God loves me as much as he loves Jesus

I am overwhelmed with the truth that God loves me as much as he loves Jesus.

John 17:22-23 "22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

Our chief resort...

There are many nuggets of truth to glean from this amazing quote from Charles Spurgeon as we look back on the school year of 2000-09 and look ahead to 2009-10 in our student ministries.

“Beloved brethren, let us pray. We cannot all argue, but we can all pray; we cannot all be leaders, but we can all be pleaders; we cannot all be mighty in rhetoric, but we can all be prevalent in prayer. I would sooner see you eloquent with God than with men. Prayer links us with the Eternal, the Omnipotent, the Infinite, and hence it is our chief resort... Be sure that you are with God, and then you may be sure that God is with you.”

I want to be a pleader during the up and coming school year. I want prayer to be prevalent every time we gather. I want to be eloquent with God before I am eloquent with my students. I want people to look into our student ministry and see that my chief resort isn't my capability, but rather my dependence on prayer. I want to be sure to be with God at every moment during the day to ensure that I am following Him as He directs our ministry.

Tears of joy

Yesterday I experienced something I will never forget as I came through customs after returning from Poland. My Adah was came running to me so filled with joy that she was crying. What a moment. What a hug she gave me. I will never forget that moment and thank God for the love I experienced in that moment with my daughter. Thanks God...it was EPIC!

Poland 2009

I have been in Poland for almost two weeks! Check out all that we've done and seen God do while we've been here at our 180inPoland Blog - HERE! Our theme this year has been "Stories" - we told the Story of God during our evening program and built some amazing relationships with our new friends and deepened ours. We are excited to come home on Tuesday and share our stories of what God did in Poland!

Sharing our humanness

Larry Richards said, "To communicate the reality of God we must share our humanness...that inadequacy of ours which made us need Him."

For the next two weeks I am hoping and praying that I will be able to communicate the reality of God by sharing my humanness not only to our team, but to the Polish students we encounter as we serve them at English Camp.

SCAMPER

Next time I am having a brainstorming session I am going to SCAMPER!

• Substitute: Is there anything you can substitute that will make your idea better?
• Combine: What things can you combine to make the original idea better and more relevant?
• Adapt: Is there anything you can adapt from another idea to improve it?
• Magnify/Modify: Will your idea be better if you expand it or modify it any way?
• Put To Other Uses: Is there a better use for your idea than originally intended?
• Eliminate: What can you eliminate that is not serving any purpose and make your idea better.
• Rearrange/ Reverse: Could your idea improve if you rearrange any of the ideas concepts and details.

Illusion of leadership

In Leading With A Limp, Dr. Dan Allender suggests that most of us want an illusion of a leader. He suggests that this what we're really looking for,

"...a leader must be physically attractive, fluent public speakers with a firm command of their audience, well-educated, open, sincere, humble, salt-of-the-earth people able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, leaders who never forget their humble beginning or the values and convictions of those they represent. We expect a leader to make tough decisions - to fire his close friend if necessary or to send troops into harm's way - yet we want him to tear up over a sad story and be sentimental on Mother's Day."

Allender's conclusion, which has caused me long moments of thought and contemplation about myself, what I expect out of leaders I follow, and what our spiritual community at Southern Gables expects out of our new Transitional Senior Pastor and the next Lead Pastor,

"What we want is an illusion and we know it. We prefer the illusion because we have a deep need to be buffered from reality."

Press the "awkward" button

I read this post by Seth Godin two years ago and read through it again today. I am convinced that if you're a leader you must make awkward not only a part of your vocabulary, but a value you embrace.

Awkward. Seth suggests it’s his new favorite word. I agree, especially when you look at it through the lens of leadership. Seth states, "It's awkward to create a product that changes the status quo. It's awkward to demonstrate your amazing insights when it might threaten those that are looking for stability instead.”

Change creates awkward moments. Leading creates awkward moments. Silence creates awkward moments. Disagreements create awkward moments. Confrontation creates awkward moments. Passion creates awkward moments. Meetings create awkward moments. Challenging someones thinking creates awkward moments. Therefore, leaders must commit to searching for the awkward. Why? Seth suggests,

“The reason we need to be in search of awkward is that awkward is the barrier between us and excellence, between where we are and the remarkable. If it were easy, everyone would have done it already, and it wouldn't be worth the effort.”

There is no easy button to press when it comes to leading. Press the awkward button.

Student of change

"Become a student of change. It is the only thing that will remain constant." - Anthony J. D'Angelo

Today we start a new era at Southern Gables Church - our new TSP is in the house! TSP stands for Transitional Senior Pastor. Dr. Mark Platt comes to us with a TON of experience. I am excited to navigate the new waters ahead of us here at SGC.

D'Angelo's quote resonated with me this morning and has challenged me to start becoming a student of change. I am excited for what this change will bring in my own personal life and ministry!

How kids learn

I pulled this article out again this morning from CNN and it was a good reminder that kids have a primary way that they learn. It’s nothing new to all of us, but it’s a good reminder for us as we spend time with our kids and students this summer. The author suggests that kids learn in at least three ways:

Learning by listening
Learning by seeing
Learning with your body

What is your kid's primary learning style? Should the ways kids learn change the way we teach? What needs to change?