A Few Random Thoughts

• Today, I kind of felt like some of you may have felt Sunday. I went to chapel at Southeastern University, expecting to hear Dr. Mark Rutland. Mark didn't preach, though. I had to listen to a guest speaker. At first, I was disappointed, but then decided that the Holy Spirit still wanted to speak to me even if it wasn't the speaker I expected.
• I've had the joy of hearing ten sermons since we started this sabbatical a week ago. Nine were live and one was on CD. All have been different speakers. All have been used by the Holy Spirit to renew my mind and shape my spirit.
• People here are complaining about the temperatures--low 50's. Let 'em move to Iowa!
• I ran into Dave and Linda Leeper at Walt Disney World Saturday. We were there with my mom and grandmother. Had to travel all the way to Florida to say hi to these great folks from Iowa! They read the blog so let me tell them Hi and I love you guys one more time! Dave, sorry we didn't make it to Gatorland for a plate of gator and tater, but it's still true--you never fail with food!

Book of the Week--The Leadership Game

Tom Mullins coached football for 15 years, amassing 128 wins at the college and high school level. Now, he's the pastor of a multi-site church of 20,000 members in Palm Beach County, Florida. He's written a book on leadership based on his coaching experience, The Leadership Game. According to Mullins there are seven responsiblities of leadership from coaching that apply to leading any organization:

1. Recruiting
2. Motivation
3. Momentum
4. Morale
5. Preparation
6. Game Day Adjustments
7. Celebration

Here were a couple of key thoughts:

• Preparation precedes momentum.
• The foundation of morale is hope.
• The four most important words to motivate people are, "I believe in you."

Harder Than I Thought

During this spiritual renewal retreat, I'm supposed to disconnect from what's happening at church to really connect with my family and the Lord. It's harder than I thought it would be! I had to give my phone to Amberly to keep me from calling yesterday.

I did call Russ Hixson today to ask a question about the arbitration, but all he said was, "I'm not going to talk with you about it! You're on sabbatical. We can handle it."

Apparently, I'm not as indispensable as I thought I was.

Spiritual Renewal Retreat

Amberly and I made it to Florida and have started our spiritual renewal retreat. We attended the first night of the Free to Soar Conference last night. It has tracks for pastors and for pastor's wives. My mother and grandmother are watching the kids while we go to the conference.

Just finished a couple of great session. One was with Bishop Dale Broner of Atlanta, Georgia. I took about ten pages of notes on the top of quantum capacity. One of the things he said really struck me:

"God is a moving entity. He's always doing something fresh. So, we've got to be listening to his voice for a proceeding Word. The greatest enemy to a new move of God is the last move of God."

That's a primary reason for our spiritual renewal retreat: I want to hear a "proceeding" word from God for our church family. I'm excited about what God has done, but more excited about what God is gong to do next!

Elvis, Barry, Conway, and Lynnard Skynnard

I had a great day yesterday. Took Corbin to school. Worked at the office. Had lunch with Amberly. Then, I got in the car and travelled to Iowa City where I interviewed a potential church planter and met with Rich Greene, our church planter in Iowa City. From there, I headed to LeClaire, Iowa. Pastor Jeff Crowder and I led that church's annual meeting. Jeff is doing a great job in revitalizing that church.

Then came the ride back to Des Moines. I left LeClaire and merged onto Interstate 80 at exit 306, knowing that exit 140 was a long ways off. I talked on the phone for a while. I listened to preaching on my ipod. I listened to Hillsong on my ipod.

Around 10 PM, though, it was all I could do to stay awake. No sermon or worship chorus was cutting it.

So, we had to dig deeper into the ipod. That's were I found Barry Manilow at the Copacabanna. It's still the hottest spot north of Havanna. Then, Elvis begged to Let Me Be There and told Johnny to B. Goode. After that Conway Twitty and I did a duet to Hello Darling. By this time I was waking up and thought I was ready for Lynnard Skynnard. For the final couple of miles, we belted out Sweet Home Alabama as I pulled into my sweet home Iowa's drive way.

After ten hours of driving and meetings, I was home. Sometimes, you've got to do what you've got to do.

Vision 20.20 (Serve)

The fourth purpose at Christian Life Assembly is SERVE. By 2020, we envision a church...

• With 150 life giving ministries where people serve according to their SHAPE (Spiritual Gifts, Heartbeat, Abilities, Personality, and Experience).
• 80% of the congregation involved in ministry, according to their SHAPE.
• A School of Ministry, effectively equipping men and women for significant service, making a difference with their lives.

In order to reach these goals, in the next two-five years we will...

• Identify, Recruit, Equip, Deploy, and Support 65% of the congregation in ministries that fit their spiritual SHAPE.
• Hire a senior associate pastor to lead the grow, connect, worship, and serve purposes.

Vision 20.20 (Grow)

The third purpose of Christian Life Assembly is Grow. Here's what we envision by 2020 to help the church family grow into their full potential:

• A fully-developed Life Institute, equipping beleivers to fulfill their purpose, including a School of Worship, School of Leaders, and School of Ministry.
• A Master's Commission to equip young people to serve in ministry.
• Hire a senior associate pastor to lead ministries for Reach, Connect, Grow, and Serve.

