Classy...really classy.

A nice demonstration of character (or lack thereof) involving the Peoria Chiefs last night. And to top it off, the pitcher who came running in, throwing a pitch into the opposing player's dugout, missed the dugout and hit a fan. Ouch...the fan got sent to the hospital.

Come on, this isn't dodgeball with a red, rubber playground ball. This is a baseball you're throwing. Seems like he took lessons on how to pitch from me.

The times that test our character are those when the heat is on...

Finding their niche

Over the past couple weeks, I've had conversations with a few people and heard of others, who are finding their niche, their place in ministry. Where they are serving really turns their crank, and they could do it till the cows come home, and never get tired. (And those are my two Midwestern cliches reserved just for this post). They chomp at the bit (oops, there is another) to have another opportunity to serve.

As a pastor, it is one of the most beautiful things to see, when someone is just flat out giving their all when they serve. I love to see people discover those spots. God has wired us differently, and yet called us to serve Him by using those gifts, abilities, talents, and passions that rest in us. See 1 Peter 4:10.

How has God wired you? Do you love to work with adults or children? In front of people, or behind the scenes? Writing or speaking? Dreaming or planning?

Pandora

Alright...I know I'm probably behind the times for many of you in the world, but I just had a friend send me a link to www.pandora.com today. You can basically create your own radio stations with music styles that you enjoy, streaming to your computer. Pretty sweet I thought.

Now, I shared this with various friends, and nearly all had heard about it, but since I just came out of the clutches of being trapped by State Farm's various internet firewalls only a year ago, I'm still experiencing this 'brand new world.' :)

Here is another I've heard about from my 'cooler' friends. www.imeem.com

What else am I missing?

A Volunteer's Love Language

Many of us might have heard of the 5 Love Languages and how they translate into marriage. I think knowing those for your spouse is one of the easiest, yet often overlooked keys to a great marriage. If we know the ones that really hit home for our spouse, then it is easy to speak their language.

So with that idea, last night, I sent home a leader feedback form with my small group leaders. In it, I asked for feedback on many aspects of the ministry and my leadership to make sure what I was doing was effective for them. One question I asked was this:

How do you best receive love/encouragement as a volunteer?

I had them rate each category on importance (1-5…1 being the best). If it would really hit home for them, then rate it a 1. If not so much, then a 4 or 5. As I pastor, I haven't taken the time to really know this about my leaders though, and I think by knowing it, I can be more effective.

Here were the 8 that I put down.
Personal face-to-face time (i.e.: meal together)
Group face-to-face time (i.e.: all leaders gathered)
Spoken words of encouragement (i.e.: phone call)
Written words of encouragement (i.e.: card/note)
Written words of encouragement (i.e.: email)
Public recognition (i.e.: Sunday service, website)
Acts of service (i.e.: helping you personally at your house)
Receiving a gift, no matter the size (i.e.: gift card)

What did I miss? Can you think of others that I didn't list that are good?

For you personally, what is it?

Now this stirs me...

Heather saw today that Vince Antonucci will be leaving his church plant of 10 years next year to start a church in Vegas on the strip.

Click HERE to go to the post where Vince tells his church. Fast forward the video to about 15 minutes and then watch it. Watch as a church loses their original pastor, but understands and celebrates the bigger picture of Kingdom work. Of God's call on Vince's life, and then the SELFLESS response of the Body. That they want to SEND him!

This is obedience. This is hearing a clear call, and obeying, despite the circumstances and the formidable odds. This is putting your complete trust in a faithful God.

How would you respond if put in that situation?

I now have my 'Monday morning cry' in. :)

