I’m a believer…

I’ve become a huge fan of Sarah Palin.  I watched her speech from the RNC the other night.  Stellar.  Loved her.  The only thing she could do better is to actually be running herself…w/ McCain as her VP.  I also watched her speech/sermon that she gave to a Masters Commission group in Alaska.  It was great as well.

I love this lady.  Don’t know much more than anyone else does about her…she just seems solid.  She seems like a normal person raising a normal family.  I hope I’m able to see her in the White House in some fashion.

What are YOUR thoughts on Sarah Palin?

Twitter

You guys can follow me now on Twitter. It’s like a minute-by-minute, thought-by-thought blog. You can sign up to “follow” me on it. Basically means you’ll receive up to the minute thoughts as I post…I know, scary!

Enjoy. I’ll try to keep the thoughts flowing.

Sunday in the Rearview

What a weekend. I packed, I moved, I churched (I’m sure that’s not a word!), I met, I dodgeballed, I crashed. Here’s the quickest recap of my day that I can muster…

• At church @ 7:30AM.
• Did announcements in all three services.
• Not sure of total attendance. Looked great for a holiday weekend. We had 102 in student ministries. Not too bad for a Sunday attendance.
• Services had good energy. 830 was not so much, but the other 2 melted my face.
• We very tired/hungover from moving over the weekend.
• Saw tons of new faces. Met a lot of them…great people. The Creek has the best people.
• Taught in Varisty (high school group). We had around 50something students in there. It was a good vibe. I taught as a large group but them at strategic points circled them up in groups with leaders & questions about a point. They also had fill in the blank sheets & most of them were filling them in. It was VERY INTERACTIVE in there. Great responses/feedback from the kids. I loved that. Several of them talked about how much they liked it.
• Spent some time just hanging out with people in our new commons area(s). I love those spaces. So functional. So relational.
• Met with the new leaders/point couple for our college ministry during the 1130 service. They will do well.
• Noticed a few things I want to work on with our children’s check-in.
• Met with around 10 college students over lunch. Sort of a core/launch team for the new ministry. It’s going to be called FOUR:TWELVE. After 1 Tim 4:12. I like it & what we can do with it marketing wise. They are a passionate, driven, opinionated, raw, loving, mature, worshipful group of kids. I love them so much.
• They all came to the new house after we met and just sat around talking and laughing. We were tired, but it was fun.
• At 5PM I went to our youth dodgeball tourney. I don’t really know how many kids were there. I would probably say close to 50. With adults it was a lot more. We had a BLAST. I’m actually sore. Guess I’m older than I want to let on. We have GREAT students. The best I’ve had in years. We have INCREDIBLE adult leaders. Bob Ford, Mike & Kristy Burns, Amanda Boling, Rob Husted, Sammy, and several parents helped out. I’m telling you THE GREATEST student ministry in the country.
• Came home, cleaned up, ate, and watched ENCHANTED with my entire family laying in my bed. Great cap to a great day.
• Slept like a beast.

Wednesday Night Thoughts…

Last night we had the kickoff for theMIX, our midweek programming for middle & high school students. We take a break in mid-week programming for the summer, so we ramp back up this time of year. It was also the first night in our new student facility. Here are some thoughts I had going into, during & on the other side of this night…

• I was nervous. I always get nervous. My #1 fear = no one will show up. I’ve always been this way & I always will I think. We did ZERO marketing. We just told our church that midweek was back.
• I was also nervous as to how the students would like the room.
• Kids SHOWED UP! We had 122 students there. Great for a first night. Exactly 20 first time guests. Plus, there were a lot of regulars who were out.
• The room is great but the sound quality is bad. Too many hard surfaces. I’m working on sound absorption pieces.
• The band did a great job. Jordan, our worship leader, did better than ever. He really led & taught the kids.
• Our volunteers were awesome. Lots of newbies. They did well. I think we had a team of around 16-17 vols. From security to tech to cafe.
• Our registration team were overwhelmed but handled it with grace & ease.
• Honestly, it was somewhat awkward for me speaking in the new room. It still feels like we’re living in someone else’s house & playing with their stuff. And at any moment they will come home & be mad.
• I felt like the message I taught was one of the worst in years for me. I needed to give them a refund.
• Kids responded though.
• We have 2 video screens walls! They are HUGE & crystal clear.
• We gave away over 100 new shirts in about 15 mins.
• We did the grossest game ever.
• We are doing a few retools to the service flow to help out for next week.
• Some things still weren’t finished in the room…it will take a few weeks.
• I was hung-over this morning from last night. The good kind though. The Christian kind of hangover.
• Now I’m nervous again. Will they all show back up next week?

