New Player

I may never buy a new CD or download off of itunes again. Pandora http://www.pandora.com/ is awesome, allows me to listen to what I want depending on my mood and preference.

How Refined Are You?

In Judges 3:2 -- There is a statement that says "He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience" I think there are many times in our lives where we get comfortable where we forget or let slip from our memories the battles we have faced before. There are times when we think, whether we admit it or not, that we shouldn't have to fight nay more battles, that life should come easy, that our parents should respect us, that our families should accept us, that our friends should just be there for us, that we shouldn't have to work on relationships, they should just work. We let ourselves slip into a false reality that we can just coast and things shouldn't change, because after all if it worked last year, then it should work this year or if it worked for me, then it should work for others.

See I think the TRUTH that was being said in Judges 3 is that in our humanness we can not coast, we have to remember the battles that we faced in life, we have to constantly fight to do the right thing, we have to battle to remember to be refined into the best we can be. I sometimes think this is unfair, why can't I just coast, after all if life is good for me now, why do I need to work harder, because if I don't work on it I will forget how to fight to do the right thing and I will find myself in a world of hurt and loneliness.

How refined am I? Are you? Are you remembering what its like to battle for what is right, to do the right thing, or have I gotten off track and have started to think that I deserve better, I have been a victim? I believe God puts us through opportunities for battle to remind us of the potential that each of us has. Here is to never forgetting the importance of pursuing the right thing.

What's on Your Radar?

What is going on in your life, who are you impacting, who is impacting you, what are you looking forward to, what life milestone is coming up? All of these things are things that are on your radar, you see them coming, you prepare for them, you can tell when they are getting close -- like school is about to start and the kids are really excited to meet their teachers, we have bought the 500 lbs of school supplies ( how does a 60 lb girl need 500 lbs of school supplies and how does she carry it in a High School Musical back pack?)

For me what is on my radar is:

• Teaching in the big service this weekend
• Student ministry kickoff Wednesday night!
• School starts
• My parents 40th anniversary on Friday
• My in-laws leave this Wednesday :)
• Zach goes to preschool for the first time on Sept. 3
• I am going to spend the weekend siding my house

As I look at the list there is a lot on my radar that I am looking forward to and a couple of things that look like they are an enemey plane bearing down on me. Whether it is good or bad I am preparing myself for what I see coming in the month to come. Are you looking at your radar to see what is coming up in your life so that you can prepare yourself for something great or are you surprised and unprepared when life happens -- be ready because you don't know when God might have an opportunity in store for you that can change someone's life, or maybe even change the world.

The Disappearing Fear of God

Is the Fear of God disappearing in our world? When I talk about fear, I am not talking about being scared of the boogeyman type of fear, I am talking about the fear that means honor and respect. Look around at our world, where do we see people being in awe of someone or something and giving that someone or something honor and respect, almost like we can't be in the presence of that person without falling to our knees saying -- we are not worthy. I see it with certain groups of people as they look at professional athletes -- side note, will Favre be a Viking? -- pop stars -- Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus where 10,000's of young girls screaming, crying, to be at her concert, movie stars that have people willing to do anything to get their signature, their signature and that scribbling on a piece of paper is worth $1000's.

What do we do with God in our society -- we push Him, even the mention of Him out of our schools, we teach theories that go against His nature as truth, we ignore a relationship with Him, we don't spend time with Him, we find reasons not to publicly get together. I sometimes even feel awkward to bring God up in a normal conversation.

Something happened over the past generation where we as a culture have forgotten to fear God. Because of that I believe we are missing out on the promises and blessings of God. If we are not careful, we will raise up a generation that does not fear God, that does not respect God, that does not honor God, and does not know God. If we allow this to happen, I fear -- the scary kind of fear -- that we will lose the blessing of our amazing God and I never want to turn away from the face of God or be a part of something that rejects the love of God.

Join me in reinvesting in launching into living out the Fear of God.

Order

Last night I was leading a high school group through THE TRUTH PROJECT and this weeks topic was sociology and ORDER. The truth that was taught was the God is a God of order and that in disorder you will find chaos, conflict, and all kinds of evil. We then talked about the way that order has always existed in God Himself. If you look at who God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even though there are 3 different parts of God all are in unity even though they have diversity and they are in perfect order.

