Bring It.

"Soon afterward he (Jesus) went on through the cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God."  - Luke 8:1

Conviction:  I can't proclaim the good news if I'm not willing to bring the good news.   

What if Jesus only proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God? He would have still brought truth - it just wouldn't have been as effective or clarified the total picture of God's redemption plan.

We're working really hard right now to equip people to BRING the good news of the kingdom to their areas of influence.  One way that I'm personally getting involved is through The Mentoring Project which taps into the local church to find godly men to mentor fatherless boys.

We must look for open-door opportunities to love and serve our city.  Open-door means there are people and places that actually WANT you in their lives.  Neighborhood associations, volunteer groups, clubs and organizations would love you to be a part of them.  As you are welcomed - you have the opportunity to love, reach out and build friendships with people who are looking for faith, hope, and love.  It's time we didn't just proclaim the good news, but bring it as well.

May the love and compassion that Christ poured out for us, be poured out through us to those in our cities that need it most as we proclaim and bring the good news of the kingdom.

Guerrilla Lovers (not the animal kind)

As a pastor I'm not a big fan of preaching other people's messages.  In fact, I honestly can't think of the last time I used a book to directly influence a message series.  That all changed this week as we dived into Vince Antonucci's new book "Guerrilla Lovers: Changing the world with revolutionary compassion".  I think this book is a perfect fit for our students at truelife church, and I can't wait to see the impact it makes.  I bought 10 books today for my leaders, and I think you'd really enjoy Vince's humorous, yet compelling writing style as he challenges us to reach people with intentional love that exposes the gospel of Jesus.  You can get it on Amazon here.  Do it, and join the Guerrilla revolution.

HOLD, HOLD, HOLD...but not too long...

Agree or disagree:

The right people + The right vision + The right target + Bad timing = disaster.

In terms of timing, what would have happened if they had engaged 5 seconds earlier, or 5 seconds later?

2010 = Dream Year

I've been fortunate enough to be accepted into Dream Year.  A chance to really pursue & investigate what could be.  The following is from my DY Coach, who explained what DY10 is all about:

Dream Year is a 12-month process that's designed to help you bring your God-given dream to life.

You bring the dream.

I'll be your dream coach.

As a community of just 20 participants..

We'll make it happen.

While you go about executing your project, we'll walk through a 12-month curriculum that looks something like this...

January - Authenticating your dream (tracing its history, assessing your readiness, testing the idea, defining a clear project, raising your faith level, preparing for risk)

February - Building your platform (moving from beggar to influencer, finding your audience, trading value for information, becoming an expert in your field)

March - Defining your values (determining what you won't do, then determining what you will do, on the subject of excellence, building a team to bring your idea to life)

April - Funding your dream (great ideas are spreadsheets with skin on, identifying revenue sources, shaping your strategy, cash flow is everything, the art of making the ask)

May - Branding your project (developing a total user experience, a field guide to designers, developing a creative class around you, design as the foundation for what you do)

June - Creating milestones (working backward from the goal, productivity tools, the sacrificial substitution principle, how faith changes the order of action, )

July - Leveraging influence (if you don't have influence you borrow it, if you already have influence you still borrow it, creating social movements around your idea, networking with leaders who matter)

August - Partnerships (creating win-wins, the art of negotiation, rooting out great partnerships, angles of benefit, value exchanges, approaching partners)

September - Rainmaking (sales for people who hate sales, how to put yourself out there without losing dignity, systems that produce revenue, closing deals, invoicing, merchant gateways)

October - Shaping an organization (organizational systems, proprietary versus outsourced, contractors versus employees, legal issues, how to make your idea your living, etc.)

November - Positioning yourself (navigating the world of media, agents, publishers, and conference makers, marketing in an over-saturated field, differentiation)

December - Last-month epiphanies, unresolved issues, feedback and last minute-ideas, charting the future connectivity of the class of 2010

There will be monthly assignments that will help you work toward your dream. But you'll benefit from the influence, connections, resources, talents, and ideas of all of the participants. Each year will produce its own class of graduates... a fraternity if you will. A skull and bones of the Christian world.

I'm so thankful that I have a pastor/boss who is challenging me to grow this year and allowing me to pursue avenues such as DY10 to truly seek out God given dreams!  You don't have to be in Dream Year to move towards the fulfillment of your God-given dream.  Decide now to grow.  Decide now to take initiative.  Decide now to pray and then respond to God's leading.  It truly can be a DreamYear for us all.