Dream Team

Every great vision and dream requires several things to make it become a reality. I believe that one of the most vital is a team. On the local church level we usually call people on this team a volunteer. It takes a team (bunch of volunteers) to make the dream become a reality.

With the opening of our new facility at the church, with launching our fall programming, with kicking our student ministry back off, and with re-organizing all of our teams — this is the time when we assimilate tons of new volunteers/team-members. I love this time. My favorite thing to do is to be around and work with volunteers.

Here are a few highlights I’ve had with our volunteers lately…

• At Leadership Summit I watched one of our vols (who I never knew of as much of a “worshipper”) standing off to the side of the auditorium where she couldn’t be seen with her hands raised/eyes closed, singing with all she had. Keep in mind, she’d been there for at least 2 solid days serving others to enhance their experience. She’s tired. But she got it. God is alive in her.
• Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had vol teams doing EVERYTHING at the church. Vaccuming, building, moving, loading, unloading, etc. Things that are in & out of their gift mix. All doing it with JOY.
• I think of Mike. He’s a guy I met 2 days ago. He’s had a rough few weeks I think. He’s the best guy. Serving, smiling, humble, cool. Loving God, connecting to the church. Today he showed me some new things he’d done in the student center w/o me asking. He’s a champ. Thanks Mike! You made my day so much better.

Ephesians tells us as ministers that our job description is: “To equip the saints (volunteers) to do the ministry”. There is NOTHING about doing my job that gives me more pleasure. I LOVE our dream teamers at the Creek and I can’t wait to see what God does IN them and THROUGH them!

Creekers…thanks for letting me be a part of your lives.

A Great Leader – pt 1

I’ve been very privledged to lead under, above and alongside some incredible leaders during my 10+ years in church ministry. I’ve picked up a ton of character traits that all of these “next level” leaders posses. I thought over the course of this week, I’d share some of them with you. Keep in mind, this isn’t ALL of them, just the ones I have something to say about…

THEY ALWAYS THINK “TEAM”

A great leader knows that they are better when they build through others. I’ve heard the acronym for TEAM = Together Everyone Acheives More. I’ve seen this in the better leaders I’ve been around. They build into others and perform well on the shoulders of their team.

Here are some practical ways I’ve seen leaders “THINK TEAM”:

• Don’t care who gets the credit. In fact, often times, defer the credit even if you’re the one who was the difference maker.
• Anytime you’re in a public setting, recognize the team. Build them up publicly in some way.
• Be willing to give away the credit for the win and be willing to take the blame for the failure.
• Be honest with people. Behind the scenes have the difficult conversation. Call shortcomings on the carpet.
• When there is an issue — go STRAIGHT to the person. Don’t go to others on the team.
• Collaborate. Ideas are so much better when they are ran through several others.
• Give actual responsibilities. Allow people on your team to do it themselves, to succeed or to fail. Then coach them through it.

How do you “think team”?

10 Reasons to Invite People to Follow Christ Every Week At Church

I read on Craig Groeschel’s blog today a GREAT post advocating the need to give people the invite to accept Christ each Sunday or each time you have the platform to. I thought it was worth reposting for you guys. Not only does he look like Tom Cruise, but he can also write. Enjoy…

1. Someone may be at church only once.
2. The Holy Spirit may have been working on them for months or years.
3. Even some churched people don’t understand the gospel.
4. Many trust in the church for salvation instead of trusting Christ.
5. Seeing others saved gives believers another reason to worship and motivation to witness.
6. New Christians can “light a church on fire.”
7. Angels in heaven get to party when one person meets Christ.
8. Hell is a real place.
9. You care deeply about people.
10. Families, workplaces, neighborhoods, cities, and generations could be different when one person meets Christ.

