Test Driving TypePad

For the next 14 days, I'll be blogging via TypePad on a 14 day FREE trial. You can follow my updates here.

I am seriously considering the move because TypePad has a sweet app for the iPhone. I'll keep you posted. See you over at TypePad.

To Lead Others, First Lead Yourself

We are finally back from vacation and glad to be back in the saddle.

Yesterday I spoke at Journey for the first time in three weeks. The break was nice, but it sure felt great to be back in the mix. I shared the second talk in our current series: Momentum--The Art of Self-Leadership.

Early this afternoon an email popped in my inbox that was promoting a new John Maxwell article. Despite your opinion of John, he's written some really solid words on self-leadership.

Here's a link. It's worth your time.

P.S. Loving my new iPhone 3G!

National Prayer Luncheon

Tomorrow afternoon, I will be speaking in Anderson, Indiana at my tribes National Convention. My assignment is to speak at the National Prayer Luncheon. Obviously, my topic is prayer. I invested several hours this week pulling together my thoughts. I am really excited about the invitation and how God might use it.

Personally, I was deeply challenged as I prepared to share on the topic of prayer. If there is one area I could identify that must go to the next level in my personal walk with God it is most definitely prayer.

Every great move of God begins with a prayer people. I want to be in that number.

Marraige Matters

The media team at Journey Church has worked real hard the past few week to pull together a video trailer of our new fall marriage series. I would love to have your feedback. Leave a comment.



* In case they're reading, thanks for all the hard work media team!

This I Believe

Andrea was doing some cleaning yesterday and discovered a gem. She found a descriptive paper Ty wrote earlier this year. Tytus gets my vote for coolest and brightest soon to be 7th grade boy (err teenager) on the planet.

Beat The Heat

Last Sunday, I challenged Journey Church to beat the heat and invest the summer months growing spiritually. Below are FOUR things you can do to grow this summer:

Don't skip out on Sundays - We hope you will take a weekend or two to get away, but make it a priority to be a part of Journey Church the rest of your weekends this summer. Sundays are a great time to connect with one another and encourage those around you to take the next step. When you miss a Sunday, make sure to catch the Journey podcast!

Read the Bible and pray for a few minutes every day - Bible study and prayer are necessities for a Christ follower to grow in their journey with God. Make a commitment to read a book or two of the Bible this summer. John and Proverbs would be great places to start. Invest your commute to work or the first few moments of your day in prayer.

Connect with others on a monthly basis - The summer months are great for connecting, especially with someone new. Summer is a great time to invest some relational time with someone who is disconnected from church. The relational investment this summer will prepare you for an invitation to Journey Church this fall.

Begin or continue to financially partner with Journey Church - Each of us are feeling the crunch of basic living expenses increasing. Just as your bills do not disappear in the summer, neither do the financial responsibilities at Journey Church. The summer season is the perfect opportunity to begin contributing to Journey Church on a regular basis. Your financial faithfulness this summer is needed and will continue to empower our community to make a difference.

Reveal Conversation

I'm headed to bed. It's been a long and productive day. Before I finally put head to pillow, here are a few things I was reminded of during our Reveal survey conversation tonight:

- Growing a church is a team sport.
- Vision leaks.
- Just because vision gets cast doesn't mean people get it.
- New voices bring new energy!
- Connecting in a church of 400+ is not obvious. Structure and systems are critical.
- Journey has tons of untapped resources waiting to be used. Cannot wait to watch God use them!
- I love my job.
- I love Journey Church!

Reveal Study

In January of 2008, I encouraged Journey Church to participate in the Reveal study. We figured it was perfect timing as we entered our third year of ministry as a church.

A few weeks ago, our results were sent to us. I will be meeting with a small group of Journey peeps tonight to hear their thoughts on the survey results. I have invited some new faces to this conversation. By new I mean people who haven't participated in any leadership type conversations in the past. I figured it would be good to get some new perspective.

The purpose will be to have a conversation to share insights and create a list of some potential takeaways. This group will NOT be a decision making group. I am really looking forward to the conversation tonight. I plan to do a lot of listening.

Katie Reider Album

I am sitting in my office about to bring a productive day to an end. I am listening to the Katie Reider album I linked earlier.

As I listen to her wonderful voice pour from the speakers of my laptop, I can't help but remember the first time I heard Katie sing. We invited her to sing at a Christian coffeehouse I was helping run. I have a vivid memory of how her seventeen year old voice filled the room that night. It was powerful and deeply moving.

When I read Katie's story last night, my heart sank. I hurt for her. I hurt for her family. I really do hope you will take a few moments to read her story and buy her album. It's worth it. If we all chip in we can help and make a difference.

Leaders Are Readers

I have spent countless hard earned dollars on books. I have also read my share of leadership, ministry, and business type books. I have to admit that I wish the time I invested in the collection of books that decorate my office included more personal takeaways and integration in real life.

I stumbled upon a post and a few bullets from Seth Godin that are worth your time.

Follow this link to the full post. Here are the bullets:

"1. Decide, before you start, that you’re going to change three things about what you do all day at work. Then, as you’re reading, find the three things and do it. The goal of the reading, then, isn’t to persuade you to change, it’s to help you choose what to change.

2. If you’re going to invest a valuable asset (like time), go ahead and make it productive. Use a postit or two, or some index cards or a highlighter. Not to write down stuff so you can forget it later, but to create marching orders. It’s simple: if three weeks go by and you haven’t taken action on what you’ve written down, you wasted your time.

3. It’s not about you, it’s about the next person. The single best use of a business book is to help someone else. Sharing what you read, handing the book to a person who needs it... pushing those around you to get in sync and to take action--that’s the main reason it’s a book, not a video or a seminar. A book is a souvenir and a container and a motivator and an easily leveraged tool. Hoarding books makes them worth less, not more.

Effective managers hand books to their team. Not so they can be reminded of high school, but so that next week she can say to them, 'are we there yet?'"

Thanks Seth!

Katie Reider

Read this story. Buy this album.