Friday's TOP 7 - Who's preaching on my iPOD?

What's up blogger world? I pray that everyone had a great week! Well it's Friday so ya'll know what that means...FRIDAY's TOP 7!

1. Pastor Ron Vietti from Valley Bible Fellowship


2. Pastor Rob Ketterling from River Valley Church


3. Pastor Pat Schatzline from The Summit Church at Birmingham


4. Pastor Wendell Smith from The City Church


5. Pastor Nelson Searcy from The Journey Church


6. Pastor Steve Kelly from Wave Church


7. Pastor Joel Osteen from Lakewood Church

I hope you enjoy this weeks TOP 7. Once again if you listen to anyone that is a great communicator please let me know. Hey if my Friday's TOP 7 list is benefiting you drop me a quick note it would be great to hear from ya'll. Thanks!!!

great start...

Just got back from my morning run and it was tough. I have missed the last couple of days so it was a pretty hard run this morning. But I stayed focus ran hard while I listened to Perry Noble's latest sermon on my iPOD. Great start to the morning!

Why We're Not In.

Ever since Craig Groeschel announce the "ONE PRAYER" series he and many other leaders are doing in June I have been praying and seeking the Lord whether we (Dahlonega Assembly of God) should participate in this unprecedented event.

At first I wanted to be a part of this event because everyone was "doing it" Even though I've been preparing a sermon series for men in the month of June. It's been crazy seeing all the hype this event has been getting honestly I felt like I was in Jr. High again. It seem like all the cool kids had the newest, coolest, baddest, pair of shoes and I wanted to get a pair because the "cool kids" had them. You see a lot of men and churches I respect and admire are participating in this amazing event and because of that I wanted to have our church participate. Realizing this was my only reason I wanted our church to participate I seriously had to repent.

Why? It's not like teaching on PRAYER is a bad thing or uniting churches around the topic of prayer is a bad thing...my gosh I think that we need to teach more about the power of prayer in the life of the Church but, I discovered that I was putting my need to feel accepted or apart of the group over the needs of my church. Networking is one thing...being needy is another. So after much prayer I have decided that "WE'RE NOT IN" this year. Let me explain before ya'll start cussing me out and telling me that I don't want unity in the church. Actually it's because of UNITY that we're not participating this year.

First I want to say I LOVE THIS IDEA! WHAT A VISION!!! If ya'll knew me you would know that I'm all about networking. I love when we (Pastors and Churches) can come together and get beyond our denominational walls and theological views and just preach Jesus! An event like this screams JESUS to the disconnected and connected! Even though this event has the potential to literally change the direction of our churches and culture, is this the right time for OUR church to get involved in a event like this?

On Easter 2008 we took the Senior Pastor position of a 31 year old church. Before ya'll start knockin' on old churches, let me tell you that we are so honored that God gave us this opportunity to pastor the people in our church and in Dahlonega Georgia. God totally knows what kind of opportunities turn my crank. I love taking something old and making it new again. I love taking something that has lost its identity and helping it find its identity again. That's why my wife and I don't see taking a 31 year church as a challenge but an opportunity. We see it as an opportunity to experience the rebirth of a 31 year old dream.

After saying all of that it comes down to this;

My desire is to see Dahlonega Assembly of God reach people with the message of Jesus all over the world by using every method available to us. I love the old saying, "Don't change the message just the methods." We must find new and effective ways to share the gospel. The problem is that when the coolest trends come out we, at times, try to force it to fit our churches. I'm not intersted in trends, I'm interested in seeing lives transformed. It's very important that we (Pastors) use wisdom, discernment, and pray for God's timing when we venture into unknown waters. I AM CURRENTLY NECK DEEP IN UNKNOWN WATERS! Even though I personally want to jump into the ONE PRAYER series head first I MUST ask myself; "is our 31 year old church ready for this kind of experience." I'm sure some of you might be thinking to yourselves, "I wonder who's pulling his strings...maybe the board, maybe the biggest tither" just to let ya'll know absolutely no one is pulling my strings! I don't want to jump ahead of myself as our church builds onto the legacy that already has been laid. Even though the use of technology is going to be a huge part of our churches DNA. I've decided that I'm not interested in having the most trendy and popular church but the most healthiest church.

