Religous People

Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Mark 3:4-5

Its the same today as it was 2000 years ago. When Jesus starts to move, to change hearts, to restore lives and change the world. The religious people step in and plot against it.

Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. Mark 3:6

Because it's different, because it's new, because it's hard to understand, because it's biblical and not of this world. People step in and try to quote scripture to destroy it. My Prayer is constantly that I do what He asks me to even in the times I don't understand and I'm called crazy. Someone once told me that God gave me a brain for a reason, He did, but scripture tells me that on my best day with my best thoughts they are are still as far as the heavens are from the earths on God's worst day with His worst thoughts.

I'll leave you with this. Stop being religious. Stop getting in the way of God moving. If you haven't heard from God, don't do it. And if you're seeking God and He seems to not be answering. There is a heart problem and it's on your side. I would start there.

Don't be the one Jesus says this about, "He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts." Don't be the one that Jesus the Son of God is angry at.

Bye Bye Site Meter

I've been a stat whore. I've checked them on a daily basis and today I stop. It's been a pride thing for me and it's going to be a pride thing no more. What do you need to cut out of your life today to humble yourself to so God can use you?

My Strength Themes (2 of 5)

After taking my Strengths Finder, these were the strengths themes that described me. See this past post to learn about the workings of Strengths Finder.

My Strength Themes:
1. Responsibility
2. Adaptability
3. Connectedness
4. Strategic
5. Belief

Today's Theme, Adaptability:

Shared Theme Description
People who are especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

What makes you stand out?
Chances are good that you now and then set aside time to appreciate the loveliness and splendor of your surroundings. Driven by your talents, you are quite comfortable letting the day's events and people's demands determine what really deserves your attention. Instinctively, you picture yourself handling situations and issues that could arise in the coming months, years, or decades. You mentally rehearse what you plan to do in various worst-case and best-case scenarios. Your forethought prepares you to deal with whatever happens. You are a flexible person. You are not easily flustered by unexpected events, problems, or opportunities. By nature, you are the group member who moves through the day handling unexpected situations as they arise. Some are important. Others are not so important. You probably have earned a reputation for changing plans to deal with surprises. Because of your strengths, you generally find it is easier to know a person when the individual understands how to take life easy. Unraveling the mystery of what makes someone unique cannot be rushed, in your estimation. This explains why you intentionally avoid people who are constantly harried, hurried, stressed, or tense.

Busting Barriers with Mind Shift Changes

BUSTING BARRIERS WITH MIND SHIFT CHANGES
notes from Dave Ferguson on Craig Groeschel

Think differently about your church culture.

• Don’t say, “Our people won’t ___________” (insert problem). Instead you should say, “We have not led our people to ____________” (insert problem).

Think differently about the mission.

• Are you about the mission or are you about guarding people’s feelings?

Think differently about people leaving the church.

• The normal mindset is “we can’t let anyone leave.”

Think differently about limitations.

• Most of the time we say, “we can’t because we don’t have _______.” Great leaders see opportunities where others see limitations.

3 ASSIGNMENTS FOR MAKING A MIND SHIFT CHANGE

1. Find someone one or two steps ahead of you and learn how they think.
2. Identify one wrong mindset and ask God to renew your mind with truth.
3. Identify one painful decision you’ve been avoiding and commit to making the right decision immediately.

Strengths?

Too often we spend to much of our time trying to develop our weakness and not our strengths. What happens if we start focusing and improving those things that God has naturally talented us with. Those that God has gifted us with. Strengths Finder 2.0 is a business tool to help you find your strengths and improve on them. (Re-Post from Brad Ruggles)

The Path of Most Resistance
As kids, when we came home with a report card that was all A’s and B’s with one D which did we spend the most time on? Right, we tried to fix that D so that we could be a good, “well-rounded” student.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we just ignore our areas of weakness or tell our children that it’s ok to fail classes they’re not good at. The problem arises when we spend so much time working on fixing our shortcomings that we neglect to invest time into improving our strengths.

