Averageyouthpastor

How Much Does Free Cost?

I am taking some time to experience a free, online conference today called, The Nines.  

The Nines is put together by LeadNet.Org with the concept of giving over 60 church leaders 9 minutes to share a thought and then offer these mini-leadership lesson online for free. 

Honestly, if it wasn't free I probably wouldn't have been a part of the conference.  After listening to the first 6 or 7 speakers though, I had over 5 pages of notes and was already busy trying to find a way to apply what I had heard to my life and ministry. What started as a free conference has now caused information overload for me.  It has also offered some great insight into leadership and ministry that I now have a responsibility to do something with.  I appreciate the way people are leveraging technology to equip others.  

If you didn't have a chance to be a part of The Nines you can go to the link below and watch the videos online in a couple of days.  I would recommend a few to watch...but there really hasn't been a bad one yet. 

World Class Apologist

They showed this at Catalyst.  These guys are too funny.  Check out more and TrippandTyler.com 

THE IBIBLE...I MUST HAVE ONE!

Awakening the Dreams of Others

Since coming back from Catalyst last week, I have been slowly processing all of the things that were shared with me over those two days.  What an incredible experience.  One of the sessions that has been on constant repeat in my mind was led by Erwin McManus.  This was my first opportunity to hear him live and he is an incredibly gifted communicator.  Here is the specific quote that I can't seem to get out of my head, 

"Commit to the dreams of others, more than you are committed to your own dreams."

Simple. Probably something you have heard or, for you, this is something that has always been obvious.  Not me.  I find that it is easy for me to become very selfish in my relationship with God and in how I live my life.  The more I thought about this, the more I realized how quick I am to use people to fulfill the areas of need that I see and less worried about the dreams and goals God has given them.  I understand providing opportunities to allow people to discover the gifts and pursue the dreams God has for them is healthy.  I just don't want it to become a box that I force them to fit into or them fulfilling what I want...not what God wants for them.  

You could definitely say that Jesus lived a life that unleashed the dreams of others.  He was an incredible listener. He trusted people. He saw things in those that followed Him that they were unable to sometimes see in themselves.  He gave second chances.  

As Christians we are all called to live this way.  Everywhere we go. Everyone we meet we have the opportunity to unleash the God given dreams of the individuals we cross paths with.  While technology helps us stay more connected than ever before, it also can disconnect us from some of the God given opportunities we have right in front of us.  

Whether it be the server at a restaurant, our cashier at the store or our spouse at home we must be the type of person that allows people to dream big. 

God does not create ordinary people.  

Let's start seeing the extraordinary!

Catalyst West Coast - Day One

Well the first day of Catalyst West Coast is officially in the books.  If you haven't made it out a Catalyst Conference yet, you need to find a way to get to one as soon as possible.  I will try to process some of the things that I heard and will be taking away with me over the next couple of days here on my blog.  For now, I will tell you this.  Mariners Church has an unbelievable  campus.  I really had not heard of Mariners before signing up for Catalyst, but it's obvious that God is doing something incredible here.  I look forward to learning more about the leaders of this great church.  Also, Andy Stanley started off Catalyst and, as expected, I could have left the conference and have been satisfied that I had gotten my money's worth.  He is an unbelievable teacher that speaks in bullet points to me.  There were some comments he made about vision vs. plans that will challenge my and guide decisions I make as a leader,potentially, for the rest of my life.  Great stuff.  Expect some more from me very, very soon!  

I Hate All Your Show

photo courtesy of daleyhake

I heard this song for the first time at Catalyst when Jon Foreman performed it there.

Very powerful lyrics.

"Instead of a Show"

I hate all your show and pretense
the hypocrisy of your praise
the hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show

Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stop up my ears when your
singing ‘em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood
of justice
An endless procession of righteous
living, living
Instead let there be a flood
of justice
Instead of a show

your eyes are closed when you’re praying
you sing right along with the band
you shine up your shoes for services
but there’s blood on your hands

you turned your back on the homeless
and the ones that don’t fit in your plans
quit playing religion games
there’s blood on your hands

Ah! let’s argue this out
if your sins are blood red
let’s argue this out
you’ll be white as the clouds
let’s argue this out
quit fooling around

give love to the ones who can’t love at all
give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
stand up for the ones who can’t stand up at all
instead of a show
I hate all your show

Go buy it on iTunes

Buy Tribes for 95 Cents!

I just saw on Ben Arment's Blog that Seth Godin's new book is available on iTunes for only 95 cents. I had the opportunity to hear Seth Godin speak about the subject of this book at Catalyst two weeks ago and was blown away.

This is a great book on understanding people and culture.

Click this link to go directly to Tribes on iTunes!

A Recovering Hypocrite

I had a chance to go to the Deadly Vipers session at Catalyst last week. If you haven't read the book Deadly Vipers Character Assassins you need to take the time to read this book. I felt like God was dealing with me more in this session than any other session at Catalyst. The desire of their ministry is that all people deserve a second chance. That you could make a decision today to change the areas in your life that are holding you back from being who God intends for you to be....no matter how terrible your sin may seem to you. The only way to get to that point though is to be surrounded by people that will love you unconditionally and to create an environment where people can be honest. A couple of days ago, Mike Foster wrote a blog about his road to healing and I want to share it with those that read my blog. To be honest, it broke me when I read this because it hit home. My biggest fear is placing my career or the pursuit of my goals over my family. There are some sacrifices for those of us that are in full time ministry....our family should never be one of those sacrifices.

Take a second to go read this blog - "How to be a Hypocrite"

The Intro At North Point on Sunday!

Yesterday morning I was at Andy Stanley's church in Atlanta (North Point).  This video is the intro they did for service.  Here is a link to some better footage of the same song intro they did at Buckhead a few months back. Here is a link to some better footage of the same song intro they did at Buckhead a few months back.  http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/?p=3646

Are You Still Teachable?

Catalyst came to a close yesterday. I can officially say that I am suffering from information overload right now. In the last 72 hours I have had the opportunity to hear 19 speakers teach on 18 different subjects that they are absolutely passionate about. Now these next two days I am planning on attending 3 different church services to experience what other churches are doing well and bring that information home with me to better the church I am on staff at. The best part of it is that I am LOVING every minute of it. Don't get me wrong, I do not enjoy living in a hotel room and being away from my family at all. I just love to LEARN.

I will spend some time over the next few days offering some more of the insight and information that I experienced at Catalyst. Today though, I just want to challenge myself and the two of you that read my blog to continue to be a learner. With all of the resources available today and opportunities to educate ourselves, we need to constantly be taking advantage of that. I remember when I was in college wanting to quit school and jump right into ministry. Why did I want to do that? Because I felt like I knew all I needed to know to go be successful. Hilarious. The good thing is I was surrounded by incredible friends and mentors that stressed the importance of being a learner. I don't believe we should ever want to see ourselves as an "expert" in anything. Especially being in ministry, with culture changing as rapidly as it does, I feel like it's important for us to always be of the mindset that every conversation we are in, every blog we read, every sermon we get to listen to as an opportunity to better equip us for the calling God has for our lives.

God desires for us to have teachable spirits. I would go as far to say that if we are not learners we will probably struggle with allowing God to speak to us as well. It will hurt your time spent in the scriptures, it will hurt your prayer time, and it will hurt your faith and trust in God.

Learn from everybody and everything - Discern what you learn under the microscope of Scripture - Take what you learn and be your own person, Don't just regurgitate somebody else's insight and information.

I write this more for myself than anybody else.

Please, if you ever see me acting as if I have ever "made it" and have nothing more to learn, remind me of this blog post and tell me to get out of the ministry.