It's Been a While...

Oh blog how I have forsaken you...

Right now I am eating a piece of celery with organic peanut butter crunch, crunch crunch...let me explain!

We are in the middle of a Daniel Fast where we have committed to eat only whole foods. We are in the middle of one of the most intense spiritual seasons we have ever been through. Over the past few weeks we have baptized 1044 and then encouraged our people to invite their lost friends to church beginning this week. Our hope is that 1,000 people will come to faith in Christ over the course of the next 3 weeks.

crunch, crunch crunch

Tomorrow we are going to have the first night of a two night student event where Pastor Steven will personally challenge the students of Elevation Church to get ready for this school year. They are about to be released back into one of the richest mission fields on the planet (the public school system) and we would be foolish not to take advantage of the opportunity we have fire up our students right as they get back into it.

crunch, crunch crunch

So why are we fasting? Because we recognize very clearly that unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain. God has chosen to move through us in this season and we are doing everything we can to keep the spotlight shining on Him.

Deliverables

"It all comes down to the deliverables..."

This is the line that stuck to my brain the other day while I was eating dinner with a very brilliant business man in our church.

It's one of those statements that's brilliant because of it's simplicity. It doesn't take a doctorate to understand how to apply it; it a basic concept with profound implications.

Here it is:

Everything I do and everything that the people who report to me do on a daily basis have to "link" in some way to the big picture initiatives of our church.

If we are going to hit 10k people in 2010 as a church, then there are a considerable amount of things that need to occur in order to get us there.

Therefore, as I am on vacation next week, I will be reverse engineering everything that I do into a list of deliverables that feed back into the bigger vision of our church.

"Frankly, if I'm doing something that doesn't help me hit one of my targets, it's a waste of time..."

I agree! Now, let the schedule hacking begin.

Staff Advance

I'm sitting in my office preparing for our "staff advance" coming up next week.

I always get a little bit nervous when it gets near staff advance season; the kind of nerves you get when you're applying for a new job, or getting married.

There's no fear, just an unsettled feeling that I'm about to commit myself to something far bigger than my abilities, skills or vision.

Last year at staff advance we finalized the details of our Dominate Campaign, presented comprehensive analyses of our departments, presented reports based around the content of the Leadership Pipeline and set goals for the remainder of 2007.

It was intense!
It was challenging!
There were at least a half dozen times when I could feel my heart beating in my ears!
and we came away exhausted; spiritually, physically, emotionally...

IT WAS AWESOME!!!

This year proves to be no different.

I just finished my part of a project we're working on that I've titled, "Discovering our 'brand'", that will no doubt spark some great discussion. I also just had a meeting with Larry Brey, our Connections Pastor, about three major projects we are tackling this fall. He is presenting those projects to the lead staff at Staff Advance and we want to make sure everything is ready to go.

We read two books, Honor's Reward by John Bevere and What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith. I don't know exactly what to expect from this year's advance except that it will be VERY overwhelming and we will be setting the course and speed for the next major season of our church.

The last 10%: My Pastor will be coming to Staff Advance straight off of almost two weeks of study, reflection, vacation, prayer and family time. I expect that he will have a double dose of intensity saved up for us and I can't wait!!!

How to Be a Good Husband

For 3 months Heather (my wonderful, gracious and forgiving wife) has been begging me to install the little clips that hold the cabinet doors shut so that our precious little boy won't sneak into them and drink caustic chemicals.

Reasonable request, right?

So, being a good husband, the other night, I bribed Erika's (my sister-in-law) boyfriend, Ben, into "helping" me install them. Here's how it went:

While I was sitting at the kitchen table balancing our check book, Ben struggled to install the clips all on his own. To my credit, I went and got him a drill, knocked all the screws off the counter, and regularly checked Ben's frustration level - I had every intention of "helping" if it got above a 7, I promise!

Ben did a fabulous job installing the clips and Jeremiah (who you can see over on the right of this blog...) was adequately frustrated the next day trying to get out the Clorox Clean-up.

The ironic thing about this story is that Ben installed the clips in about 20 minutes.

Hmmm...
Option 1: Spend 20 minutes intalling the clips and keep my son away from deadly chemicals and please my wife.

Option 2: Drag my feet for 3 months, risk my sons life, force Heather to stand guard at the kitchen sink 8 hours a day trying to keep my boy out of the "death closet", and then forfeit my 'husband credit' to someone else...

Sometimes I wonder why Heather doesn't schedule regular P.E.T. scans for me...