The way I see it is if we jumped into the ONE PRAYER series with everyone else (because of my need to feel accepted) it would be like putting a baby in the driver's seat and screaming...DRIVE! I'm not calling the people in my church a bunch of babies but my wife and I just birthed new VISION, MISSION, and PURPOSE into our 31 year old church. So it's important that they have an understanding where we are going. I'm beginning to learn the way to have long lasting healthy thriving growth is by having patience. PATIENCE sucks! Yeh I wrote that...but it's true. In my opinion patience is the most difficult characteristic to develop but it's essential. A life without patience is a life in a constant state of setbacks. I don't know about you but I'm tried of seeing the church and my life in a constant state of setbacks.

Second, we (I) need to be okay with taking baby steps towards our new identity and purpose. So many times in the past I have been so jacked up about the future that I didn't communicate clearly where God was taking us which birthed frustrated, confused, burned out, bitter, people. I refuse to let this happen again. Once again I'm not interested in trends but transformation!

So after reading this LONG blog I pray that my heart is transparent about the ONE PRAYER series. Although, technically we're not in we will be praying with all of you and your churches for God to move through and in our churches like never before!

Again, I want to make it very clear that I'm NOT saying that the ONE PRAYER is a trend but, I believe getting our church united around the new vision, mission, and purpose that the Lord has given us needs to be my first priority. Once we know who we are and why we exist then this will help us unite and be more effective with others in the future.

I really want to...

I just read this great blog from Steven Furtick about "bringing our best every time." I can honesty say that this has been hard for me in the last couple of weeks. Just so you know the next couple of sentences are going to sound very whining...so either deal with it, go read another blog, or help a brother out with some helpful & useful advice.

Like I was saying, it's not that I don't want to bring my best...it's that I'm feeling overwhelmed with all the current things pulling for my attention and all the new opportunities in my life right now. For instances:

• Maintaining a healthy and thriving marriage through all of these changes.



• Becoming a dad for the first time.



• Becoming a Senior Pastor for the first time.



• Currently working a night job.

This may not seem like a long and overwhelming list but each of these main points have a ton of sub points. Which is probably why I sound whinny right now. Now if you're from my church don't get nervous I'm not going anywhere. I know that I'm suppose to be at Dahlonega Assembly of God! I know that God is going to use US (YOU & ME) to change lives in Dahlonega and all of North Georgia. There is no doubt in my mind that this is going to happen, it's just a matter of time. But I believe that it's important for you to know that I'm human. It's important for you to know that I got issues just like you. It's important for you to know that there are moments that I would like cheese with my whine.:)

But as I look towards the future I am overwhelmed that God has decided to use our church for such a time as this. I have a saying "if you dreams don't scare you you're not dreaming big enough yet." Let me tell you, my DREAMS are FREAKIN' ME OUT. Since I'm having these audacious dreams I REALLY WANT TO bring my best EVERY TIME! I really want to bring my best in my marriage, in my family, at my night job, at church, in Dahlonega, in every area of my life.

I'm learning that in order for me to bring my best every time, I'm realizing that more of me needs to get out of the way. When my life become less about me and more about Jesus that's when I will know I have given it my BEST. I'm learning life is a journey not a sprint.

10 Pastors that I would love to meet @ Chili's

In February I blogged about how I was inspired by Jay Hardwick's blog about 5 Pastors that he would love to meet at Starbucks. But as you can tell by the huge logo I prefer Chili's! Like I said before there is nothing like an order of chips and salsa or an order of southwestern egg rolls or my personal favorite a Chicken Ranch Sandwich with a HUGE cup of sweet tea.

1. Shawn Lovejoy


2. Bil Cornelius


3. Chris Elrod


4. Rod Ketterling


5. Scott Hodge


6. Tadd Grandstaff


7. Vince Antonucci


8. Jay Hardwick


9. Ross Wiseman


10. Mike Lukaszewski

So if any of you guys are ever in Cumming Georgia or the Atlanta area lunch or dinner is on me. It would be an honor to meet ya'll and learn from fellow ministers in the trenches everyday.

Friday's TOP 7 - Who's preaching on my iPOD

Here's this weeks TOP 7 list. Hope ya'll enjoy it

1. Pastor Chuck Swindoll from Insight for Living


2. Pastor Brian Houston from Hillsong Church


3. Pastor Glen Berteau from Calvary Temple


4. Pastor John Burke from Gateway Community Church


5. Teaching Team from James River Assembly


6. Pastor Mike Lukaszewski for Oak Leaf Church


7. Pastor Jeff Leake from Allison Park Church

I hope ya'll enjoy my top 7 but I need a huge favor I need ya'll to send me some new communicators that ya'll listen to. Like I have said before I love listening to different styles of communicator so PLEASE drop me some names, ministries, or links to people who have been speaking into your life. Thanks. I hope these top 7 blogs have been a blessing to ya'll.

last night was amazing!

