Living Teams

May is all about lacrosse championships and the Stanley Cup playoffs - that makes it my favorite sport's month of the year. Over the past few weeks I have watched a lot of great teams play in a number of great games (let's go Red Wings) which has caused me to spend some time reflecting on my experience with teams.

Throughout my life I have been on a number of teams. Some of those teams have been great and others well, not so much. Teams are interesting aren't they? They are made up of a group individuals and are always either growing closer together or further apart. Which makes teams really more a verb than a noun. They are living active organisms not just static things. And while we may not want to admit it the reality and quality of the team isn't determined by the coach, leader, or manager it is really determined by the individual members of that team. 

Here are a few thoughts about great team members...

• They make those around them better
• They are willing to carry the load of another
• They are focused on the team instead of just their own area
• They celebrate the victories of others even more than they celebrate their own victories
• They are selfless
• They are professional encouragers
• They believe the team is more important than themselves
• They realize that they need their team members to become all God wants them to be
• They embrace ownership instead of entitlement
• They know that their attitude and actions contribute to how good or bad the team is

Whether you are part of a sports team, marketplace team, family team, or ministry team what kind of team member are you? Do you inspire others toward success or do you complain about the other members of your team?

Syracuse Legacy

Memorial Day weekend in our family is defined by lacrosse. That is because every Memorial Day weekend is the collegiate lacrosse National Championships. 8 years ago I had the privilege of playing on Memorial Day weekend and winning a championship. But yesterday had to be one of the greatest lacrosse games I have ever seen. 

With less than 4 min left Syracuse came from behind and scored 4 goals to beat Cornell for the championship. As we were watching in my living room, with 5 min left my wife remarked "It's all over Cornell wins!" I quickly responded (while jumping around the room) that "Syracuse lacrosse is defined by the ability to remain calm under pressure. They are use to the big game, the big crowd, and the big pressure. And 5 min in a lacrosse game is an eternity." Sure enough they proved their legacy yet again and won their 11th championship. Even when it looked like their was no hope for the Orangemen their legacy said they not only could but would do it. Syracuse lacrosse is championship - win no matter what the obstacle is lacrosse. That is their legacy and they prove it again and again! Wow was it an awesome game - I told you to watch it =)

A Life Well Lived

After my last post "What's Your Brand?", I received a number of comments about and have been thinking a lot about this thing called a "legacy." While a brand is your current identity, a legacy is what you leave behind. And as I have thought about what a legacy looks like this week I keep going back to my grandfather. 

The first "message" I ever preached was at my grandfather's funeral (talk about being thrown into the deep end). Colleen and I had been married for all of 8 days and he had been a groomsman in our wedding. After arriving back at home with my grandmother from our wedding in Chicago he had a heart-attack one night sitting at his kitchen table. As the paramedics rushed him out the door he looked at my grandmother and said "It's all right I am in the Lord's hands."

The theme of his life, his funeral, and the message I shared that day was A Life Well Lived. My grandfather was a man who lived his life well even until his last breath. I remember the last few years of his life he would often ask "Why did the Lord allow me to live such a long blessed life?" He had a hard time understanding why God brought him through WWII unharmed where he watched his brothers die...Why he was able to make it to America when so many he knew didn't...Why he was able to have incredible health when he watched others suffer. But as more than 500 people gathered for his funeral that question was clearly answered. He was a man used of God to touch countless lives. And he was a man who left a legacy.

Even though he is gone his life is still creating ripples like a rock dropped in a calm lake. Even though my son Trey never met my grandfather, Trey's life is impacted and shaped by the waves and legacy my grandfather left behind. I got up tonight to write this and to ask you the question that I have been thinking about all week...

What will your legacy be? You have a legacy even when you are still alive. Your legacy doesn't come when you die it comes throughout every interaction of every day of your life. A legacy comes from what you leave behind every time you encounter someone. From what you deposit in or take from others. When you move from one city to another, when you change jobs, when you graduate from school, when you start hanging out with a new group of friends, when people move in and out of your circle of life influence, or finally when you move on from this life how will people remember you? What do you want them to say and remember about you? Maybe more importantly, how do you hope their life will be changed from the time they spent with you? What will you leave behind?

Ask God what your legacy should be and start taking your next step toward...A Life Well Lived!

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7)

What's Your Brand?

