Best of 2009 Part 3 – The Rest of the Best

Highlights:
•    Steelers Playoff Game with Ben Rath – San Diego Chargers
•    Steelers Winning Super Bowl/Pens Winning Stanley Cup
•    Praying for Dan to go to Iraq for the Egans
•    Ski Trip 2009
•    Super Bowl Pig Roast at Faulks
•    Seeing Keith Moore in Canton
•    Going to the Pens game with all the Pastors
•    Fiddler on the Roof
•    Believer Meetings
•    Catalyst West Coast with the Boys
•    Meeting Craig Groeschel and Erwin McManus
•    Hollywood, Santa Monica, Reagans Library, Universal Studios with Ben Rath
• Pittsburgh Marathon
•    Working at Houlihans
•    Spring Cadre Advance in ATL  – Stone Mountain, Ring Ceremony
•    Having Dinner with Jeanne Mayo, the honor of being asked to work for her
•    Speaking at Jumonville for the 2nd time
•    Impartation Conference
•    Driving Doug Jones, Christopher Alam, and Pat Butcher to the airport
•    Making it Count Cincinatti – Training and Assemblies
•    Vacation in Ocean Island with the Kruks
•    Working in ATL with Jeanne and Staff in August
•    Going to NA football game with my dad
•    Marine Corps Marathon in DC
•    Fogo Di Ciao Celebration
•    Cadre Fall Retreat in ATL – Jeanne’s First Church, Retreat, CNN Tour, The Varsity hot Dog Shop
•    P90X
•    Revolution Leader Christmas Party – Students Seving
•    Steelers Game with Mr. Steidel, James, and Matt
•    New York City for New Years

Favorite Versus:

Jeremiah 32:38-41, Jeremiah 33:6-9, Romans 8:32, Proverbs 31:8,9, Proverbs 25:6,7, Proverbs 2:9,10, John 8:28, Psalm 34:4, I John 4:18, Psalm 105:19, Psalm 127:1-3, Genesis 23:39:23, Exodus 18:14,  Exodus 31:13, Acts 13:7, 1 Tim. 1:4, I Tim. 4:14,

Travels:

• Atlanta, Cincinnati, New York, DC, LA & Orange County, Rushville IL, Ocean Isle, NC
  

Bucket List Items Complete:

• Attend a Catalyst conference, go to an NFL playoff game, checked off one presidential library (Reagan), ran 2 marathons, meet Erwin McManus and Craig Groeschel, get mentored by high quality leader (Jeanne Mayo), get a bible degree, graduate college.

Best Series I listened to:

• Keith Moore - Graces and Places, Thanksgiving Victory, Free from All Fear

2009 was an amazing year and I know God has even more in store for 2010! If 2009 was good for you spend time reflecting on great memories, all that was accomplished, and how much you’ve grown! If it wasn’t a great year, recognize God wants to do big things in your life and 2010 will be the best year of your life!

Happy New Years Everyone!

Book Review: Spiritual Leadership

I recently heard about this book from a John Maxwell Lesson. He said it’s one of the books that have influenced him the most in his life on leadership. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to read it.

This was probably the best leadership book I’ve read. The title makes it obvious, but it’s because it concentrates on being a spiritual leader, not just a leader in general. I’ll be going back through this book often. It is definitely a book that will mark my life. I’d make this required reading for anyone who wants to go into ministry.

Big Takeaway: If God’s called you to lead, go after it with all of your heart, but recognize that leadership is a responsibility, not a game or for your glory.

Final Grade: 10/10      Buy it Here

Some Highlights:

• God assigns places of spiritual ministry and leadership in His sovereign will.

• If the disciples figured to learn about leadership on the fast track and with appropriate perks and bonuses, Jesus soon disillusioned them.

• “It occurs to me that perhaps the best test of whether one is qualified to lead, is to find out whether anyone is following.”

• One should inquire of a potential leader whether he or she 1) does little things well; 2) has learned to focus on priorities; 3) uses leisure well; 4) has intensity; 5) knows how to exploit momentum; 6) is growing; 7) overcomes discouragement and “impossible” situations; and understands his or her weaknesses.

• The secular mind and heart, however gifted and personally charming, has no place in the leadership of the church.

• To reach this goal, a spouse must fully share the leader’s spiritual aspirations and be willing to join in the necessary sacrifices. Many a gifted leader has been lost to high office and spiritual effectiveness because of an uncooperative spouse.

