Category Archives: Best Practices

Awesomenessness, Best Practices, Life

Everyday Carry

The Essentials. The tools of the trade. My stuff.

Everyday there are certain items that you carry with you that enable you to make the most of your day. Maybe it’s as generic as your keys or as unique as your favorite pen. Whatever these items are, these objects are indispensable to accomplishing what comes your way day in and day out.

The website EDC allows people from all over the world to submit pictures of the things they carry with them everyday. The website describes Everyday Carry like this:

Everyday Carry, or EDC, generally refers to small items or gadgets worn, carried, or made available in pockets, holsters, or bags on a daily basis to manage common tasks or for use in unexpected situations or emergencies. In a broader sense, it is a lifestyle, discipline, or philosophy of preparedness.

I’ve spent some time on the site and it is pretty fascinating. If you’ve got some time, I’d encourage you to check the site out. (I love looking at the watches.)

This morning on Facebook, a good friend posted a picture of his EDC. He carries everything from a pipe to an Elk Horn Antler Pacific Bowie Knife (When in Wyoming, right?). After commenting back and forth, my friend challenged me to post a picture of my EDC. So… I accepted the challenge. Here is the official Kicking at the Darkness EDC.

EDC

(Top Left to right)
MiiR Insulated Water Bottle
Custom Timbuk2 Wool Messenger bag
Headphones (today it was PowerBeats)
Kindle Touch
iPhone 4s
BookBook iPhone Cover/Wallet
ESV Reference Bible
Pocketprotector with Zebrite Highlighters, Micron Archival Pen 05, G-2 Gel (0.38)
TOMS Sunglasses
Rickshaw Moleskine Folio
Moleskine – Evernote Ed.
Small Notepad
iPad Mini
Retro 51 Tornado Pen
Lipbalm
Keys
LED flashlight
iPod Classic 160GB

So this is what I carry with me everyday in order to get stuff done. This is my mobile office complete with a full library and internet access. This is my writing studio equipped with pens, paper, and reference materials. This is my retreat center furnished with everything I need to get away, be still, and dream.

What is your EDC?

Best Practices

Never, Never, Never Give In

It is the final day of 2012.

How did the last 365 days go for you?

Like me, I’m sure you made mistakes.
Like me, I’m sure you missed some great opportunities.
Like me, I’m sure you tried and failed on few of those days.

Guess what?

That doesn’t matter today and it certainly won’t matter tomorrow. You’re smallest victories are greater than you toughest defeats.

One of my favorite stories is the one in which Sir Winston Churchhill returned to his alma mater to give the commencement address in 1941. Britain had already been engaged in conflict in Europe and no doubt moral was low all across Great Britain. The Prime Minister’s words helped to change that.

But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period of ten months this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

I love this! Forget what happened last year. Let go of your fear. Stand tall. Start anticipating what’s ahead.

On his blog last week, Michael Hyatt posted the following poem. I wanted to share it with you today on this last day of the year. May it inspire you. May it bring you hope. May it push you to work, to dream, to act. May God give you his grace and mercy in 2013. And what ever happens: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

What Ever You Do, Don’t Quit
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow—
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out—
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit—
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

via MichealHyatt.com

Best Practices, Christmas, Discipleship

Serving Others This Christmas

Even though it is currently in the mid-60s it is still Christmas time. I know that one of the things that my family tries to do this time of year is look for ideas on how to serve those around us.

Over Thanksgiving, I received an email from Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University that had some creative and practical ideas for giving back and serving others this holiday season. I wanted to share them with you today in the hopes that you and your family might find an activity that you can do to help shine the light of Jesus into the lives of those within your sphere of influence or community.

The Apostle John tells the church, “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. (1John 2:6)” Jesus lived in a way that he was a servant to all. Although he himself was God and deserved to be recognized and served, he became the servant and the example for how we should live. James, the brother of Jesus, tells us not to just listen to the word but to do what it says (James 1:22). Scripture tells us over and over again that followers of Jesus serve other people.

I want to encourage you to look at the ideas below and think of ways you can serve others and then… Go do it! Get excited about helping others. Find joy in serving others. Be thankful for all that God has blessed you with. Then after Christmas, do it some more! Make the month of December a trial run for serving others throughout 2013. Hopefully, these 10 suggestions can be a launching point for you to making Jesus famous all next year.

Thanks to Dave and FPU for these great challenges:

The best part is: You don’t have to sacrifice fun or fellowship to be generous with others. Below are 10 simple ways you can pay it forward this holiday season. So, grab your family, your friends, your coworkers, or your small group from church or Financial Peace University, and get to giving!

