Same God

23 06 2009

Every camp, conference, “revival” service etc. that I get a chance to be a part of I am ALWAYS challenged by the same thought.  That thought isn’t any different while at the Ascent pastors conference I find myself at this week.  They announced that there were pastors from over 40 states present at this conference.  We’ve experienced AMAZING worship and INSPIRING Word delivered by some GREAT speakers.  I’m saddened by the fact that many pastors (I know because I’ve thought this way before) leave thinking, I wish we had God at our church like they have at theirs.  I want to grab them by the shoulders, look them square in the eye and say “YOU DO!  The SAME GOD that you experienced at that conference is waiting for you back home.  You just refuse to experience Him in your own setting.”

As a youth pastor I had so many students say “I wish God was at youth group like He was at camp.”  Did God change or us?  It wasn’t God.  I’ve heard church people say similar things about other churches, other personal experiences or some of our own experiences at church.  SURE, there are times God rains down an unusual outpouring of Himself, but typically, we become enamored with the moment, the surroundings, the EMOTION and we aren’t enamored enough with GOD.  I truly believe that if we enamor ourselves with the GOD OF THE AGES, we will experience Him in ways that we would describe “conference, camp or revival” like.  I hope we leave this conference NOT with a new greed and jealousy for the THINGS that seem to create a movement of God, but with a genuine HUNGER and EXPECTATION for GOD HIMSELF.  We need to remember, this church started with NOTHING and STILL experienced God.  When people HUNGER AND THIRST for God, all these things will be given unto them.  I hope my hunger for God is NEVER replaced by my hunger for the experience.

Challenged,

Jeff


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: ,
Categories : Element Church, Leadership, church life, discipleship

Sunday Rumination (6-7-09)

7 06 2009

Wow.  I am wiped out today my friends.  I got a little worked up at church today.  Preached on vision.  Here are my ruminations on the day.

— Two people received Christ today.  We didn’t even do an “altar call” and two people got saved.  AWESOME!  Love it when that happens.  You really know the Spirit was working over their heart.

— Actually, more than that.  Pastor Derek led one young girl to Christ after church.  Then I got word that revival broke out in second service Explorers.  Sounds like a bunch of kids prayed with their teacher to receive Jesus today.  Tally those #’s later.  LOVE seeing kids accept Christ!

— Had one lady come to church today as a result of one of our Fusion students inviting her to come while he was waiting tables at the restaurant he works at.  LOVE IT!

— Someone came to church today that is next door neighbors to Pastor Grants brother who lives in Powell.  They had NO idea Grant worked at this church, they just happened to come.  They didn’t even know Grant but recognized the name and though he looked familiar.  They were blown away and said they’ve been praying for his brother for a while now that he would come to know the Lord.  Amazing how God connects people like that.  How cool to “randomly” make that connection.  Awesome!

—  762 in church today.  Great turnout in each service.

— Started our One Prayer sermon series today.  So excited for this series and the direction God is taking us.  The theme for the series is “God is…”

— Today was God is DETERMINED! Each week is going to build on the previous.

— “God is determined to 1. Change our city… 2. One life at a time… 3. And it starts with me!”

— Looked at the story of Zacheus.  I think it’s the first time ever I’ve preached on Zacheus.

— I led everyone who knew the song, in singing the old Sunday School song “Zacheus was a wee little man”  It was funny!  Surprised at how many knew it.

—  The ones who didn’t know the song looked VERY scared that we DID know the song!  LOL

— Really felt led to speak on vision today as we talked about God’s determination.  I got worked up.  I always do when I talk on vision.

— Call me a dreamer, but I truly believe God is determined to change and reach our city and He wants to do it through the local church.  ALL local churches.  If our dream ISN’T for God to reach our WHOLE city, WHY ARE WE HERE!  For some reason God has chosen to use the local church.

— The “one life at a time” stories from Element blow me away. Told one story via video of a young guy that got saved 2 weeks ago in our Elevate program.  Pastor Derek led him to the Lord.

