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There has been a small discussion on Monday Morning Insights on the pros and cons of large and small churches and the reality of consumerism with those churches. Regardless off what church you go to, if you go there because you “like” it best are you not a consumer? What we are trying to avoid is selfish consumerism. Either way it reminded me about this King of the Hill episode so I thought I would share it with you.

I saw this on Mark Waltz’s blog and I couldn’t resist.

I just saw this great post by Jessica Hagy. I would share the image from the post here but since here whole post is the image and I don’t like to reproduce someone else’s entire post I won’t. In it she demonstrates the comparative nature of us all. We all want to know if we measure up or have what it takes to accomplish something. Many times the our only way of evaluating that is by comparing what we have and are versus what others have and are.

It is no different among church leaders. We all want to have successful ministries, although some for the wrong reasons, so we try to have and be what another successful ministry has and is. The problem is you are not that ministry and with any luck you won’t be. God has positioned you to be a unique force in your community. That doesn’t mean that you won’t someday have the same tools, systems, and even vibe as those other ministries, it just means that your ministry is on its own journey. Enjoy that journey. Don’t miss what God is doing through you now. It is in the now that God is preparing you for the then.

You may not have the music, the media or a lot of the other resources many dynamic church ministries have and either did they in the beginning. What you have is faith in a calling and the One who called you. I like what Mark Batterson from National Community Church had to say, “Keep hustling, keep taking shots, keep doing the right things and eventually things will go your way.” Not an exact quote.

We need to stay focused on the game we are in or we may never make it to the game we hope to play.

Another are in my life I need to start prioritizing is my physical body. That means I need to start exercising on a consistent basis. Up till now I have been a Monday & Tuesday gym goer. By Wednesday I get distracted by any number of other things that many times are really less important in the grand scheme of things. Tonight Kevin, Josh and I decided to play basketball for our exercise so we could enjoy the outside. I thought I would share some pics. They are from my phone so they aren’t that great but you get the point.

My man Josh with his mad ball handling skills.	Kevin displaying his precision jump shot.	That’s me doing what I do best…sitting. You can’t tell but I am about to pass out from just a couple games of 21.

Why is this so important? I feel that since my call to church leadership is so important that I should take care of myself so that I can do it for a very long time.

I have been trying to realign my life over the last week or so and I am really excited at how I am already feeling a change. Yesterday I spoke how realized that I was sleep deprived and how I planned on changing that. Well, I started last night. I have to admit it was hard and it will probably get harder before it becomes a habit. One of the reasons it’s so hard is because I am always plugged in. I live my life in front of a computer, all day at work and then most of the time all night at home. Whether it be work, study or play I tend to be connected to something. The problem is that lately it has only been to the computer and not so much to God or my wife. So I have been making changes not only in my sleep but also while I’m awake.

This started last night and I already love it. If this something you have a clear practice on then congratulations but allow me my moment of renewal and revelation. Angela usually goes to bed at 10 p.m. while I lately keep working till about 1 or 2 in the morning. This is obviously not healthy for many reasons. From now on I have a new way of dealing with my evenings. When Angela goes to bed at ten I turn off the TV and the computer. This is one huge step for me. It cuts me off from my obsessive work habits. I now spend the last half hour of my day in prayer and God’s Word. This isn’t the only time but it is the only consistently scheduled time. When I get up the next morning I also will not be turning on the computer or TV but instead will have breakfast with God. I know it’s crazy, a Pastor starting and ending his day with God. I spend a lot of time studying and talking to God but I believe that these two periods of time are going to become the most meaningful to me.

It’s easy for us to become obsessed but the question is are we obsessed with the right things?

It is such a beautiful day. I’m sitting here in the living room with the windows open to let the sunlight and cool breeze in. Angela is taking a nap on the couch and Reign of Fire is on the TV. It’s a pretty stupid movie but sometimes I like watching stupid movies. Sitting here I realize that I miss sunlight. I don’t get nearly enough of it. I go drive to work while the sun is still rising and by the time I get out and home it is already setting, at least this time of year. The point is I am sunlight deprived. Now there is currently anything that I can about that but I have been realizing that there are a lot of other areas where I have been deprived that I can do something about.

I have been sleep deprived. I have been getting, at best, an average of 5 hours of sleep per night. I am well aware that there are many people sleeping as little or even less than myself but I am learning that it has been having an adverse effect on my work, leadership, creativity, time with God and many other areas. In this season of lent there are many people giving up all kinds of things. I am going to start giving up some things as well. I am going to start giving up waking hours. My plan is to get myself on a regular sleep schedule. This is going to be very difficult for me because I have a tendency to be a workaholic but I now know it is a necessity if I am going to live long enough to do all God is asking of me with any amount of excellence. Starting tonight, providing I can sneak out of the Oscar party I have been invited to, I will be going to bed by 10:30. This should provide me with 8 hours of sleep each night. My hope is that I will be more focused the hours I am awake and therefore far more productive.

As leaders we many times need to protect things that seem like novelties. Has sleep become a novelty to you that must be sacrificed for the sake of your call or is something to be protected?

