Archive - May, 2010

Friday Links

May 28, 2010 in Friday Links, leadership with 1 Comment

Here are some links to posts that I thought were worth your while to take a look at!  I hope you enjoy not only the links, but the holiday weekend!

I hope you all enjoy your weekend!  Be safe!

Quotable Tuesday

May 25, 2010 in change, quotable Tuesday with 0 Comments

Today’s quote comes from Mark Beeson in a message he preached a couple of weeks back.  As he was talking about tradition, he said:

“We should honor tradition, but we should not let it enslave us.”

Over the 20 years that I have been in ministry, it has been kind of fun (and sad) to see the different things that churches hold as important and take priority in their ministries.

  • I have visited churches where the ladies ministries were the most important thing going on, and they pretty much ran the church.
  • I have been in churches where the calendar was placed as a priority.  You know how that one goes, “We always have such and such on this week EVERY year… that cannot change! God only does revival on these days every year”
  • I have relatives that have kitchens in their churches that cannot be touched or walked into unless you are on the list or you get approval by the three 80-year old ladies that run said kitchen in the church (The interview process for that on is harder than what you go through to be CEO a fortune 500 company!)
  • I have led worship and had individuals refuse to sing anything that they could not open a book to or that was newer than like 1950.  (Of course, that all changed if it was Bill Gaither, Squire Parsons or just happened to be a song they were singing for church.)

Most of the things that I have heard people complain or fight about in the church are these things.  They have let tradition enslave them. They have allowed their preferences of how and when to do things overshadow the reason for doing those things. Really, what they have done is decided to worship tradition instead of God.

“That seems like a pretty tough statement Jason.”

Maybe, but here is the deal, there are people that will give their life to protect a tradition in the church, but will not give 10 minutes in the office to listen to someone who is hurting, or to walk across the lawn to invite a neighbor to church with them.  They have completely lost the fact that being a Christian is all about relationships, not running a social club that people meet at once a week. Being part of a church is NOT about those that are “in” it.  It is completely about the mission God gave to reach this world.

If we can use some traditions to do that, I say great!  If a tradition gets in the way of that, it is time to let it go.

This all reminds me of something that the first pastor I worked for said to me, “Tradition is good, if it is good tradition.”

Is there any tradition that is enslaving you?  How do we break free of that?

Friday Links: Weekend Edition

May 22, 2010 in Friday Links, leadership with 0 Comments

It seems my day got away from me again on Friday this last week.  I left the house at 6:30am and did not get home until after 10pm, so I did not get to post.  I know, a good blogger would have had it set up so that my blog would have automatically posted something when i could not be there to do it.  I usually will do that, but just never got around to writing it up before it was too late.  Anyways, here it is.  A bit late, but still helpful and insightful stuff from some great leaders…

  • Jonathan Acuff had a great post on Being Lazy For The Lord.  Love that post!
  • There are a lot of churches that do a lot of good things, but very few churches do great things. I think that is partly due to not paying attention to the last ten percent.  What do i mean by that?  Well, read this article by Seth Godin titled,  Hardly Worth The Effort, and you will be able to make the application pretty easily I think.  Churches have to stop sacrificing great on the altar of good.  Good enough is not what you want to hear anyone say when they are doing something for Jesus!
  • Loved this one called “Empire of Entitlement” by Pete Wilson.  Good stuff!
  • Love the posts Craig Groeschel is writing about Honor.  Read them here, here, here, and here!
  • Finally “Having Right Theology Does Not Mean You Know God” by Donald Miller will get you thinking and asking questions!

I hope you all have a great day in God’s house this weekend!

Quotable Tuesday

May 18, 2010 in quotable Tuesday with 1 Comment

I am reading a book titled “Crave” by Chris Tomlinson.  I was suppose to do a review on it a couple months back, but misplaced it in the move and just recently got back to it.  I will get the review up soon, as I am almost finished with the book.  As I was reading, I came across something that I thought was so good I wanted to go ahead and share it for this week’s quote.

Chris writes:

“One of the things that helps me want to love people is to think of their stories.Have you ever walked by strangers on the street or in a store and had a momentary thought about about what their lives may be like? These people whom you do not know have parents, childhood memories, families, friends and interests just as you do. When I realize these people have their own stories, I can’t dismiss them quite so easily.  I remember that their story is no less valuable than my own, that ultimately we’re all part of God’s story.”

It is so easy for me to go through my day thinking only of myself: my circumstances, my problems and the decisions I need to make.  But here is the rub, my story intersects with other people and their stories and all of our stories are intertwined into God’s story that He is writing for us.  As a Christ follower, I want to listen to people’s stories.  I want to be involved in helping others see the story that God has for them.  I want them to know that they matter to God, and because they matter to God, they matter to me.

Let’s not live in such a way that we are so focused on our own story that we forget we are part of God’s greater story of the redemption of mankind and the glory of God!

Worship Confessional: May 16th, 2010

May 16, 2010 in Service schedules, Worship Confessional with 1 Comment

I had the opportunity to lead worship again at my brother-n-law’s church.  What an awesome time we had today as we made God BIG and focused on His love, mercy and goodness!  Here is today’s setlist:

  • Forever – Tomlin
  • Everlasting God – Brown/Riley
  • Majesty – Smith/Garrard
  • It Is Well – Spafford/Bliss/Fields (this is the first time I have done Todd Fields arrangement of It Is Well.  It was very well received and a VERY moving time in the service.  If you have not done this one, you should!  A great combination of the old and new!)
  • You Are My Strength – Morgan

I hope you all had a blessed weekend!

Once again, I appreciate Pastor Earl Smith asking me to fill in for the day.  I love his heart for God!

This post is also part of Sunday Setlists at theworshipcommunity.com.