— Told another story of Lance.  Lance came to the building in October and helped Grant and I build one of our walls.  He knew Grant from Grant’s Frito Lay days.  He didn’t come to “church” until March in which God broke through to his heart and he accepted Christ.  Lance hasn’t looked back since.  I said this today “We didn’t build that wall so we could have a building, we built that wall for Lance!”

img00468— Lance was one of the names that was written down on the name boards we did back in September.  We challenged the church to write names of people they wanted to see come to know Christ through Element Church.  Today, we crossed off Lances name!  WOO HOO!

— We took communion today and put the name boards back out.  We got a TON more names written on them.  So cool.

— Grant had someone come up to him after service and said “We can cross my sisters name off”.  Love that too.

— I’ve seen several names crossed of the boards recently.  We keep them in the hallway that connects our worship center and e:kidz.

— Changing the city starts with me.  “I can’t change the city, but I can let God change me, and when God changes me the city changes!”

— Had Leadership Council meeting today.  Three very godly men from Element meet with the pastors Lead Team monthly to offer insight and guidance in the church.  They look at our financial situation and give council on decisions we are making and directions we are going.  It is a GREAT group of guys.

— I wish we had a camera at today’s meeting.  At one point, all of us guys locked arms as we sat around the table and we prayed for a GOD SIZED miracle for our church!  Can’t tell you what that is yet, but I will sometime.  Ha!

— Probably should stop.  If you’ve read this far THANK YOU for being a part of Element Church.  I LOVE leading you guys!

Following Christ,

Jeff


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags:
Categories : Element Church, Sunday Rumination, church life, updates

Sunday Ruminations (5-24-09)

25 05 2009

Happy Memorial Day everyone!  It is Monday night and I’m posting my Sunday Ruminations.  Our family and I went to Estes Park yesterday after church for the remainder of Memorial Day weekend.  We met my sister and brother in law there and were privileged to get to use his parents’ condo to relax in.  I forgot my backpack and so didn’t have my computer with me so didn’t get a chance to recap the Sunday.  Here are my ruminations on the day.

— We didn’t give an invitation and I preached on prayer but we had one person receive Christ yesterday.  How awesome is that?  So cool to see the Spirit draw people REGARDLESS of the message topic.

— 732 in church today.  Each service was down from normal but pretty even over the three.  Thought it was a good turnout for Memorial Day weekend.

— Over the past several weeks we’ve been taking questions from Elementers on their “Life’s Toughest Questions”.  Today we took on the #1 most requested topic…prayer.  “Does God hear me when I pray?”  Had some GREAT questions come in on prayer and I hope I brought some answer to their need.

— Prayer is such a tough subject to preach on.  I’m still trying to figure prayer out.  Why some prayers get answered “yes” and others don’t.  Why sometimes God is silent and others He seems as real as a person talking to you.  It’s a HUGE topic.  Still feel we need to do a whole series on prayer.  Haven’t felt the right timing yet.

—  I was actually NOT looking forward to taking on this subject because I feel so ill equipped to speak on it.  I’ve preached specifically on prayer twice now at Element, and both times felt like SO MUCH more was still out there to be said.  Like I said, I hope what was spoken and the Word of God was helpful to people.

— I did have one out of town guest tell me after service “I’ve really been struggling with prayer lately.  I know that God wanted me here today to specifically here this message.”  She told me that following first service.  It was a HUGE encouragement.  I think God had her there not only to hear the message, but to encourage me as well.

— It’s funny cause I saw Adam say the same thing on his blog today, but I felt more tired today after service than I have in a LONG time.  I told Grant afterward “I’m exhausted”.  I usually feel pretty good till I get home and sit, then I’m wiped, but Sunday just took it out of me.

—  Adam had a new band member help lead today on the song “Your Name”.  Kevin, you did an AWESOME job!  Thanks for serving Kevin.  Thanks for letting others lead Adam.

—  Still diggin’ the “I’ve Had Questions” song.  Band nailed it again.

—  Great to have Grant and Andy back this week.  The front door and lobby just isn’t the same without Grant.  Andy rockin’ the sound booth again this week fillin’ in for our regular sound tech.  It’s weird anytime any of my team is gone.  I rely on them more than they know on Sunday.