Overcoming deficits is an essential part of the fabric of our culture. Our books, movies and folklore are filled with stories of the underdog who beats one-in-a-million odds. And this leads us to celebrate those who triumph over their lack of natural ability even more than we recognize those who capitalize on their innate talents.

Tom Rath, Strengths Finder 2.0

Climb Every Mountain
Have you ever been told by a well-meaning parent or teacher, You can be anything you want to be as long as you try hard enough! This flawed maxim of personal development may sound good but is usually a recipe for frustration and discouragement. No matter how hard I try or how much I practice I’ll probably never be much of a singer because I just wasn’t blessed with a singing voice. I can set my mind to becoming the best CPA but let me tell you, you definitely wouldn’t want me preparing your tax return (I suck at numbers). Here’s a simple formula from Strengths Finder 2.0 to illustrate:

So in my case, let’s say on a scale of 1 to 5 that I am a 2 when it comes to my singing ability (I’m sure if you heard me you may choose a negative number but that’s beside the point). Even if I score a perfect 5 for investment (the time spent practicing and building my knowledge and skills) the most I’ll I can ever hope to attain in this area is a 10 (5 x 2).

The inverse is also true. When I place the maximum investment into the areas in which I have the most natural talent and ability, the results are far greater.

Be A Better Version of Who You Already Are
The idea that we can create perfectly well-rounded individuals in our schools and universities is a myth. There is no such thing as a perfectly balanced individual. We’re all going to have areas where we excel and areas where we fall short.

The truth of the matter is this: you cannot be anything you want to be - but you can be a lot more of who you already are.

So let’s turn this into a practical discussion.

What Are Your Strengths?
List your top 3 strengths. There’s a time and place for modesty but this isn’t it. I want you to list your natural talents and abilities, the things that make you come alive.

Broken Glass

Mark Batterson brings up a very true and interesting point in his Broken Glass post. A point we in the church should listen to and learn from:

I've blogged about trojan horses and purple cows. Here's what I mean by broken windows.

In the March 1982 issue of Atlantic Monthly, James Wilson and George Kelling wrote a piece titled Broken Windows. They argued that something as insignificant and innocuous as a broken window sends a subliminal message. If the window is left unrepaired it communicates that crime is ok. So Wilson and Kelling argued that the way to fight serious crime is by cracking down on small infractions.

That is precisely what happened in New York City when Rudolph Giuliani was elected mayor in 1994. He cracked down on squeegee pests; arrested fare jumpers; and cleaned up the graffiti on subway cars. Critics said it was a waste of time and a waste of money. Statistics would suggest otherwise. The murder rate was more than cut in half.

In his book, Broken Windows Broken Business, Michael Levine applies the broken window theory to business.

A broken window can be a sloppy counter, a poorly located sale item, a randomly organized menu, or an employee with a bad attitude. It can be physical, like a faded paint job, or symbolic, like a policy that requires customers to pay for customer service. When the waiter at a Chinese restaurant is named Billy Bob, that’s a broken window.

Can I share two of my pastoral pet peeves? Unevenly folded bulletins and misspelled words on worship slides! I know those things aren't apocalyptic! But everything says something about everything. Or to put it another way, little things are big things. We need to strive for excellence in everything we do. One of the things that brings me the greatest joy is when we do something really small really well. I think it honors God.

What is Next....

I have no idea. And tonight I realized that I would rather have it this way. It is forcing me to rely on my Creator and trust Him. I have a burning inside my soul to see lives changed and to allow God to use me in that process. I want people to meet JESUS! The real Jesus. Not one they've created in their heads or the world has created. I want them to meet JESUS! In all His power, in all His love, in all His forgiveness and I want to see their lives transformed. I want to see His church transformed!

