomorrow and singing a Travis Tritt song! I cannot confirm or deny that rumor…you’ll just have to be there and see.
- I believe God is going to radically rock our worlds tomorrow as we begin to explore how to move from living an average life to an amazing one!
- SO many people have no idea what their purpose is in life, what they are supposed to be doing, why they are even on this planet…tomorrow begins the process of getting that figured out.
- AND…tomorrow would be a GREAT DAY to invite someone to come to NewSpring Church with you!
- ONE MORE THING…a blizzard hitting an NFL town would not keep people away from a championship football game; it would actually create more excitement! We have a better message than the NFL…and LOTS more reasons to be excited…so lets get to church and celebrate!
SO…saying all of that…church is ON!!! People all over the world will attend a church service tomorrow in WAY worse conditions, many even risking their lives! SO…lets show up and pray for God to show out tomorrow…I can’t wait!
What’s Now Before What’s Next! January 29, 2010
One of the most common asked questions people ask me is, “How can I know what God wants next for my life?” AND…after being in ministry for nearly 20 years I’ve discovered that much of the time people don’t actually want to move on to what is NEXT…they are merely asking the question because they don’t want to deal with what God is doing NOW!
BUT…God will NOT reveal what is NEXT until we are obedient in what He is revealing NOW!
Let me share a Charisse illustration here? :-)
I really do want to take her to see, “The Princess and the Frog.” She’s never been to the movies. She’s never had hot popcorn covered in butter. She’s never had a HUGE Coke to go with it. She’s never had candy to chase the popcorn down! (Hey, if you are going to do it…do it right!) She’s never seen a screen like the one at the theatre.
I know she would LOVE IT! I know she would want to go back. I know that the whole experience would be one of the most amazing events of her life so far!
BUT…I can’t take her because she won’t stop taking a pee in her pants! (She’s going to KILL me when she gets older and sees some of the stuff I’ve written about her!) :-)
Here’s the deal…she is potty trained. She KNOWS when she needs to go pee. She tells us and we “assist” her with the clean up afterwards. She knows that it is wrong to pee in her pants…but she won’t stop.
It’s not that she doens’t know better. Lucretia and I have spoken to her about this…and she knows that it is wrong and she should not do it…but for whatever reason she will have a few good days and then BAM…pee!!! (It’s really bad when she’s pees on me!)
SO…I had this conversation with her. I told her about the movies. I told her about the popcorn. I told her about the fun we would have…but then I told her, “I am not going to take you until you stop peeing in your pants.”
She totally understood; in fact, she said repeatedly the first day I shared this with her, “I am not going to pee in my pants and then mommy and daddy will take me to see the Princess and the frog.”
BUT…then she does it again!
Here’s the kicker…I REALLY want to take her to see that movie. I know it would bring so much joy to her life and that she would love the entire experience. BUT…I won’t take her there until she deals with “the issue” that we’ve clearly identified/discussed in her life.
The same is true with our heavenly Father…His plans for us are amazing (I Corinthians 2:9, Ephesians 3:20), He REALLY does want to take us to places that we could never even inagine…but..until we deal with the issues He brings forth in our life He will allow us to stay right where we are. He can’t trust us with what’s next if we are not obedient with what’s now!
Here in the South we try our best to bypass this. God will reveal an area of our life we need to deal with…and instead of becoming obedient and submissive to His leadership we will say, “Well, I’m not going to obey THAT…but instead I will do this!” An example would be, “Well, I am not going to stop screwing my boyfriend/girlfriend…but instead I will get involved in lots of Bible studies, sing really loud at church and get involved in serving.”
Radical obedience in one area of our lives is not a license to pursue disobedience in another.
Is there an area of your life that is NOT submissive to Jesus? Because, if that is the case we’ve got to understand that He is NOT going to change His mind, nor will He be mocked (Galatians 6:7) by our meaningless worship or manipulated (Isaiah 29:13) by our vain words.
Christianity is meeting Jesus and then following Him for the rest of our lives…one step at a time.
SO…what is THAT step of obedience He is leading you to? What is that thing that always keeps coming up? What is the issue He is wanting you to let go of? Trust me…He’s NOT dealing with THAT issue because He hates you…but rather because He loves you and wants to see greater things.
Let’s deal with what’s now so we can constantly move towards what’s next!
More Spots Open For Unleash January 28, 2010
So…we sold out Unleash this year…WAY earlier than we expected…
AND the waiting list for possible cancelations already has over 100 people on it…so…we decided to open up more seats, here’s how…
Right next door to our main auditorium at our Anderson Campus we have an incredible student facility. (It literally is one of my favorite buildings that I’ve ever been in!) And so…if you want to come to Unleash this year we are going to make 500 seats available in that facility…and you can go HERE if you want to get one of those tickets…but, before you do understand a few things…
#1 – The tickets for this venue cost $49.
