LifeChange

What got you here?

Someone once asked me why I set goals for myself to read a certain number or kinds of books.  The reason is I've discovered how important it is for me to continually be challenging myself and learning new ideas.  If not I settle into comfortable routines, rely on my past experiences and stop growing.  This is true in my spiritual, physical and relational life.  I lose motivation and inspiration and become content with the status quo.  At Catalyst One Day last week someone said this,

What got you to this point in your life, is not likely to get you where God wants to take you.

This makes a lot of sense to me.  The Bible talks about how we are going through this process of being transformed into the likeness of Jesus.  This means that my life should look more like Jesus' life today then it did a year ago.  If this is true, then the skills, knowledge, abilities, resources and talents that got me to where I am today are going to be different then what I need to get to where God is taking me.  This is why there is so much danger in settling, in not growing and just coasting along. 

How does your life look today compared to one year ago?  Are you allowing God to work and transform you more into the likeness of Christ?

Gaining and Sustaining Momentum

Momentum was the focus of Catalyst One Day last week and most of the sessions revolved around the idea of momentum in our work places, ministries or personal life.  Andy Stanley's first session on "Gaining and Sustaining Momentum" was the most intriguing to me (you can find detailed notes here.) 

For me momentum has always been this ambiguous, mysterious thing in my life.  I've never really been sure how to think about it or obtain it.  When you have it the ride is great.  When you don't have it you're not really sure how to get it.  This session helped me see momentum in a much more concrete way.  As Andy said, if we're not really sure how we got our momentum or where it came from then we will most likely kill/stop it as accidentally as we got it.

Here are some highlights from his talk:

• Momentum was defined as "forward motion fueled by a series of wins"  (what could this look like in your marriage?  in your ministry?  in your personal walk with God?)
• The catalyst to start some kind of momentum in one's life or organization is something new.
• Momentum can be positive or negative.  A positive event creates positive momentum.  A negative even can create either negative or positive momentum. 
• Negative circumstances are the fertile soil for a burst of positive momentum - heroes are born in these times.  (how are you responding to the negative circumstances in your life?)
• If you lack momentum, small tweaks or minor improvements will NOT create momentum.  If it was something easy you would have already done it! 
• Once momentum is started is must be sustained.  To sustain momentum it must be continuously improvedand systematically evaluated. - this is contradictory to how I usually respond when things are going well... my tendency is to coast and take it easy. (how about you?)
• Momentum creates some chaos.  If you're a person the likes things organized and in a system them you struggle with this chaos (like me!)... learning to create margin for momentum is important.
• Stoppers of momentum:  disengaged leader, overactive management, complacency, complexity, breach of trust (any of these in your life or organization?)

Adoption Update - slowly getting started

It's been a few weeks since our last update so I wanted to let you know where we are.  Currently three things are happening in parallel:

1) U.S. Customs & Immigration Services approval (USCIS) - a few weeks ago we submitted our I-600A which gets the process started with the government.  Today we received our notice that the only thing they are waiting on is our completed home study.  They will also contact us shortly to schedule our finger prints.

2) Home Study - next week our social worker will visit our home for our home study.  Since we're using the same agency as in the past we just have to do an updated home study which will be an easier process.  Hopefully we'll have this done and finalized by Christmas.

3) Adoption Agency - we've been approved by our agency and are waiting for them to contact us.  They will send us a packet of information with detailed directions on all the paperwork we need to complete for our dossier which gets sent to Rwanda.  Once we get that packet the large amount of paperwork will begin.  I plan on calling them today to see where things stand.

When God Does Not Provide

You may have heard the phrase around churches, "Where God leads, God provides."  I agree completely with this statement, but last week Craig Groeschel had a variation on this that I've been thinking about, "God often leads by what He does not provide."  This may sound simple but the more I process and wrestle with this idea the more I realize it has huge implications. 

In scripture we see this in Acts 3 when Peter and John were going to church for an afternoon service.  As they walked through the gates a beggar was there that had been crippled from birth and he asked Peter and John for money.  They looked at the beggar and said, "We don't have any money!  But we do have something else to offer you, God's presence through the Holy Spirit in us so let us pray for you.  Get up and walk!"  The man was healed, got up and walked away. 

Here's the catch of the story... if Peter and John had some money with them, I have no doubt they would have flipped him a few coins and continued on their way into the church.  However, they did not have any money so they gave what they could, they shared God with him and through God's power he was healed.  God was leading Peter and John to do something much greater then blessing the man financially.

