Category Archives: I Love My Church

I Love My Church, Leadership, Ministry, Personal Leadership, Resources

What’s Your Rhythm?

In 2012, I made it a goal to communicate with my leadership team more consistently each week. One way that I have tried to accomplish this is through a weekly leadership email that I send out to the ministry staff, deacons, and shepherds. This month’s theme has been focused on Rhythm. It is my hope that this short message will be meaningful to you and your situation and that you may be encouraged. Enjoy.

The rhythms in our lives can strengthen us personally, professionally and spiritually.

The problem is that we struggle to balance the different rhythms that we are moving in. We must learn to live and work at a rhythm that is sustainable and life-giving. You don’t just stumble into this type of rhythm. Living life at the right pace takes intentional action and relentless focus. It is tough work but the pay off is incredible.

No doubt, two things happened this week that impacted your normal rhythm or routine- Daylight Savings Time and Spring Break.

With DST, the upside is that the sun is still out after dinner giving you and your family a few extra hours to bond, play, and spend time together. No complaining there! The downside, for me at least, is that I have really struggled to get going each morning because it is still dark at 7am.

While I am not a morning person, I have found that one of my rhythms is that I am more productive in the hours leading up to lunch time. I do my best administrative work and my best studying before noon. If I don’t get cracking first thing in the morning, I feel like my back gets put up against a wall. Struggling through the first two hours of the day this week has thrown me off my game a bit. Since I know that my sweet spot to be at my most productive is before lunch than I must fight to keep this rhythm going. That means choosing to go to bed a little earlier, laying out the night before everything I need for the next day, and dedicating those first few hours to getting things done. It has definitely not been easy this week to keep my rhythm going.

For some of you, your routine has been impacted this week because of the rhythm of the school year. That’s not always a bad thing. Weeks like Spring Break can provide an opportunity for us to unplug from our normal routine and reevaluate where our time is being spent, where we need a more sustainable rhythm, and can give us the energy to make the changes needed to start a brand new rhythm.

Next week, we will look at the elements that will make up a life-giving and sustainable life rhythm. Until then, here are some things to think through this week:

1) What does your normal day look like? Try and sketch out an hour by hour look at your day.

2) How much of you time is spent and work and at home? Do you have time built in for reflecting on your day? Do you have time set aside where you can plan the next day?

3) Is there any non-essential thing you are doing right now, that if you STOPPED doing it, would give you more time to accomplish the things you really need to do? How can you begin to move that task to your TO (NOT) DO list?

Experience, Family Ministry, I Love My Church, Leadership, Ministry, Mission

I (Heart) My Church

IHEARTCHURCHbumper Starting this week, I am sending out a personal email message to the men and woman of our church. Here is a glimpse at this week’s email message:

1) I really do LOVE my CHURCH! I don’t want you to think I’m being corny or clichéd. I get FIRED UP when I think about what God is doing there and what he will do as we seek to follow Him and lift up the name of Jesus to those around us. God created the church to be the vehicle where the Good News of Jesus is SPOKEN ABOUT and DEMONSTRATED to every generation of people. And WE GET TO BE A PART OF THAT TOGETHER!!! What’s not to love about that? I LOVE THIS CHURCH and my prayer is that YOU LOVE THIS CHURCH TOO!

2) In an effort to communicate with you about what is happening at here, the plan will be to send out 2 emails each week.

Each week I want to send a letter to you recapping the weekend and casting vision for what is coming up for us. Consider this email a personal letter from me sharing with you what’s on my heart. One of the reasons for this is because I REALLY want to invest some time in being focused on some things that we’re going to be doing this fall. It is my prayer that this coming season will be one of THE most fruitful seasons of ministry we’ve EVER had!

The other email will be a newsletter and will include announcements, prayer requests, and event information. You should have received this email already this week. Think of that email as an extension of our Sunday bulletin.

The whole point of this is not to flood your inbox with a ton of information but we want to make sure we are COMMUNICATING with you on a regular basis. These two weekly email, I believe, will help us do just that.

3) This Sunday, we will continue the “I (Heart) Church” series. We will be talking about what real biblical COMMUNITY looks like and I don’t want you to miss it! In preparation for this Sunday’s message, take some time to read through some of Jesus’ words concerning his church…

Matthew 5:13-16
Matthew 11:28-30
Matthew 16:15-19
Matthew 18:19-20
Matthew 22:36-40
Matthew 25: 34-40
Matthew 28:18-20

4) School starts back next week and I want to challenge you to be praying for our STUDENTS and for our TEACHERS. The pressure on our students can be pretty overwhelming for them- the pressure to perform and excel can leave them believing that their IDENTITY is wrapped up in WHAT THEY DO not WHO THEY ARE IN CHRIST. I want everyone in our church to PRAY that God will COVER these students with his blessings this school year, that He will STRENGTHEN them to stand tall in their FAITH, and He will PROTECT them from a culture that wants to destroy them.

