CHURCH SIGNS



Ok, while I'm on a role tonight...

We, the church, do things like this and then wonder why people put bumper stickers on their cars that say, "Dear Jesus, please save me from your followers."

Note: If Christians think that your church signs are funny, change them!

IS IT JUST ME?

Ok - I have to agree with Jordan Cooper on this one... Is it just me or is this kind of weird?

Leave your comments, but please...stay clean.

FRIDAY NIGHT...



Well, it's 5:30pm on a chilly Friday night. You know it's winter when Starbucks pulls out the "red cups". I'm getting ready to pound out a couple of hours of study time here in Starbucks for Sunday and then heading off to see the new Matrix Revolutions w/ my friends Izzy and Ted.

Gotta go. More later...

CRAZY DAY



Wow...what a day. Spent the day downtown with Ted shooting a video - doing street interviews, asking the question: "What is the purpose of your life?" The shoot went great, but it was COLD. Brrrr... Winter is almost here.

We were having fun w/ the digital camera. Check these out... (An attempt at a little urban train photography...)
chi-town from the train::me::ted

Shot back on the train mid-afternoon, got back to the church and taught a baby/parental dedication class, had music rehearsal and spent the evening pre-editing the video so that I can have "our guy" edit it tomorrow. Pre-editing is such a long process, but saves us lots of $$$.

Tomorrow is study day. I'm opening up our new series this weekend, "The Purpose Driven Life". I am not nearly as prepared as I should be, but my day will be spent @ Starbucks tomorrow FOCUSED. Say it with me: FOCUSED. No A.D.D. tomorrow.

Goodnight.

RAISING UP LEADERS

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to make excuses for not raising up leaders?

“No one wants to step up and help.”
“It’s easier to do it myself.”
“It won’t get done right.”
“I don’t know how.”

I think we all know that without investing and empowering people to be a part of our teams we will fail – or if we do succeed, it will more than likely be at a much slower pace than it could be with a team to help us make it happen.

I don’t think you have to convince too many people that in order to push forward and accomplish what’s never been done before it takes a team – a group of people who work together in unity to see something incredible happen.

I heard someone once say that when you raise up leaders in an organization, it strengthens its “skeleton”. It provides it with a backbone and substance.

So how do we respond to people who might not find it very easy to raise up leaders?

Well I want to address one excuse, reason, justification or whatever we want to call it, that people use for why NOT to raise up leaders.

Reason #1: “No one wants to step up and help.”

If there are no people, I’m sure this is true. But if there are people around, I have a hard time buying this reasoning. Here’s why:

People are longing for leadership in their lives.

That’s right. People want to be led. Most people don’t want to be a part of a pathetic, self-absorbed community. Almost everyone I know in my life wants to be around people who have vision and want to bring others along with them on their journey.

It amazes me how just offering a little bit of vision, direction and leadership to people causes them to step up and do what they didn’t realize they had the capacity to do. Taking a moment to tell someone that you believe in them. Telling a person that you see potential in them. Sharing a story of inspiration with others. This is the job of a leader.

We can wait around until the cows come home, but if we aren’t pursuing people – going after people, then we are missing out on an important (and major) part of a leader’s job.

So instead of saying, “No one is stepping up”, first ask yourself, “Who have I approached?” “Have I painted a picture – cast a vision – helped them see what they have the potential of being a part of?”

We can wait and wait and wait and wait for leaders to step up. OR, we can get off of our lazyboys and recruit, pursue and go after the people around us who hold more potential than any of us realize.