— Random thought:  I drink so much water and hot tea on Sunday that I’ve got to set a record for trips to the bathroom.  Seems like I’m in there more than anywhere on Sunday.  lol

— I quit drinking pop or coffee over the weekends starting on Saturday mornings.  I drink only water or hot tea Saturday and Sunday and it has really helped my voice.  I drink so much on Sunday though that I can’t hold it all in.

—  Pastor Kody moves here this week.  Keep praying for God to provide housing for them here and the sale of their house in Oklahoma.

— We might get the AC all working before summer.  That would be nice huh?  We had 2 new units working Sunday in the worship center, but I here it was hot enough in e:kidz to do a lesson on a place NOT called Heaven this Sunday.  lol  Need to get that unit working properly.

—  The theater was always hot too wasn’t it.  We need to get that fixed.

— Announced our next sermon series called One Prayer.  I am SUPER excited about doing this series again.  We did it last year as well.  You can find out more about One Prayer HERE.  This years theme is “God is…”  We’re gonna take on four characteristics of God and how they relate to us, Element Church and our city.

— Literally thousands of churches and hundres of thousands of Christians around the world will be partnering together to do this sermon series in June.  We have prayer calendars you can pick up at church.  We’ll be reading through the Gospel of Matthew together and praying some common prayers together as well.  It’s a GREAT opportunity for our church to be unified in prayer and Scripture reading for one month.

— The late start to the week tomorow means LOTS of work this week.  Can’t wait to get started.  Hope the staff had an awesome day off today!

Following Christ,

Jeff


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags:
Categories : Element Church, Sunday Rumination, church life

Acting Like Acts…Pt. 4

22 05 2009

This is my final post on four things I’ve seen in Acts that pertain to church and thought I’d jot them down.  I just finished Acts in my devotions today and think I might read it again.  I usually go right on but I’ve been getting so much out of it I might just stay here.  In no way are these the ONLY four things, but just four things that REALLY stood out to me this time through.

#1   If you don’t want problems…don’t grow

#2  If you don’t want opposition…don’t preach the Gospel

#3  If you don’t like change…don’t pray for God to move

#4  If you don’t like to share…don’t come out and play HA!  How you like that for a lesson.  The generosity, availability and commitment of the early Christians is UNMATCHED in church history.  If you say you want “A church like Acts” I hope you know what you are talking about.  NOTHING was held above Christ or the Church to the early Christians.  NOTHING!  Specifically, three things that the early church shared that I think we can take a lesson from.

A.  Their time —  Acts 2:46-47 says  “They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”  EVERY DAY?  Wow!  I have a hard time giving my Sunday and one night for Life Group sometimes.  I’m not saying we SHOULD be meeting every day, but THAT was the Acts church.  They shared their TIME!  They didn’t just meet in the temple to worship, they met in homes for communion, AND met together to share meals.  What was the result?  EACH DAY the Lord added to their number those were were being saved.  WOW!  I laugh at how many people can’t wait to get out of the church building once you say Amen.  And how busy we get that we can’t be involved in ONE home group to grow with other like minded Christians.  The Acts church willingly AND joyfully gave of their time.

B.  Their talents — Acts 6:2-5 says “2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, ‘We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. 3 And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.’ 5 Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following:”  The people were empowered to BE the church and they DID IT!  The apostles chose 7 men to help distribute the food, but (reading between the lines), if the Apostles JUST did the preaching and teaching it means that EVERYONE else was using their talents for the church as well.  They were SERVING where God had gifted them AND where they were needed.  How can I be so sure that everyone was willing to share their talents?  Because of the result in 6:7  “So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.” That wouldn’t have happened with out sharing their talents.

C.  Their treasure — The early church had their treasure already…CHRIST!  EVERYTHING else paled in comparison, EVEN money.  “The New Testament doesn’t talk about tithing so I don’t have to!”  Actually it does, but that is another post!  SO let’s play your game.  Maybe you’re right, it doesn’t say we should tithe.  The NT actually goes beyond tithing.  The early church gave EVERYTHING!  Acts 2:44-5 says that they shared everything they had. “45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.”  Acts 4:32 says “And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.”  Hmm, what they owned was not their own.  Now that is a concept we need to grasp better.  Then v. 34-35 says 34 There were NO NEEDY PEOPLE AMONG them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.”  The early church didn’t give 10%, they gave EVERYTHING because they KNEW it wasn’t theirs to begin with.  You should be thankful to give only 10%.