How did God play these out in his creation? Order is found everywhere and every time that we as humans try to control or change the order God has given us we bring chaos, conflict and evil into our lives. Last night they focused on families and churches in how they were created to have 3 parts working in unity and diversity but also in submissive and authority positions.
Family -- husband, wife, children
Church -- Jesus, leaders, flock

God dislikes all disorder because it deviates from His plan for the harmony of creation and our lives. Families are especially hard hit because satan knows how to hit us the hardest to disrupt our relationship with God.
Malachi 2:16 -- says "God hates divorce" before people get offended by this comment we have to understand that He doesn't hate divorce because it is divorce, but because it creates disorder in the harmony of the family, it disrupts the purpose and plan for how families were created to be in order and unity. THere are many more example of disorder that we have created, but for me it explains why our world cries out, why we are hurting because in our narrow minded wisdom, we believe we know what is right and fair and even though we pay the price for disorder we try to change the consequences of our choices rather than change our choices.

Where do you see Divine order in your life?
Where do you see disorder in your life?

When we look at our worlds, our live

Stepping Stone

When I was a kid my brother and I went exploring at ages 7 and 10 in our 400 acre backyard. There was a stream that went through this 400 acre backyard and at some point we decided to cross it. We looked for stones or logs or something that we could use to step on so that we wouldn't get wet when crossing. Well we finally found some stones that looked like if we stepped on them in the right pattern we would get across safe and dry! My older brother went first and made it across without a problem, I went next. Unfortunately for me I did not use the stepping stones, I thought I could do it myself. I ended up wet, cold, and embarrassed.

Have you ever imagined that God is maybe using you as a stepping stone for someone to know Jesus, or maybe your life is a stepping stone for someone who will come later who will be the next Billy Graham, the next Mother Theresa and your role in life is to be that person that holds them and builds them up? Not a very positive thought in our culture to think that our purpose may be for the next person in the history of the world, but God has used people throughout time in that way. Some of us are hardly ever content because we only see life through our eyes, not through the eyes of God. Think about it, who in your life are you a stepping stone for.

Also, are there stepping stone people in your life that are there so that you can move on in your faith, even perhaps so that you can move beyond that person. Are you using the stepping stones that God has put in your life or are you deciding you can do it yourself.

I am learning to use the stepping stones in my life and to be a stepping stone for others so that God's kingdom can be advanced.

End of the Road Trip

Drive 08

Andy brought it big time at the end of the Drive conference today. He demonstrated great leadership and adjusted to presenting something that will inspire and encourage thousands of leaders. I am impressed

He ended with 5 quotes

1) To reach people no one else is reaching we must do things no one else is doing -_ Craig G from Lifechurch.tv

What is attractive to nonchurched people -- you are going to have to do something no one else is doing to be effective

Make sure you become preoccupied with those you haven't reached as opposed to those you are trying to keep

2) The next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation -- author?

Instead of dismissin the next generation let them take risks and encourage them -- they probably have the next way to connect with nonchurched people.

Be a student not a critic

3) What do I believe is impossible to do in my field, but if it could be done it would fundamentally change my business -- author?

How do we connect the billions of dollars of church owned real estate with the leaders that are in desparate need of the resources to reach this generation

Why does the Sr. Pastor have to be the leader and the communicator. Usually they are only good at one of those things.

Pay attention to people breaking the rules

4) If we get kicked out and the board hired a CEO what would he do, why shouldn't we walk out, come back in, and do it ourselves -- author ?

What is in decline?
What are we having to manufacture energy to do?

Acknowledge what isn't working

5) When your memories exceed your dreams the end is near!


I love this stuff -- gives us an opportunity to believe in the future and to drive towards what could be and what God can do in this world instead of relying just on what the church has done in the past.

For me the main sessions were solid, breakouts were ok, probably better for the people who needed specific information about how NorthPoint does ministry. appreciate the time for asking questions.

The Right People in the Right Places with the Right Mission

When you put the right people in the right places with the right mission you can accomplish amazing things! As a staff culture you have to get the right people in the right place and you need to give them the mission to make the difference. Thought that still makes me think -- why don't corporate america come to churches and ask us how we do it, how we build a staff environment of opennes, honesty, support. If people looked at our staff culture in church what would we see -- something that looks like Jesus and how He treated people or a place where it looks brutal? Jesus treated with people respect, love, accountability and potential -- how does it look like if we do that in ministry.

Great Drive Conference so far

DRIVE CONFERENCE

STUDENT IMPACT

Student Impact breakout -- getting high school students to serve to give them ownership to provide them an opportunity to see that they are important.
KEY POINTS
75-88% of students leave church by freshmen year in college because they don't feel like they are important, like they matter

Do not have competing environments/opportunities

Get high school students to serve right away in 9th grade -- create the environment so that students look forward to serving.

To implement get the family ministry team committed to training and equipping the students.

Good stuff