structure

If you have no structure, you will never be able to support and sustain growth. I think every church leader wants their church or ministry to grow. The problem is, we have not done the necessary work in preparation to hold the growth. Yesterday, our Executive Staff locked ourselves in conference room at the library all day to reconfigure our org chart in order to go to the next level. If you are not out ahead of the growth and planning for it, you will never get there. A couple questions to ask yourself:
1. Are you intentional with the structure and direction for what you are leading?
2. What prep work, must be done in order to move to the next level?
- What are the obstacles hindering you? - What/who can you mobilize to help you get there?

another term

I was re-elected tonight as the Presbyter for the Central (Columbus) Area Ministers Network. I am honored to serve these pastors for another 2 years.
I am looking forward to tomorrow as our Executive Staff is going to lock ourselves in a room with a white board to strategize for the the next level. We aren't coming out until we got a plan.

great all around weekend

Our 20,000 Eggstravaganza went amazing! We did not get an exact count, but there were more people here than last year. Our team did incredible! Our Sunday services went well and we did have several new guests. Last night we also had a new Starting Point class for those interested in how to get more involved with C3. God seems to be bringing us some sharp people to link arms with us to reach this City. Altogether, we had a great weekend.

30 percent

I'm a part of the "Church Life" cohort with Dr. Lee and truly enjoying it. He gave a statistic, that in order for your church or ministry to move to the next level, you have to recruit, train and place 30% more people. Of course that is much easier said than done. I think many of us want to grow whatever we are leading, but either won't or don't know how to recruit and train others to be able to help handle any more growth. It's like wanting to get a bigger plant to put in a tiny pot. Even if there was some quick growth, it couldn't be sustained. How are you preparing for growth in what you are leading?

tension

"There has to be tension, in order for there to be movement." Even for us to move from the comfort of our lazy boy, there has to be tension. Our muscles can no longer remain in a relaxed comfortable state, but must have tension applied in order to move.....(to get more chips..ha). The same is true for our churches or whatever we lead. If there is going to be movement, there has to be tension. Too many times we look at tension as a bad thing, rather than a necessary thing to get us to where we want or need to go. If your not experiencing some tension, I would ask, are you moving? On the flip side, if you are experiencing tension, just make sure that you are directing it in the direction you want to go.

Eggstravaganza

This Saturday morning is our EGGstravaganza! We will have 20,000 eggs, 3 big inflatables, carnival games, popcorn, cotton candy and free pictures with the Easter Bunny. This event keeps growing and this year we could easily have between 1,500 - 2,000 people on the property. Following our big events, we normally have 40-60 first time guests show up the next day for church. Going from that straight into Easter, who knows where we will land. I'm excited because we now have some more room with our new sanctuary in place. Time will tell, but we are praying for greater things which are yet to come!

church life cohort

This week I went again to the "Church Life Cohort" with Dr. Wayne and Sherry Lee from Southeastern University. They have put together some amazing information that if put in to practice, can help a church of any size in any location become healthy and see growth. Their model has been tested on and has seen some incredible success. I am enjoying this journey together with 20 other pastors in Ohio. I feel I got a handle on the bigger picture and now I can't wait to jump into the nuts and bolts of it.

head or heart

I love March Madness and the NCAA basketball tourney. As I am filling out my brackets I have a major problem. Do I go with my head or my heart? My big issue is when it comes to my Ohio State Buckeyes. There are times where they may not be as good as I want them to be, and I play the "well...it could happen" card. I then usually look at them through the lense of my heart rather than what is rational. In life though, there are times I use both. Some decision if thought out, just make sense. While others are a toss up and I just have to follow my heart. But when both of those fail...I resort to my gut...of which I am trying to keep slim and trim....ha.

backwards

We usually look at backwards in a negative light. In my mind the only time you win going backwards is in tug-o-war. But, I believe for many of us, our backwards may be our forward. When God wants to do something great in and through us, we almost always have to go back to our foundation to do some work. If not, when God begins building our lives on the weak foundation we have put down, it would bring us to rubble. Although it is time consuming and many times painful, unless we deal with our deep rooted flaws, we will never be able to support all that God wants to do in us and through us. Backwards anyone?

trust not try

Our spiritual lives are all about faith. The Bible says, "without faith it is impossible to please God." When faith is broken down, it really all comes down to trust. Everything from salvation, to sanctification to healing to deliverance all come down to us trusting God's power to be at work in our lives. Could it be that we "try" way too hard, rather than just trusting God? I am learning that faith is less about me trying to force something and more about me letting the Holy Spirit lead my life. Could it be that the reason we may not see God move in power in our lives and churches is because we are either holding on to things too tightly to let go, or we are trying too hard in our own strength? I'm trying to move away from "TRY" and more toward "TRUST."