  1. Plan a scrumptious (Christmas) meal complete with all the fixings, and determine how many families your group can feed. Then, contact a local food pantry for a list of families in need. Spend a Saturday shopping, cooking, and delivering the meals together.
  2. Serve at a soup kitchen for the perfect (Christmas) reality check. Sign up ahead of time to make sure you can go as a group, and show up the morning of to give a warm smile and meal to people who rarely receive either.
  3. Use (Holiday Shopping) to benefit others. Instead of frantically crossing items off your family’s wish list, go as a group to buy clothing items for people in need. Take advantage of the good deals, and donate your finds to a local homeless shelter.
  4. Show love to your community by spending the afternoon cleaning it up. Depending on where you live, this might include raking leaves or shoveling snow. End the night with a chili cook-off that the whole neighborhood’s invited to!
  5. Collect coupons as a group to stretch your dollar at the grocery store. Then, donate the goods to a local food pantry the week of Thanksgiving. Be sure to throw in a few special treats for the holiday.
  6. Write notes of gratitude to soldiers from your community who are spending (Christmas) overseas. Put in a box full of basic necessities, fall candies and a calling card so they can connect with family at home.
  7. Collect toys in anticipation of the Christmas season. Encourage your kids to give up a certain number of gently used toys in order to bless other kids who do without and to make room for new toys that are sure to come their way.
  8. Repair a heating unit for a family in your community. Getting those fixed can be pretty pricey—an especially heavy burden during the holidays. Gather a fund and have it ready for this inevitable crisis.
  9. Collect sweaters, scarves and coats and distribute them among your group. Keep the items handy in your car and be on the lookout for homeless in your city. When you see them, you’ll be able to pass along a bundle of warmth without hesitation.
  10. Set aside extra cash at the beginning of the month. Give a generous tip to your waiter, the person at the checkout counter, the grocery bagger or your hair stylist.

When you give, do it with a welcoming spirit and a humble heart—remembering all that He’s given to you. Let’s make this (Christmas) season one that’s full of authentic addictive gratitude.

(Via)

Best Practices, Personal Leadership, Resources, Self-Leadership

Clean Out

I’m spending a little time on the Black Friday to clean up and clear out my office up at the church building. The space where I work is often (most often) cluttered with notepads filled with ideas, post-it notes with reminders, articles I haven’t read yet, forms I have to filled out, catalogs, cups, pens, and other miscellaneous office-like things.

One of my favorite ministry management books is Youth Ministry Management Tools by Olsen, Elliot, and Work. I have consistently  come back to this book over and over in ministry in order to draft forms or plan events. The whole first half of the book is dedicated to Getting Organized so I am cleaning out the office based on some of their suggestions and tips. Here’s what I’m doing:

1) Sort the stuff in your office
Quickly sort everything into 4 boxes
  • Stuff to FILE: Fill this box with forms, old pictures, personal notes, archives, anything “paper-ish” that you need.
  • Stuff to READ: Fill it with magazines, catalogs, brochures, fliers, event posters, conference brochures,  curriculum samples, and general ministry mail
  • Stuff to GIVE AWAY: In this box sort all your miscellaneous items, free stuff you’ll never read or use, old stufff you’ll never really need, pens, desk junk
  • Stuff to THROW AWAY: Anything you can’t put in the other 3 boxes. Ask, “Can I get this information somewhere else if I throw it away?”
2) Go through the boxes
  • FILE: label each item in the box with a Post-It note giving the name of the folder in which the item belongs. Then invite you assistant or a volunteer to file each one.
  • READ: Use Post-It Notes to identify any article you wish to save. Ask your assistant or a volunteer to rip out or photocopy necessary articles, toss the rest of the magazine, and then file the article.
  • GIVE AWAY: Give yourself 1 week to find  home for all your “good junk.” Then toss it in box 4!
  • THROW AWAY: Give it to the Trash gods ASAP!

In a little over 2 hours I was able to tame the chaos and regain control over my work space.

My next step will be to clear out and organize my file cabinet so that I can actually file the important things that I have uncovered today by cleaning my desk area. My hope to also utilize Evernote to digitally file everything where it is easily accessible and searchable.

I hope you found some of these tips helpful. Having a clean and usable work space is key to getting stuff done. We all have important work to do. Clear the clutter and get back to work! People are counting on us!

Best Practices, Resources, What I'm Reading

Reading to Lead

This is the 1,001 post for Kicking at the Darkness! To celebrate this milestone I want to pay tribute to the many great blogs and authors that I read each and every day.