#2 – You will participate in the main sessions (both the worship and the teaching) via video. We equipped that facility with a state of the art video system that will be showing what is happening in our main auditorium. (We actually have several people on Sunday mornings choose to worship and learn in that facility rather than where I am teaching live.)
#3 – You will still get to participate in the breakout sessions, and still get a GREAT lunch!
#4 – We are going to ask if you do choose this option that you have integrity…let me explain. Last year we opened this venue and had several hundred people purchase a ticket for this facility…and then walked over to the main facility and “lied” to get into that venue, thus making people who had actually purchased a ticket for the main venue to not have a seat. Yes, that did happen…and so this year I am asking that people just embrace honesty! :-)
#5 – These spaces will sell out FAST, so, if you want to sign your team up you had better get on it now…because…once these spaces are gone we literally will not have any more room.
Trust me…the experience in our student facility will be just as amazing as it is in our main sanctuary! So…for those wishing you had signed up…you can, and once again HERE IS THE LINK! Can’t wait!
How To Get Buy In From Your Staff – Part Two of Two January 28, 2010
Continuing my thoughts from yesterday…
#3 – LISTEN TO THEM!
One of the greatest mistakes I’ve ever made as a leader is to make a decision that impacts a group of staff members without allowing anyone from the group that was being impacted any sort of input on the decision. We do this as leaders because it is easier and faster…but what is easy is hardly ever what is right! (AND…if you are always obsessed with the quickest and easiest way to get something done…the “end” is a lot closer than you think!)
Today there is hardly EVER an instance where a decision is made around here that someone from that area isn’t allowed the opportunity to dialogue with our leadership team through the decision.
- Why would I make any sort of decision about youth or children’s ministry without actually talking to our youth or children’s ministry team?
- Why would I make any sort of decision about programming without actually talking to the people who serve on our programming staff?
- Why would I make any sort of decision about our volunteering process without talking to people who serve with volunteers?
I could go on…but you get the point. When a staff member feels like they had an opportunity to be involved in the conversation and ask the questions that were on their mind they are WAY more likely to buy into the decision that was made, even if they don’t agree with it.
(By the way…some people call people who want to be listened to “disloyal!” I call those who want to be listened to “leaders!” You can have leaders or followers around you…and only a secure leader is willing to answer questions from his staff that will clarify the vision!)
#4 – Say “THANK YOU!”
One of the things I have realized is that MOST staff members aren’t looking for a ton of recognition and/or huge monatary rewards…they just want to be told, “thanks!”
Reality is this…if we are not careful as leaders we can CRUSH the enthusiasm of a staff member…because…we all have people on our staff that ONLY get recognized if they screw something up. (Sort of like an offensive lineman in football!) BUT…if they show up, get their job done and do it well, then for some reason a leader thinks he can just allow that to go unnoticed…and this is an incredible de-motivator to a staff team.
Leaders…trust me, we CANNOT underestimate the power of saying “thank you.” I’ve heard leaders say, “well, I’m not going to thank them for something they are supposed to be doing.” That statement is both foolish and irresponsible. A leader who is QUICK to recognized “the bad” in a staff member but never stops to recognize “the good” is irresponsible. (Or maybe he/she is unaware! Trust me…”thank you” is HUGE!!!)
#5 – Lead With Integrity
If you want your staff to buy into your leadership then integrity HAS to be valued, pursued and encouraged. Because once a person sells out their character it undermines the platform that God gave them to stand on.
AND…leaders…if we do not make integrity an issue…then one day it WILL BE AN ISSUE!
Staff member cannot buy into a liar. At the end of the day they’ve GOT to know that you say what you mean and you mean what you say.
- This means when we screw up…we admit it.
- This means that when we don’t do our part…we admit it.
- This means that when we are struggling with something…we admit it.
- This means that when we declare direction…we are the first to step in that direction.
Leaders…at the end of the day all we really have is our integrity. Either people believe what we say or they think we are full of crap…the latter will always result in shattered dreams while the former will always result in a team of people who are on FIRE and CONSUMED about the reality of what could be and should be, and will never stop short of the vision that has been declared.
How To Get Buy In From Your Staff – Part One of Two January 27, 2010
If the staff doesn’t trust the leader…then the leader will eventually have no one to lead!
Leaders CANNOT underestimate how necessary staff buy in is. AND…the funny thing about staff buy in is that it does not truly come about through intimidation, manipulation OR even the promise of more money. Here are five steps that I believe will really help a staff member buy into a leader.
#1 – Clarify The Win
Scripture says in I Corinthians 14:8 that if the trumpet does not sound a clear call then the people will not be ready for battle…and I know from personal experience that at times when certain staff members had a problem with me that it wasn’t because they didn’t believe in the direction we were going…but rather because they simply did not understand what in the heck I was saying…AND/OR what their particular part was.
One of the things I have finally came to realize is that staff members cannot be held accountable for unspoken/unrealistic expectations. All too often leaders will get angry at their staff because they were not able to read the leaders mind…which is insane. If a leader REALLY is a leader then he/she will take an extra five or ten minutes, answer questions and do whatever it takes to fully explain themselves so that everyone is on the same page.
