Are You Ready For Today?

30 01 2012

Today, I am unbelievably excited for all of you!

Why?  Because I know that God is about to do something radical in your life.

On Sunday, we gave our church a challenge to intentionally engage God in His Word, everyday for the next 28 days (The 28 Day Challenge).  To help you all get started in this, we equipped you with a Life Journal, which is a simple tool that walks you through a process of listening to, and responding to God.  The reason we challenged you to do this is because we know that God’s Word is one of those avenues where God’s transforming power is released.  It is only through Him that genuine life change happens.

My prayer is that today you embarked on that challenge whole-heartedly and filled with anticipation for what God is going to do in your life over the next four weeks.  However, I also hope that you are focused on today… the right here and now… because today is where God calls us to live!

Are you living your life for Him today?

Are you eager for God to speak words of Truth to you today?

Are you seeking God’s strength and power for your life today?

Are you listening to Him with a humble and surrendered heart today?

Are you willing to be changed by His power today?

Are you committed to obey what He says today?

Are you hungry for a deeper, more vibrant relationship with Him today?

I am, and I hope you are too!

May God radically transform our lives today, as we commit ourselves to completely to Him.

LET IT BE DONE, LORD!!!


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Burn On… Not Out

18 01 2012

Six months ago I was in a bad, bad place.  No, it wasn’t a casino or a strip club.  It wasn’t a bar or a brothel.

I was in “Burnout” City.  And I didn’t even know it.

When I discovered I was there, I discovered that it is much more common than I wanted to admit.  I began to see the signs everywhere, in my own life and in the lives of those around me.  Because of this, I felt it was important to share my journey to “Burnout City” with you, in hopes that you can avoid finding yourselves there.  If you are already there, hopefully you’ll be able to glean some wisdom and get back on track… back on the Road to Refreshing.

“Repent… that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” Acts 3:19

I had heard about “burnout” from other pastors and leaders, but I truly believed that I was immune to such a thing.  I am a positive guy.  I am not prone to extremes.  I don’t really get depressed or down.  I was convinced that burnout was something that happened to other, much weaker people, but not to me.Image

However, as ministry continued,  I knew something wasn’t right.  Although I would have never called it burnout, I was very aware that I was stuck.  I felt as if all of my energy and efforts produced no forward momentum.  No matter what I did, it seemed nothing was moving forward.  I had no vision for the future, I was paralyzed by menial decisions, I was caught up in meaningless pursuits… I was a leadership mess.  My excitement about what I was doing was at an all time low.  I found myself drifting in the sea of “routine”.  Same thing, different day.  Over and over and over.

In the midst of all of this, I came across a book called “Leading On Empty” by Wayne Cordeiro (which I highly recommend).  In it, the author, a Pastor himself, shared his own story of “burnout”, and his pathway out of it.  What he experienced was so much like what I was going through, it scared me.  And what scared me even more was the reality of what could happen if I continued down this path.

If things didn’t change, I would not be in ministry in very near future. 

For the next two weeks, I intentionally began to seek God on this matter.  I secluded myself and began to ask Him to help me see what had happened, and how to get back on track.  It didn’t take long to recognize how it happened.  Here is what God revealed to me about my “Road to Burnout City”:

  • I Neglected Personal Time In God’s Word – It didn’t happen over night, but slowly, my personal time in God’s Word deteriorated.  Instead of daily times listening to God speak directly to me and my heart condition, my time with God was primarily centered around preparing for a message or speaking opportunity.
  • I Became Self-Sufficient – I have always struggled with consistent times of prayer, but during this stretch, Prayer was almost non-existent.  I rarely asked God to do anything… except to bless some event we were doing.  I was living an almost completely self-sufficient life, needing very little from God.
  • I Neglected My Physical Condition – I stopped working out or exercising and I placed little restraint on my eating habits.  I justified my lack of exercise thinking I was to busy doing the work of ministry.  When you add a horrific diet, I started to gain weight and feel poorly.  By the time I made it home at the end of the day, I had little energy to engage my wife and kids in meaningful ways.  I found myself drawn to mindless activities that required little to no effort or energy (internet, news, TV…)
  • I Took No Time Away – I understood the spiritual principle of “getting away”, but I never made it a priority.  And when I did get away, I was not intentional about re-connecting with God… rather I viewed it as more of a “break” from Him.  Ultimately, I was missing the very reason I needed to get “away” to begin with.
  • I Didn’t Understand What “Refreshed” Me – There are certain activities that “refresh” us, and because I had never considered what those things were for me, I was never intentional about engaging in them.  No refreshing leads to living less than fresh.

That was basically what the “Road to Burnout” looked like for me.  I would venture to say that if you are feeling “Burnt out”, that many of the above things are true of you as well.  It seldom happens overnight, but very slowly, our intensity on the things that matter the most starts to wain, and if we wander down that path long enough, we find ourselves on the outskirts of “Burnout City”.

If your there, it’s not too late to turn around.  The first step for me was to get away and get with God.  It might be the first step for you too.  As soon as possible, I would encourage you to grab your Bible and journal, and take an hour or two (maybe more) to allow God to reveal to you what your “road” looks like.  It might be different, or it might be similar, but when you see it, you will be able to start making the necessary changes to get off the Road your on, and back onto the Road of Refreshing.