So far this week has been a little intense until yesterday. First of all, after my Youth Pastor and I met for a while I told him that we had so much to get done that we NEEDED to spend some time with Jesus first. So we went into the sanctuary turned up the music and spent some much needed time with the Lord. It was AWESOME! Later that evening after our worship time I felt led to play a song that reminded us that freedom reigns in the presence of God. At first I didn't want to play it because we had a great worship time but I knew if I didn't we would miss an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to minister to us. The result was amazing! The second the song came on people immediately went to the altar. I don't know where you go to church or who your Pastor is but this Pastor and church still believes in ATLAR moments. I believe that we can still be ALTER at the ATLAR. It's really hard to explain a moment like this but it was very clear that our people needed more of God than of me and I am totally fine with that.

After spending a little more time in worship we broke up into our groups. Oh...in the middle of the song playing I notice a visiting family come in and sit in the back. After worship we broke into our groups I had a chance to met them and found out that they were from Minnesota! It was great meeting and speaking with folks from back home. Later we found out that my wife student taught at their church's Christian School several years ago. After our quick introduction I went into a teaching series I started two weeks ago about Servant-Leadership.

I believe that as we move forward as a church one of the things that we MUST do better in is SERVING. Serving our church, serving our families, serving our spouses, serving our community, serving each other and of course serving God. Every one of us has the ability to serve but the question is HOW IS OUR ATTITUDE WHEN WE SERVE. A couple of years ago I picked up this book written by Chuck Swindoll called Improving Your Serve. If your a Pastor you got to pick this book up, it will make you reevaluate what SERVING is all about. Because of this teaching series I have been able to share my heart about serving and how I desire to see our church become known for serving our community.

You see I am tried of hearing churches say they want to serve the community and never do. Or what about the churches that do serve their community and expect "a big pat on the back" from the community but when they don't get it they boycott their community. So if you are one of those Pastors who gets their feelings hurt every time you serve your community and no one says thank you...GET OVER IT!!! God called you to serve HIM with all your heart, soul, and mind regardless if you get a "thank you" or not for the people around you.

After our service I had my first Board Meeting. It was amazing! I am so bless to have a group of people that want the best for our church. It was suppose to be a 1 hour meeting but it ended up being a 2 hour meeting. It was so much fun sharing my heart and dreaming about the future with this amazing group of men and women.

So as you can tell it was one amazing night. I can't wait to see what God is going to do with Dahlonega Assembly of God. Whatever it is I believe we're up for the ride!!!

ONE!

I was going to put this in my Monday Mind Dump but this deserves its own post. Yesterday we had an amazing service! We had a bunch of teenagers there which lite me up. Along with our regular attenders we also had some second time guests which was exciting. Also throughout the week several people let us know that they weren't going to be able to make it Sunday. Every one of them really disappointed because they're realizing how important Sunday's are in their lives now. It's exciting to see people get excited about Jesus! Even though we still have a lot to work to do you can feel the momentum building up in the atmosphere.

It was the second week of my 4 week series "Building onto the Legacy". I spoke about "Following the Blueprints." In Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus gave us a simple blueprint to follow...Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and Love your neighbor as yourself. Simple. Since I am using construction terms I illustrated this point by taking two 4x4 pressure treated timbers and spray painted "Love the Lord" on one and "Love your neighbor" on the other. I explained that as we BUILD ONTO OUR LEGACY at our church and in our lives and as we FOLLOW THE BLUEPRINTS (Matthew 22:34-40), we are establishing God's Word as support beams in our Legacies. Just like 4x4 timbers were created to hold under pressure, survivor climate changes, and provide faithful support that's what's going to happen when we begin to FOLLOW THE BLUEPRINTS that Jesus gave us in Matthew 22:34-40...Love the Lord and Love your Neighbor. It was an amazing service! I love teaching God's Word but the best part of the whole service was at the end.

