The Truth About Waiting

Here is a recent message I did out of the book of Isaiah. Let me know what you think.

The Truth About Waiting

Filed under: My Journal, Uncategorized , Bible, God, Relevant Church Charlotte, sermon, truth, waiting

Looking For An Answer? You’ve Come to the Right Place.

The passage of Scripture in John 10:22-36 opened my eyes to a fault of mine. The Jews were asking Jesus to answer a simple question; “are you the Christ (Messiah)”? The problem with this question lies in Jesus answer; “I did tell you, but you did not believe”.

You see the problem did not originate with Jesus telling them the answer, it lied with the Jews not believing the answer they were given.

How often do we ask God for an answer to a prayer or question that He has already answered? I often want God to answer me or show me in the way I deem fit, but many times the answers don’t come that way. So instead of praying and asking for the answers we may need to pray for clarity. Are you searching for an answer to something? Maybe God has answered and the way He spoke was not the way you were seeking for the answer.

Food for thought.

Filed under: My Journal, Uncategorized , answers, God, Jesus, messiah, prayer, questions, relevant church

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

This year will probably be different than most from many of us. With the downturn of the economy and the unstableness of our future, it seems like we have nothing to be thankful for. I have run into many people that have lost jobs and lost savings and the only thing that they have is their family.

This year I am taking a different look at the holidays. I am going to take some time to be thankful for the small things in life. In the midst of all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I want to take a look around me and see the people that I am with. Sometimes we take for granted the people that are always around. This year I am going to make a special time to let my wife and children know just how thankful I am for them and how God has blessed me with a great family.

Here is a challenge to all of you out there. Take some time this year and write down the top 5 things that God has blessed you with. Make these things the focus of your Thanksgiving Day. Please don’t forget to give Him all the glory for those things. He is the reason we have all the blessings in the first place.

I would love to hear you top 5 lists.

Here is mine.

1. My wife Amber
2. My 3 Kids
3. Being able to do His work.
4. My health
5. His provision

Filed under: My Journal, Uncategorized , family, God, holidays, thanksgiving

7 Myths of Leadership

John Maxwell is one of the current times leadership gurus. He has written countless books on the subject of leadership that has helped shape many leaders. Below I wanted to list the 7 Myths of Leadership that come out of his book “Developing the Leader Within You”.  Many people that feel like they are leadership material often fall into one or multiple myths. We must be careful not to allow ourselves to be carried away from the truth.

1. Position Myth – I can’t from the top.
2. Destination Myth – When I get to the top, then I will learn to lead.
3. Influence Myth – If I were on top, then people would follow me.
4. Inexperience Myth – When I get to the top, I will be in control.
5. Freedom Myth – When I get to the top, I will no longer be limited.
6. Potential Myth – I can’t reach my potential if I am not the top leader.
7. All-or-Nothing Myth – If I can’t get to the top, then I won’t try to lead.

Take a look at your leadership. Do you fall into one of these myths of thinking? If so, you may want to pick up John’s book and begin to develop you leadership style.

Filed under: Uncategorized , developing leaders, john maxwell, leaders, Leadership, leading

Facebook

I have started a new group focused on prayer for our new church plant, Relevant Church. My goal is to get 1000 people praying for us on a continual basis. I am asking that if you are on facebook and you would like to commit to pray for us, please join the group. This group is not just to see how many people I can get to sign up, but rather a group of prayerful people that are willing to commit to pray for God’s will to be done.

Here is the link to the facebook group.

Filed under: Church Planting, Uncategorized , facebook, facebook groups, God, prayer, praying, relevant church, Relevant Church Charlotte

Great Leadership Article

Here is a great leadership blog from Craig Groeschel at Lifechurch.tv.

Team Dynamics

In the early stages of ministry, I suggest you never make anyone a
permanent member of a leadership team. Things change too quickly.
Determine limited time periods for a leader to serve. You can always
ask her to rejoin easier than you can ask her to leave.

When you’re building a team, you have to remember a team takes
time to build. (When you determine you have a “wrong”
player on the team, you must remove him sooner rather than later.)

You must be willing:

• To fight together. A team that can’t work through conflict will never be a team.
• To be loyal to the death. Even though you can fight behind closed doors, you ALWAYS stand together publicly. Disloyalty is never tolerated.
• To be transparent. If you can’t be brutally honest about everything, you don’t have a team.
• To care for each other. A team that is “all business” will eventually deteriorate. A ministry team must become a family.
• To have fun together. I always know a team is not healthy when I don’t hear them laughing often.

Filed under: Uncategorized , craig groeschel, Leadership, lifechurch.tv, team, working together

Review of Planting Conference

This weekend my wife and I attended a planting conference at Liberty University. This conference was sponsored by the NEXT Initiative. This 2 day seminar was an incredible time. We learned about the PD model and how we can “launch large”. Not only that there were tools that were discussed that were spot on to where we are right now.

Currently we are in the first 3 months of the 12 month launching phase. We are tightening up our vision, mission and values, along with praying about our team. The conference, hosted by Randy Smith (Discovery Church, NJ) and Hal Mayer (The Church at the Bay) was a practical time of learning how to build and launch a team.

If you are thinking on planting a church in the near future, I would recommend this conference to anyone.

Filed under: Church Planting, Uncategorized , church at the bay, Church Plant, discovery chruch, liberty university, purpose driven, purpose driven planting, relevant church, Relevant Church Charlotte