In the next couple of days, I’ll post more on what it looked like to get back on the Road to Refreshing, and what specific changes I had to make to stay there.

Burn on, my friends!  Burn On!


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What A Fully Devoted Follower Looks Like

16 01 2012

At Harvest Springs, the church I pastor, our purpose is the help people become “fully devoted followers of Christ.”  We recently shared this statement with our church, and since then, I have been flooded with texts, emails, phone calls, and Facebook messages from people who are excited about this new clarifying of our Purpose.  However, one question that I wonder if everyone has a crystal clear answer to, is this:

“What does a ‘fully devoted follower of Christ look like?

If our Church doesn’t know exactly what the answer is to that question, then we are just parading around a flowery phrase, and nothing more.  If the answer isn’t clear, our purpose isn’t either.

As a Lead Pastor, one of my Chief responsibilities is to “Define” the results we are pursuing.  Unless we clearly define what the results look like, then our church will never be intentional or effective in seeing those results birthed out.  One of the reasons I believe the Church has struggled to make disciples in an effective way has been that we haven’t clearly defined what Biblical Discipleship looks like.  We haven’t fully “defined” our purpose.

One of the best and most simple illustrations of “what a fully devoted follower of Christ looks like” is the Wheel illustration.  It is an illustration that the Navigators use to help people understand the key components of a “Christ Centered” Life.  Here’s a quick overview:

  • Christ The Center – A fully devoted follower of Christ lives with Christ at the center.  (2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 2:20)
  • Obedience to Christ – A fully devoted follower of Christ obeys what Christ says.  (Luke 4:46, John 14:21, 1 John 2:4)
  • The Word – A fully devoted follower of Christ spends daily time in God’s Word.  (Joshua 1:8, Matthew 4:4, Psalm 119:9,11
  • Prayer – A fully devoted follower of Christ engages God in faith through prayer.  (Ephesians 3:12, Philippians 4:6-7, Hebrews 4:16, Hebrews 11:6)
  • Fellowship – A fully devoted follower of Christ lives in Christ Centered relationship with other believers.  (Hebrews 10:24-25, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, John 13:34-35, Hebrews 3:13)
  • Witnessing – A fully devoted follower of Christ purposely share truth, through word and deed, with those who are far from God.  (1 Peter 3:15, Romans 1:16, Matthew 5:16)

If this is our answer, then we know exactly what we must be about.  Crafting strategies and developing systems that enable these results to manifest themselves within our church.  Once our purpose is clearly “defined” then we have a tangible and measurable benchmark to measure our effectiveness.  Without the full definition, we will never see the results we desire.

And the great tragedy is… we will probably never know what we are missing.


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5 Thoughts on Spiritual Growth

12 01 2012

Let me share something with you that you might find hard to believe.

Most people who attend church on a regular basis want to grow spiritually.  They really do.

Sure there are those who attend because their spouses made them, or for social reasons, or because it’s a great way to expand their Multi-Tiered Marketing business, but let’s face it… those folks are dwarfed by the staggering amount of genuine individuals who are simply trying to figure out how to take the next step.  The vast majority of people in our churches are there because they want to grow in their relationship with God.

I hope you’re growing, but if you’re not, I don’t think it’s because you don’t want to.  It might be that you just don’t quite know where to start.  I have been walking with Christ for 17 years, and been blessed to help many grow in their own walk with him.  So here are a few things I’ve learned along the way.

  1. Spiritual growth requires intentionality. –  Spiritual Growth is intentional.  It takes work.  It takes investment.  A guy who can bench press 350 lbs didn’t get there because strength landed on him while he ate Cheetos on the couch.  He worked hard to get there.  For you to grow as a follower of Christ, you will have to work hard too.
  2. Spiritual growth requires a plan. – I have never met an individual who consistently maintained a fitness regiment who didn’t have a plan.  The same goes for those who want to grow spiritually.  A plan directs your energy toward things that produce the desired results.  A plan also keeps you focused on the purpose of your activity.  If you want to grow spiritually, you need a plan.
  3. Spiritual growth requires accountability. – I know very few people who will maintain healthy spiritual disciplines without accountability.  Sometimes that accountability can be self-directed (progress charts, etc…) but most of the time, we need others to help.  Sharing our plan with someone who will ask us about our progress can keep us from falling off the wagon.
  4. Spiritual growth requires patience. – I rarely feel as if I am growing spiritually.  However, as I experience things in life, every once in a while, I will experience something that reveals an increase in my spiritual strength or maturity.  Sometimes it happens fast… sometimes it happens slow.  The key is to keep pursuing growth.  Don’t give up!
  5. Spiritual growth requires a connection to God – I must understand this truth.  God is the one who grows me.  My job is to position myself in places where His transforming power can change who I am.  What are those places?  Spending time listening and responding to God is one of those places. As we get closer to Him, spiritual growth happens naturally… in fact, that’s exactly what spiritual growth is.

So, if you feel like you’re stuck, and you’re trying to jump-start your spiritual growth, then be intentional, get a plan, find an accountability partner, be patient, and spend time developing your connection with God.  If you do, I will guarantee you will see spiritual growth take place in your life.

If not, I will refund the money you spent reading this…   🙂


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