Lately, I have been reading about communication, marketing, and networking. One theme that keeps reoccurring regardless of what book or resource I look at is the concept of "branding."

Like or not, everything has a brand. A brand is the identity of a product, company, or service. It is what you come to expect when you taste, see, smell, touch, or experience that product, company, or service. A brand solicits emotions (positive, negative, or neutral) from the perspective customer, client, or passerby and it's created through marketing, customer service, client experience, communication, interaction, and the like. A brand is simply what you think of when you hear or see the name of a particular product or organization.

What do you think of when you read...

• American made cars?
• Mac?
• TV Evangelists?
• Congress or politicians?
• Princeton?
• the Dallas Cowboys?

Whatever comes to your mind is the brand that has been created for that particular product, service, or organization. Here's the crazy part - the brand that you may have ascribed to the above list could be completely different than what the marketing department has hoped to communicate to you. For example, even though Ford has spent billions of dollars trying to create a brand that says American made cars are built with quality, many of you would have described their brand as "poor quality." (Chevy trucks rock baby Ford tucks anyways)

It doesn't matter what they want their brand to be, what matters is what people perceive their brand to be! It's not what they say the brand is, it's what you say the brand is that matters. Perception is reality!

So if everything has a brand then what is your brand? What do people think of when they think of you? What words or phrases would they use to instantly describe you if your name was on the above list? Remember it doesn't matter what you want them to say, what matters is what they perceive? Are you living your life in a way that is creating a Life - Brand consistent with what you hoped it would be?

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received?"  (Ephesians 4:1)

Facebook Junky

Ok, so for mother's day I started facebook for my wife. Some present huh? We spent 3 hours trying to get my account set up and after all that time I still can't get my name to show up in the people search. I told you I am technologically challenged!

Anyhow, having no desire to get 'linked in,' I have been fighting the facebook revolution (and it is nothing short of that) for some time now. In fact, I have made fun of my wife for months for spending SO much time facebooking with her friends. But after starting facebook not even a week ago, I am the new junky of the family. Colleen is now making fun of me for the amount of time I am spending on the social site. That's right - for those of you who know how much I fought the facebook bug, this is a public announcement saying I was wrong - it actually is pretty cool (wow did I really just admit that?).

Lesson learned - don't mock it till you try it! 

I wonder how many things in life we miss out on because we aren't willing to simply give it a try. Because we are not willing to explore, risk, reach, or fail. Because we are aren't willing to move beyond comfort and convenience into the unknown. I missed out on the relational aspect of facebook for months because I wasn't willing to simply try something new. 

What are you missing out on in your life right now because you aren't willing to take a risk and give it a try? What's keeping you from taking that risk?

"Risk your life and get more than you ever dreamed of. Play it safe and end up holding the bag."  (Luke 19:26)

When you're hungry...Eat!

Every Wednesday morning close to 100 Mighty Men of God gather for Merge at our church. These men are faithful, inspiring, and seeking after Father. As I prepared to teach this morning the Lord gave me a very different trajectory to take with the message than we typically do.

As I began to look at the passage for this week, I was reminded of my seminary days. I can remember being in the midst of Bible classes, church internships, full blown ministry and yet I didn't know how to read the Bible for myself. I could write incredible papers for class assignments but when it came to my own journey, I confess, I had nothing. I could use commentaries, lexicons, and multiple translations to write "A" academic papers but I never knew how to interact with the scriptures for myself. I relied completely upon my pastor to "feed" me every Sunday. And as time went by I became desperately hungry for more.

Literally, it took me years to figure out how to read the Bible for myself. Not for sermon prep, a paper, or a small group study but just for myself. So this morning I felt led to share that truth with these Mighty Men of God. We opened up to John 6:25-71 and together we walked through the passage and I shared with them how I personally read the scriptures for myself - how I have learned to feed myself with daily bread! I wish that someone would have done that for me years ago. That someone would have shown me just a glimpse of how to really engage the Word - an understanding on how to feed myself when I was hungry. So here are a few of my own personal feeding habits that I shared with the guys about reading the Word...

1. Ask the Holy Spirit for supernatural revelation and application before you begin.
2. Don't try to work on the scriptures - allow the scriptures to work on you!
3. Stop whenever anything "jumps off the page" at you and ask God for further understanding.
4. Ask God and yourself lots of questions about the passage (it's o.k. not to find all the answers).
5. It's not about how much you read (information) but rather what you do with what you read (application).
6. Journal what you feel God sharing with you - you will be glad you did later!