Sunday night download

- Spent sometime 'making friends' and updating my profile on Facebook this weekend. If others of you have Facebook accounts, shoot me an email, and I'll add you as a friend.
- Had pizzas on the grill today for lunch. Thanks for the invite Chris and Julie. Had a great time. Boy, those were awesome! Bill and Melissa, thanks for bringing it to Eureka.
- Could it be more humid out there?! Wow.
- Got to jump on a trampoline for the first time in a long time tonight. That is a serious workout...or at least it is for me who is out of shape.
- 5 days till we leave on vacation. Can't wait!
- That means lots to do at home and at work to get ready.
- Hosting small group leaders for a meeting this Tuesday night. Looking forward to it and getting your feedback on various stuff.
- We've seen some huge growth in Eli this week. We've been praying for truth telling and an other-oriented heart, and God has been answering it big time.
- I'm learning more and more to put my complete trust in God for my life and the 'details' in between. He knows and sees all. Thank you Lord for being faithful!
- Thanks for leading us in worship today team. Great stuff! God worked me over a bit on those songs.
- Had the opportunity to greet today on the sidewalk. I love the chance to greet our Body. God continues to grow my love more and more for you all. A deep, rooted love.
- Thanks Jill for doing announcements. Great job!
- God is growing me in worshipping Him despite my feelings and the circumstances. See James 1.
- I'm ready for bed...later on.

Good links for the week

I hope this ONE disturbs you a bit. You nailed it Vince.

This ONE is worth 8:37 of your life. Thanks Pete.

Ever heard of a failure resume? What a great lesson in what success and leading is about. What is on your failure resume?

Iverson on practice?

Alright...first of all, I figured out how to embed a youtube video on my blog. I'm fired up about that.

Secondly, I think this video speaks volumes to what the typical Christian thinks about spiritual growth. We want the easy way out. We want to just show up to the game of life and make it happen. We struggle to put the time, effort, sacrifice, and discipline into our walks with Christ, because down deep, we don't feel like we need it. We think we can get by just fine without it. We assume we can be friends, spouses, parents, servants, pastors, leaders, followers of Christ without 'practice.'

Practice is getting into the Word in our daily lives. It is having communion with God through continual prayer. It is listening for and obeying the Holy Spirit in our lives. We can't assume we'll be able to just 'show up' to the game of life, and see any sort of abundant fruit from our lives if we don't do the one-on-one 'practice' with God.

We have to overcome the American Christian idea that spiritual growth is something we consume or something we are fed like a toddler. The solid food of our lives happens in those quiet moments where we are one-on-one with God, hearing from Him and laying out our praise and requests before Him. It happens when we are being Jesus to the world around us and applying the Word to how we work, how we relate, and how we live our lives.

It is all about the PRACTICE.

Thanks Matt for the video tip.

360 feedback

I was talking to a friend recently, and we were sharing with one another how we see the typical church struggle with evaluating staff and volunteers. It doesn't feel right to us, because it doesn't feel loving. But I truly believe if done in the right way, with a solid relationship in place, challenge and truth can be spoken into one another lives. And the end goal of pushing someone in their walk with Christ and seeing someone grow will be the end result.

The Bible talks about spurring each other on, and a spur doesn't always feel good, but in the long run, it becomes a healthy thing in what it does. In the past year, I've been given authentic feedback from all angles, and learned some great lessons from it.

Before the church was even off the ground, I was once whining (that is my theological term) to my former pastor and showing a lack of faith. He didn't hesitate at all. He leaned in close, pointed a finger (in a good way), and told me that I need to put my faith into God to do the work. God can do it, he said. You've got to grow in your dependence on Him, he said. It was probably a minute long, at most, challenge. It was tough to initially hear, but I knew he was spot on. I needed that rebuke. It grew my faith. It grew me as a leader.

So with all that in mind, I really want to get more feedback from those I lead and serve. If a leader doesn't set up an intentional process to get authentic feedback, both positive and negative, it will be tough for them to know if what they are doing is effective. So here is my first step that I hope to take this fall. I plan to put together a short survey for the leaders I oversee to take. I don't want the survey just to stroke my ego, but to be a learning experience for me. I actually hope to get some constructive criticism on how I can improve, along with things that I am doing that are working. I am not naive enough to think that I am doing a 10 out of 10 job. :)

If I am called to equip and prepare people to serve, then I want to get better at that with each year. And why not start with gathering input from some of those people that I am called to equip and serve.

Making Room for God

I was listening to a message by Perry Noble awhile back. He was giving a message on being a Godly man. He had this quote from it, that I thought was so great.

