stop waiting

Just thinking today how we are always waiting.  We wait for another season in life to do something, we wait for others to change or maybe we are waiting until we feel a certain way.  Don't get me wrong, some waiting is a good thing, while other times it may be an excuse.  Some people wait their entire lifetimes, only to be disappointed.
Stop waiting!  Stop waiting for things to get better.  Stop waiting for things to get worse.  Stop waiting until you are comfortable.  Stop waiting.  Start where you are right now!  Use what you have right now!  Do what you can right now!  For faith, without action, is dead!  So, stop waiting!

Reach Northeast

Today, I was truly honored to speak at the Reach Northeast Catalyst day.  They have some amazing leaders who are leading the way in church planting in the Northeast.  I was impressed with the culture of church planting that they have created.  When that kind of culture is established, it literally draws in like minded entrepreneurial leaders.  They then give them the tools, resources and encouragement to change their world.  Seeing this in action was energizing.

We have created the C4 Church Planting Network to do much of the same thing.  We will not only help plant new churches, but also help those church planters plant other churches and launch their own church planting network.  This year at C3, we will Partner with 6 churches and leaders that are called by God to impact their city.  God has called us to launch a movement of church plants that are loving people to LifeChange!

My wife

I have now been officially married the woman of my dreams for 16 years.  It's truly amazing when both the husband and wife do their best to keep Jesus in the center of the relationship and try to make the marriage not a 50/50, but a 100/100%.  I am blessed with an incredible helpmate in my wife.  She has loved me through a lot of change, good times and bad.  She is truly my best friend and I can say that I am more in love with her now, than when I first met her.  My only regret is that I should have married her sooner.  I love....MY KERI.

IPCC Leadership Conference

I had a great weekend in Elizabeth City North Carolina speaking a leadership conference for the IPCC with my new friends.  I pray God will use the seeds that were planted to "fan into flame" what God has placed in their hearts.  It was incredible to build some new friendships and eat some great southern cooking.  I think I gained 3lbs.  I pray God's blessing on the IPCC and I was both humbled and honored to be their guest.

prison

Heard a great thought today where most of us live.  It's a prison where most never get free from.  It's the prison of WANT.  Can you imagine living being totally content?  If we are honest with ourselves, we can all be suckered into wanting more, bigger, newer, shinier, etc.  We lose ourselves in search of this "feeling" that "want" leads us to believe that we will have.  Once we fill the "want"....it soon falls through our hands like water.  Only to imprison us again.  Are you a prisoner of WANT?

opportunity and opposition

The greater the opportunity, the greater the opposition.  This is why more people don't even attempt something great.  The more you do, the more it's going to hurt and the more discipline that is required.  There will be bumps in the road, criticism, stressful times, but we can't let that paralyze us.  If God is truly FOR US (and HE is) who can be against us?  Seize your opportunities and when times get tough, let it drive you even deeper into trusting JESUS.

C3 Marriage Retreat

We had a great weekend with 37 couples from C3 Church for a marriage retreat.  It was awesome to get away and spend some time focused on our relationship with our spouse.  There were some laughs as well as tough conversations.  I'm believing that God did some amazing work this weekend.

faith

- Does the current life you are living require faith?
- On a scale of 1-10, how much faith do you feel you have?
- What act of faith is Jesus asking you to take?
- What is the largest step of faith that you have ever taken?
- What is the greatest hinderance to your faith?
- How can you walk in more faith?

just like you

If everyone on your team, organization or family was just like you, what would happen?  If everyone thought, acted and treated everyone, just like you would, what kind of place would it be?  The Bible is clear that we reap what we have sown.  If you are a leader, you are responsible for the culture of what you lead.  As the leader, you are the model of what is expected and should be embodying that.  We can ask no more from those we lead, than what we are willing to give ourselves.  I'm working on what needs to change in me...so...WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE IN YOU?

Movement

This week I was honored to speak at the Movement (becomethemovement.com) up near Youngstown.  Pastor Doug Garasic is doing an incredible job.  They renovated a building in the mall and are blowing it up.  People are coming to Jesus and they are well on their way to changing the city of Niles for the name of Jesus.  They have only been up and running for a few months since their launch and are already at 3 services.  I pray God continues to do incredible things in their church!

it's really very simple

I love my grandfather.  He has been a pastor for over 50 years.  He had to quit school in the 8th grade to grow tobacco in hills of Kentucky to make ends meet for his family.  Over the years my grandfather has made an incredible impact on peoples lives because he does two things well, he listens to Holy Spirit and obeys Him.  Things like, he will be walking in a hospital and Holy Spirit will tell him to turn into a room (not the one he had planned to) and he will lead that person to Jesus and think that is normal!  I want to live my life in the same way, listen and obey.

stirring

In prayer this morning, I felt like God gave me a picture of what God is doing in our church.  It's like we are a bucket of contents that needs stirred to mix what is sitting on the bottom, with the contents on the top.  As it is stirred, the two mix together producing the desired result.
I felt like God was saying that He has always been the foundation of our church, but that now He was ready to begin mixing and moving within our people.  That He is beginning to STIR US UP and when he does, it is going to revolutionize our church.
Personally, I feel like God is turning up the spiritual heat in our church.  The spiritual temperature is rising and people are beginning to get hungry on a different level for more of Jesus.

I can't wait to see what He does in the future.