If you don’t like to share…don’t come out and play.  BUT…but if you want to see the church grow, expand and reach more people.  Come out and play!  As near as I can tell, the GIVING of the early church brought JOY, EXCITEMENT and CONTENTMENT!  They LOVED giving, and God rewarded them for it.  When we say we want an Acts type church, we better be willing to give of our time, our talents and our treasure.

Trying to give,

Jeff


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags:
Categories : Element Church, Leadership, church life

Acting Like Acts…Pt. 3

21 05 2009

You can read the other two parts HERE and HERE if you like.  I’ve been reading in Acts for my devotions and just saw a couple church related things that I thought I’d share.

#1  If you don’t want problems…don’t grow

#2  If you don’t want opposition…don’t preach the Gospel

#3  if you don’t like change…don’t pray for God to move

I’m amazed at how many Christians and churches say they are praying for revival, and dying for God to move in their churches and communities but are totally unwilling to embrace change.  How many people say they’d do ANYTHING to see their children or grandchildren know Jesus, but won’t let their pastors change the style of music or their methods of ministry to preach the Gospel and worship Christ in a way that connects with a new generation?  “Because, well, that’s the way we’ve always done it.  I met Christ through those methods and that music.”

Folks, when God moves THINGS CHANGE.  And sometimes IN ORDER for God to move He has to CHANGE THINGS.  If you don’t like change, don’t pray for God to move.

In Acts 1, it had been about 40 days since the resurrection and Jesus had appeared to the disciples on a number of occasions.  This was the last time He would see them, before literally, their world stinkin’ flipped upside down.  In Acts 1:4-5 Jesus tells them to “not leave Jerusalem” until the Holy Spirit comes upon them.  He was preparing them for EVERYTHING to change.  So they obeyed.  We find them, with bout 120 other believers, together in once place.  What were they doing?  Praying.  On the day of Pentecost the Spirit fell on the disciples and filled them with power.  EVERYTHING CHANGED!  They had 120 believers at that point.  That is larger than the average church in America today.  But they weren’t praying for God to keep everything the same.  They were pryaing for GOD TO MOVE and when God moves EVERYTHING CHANGES!

They couldn’t just hoard this new gift that was given, so Peter goes out and starts preaching.  3,000 were added as believers in one day.  WHAT?  120 to 3,000.  That meant that not all the believers knew each other anymore.  Peter was the preacher but he couldn’t minister to all 3,120 believers like maybe he/they could at 120.  The upper room wasn’t big enough now, they needed more space.  It worked before, but now there was no way.  When God moves EVERYTHING CHANGES!

Now people were meeting in homes all throughout the city.  People were sharing their own possessions.  They ate meals together.  Prayed togther.  Worshipped together.  They would meet in the synagogue or temple all together and then go back to their homes and minister to each other (can we say small group ministry?).  In Acts 6 we see a MAJOR shift in the leadership of the disciples.  They went from doing ALL the ministry needs to focusing on just  preaching and teaching. (Wonder how many comments they got on that decision)  EVERYTHING CHANGED!

Read through Acts and see how many times when God moved things changed.  The Jewish Christians had to welcome the Gentile Christians.  Churches began popping up all throughout the region so Paul and others traveled to minister to them.  The old law was being done away with for the age of grace.  The old Jewish system had to be adapted to meet the needs of the new Gentile believers.  EVERYTHING CHANGED!

If you don’t like change…don’t pray for God to move. BUT…but if the salvation of men and women and the transformation of their lives and the permiation of God into our communities is at the top of your priority list, then PRAY FOR THE MOVE OF GOD!  DESPERATELY pray for the move of God.  When God moves things change, but if we’re honest, they ALWAYS change for the BETTER.  At least in the eyes of the Kingdom.