Often times I hear this idea from men, ‘I don’t have time to walk closely with Jesus, to build a strong relationship.’ I would push back on that and say you have time to watch sports, to go shoot Bambi, to mindlessly surf the net or the TV. You have time for what you WANT to have time for. Men have time to pursue what we want to pursue. When is it that we will make up our minds and make a relationship with God a priority in our lives? Stop the excuses.

What or who are you pursuing? Is something standing in the way of you making room for God in your life?

For me sometimes, the idol of 'self' stands in the way. The 'self-idol' says stuff like this..."I deserve a break. I deserve to just veg-out for awhile. I'm too tired. Blah, Blah, Blah. Yada, Yada, Yada." And in turn, the self-idol pushes time with God behind less important things.

How can you make room for God in your life? Look at your schedule and ask God to reveal to you ideas on how to do it. And then listen and obey as He prompts.

Sunday night download

Sorry for the minimal posting last week. Friday and Saturday we were in St. Louis on a little weekend getaway with family. Here are some thoughts from the week that was and the week that is to come.

- Less than 2 weeks till vacation to Branson. Can't wait!! Looking forward to a week of rest and memories together.
- There is some stuff I'm working on right now that I absolutely love. Stuff that churns up my administrative gift of planning and preparing. Love that.
- I love that our kids are thrill seekers and enjoy a good roller coaster.
- Allan, thanks for preaching today, and bringing us your heart and the Word. Church family, I pray you were challenged to dig into your Bibles this week. I was.
- I'm really fired up for small groups right now. I've found some outstanding curriculum, and think we've got some serious momentum starting to rumble with new groups in the works and Aug/Sept around the corner.
- I got to play Moses today in SonChasers. I love children's ministry. We've got amazing volunteers who serve and prepare so faithfully. Thanks team!
- Darren and Jane - I want to know the story on why you have a Moses costume laying around, and a great one at that.
- In the process of finishing up my last class of seminary for my Masters. The work involved in the class is kind of the icing on the cake of my work load though. In the end, it will be worth it, but right now, it means more work to the week. :)
- What a beautiful day! I was able to get out on the sidewalk to greet people today. Love that.
- Welcome home Hegstrom family!
- We've got great set-up volunteers who stay flexible in the summer months of a school. Thanks.
- I appreciate my friend, Erik, who leads up in worship each week, and commits some serious volunteer time to the role. Thanks Erik! Your love doesn't go unnoticed.
- Mr Freeze has to be one of the most incredible 60 seconds I've had in this life. And no, I didn't take that video.

The guy who screams JESUS...

Alright, so I love this guy's blog: http://www.stuffchristianslike.net/

He is a crazy good writer and super creative. Kinda like my friend Joel who just got a short story published. Anyways, so I sent Jon (the blog writer) an email late last night with an idea for a post...here was my idea on 'stuff christians like':

Listening to nearly every live worship album, I hear one consistent thing…the guy that SCREAMS ‘Jesus’ at the end of a song. The clapping, music has died down, and this guy has his eyes on the prize…the prize of silence, knowing it is a live recording, he screams out, I’m sure in authentic, all for God’s glory worship, 'JESUUUUUUUUUUUUS’. You know this guy had his eyes on this prize the whole night. He’s somewhere in that stadium just warming up for his 4 seconds of fame.

And so Jon then took that idea and turned it into a solid-gold, hilarious post. Read it HERE.

God, the Great DJ

Do you ever have those moments where you're like, "AHHHHHH there is so much to do in my personal life, in my work life, etc."? Those little moments of stress that pass quickly and then you settle in and prioritize what is next to do, and then go for it.

Well, I had one of those moments this morning, and it just kinda came out of nowhere. And then I walk in the office, flip on the lights, and turn on the iPod to get some music going. I don't bother to pick a song, just click play and am going to listen to whatever is up next.

