Just sayin…

1. I want God to fix the world, but He wants to fix me.
2. I pray for ease, but he gives me endurance.
3. I keep trying to improve to impress Him, but He’s not impressed
4. I call it being frugal with what He has given me, but He calls it lack of trust.
5. I’m trying to add Him to my life, but He’s waiting for me to die.
6. I worship with songs & sermons, but He wants discipline & dedication
7. I read the Word to learn, but He wants me to read the Word to live.

Just sayin…

Filed under: Personal, Reflection

“Crazy Love” a Review

If you’ve hung around the “Christian” section of your local Barnes & Noble you’ve probably come across many books and voices critiquing the North American church today. However, if you hang around me long enough – you know that I think if you’ve got a problem with the church today – you’ve got a problem with yourself because you and I are the church…

The good news is Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California, doesn’t necessarily attack the church but those in the church. He tells us that he writes, “for those who want more of Jesus. It is for those who are bored with what American Christianity offers. It is for those who don’t want to plateau, who would rather die before their convictions do.” Essentially, it is a book that is meant to change the way Christians live their lives. Since Chan is addressing the church, you and I individually, and saying there is more to this thing called “Christianity” – I was intrigued from the get-go!

As it is, Crazy Love essentially calls into question our response to a God who loves us. As Chan puts it, “The God of the universe – the Creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor – loves us with a radical unconditional, self sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss” When I read this I’m pretty sure I heard angelic music inside my head as Chan communicated something so well that had been brewing in my heart for some time.

Chan proceeds to take the reader through a serious self-inventory gut-check (which left me squirming) of a profile of a lukewarm Christian. He concludes, “a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there’s no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are ‘lukewarm’ are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven.” These thoughts, while serious, remind me of Chandlers sermon about a year ago where he talked about how he had to get his church “unsaved” so that he could “save them.”

After he defines the “lukewarm” Christian – he begins to identify what it would look like if Christians were living differently – living in ways that were markedly different from those around them. He challenges us to get outside of the concept of being comfortable and to focus on what it is to be radically dependent on God. “God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn’t come through.”

I believe this book is a book that most Christians desperately need to read. Too many of us are living too safely and too easily. For the brief moments we spend at church each week, we are practically indistinguishable from the unbelievers around us. This is not the way we are meant to live!

I loved Crazy Love. It made me take stock of my own response to God’s love and reveal a lethargy in many areas I thought I was passionately pursuing Him in. Chan’s words have challenged my faith and hopefully forever changed my view of God’s relentless pursuit of my heart and my response to Him. you owe it to yourself to contemplate the message of this book – it could change you forever!

Filed under: Book Review

God-sized dreams!

I was just listening to some thoughts that Erwin McManus’ gave at one of the Catalyst conferences recently – great stuff, here are some of my notes:

• There’s never been an ordinary human born yet we live the most ordinary lives
• Church isn’t about stopping people from doing wrong, it’s about unleashing people to do right.
• Church shouldn’t be a prison – it’s a protal.
• It’s not about calling people to my vision, it’s about awakening the God-given dream in others
• Before we were pounded into the ordinary, we dreamed God-sized dreams.
• People’s dreams are trapped under the rubble of their fears.
• Chose acts of heroism no matter how small.
• I must destroy the obstacles that prevent others from dreaming.

Are you dreaming big? If not – what’s stopping you??

Filed under: Leadership

21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – A Review

I recently finished another leadership book by John Maxwell titled, “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” and thought I would share a little bit of what I gleamed from the book.

As the title indicates, Maxwell presents 21 laws of leadership, all of which are free-standing and yet connected to each other. I had to read a couple laws each week instead of all at once because they all started running into each other but the 21 laws are:

1. The Law of the Lid: Leadership Ability Determines a Person’s Level of Effectiveness

2. The Law of Influence: The True Measure of Leadership Is Influence — Nothing More, Nothing Less

3. The Law of Process: Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day

4. The Law of Navigation: Anyone Can Steer the Ship, but It Takes a Leader to Change the Course

5. The Law of Addition: Leaders Add Value by Serving Others

6. The Law of Solid Ground: Trust Is the Foundation of Leadership

7. The Law of Respect: People Naturally Follow Leaders Stronger Than Themselves

8. The Law of Intuition: Leaders Evaluate Everything with a Leadership Bias

9. The Law of Magnetism: Who You Are Is Who You Attract

10. The Law of Connection: Leaders Touch a Heart Before They Ask for a Hand

11. The Law of the Inner Circle: A Leader’s Potential Is Determined by Those Closest to Him

12. The Law of Empowerment: Only Secure Leaders Give Power to Others

13. The Law of the Picture: People Do What People See

14. The Law of Buy-In: People Buy into the Leader, Then the Vision

15. The Law of Victory: Leaders Find a Way for the Team to Win

16. The Law of the Big Mo: Momentum is a Leader’s Best Friend

17. The Law of Priorities: Leaders Understand That Activity Is Not Necessarily Accomplishment

18. The Law of Sacrifice: A Leader Must Give Up to Go Up

19. The Law of Timing: When to Lead Is as Important as What to Do and Where to Go

20. The Law of Explosive Growth: To Add Growth, Lead Followers — To Multiply, Lead Leaders

21. The Law of Legacy: A Leader’s Lasting Value is Measured by Succession

The law that was worked into each of the laws was the idea given in the Law of Process. Leadership can’t be developed in a day or a week, but takes time! Leadership over time grows and becomes refined through a lifetime of self-management, skills acquisition, and relationships. I was highly encouraged by Maxwell throughout the book as he constantly encourages you that you are on track in the leadership process by merely picking up this book – you may never be the greatest leader but you can go from a five, on a scale of one to ten, to an eight! It’s comforting to know that you can always be growing and becoming a better leader – I hope to be an eight someday….

Filed under: Book Review

True.

“When you are doing what God has made you to do, and spending most of your time there, you have more energy for family, God, ministry, and everything else.”

I know that when I am doing what God has created me to do, utilizing my giftedness, empowering those around me to utilize their giftedness, and depending on God at every turn – there’s nothing like it.

I also know that when I am not doing that – I’m stressed, tired, grumpy, and dependent on myself.

We’ve got to try like crazy to stay where God has us!

Filed under: Leadership, Personal

What do you choose?

• When you are faced with the difficulty of doing something exceptionally well or good enough, what do you choose?
• When you are tired and want rest but you need to close out a project, do you go to sleep or finish the job?
• When you are faced with a great opportunity which may mean embarrassment should you fail, what do you choose?
• When you commit to do something and that commitment later becomes inconvenient, what do you choose to do – stick with it or bail out?
• When you feel like you could lay down and die or press on in spite of the pain because people depend on you, what do you choose?

We make choices every day that speak volumes about the type of person we are – the make up of our integrity and character. And…I am also convinced that I often, and you too probably, live far beneath our true potential because we are scared or lazy or tired. I want to be a guy who makes ripples but to do that means I have to put in the time, the work and effort – what will I choose?

What will you choose?

Filed under: Leadership, Personal