Right before we ended the service, I gave everyone an opportunity to start a relationship with Jesus. Let's be honest, if your a Pastor I'm sure that you will agree with me, this is probably the most uneasy moment throughout the entire service. Not because we want people to respond to our "excellent communication skills" but because we know there are individuals who need to respond and might not. But on Sunday morning April 13th we had ONE person responded and entered into a relationship with Jesus!!!!!!! Not 1000, not 100, not even 10.....ONE! I am so JACKED UP about this ONE person! The Bible tells me that when ONE person enters into a relationship with Jesus ALL of heaven brakes out in a party!!! So if heaven brakes out in a party for just ONE person then we better party like crazy here on Earth!

This Sunday was just a snap shot of what's to come. DAGer's I am so excited about our future! If WE team up and wrap our arms around the Mission and Vision I believe that God has given our church it will blow our minds what God could do with our "temporary" small church in the mountains of Dahlonega Georgia.

REMEMBER...do the 21/21 challenge! It will change your LIFE!!!

Friday's Top 7 - Who's preaching on my iPOD?

I hope ya'll had a great week. We had a very busy week but we loved it! Even with all the rush I was still able to listen to my top 7 for the week so here it is enjoy!

1. Pastor Tory Farina from High Point Church
2. Pastor Benny Perez from The Church of South Las Vegas
3. Pastor Tim Lucas from the Liquid Church
4. Pastor Erwin McManus from Mosaic
5. Pastor Rodney Fouts from NorthChurch.TV
6. Pastor Tadd Grandstaff from Pine Ridge Church
7. Pastor Matt Brown from Sandals Church

Hope ya'll enjoy my top 7 like always if you listen to a preacher that is an amazing communicator please send me a link. thanks!

Midweek Update

It's Wednesday night just wanted to update ya'll about what has been going on in our lives this week.

• On Sunday we were officially installed as the Senior Pastors at Dahlonega Assembly of God.
• It was so exciting seeing everyone there. We had some first-time guests, there were people from our last church there, and finally many of our new church family was there to celebrate this new season with us.
• The really cool thing about having all those people there on Sunday morning was it gave us a preview of how our church feels when it is totally packed. DAGer's get ready it's going to happen soon then we think! Can we say 2 Sunday morning services...
• It was great having my in-laws, brother in-law and his family, and my wife's uncle & aunt visiting from Illinois. We had a packed house but we loved it!
• We finally dedicated our amazing little boy on Sunday. Pastor Fennell did an excellent job! It was an honor having him present our son to our new church and pray over him and presenting him to the Lord. I can't wait until my first baby dedication!
• Pastor Brumbalow hit it out of the park on Sunday morning!!! It was an honor having he and wife show up and speak on this special day.
• WOW...the worship time was freakin' awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• The food after the service on Sunday was GREAT! Thank you to everyone who brought a dish to share...I am seriously going to have to watch how much I eat at this church.
• Later on Sunday afternoon the family and I hit the Square in Dahlonega. Did a little shopping, checked out the gold musem, and topped it off with a old fashion root beer at the General Store.
• Later that evening we went to Longhorn in Dawsonville...great family dinner. I LOVE RIBS!!!!!!!!!!!!
• On Monday morning I hung out with the family at home...my wife's uncle and aunt flew back to Illionis...it was great seeing them.
• Went to work on Monday night. i am very grateful for my night job but it's hard being a bi-vocational Pastor. I'm praying this will change soon.
• On Tuesday morning the rest of the family packed up and headed back up north.
• my wife started watching a friend's baby. He and Josiah are great buddies. It's fun watching them play around on the floor. I love being a daddy!!!
• Found out Josiah is cutting more teeth. So he's been a little crabby laterly.
• Met up with a ministry friend this morning for Breakfast at IHOP. It was great catching up. Afterwards he wanted to see our church so we drove up to the church and I gave him the grand tour.
• He gave me a lot of "first impression" items to consider. It's great getting feed back from people who want us to reach our potential.
• Had a great prayer time today!
• Had lunch at a great restaurant in Dahlonega on the Square called the Crimson Moon. If you're ever in Dahlonega you got to try it!
• Met with some contractor at the church today. Just getting some estimates on some future projects. I love dreaming!!!
• We had a great Wednesday night service tonight.
• A lot of kids and teenagers around tonight...I'm loving it!
• Started a Wednesday night series on being a Servant-Leaders. More on this later.
• Our kids Pastor, Erica, updated our bulletin boards...she did a fantastic job! Thanks ERICA you rock!

