I am so confused and can’t say anything…while I’m praying

Lately I’ve been trying to pray. I’m not saying that I don’t but for some reason I haven’t been able to get words out. This lack of verbiage to God has been happening for a good bit of time and it was driving me nuts. Notice I said “was.” As I was reading today in Romans 8:26-27 I noticed something:

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

I’m weak right now…don’t know why. My words aren’t coming out (which is not a sign of being weak in your walk with Christ). However, Paul was weak during this time and explains that we really don’t know how to talk to God. I mean how many stinking times do you have to say someone’s name in a conversation before they get annoyed. But, the Spirit doesn’t even use words to intercede for us, He uses groans. And through those groans God gets our prayers. He knew that we would struggle with this because sometimes we do our best to say the right prayer. But if the Spirit is in you, God already knows your prayer. My mouth might not be able to express what I want God to hear but my heart’s desire is what the Spirit relays to our Lord.

Thank you God for hearing my prayers even when I don’t verbally express them. I feel like a burden has been lifted. I will just sit silently and listen for your voice now.

It’s gone too far…

During E3 (the biggest video game conference) EA games wanted to promote their new game coming out in 2010 titled “Dante’s Inferno.” The way they did was pretty funny and upsetting at the same time. They hired people to ACT as Christian protesters who wanted the game banned. Read more about it here.

I was not upset about it and thought it was funny. Wrong…but funny. But, now they might have gone too far…

The video below was really funny when I thought it was a joke. Basically, it is going to church (actually Mass) as a video game called “Mass: We Pray.” Then I went to the website it promoted and found out that it was legit! I could not believe it! So I still thought it was a joke until I clicked on the “Pre-Order Now” button. When I did, I yelled “hell no!” (no pun intended…kind of)

The website/promo video/game was promoting the Dante’s Inferno game for EA again! However the thing that upset me the most was that after clicking the button a popup for the game came up and wanted you to put an application on your Facebook page that says “Damn they fellow sinners to hell on Facebook with the Go To Hell Application.” I feel that EA went to far with that one. The Mass: We Pray was pretty funny but damn your fellow sinners to hell does not help my cause of helping people experience the love of Christ!

Delegating

I was recently asked some questions about how I delegate and what I delegate and thought that maybe someone else can benefit. Below are the questions and answers I gave. Let me know what you think!

1. How did you learn how to delegate? Were there times when you did not want to delegate?

• Honestly, I hate delegating, I am a control freak, especially when I can get it done faster and better. However, I want to create leaders, not robots so I have to delegate. I first learned this the hard way, in the beginning I tried to do everything. I crashed and burned. I just don’t have the time to do what God wants me to do if I do EVERYTHING! When I heard a favorite pastor of mine Craig Groeschel (swerve.lifechurch.tv) say “When you delegate tasks, you get followers. When you delegate authority, you develop leaders” I learned that I needed to start delegating. I learned by just doing it, I started with little things like can you decorate for a party, help me figure out to do for this event, stuff like that. Now I can give a full event away, and not worry about it. Seriously, I just got to that point for the first time we have a dance tomorrow night and I know nothing about it. It is great! Delegating authority is different. I’ve given authority to my semester missionary and it is nice to not have to worry about getting something done.

2. I’m a big fan of empowerment, and I think this is very important especially when delegating. How can one delegate without coming across as negative, domineering, pushy, or lazy?

• This is really hard. You can’t delegate to someone who isn’t expecting it. The person must be receptive. I’ve been known for barking orders because “I’m the boss.” Delegating is great when you find someone and know they love to do what you are asking. I’ve learned delegating is a result of discipleship otherwise you are just getting people to do tasks. Like the previous quote, delegating authority is not being pushy, it’s saying “I trust you, I believe in you to make this amazingly successful.” But, if you don’t have that relationship of a mentor/coach-mentee/coachee (is that a word? it is now!) it will seem a little pushy.

3. What kind of advice can you offer to people with a chronic problem of Moses-itis (not delegating – as in Genesis 18)?

• Ha! for me it took me crashing. But, something that helped me was, what do you hate doing? (Good to Great – Jim Collins) What are your red lights? That suck energy from you. Can you give them to someone else? It took me realizing that if I kept doing it, then I am not trusting God but myself and my ministry will be severely limited. As a result, I wanted to change.

4. What do you do when someone does not complete the task or project that you have delegated to them? A secondary question to that one is this: How do you handle defiance, laziness, or lackluster performance? (From what I understand about your ministry, excellence is the only way. I’m curious, though, how you foster that kind of community.)

• After every event/task/authority I meet with the person to see how everything went. Any “ball dropped” is discussed as well as “home runs.” I talk about what can we do better next time, what needs to change, why that happened and how to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
• I hate this question b/c I deal with it way too much. When a person just doesn’t seem to “perform” repeatedly, I remove them from the authority/task and move them to something that “is a green light (Good to Great again)” If that doesn’t work I tell them, when you are ready to work like Colossians 3:23 says then come back.

5. In your opinion, what are the top three benefits of delegating?

• Developing leaders!
• Getting freed up to focus on what God wants you to do.
• Stuff I don’t like to do, God made someone else to like it!