#2 – Keep It Simple
One of the dumbest things I’ve done as a leader over the past 10 years is allow my drive and passion to overshadow the reality of the world that we live in. Let me explain…
I would be in a leadership meeting with a group of people and would be casting vision as to what I really felt the Lord had placed on my heart…and the excitement in the room would hit an all time high! People would be sharing ideas, embracing responsibility, establishing deadlines and getting pumped up about the role they would play in this particular project. The meeting would end and we would all go on our way…
THEN…the next week I would walk into the room and not even bring up the idea that we had been so excited about the previous week…instead I would share a new insight/project I felt like we should take on…and would get frustrated because the energy level of the previous week wasn’t there. In fact, no one would seem excited about it. Ideas as to how it could happen were not shared…to be honest…as soon as I would begin to do this it would not energize the room but rather suck the energy right out of the place.
For a while I thought MAYBE it was a spiritual immaturity issue on THEIR part; after all, if they loved Jesus as much as I did then they would be excited, right? WRONG!
It was an issue of spiritual maturity…but on my part and not theirs!
If a leader wants to obtain buy in from his/her staff they have to understand the following things from the above scenerio…
A. The initial idea the first week brought clarity…the secondary the next week brought confusion because everyone in the room was thinking, “What should we be focused on? The idea that came up last week…or the one he seems to be excited about this week?”
B. The initial idea was being worked on/developed…and so in my mind it was complete and I was ready to move on, not understanding that the people I lead with had just really gotten started working on the initial idea…and so a new idea didn’t bring excitement but rather a feeling of being overwhelmed because their initial thoughts were, “I want to do this AND also what we talked about last week…but how do I do both of them well without working 80 hour a week? What am I supposed to focus on, the thing we are talking about today or the thing we talked about last week?”
C. Staff members are real people who have real lives and they want their time to be valued by their leader. This does not mean that there aren’t times that “the extra mile” attitude doesn’t kick in…BUT…for a leader to think that the only thing a staff member is on this planet for is to serve his agenda/needs is arrogant and will eventually lead to everyone “abandoning ship” around him. It’s not that staff do not get fired up by great ideas/vision…they usually LOVE it; however, when “the vision” means they have to give up being a great spouse and become a stranger to their kids then it is time to do some serious evaluation as to whether “the vision” is actually vision or an ego trip!
D. When a project is assigned the people working on the project should have THE MOST input into when the deadline is going to be; after all, they are the ones who will be doing the work.
Five Lies That Leaders Believe January 26, 2010
#1 – “God Made Me Aware Of This Situation So That I Can Pray About it.”
One of the things that bothers me about the body of Christ is how often Christians will actually use prayer as an excuse for inactivity. When we pray about something we should be ready to act in accordance to what we are praying for.
If we are leaders, that means Jesus gave us the spiritual gift of leadership…TO LEAD! AND…if he makes us aware of things it is because He has gifted us and is entrusting us to LEAD through the situation and not so we can just be passive about it.
#2 – “I Must Have All Of The Answers.”
The leader who believes this lie will stress himself out and allow worry (and/or pride) to dominate his life.
Leaders DON’T have all of the answers. Trust me…the longer I do this the more I don’t know what the heck I am doing, which leads to the next lie…
#3 – “I Cannot Ask Anyone For Help Because Doing So Will Make Me Look Weak.”
Actually the opposite is true…operating in your own power and constantly making stupid decisions is actually what makes a leader look weak! God placed people in our lives to HELP US OUT…and when we ask for help people DO NOT lose respect for us…they actually respect us more (AND are WAY more likely to buy into a decision in which they had input.)
#4 – “I Cannot Slow Down.”
Jesus did ask us to give Him our best…but He didn’t ask to us fry ourselves in the process.
I had a counselor tell me recently, “In the Bible God calls those who will not work LAZY…but He calls those who will not rest DISOBEDIENT!” (DANG!)
At the end of the day a leader MUST come to grips with this statement…WE CANNOT MANUFACTURE A MOVE OF GOD. So many of us try…and get so caught up in doing ministry that we have no time to actually walk with Him.
If you feel like you can’t slow down, can’t take a day off then you value yourself way more than you value the supernatural power of God. Take a breath…HE REIGNS!
#5 – “The Longer I Do This The Easier It Will Become.”
The easiest day I ever had in leading this church was January 16, 2000…it’s became more challenging every single day since.
I used to think there would be a day where I would be so natural at this stuff that I would be able to make leadership decisions without any type of struggle. I used to think I would one day get past my insecurities. I used to think that one day I would not lay awake at night wrestling with decisions that needed to be made…
I WAS WRONG!
The longer we lead the more desperate for God we should became…because it becomes more and more obvious to us that we are not as good as we think we are, and HE is WAY BETTER than we could have EVER imagined!