How doest this perspective impact the way we view God?  How does if effect how we look at prayers that are not answered?  Does it give additional clarification why God blesses our neighbor in an area but doesn't do the same thing in our life?

Do you cheat?

The answer is "yes" so let me ask a better question.  Who do you cheat?  Over the last few months on three separate occasions (including last week at Catalyst One Day) God has asked me this same question.  I do not have enough time, energy and resources to fully meet the needs of my family and work.  I could spend all day doing ministry/work stuff and still not get everything done.  I could spend all my time at home with Courtney and Noah and still not give them enough of myself to meet all their needs and desires.  Perhaps you are the same way?

So I make decisions every day to cheat.  I've never really thought of it that way, and usually I make the decision without even realizing it.  Instead of fully devoting my evening to my family I sneak upstairs for 30 minutes to write an email I didn't get a chance to write during the day.  I just cheated my family.  Instead of staying at the office all afternoon I take off an hour early to meet Courtney and Noah at the park.  I just cheated my job.

Here are the two key points God has been showing me:

1. I need to be deliberate and intentional about who I cheat.  If I don't there will be frustration and guilt with both my family and work. 
2. I am uniquely created and equipped to be a husband to my wife and father to my son.  There are others that can do my job at work... no one else can be Courtney's husband or Noah's father.

Therefore, I choose to cheat my work.  Yes, since I'm a pastor, this means I will on occasion cheat the church.  Does this mean I don't work hard or long hours on occasion?  Not at all, there are times and seasons where long hours and late nights are needed.  It does mean that my family will never be sacrificed because of my ministry.  God has called me to serve Him and to love my wife.  He never called me to build His church, that is something He said He will take care of.

As Andy Stanley says, "Prioritizing the environment where you are irreplaceable will set you up for success in both arenas."

Who are you cheating in your life?

Advent Conspiracy - How are you spending your Christmas?

We showed this video today at church.  It's a very well done use of video to challenge people to examine how they spend this Christmas Season.  At Life Church we are adopting children in the foster care system in Indianapolis and poor families through a local community center.

Be sure to check out the Advent Conspiracy website here.

Catalyst One Day - review

Yesterday I attended Catalyst One Day with a few guys from our church.  Catalyst and Granger (the host church) do programming, conferences and training very well so I was not worried about having a bad experience, even though it was not clear what to expect from the One Day promotional materials and website.  Going in we knew the conference was targeted at leaders and the topic was going to be momentum (which is a vague term itself.)  However, with Andy Stanley and Craig Groschel speaking, and Steve Fee doing worship, I was confident in taking a group from our church that it would be time well spent... and it was.  Since there are future Catalyst One Days planned around the country I want to give a brief overview of what you can expect.

Schedule
Andy and Craig alternated doing the main sessions.  They both did two sessions.  After each session there was a chance where the audience could ask questions.  There was also a time where Craig and Andy were on stage together having a discussion which was one of the highlights of the day, I just wish it would have been longer.  The sessions were as follows:

1. Gaining and Sustaining Momentum (Andy)
2. Busting Barriers with Mindset Changes (Craig)
3. Creating Personal Spiritual Momentum (Craig)
4. Don't Be That Couch - how to get people to move that are stuck in the past and tied to programs that no longer work (Andy)

Target Audience
While most Catalyst offerings (their main conference, podcasts, books, written materials, etc.) are targeted at the young, emerging leader in the marketplace, community or church, this was mostly geared for leaders (both staff and volunteers) in church.  90% of the material was presented in the context of the local church.  However, the principles are very applicable to many other areas of our personal and professional lives.  The team I took with me at first struggled with how to apply what they were talking about outside of Life Church but quickly realized that these topics could apply in many areas of their life.

Was it time and money well spent?
Yes.  Here are some key benefits I saw in the team I took:

• Recognition and appreciation for the body of Christ at large - its good to be a part of, experience and worship alongside hundreds of Christians from other churches
• Creativity and excitement about Life Church - the topics challenged our people to think creatively about how we can improve what we do at Life Church.  They also came to appreciate the success we have and how many of the challenges some churches face we do not have. 
• Ownership and recognition of their leadership - I think several of the guys started to realize the impact and role they can have in our church.  They started seeing areas they want to take ownership in.
• Ideas for their professional or personal lives - they walked away with ideas and recognition of things they want to do to improve their role as employee, manager, husband and father.
• Excitement and motivation - several made the comment they are excited and motivated to live their lives more fully for God.  In watching Andy and Craig they saw examples of men of God who have sacrificed much and experience a deep relationship with God that is contagious.