“I did it again. I know I shouldn’t have but I did anyway. And then it happens…the remorse. I start to feel so bad. Like God is displeased with me or something. It’s just the enemy trying to trick me with condemnation. I’ve read my Bible and I know it says that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That means I shouldn’t feel bad or disappointed in myself. I should just pretend it never happened.�

Have you ever said this to yourself? Maybe not out loud but in your head. You know you kind of carry on this private conversation in your thoughts. Have you ever tried to tell yourself that feeling bad isn’t good? There are many who would like us to believe that but it simply isn’t true. We tend to like to think that our emotions are accidental or evil. The truth is our emotions are gifts from God that provide a great deal of good information to us if we learn how to read them properly.

Let’s consider the emotion of guilt and remorse. Is it evil or perhaps is it extremely pure? It’s easy to want to turn our back on that emotion because it is pointing out something in us that is less than it ought to be. Nobody like to hear that, do they? But who is the better friend, the one who reveals your weaknesses to you so that you can be better or the one who remains silent? Proverbs gives us the answer.

Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. - Proverbs 27:5-6 ESV

Can you see what the author is saying? There is no such thing as hidden love, for love that is hidden is not love at all. Love is an act that sometimes must come as a faithful wound from open rebuke. That guilt and remorse you are feeling is an open rebuke from a faithful friend who sticks closer than a brother. Perhaps even more like a Father. Consider what it has to say in the book of Hebrews.

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” - Hebrews 12:5-6 ESV

Sometimes feeling bad is great. It not only means your Father in heaven cares enough to correct you but also that you care enough to feel that correction. Don’t act like it’s some small thing you are feeling but in fact celebrate that the Lord who loves you is guiding you. Isn’t it strange that feeling bad could be so good?

I recently posted a comment on Tony Morgan’s post concerning Mark Driscoll’s talk at the C3 conference yesterday. After reading it I realize that there was something that I could have made a little clearer. This point is in defense of Mark’s talk but I didn’t want to make the comment any longer than I already did. With this in mind here is one thing that would have totally changed my opinion of what he shared.

He could have offered his definition of religion. Now he may have but it wasn’t in any of the bullet points that I read. I say this because religion means different things to different people. This is true even in the Bible or at least of its many translators. Had he said self-made religion is…, I would agree completely but to only say “religion” includes the religion that the Bible speaks highly of and calls all believers to faithfully practice.

Tony also corrected me on some of my over enthusiastic statements. Thank you Tony for the correction, I realize that my comments were much more aggressive than I wanted them to be but at least I’m passionate ;) In the end this is obviously a semantics issue and all parties probably agree that “self-made” religion corrupts “undefiled” religion and hinders the Gospel. I just wish I would have said it without my foot in my mouth.

I am writing this post in an attempt to jar myself into some specific direction. I am hoping that by sharing how I feel it will in some way stabilize me. I really don’t know how to explain it but I feel like I am on some sort of rollercoaster. I will just give you a bullet list of how my thoughts keep changing.

• I am on top of the world. God and I can do anything. Regardless of the problems that rise up I know it is just another opportunity for God to prove how great He is.
• I have so much to do that I don’t even know where to start and it is becoming very overwhelming.
• Could one more thing go wrong? Please? I don’t seem to have enough drama in my life.
• I have finally got my priorities properly aligned. I now can be a better follower of Christ, Husband, Leader.
• I am so out of focus that I can’t seem to concentrate on anything.
• I could really go for a Big Mac right now.
• I’m bored.
• My thoughts are flying by so fast now that I can’t even capture one to write it down.
• I wonder how Angela is doing at work today. I should email her.
• I am so hungry. I really should start eating breakfast.
• The subscriptions to this blog have been increasing a lot over the past few weeks. This post should put an end to that.
• Did I mention that I am so pumped at what God is doing and still going to do at LifePoint.

I’m not really sure why I am feeling the way that I am but I do know that I don’t like it much and would love to move on to other more productive feelings. Maybe I just need a Big Mac after all. Keep me in prayer.

It’s a nice thought isn’t it, you and your dream. It has been said that nothing is impossible if you have a dream. In fact in the Wizard of Oz we heard Dorothy sing this line. “And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.” There is no doubt that a dream left un-pursued will never be realized, but is daring to dream enough? You find a dream fulfilled and more times than not you will find not one but many dreamers who not only dared to dream, but dared to act.

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. How many people do you think shared the same dream? How about Abraham Lincoln? How about just plain old Abraham, Sarah, Abel, Enoch, and Noah? This what the Bible says about there dreams.

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Hebrews 11:13(ESV)

They weren’t the only ones who shared that dream. There are many who have received the promise they were dreaming for. And the men and women mentioned earlier led the way. They didn’t dream by or for themselves. They dreamed for the generations that were to come. They joined with other dreamers and refused to give up what had been promised. And that really is the point. A dream not shared is a dream not dared.

Even Jesus enlisted others to share in the dream and those twelve men helped to change the world. That’s what Paul was saying in Romans 12:4-6.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: Romans 12:4-6(ESV)

That is exactly what membership means to the Christian community. We join together with a common dream, vision, mission, each person offering their gifts and the church becomes a beautiful and powerful force for the sake of Jesus Christ. Dare to share your dream with the Body of Christ Jesus.