So now you got the midweek update. Sunday is right around the corner I can't wait for Sunday morning. We're continuing our series called "building onto the Legacy". You don't want to miss it!

Friday's "BELATED" Top 7 - Who's preaching on iPOD

Sorry my Friday's Top 7 is a little late. My family and I had a very busy weekend with family in town and being "officially" installed into our new church. Anyway now I'm playing catchup. So here is Friday's April 4th Top 7 list. Enjoy!

1. Pastor Aaron Maners from CANVAS Church
2. Pastor Bil Cornelius from Bay Area Fellowship
3. Pastor Chris Hodges from Church of the Highlands
4. Pastor Willie George from Church on the Move
5. Pastor Sergio De La Mora from Cornerstone Church of San Diego
6. Pastor Troy Gramling from Flamingo Road Church
7. Pastor Robert Morris from Gateway Church

Hope you enjoy my belated top 7, like always if you have any preachers that are speaking into your life please send me a link. I want to thank Dan Ohlerking from Healing Place Church for the link to Abundant Life Ministries in Bradford England. The Senior Pastor is Paul Scanlon what a great communicator! Ya'll need to check it out it's totally worth your time.

just a little nervous

I really want to go to sleep but I'm a little nervous about tomorrow. Tomorrow we will be "officially" installed as the Senior Pastors of Dahlonega Assembly of God. The head of the Assemblies of God in Georgia will be conducting tomorrow's service. He's an amazing man of God but I just want to make a great impression. I know it shouldn't matter but it's like inviting your boss to your home you want to make a first great impression. Anyway we are also dedicating our son tomorrow. I'm a little nervous that I'm going to cry like a baby. We love being parents! Our son is seriously a miracle so tomorrow when we dedicate him it will be a very intimate and emotional moment between us and God. On top of all that our church is so excited about tomorrow's service. I got to brag on my church...several DAGer's worked hard today preparing our church of tomorrow's service I am SO PROUD OF THEM! Thank you DAGer's for everything ya'll did today. Even though I am a little nervous I can't wait til 10:30am.

What a day...

My day started at 6:45am. I got up took a shower got ready and drove up to Dawsonville to met with some men from my church. Every first Saturday of the month our Men Ministry meets at Ryan's in Dawsonville to have breakfast, hang out, and of course to get a little Word. 11 guys showed up which from the sound of things is GREAT. James our Men's Ministry leader did an awesome job teaching a devotional this morning. It was really great getting to know some of the guys away from the church. After breakfast I went back home met up with the family and went to Crackle Barrel in Alpharetta to meet up with my father in-law and Uncle and Aunt. My father in-law picked up my wife's Uncle and Aunt from the airport. They flew down to from Illinois to celebrate our installation into our new church and the dedication of our son. Along with my wife's Uncle and Aunt, my brother in-law and his family are also here for tomorrow. So we have a full house and I love it.

After Crackle Barrel we went to North Point Mall for a little shopping. I also picked up an award for the Interim Pastor that maintained the church until we got there. He and his wife are an amazing couple I share more about them later. After a couple of hours we finally started to drive home when I got a call from my friend Ross Wiseman the lead pastor at Embassy Metro Church in Woodstock Georgia. God is rocking out Embassy check out Ross's blog for more info. We also made plans to meet up later this month for breakfast or lunch in Dahlonega. Ross I hope you're ready for the Dahlonega Experience it's going to change your world!!!! After our little networking moment I finally got home and hung out with the family for the rest of the day. What a day...

The 7 foundations of Jesus' Leadership

I just got this email from pastors.com and read this article from this guy ya'll might know Pastor Rick Warren. All I got to say is WOW! I found it totally helpful. Ya'll got to read...ENJOY!

The seven foundations of Jesus’ leadership by Rick Warren
There are no perfect leaders. I’m not a perfect leader. Neither are you. But Jesus is. There’s no better teacher on leadership than Jesus. What made him such as effective leader? Lots of reasons. In this article I’ll give you seven of them.

