Archive for October, 2007
· Categories Leadership, Staff, Student Ministry
I am a part of several great teams here at Mt. Paran North. One of those teams is the Student Ministry staff that work alongside me here at the office. This week I have been reminded why I love these people. First, let me give you a short bio on each, then I’ll tell you why I love them.
Kim is my assistant. She is highly motivated and probably gets more done each day than the rest of us combined. She seems to get annoyed with us easily and can often be heard saying, “For cryin’ out loud”.
Connie is Marcus and Billy’s assistant. She is very creative and is an encourager. She assures Marcus and I that Wednesday night did not suck as bad as we thought it did.
Marcus is the Middle School Pastor here at Mt. Paran North. He is a great guy that loves middle schoolers. While he can be a little reserved in some settings, if you get him on the stage he is a mix between TD Jakes and Kirk Franklin all in one. We are waiting on God to send him his “God Diva”.
Billy is in charge of Student Music and Fine Arts. He has never met a good idea he didn’t like…or a crazy one for that matter. He is extremely talented and a great asset to any meeting where we are trying to be creative.
Tuesday our staff meeting lasted 2 hours, but it was mostly due to laughing at and making fun of Billy (we love you man). At one point, he was doodling and told me he was bored. I think his feelings were just hurt. We mapped out the special events, camps, and retreats for 2008. I love dreaming about the future with them.
Then today Connie and Kim had a great idea at the last minute to replacing a stock photo with a photo of our staff on the Holiday Newsletter. So down we go to the cafe to take a picture of the group. It could not have taken longer. Connie and Billy each presented 4 great ideas a piece about how to make the picture better. Markus laughed a lot. Kim acted annoyed. And I was accused of being “crotchety”, which I am not.
I’m glad that God has chosen to allow me to work with each of the people listed above on a daily basis. They keep me grounded, and always make me and Corrie look good. I hope they know how much I appreciate them.
Laughter is a great bonding agent. If you are having trouble connecting to the people you work with…find something or someone to laugh about. You’ll be amazed at the results.
October 31, 2007
· Categories Leadership, Personal
I read Shawn Lovejoy’s post YESTERDAY about his off day. It was a refreshing reminder. It reminded me of something posted by Arvil Ogle to an emerging leaders Google group I’m a part of. Arvil is the Worship Pastor at Family Church in Monroe, LA, a really nice guy, and my partner last May in the Challenge Cup Golf Tournament. Here is what he wrote about honoring the Sabbath:
This subject is one that I believe I could write about for an hour. Not because of any expertise on my part but rather the MANY
discussions we have had as a staff and the handful of tranformational message we have heard from Pastor O’Neal. I cannot count the number of times where we have met and discussed who could Sunday be a sabbath for and who on staff it couldn’t be. Here are a few of these discussions.
1. God commands us to take a twenty four hour period dedicated to Him. This is why I should do something different than what I do the other 6 days. I don’t take the day off from God but rather find the quiet moments to hear and rest in Him. For me personally, I like to get outside alone and with my family. I can do alot of different things but they don’t need to stress me out mentally or physically.
2. God connects honoring a 24 hour period to Him to blessings He bestows upon us. This where the sermons come in. I’m not going to or able to preach pastors messages.
3. We constantly try to keep each other accountable about taking a sabbath. This helps it keep this subject on the forefront of our
minds. Today I was emailing the music staff about the next 14 days and all of the events and that will be happening. In that email I
wrote “If I’m not careful my next day off will be the 24th”. As soon as I wrote it I realized I would be breaking a command from God and I would be a terrible example to the people I am trying to lead. I will email them tommorow and make some corrections.
4. Honoring the sabbath is one of the BIG TEN. Not the college athletic conference but one of the 10 commanments. Sometimes this
commandment is one that many minister friends I know struggle obeying. Last summer I went on an intereview with a pastor. I’m
still not sure why and how I was there but that is another story for another time. (i’ve been on 1 interview in my 13 years at FC – I pray that was my last!!!!!!) Anyway while I was with this pastor, whom I now love and really enjoy being with, I asked him if he has a 24 hour period where he honors the Lord’s day. He said with remorse he was not good at that. I do not criticize him. Because I am not good at it either. I wonder if I grieve the Lord by selectively obeying commands.
