why a leader

I have heard some leaders complain about how hard it is to lead a church or organization. When the truth of the matter is this, if there were no problems, there would be no need for a leader. That's why we as leaders must embrace the discomfort of leading. The leader must embrace the pain as it is his calling.

hero or zero

Last night I was playing in the outfield in our softball game. We are up by 2 runs, with 2 outs in the last inning. One more out and we win the game. The batter hits a bloop over the infield and I take off running as fast as I can to get to it. I have a decision to make. Do I go for the catch and win the game? Or do I slow up and catch in on the bounce? If I go with the latter we would be tied and could still lose. I decided in that split second to go for it. I'm running as fast as I can and extend my glove as far as I can. The ball hits the end of my glove.......and falls out...ZERO. Bummer. We lose. I've been on both sides of that coin, but yesterday, I lost. Man I hate losing. But in the next game, I would give anything to be in that same situation. I guess that is the competitor in me. It's not just about how you win, but how you let losing affect you. For me..this loss will drive me forward.

motive

I have met many church planters that want to plant a church for the wrong reasons. Several have been burnt by insecure Senior Pastors or just the whole church politics game. They leave those churches with some bitterness burned in their hearts. Then these planters go out to plant church with a "Im going to show them" attitude. They have totally missed the whole point of "love." If we are planting a church or doing any kind of ministry out of anything other than love for Jesus and His people, then we are missing it. Why are doing what you are doing? Are you trying to "prove" something, or is everything you are doing full of God's love?

It has begun

God has started to bring the dream of C3 being influential in planting 50 churches in 20 years, to life. We are excited to partner and help mother Doug and Stephanie Garasic of the becometheMovement.com. We will be sharing this with the church by having them in to speak on October 2nd. Also, we will be partnering to help the Bill and Lynn Themelaras from Covenant Church in Pittsburg, plant in Westerville Ohio. Today, we are also blessed to have another amazing couple going through their church planting assessment here at C3 as well as I'm having coffee with yet another sharp church planting prospect. All that to say....God is about to blow this thing up and we are getting closer to taking the City of Columbus for the name of Jesus!

disrespect

We have all been on both sides of disrespect and it is no fun. When someone is disrespected, they give themselves permission to question th other persons motives and character. Disrespect breeds all kinds of distrust and negativity. As leaders, we must guard not only our heart but also our words and actions towards others.

captive

Reading a cool parallel of God's people today and that of the Israelites in Egyptian slavery. In Exodus 1, we read where the most powerful man in the "then known world" was fearful of the Israelites who were multiplying quickly. Pharaoh said, "we must deal with them wisely....lest they leave this land." Why would he be afraid of a nation of shepherds? Because he knew that his power over them was based on a lie. If the Israelites only knew who they were and the power through God that was theirs, they would be unstoppable. The same is true for us today. The only power the enemy has over us is based on a lie and carried out because of our ignorance of God's Word. It's time that we as believers stand up in the authority that is rightfully ours as Children of the Most High God!

staff reading

Right now as a staff at C3 we are walking through the book, "A Tale of Three Kings," by Gene Edwards. Ouch! We are having some great discussion on brokenness. I love the one chapter that talks about how God used Saul and his persecution of David, to crush and remove the Saul INSIDE of David.
We all have some Saul (pride, jealousy, bitterness, etc.) inside of us and God uses people and situations to remove it from our lives. If we push back and don't allow God to do the necessary work in our lives, then the outcome will be disastrous. Who are what is God using in your life, to destroy the Saul in you?

faith

Are you standing in hope or walking in faith? Hope is great. We all need it, but it can not replace faith. Rather, it should in operation working hand in hand with faith. As we continue to walk in faith, we have a hope that helps fuel our faith.

pride

Today, I had one of those moments from God that it's hard to put in words, because it was more of a feeling or realization...but I will still try anyways. I was walking out of the gym early this morning and thinking about how ridiculous pride is, in comparison to how big God is. How can I seriously take pride in anything that I have or have done, when you compare it with who God is? I am so small and insignificant in comparison to God...and it's incredibly humbling to dwell on.

opponent

Reading Sun Stand Still and preaching a message series by the same name. I'm loving the book by Steven Furtick. It is increasing faith inside of me.
A thought from the book. "You would never see how strong God is, if there were no opponents in your life for Him to overcome."

Many times we as believers try to shrink God to the size of our biggest problems. Because we feel it is out of our power, then it must be out of His. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The truth is that God wants to reveal His power in our lives by giving us the strength to over come the things that are too big for us. There is no opponent, addiction, enemy or power strong enough to stand against our God. The same God that resides in YOU.... Let's not only say we believe that...but let's live it out.

Champs

We finally did it! We won the coveted Pickerington Church League softball title! It has been one of the goals of our 4.5 year old church. The road has not been easy. I remember our first year we won only one game. To this year, we only lost one game. We played the top two teams yesterday and beat them both by more than 10 runs. It was one of those great moments, especially with a couple of the guys who know how far we have come. A few have been here from the beginning when we were really bad. Next year the goal is to win both the men's and co-ed city league as well. We have the worlds best general manager (Yousef) and hope to extend his contract another 3 years...lol. He is one of the only guys who is MORE competitive than me...but still is a great sport. So for now, we will enjoy the great season!

important

This week is one of the most important things I do all year. It's my families vacation. We are chilling at a place on a lake and doing nothing but spending time together. We are swimming, canoeing, pontooning and fishing. We literally caught 48 fish today. Our kids are having a ball and we are making memories. I cherish this time.

miracle

"Sometimes we get to see a miracle, other times we get to be the miracle." (Furtick)
Either way, God gets the glory. Seeing a miracle is easier that being one, because being one means we are forced to wrestle through the miracle working process. Miracles always start with problems and opposition. The greater the problem, the greater the miracle.

opposition creates opportunity

If we didn't have opposition in our lives, how we would have the opportunity to see God's power in our lives? The greater the opposition, the greater God's power can work in our lives. We all want the stories of God's miracles and power in our lives, but that only comes through opposition.