I read quite a bit. I strongly believe that Leaders are Readers so I try and dedicate some part of each day to intentional reading and learning. Throughout the day I find time to read from a variety of sources- books, newspapers, blogs, magazines/journals, Twitter and Facebook.

Every day I have the opportunity to become a better leader. I have access to some of the greatest leaders in the world through blogs, Twitter, and publishing. You do too. Don’t miss an opportunity to learn by reading.

Here are a few of my favorites. Take some time today to invest in your leadership! Trust me: the ROI is crazy high!

Leadership
Michael Hyatt
 Seth Godin
Jon Acuff
Brad Lomenick
 Catalyst Space
One Question with Ken Coleman
 Tim Schrader
 Fast Company
 Books @ Leadership Network

Christian Ministry
Mark Batterson
 Perry Noble
 Mike Breen
 Tony Morgan
 Neue
Leading Smart
Pastors.com
WithoutWax.tv
Don Miller

Family
Orange Parents
Doug Fields

News
Drudge Report
 Mediaite
USA Today
 Dallas News

Fun
Stuff Christians Like
 Bryan Allain
 U2 Sermons
@U2

Magazines/Journals
Leadership
Entertainment Weekly
 Neue
Relevant
Wired

Twitter
@stevenfurtick
 @andystanley
 @RevRunWisdom
 @MaxLucado
 @JonAcuff

Current Books
Community by Brad House
Engage by Nelson Searcy
The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight
Good to Great by Jim Collins (reread)
Nearing Home: Life, Faith and Finishing Well by Billy Graham

Best Practices, Personal Leadership, Planning, Prayer, Preaching

Plan Your Work

I had a fabulous weekend at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. ACL celebrated it’s 1oth Anniversary in style with big name artists like Coldplay, Kanye, Stevie Wonder, My Morning Jacket, and Arcade Fire. I got to see some of my favorites too including Ray Lamontagne, Brandi Carlile, Cee Lo Green, Iron & Wine, and, a new favorite, Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses. I had a blast and I hope I can attend this festival again.

The festival gave me an opportunity to relax and rest but it also gave me a chance to get some planning done. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday planning out my preaching calendar. I already have everything laid out through the end of the year but after this weekend I have the next 10 months of my preaching calendar planned out. For me, this is huge and very exciting.

I believe that planning ahead is a great way to trust in the Spirit and allow him to move  through the entire process from prayer to planning to study to execution. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been listening to God, praying, and asking for wisdom in planning this calendar and I feel like God blessed me this weekend as he helped me put it all together.

Here are 4 Reasons I Am Preparing My Preaching Calendar Months in Advance:

1) Planning ahead simply helps give me DEPTH in my preaching through advanced studying and preparation.

2) Planning ahead aids in giving the Spirit room to help me share the message of Jesus more CREATIVELY. (Note: I believe that it is next to impossible to go deep and/or be creative at the last minute.)

3) Planning ahead makes sure that I am being faithful to the WHOLE of SCRIPTURE and not simply preaching on the flavor (issue) of the month.

4) Planning ahead helps me ENLIST HELP in gathering resources, help, buy-in, prayers, and fuels an excitement among the leadership about what God will be saying to us. (I would like to see us move to sermon based small groups in 2012. To do this, you need help from other leaders and those leaders need material and time to pray, plan, and prepare.)

Are all of these series set in stone and immovable? No way! Will some of these series change or be scrapped? Maybe. What if God calls you to speak on something else? I’ll submit willingly and gladly!

I started planning out my teaching series about 4-5 years ago and it has helped make all the difference in the way I pray, plan, study, and prepare my lessons. Less pressure and more reliance on God to help and guide me means more encouragement and focus on what he has called me to do. That is a great place to be!

Best Practices, Bible Study, Faith in Action, Life, My Life, Personal Leadership, Thanksgiving, Wrestling With Scripture

Why We Decided To Sell My Car

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Next month, my wife and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary. In the last decade we have moved from Arkansas to Alabama and then to Texas. We have lived in 1 apartment and 3 houses. I have served as a Campus Minister, a Youth and Family Minister, and now as a Lead Minister. We have a beautiful son and a wonderful life. We have faced challenges and we have met them head on because of the grace afforded us from our Heavenly Father and our love in Jesus Christ. Life is good and we give thanks everyday for the blessings we have received. However, lately we have been feeling a tug, a challenge, from God to step out and risk for His glory.

Last week, we decided to take a giant leap of faith based on something we felt God was calling us to do.

We sold my car.