Praying for God to move,

Jeff


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags:
Categories : Element Church, Leadership, church life, church planting

Acting Like Acts…Pt. 2

20 05 2009

“We want an Acts type church.”  First off, I never know what that really means.  Second, I’m not sure people really know what they are asking for when they ask for an Acts type church.  What people generally want, in my opinion, is the RESULTS of the Acts church.  I’m not sure they are willing to BE the Acts church (me included at times).  Here is the second thing I’m noticing in Acts.

If you don’t want opposition…don’t preach the Gospel. Acts 4:1 says “While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captian of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees.  These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead.”  The disciples didn’t pull any punches.  They weren’t just preaching Jesus, they were preaching the FULL Gospel.  REPENT – which literally means to turn from the way you are living and live for Christ!  FILLED – They were teaching the filling of the Holy Spirit which empowers us to live the new life.  JESUS – as THE ONLY WAY to Heaven.  SACRIFICE – That the cost of being a follower of Jesus is EVERYTHING and nothing less.  DEVOTION – SERVING – GIVING – etc.  The Gospel demands 100% of us and nothing less.

If you want to BE the Acts church you MUST preach these things.  And the result?  Some leaders will be VERY disturbed.  The human heart, in it’s sinfulness, DOES NOT like the Gospel.  If you preach the Gospel YOU WILL BE OPPOSED.  Sadly, you may be opposed by “spiritual” leaders in your own church or community.  The ones who were the angriest at the disciples were the religious leader and elite of the day!  If you preach Jesus as the only way, you WILL be opposed.  If you preach that without repentance there is no salvation you WILL be opposed.  If you preach the power of the Holy Spirit filling the heart of the believer you WILL be opposed.  If you preach Sacrifice, deovtion, serving and giving YOU WILL BE OPPOSED.  If you don’t want to be opposed…don’t preach the Gospel.

BUT…BUT…But if you want to see a harvest of lives TRANSFORMED by the power of God then DON’T LET OPPOSITION hold you back.  Peter preached repentance and on ONE DAY thousands were added to the church.  People were healed.  Sinners were transformed.  And when the opposition said “Stop or we’ll kill you.”  Peter’s reply?  “We cannot help but speak about what we have seen or heard.”  I think too many pastors/churches are afraid to preach the Gospel for fear of opposition.  The Gospel effects EVERY area of our life.  Money, sex, relationships, marriage, work, family, leisure, EVERYTHING.  But so often the Gospel is left out of those areas of our lives and our preaching.

Leonard Ravenhill said “If Jesus preached the same message some minister’s preach today, He would have never been crucified.”  OUCH!  I hope there is ALWAYS opposition to what we preach, it just might be a sign that we’re preaching something good!

Trying to preach the Gospel,

Jeff


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags:
Categories : Element Church, Leadership, church life

Acting like Acts: Part 1

19 05 2009

I’m reading Acts in my devotions right now.  Side note:  Isn’t it AWESOME how you can read something 5, 10, 15, 50 times and yet you come back to it and AGAIN you learn something new.  That’s how I’m feeling with Acts right now.  As I’m reading through it, I’m thinking, “MAN, there is still so much the church needs to learn from this book.”  People always say “We want an Acts type church.”  Most people who say that, have NO CLUE what they are asking for.  I want to address a few things I’ve seen in Acts about the local church.  We say we LONG for the Acts church, but I don’t know if we realize what that means.

If you don’t want problems…don’t grow! We read Acts and we think “I wish our church would see 3,000 people added in one day!”  “I wish our church would see the kind of rapid multiplication of believers and churches like Acts did.”  “I wish we were as big as ‘church name here’!”

Acts 6:1 says “But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent!” You mean, the Acts church deal with that too?  HA Pastor…attender…member…listen to me…BIGGER DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN BETTER!  I know so many people who just think that if the church would grow it would solve everything.  That somehow complaints, discontent, misunderstanding, and people who are downright hurtful don’t exist in larger churches.  Exist?  I’m not gonna go there.

NOW, I’m not saying we shouldn’t desire for our churches to grow.  Our NUMBER ONE desire for our churches should be to GROW through NEW CONVERTS!  But you better expect, that when you grow, it only brings on MORE problems.  Are you ready for that?  If you are having trouble dealing with the issues you already have…don’t grow.  If you are burnt out dealing with people who are discontent with what you do…don’t grow.  If you don’t like hearing complaints about how you preach…what you sing…the volume of the music…the decorations…the decisions…then don’t grow.  Because that only grows with you.