What is next? I have no idea and I'm okay with that! My God is a big God with an AMAZING BIG PLAN!

This Post is For Me, Not You.

Warning: the following has a very good chance to make no sense to you. I just needed a open place to share my heart. Bare with me.

I've been doing a lot of thinking over the past couple of weeks. With a lot of things I held onto in my life being removed this week, it's given me plenty of time to process and evaluated. About a month ago I decided to not plant Ridgepoint. I decision that wasn't easy for me to make, but the right decision. Ridgepoint is going to go into my book as a failure (which isn't a bad things). We can't grow as followers and leaders if we aren't willing to fail. Mark Batterson suggests that the cure of failure is not successes, but small amounts of failure. We have to fail to get us to the place God wants us to be. The place where His power is truly shown. I took a risk, as we all should. A risk that I believe God could of blessed, but I got in the way. In hindsight, I'm glad I made the decision when I did, because it would a been too much for me to handle if I was still planting and had a week like I did last. I don't know how I would of reacted. I would of been two pre-view services in and dealing with life. It would of been hard.

Why do I think Ridgepoint failed? I couldn't carry the weight of the church on my shoulders and as a church planter you carry that weight. My heart was for the existing church. Northwest Valley has plenty of churches. I got too focused on the church and not on Whom who called me to plant one.

Don't get me wrong. I've learned a lot this year. My heart has changed toward non-believers, the church and my God. I wouldn't change this last year for the world. As hard as it was at times, I love the outcome of it. A new me. I don't look at life the same way. I still have a long ways to go, but I'm on the right path now. I've learned how to be crazy in love with God and with others. I still miss ministry and ask God daily to give me a place to service in my passion, but I trust His plan and hold onto that hope.

Someone asked me this week if I made the right decision to leave Arrowhead. My answer was this to them: Yes! I wouldn't be the man I am today if I stayed. Nothing against Arrowhead, I'm back there now, but God had to get me uncomfortable to take me on this journey. I was happy and comfortable at Arrowhead and God never moves when you're comfortable. He moves when you've decided to get uncomfortable and do whatever He is calling you to do. I got uncomfortable, took a risk and God blessed that. I would make the same decision again.

My prayer: God, give me an opportunity to be reminded every day that You are God and You are Holy. That Your thoughts are greater then my thoughts and Your ways greater then my ways. You are the God of this universe and I stand in awe today. Push me to become the man you've called me to be. Bring people around me to love on me and challenge me in my love toward you and the people you bled for. Remind me that You are always there and Your plan is always perfect. Even in the times I don't understand and beg to know why. Father, give me a place to use my talents and knowledge. Father, guide my path and give me opportunities to be dicisplined toward your purpose. God remind me that I am yours. Thank you father. Thank you God. Amen.

Side note: pray for two guys God has laid on my heart. Pray that God would keep opening doors and giving me boldness to plant and water seeds. Thank you God for speaking!

What Are Your Core Values?

What guides your church? All churches have core values, they just might not be written down on paper. Core Values guide the church in pursuing your vision and mission. They help you make decisions and next steps. They help you say 'no' and 'yes' to new ideas and ministries. Below were Ridgepoint's Core Values (elements that made up the heartbeat of Ridgepoint):

Our communities' needs are more important than our own.

It takes risk and faith to do what we are called to do.

We must do life together.

Being a Christ-follower is about being not doing.

We can't be healthy as a church, if you're not healthy in your home.

Money is never our focus, but giving gauges the heart.

It breaks my heart that these values never saw the light of day in the lives of people, but God's plan is perfect and sovereign. My heart is that more churches embody these values into the fabric of who they are. They're not Ridgepoint specific. We planned out our first years teaching based off of these values (elements) to take our people to the place God wanted us to be.

What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church? A Parable.

Didn't completely agree with the whole video, but it was cute and funny. Thought I would share it.

