No Moore Tornadoes

May 23, 2013 — Leave a comment

See what I did there with the title? Pretty clever…

Three days ago a terrible tornado touched down in the town of Moore, OK. It left a 17 mile scare right through the middle of the city taking out 2 schools, a hospital and many houses.

Moore is about 5 hours from where I live. I heard about Eurasia Cafe planning to head down to serve coffee to the first responders, and instantly got on board. It was an amazing opportunity, and I am so honored to be able to be a small part of helping those effected by this terrible disaster. I want to share with you a little about what we did, but more importantly share about the amazing people of Moore, OK and the surrounding areas.

We arrived at 7pm and were told that a Life Church campus in south Oklahoma City was being used as a distribution center. It was our first stop and I was amazed by the amount of food, water and clothes that had already been given. We served coffee at Life Church and prepared a couple of pots in case we were unable to find power once we made our way closer to where the tornado touched down. Continue Reading…

In Events, Faith, Life , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

Serving Those Who Are Serving: Headed to Moore, OK

May 21, 2013 — 6 Comments

Serving

I woke up this morning knowing that I had to do something. I had to get involved with the disaster that took place in Moore, OK yesterday.

Luckily I was able to join Eurasia Cafe and a group of volunteers to head down with as much coffee and water as we could load in our vans and cars. A total of 7 of us started the trek. We are still about 3 hours out, but we are so excited for the opportunity to help and serve people over the next day and a half. We will be teaming up with some churches in the area to do whatever we can help.

Please keep us and the people of Oklahoma in your prayers! I will try to post pictures and more information as soon as possible.

Related articles
In Faith, Life, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

5 Questions Used to Review Ministries

May 20, 2013 — 2 Comments

Ministry Health

Is it still relevant?

Are you innovating and changing, or are you in maintenance mode living off the high from yesteryear? Does it excite new people to be involved?

If a ministry is not meeting a real felt need in your community then it is redirecting resources away from other needs. Just because “it’s what we have always done” is never a good enough reason to continue to do something.

What is the mission?

What is your purpose? Is it still needed?

Ministries are developed to meet needs, it’s what they do. If there is no clear purpose or mission there may be no purpose to keep it around.

Are you the best?

Why compete with other ministries, especially when others do it better? Are you great or just good?

Often times churches are viewed by non-profits and other church as competitors, rather than potential partners. It’s time to change that. It often starts with knowing what others are doing in your community and figuring out how you can support them. Remember, true community service is about serving your community, not getting you name known.

Is there new blood?

People are your greatest resource, they need to feel like they have a place and are welcome to join.

The greatest notifier to a healthy ministry is buy in from new people. Do they get what is trying to be accomplished? Do they see value in it? Do they choose to sacrifice their personal time to be a part of it?

There better be a way to get new people involved. A ministry can never be an exclusive club.

Is the team united?

Do they all believe that they are making an impact?

Like I said in a recent post, “Leaders Deal in 7 Things,” buy in starts with those closest to you. If your team doesn’t believe that they are really meeting a need then it will die. People unite very well around a cause. Make your purpose clear and allow the team to rally around it.

 

What other questions can we ask ourselves to review the current ministries we are a part of?

Resource: “12 Revealing Questions Successful Executives Must Ask Themselves“

In Church, Faith, Leadership , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.

Related articles

Dwight D. Eisenhower [Quote]

Posted on May 17, 2013 In Church Planting, entrepreneur, Faith, Funny, Leadership, Quotes , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink Leave a comment
Where is God?

Why Doesn’t God “Show Up?”

May 16, 2013 — 2 Comments

The way we talk about God emanates from our beliefs about who he is and what he is like.

Saying God “showed up,” implies that He was there for you, which causes me to think, why wasn’t He there for me when I needed him most?

Does He like you more than He likes me?

Did I do something wrong?

Did I scare Him away?

And why wasn’t He or isn’t He there for other people as terrible things happen all over the world?

What exactly is God doing if He is not with us?

The truth is that He is always there. He knows what is going on in your life. He knows what is going on all around the world.

He cries with us.

He celebrates with us.

He gets disappointed.

He gets excited.

It can be difficult to recognize Him sometimes, especially when we find ourselves emotionally overloaded, but take peace, He is there.

Stop praying for God to be with you, He already is.

Stop singing songs asking for God to come near, He is already there.

God can’t “show up” because He is already here.

“God is with us,

around us,

beside us,

present with us in every moment.” ALWAYS.

Related articles
In Church, Faith, Life , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

Industrialization is for products, not disciples.

Brian Jenkins [Quote]

Posted on May 14, 2013 In Church, Church Planting, Faith, Leadership, Quotes , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink 3 Comments

Leaders Deal in 7 Things

May 13, 2013 — 4 Comments

Leaders Deal

1. Hope

Your team needs to have hope that they are headed somewhere and doing something worth their time if you want to get the best out of them.

“A person, who no matter how desperate the situation, gives others hope, is a true leader.” Daisaku Ikeda

2. Inspiration

If you can’t cause people to move then you aren’t leading anything. Have a story to tell, and tell it well and consistently.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams

“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Continue Reading…

In Church, Church Planting, entrepreneur, Leadership, Quotes , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

“Humor has this awesome ability to make cracks in a hard heart so truth can enter. Is your ministry fun?”

Kyle Reynolds [Quote]

Posted on May 10, 2013 In Church, entrepreneur, Faith, Funny, Leadership, Life, Quotes , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink 6 Comments

Don’t Let Others Kill Your Vision

May 9, 2013 — 3 Comments

14226

“You know how you see a show car, and it’s really cool, and then four years later you see the production car and it sucks? And you think, what happened? They had it! They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. What happened is this: the designers came up with a great idea. Then they took it to the engineers and the engineers said, ‘Nah, we can’t do that. That’s impossible.’ The idea gets worse. Then the manufacturing people say, ‘We can’t build that.’ And it gets a lot worse.” – Steve Jobs

I can’t say it enough, I truly believe that God has a dream and a vision that He has placed on the heart of every single person. He is ahead of you, calling you forward, showing you and directing you to a greater understanding of who you are and what He created you to do.

To find and fulfill our God given purpose is the greatest achievement in life.

This week I have the opportunity to  interact and hear the stories of church planters who are being prepared to go out all over the country and do what God put in their heart. To see life change in their communities, and to help people meet Jesus. They are doing research, building lists, compiling information, praying over maps, contacting potential team members, developing mission statements, logos, names, etc…

Check out where they are headed:

Screen Shot 2013-05-09 at 11.29.10 AM

My prayer for them is that their calling from God doesn’t get lost behind the best practices. That the “engineers and manufactures”, those that have been there before, allow freedom for God to do things differently.

Best practices should support your vision and purpose, not dictate it.

Let us be the ones who help people define their calling, purpose, vision; and then help them be all that God has called them to be. I never want to be the one who prevented someone else from changing the world because my view of them was too small or limited.

Related articles
In Church, Church Planting, entrepreneur, Faith, Leadership, Life , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink
A Person

 

“A person, who no matter how desperate the situation, gives others hope, is a true leader.”

Related articles

 

In Church, Church Planting, entrepreneur, Faith, Leadership, Life, Quotes , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink Leave a comment