Great Friday Afternoon

Took Friday afternoon off. It was a great time. I beat Grant 22-20 at XBox College Football. He was Texas. I was Kentucky. That's the only time Kentucky is going to beat Texas in football.

Then, we all went to Jordan Creek Mall and took in a movie--Nim's Island. Morgan and I shared M and M's. It was great to sit beside her because it was a movie about a father and daughter.

Next, we went to Barnes and Noble. Each of the kids got a new book--Angelina Ballerina, Magic Tree House, and a Ted Dekker novel. Amberly and I wanted a book about 500 places to take your kids before they grow up, but decided to check it out at amazon, instead.

After that, food court. Wendy's. Chick-fil-a.

Tomorrow...chocolate chip pancakes. Nothing better.

What's It Mean to Trust?

If I trust you, what does that mean? What does it mean for you to trust me? Here's a great definition of trust from The Five Dysfunctions of a Team:

• Trust is the confidence among team members that their peers' intentions are good and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group. In essence, team members must get comfortable being vulnerable around each other.

I trust you when I don't have to be protective or careful around you. I trust you when I know you're looking out for me--even when I'm not in the room.

New Message Series

We just wrapped up a creative meeting where we planned out the message series from now through September. Here's what we're looking at:

• Urban Legends: Debunking Spiritual Myths (We're going to look at four urban legends and find out if they are fact or fiction.)
• Irresistible (This is the summer message series based on Colossians. We'll re-discover the Irresistible Jesus and learn how to become a church of irresistible influence.)
• Unstoppable (This four-part message series is set for August as we seek to become an unstoppable force for good in our city. This will lead up to our 14th anniversary and our launch of a second service.)

There you go. If you purchase a cd set of a recent message series, you can e-mail tamra@lifenow.org. You can pick up a copy of Jesus 1.0, The Greatest Comeback Ever, Fusion, and so much more.

Bored.com

Did you know there's a website called www.bored.com. If you have absolutely nothing to do, you can go there and waste plenty of time. Let me give you a three more time wasters:

1. Worry.
2. Fear.
3. Comparison.

Seven Temptations Pastors Face

Perry Noble, a pastor from Anderson, South Carolina, posted these six temptations at http://www.perrynoble.com/:

1. Selling out God's vision in exchange for a paycheck.
2. Trying to please everyone.
3. Thinking that working harder will solve the problem.
4. Sacrificing their family.
5. Not delegating their weaknesses.
6. Avoiding conflict.
7. Not spending personal time with God.

At different points over the almost 14 years at Christian Life Assembly, I've battled all of these temptations--never at the same time, but at different points. The temptation to please everyone was great at the beginning. Back then, we were just looking for bodies to fill the seats and help unload the van. During the building project, the temptation was to sacrifice family time. Interesting stuff.

Five Marketing Mistakes Churches Make

According to Tony Morgan in Outreach magazine, there are five common marketing mistakes made by churches:

1. Promoting your church instead of generating a response.
2. Making a promise you can't keep.
3. Trying to be all things to all people.
4. Thinking other churches are your competition.
5. Promoting programs that compete with one another.

To read the complete article, go to http://outreachmagazine.com/library/webexclusives/ND07webexTonyMorgan.asp