Team Model Leadership

One of the things that Ridgepoint Church taught me was the importance of a team. In our structure we had a senior pastor team (call it what you want) of five: lead pastor, creative pastor, strategics pastor, family pastor and executive pastor. I model that I was never able to see in action. I still believe it is a healthy way to lead a church and would love to see the model play out in my life. Craig posted a great post on this very subject over at Swerve:

Many leaders have a right-hand-man (or woman). To maximize your leadership effectiveness, I would suggest a right-hand-team.

For years, many churches that grew large enough had a senior pastor and his right-hand-man, the executive pastor. In my opinion, this is a dated and limited model of church leadership.

I suggest breaking the traditional “second spot” into two to four roles. I can’t tell you what those roles will be for you, but I’ll offer some broad suggestions.

Serving alongside the leader, you’ll probably want two to four team members that cover these roles:

• An administrative player. You’ll want to ensure someone is capable of building systems, structures, and accountability.
• A relational player. Hopefully you’ll have someone who is very good with people. This person could be an expert in recruiting, team building, pastoring, relational problem solving, or some combination of the above.
• An innovative player. In the best environment, you’ll have someone who is an idea-person. This team member is often young (but not necessarily). You’ll want to make sure this innovative mind isn’t rebellious and is a team player. When you find a person like this, she’ll be a great asset to your team.
• A stabilizing player. Most good teams have a person who can rise above the details and see the big picture. This person may not be the most visible, but is often one of the most important. He is someone who can bring objectivity and stability in the middle of challenges.

Jump into the discussion!

It's Not Spiritual Warfare

It's not spiritual warfare if you brought the problems upon yourself. Too many Christians complain of being in the mist of spiritual warfare when all the things being thrown at them are the outcome of their past actions. Lets not give satan too much credit and examine our actions. Jesus didn't promise us, "you won't feel pain and you won't have to live with the consequences to your bad decisions." Lets man up believers and make our past right. Sorry for the rant, but I read 5 blog posts and talked with three people that last two days and that's all I've heard.

Random Randomness

My brother made a comment on his blog about my lack of posting this week. Up until then I forgot I had a blog and that I've been neglecting him for 6 days. If it was a child he would be dead. I am and ready then ever. That's not true. I'm back today and we'll see about the rest of the week. I figure, if I under promise and over deliver my blog will come out on top (I wouldn't suggest you using that for a life strategy). Anyways, here is what I've been up to:

Went to Cali last weekend and hung with the family. Very cool to see the boys. It's a blast to watch them interact with each other. They are pretty funny kids.

Work has been slow. Hours have been cut way back to get ready for the holiday season (I know, it made no sense to me either), but at least there will be plenty of overtime in a couple of weeks to take advantage of.

Went to the State Fair on Saturday, which was cool. Got to go for free which is always better. Went on some spinning ride with Cal and regretted it the rest of that day and the next. My head wouldn't stop spinning.

Been working and processing through some thoughts on a couple ministry ideas. Could be pretty cool.

I've been away from my computer the last couple of days and have a lot of blog posts to read. Somewhere around 130 (got to love Google Reader).

Sitting in Starbucks right now. I think I get an instant headache just walking in this place now. It is crazy to think that I haven't worked for them for over 6 months.

Finally watched "You Don't Mess with the Zohan." Not a movie I would recommend. I wasn't really funny and had a lot of crude humor. Stinks. I was really looking forward to it. Watched "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?" It was pretty good. Interesting to see another prospective and I'm a fan of Morgan Spurlock. He also did Super Size Me and 30-Days.

Check the Heart

One of my biggest fears and greatest prayers is that I do something, I believe is right, when it's wrong. I look at it this way: too many people in history destroy and harm with a mindset they are doing the right thing and come to find out they were wrong.

I pray constantly for my heart and for people around me that love Jesus and love me (in that order) to speak into my life. I'll be the first to admit when I was wrong, my problem is I don't always know I was wrong until later. So I pray and ask God to speak clear and with wisdom (key ... with wisdom) through people to my heart. Asking God to guide my steps and my actions.