5. I have to constantly stay on myself to honor a day for the Lord. I am not trying to be a legalist but rather the benefit of obedience
brings great life to me. This is another part of me being not only a leader to others but a self leader.
What do you do to honor the Sabbath?
October 31, 2007
· Categories Christianity, Leadership, Personal, Spirituality
Did Joseph get discouraged sitting in prison? I mean, we know the end of the story, so we know it all worked out. He even told his brothers in Genesis 45, that they shouldn’t be angry with themselves, because it was God who sent him ahead of them so that Joseph could help save them. The human side of me would say, no it was your brothers remember, they sold you into slavery. They told your father you were dead. Potiphars wife lied about you. The 2 guys in jail forgot their promise to you. How was he able to see the big picture of God’s plan?
I was speaking to parent’s this past Wednesday night about improving communication with the teenagers. One of my points was to Be Patient. Not to be a push over, but understand that your 15 year old will not be 15 forever. In 10 years he will be 25 and you hope that your relationship with your 25 year old is not strained because of rash decisions or things that were said when he was 15. It sounded great, but as a parent I’m sure it’s hard to keep the big picture in mind when your 15 year has just done something so stupid and completely inexcusable.
In the middle of our fast paced lives, how do we realize that maybe there is a larger “thing” going on here. As Louie Giglio talks about in “I’m Not, but I Know I Am” maybe we are just playing a small role in God’s bigger story.
So how do we do it? How do we keep the big picture in mind?
October 30, 2007
· Categories Christianity, Personal
I have a man in my life right now that I believe truly wants the best for me. He sent me an email today that caused me to look ahead and make plans for something that will stretch and grow me. I am extremely blessed to have him in my life, and I thank God for him today. I encourage you to stop what you are doing right now and call, email, write a letter, send by pony express, whatever you have to do to let someone in your life know that you are thankful for them.
Seriously, stop reading this and go do it.
Honestly…stop reading.
GO!!!
October 29, 2007
· Categories Leadership, Personal, Spirituality
Jesus asked his disciples once in Matthew 16:13-17, “who do people think I am?” They gave several answers, prophet, Elijah, John the Baptist, etc. I posted a while back about Tim Elmore’s message at our church entitled Life Sentence. He stated that 20 years after we are dead and gone, someone will mention our name and someone else will say, “Oh yeah. I remember him. That’s the guy that…” and our entire life will be summed up in one sentence.
To close out our series “The Journey” we did a video at the Varsity to show the customer service by their cashiers saying “What’ll you have”. We were talking about service and meeting the needs of others. We looked at the story of Elisha from 2 Kings 3:11. When they were looking for a prophet of the Lord they said of Elisha, “He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”
This was a man that had just performed a miracle cleaning the water so that people would no longer die from it. He was someone present during the latter part of the miraculous ministry of Elijah. But when they were looking for a prophet, he was identified by his service to Elijah. How awesome!
Sometimes you don’t have to wait until 20 years after your gone for people to sum you up in 1 sentence.
What do they say about you?
October 26, 2007
· Categories Church, Leadership, Personal, Student Ministry
I was awakened early this morning by my 8 month old son Branson crying. I woke quicker than Corrie so I told her to go back to sleep and I would get him. We went downstairs and got him a bottle and I rocked him back to sleep as he ate. Then I returned to my bed…and just couldn’t sleep. My mind was racing. I though about our Life Weekend in March. I dreamed about what Summer Camp ’08 might look like. I thought about the series ideas that we have planned for the next few months. Do you ever get that way?
I’m so restless to see what God has in store for us here. Our students seem to be growing closer to the Lord. Our attendance numbers continue to rise. Our discipleship classes are full this year. Our last few events have been awesome…but what’s next?
What can we do to help minister to our students more effectively? How can we engage more students? What can we do to help hurting students? How can we make our retreats and camps more practical and applicable to life back home, and not just emotional mountaintops, without taking all the emotion out of them? Does our discipleship model even work? Are they becoming disciples? Do Wednesday nights work the way that we’re doing them? What areas am I stunting growth by not releasing? Am I utilizing and ministering to our adult leaders?
What do you do when you have more questions than answers? Is it scary or is it exciting?
October 26, 2007
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