Archive for May, 2008
I am really excited about this Sunday at LifePoint. We will fumble with our technology, we may or may not have a full band, and we definitely have something go wrong. This will not always be the case but for now, due to resources like money and time, this is what we have. in the end we get what we put in. More time, more money, and more attention will fix most of our Sunday morning struggles.
Here is something else that will happen Sunday. I will teach from my heart what God has been revealing to me. In fact I will be looking at the same concepts in the previous paragraph and apply them to our relationships. The only thing we can hope to get out of our relationships is what we put into them. Chew on that for a bit and if your want to know where I am going with this then I guess I will see you on Sunday. You can also check out LifePoint’s current message series page if Cleveland, TN is to far to travel.
As I posted earlier today I haven’t drank a soda in 7 weeks. It has been nothing but water for me. Well this evening I felt like I really wanted a Coke with my dinner. I decided that a 12 oz. can of Coke wouldn’t be the end of my current weight loss journey.
It was a magical moment. I walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door. On the second shelf there was this radiant red glow behind the cottage cheese and light mayonnaise. As i pushed them aside I saw what I had longed for. I opened the can and listened to the sweet carbonated melody. I put the beautiful aluminum chalice to my lips and and took in the glorious nectar. And I hated it.
That’s right! I no longer like Coke at all. It tasted terrible. It is so nice to be free of an addiction that I have had since I was a child. Just thought I would share.
I thought it was time to give everyone a progress report on my current journey to a slimmer and healthier me. Here is a break down of what I have been doing. It really is simple. I try to eat no more than 2,000 calories a day with occasional supplemental exercises. I have stopped drinking soda and now only drink water. I have been doing this all for the past 7 weeks.
For a while I was getting a little fed up that I was fluctuating within the same heavy weight I was and then something clicked and now I am starting to see real progress. It is definitely a journey but I am enjoying it so far. Click on the thumbnail of my weight graph to see my progress so far.
I had a long conversation with a friend last night and it got me thinking about communication once again. I love this guy with all my heart and when we drill down to the core of our faith 99.9% of the time we agree. The problem is that we don’t always recognize that we are on the same page. Last night we discussed that we don’t generally have a theological difference or a philosophical difference but a semantical difference. The words I use don’t carry the same meaning to him and vice versa. This got me thinking.
How do I effectively communicate to a large audience where various words carry different levels of meaning. What I mean isn’t necessarily what they hear. And what they hear isn’t always what I mean. Ugh! So what is the solution?
I believe this is the beauty of the one point sermon. Instead of saying a bunch of things in one way that only some people will understand the way I mean it, I can teach one thing in various ways so that the largest number of people can receive it. I can’t reach them all…but I can try.
Not that finger! I know I told everyone two posts ago that I jacked up my finger playing basketball but I don’t think you get the full impact until you see it for yourself. So click on the thumbnail and enjoy my ugly bruised finger. It may no be pretty, but it’s mine.
I am so excited about what is going to be happening with LifePoint this summer. I don’t have time at the moment to write an in depth post about everything at the moment so I will just give some previews.
- This coming Sunday we are continuing our message series Quality Control. The last two topics have been pretty challenging and this Sunday we are talking about our relationships. I think it will be really good.
- We have finally started putting our message series online. This has mostly been my fault. I am never happy with the message once it’s over, at least not to be captured in digital eternity. I have finally stopped procrastinating and so all future message should be available online. The quality of our recording process is still under development but they are there.
- We have a few great local missions projects planned for the summer to include but not limited to our Habitat for Humanity partnership. Should be great.
- In June we will be joining with over 800 churches from all over the world in a series called One Prayer. Included with that series is a massive missions initiative to start over 500 churches in areas that really need them. It is an honor and a privilege for LifePoint to be able to participate in such a unifying work of ministry.
- Also in June we have our first two house dedications with the Habitat for Humanity. That will be a lot of fun.
- On July 12th I have the honor of performing the marriage ceremony of TJ Fetig and Sarah Warren. It will be an awesome day I am sure.
- On July 18th I will turn 33. I have been told I will be taking the whole weekend off. This will be the first Sunday I have missed since we started LifePoint. It is actually the first official Sunday I’ve had off since I started pastoring…5 years ago.
- By the end of summer I expect to lose another 15lbs. Who wouldn’t be excited about that?
The summer months are not all smiles and celebrations though. In July we say goodbye to Myk & Julie Emmons. Myk has been leading our worship team for about a year now and Julie has sung by his side. Most of all they have become great friends and we will miss them very much. More on that bit of depression at another time.
For now lets be excited at all God is going to do in Cleveland, TN this summer.
I am sure everyone noticed that I did not post at all last week. I find it very difficult to write when I have allergies kicking my butt up and down miserable street so I refrained. I know that many of you may feel like you have had a week robbed from you so I will offer a week in review. That’s right, all the great stuff you may have missed from last week with none of the commercials.