I also want all of you to PRAY FOR OUR TEACHERS. As the school year begins, many people of Lakeside will be in the classroom or on the field GUIDING and LEADING students. They are on the FRONT LINE of helping to lead the next generation. They need your prayers for ENCOURAGEMENT, STRENGTH, and PASSION. Please pray for the teachers at Lakeside AND I want to challenge you to daily PRAY FOR YOUR CHILD’S TEACHER BY NAME for the entire school year!

5) I am so proud of those of you who have been reaching out and serving the residents of the retirement community next door. I heard that the Bible study last night was a PACKED HOUSE! The time spent loving on and caring for our neighbors has not gone unnoticed. I appreciate your desire and heart for service! Many thanks Ladies!!! Keep up the great work!

Ethos, Experience, Film & Theology, I Love My Church, Life, Preaching, Questions, Remarkable, Sermons

The Hero’s Journey

I’m in the middle of preaching through The Sermon on the Mount and I have been so excited about what I’m learning and how God is connecting me to his overarching story. In my study over the last few weeks I have seen a connection between Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey. If you are unfamiliar with the Hero’s Journey, let me give you a quick tour of what I’m talking about.

There are two things I love to do- read and watch movies. I feel that these two pursuits often go hand in hand.  In fact, I have heard it said that movies are today’s literature.

Both movies and literature seek to tell us a compelling story and when we interact with those stories we can’t help but try and find ourselves within the narrative. We imagine ourselves in the role of our favorite characters and often times we try and emulate what we see on the screen or what we read on the page.

While watching the King’s Speech, I began asking myself how I would react if I were in Prince Albert’s position. If I had a debilitating speech impediment, how would I react? Would I become a mute- so embarrassed by my stutter that I decide not to speak at all? Would I seek help? Would I pretend nothing was wrong with me?

As the film progressed, I began asking what if I were asked to give a speech to rally the entire empire against an enemy as fierce and evil as the Nazis? What would I say? How could I convince the people around me to join the cause and fight for a better tomorrow?

Stories force us to look at our lives and how we are currently living them and they give us a glimpse into how our lives could be and they whisper to us concerning what should be.

In 1949, a man named Joseph Campbell published a book entitled, The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Campbell studied thousands of myths and stories from every era of human existence and out of all those stories and myths, he identified a similar patter regardless of time and culture. He called this pattern The Hero’s Journey. This is absolutely fascinating to me. If you went home and pulled out your favorite book or movie, there is a very good chance that you would see this pattern.

I just turned your quiet Friday night into an academic exercise. You’re welcome.

In every story, the hero or the main character starts out living his life just like everyone else. He is knee deep in living an ordinary life. Rick owns a nightclub in N. Africa. Dorothy lives with her Aunt and Uncle on a farm in Kansas. Tomas Anderson is a computer programer. Ben-Hur is a Jewish noble.

Then our hero is Called into an Adventure. Sometimes this is an actual call- Build It and They Will Come. Sometimes it is an event or something outside their control.

In all the gin joints, in all the world Ilsa walks into Rick’s American Cafe. Dorothy is carried away by a tornado. Neo meets Morpheus. Frodo is given a ring. Ben-Hur is betrayed by Messala.

This call to adventure is really the opportunity for something greater. The hero is invited to change their life and USUALLY the lives of those around them by entering into a great adventure.

The hero has to make a choice– life as they know it or take the journey and change the world. They can Refuse or Respond to the call.

Will Rick help Ilsa and Victor Lazlo get to America so they can continue the Resistance against the Nazis? Will Dorothy stop the Wicked Witch of the West? Will Neo embrace his destiny and free the human race? Will Frodo destroy the ring?

If the decision is made to respond and answer the call then the Hero begins his journey. There is usually some spiritual help or aid- A Fellowship, a French police officer, a yellow bricked road, Yoda- that guides our hero toward his/her goal.

Then our Hero comes face to face with a Road of Trials.

The German Major Strasser and the Gestapo arrive in Casablanca. Dorothy is captured. The Fellowship is broken. Cypher makes a deal with Agent Smith. The Empire decides to Strike back.

Barriers arise and seek to derail our hero and try to keep them from achieving a new life. These Trials are difficult to overcome but if our Hero desires to change their life and the lives of those they care for the Trials must be dealt with and overcome.

So what does this have to do with The Sermon on the Mount? Like any great story, this post is To Be Continued….

Awesomenessness, I Love My Church, Ministry

48 Pairs of Shoes

Shoes

Yesterday I delivered 48 pairs of shoes to a local elementary school for our church’s “Start on the Right Foot” program. Each year we partner with counselors in some of the schools here in town and provide new shoes to students. We collected approximately 250 pairs of shoes this year. That means that 250 students- who needed shoes to run in, play in, walk in, and learn in– will be able to start the new school year in style with some brand new kicks!

Way to go church! As an old coach once told me, “Ya done good.”