For all husbands out there, take a lesson from Ben. Just install the 'clips'! I mean seriously, what's wrong with me?

The Last Post on Galatians

[Read: Galatians 6:1-18]

Paul says, “God cannot be mocked, a man reaps what he sows.” (v. 7)

I’m tempted to write a post that begins with the question, what do you want to sow in the lives of the people around you? But, most of you are just as selfish as I am (if you don’t believe me, take this test) so it will be much better to ask this question:

“What do you want to reap?”

Here’s what I want to reap in my life:
o Generosity
o Kindness
o Wisdom
o Love
o Forgiveness
o Grace
o A healthy family
o Joy
o Peace

What occurred to me after I scribbled out this list is that most of what I want to elicit from others is exactly what Paul told us to exemplify in our lives as the “fruit of the Spirit”. (Score: Paul – 1; John – 0)

Secondly, I started asking myself this question, “If I want to reap a healthy family what do I have to sow?” Well, I should probably sleep more, eat less, and exercise!

“If I want to reap generosity what do I have to sow?” Money! Time! Basically, I have to let go of “my” stuff. As I start focusing on others’ needs I will begin to reap my needs…

Sometimes when I read the Bible I’m left with the impression that someone planned the whole thing out…(for those of you that didn’t catch it, that was a sarcastic statement intending to point out that God knew what He was doing when He put this book together).

Well, I’m entering into blogivion - the cross between my blog and oblivion – where I will have to struggle with what to write and will probably end up writing nonsense posts for a few weeks... Just thought I’d issue a warning.

If you liked going through a book of the Bible leave me a comment and let me know so I won’t feel like I wasted the last 2 months of my life. Maybe I’ll do it again with another book sometime if you liked it…

Life by the Spirit

After the Elevationbishop blog blackout of 2008 that extended through the duration of my wife and my vacation to Florida where we celebrated our anniversary and attended a marriage conference that Pastor Furtick was generous enough to send us to, I'm back with the next section of Galatians. I hope you enjoy it...

[Read: Galatians 5:16-26]

Just to encourage you when you fail, Paul says in Romans 7:14-20 that he can’t do it either. The things we want to do we don’t do them, and the things we don’t want to do, we fall into the same traps over and over…

This struggle is the tension we live in and if it describes you then you’re in good company. (It’s when you want to do things that you know are wrong that you should begin to worry…)

One more thing about this section:

When the Spirit fills us at salvation, He places His attributes in us. Paul calls those attributes the “fruit of the Spirit”.

You’ve Got ‘em! If the Spirit of God is dwelling in you, then you’ve got ‘em. So the next time you’re not displaying them in your life and relationships ask God to make a withdrawal on His deposit…

He Created the Universe!

[Read: Galatians 5:1-15 (again)]

This section of Galatians is about freedom. Paul starts by saying, “It is for freedom that Christ set us free.” (v. 1)

Immediately following this declaration, Paul launches into a discussion about circumcision. Now, if you’re not familiar with the Old Testament law that required all Jewish boys to be circumcised, this discussion seems a little out of left field. But notice that Paul says a man who ‘lets’ himself be circumcised. Circumcision would normally take place on the 8th day of a Jewish baby’s life (Check out the details here: Genesis 17:10-14). In other words, the only man that would ‘let’ himself be circumcised is being ushered into the Jewish faith as an adult.

Here’s Paul’s question in a nutshell: If the Jewish people were given the promise, symbolized by circumcision, that they were the people of God and that some day God would be sending them a savior to free them from the bondage of sin, why would someone who has the opportunity to accept Christ’s freedom directly want to try to get to Christ through circumcision?

The reason Paul is so angry at the people who are recommending circumcision to these new converts and luring them away from the truth and from freedom in Christ is he understands what’s at stake. James tells us that, “whoever keeps the whole law and stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10). There is no grading curve in the law. You either keep the law, perfectly, or you are condemned by it, entirely! There’s just no middle ground.

If you are someone that is trying to do better, trying to be good, trying to quit drinking, trying to stop looking at pornography, trying to quit gossiping etc… You know that no matter how hard you try you have never been able to get free. But in Christ we are a new creation the old has gone and the new has come… (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). It’s probably time to quit trying and allow God to work through you.

He is, after all, the guy that created the universe and keeps it in balance. He formed the earth and everything in it. He breathed life into every living creature and formed mankind in His own image. I think He can probably handle your problems!