Hopefully this interview will help someone out. Let me know if it does.

Integrity in the New England Patriots vs. the Indianapolis Colts

So we just finished a series called IQ (You can get the messages here or on Itunes) which stood for Integrity Quotient. We talked about how living a life with high intelligence doesn’t always mean you are seen in the greatest of light, especially as a follower of Christ. You still must have a high Integrity Quotient in order to be taken seriously. If you aren’t trustworthy or a person with honesty and authenticity, you aren’t worth following and neither is what you are following.

I was watching the Colts vs. the Patriots last night on Monday Night Football and was amazed at how good of a game it was. After the game I always watch what the coaches and players do in the background (or foreground, depending on the reporters) and saw something that made me yell! Bill  Belichick, the coach for the Patriots (who lost at the last second), ran towards the locker rooms as soon as the game ended. On the way Jim Caldwell, the Colts’ coach, goes to shake Bill’s hand. Bill basically slaps his hand and never misses a step in his fast pace walking, not even talking with Jim. After that his bodyguards literally knocked down all the reporters on the way to the locker room so that Bill wouldn’t have to talk with any of them. That is a great example of integrity…or lack thereof.

What’s interesting is how a Colts player ran and caught with Bill just to thank him. Ya, he got totally pushed as well! Dirty! But, after that a true display of integrity happened from the Patriots (well except for Tom Brady who also went to straight to the locker room). Many of the players were talking, laughing and hugging the Colts. Blew me away because normally a team follows their coach’s lead. However, this time they didn’t and did the exact opposite of what Bill did. Wow, I am not a fan of the Patriots (I do think Wes Welker is the real deal) but now I see them in  a different light. I still won’t root for them, just the fins but at least they have some integrity, unlike their coach.

How have you seen an example of integrity recently?

Windows 7?

A couple of weeks ago I received a “Windows 7 party pack” in the mail. This giant box screamed super cheezyness to follow… it was. The box had Windows 7 bags (which make great grocery bags, they are solid!), streamers, coupons, branded logos and playing cards (seriously, I can’t make this up). However, it also had a Windows 7 Signature Ultimate Edition enclosed as well (both 32 and 64 bit)! I’ve been wanting to upgrade since Vista and Photoshop were not working well together for me.

I popped the dvd in and bought a new 1TB hard drive (not because of Windows 7 but because my wife is a photographer, crazy 5MB pictures!). When the loading screen came up, I was so worried that, like previous Windows installations, I would have to do multiple formats and installations due to errors. I clicked through two screens, typed in my key, skipped activation and said start installing. Through other installs I knew I would have to sit there for a little bit until the process finally started. So I went to check on my kids super quick (well, super quick as in 20 minutes to stop fights, bathroom messes, etc.) and sat down at my computer. When I looked up Windows 7 was running. I looked at the clock, yup 23 minutes. I sat there dumbfounded for about 2 minutes trying to figure out if this was a trick.

I started playing around…it worked. I couldn’t believe it, so I went to my device manager expecting to see a bunch of yellow exclamation marks (this means that hardware was having an issue). Only one was there, for my wireless adapter. Got the driver from my laptop and it worked super fast! The stinking thing hasn’t crashed since (even Vista crashed on day one from Dell)…and it is so fast! I know I know, it is a new installation but for real. With installations being faster, file transfers from backups faster, navigating faster, I am happy! I’ll keep you updated but I am very impressed with Windows 7. It helps that I got it for free but as a professor I also get it for $15!

Have any of you played with Windows 7 yet? What are your thoughts?

My heart broke this morning…

I was going to post this during my Catalyst recap…but as I was listening to the latest Catalyst podcast my heart broke as I relived a moment from Catalyst 09. Let me setup what happened. Jimmy was 8 years old when he received a sponsorship from Mark through Compassion International. Jimmy is from Kenya, Africa and has grown up being sponsored by Mark. He is now going through a leadership development program and was brought to Catalyst to tell his story so more children like him could get sponsored. However, on stage he read a letter from Mark that talks about having the hope of Christ in his heart. Jimmy describes how he later trusted Christ because of that letter.

What happens next words can not describe as Jimmy had never met Mark…until Catalyst 09. He fell to his knees and wept so loudly that the 13,000 leaders were silent. All you could hear was extreme weeping. There was not a dry eye in the room. This video is so powerful, that moment was truly a God moment. Tears well up in my eyes just as I write this because of the impact it made on me. There were 1200 children sponsorship packets at Catalyst. Every single one was taken and only 25 were given back. As of last Monday money for over 600 packets have already been turned in. THAT IS INCREDIBLE! The video below is 18 minutes long. However, if you are strapped for time Jimmy’s part comes on at 3:45. Please watch this video, take the time to be changed by compassion to see God’s people taken care of. If you decide to sponsor a child for $38/month (that’s so little compared to how we live) please leave a comment or message me on twitter. The reason being we want to help a friend of ours who is an official Compassion International representative. Please pray about sponsoring a child…you never know the impact you could make until you do.