• Jesus’ classrooms were the highways of life; His principles and values came across in the midst of daily experience. Jesus placed disciples into internships (Luke 10:17–24) that enabled them to learn through failure and success (Mark 9:14–29).

• Before we can conquer the world, we must first conquer the self.

• We cannot learn about prayer except by praying.

• The character and career of a young person depends on how he or she spends spare time.

• Minutes and hours wisely used translate into an abundant life.

• Our problem is not too little time but making better use of the time we have. Each of us has as much time as anyone else. The president of the United States has the same twenty-four hours as we. Others may surpass our abilities, influence, or money, but no one has more time.

• ‘Well, I just had two hours to kill here in between trains, and I thought I would come and see you.’ That used to bother me. Then the Lord convinced me that He sends people our way.

• Unless our reading includes serious thinking, it is wasted time.

• Those who lead the church are marked by a willingness to give up personal preferences

• Only one Leader holds office forever; no successor is needed for Him

These highlights surely do not give justice to the book – there were so many that I probably have 5-6 pages! Buy this book!

Book Review: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

This was one of the first books I read on my new Kindle (I absolutely love it!). I’ve wanted to read this book since it came out, I had heard a lot of good things about it.

This is not a book I’d normally read. It wasn’t a principle book or even a practical one in which I could implement all the lessons I’ve learned. The whole book is about the author’s life experiences. Movie producers wanted to write a movie about his life, he agreed, and while writing the movie, he was asked to edit large parts of his life in order to make it more interesting. Through the experience he recognized that he had been living a pretty boring story.

What did he learn? That if we’re going to live interesting lives here on earth, if we’re going to live a great story, we need to do it on purpose. We need to write our stories, make them memorable, risk it all, and have as many adventures as we can.

Big Takeaway: Stop living a mediocre life and start building an amazing one on purpose.

Final Grade: 9/10 Buy it here!

Some Highlights:

• If what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.

• If you aren’t telling a good story, nobody thinks you died too soon; they just think you died.

• Good stories don’t happen by accident, I learned. They are planned.
• “I tell good stories in books. I don’t live good stories.”

• People who live good stories are too busy to write about them.

• People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen. But joy costs pain.

• The War of Art. The book is about writing, about the process of getting words onto an empty page. Pressfield said a writer has to sit down every day and write, regardless of how he feels.

• The ambitions we have will become the stories we live. If you want to know what a person’s story is about, just ask them what they want. If we don’t want anything, we are living boring stories

• And once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can’t go back to being normal; you can’t go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.

• When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.

• We don’t know how much we are capable of loving until the people we love are being taken away, until a beautiful story is ending.

Best of 2009 Part 2: The Bests of 2009

Here are some of the best things about 2009

Top Blog Posts according to You:

1.) What Makes a Great Teacher Part 4 – Bad Teachers

2.) Free from Sin, Addiction, and Bondage Part 2 – Enough is Enough

3.) Free from Sin, Addiction, and Bondage Part 7 – The Other Side

Top Blogs I Enjoyed Reading:

1.) Michael Hyatt

2.) Mark Batterson

3.) Zack Blair

Best thing I Started in 2009:

1.) P90X

Best Movies 2009:

1.) The Blind Side

2.) Sherlock Holmes

3.) Forever Strong

Best Books I read:

1.)Spiritual Leadership

2.) The Essential Wooden

3.) 25 Ways to Win with People

4.) It

5.) Put Your Dream to the Test

6.) Axiom

Best Videos:

Best of 2009 Part 1: Best Lessons Learned in 2009

“If you learn a lesson, you better find a way to live it, or else you’ll have to relearn it.” -Gerald Brooks

Here they are – the best lessons I learned in 2009 – They aren’t in any particular order. I hope they add value to your life!

1.    Do Your Best, Forget the Rest

2.    Surround Yourself With People who Scare You

3.    Quit Reporting the News, Start Making It

4.    Spiritually Mature People Restore those who Fall (Gal. 6:1)

5.    The Best Blessings from God come out of Nowhere

6.    Until you settle the identity issue – you’ll never be or have enough

7.    If you refuse to define yourself, you’ll get defined by others

8.    It’d be dishonoring to God to live my life and not believe that I could change the world

9.    We’re a small church with a mega vision

10.    Don’t blame yourself for the declines, you might take credit for the increases

11.    We need to Divert daily, withdraw weekly, and abandon annually – the world can get along without you

12.    Never Compare – Foolish comparison: 1.) Find people better – discouraged 2.) Find people your better than – Pride

13.    Leadership is as easy as listening to God!

14.    What would you do for God if you knew you couldn’t fail? -> Your a coward if you don’t do that

15.    Don’t you dare give up on a God who’s never given up on you

16.    It’s Ok to Not be Ok

17.    If it’s to be, it’s up to me.

18.    “There’s not lack of people that need ministered to, but there is a lack of people who have something to say when they’re ministering.”