We really want to be in a position where we can GIVE more and SAVE more. It was a tough decision (I loved that car!!!) but we know it was the right one. If you compared the average debt that each American family carries to being dipped in honey and thrown into a pit of quicksand, our debt would be more like having peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth. We don’t have a lot but we are tired of feeling stuck.

On Thursday night, we gathered together with some of the people from our church body and watched Dave Ramsey deliver a challenging message on the people of God turning the economy around by getting their personal economies in order. The part that stuck with me was when Dave asked us to imagine what life would look like if God’s people handled money according to God’s ways. My blood began pumping as he said, “the Debt Rate would plummet, Savings would grow, Employees would work hard as if working for the Lord, Employers would be shepherds of their people, and marriages would be saved.”

That’s not even the best part! If God’s people began handling money in a way that glorifies God- The Gospel will spread! People will want to know why we live differently. They will wonder why we give gladly. They will see how we bless others and want to know why.

When we got home from that night. My wife looked at me and I looked at her. I knew what she was going to say because I had felt it too. We knew that in order to really begin handling our money in the way God wanted us to that we would have to make a few sacrifices. My car had to be the first to go.

It is a bold step for sure. We are still in the process of working out our driving schedule and that is also sure to change when school starts back. We have taken a step of faith and we are trusting God to carry us through.

This fall I am teaching another  Financial Peace University for our church. I’m the first to admit that I R Stupid when it come to handling my money. My wife is the Nerd and I am most definitely the free spirit. The last time we participated in FPU we had a blast. The class really allowed us to open up and talk freely about a subject that typically breeds fighting in most marriages. I can’t wait to take another group of men and women through this life changing course.

My encouragement for you is that you too begin to see out God’s desires for your finances. Most of us are in our current financial situations because some one in our families failed to handle money properly. Change your family tree and get your financial house in order. Not so you can get that new 100″ flat screen.

Get your finances in order so you can GIVE more and SAVE more so you can BLESS more. That’s the story I want to tell my grandkids. What about you?

Best Practices, Leadership, Planning, Preaching, Sermons, Study

Sermon Prep

Over the last few years I have been experimenting with my weekly schedule in order to maximize my time studying, ministering, teaching, and planning so I can then make sure that I am growing personally and relationally in my own faith and with my family. I have to stay on top of things organizationally because, frankly, organization doesn’t come naturally to me. I get a real kick when people tell me they think I am “really good at organization.” Any semblance of order has come from many hours of trial and error, flexibility and expiermentation.

Now that I am having to present a message in the form of a sermon each week, I’ve been playing around with my schedule again trying to figure out how I can adequately prepare for the weekly message and do everything else I need to do. Nelson Searcy says, “Someone pays the price for the sermon preparation. Either the pastor pays the price during the week or the people pay the price on Sunday!” I firmly believe that!

One goal I have set is to have everything for Sunday- outline, presentation, notes, full sermon- ready to go by Thursday afternoon. For the most part, this has happened and I have felt like my schedule and crazy life has really benefitted from this goal.

Having the message finished by Thursday allows for a few thing:

1. Friday is my day off. The last thing I want to do is worry about, fiddle with, and obsess over my message for the weekend. My day off is for me to abide with the Father and spend time with my family. Fridays are Hewson and Daddy days. I owe the Father and my family my attention for the day. Having my message finished by Thursday actually helps me be present where I need to be on Fridays.

2. Everything is ready for the bulletin. Each week, I provide a fill in the blank outline for people to follow along with on Sunday morning. It is my responsibility to make sure that I’m not throwing something together at the last minute.

3. After spending the whole week on my message, stepping away for a few hours helps me internalize the message. This is a personal conviction I have: I believe that standing and reading a script (not-so)subtly communicates to people that “This message didn’t impact my heart enough to make much of a difference in my own life so… yeah.” How sad.  If I can’t remember the message to deliver it, no one who hears it will remember it or apply it tho their life either.

4. I’m not staying up late on Saturday putting together a PowerPoint presentation. When I was a campus minister I had to put together a ppt presentation almost every single day so I’m pretty proficient. Still, that last thing that I want to do is mess with my slides. I want to be running through my message, memorizing, cutting unnecessary tangents, and praying over the words I’ll be saying. Visuals are super important to me but they aren’t what I want to spend the bulk of my time on when the pressure is on.

There have been other benefits to getting everything together by Thursday but these are the ones that I have seen week in and week out. Sure, life gets in the way and the Spirit has challenged me to stray from my outline late Saturday night. However, I have found that when I am prepared I am much more flexible and in a position to react with an open heart and open mind because I’m not rushed and frantic.

This has worked for me. Maybe it will inspire you to find what works for you.