Found this great post from Perry Noble. It's about what questions should church leaders be asking themselves. Seven Leadership Questions Teams Should Be Asking Yes, I KNOW that I posted a “seven things” deal yesterday…but we’re doing it again today…because…that’s what I felt like I should write about! :-) #1 – What do we need to stop doing? Leadership teams are often obsessed with new things they need to do…but what about things that need to STOP being done? Is there ANYTHING in your church that you are having to manufacture energy for? Is there anything that you attend ONLY because you are on staff…and not because you are genuinely excited about it? Why do you do the things you do…because you’ve always done them, or because you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus has commanded you to do them? If you need help in this area…I…
Read More
Later this week we'll pack up the kids and drive to Arkansas. I'm especially looking forward to the long, lonely stretches through Kansas. I hear they have Holiday Inn somewhere in Kansas. We're going to Arkansas to celebrate Tonya's grandmother's 90th birthday. Many of her relatives from her mom's side will be with us at Petit Jean mountain. I've not been there before but have heard about it from Tonya and from friends who went to Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. It should be a great time.
Read More
When we enter into a relationship with Jesus, we give him the right to go through our spiritual closet and add new items, as well as throwing out a few things. I can just imagine Jesus saying, "These pants really don’t match that shirt any more. Throw them out." That's one of the reasons that salvation is also referred to as conversion or transformation. It's not just about "being saved." It's about being transformed into the likeness of Jesus. No small task. What gets converted? For one thing, Jesus has given us a new way of conducting ourselves in our relationships. To be thrown out are things such as selfishness, greed, conceit, envy ... those old clothes that endanger our relationships. It might have been comfortable to wear selfishness on a cold winter's day, but it's not appropriate anymore. We also take on new goals as part of this conversion…
Read More
One of my favorite chapters in Primal by Mark Batterson is called "The Tribe of the Transplanted." It begins by discussing the topic of heart transplants and how the recipients are changed. Those who received new hearts spoke of having new desires, new passions. They spoke of having a sense of responsibility to the men and women who donated their hearts. Taking it from physiology to spirituality, Batterson then writes, "When you give your heart to Christ, Christ gives His heart to you." We become a part of the tribe of the transplanted. Having the heart of Jesus within us should move us to act and feel differently. Unfortunately, many Christ-followers are often viewed as heartless. And this is where Batterson talks about approaching our culture heart-first instead of head-first. He calls compassion the "ultimate apologetic." "If you are in Christ and Christ is in you, you cannot be okay…
Read More
I've been privileged to review a copy of "Primal" by Mark Batterson. It's about how today's church needs to rediscover what the Great Commandment means: "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31). As Batterson points out, we're not only not great at the Great Commandment, we're sometimes not even good at it. The book examines the four ways we are called to love God: Heart: compassion Soul: wonder Mind: curiosity Strength: energy The modern church often went out head-first into the world. Primal encourages us to go heart-first into the world. Loving God with all of…
Read More