I heard Ed Stetzer say this at a recent conference we attended and I think it is so true:  “Most of you will not experience ministries like you’ve seen here today, and if you do, it will hurt more than you thought and you’ll struggle more than you ever imagined.”  BUT…BUT…don’t let that stop you from ADVANCING THE KINGDOM OF GOD.  The disciples didn’t, and WE’LL never be the same because of it!  Bring on the problems if it means MORE PEOPLE know Jesus!

Growing,

Jeff


Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : Element Church, Leadership, church life, church planting

Decide Before You Start…

6 05 2009

…Where you are going and what you’ll be doing.  When you lead anything…whether it’s a church, ministry, business, or organization, you have GOT to decide BEFORE you start where you are going and what you’ll be doing.  It’s the pre-decisions that will help you make the TOUGH decisions later on when things start changing.  People don’t like change.  I’ve found that people REALLY don’t like change, even in the church (maybe especially in the church.   And that comes not from being a pastor but from also growing up in a pastors home.  I’ve been a pastor’s kid or pastor for 34 years.)

As a pastor/leader, there are some TOUGH decisions that have to be made, and sadly (I REALLY mean that), there are people you lead that will choose not to be a part of what your leading any longer because they don’t like the change.  That is NEVER easy, and it is NOT what any pastor wants, but it is a fact of life.

We decided before we started that our mission at Element Church is to connect people with the Life in Christ and to help them follow Him completely.

We decided before we started that our vision is that God would so impact the Cheyenne area through Element Church that if we were gone the community would miss us.

We decided before we started that to maximize our impact we would do three things and say “no” to everything else.  We do the worship experience, small groups and community outreach.  Our goal in those three things are to be intentional, relevant, practical and effective.  Those has NEVER changed.  What HAS changed has caused some tough decisions.  Thankfully they were decided before we started.

Decide before you start because…

— Every church (business) will have people that liked the church better when it was smaller.  Decide before you start what you’re doing and where you’re going.

— Every church (business) will have people that think “Now that we are bigger we need to do THIS”.  Decide before you start what you’re doing and where you’re going.

— Every church (business) will have people that say “We never used to do it that way”.  Decide before you start what you’re doing and where you’re going.

— Every church (business) will have people that believe “This is what our former church did, or what another church did, so we should do that”.  Decide before you start what you’re doing and where you are going.

It is the PRE-decision that motivates the TOUGH decisions in EVERY business, organization or church.  The WHERE (vision) you are going and WHAT (mission) you’ll be doing should never change (barring the move and voice of God).  Everything else inside of that changes, AND brings on TOUGH decisions.  I’m not sure I realized HOW tough they would be sometimes.  I’m just glad we decided before we started.

Deciding,

Jeff


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags:
Categories : Element Church, Leadership, church life

If you can’t make tough decisions…

5 05 2009

you shouldn’t be a leader.  Notice I didn’t say you CAN’T be one, you just SHOULDN’T. In fact, I’m not sure you WANT to be one if you can’t make tough decisions.  There are lots of leaders who can’t make tough decisions, but they won’t be leading very long.  YOU won’t last long and neither will the thing you’re leading.  One of the BIGGEST leadership lessons I’ve learned the past 2 years is not letting personal preference dictate leadership decisions.  There are times when my preference lines up with what is the best leadership decision, but MAN have I learned this lesson the hard way.

Just recently I feel like I’ve finally turned a corner in decision making.  I’ve had 3 or 4 VERY tough leadership decisions that 2 years ago I would have made leaning toward preference and not leadership.  All of these recent decsions, ONE specifically that included changing the role of a staff member that is TOTALLY not my preference, had the potential to set precedence AND change the direction of some things that wouldn’t have benefited Element from a leadership standpoint, just a personal one.  I’m learning the hard way that when you are a leader, you HAVE to make decisions and confront situations that are not comfortable, easy or fun, but ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

The GREATEST leaders of the Bible are the ones who made the toughest decisions.  And notice, even when Moses and David (2 of the greatest leaders in Scripture) failed, they failed because they made decisions based on preference and NOT leadership or Holy Spirit.  Saul couldn’t make the tough decisions and it cost him his throne.  Read through Kings and Chronicles and notice who led well and why.  They made TOUGH decisions.  Look at the most successful business, or for that matter the healthiest churches, and you’ll find leaders who made the TOUGH decisions.