There are things in my life that I pray and talk with God about constantly, because I haven't gone through them before. Decisions are always taken back to scripture. My mom gives me a hard time, because a lot of things to me, because of scripture, are black and white. Not a lot of gray. To check your heart you must go back to scripture. Examine your actions and your thoughts to how God describes how they should be.

God spoke to my heart this weekend and I need to make amends with some people. I don't know how it will turn out, but I do know I need to open up conversation and love people. Whether I think they should be loved or not. Thank you God for your words of truth and healing.

Now, go check your heart!

7 Questions to Ask in Making a Decision

Jeff posted about some of his takeaways from his coaching network that Perry Noble hosts on the east coast. Which I would pay big money to be able to attend, if I only had big money. In their last coaching network these 7 questions were shared in response to making decision in ministry:

Does this decision compromise the Gospel?

Does this negatively impact the vision?

Is this something that we can genuinely be excited about?

Is this a temporary solution?

Is this adding more to the plate or making things more simple?

Is this excellence or extravagance?

Am I looking out for what is good for the church or for what is good for my area?

For me, number six hit home. I have a hard time figuring out the difference between excellence and extravagance. I love for thing to look good. I work hard for them too, but at times it hurts in the long run, because something else got forgotten.

Revisit Your Church’s Vision, Mission, and People Focus

I don't read this blog that often, but I this was a great post about vision and importance of not just for the health of the ministry, but your ability to reach new believers. Ministry Marketing Coach.com post the follow post and knocked it out of the park:

Work out a written Vision and Mission plan the staff (or lay ministry team) can all get behind. You may already have mission and vision documents. It needs to be determined if the church is actually functioning according to them. Also, many times the vision and mission are too general to inspire action. What are the real ministry dreams of your church? Where is God leading you? Find out together!

Brainstorm with the staff (or lay ministry team) on ways to fill in the GAP between the vision and the present situation. If you don’t know where you are going, any road will do. But if you have a target you are aiming at, you can develop a clear plan anyone can follow.

Write out the next steps for at least the next 6-18 months. What are the “low hanging fruit” you can harvest right now? What actions can you work on now that moves you toward the vision?

Think more about what your strengths and weaknesses are. (Consider a church health survey ChurchCentral.com). Know your strengths and work from them. Some of your weaknesses will never become strengths, be who you are! David couldn’t fight using Saul’s armor—why should you try to be someone you are not? On the other hand, if you have weaknesses that are due to a broken process or lack of training–they can be improved, why not understand your problems and tackle them?

Determine your ministry’s best focus considering your strengths (in light of your vision and mission). Every ministry is unique by God’s design. There are people only you can reach!

Consider your opportunities and threats. Study community issues that could impact your ministry for good or bad. Work out a list of them and how the church plans to respond to them.

I'm a huge fan of the importance of vision in the church. It makes ministry easy. Anyone in the body can make a decision based on the vision. "I want to start such and such ministry." "Does it fit this and this aspect of our vision." Yeah, it forces you to have a hard conversations with people, but it makes the ministry simple.

God Is Moving and I'm Excited

I'm excited for what is next, but after much prayer and evaluation I have decided to not plant Ridgepoint Church.

This year has been a time of growth for me. God has changed my heart and has taught me to be crazy in love with Him and teaching me to be crazy in love with others. I thank God for this journey He has had me on over the last year. He has molded and shaped me for His church, just not start a church from the ground. I don't know what God has in store for me over the next couple of months. I have my ideas, just waiting on His plan.

Thank you for your prayers and support over the last twelve months. Know that God heard them blessed accordingly.

Thank you God for loving and having a plan for me.

