March 26, 2009- Over the past few days I have really been challenged, inspired, and well, entertained by several posts that I follow. So check them out...

• Great thoughts by Steven Furtick on... Signals
• Craig Groeschel on ... Seasons
• Mark Batterson on... Out of Nowhere
• Guy Kawasaki on... looking for the right person
• Todd Rhoades... The Heavy Metal Monk

Enjoy!

Twitter, Tweet

Pressure

March 22, 2009- Ever feel like the pressure is just too much? I'm sure you don't. Well I do from time to time. But did you know that there is a wonderful purpose for pressure? Yep, actually there are a few reasons for pressure. I saw this in a portion of scripture from 2Corinthians 1:8-11. Paul tells of the great pressure they were under in Asia. If you would like reference to that pressure, look in Acts 19. Anyway he goes on to give 3 reasons for the pressure of life...
1. That we can't always rely on ourselves. We can drive ourselves crazy trying to do,do ,do, when the fact is, we can't always do it.
2. That we can rely on God.
3. That we can testify of His deliverance. What has God done for you? Has He brought you out of something by His mighty hand. Does He continue to deliver you? Then tell someone. It might just be the thing that person needs to hear to relieve their pressure.

Valued Principle

March 17, 2009- We had an interesting talk yesterday about influence. Pastor Mark gave us the principle of adding to someone's value. That is huge and we tend to overlook such a dynamic in our leadership because we think we influence by production or giftings. Anyway, I thought about this in length and came up with a cool exercise that I plan to practice. I would encourage you to try it as well.

1. Make a list. List people in your life or ministry that you want to help or disciple. Those people you see something extra in. And by the way, everybody is special. The reason they seem special to you is that God is speaking to you about them.

2. Do something for them. Find unexpected ways to add to their value. Take them out to eat, to a movie. Find out some ways you could help them grow in areas other than the ones you need them in(Hey, You know it's the truth)!

3. Teach them this principle. Look, when someone is hungry, you can give them a fish to eat, but please make sure that you also teach them how to fish!!!

Unleash sessions

March 12, 2009-

Session 1 (Perry Noble)

1Kings 3:1-11

1. Am I willing to embrace change?
2. Am I willing to work?
3. Am I serious about reaching the world?

Session 2 (Perry Noble)
Exodus 33:12-18

1. Who is with me?
2. Am I pleasing you God?
3. Will we see you God?
4. What’s next?

Unleash '09

March 11, 2009- We are heading out to a really good great one day conference for church leaders at Newspring Church in Anderson, South Carolina. If you are in any type of church leadership, then this conference is for you.

Timely Messages

March 8, 2009- I have just recently finished reading a great book. I won’t say the name of it because God has really been dealing me about the issue of Timely Messages. Now, don’t get me wrong, some of the greatest things I have learned in ministry and in life, I learned through these type of books( the books that speak to an issue that is current, and they have a great solution to the issue). These books are great, I’m not slamming them. It is a proven fact that the world is in a constant state of change. Yes, God speaks to these issues, and He gives us revelation to bring change to this generation. Our problem is that we get so caught up waiting for a Timely Message that we overlook the most important message given to us, the Bible. God has provided us with a Timeless Message that spoke to our ancestors, speaks to us now, and will speak to those who are to come. So, even though we shouldn’t avoid these wonderful pieces of literature throughout the world today, we should however, pick up the Bible and see what God says to us today. It is Timeless!!!

Don't be a monkey

March 5, 2009- Just wanted to post a few links that would be great to check out...

• Dave Gibbons new book- The monkey and the fish.


• Dave's blog


• What if the church did this?


• And don't forget to wind your clocks back Saturday(Save the daylight)

Oh yeah, the book(the monkey and the fish) is written in reference to an old eastern parable about a ... well a monkey and a fish. Duh! Anyway, the monkey and the fish are both caught in this horrible storm which becomes a flood and starts to carry them both down stream. They are having a really tough time, then the monkey sees a limb, grabs it, and climbs out of the water over to dry ground. Seeing that his friend the fish is struggling with swimming upstream, the monkey climbs out to the fish, grabs him and brings him safely up the dry land also. Then the monkey, being happy with himself, goes about his merry way thinking that he has done a great feat of charity. Don't we do that? The moral of the story is that good intentions don't always have good results. To truly help the fish, we must understand the fish's NATURE!

Fear or Faith?

March 2, 2009-
I have been reading through the book of Acts recently and I am utterly amazed at the faith that the early church had. They didn't run to"sortoffreecreditreporting.org"(fictional site) or try and figure how to keep their job at the expense of the next person. No they sold all they had and brought it to the feet of the apostles and the needs of the people were met. That, my friend is faith! So in the times that we are living in, how is your faith? Is it determined by the prices of gasoline or the DOW? Is the real estate situation a factor in your faith? At times like this I think we need to encourage one another and encourage ourselves that God is in control of our lives and He WILL take care of His people. Sure things are starting to look bad in this country when it comes to the economy, but do you remember 1974? It was bad then, and guess what, we made it. And guess what, we'll make it again. So, while we await our BREAKTHROUGH there are a couple of thing we need to remember...

1. We either live our lives fueling the frenzy of fear or we can fan the flames of our faith. The media gives us a clear picture that the end is near. We have the choice to believe that and become part of it, or we can fan the flames of faith. How many times has God brought you through the flames of life? What was the result? Yep, it made you stronger. So why should this be any different? My God shall supply ALL my needs according to His riches in glory...
2. Always surround yourself with people of FAITH. You don't have to look far to find someone to give you a negative report. But to live by faith, you have to surround yourself with people of faith. Find your inner circle of faith friends and walk this journey with them.

With these 2 principle active in our lives, we will not only make it through these times, but we will see God's hand in ALL of it.