You’re welcome.

What a Sunday…

Whew! What a day! Man this was a HUGE Sunday for us @ the Creek. Here are some quick things that we started or that happened today…

• We went to 3 Sunday morning services. 8:30. 10. 11:30.
• I was nervous about 830 but it was great. Attendance looked like a normal Wed night crowd, they had great energy. 10 was PACKED. 1130 was PACKED.
• Parking went very well. I was also nervous about this considering we had a shorter turnaround time between services.
• Marty knocked it out of the park today. He was bit racy talking about sex and stuff. He also went a wee bit long. It will take us all time to learn the new service format/time. Of course, he’s the boss, so he can do whatever the heck he wants!
• We had great teams giving tours between the services. I was so proud of my team walking people through the student area. They were more excited than the people looking around.
• Big props to people on our Host Team today. I noticed several of them giving random/spur of the moment tours to people. Mike Adams probably gave 12 tours today to new families. He’s the man!
• Tons of BRAND NEW faces.
• We saw the results of putting up billboards this past week.
• Next week a mailer goes out, so we should have an even larger crowd next week.
• Had a backed up line with the kids check-in. There are several reasons. Some our fault, some out of our control. Through it all Allyson Campbell did a MONSTERS JOB of leading the way through that. She’s such an asset to our team.
• People were in AWE of the the building. It was neat watching everyone walk through the front doors.
• Great watching the kids walk through our new Elem wing. It’s like freakin’ Disney.
• The best thing about today is that it wasn’t even the grand opening and there was this much buzz. Next week will be SICK.
• Had a great meeting with our leadership team for the Fall. Great things planned for student ministries. 39 adults showed up to work with our students. Several of my core team were out & we had a bunch of new faces! Woo Hoo.
• I am so blessed to have a church family like I do, to serve alongside a staff that is also a bunch of best friends, to have the incredible volunteer team with me that I do, to have the greatest friends in the world, to have the family that I do, and to be able to worship my Lord in a worry free, religion free and coat & tie free environment! I love our church.

Creekers who read this: start inviting your friends NOW for next week. Don’t put it off. Use the buzz from today to your advantage and make the call, send the email, of facebook them. Go for it. If you need tools to help, come by the church in the morning and grab some invite cards. This is our season…let’s go for it!

“Explosive Growth = Dramatic Meltdowns”

Another of Bill Hybels quotes from his new book AXIOM. In this proverb he talks through the issue of having/preparing for huge growth only to realize that your internal structure and systems are not up to par with the numbers that may come from the increase. Here are some great thoughts:

• It is a temptation for all church leaders being blessed by God-given growth is to delight themselves fully in the influx of new people but then forget to plan for how to actually assimilate those people into their ministry.
• When this happens, God has done his part (brought the growth). We just haven’t done ours (map out a next steps strategy).
• We had been so singularly focused on our plans to get new people into our church that we failed to provide necessary infrastructure in the event that all that planning actually bore fruit!
• Have a bold plan for explosive growth! Just be sure to tend the needs that all that growth will bring

Language Matters

I’m reading Bill Hybels new book AXIOM.  I love it.  Several reasons:  1. It’s a collection of his most famous/effective leadership sayings/proverbs/axioms.  They are rich.  2.  It’s written where a chapter is only a few pages.  This is great for my ADD.  So here’s a summary of the one I read this morning.

“Language Matters”

Bill says that the “very best leaders I know wrestle with words until they are able to communicate their big ideas ina  way that captures the imagination, catalyzes action, and lifts spirits.  They coin creeds and fashion slogans  and create rallying cries, all because they understand that language matters.”

Other great points:

• Most people think language is “inconsequential”.  They are dead wrong.
• Leaders rise and fall by the language they use.
• Be able to speak in shorthand.  Insider language that deepens community and creates clarity and a special sort of solidarity.
• Choose the right words and you’ll set up everyone you lead for a level of effectiveness you never though could be possible.
• Leaders must pay the price to find the right language.  When they do, the payoff is huge.
• He agonizes over the right language in the following situations:  communicating to the church, to leaders, to underperforming staff, etc.