I got a guy

We have a guy in our church named, let's call him, "Jeff." He knows everyone who can do anything in our area. We are making it a point to always ask him first, before we buy anything. We were finishing a "sound" meeting where decisions were made to make purchases. We went over who was researching and buying what, when this guy walks in. He hears us say "sound panels" when he says "I got a guy." He went and picked up a $1,000 worth of sound panels for FREE!
I don't have to know everyone who does everything....I just need to know "the guy" who knows everyone who can get anything.

routine

I had a friend share with me on Sunday that, "a routine requires no faith." I love that thought. The more I began to think about that, the more I began to think of my life and how I want to live it. I want to be someone who makes actions of faith, "routine." Not routine as in boring, but routine as in, that's how I live my life continually on a day to day basis. I want to life a life of faith where if God doesn't show up, I will fail, but when HE does, HE gets all the credit and glory.

question

This week I have been wrestling with the question I am talking about Sunday. We are doing a series entitled "Can you see Him?" and I want to take it a step farther and ask, "Do you want to see Him?" Think about it. When we want to find something, we go looking for it. When that something is very valuable, we will drop everything to find it. For many Americans, I think we all realize something is not right, but with our affluence, we are able to cover up or try to pacify our need for God with "things." Those things act like a pain killer, and keep us from never really dealing with the root of the problem, which is our need for God. I also know this, in America, we can almost always get what we want. If I want a nice car, I could have one. I would be in huge debt, but I could get it. If we truly wanted to see Jesus, we would....but we don't. We are too busy settling for distractions and in doing so, miss out on the real life that only Jesus Christ can bring.

house stuff

Today, I took my day off and Keri and I went to sign a lot of new house papers. I had to sign my name at least 100x's. Another praise the Lord was seeing what we get back from taxes and it was a good bit above what we thought! God is so good. That will help cover some of those things overlooked in the buying and moving process. It's so amazing that when you put God first in finances, He truly does miracles. We are living proof.

presbyter meetings

Yesterday and today, I am a part of a meeting of overseeing pastors that make decisions for the Assemblies of God churches in Ohio. It is truly an honor to have input with leaders of a network of and churches to make a difference for Jesus Christ. I continually pray for wisdom and creativity as we walk through different issues.

sold and bought

It is a crazy exciting time in the life of myself and family. We are just entering a new church building with all the excitement. Now we just sold our current house, for what we were asking....and today bought another house that was bank owned in foreclosure closer to our church. The fact that we got what we wanted for our existing house was a MIRACLE. Now getting this amazing house for what we did, is another MIRACLE. I hope this is the house that we will retire in someday.
Having no other debt, we made a budget and with low interest rates, desperate banks with too many houses and God's favor, we got it! Every time I pull into my new driveway, I'm going laugh and thank God for our miracle house.

race season has begun

Today, I ran my first race of the year. It was an indoor duathlon, where I had to run 15min / bike 15min on a bike trainer and another 15min run around the track. They decided the winner by looking at how much distance you covered. I did the same race last year and was surprisingly faster this year! I won the race and am off to a good start for the year. Competing is a passion of mine because I get to battle myself. I am my greatest competition.

flag

We have a lot of fun at C3 as a staff and a team. One thing that we have as part of our culture is "the flag." The "flag" is the challenge that is thrown out there when someone says they have done, or can do something that is a little far fetched. Case and point: A member of our team said how they could do 15 chin ups! Immedietely, another team member threw the "flag" and said "NO WAY!" I took it a step farther with my "flag" saying that I don't think they could even do 10 chin ups! The perimeters were set and the competition was on. Soon a chin up bar was in place over a door frame and the truth came out. I won't say the outcome, but I will say this, if you roll into C3 and claim to be able to do something...you better be able to back it up. HA!

small thing lead to big things

Today as I'm running 17 miles outside with a buddy, I began to think about WHY I'm doing all this. Why do I get up 6 days a week before the sun comes up and torture myself incrementally in greater and greater measures? Because I want to do something that 99% of the worlds population cannot do....and that is to qualify for and run the Boston Marathon. The past months I have been doing small things that others aren't willing to do, in order to do something big, that I normally couldn't do. It's all about the small things, leading to the big things.

small groups

Our Community Groups are the life blood of C3. We had a great time at ours tonight. It is awesome getting to know new people. I see the importance of our small groups becoming greater and greater as we continue to grow. We are moving from a small church to a big church and in doing so people can get lost in the crowd. As we get bigger, we must get smaller. Everyone needs relationships with other people. We need people who care for us, love us and hold us accountable. Life is all about relationships.