- Systems - I know this sounds strange for a church that is a year old and it probably explains why we have only come as far as we have, but we have been diligently working on the systems of LifePoint. This has been a great year of learning for me and I am now in that place where I am seeing LifePoint’s and and my own weaknesses more clearly. Even better things are coming.
- Allergies - It started a little on Monday. Although Tuesday wasn’t terrible, by Wednesday I wanted to die.
- Friends - Some friends of mine recently told me that they were going to start coming to LifePoint. That made me happy. They are awesome people and I suspect that God will do awesome things through them at LifePoint just like he does everywhere else.
- Blogs & Bibles - I read this post last week and it made me laugh. Both for my love for the ESV bible and my childhood love for G.I. Joe.
- Sleep - Due to the whooping I had been receiving from my allergies I slept most evenings as soon as I got home from work. That slowed down the church work flow just a bit.
- Premarital Counseling - I finished up the sessions with a great couple that are getting married on July 12th. God has big plans for them.
- Basketball - I played for about 3 hours on Saturday. The ironic things was I didn’t get hurt until the second to the last play of the day. I went for a loose ball and some guy on the other team knuckled it. He caught my hand on the ball and jammed my finger pretty bad. My knuckled swelled to the size of my ankle by evening. I still can’t even bend it today. It is, however, swollen to the perfect shape for typing and using a computer mouse. No missed work here.
- Sunday - We had a really great service at LifePoint. A lot of visitors, a flexible team in the face of sickness and technical problems, and a great message (if I do say so myself…and I do). All in all it was a great day and not that bad of a week.
I love it when people from LifePoint questions what they have believed about church. Sometimes they come to these huge revelations while other times they are just slight deviations from the current path. Jenny has been doing just that over at her blog. Here are the topics she has covered.
Take some time to check them out and offer some comments.
No, this is not a post about lust, temptation or other physical weaknesses. Kevin does a good job of scratching that surface here. This is yet another post about communication and how we sometimes sabotage our efforts.
So far we have touched on the elements of every speaking situation and filler words. Last week we even deviated from oral communication and talked about writing a bit. Today I would like to move back to the dark verbal art but I would like to focus on the non-verbal elements that we many times don’t consider when we step up to present out message.
Body Language
Body language is just as important to your message as how you say it. Have you ever watched a speaker and wondered if they have ever fallen asleep during their own talk? Or how about the speaker who was so energetic that you felt like you had run a marathon when it was done? The fact of the matter is, how speakers carries themselves is extremely important. To demonstrate I thought I would share a few bad stage habits that occur when a speaker is not aware of that their own body while presenting.
The Statue - This is the person who stands right behind the pulpit and never moves or flinches or anything. Half way through you just want them to lean or something.
The Pacer - This person walk back and forth across the stage. They never pause, they just pace. Watching this speaker is like watching a tennis match where no one misses the ball.
The Fidgeter - I am this person. Keep everything out of my reach during a presentation. If I can get my hands on it I will mess with throughout the whole message. This is why I have nothing on stage when I am speaking. I have gotten better. There are some extreme cases where even with the absence of stuff the Fidgeter will turn to items in their pocket, glasses and even their own facial hair.
The Swiveler - I was this person only once. I remember it like it was just yesterday. It was my first time to speak with one of those chairs that swivel. Back then I never stood up at all, which could be another problem altogether. This particular message was video taped and in the spirit of becoming a better speaker, I watched it. Throughout the entire message I was swiveling back and forth. To make matter worse…I was also fidgeting with the mic stand. I’ve come a long way since then.
This is not an exhaustive list by any means but hopefully you get my point. When speaking…control yourself. Every portion of your presentation should be supported and not distracted by your body language. Public speaking isn’t something you just get up and do. It’s a skill that must be examined, studied and practiced. At least this is true if you want to be effective.
Many people, who do not really know me, think I have it all together. I think part of me likes that. Sometimes it’s nice to be looked at as the stable one in a storm. I think it must be how Peter felt when Jesus insinuated that he was a rock (Matthew 16:16-18). “That’s right! I’m Peter…a solid rock…stable…strong. Jesus is going to build his church upon my shoulders.” But much like Peter who later proves that he doesn’t get it, we miss the real point of the passage.
When I read that passage this is what I hear.
Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are just Peter, but on that rock, that revelation, that truth that was revealed to you, on that I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. - Matthew 16:16-18 (italics are my additions)
I like being thought of as the stable, together, rock solid leader of LifePoint but the truth is I am not. I live in a world of uncertainty. I question everything. My abilities, my decisions, my qualifications. There is nothing about myself that I am really sure of except for one thing.
I am certain that God can do what needs to be done despite my deficiencies. There is a huge message of hope to me as a pastor in the above passage. I am just James, and God isn’t building his church upon my shoulders, he is building it upon the firm foundation of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God. And his church is built daily as that revelation is dispersed among the people.
So for those of you who might not know me that well yet, when you see me as stable, strong, and rock solid…it is my certainty in Christ and not in myself.