No one else can make you grow on your spiritual journey. No one else can feed you enough for you to grow into a Mighty Man or Woman of God. It is up to you and it takes time to learn how to feed yourself. Don't get discouraged. Don't give up. He promises that His Word will not return void but will accomplish its purpose in your life!

"I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."  (John 6:35)

Live in Expectancy

Friday night I spoke at the North Texas Homeschool Graduation. 28 graduating seniors had more than 800 people in attendance to celebrate with them - WOW talk about some loved students! As I prepared for the commencement speech Colleen and I laughed about the fact that no one ever likes to sit through nor do they ever remember commencement speeches - they are SO boring!!!

So, in an attempt to be memorable and relevant I tried to make my speech a bit different. Facing the students who were sitting behind me on the stage and having my rearend face the audience during the speech was the first step of memorability - but hopefully more memorable than my rear was the verse that God gave me for these students...Acts 17:26 "From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live." 

I love that verse - there is incredible life packed within it because it says so much about the character of God and so much about you and I. This verse tells a story that God is incredibly interested in you as person – that YOU matter to him. Before you were ever born God determined the times and places where you would live for a reason.

Think about this...Out of thousands of years of history, billions of people, and hundreds of thousands of square miles he determined that you would be right where you are today! It is by Father's design that you live in the city you live in - in 2009 - with the unique gifts, passions, talents, and experiences you have.

All of that means one simple thing...Live in Expectancy!

Expect that God has big things for you to do. Expect that he has a plan and purpose for your life. Expect that you are to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Expect that he has people for you to minister to. Expect that the Spirit will use you to expand the Kingdom of God. It is by no accident that God placed you in this part of the world at this time in history. You are here for such a time as this. God has blessed you to be a blessing and he has determined the times and places that you would live for a reason – so live in expectancy of being the next generation who is used by Him to author Only God Stories!

God wants to do life with you - he wants to instruct, lead, guide, encourage and use you for his kingdom. God wants to write the chapters of your life’s story…he has great things he wants to do in you, through you, and among you…so give him the pen of your life's story and…live in expectancy!

That is what I shared with 28 graduating seniors. I hope they embrace this truth. I hope you can embrace this truth. I hope I can embrace this truth. Imagine how different life would be if we Lived in Expectancy of being used by HIM!

Divine Flow

So it was a great day of discussion, processing, and just hanging out with the Granger team. I have a lot of thoughts I will post over the next few days but here is the key thought for the day...

Do ministry with people you love!

The Granger team said this in a variety of different ways throughout the day. But maybe what was even more impactful was not what they said but what they did. 

At dinner last night, I watch Mark Beeson, like a proud papa, publicly affirm and celebrate his individual team members. Not in a generic half-hearted way but with a genuine love as he celebrated their specific and individual characteristics. Throughout the day I listened to staff members publicly champion one another even when no one else was around or listening. Comments like "That guy is amazing." "We couldn't do it without her." "That dude is a dynamite preacher." "He is like a brother to me." Everything about this day shouted the story that the Granger team loves to do ministry together.

It is better to do ministry in the slums with people you love than to do ministry in Fiji with people you don't connect with. You know, it is o.k. to say that? We all know that we don't naturally connect with everyone we meet. There are some people you just don't gel with due to your unique design. But there is something about being with people that we have a Divine Flow with that takes life and ministry to the next level. That gives us joy! Divine Flow is a supernatural connection from Father. It isn't something you can fake, create, or design. It is something that comes from the Spirit as He weaves hearts together for a purpose bigger than any individual.

Mark said, "Relationships are harder than the tasks." And while that is true (even in Divine Flow relationships) the relationships are what make the journey sweet! Life with others is messy but it is beautiful because that is the way God designed it!

So who are you doing ministry with? Who are you volunteering with? Leading groups with? Reaching your city with? Who do you have divine flow with?

"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God but our lives as well because you had become so dear to us."  (1 Thess 2:8)

Keep Learning

I love to learn. But it wasn't always that way. I remember being in high school and college. I think in all those years I may have read the equivalent of one maybe two books. I wasn't interested in what seemed to be useless facts and information. But now I am a learning machine. 