What did I get out of it?
I'm still processing all I saw and experienced.  I'll spend time next week highlighting some key things I learned and what God spoke to me about my life.

(If you went to the conference I'd like to hear your thoughts as well... post links in the comments to your blogs if you talk about it there)

Catalyst One Day - Thursday

Tonight I head up to Granger Community Church with a few guys from our church for Catalyst One Day.  I am excited to see Granger, hear Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel speak and worship with Steve Fee. 

I am even more excited to see what this experience does for the guys I'm taking up there.  Many of these guys are young emerging leaders at our church, and most have not really discovered what God is calling them to.  As I look at each of them I see incredible potential and hearts to serve God.  If you could, pray for us tonight and tomorrow as follows:

• Pray that as a group we have an incredible time and build deeper relationships with each other.
• Pray that as individuals each person hears from God and discovers more of how God has created them and what He's calling them to.
• Pray that this is a catalyst in their individual walk with God to overcome the barriers and reluctance that has been holding them back (this is the reason I've been focusing on reluctant leaders this week on this blog - see Jeremiah, Isaiah and Moses)
• Pray that we gain a greater understanding and experience of God's kingdom and the larger body of Christ that we are a pat of (for many it'll be their first time experiencing a large gathering with people from many different churches and denominations.)
• Pray that these men will return motivated, charged-up and ready to be more effective for God in their families, work places, communities, ministries and spheres of influence.

Mr. Reluctant - Moses

Over the last few days we've looked at two reluctant followers of God, Jeremiah and Isaiah.  Today we'll look at both one of the most influential men in the Bible, and the person that was the most resistant to going along with God's plan for his life, Moses... we'll just call him Mr. Reluctant.  In Exodus 3-4 Moses spends almost two entire chapters debating with God why he doesn't want to and shouldn't be the person to lead his people.  Moses has a long list of objections:

• He's afraid
• He feels inadequate
• He lacks the knowledge to address the issues and questions he'll face
• People might not believe him
• He doesn't like talking and being in front of a lot of people
• He just wants God to use someone else instead (I think the main reason for this is he was comfortable where he was)

I love the conversation that takes place.  As Moses raises each objection God counters it with how He promises to be with Moses or how Moses already has what it takes to overcome each objection.  I think many of us are the same way.  It's easy to come up with a list of excuses and reasons NOT to follow God and where He wants us to go.  However, God promises that if He's calling us to something that He will give us the skills, abilities, tools, people and supernatural intervention to make it happen.  God promises Moses the following:

• God will give him compassion for the people Moses is to work with
• God will direct and lead Moses giving him the strategy to do what needs done
• God will be with him
• God will give him power and authority
• God will give him knowledge and the words to say
• God will give him favor with the people
• God will give him a partner to work with him

What are your objections to living out what God has for you?  Do you feel too young and inexperienced like Jeremiah?  Do you feel unworthy like Isaiah?  Or do you have a whole list of objections like Moses?  List them out and ask God about them.  God will address each of your objections with His truth and promises just like He did for Jeremiah, Isaiah and Moses.

Reluctant - Isaiah

Yesterday we talked about how Jeremiah was reluctant to follow God because he was young, inexperienced and didn't feel qualified.  Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-9) is another amazing man of the Bible that was reluctant to follow God at first.  His reasons were as follows:

• He felt unworthy
• Isaiah's life was messy, he had some issues and sin that needed to be dealt with
• He was around some messed up people

Even though Isaiah felt this way, God did not.  God saw the potential in Isaiah's life.  He saw past his unworthiness, issues and the people that were around him.  God knew how He created Isaiah and God knew Isaiah's potential for the future.  Potential is something that's very hard for us to see in our own life.  Others often times see it easier then we do.  God sees it all.

God promised Isaiah the following:

• Forgiveness - this is something only God could give to him, not something Isaiah could earn
• Power to overcome sin
• A call to greatness

In the end God was not looking for a person that had it all together.  He just wanted someone that would overcome their reluctance and answer God's call "Whom shall I send?  And who will go for us?" 

I can see Isaiah slowly raising his hand, not really sure what the future would hold, but confident that the promises God offers him are true.  As Isaiah raises his hand he says "Here am I.  Send me!" 

God is still asking the question today, "Whom shall I send?"  Are you willing to raise your hand?