Whether it’s your family, your job, your church, your team.  If you can’t make the tough decisions, you shouldn’t be a leader.

Learning,

Jeff


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags:
Categories : Element Church, Leadership, church life

Sunday Rumination (5-3-09)

3 05 2009

Been a full day today.  It’s 7 PM and I just sat down to do the blog.  I typically try to get it done in the afternoon.  Was a great day at Element.  Three services, leadership council, private baby dedication, then home to sick kids.  Makes for a full day.  Here are my ruminations on the day.

— 9 kids accepted Christ today in Elevate.  NINE!  Pastor Derek, KEEP ROCKIN’ IT!  Amazing.

— “God is blowin’ my mind out of my head right now” I think were Derek’s exact words.  lol  Love it!  Been there Derek.  Still there actually!

—  878 in church today.

— I told Grant “I’m done predicting what attendance will be based on what the room looks like.”  Every time I think my guesstimate is right it is far off.  I’m surprised every time Grant tells me the attendance.  Whether I think it’s up or down I’m never right.  I think Grant just picks a number that sounds fun to him that day.  lol

— Second service is by FAR the most full.  We definitely still have quite a bit of growing room in first and third service.

— Third service is least attended and we could use some Elementers to switch from second to third.

— Loved how Adam and the band did worship today.  Great way to mix it up.  It was a total acoustic set with keys, acoustic guitar and some percussion instruments.

— Adam stepped away from center stage and let Katie lead.  GREAT job Katie.

— Thought it was a great lesson in leadership from Adam to step aside and let someone else take the reigns even when we was there.  Great job band!

— Loved the new percussion stuff from Bryant.  Stellar!

— Nathan suggested a song to the team during their song selection planning  that TOTALLY fit the theme of the day.  I think I cried every service when they sang it.  It’s called “I’ve had questions”.  We’ll do it again later this series. PERFECT for today’s message.

— We started Life’s Toughest Questions and took on the most difficult yet most common question I think we have as humans today.  “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

—  I felt uneasy this whole week leading up to this and that didn’t stop this morning.  I KNEW this was what I was supposed to preach on but never felt great about it, even after I was done.  People were ministered to and God was glorified so that is all what it was all about.

—  Even if we knew why bad things happen, would it take away our pain?  NO!  We ask the wrong questions.  We don’t need to know why, we need to know where to turn when bad things happen.

—  The world doesn’t need answers, the world needs HOPE, for it is HOPE that will define us when bad things happen NOT answers.

— What separates Christians from non-Christians is not answers, but HOPE.  Why is it that as Christians we feel we have to have an answer for everything?

— The answer to WHY bad things happen is simple.  Sin and the free will of man.  That is why we have to answer WHERE do I turn and not just WHY it happened.

— Jesus promised us hard times when He said “In this world you WILL have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world”

—  My default message is LIFE.  When I feel uneasy about a message I always want to scrap it and preach on my passion…LIFE  Amber (Pastor Adam’s wife) said something today that I’ve been thinking about since.  She said “I know your passion is to preach on life, but messages like this one help people overcome hurts that will enable them to actually live.”  That dog’ll hunt right there.

—  Had our 3rd leadership council meeting today.  Those guys on our council ROCK!  Not many pastors can say they enjoy (or at least don’t mind) going to their elder meetings.  Our team BELIEVES in our mission and literally want to see ANYTHING done to reach this city for Jesus.

— That’s all she wrote folks.  Time to watch Amazing Race and Apprentice with my beautiful bride.  I LOVE Element Church and can’t imagine doing ANYTHING else.  You guys ROCK!

Following Christ,

Jeff


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags:
Categories : Element Church, Sunday Rumination, church life

« Previous Entries