In the next two to five years we will take the following steps toward that vision.

• See 100 people complete the School of Leaders
• Develop curriculum and launch School of Worship
• Launch Master's Commission

Chase the Lion!

Here is a lifestyle motto I've picked up from my friend Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church and speaker at this year's e2 conference in Des Moines. You might want to print it out and post it on a mirror or refrigerator. You can pick up a copy of his book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day at the Connections Resource Center.

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Grab life by the mane. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshipping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. Chase the lion!

20.20 Vision (Connect)

The second of our five purposes is Connect. By 2020 we envision a church:

• With over 200 small groups connecting people in life giving relationships throughout central Iowa.
• With a fully-functioning coffee house and bookstore that provides an atmosphere where people can connect in informal settings.
• With Men of Steel and Leading Ladies ministries that conduct catalyst events that open doors for people to invited hundreds of people into their small group and church.

To see that vision accomplished, in the next five years we will:

• Recruit and train leaders for 30 additional small groups.
• Hire a senior associate pastor to lead connect, reach, grow, and serve ministries.
• Begin the second phase of construction on our current facility that will include an expanded bookstore and coffees shop to provide connection opportunities.

20.20 Master Plan (Reach)

At Christian Life Assembly, we have five purposes: reach, connect, grow, serve, and worship. By 2020, our vision for fulfilling our purpose of reaching people looks like this:

• A multi-site church with 3-5 campuses throughout central Iowa with between 2,000-3,000 people attending each weekend.
• A church with a fully-integrated media ministry reaching central Iowa and beyond through television, radio, internet, podcasting, and all new technologies.
• A church committed to world missions--giving over $1,000,000 each year to world missions and involving at least 25% of the congregation in 8-12 missions trips each year.

Within the next five years, we will take the following steps toward this vision:

• Launch two new sites for worship--an inner city site and a site in the western suburbs.
• Hire a senior associate pastor to oversee Reach ministries, as well Connect, Grow, and Serve.
• Take the first steps into media ministry through televisions spots, podcasting, blogging, and other available means.

For more information on multi-site ministry, you can take a look at http://www.multisitechurchrevolution.com.

20.20 Vision

The pastoral team, deacon board, and ministry champions have been developing a 20/20 Vision Plan for Christian Life Assembly. It's a picture of what we think our church can look like in the year 2020, along with five year, three year, and 90 Day goals to get us there.

Starting next week on the blog, we'll be releasing some of the creative and energizing ideas about where we think God is leading us as a church. You're going to be excited about the vision God is placing in our hearts.

Leadership Idea of the Week

Here's this week's Leadership Idea:

The only thing a leader can't delegate is final responsibility.

Leaders can delegate tasks, assignments, portfolios, projects, almost any aspect of his role. The one thing a leader cannot delegate is final responsibility. In the end, the leader is responsible. That brings two thoughts to my mind. The leader has to surround himself with the right people to delegate tasks to. Second, the leader has to implement the right systems of communication to insure those tasks are completed properly.

Interpret Life Correctly

One of the principles we talked about in a series of messages a few months ago was interpreting life correctly. We miss out on so much when we misinterpret life. This week, our church family faces the shocking news that one of our deacons suffered a brain anuerysm and died at 57 years-old. In fact, he died two years after his wife who had a congenital heart condition.

It's so important for us to help people interpret these things correctly. Let me give you some misinterpretations that Christians can buy into during times like this:

1. We shouldn't mourn or grieve because we know our loved one is in Heaven. The Bible says that we don't mourn as those without hope. It doesn't end the sentence with "We don't mourn." It's that we mourn, grieve, and weep, but with hope--not without hope. I have meet Christians who refuse to allow themselves to cry becuase they think it's unspiritual. That's a misinterpretation that will cause grief to surround you more and more--not less and less.

2. If we had prayed more or had more faith, our loved one wouldn't have died. That puts the power of life and death in our hands, not in God's. The Bible says in James that we pray the prayer of faith, but the Lord raises up the sick. Why doesn't God heal every sick person? Because it is still appointed to man once to die, according to the Bible. I believe in miracles, but I trust in Jesus. Not everyone we pray for will be healed, but we keep praying. And, we don't get disappointed and lament powerless faith, blaming ourselves or each other. We believe in miracles, but we trust in Jesus.

3. God isn't good. God is still good no matter what. Is it God's will for our loved one to be healed? Yes. Then why doesn't he? Let's start at the root. Was it God's will for Adam and Eve to sin? No. Was it God's will for death and sickness to come into the world because of sin? No. Was it God's will for our loved one to fall prey to that death and sickness? No. But, that's the course that humans charted when we allowed sin, death, and sickness into the world. So, what's God doing about it? He sent his son to die so that we can live not only in this world, but in a world to come with no sin, death, or sickness. He gave his all to redeem us from the curse of sin. That's why I can still say that God is good all the time.

It's important to interpret life well. If we don't, we'll wind up blaming God, blaming others, or blaming ourselves.