We do not need to manufacture great things for God; God is more than capable. But here is the incredible part: God chooses to display his power within us. As we make ourselves available to God, it is “his power at work within us.” This explains why we find ourselves serving in ways we never thought possible. It is the reason why normal people do extraordinary things. Having spent fifteen years in California, I had the opportunity to watch people surf. A good surfer is not deemed good because of her ability to manufacture the waves. That’s impossible. It is her ability to ride the right wave that makes surfing enjoyable. The same is true in your faith walk. Too often, we think it is our job to generate spiritual activity. It’s not. It’s our job to discern where God is moving and then align ourselves with his power. When…
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Over the last few days I've been watching online training videos from the Association of Related Churches. ARC exists to help start churches that start churches. The training videos feature Chris Hodges, senior pastor at The Church of the Highlands. Yesterday I watched a video entitled, "Teamwork Makes the Dream Work." At the end, the late Billy Hornsby spoke for a few minutes and said this: "You cannot be insecure and build great teams." That one line was worth the entire video. Effective leaders are not perfect nor superhuman. In fact, effective leaders know their strengths AND their weaknesses. Being secure in their strengths, they know better than trying to operate in areas of weaknesses. When a leader is insecure, it shows up in many different ways. Insecure leaders hold too tightly to things they should let go of. Insecure leaders have more answers than they do questions. Insecure leaders…
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Scott Williams served as a key leader and Campus Pastor for LifeChurch.tv. Now he is the Chief Solutions Officer for Nxt Level Solutions, a consulting company he founded to help businesses, non-profits and individuals with both internal and external growth. Here is an article he wrote -- "Four Reasons Leaders Fail" -- that every leader should take to heart. ********** Leadership is the most commonly used word when it comes down to the success of an organization, product, group, or team. No matter how you slice the success pie, the success pieces all boil down to leadership. There are countless books about how to be a successful leader, 21 laws of leadership, how to go from good to great, and the list goes on and on. People thrive on learning about leadership; the fact that John Maxwell has sold over 19 million books is a clear indication of such. There…
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The following is from the end of an article by John Piper on preaching: "I stand vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people who this week could go over the edge whether they are ready to or not. I will be called to account for what I said there. That's what I mean by preaching." Read "My View on Preaching" by John Piper.
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I picked up a copy of Dave and Jon Ferguson's book "Exponential" yesterday. After reading the first fifty pages, my first question was: "Why didn't I buy this book five years ago?" Then I realized it hadn't been written five years ago ... so I felt a bit less guilty. In 2001, when Tonya and I were leaving the Churches of Christ, I interviewed for the Senior Associate Pastor position with Dave and Jon's dad, Earl Ferguson. The job went to the other candidate but I was honored to be considered. A large part of the attraction for me was the opportunity to apprentice for two years with Earl. Now, ten years later, I'm able to be a virtual apprentice to his sons through their writing. How cool is that!
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