Under the Influence

Steven talked on his blog, Steven Furtick.com today about being under the influence of paranoia, momentum and doubt in a place of leadership and the lack of sound decision you as a leader has when you allow these three to take over your thoughts:

Sometimes as a leader, I find myself making decisions so dumb that it’s almost like I’m drunk on something.
There are obvious elements that can intoxicate leaders: pride, jealousy, sin, lust…
But lately I’ve been thinking of some less obvious leadership intoxicants that often seem to impair my judgment. Here are just a few:

1. Paranoia.
Occasionally I hear of one or two families who have left the church, and I find myself playing out 45 scenarios as to why they left, what I said that made them mad, and who might leave next. Overdosing on paranoia causes a pastor to reduce his congregation to the lowest common denominator, and operate out of suspicion, needlessly punishing good, loyal people.

2. Momentum.
Sometimes success and momentum can make a leader cocky. You ever seen a drunk redneck start talking trash, looking for a fight, and get himself hurt because he didn’t even bother to size up his opponent? Kind of like that. I think this happened to Joshua after he defeated Jericho, and strutted into Ai without his best men. At times, I have presumed that God will keep doing tomorrow what he did yesterday, no additional faith or effort required. And this always ends badly.

3. Doubt
You’ve got to be careful. Someone might slip something strong into the punch bowl while you’re not looking. Proverbs 4:23 warns you to guard your heart above all else, because the issues of life flow from it. When you let people who don’t have your best interests at heart speak into your life with open access, they can contaminate your pure faith with drops of discouragement and doubt. And next thing you know, you find yourself inebriated by insecurity.

Leaders, we’ve got to sober up. We’re carrying precious cargo.

Doubt hit me hard. When I first read the title, I assumed something else and then it spoke what I needed to hear. Perry Noble says he only listens to those that love Jesus and love him and in that order. And that he prays constantly for God to speak through those people. There is some sound wisdom for you.

He is my problem: I want to believe people. I have to be VERY careful in what I believe when people talk. It's my weakness, I recognize it. One level of protection, take what they say and HOW they say it (just as important) back to scripture. If it contradicts God's word. Throw it out and don't give it any more thought.

P.S. For someone that doesn't believe in the Bible I sure do put a lot of trust in it. ;)

Ebay Layoffs

Ebay is in the process of laying off 1,500 employees. What happened? Only a couple of years ago Ebay was the place to buy online. It was the place with all the deals and now it is in the history books. They got comfortable with their style of doing business and their style went out of date. There is a couple of lessons for ministry to be learned here:

1. Just because it has worked in the past, doesn't mean it is going to work in the future.
2. You always have to be pushing the envelope. Don't get comfortable.
3. Don't grow too big too fast.
4. Make sure the ministry will make a lasting impact and not become a fad.

TOP 100 - Outreach

Not so interested in the TOP 100 Largest Churches, but the TOP 100 Fastest Growing Church is where it is at.
I'm going to watch churches that are movers and shakers and we even have some in Arizona. No love on the west side, but we can change that. I had to purchase the PDF so I won't show the list, but if you are wanting to check it out you can get a copy at www.outreach.com. There are some things that these Fastest-Growing-Churches have in common (that I've noticed):

1. Clear Vision: they know what God is calling them to do and they are RUNNING in that direction. They don't let anything or anyone come in the way for what God is doing and they limit their ministries to their vision. Because their vision is clear, they use it as a guide to which direction the church will head with specific ministries and all the ministries in the church align with the vision.

2. Simple Ministry: the fastest growing churches keep things simple. They don't over populate their church calendars with individual minsitries events, but with the church as a whole's ministry and vision (there is that vision again). They understand that even though the ministry could do great things, it could be a ministry that God hasn't asked their church to do. Being aligned with God - their budget, time and energy are all aligned as well and they are seeing results.

3. People Are Crazy in Love: their churches are full with people that are excited by the vision and what God is doing. They are living lives that reflect being crazy in love with God and others. They are changing and transforming peoples lives around them.