19.    Love God, Love People

20.    Resources will help people a lot more than speaking to them ever will.

21.    This is the only time in history when I get to fight for God. This is the only part of my eternal story when I’m actually in the battle.

22.    God won’t let a ministry keep “it” for long if they won’t give “it” away.

23.     Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best you are capable of becoming.

24.     Make each day your masterpiece!

25.    A church that lives within its four walls is no church at all.

26.    God Freed me from all my fears – Psalm 34:427.

27.  It marks a big step in your development when you come to realize that other people can help you do a better job than you could do alone.”

28.    Are you seeing people as people or as objects?

29.    The point of your life is to point  to Him, whatever you’re doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is his.

30.    In about fifty years, no one will remember you

31.     Let God be as original with you as He is with other people.

32.    The secret conversations you hold in the privacy of your mind are shaping your destiny little by little

33.    Do not affirm what you do not want in your life

34.    “It’s not the magic that makes it work; it’s the way we work that makes it magic.”

35.    Time is a great revealer of who people really are

36.    Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself, when you become a leader, success is all about growing others.

37.    God didn’t call you so you could be popular or well known – he Called you to help people.

38.    Some are sent, and some just went.

39.    Be someone God can count on – II. Chronicles 16:9

40.    Empower people to do what they dream of

41.    Your striving is in vain if you’re only aim is to build your own great name

42.    Always ask: What am I believing God for?

43.    I’ll give an account for every idle word I speak

44.    Your 20’s isn’t about fruit!

45.    You attract high quality leaders through vision and humilty

46.    Ask God what to do with every dollar that He brings into your life.

47.    Believe in Yourself and Celebrate Your Life

48.    Learn to Encourage Yourself

49.    Why do we wait until funerals to speak good over someone?

50.     Stop Learning things the Hard Way – Ask people about things you don’t know

51.    Don’t be led by fear

52.    Teamwork really does make the Dream Work – forget about yourself

53.     If I had everything I wanted in Heaven, Would I be content in Heaven with no Christ?

54.    What is God speaking to my heart that my head is saying no to?

55.    What I’m willing to walk away from will determine what God will allow me to walk into?

56.    There should be a noticeable difference between unbelievers and believers: Hab. 4:18

57.    If you learn a lesson, you better find a way to live it, or else you’ll have to relearn it.

Feeling Hopeless? Find Hope this Christmas…

“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope.

-Matthew 12:18-21

Depending on your life, you either love the holidays or hate them. It’s easy to forget that the holidays aren’t awesome for everybody. There are still people who are absolutely hopeless. Presents won’t cut it, time with family doesn’t satisfy, you can’t see light at the end of the tunnel, and you wonder if you’ll ever come out of this state of hopelessness.

You can waste a lifetime looking for hope in all the wrong places.

The truth is that you can waste a lifetime trying to find hope in all the wrong places. Trying to find it in material possessions, unhealthy relationships, drugs or alcohol, sex, and anything else you attempt to find a sliver of hope in will never give you what you’re looking for.

There is one place that you will find the hope you’re looking for. That is in a relationship with Jesus Christ. The Bible clearly states that Jesus is the hope of the entire world.

To be honest with you, my life didn’t really begin until I made Jesus the Lord of my life. I used to be purposeless, hopeless, and living in fear constantly. Since I’ve pursued a relationship with God, I have a peace that can’t be put into words, I have hope in every circumstance, and I’m fully satisfied with my life.

If you’re feeling hopeless in life, Jesus wants to give you hope. This can be a Christmas that you never forget. One that changes your life forever. If you’ve never made Jesus the Lord of your life, please send me a message on facebook and I’d love to talk to you about that decision.

Don’t let another day pass feeling hopeless in your life – it’s time to give your life to the one who was born to give his life for you.