Friday Links

May 14, 2010 in Friday Links, leadership with 3 Comments

Here are a list of some great posts from the last week.  I love being able to learn from people this way!

  • Tony Morgan posted something that rings in my heart right now in his post, “What’s Your Next Step.”  A friend of mine asked yesterday what my future looked like, and I basically responded by saying that I had no detailed plan from God as to what is next, only that I was waking up each morning with a little more light shed as to where I am to walk for the day.  I love being in that position.  And I hate being in that position.  I hate it because I am not in control.  I love it because I am so totally dependent on God, and that is a great place to be!
  • Seth Godin had a great illustration that I think fits many churches.  He talks about “Becoming A Bus Company” and how bus companies are “slowly moving people from place to place, going through the motions and showing a lot of fatigue…”  I think there are a lot of churches and Christians like that as well…
  • All I have to say about Perry Noble‘s post titled “Do You Want A Loyal Staff” is… WOW!  The very first line says: “If you want loyalty…then GIVE IT!  The leader that demands it but does not offer it often leaves a wake of abused and neglected staff members.” I have worked with and for people like this.  It is no fun getting thrown under the bus.  Staff people want to know the leader has their back… or they will not have his!
  • Life is all about relationships… First, your relationship with God, and then with others.  We need each other… we need people in our life. Mark Waltz discusses creating opportunities for building relationships in spaces designed just for it.  Read it in his post, “What Spaces Are You Creating?”

That will do it for this week!  Enjoy the weekend!

Quotable Tuesday

May 11, 2010 in leadership, quotable Tuesday with 1 Comment

This last week a Tweet from Steven Furtick came over my iPhone… I re-tweeted it then, but wanted to share it again today.

“Don’t cater to the preferences of the easily offended. You’ll never satisfy them, and You’ll bore everybody else.”

Some thoughts:

  • Most people that I have met and seemed to be “easily offended” about something were not offended a the “said offending thing” you did, but were more upset that their preferences were not upheld.
  • Trying to keep these type of people happy should not be a goal. It will never happen anyway, no matter how hard you try.
  • Don’t spend so much time and energy focusing on people that will never be happy.  Instead, focus your attention and energy on people that are really trying to take their next steps towards Jesus. These will be the people that will change the world and will stand behind you as a leader.

Any thoughts?

Friday Links

May 7, 2010 in Friday Links with 1 Comment

Missed posting this morning, so here are the weeks favorite links for me.  Hope you all have a great weekend!

All I have for this week!  Enjoy!

Quotable Tuesday

May 4, 2010 in leadership, quotable Tuesday with 1 Comment

Today’s quote is one that I read as I was studying for a lesson on “choosing to live a Godly life” for my young married’s class years ago.  The quote comes from J. Oswald Sanders, who was a general director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship in the 50′s and 60′s and authored more than forty books on the Christian life.

“Both Scripture and experience teach that it is we, not God, who determine the degree of intimacy with Him that we enjoy.  We are at this moment as close to God as we really choose to be.”

It is so easy to think that God should constantly be pursuing us because He loves us and wants to have a relationship with us that will allow us to be all that He intends for us to be.  And He does pursue us.  He does have a passion for us to be who He has designed us to be. There is no doubt about that.  It is evidenced all throughout the Scriptures.  Here is the deal though: We have to be pursuing Him as well!  He is there, arms open wide to take us in and share more and more of Who He is with us.  But we are not willing;  willing to sacrifice our time or our pursuit of what we hold as higher in value than God to have a relationship that we can have, if we will only choose it.

Do you want to be close to God?  It is up to you.  Only you can make the choice to draw closer to Him.  He is there.  Choose wisely!

Book Review: "Plan B" by Pete Wilson

May 3, 2010 in books, future, God's will with 1 Comment

If you have ever been walking down the path you had planned for your life and come to a roadblock that kept you from continuing to fulfill the plan you had, then you will appreciate this book!

As someone who is facing a “Plan B” in my life at the moment, it was refreshing to read the stories presented in the book (Biblical references and personal references from Pete) and see that there are others that are facing an end to the path that they had planned as their “Plan  A” as God takes them down another path that may hurt at first, but also prepares them for who He wants them to be for the rest of their lives.

Pete’s writing is simple and down to earth, and is very genuine, not preachy.  I it easy to provide a bunch of Scriptures and tell someone that everything will work out for good.  But to hear stories of how people, including the author, faced and end to their own plans and embraced what God has for them is a great inspiration and compels you to seek out God’s Plan A.

I really appreciated what Pete wrote about Joshua and the Children of Israel as Joshua takes the mantle from Moses and prepares to lead the people. Pete writes:

God is just giving him a little pregame pep talk: “Joshua, just remember what you know.  Be strong. Be courageous. And whatever you do, don’t forget I am with you.”

God has a few words for Joshua’s people as well: “Don’t live in fear. I don’t want you to make the same mistake you parents did. Listen to me, pay attention to my instructions, and everything will work out for you.

Finally, God makes the whole nation a promise: “If you trust me, if you’ll follow me, I’ll be with you. Every place you set your foot in that land, I’ve already gone ahead of you. My power will be available for you. You’re not going to have to undertake the rest of your life on the power of just your own resources.”

Here is the deal, and really the point of the book.  What you consider to be “Plan A” in your life may never happen. If it does not, we need to remember that God is sovereign, that He is in control, that He works from the future back and has already been where we are headed. As long as we trust Him and follow Him, what we may consider to be “Plan B” will actually be what God intended for us from the very beginning.

You can read a sample of the book by clicking on this link.

I am thankful to have had the opportunity to review this book, which was provided to me by Thomas Nelson and BookSneeze.

Page 1 of 212»