So...I'd love to hear your story.  What's your Dream, and what steps are you taking to see it become a reality?

Lord, is that you? 3 Keys To Confirming God's Will

It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.
- Proverbs 25:2

The search for "God's will" seems to be at an all time high in the midst of my friends and family members at this very moment. I don't ever remember a time that so many people were seeking direction involving jobs, relationships, relocation, education, retirement, and overall direction in life. The resounding question is: "God! What do you want me to do?!?"

For some this question is birthed from dreams of what could be and should be. For others the question comes because of unexpected circumstances forcing a new direction in life. Ultimately, it doesn't matter how the question got there, the fact that it's there puts an intensity back into our prayer to glorify God and make wise decisions about our future.

As I seek out direction for my own life and family here are some things I'm beginning to realize:

1. God won't just tell you what to do. He's into relationship, not management. He wants you to seek out the answer by investigating, praying, and wrestling with Him. He must be your ultimate counselor above all (Proverbs 25:2; Psalm 16:7; Psalm 32:8;)
   
2. God is ok with you asking for confirmation before proceeding with big decisions. Moses asked for a sign (and another, and another - see Exodus 4), Gideon asked for a wet fleece - then a dry one (Judges 6). Jonathan asked for specific conversation (also known as smack talk) from the Philistines (I Samuel 14). Some see this as a lack of faith, but God knows you. His dreams are big - really big, and if it doesn't shake you to the core and ask for confirmation, you probably haven't heard from God in the first place.
   
3. God put people in your life to give wisdom - so seek their counsel. Just make sure they are the right people - there are way too many "yes-men" who don't have discernment, and way too many people who will discourage you due to their own lack of faith. (Proverbs 15:22; 11:14; 20:18)

Books have been written on this subject, but really it comes down to this: Be willing to wrestle with God and wait for his guidance. Struggle on the fine line of moving out in faith vs moving out in foolishness. I believe God loves a wrestler (see Jacob in Genesis 32).

God's will IS a big deal. What you do with your family DOES matter.

Don't just sit around and wait for an audible voice...
Don't just take a guess and do something...

Get busy and wrestle - and let God show you his will as you seek Him. He will counsel you, he will give you a sign, and he will confirm it through godly people...and then you will move in faith and confidence into the destiny of your life.

A confessional of some bad tasting Christian cookies.

Have you ever switched ingredients accidentally in a recipe? Have you ever measured out salt for the flour and flour for the salt? I think we can all agree that a pinch of flour and three cups of salt in a recipe for cookies would make a pretty nasty cookie!

If your Christian life was a cookie, what ingredient would prayer be? If we were honest, I think prayer would be like a "pinch of salt" in the recipe rather than "3 cups of flour". For me, it's so much easier to focus on strategy, leadership, mission, etc. But I know in my heart it's time to re-read the original recipe because all too often our cookies aren't turning out too great. As I read through the book of Mark, I see Jesus trying to reveal the true recipe God designed for us.

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed." Mark 1:35

And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" And he said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." (Mark 9:28-29)

And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seasts of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything thorugh the temple. And he was teaching them and sayng to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers. (Mark 11:15-17)

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24

I think Jesus was concerned because he saw a powerless people trying to accomplish God's mission. If I'm not mistaken, we believe in prayer WAY more than we actually spend time praying.

Reading about prayer, thinking about prayer, believing in prayer, watching other people in prayer - it's not the same as actual time spent in prayer. Let's get back to the original recipe. Let's put the priority of prayer where it should be, and see things happen that have been needing to happen for a long time. The world is overdue for a really tasty cookie!

Where are you?

"And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him..." Matthew 17:14

Wow, the very first phrase that I read from the Bible today lept out at me...go back and read that simple verse again, and focus on the location of Jesus...if we're not amongst a crowd of people, it is impossible for people to come up to us, and it is only in the crowd that we see God's miracles performed.

Where was Jesus? Amongst the crowd.
Where are am I? Amongst the four walls of my comfortable life - secluded from the crowd.

We must...I must...not live my Christianity inside the four walls of my life - I must go enter the lives of other people. It's ironic that as a pastor I find myself going days without encountering anyone in "the crowd" because I'm too busy spending time with other believers talking about and dealing with believer stuff. Ick. Why are we so good and repeating the words of Jesus but so bad at repeating the steps of Jesus?

How about some help here...

Jesus was amongst the crowd...Where are you?
How do you get into the lives of "the crowd"?
How can believers re-prioritize and find themselves in the same place Jesus would be?