Book Review: Winning by Jack Welch

This book was recommended to me by Pastor Nathan. I enjoyed this book, although at times I thought it was a bit dry. Jack Welch has some great insights on how to create a winning organization. I really enjoyed his thoughts on differentiation, hiring, getting promoted, work/life balance, and finding the right career. For where I am in my career right now some of the chapters were over my head such as acquisitions and mergers chapter, but I’m sure I’ll be able to come back to them in years to come and have them add value to my life.

I’d recommend reading this book – especially the chapters with the concepts I’ve mentioned above. I’ll definitely be implementing a lot of those practices into my own leadership.

Final Grade: 8.5 out of 10   Buy it here

Here were some of my big takeaways:

• I didn’t invent differentiation! I learned it on the playground when I was a kid.
• I believe you are never “too nice” to implement the 20-70-10, only too cowardly.
• Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself, when you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
• As a leader, building self-confidence is probably the most important things you can do.
• You’re not a leader to win a popularity contest – you’re a leader to lead.
• Learn from everyone. Best case scenario – all your people will be smarter than you. It doesn’t mean you can’t lead them.
• A winning company does not let good people walk out the door for lack of recognition, financial, or otherwise.
• Ideally, the star will be replaced within eight hours. This sends a message that no single individual is bigger than the company.
• When it comes to strategy, ponder less and do more.
• It can feel very noble to say that you don’t care about being rich; it’s another thing to live with that decision over the years. Especially as mortgages and tuition start to pile up.
• Working for some companies is like winning an Olympic medal. For the rest of your career, you are associated with great performance.
• Every job you take is a gamble that could increase your options or shut them down.
• The first and best way to get noticed in a company is with results
• You can have all the work-life balance you want to if you deliver.

Santa vs. Jesus

“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols.”                                                                         Isaiah 42:8

I’ve always loved Christmas! I love the holiday season for several reasons that I’ve posted before. While it’s easy to say that Christmas and Easter are times to celebrate Jesus birth and resurrection, the reality is that we tend to celebrate Santa, reindeer, presents, and so many other things over the month of December.

As I’ve grown as a Christian I always wondered whether I’d tell my kids one day about Santa Clause. Yesterday I listened to this message by Keith Moore concerning Christmas, Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, etc. and it answered so my questions I had. Keith goes over the history of Christmas and Easter – it’s very interesting.

My big takeaway: It’s fine to have fun with the traditions of these holidays, but when we start lying to our kids about Santa, and fail to give all of the glory to God with our hearts and lives, it is not ok.

The truth is, God should be a huge part of our lives every day of the year. Christmas and Easter are times where the whole world at least at some point, thinks about God.

As Christians, we need to make God and Jesus as big as we can during this season so instead of pointing others to gifts and tradition,  point them to the Creator of the Universe who longs to have relationship with them so much that He sent is Son to be born and die on a cross in order for us to have one.

In this season – give God all the glory He deserves and Point People to Him.

Have a great Christmas – remember why we celebrate!

Are You Comfortable with Yourself?

¹⁴ I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. . .” -Psalm 139:14

“Don’t Take Yourself too Seriously. Learn to Laugh at Yourself, Everyone else is.”

Has anyone else other than me struggled being comfortable with yourself?

When I was younger, I was not comfortable with my weight, then my intelligence, then the size of my chin/head, the list could go on and on.

After years of living that way I’ve come to realize it is nothing but a waste of time and energy.

The other day I had someone ask me if I had a chew in (because my chin sticks out) – people thought I would get offended. The truth is – it didn’t offend me at all! I’m comfortable with myself and if someone doesn’t like me for who I am, I’m not going to waste my life getting wrapped up in worrying about their opinion of me.

The truth is that we’re never going to get another life, body, set of gifts, personality, etc.

Be grateful for who you are and what you have and you’ll find yourself having a lot more confidence.

I like what Abraham Lincoln said:

“I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me. I do the very best I know how; the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing it to the end.”

When You Learn to Be Comfortable with Yourself You’ll:

1.) Care a Lot Less of what People Think About You

2.) Be able to take a lot more risks

3.) Be able to accomplish a lot more

4.) Be able to help a lot more people

5.) Be a lot easier to be around – People will like you!

Hope this helps!

Revolution Christmas Videos

Here are videos we played at our Christmas Party . . . our Students did a great job with “A Very Mobby Christmas” – Great job guys!

And the most embarrassing video of all time:

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