Luke 14:12-14 “Then Jesus said to his host, ‘When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’”

Luke 12:33-34 “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

The Fun Theory

Have you ever heard of The Fun Theory? It is a awesome website with making life more fun than it currently is. For example, I just saw this video of how they changed a staircase in Stockholm into a piano in order to see if more commuters would take the stairs over the escalator…it worked. Makes me want to make like more fun….and ministry more creative!

Catalyst 09 is here!

Ok, I’m ready, no you don’t understand I need this right now. I am confessing sins like crazy, I am praying like crazy. I need Catalyst now. I have so many questions that need answering. I have so many dead spots in my life. I need a rejuvenation and I need it now. I am ready for something to give me that spark. Are you? Please keep me accountable to blog about Catalyst when I get back so I keep a record of everything that God will do in me and through me.

I’m ready…

Here are some ways of getting ready for Catalyst:

First of all, read this
http://churchcrunch.com/2009/09/11/the-officially-unofficial-catalyst-atlanta-conference-survival-guide/

and this
http://www.bradruggles.com/2009/10/06/catalyst-for-dummies-road-trip/

It is a great explanation of what to expect at Catalyst.
But the thing you must do first is pray up. Start praying now for what God is going to do next Thursday and Friday. Pray that you are clear of any distractions and that your heart (and ears) are ready to hear what God has for you. You might not agree with everything but it will make you think outside of the box.

On Thursday, be there before the doors open if you want a good seat and good free stuff! We probably won’t be able to sit together because of how hard it is to get a group of roughly 30 people together amidst 16000 others. So get your seat then go get free stuff (Dave Ramsey’s booth usually gives away iPods).

Here is what to expect during the event:
1. Your brain will hurt – it is a lot of sitting and listening. There are times of worship and random fun times but much of it is listening and taking it in. There are breaks but are so short that you feel like you should just pee in your pants!

2. The schedule for Thursday is:
8:30am – session 1 – YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THE OPENER!
10:15am – break
10:45am – session 2
12:15pm – lunch
1:45pm – session 3
3:15pm – break
3:45pm – session 4
4:45pm – break
5:00pm – session 5
6:00pm – break
8:00pm – session 6

Friday is:
8:30am – session 7
10:15am – break
10:45am – session 8
12:15pm – lunch
1:45pm – session 9
3:15pm – break
3:45pm – session 10
5:30pm – boo! done!

Be prepared to have an amazing time of leadership and God!
Also, give some love to Chad Johnson who always takes care of us and hooked us up with great ticket prices. Pray for the rest of us going as well as yourself and be prepared to be blown away!

Campus Ministry vs. Church College Ministry

Lately I’ve been thinking about Church vs. Campus Ministry… let me explain.

Church College Ministry = A local church, Christ’s bride, does ministry to all ages (at least that is what a New Testament church looks like). Therefore, some churches have a specific college ministry. Whether it is something like a collegiate service, a college and singles ministry, or a young professional ministry.

Campus Ministry = BCM, Cru, IV, XA, Navigators, etc. These focus strictly on college students at the college campus. Less metro more focused on a campus…sometimes. Some things they focus on are leadership development, small groups, community, discipleship, reaching the dorms/Greeks/Athletes/Medical students/Engineers, etc.

Many students (and ministers) are very torn about the role in a person’s life. I’ve had countless conversations with people who are upset with BCMs “stealing” students. However, I love what J.D. Greear explains it in his blog post.

He talks about how both ministries are necessary in a college student’s life. It is a pretty good read so I’ll highlight what I think are some of the great points of the post.

The church is intergenerational.

This is something that I constantly stress with my students as a NT church has all generations investing in each other for the purpose of discipleship and accountability and fellowship. I’ve found this to be a huge help in my life when I was in college and now.

Campus ministry is only for 4 years; church is for life.

Something that I focus on is plugging students into a local church…that doesn’t mean just attending but actually serving. When a college student realizes that God’s plan is bigger than themselves they jump on board and start investing in some youth. Then, when that student leaves college they don’t float from church to church but find one that doesn’t serve them but that they can serve in and get fed at.

Campus ministries meet on campus, allowing students to grow and minister where they live.

Campus ministries allow students an outlet for reaching their peers as well as growing within a community that deals with similar issues.

Campus ministries specialize in dealing with the issues students face while a student.

Campus Ministries are able to focus on what just students are dealing with…and give practical advice when it comes to adversity.

Greear then outlines what students who are confused should do: serve at both. He basically says that a student should start with going to an on-campus ministry as well as attending a local church (the same one every week, no church hopping, LAME!). As the student becomes a upperclassman he or she should increase their participation in their local church. I also believe that upperclassmen should invest in freshmen and sophomores before totally leaving behind the campus ministry.

I love how someone is thinking and dealing with what I’m dealing constantly talking about. What are your thoughts?

Is it wrong…

Is it wrong that my goal in life is now to own an iPhone? I mean the $80/month bill, the constant distraction of applications, my kids clamoring to use it for the games and oh ya the possibility of getting overcharged because I text way too much.

When I mentioned this to someone they said “that’s fine, as long as you love Jesus.”

Sold!