I Surrender All by Caedmon's Call comes on. Here are the lyrics:

All to Jesus, I surrender

All to Him I freely give

I will ever, love and trust Him

In His presence daily live

I surrender all, surrender all

I surrender all to Thee my precious Lord

All to Jesus, I surrender

Humbly at His feet I bow

Worldly treasures all forsaken

Take me Jesus, take me now,

I surrender all, surrender all

I surrender all to Thee my precious Lord

When I lie in anguish on the strong attack

And I lay my burdens on my Saviors back

I surrender, I surrender all,

All to Jesus, I surrender

Lord I give myself to Thee

Let me feel Thee, Holy Spirit

Let Your blessing fall on me

I surrender all, surrender all
I surrender all to Thee my precious Lord

Now, I firmly believe that sometimes God uses music, at the right time, to speak His truth and encouragement into our lives. It has happened to me before, and here it was again. God was playing DJ and shuffling up a song that I needed to hear today. Speaking volumes directly into my heart. Thanks Lord!

Praying for one another

I want to try something. I'd like to know how I can be praying for you. I'd like to take some dedicated time this week to pray for anyone who posts a request or praise. You can post anonymously, leave your name, or shoot me an email.

One hope I have for this blog is that it becomes an on-line community for one another, and comments are a huge key to that. And I don't think I've done this before, so let's try it out. Click on 'comments' and post something. And if this goes well, we'll look to do it regularly!

I'll start:
I want my hunger for God's Word to grow. I have this low-rumble in my belly for it, but I want to see that grow to be a loud growl. One that with each 'feeding' it only gets more and more hungry.

Now it is your turn!

Boasting about our weaknesses

I recently listened to a podcast that had Rick Warren, Mark Batterson, and Rick McKinley speaking about how to live a life that is authentic, and how to recognize your weaknesses and minister from them. I love what Paul wrote in:

2 Corinthians 11:30: If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:5: I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.

Isn't that crazy? In this life, we are taught to try and avoid sharing how we are weak or 'not up to par.' Because society would say that admitting where we're weak, is a sign of weakness. But here Paul is actually saying he is boasting about where he is weak. Because he wants to give all the glory back to God, and he wants everyone to know around him that, he is a fallen man, in need of the incredible grace and love of Jesus Christ.

Knowing where we are weak, helps us to know where we need to grow. In a sense, it is seeking out those blind spots in our lives, asking God to reveal them to us, and then seeking His wisdom in knowing what to do next.

Talk to a trusted friend or your spouse this week, and share where you're weak, and allow God to do a work in your life.

Sunday night download

- Whoa...not much posting going on last week. Spent a lot of time getting ready for the message today.
- Heather told me today that I reversed a sentence today in my message. I said the greatest sin of a leader is to put others before themselves...ooops. That is backwards from the way I had it written. :) Thanks for being patient with your very simple speaking pastor. :) I guess Heather was trying to get my attention after I screwed that up...sorry honey, I didn't see you. :)
- Going outside tonight to sleep with the kids in the playhouse. Should be a good memory with the kids. Update: Got stormed/rained out. Came in at 2:30am. :)
- Crosspoint, thanks for making the video for Jason Pittenger today. Looking forward to seeing it. Thanks for working on it Erik.
- Honey, you should've grabbed the staff and poked me to get my attention.
- What a beautiful weekend of weather for the 4th!
- If you were to name your favorite firework, what would it be? I like the ones that look like a willow tree after they blow up. Erik or Stephen, what do you call those?
- I love the freedom that we are finding in worship right now. Way to go church family. Continue to grow!
- Raised 1000 lbs. of food for Eureka's Pack the Pantry campaign on the 4th. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make it a success. I say we go for 2 tons of food next year!
- I love preaching on leadership. Leading effectively is one of the largest learning curves I've had in the past year.
- Very cool to hear from a couple people that the message impacted them in their parenting, in their relationship with their boss, and as they consider what is around the corner for Crosspoint in the fall. Thanks for being open to how God wanted to speak to you this morning.
- Jeff, hope you're having a good vacation. I've been praying for you.

Have a great start to your week everybody!

Kid pix

Heather snapped these few recently. Loving them...

Love Is Here

This has to be one of my favorite songs right now. I absolutely love it!

I haven't heard the whole album yet, but from the sounds of this one, the rest might be pretty good.

Crosspoint on WMBD-TV

Hey all. If you're at home tonight, turn on WMBD-TV at either their 5pm and 6pm newcasts. They are doing their newcast, live from the Eureka Courthouse, and have asked the Crosspoint worship band to play some music in and out of their commercials.

A very cool opportunity!

Check out more info here.