My mom still doesn't believe it but I am now an incessant reader. I consume books, listen to CD's, attend seminars, and ask God for giant downloads of the things He wants me to learn. I have come to a place in life where I love to learn - And the reality is you can learn from anyone!

My most effective learning styles are self-discovery, asking questions to those who are beyond me, and experience. And while experience is the best teacher it doesn't have to be my own. Go ahead and reread that sentence. Experience is by far the best teacher but I don't have to be the one who actually has the experience. I can learn from others who have been there and done that. 

So this week I am in Mishawaka, Indiana to learn from experience that is not my own. Unfortunately, they do not have a Tim Horton's (the Canadian version of Dunkin Donuts only better. Boy I was really hoping they would have had one here) but they do have a tremendous church with an awesome staff.

Granger Community Church, is a church that has its sights set on impacting and expanding the Kingdom of God. They aren't interested in promoting themselves or gaining "Christian fame." They genuinely want to see people's lives impacted for this cause! Their team is a team I admire, respect, and learn from. This week they have set aside two days to hang out with some pastors from around the country to share and process their successes and failures. To share their experience. These guys are real, authentic, and transparent and that is why I am excited to be here all week. I will keep you up to speed about all the experience I am learning this week!

"Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord." (Proverbs 16:20)

Difficult Decision

So we had to make a difficult decision this week. Our local school district, LISD, closed all school campuses and activities for this coming week due to the threat of Swine Flu. Being a family oriented church we knew this was going significantly impact our attenders. So on Friday afternoon, while hanging out at a ranch with some friends where there was no phone reception (don't you love those moments when you need your phone and it doesn't work?), I stood on my head just to get a small signal to process this with some of our key leaders. After much prayer and discussion we decided to close the campus to all ministry activities for this coming week except for our weekend worship gatherings. 

Now I know some of you may disagree with our decision but, if you only knew how many kids come through our campus every day and every week I think you would be amazed. Our heart is to serve the families of our city and sometimes that means making the difficult decision to protect and love those families. Below is an email from a group leader whose group was impacted due to our difficult decision. With their permission I wanted to share it with you because this couple "gets it." This is healthy and effective followership and leadership and I know God will bless their love and graciousness. 

The key thought here is believe the best. Believe the best about your church. Believe the best about your leaders. Believe the best about the government. Believe the best about your friends, your family, people you work with, people you know, and people you don't know. We all want others to believe the best in us so why wouldn't we believe the best in others?

Hello everyone -

Our small group has been canceled for this week b/c the church has chosen to cancel all childcare that is not associated with the actual worship services this weekend.  Aren't you grateful for a church that is considering the health & safety of our kids?   We will resume our regular schedule in two weeks.  If you have prayer requests to share w/ the group, please just 'reply all' to let us know how we can intercede for you.

Worship services are still scheduled.  Don't miss church this weekend!  It will be awesome.

While it may seem that the swine flu has been blown out of proportion by the news, etc., enjoy this time when the world around you slows down a bit :)

See you all in a couple -

Divine Impartation

Over the past few days I have had two mighty men of God pray a prayer of impartation over me. One man prayed that God would impart through him to me his gift of loving and connecting with a wide variety of people. The other man asked God to impart to me his gift of creative and strategic thinking.

Wow - that's a big load of impartation! Lord, I receive it! And I have already seen God honor these men's prayers and begin this impartation to me.

What is impartation? Is it a big charismatic term that gets misused and abused? Or, is it a supernatural transaction?

Impartation is simply receiving unmerited grace. It is getting a gift you don't deserve, didn't earn, and have no claim to. It is a supernatural exchange that comes through the power of the Spirit. 2 Kings 2:9 says, "When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, 'Tell me, what I can do for you before I am taken from you?' 'Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,' Elisha replied." A few verses later we read that Elisha did receive a double portion, or in other words a divine impartation.

What is impartation? Well, I cannot fully explain it because I don't fully understand it. What I do know is that it is biblical and that it requires faith. That is good enough for me. I use to mock impartation and refuse it because of my lack of understanding - but how foolish? Why wouldn't I want all God is willing to give me? If the Lord is willing to impart supernatural spiritual 'gifts' to me than I want to receive with an open heart.

So, are you willing to receive what God wants to impart to you through others? Are you asking Him for it? Are you asking others to pray a prayer of impartation over you? I love what Paul has to say...

"I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong."  (Romans 1:11)