1. Identification: I must know who I am.
   To be a leader you’ve got to know who you are. All great leaders know their strengths and their weaknesses. We’re a bundle of both. Leadership is not ignoring one in favor of the other. It’s being honest about them. Good leaders don’t try to be something they are not. They are self-aware.
   Jesus had no doubt about his identity. He said:
   I am the light of the world.
   I am the Son of God.
   I am the way.
   I am the truth.
   I am the life.
   I am the bread of life.
   Jesus defines himself 18 times by saying, “I am…” He didn’t let other people define him. He defined himself. If you’re going to be a leader, you must know who you are.
2. Clarification: Know what you want to accomplish.
   You must clarify what God has called you to do with your life. The direction of your life is your choice. If you don’t like the direction your life is headed right now, change it. Nobody’s holding a gun to your head. Nobody’s making you a victim. Nobody’s forcing you to serve in the manner you’re serving.
   Jesus knew exactly what God had called him to do. He was a straightforward leader who established clear-cut goals. In John 8 Jesus says, “I know where I came from and I know where I’m going.” Jesus had a clear purpose. He knew not only who he was, but what was he trying to do with his life. He truly was a purpose-driven leader.
   God has a purpose for your life and ministry. If you don’t fulfill it, you have wasted your life. You were put on earth to live for the purpose God created you for. A leader knows that purpose and pursues it with passion.
3. Motivation: Know who you’re trying to please.
   You need to settle the issue of motivation. You can’t please everybody. Just about the time you get one person happy, you’ll tick someone else off.
   Jesus lived for an audience of One. His whole purpose was to please his heavenly Father. Jesus says this in John 5, “I only try to please the One who sent Me.” Jesus wasn’t trying to win a popularity content; he just wanted to please God.
   That’s a lesson we have to learn as leaders. You’ve got to learn not to care about the opinions of others. You’ve got to focus on God’s opinion of what you’re doing. Don’t pay attention to those who cheer you or jeer you. Either one will sidetrack you.
4. Collaboration: Work with a small group.
   You never lead by yourself. You always do it in context of a team. All great leaders are great team builders. In fact, if you don’t have a team, you’re not a leader. You’re a loner. The test of leadership is whether anyone is following you.
   Jesus modeled this kind of ministry. He never did ministry alone. Mark 3:14 says, “He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.” Jesus enlisted other people to serve the cause with him.
   If God gives you a vision for your ministry, he’s going to bring other people with the same idea together with you. If nobody agrees on your idea, guess what? It’s not from God.
5. Concentration: Focus on what’s important.
   Leaders must focus on what’s important. Life is filled with things that will distract you from what’s important. Sometimes we can be distracted by good things as well. If Satan can’t mess up your life by getting you to do wrong things, he’ll mess up your life by giving you too many good things to do.
   Jesus was a master of concentration. He focused his life like a laser. He refused to be distracted. Luke 9:51 says, “As the time drew near for his return to heaven, he moved steadily onward toward Jerusalem with an iron will.” He headed toward Jerusalem to die on the cross for us. He did it with an iron will. He would not let anything distract him from what was important.
   Your ministry has incredible potential. But that ministry potential won’t be realized until you decide what’s really important. Settle on what’s most important, and God will use your life like you could never imagine.
6. Meditation: Listen to God.
   Make listening to God a habit of your life. Jesus did. Prayer was a regular part of his life. The Bible tells us in Mark 1:35, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” If Jesus needed to get alone and listen to God, don’t you think that you need to? You need quiet times to reflect, renew, and recharge. You need time to just get alone, be quiet, and listen to God.
7. Relaxation: Take time to recharge.
   Leadership is draining. It’s hard work. We all need time to just relax. Jesus encouraged his very busy disciples to take some time for relaxation. Mark 6:31 says, “Crowds of people were coming and going so that they did not even have time to eat. He [Jesus] said to them [the disciples], ‘Come away by yourselves, and we’ll go to a lonely place to get some rest.’”
   

Jesus realized the disciples had been busy serving, and they were tired. They needed a break. So he told them to get away and rest. Rest is so important that God put it in the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment says this: every seventh day you take a day off. Pastor, this applies to you as well. You need a day away from the church.

Years ago I learned a key to lasting in leadership: divert daily, withdraw weekly, and abandon annually.
Divert daily-means doing something fun every day. Get a hobby. Do something that relaxes you.
Withdraw weekly-means you take a day off every week for relaxation and restoration.
Abandon annually-means you get away and forget everything for some time each year.

Your leadership is a key ingredient to helping your church become what God has called it to be. In fact, the Bible says this in Proverbs 11:14, “Without wise leadership a nation is in trouble.” That’s true of every single area of life. Without wise leadership, your church is in trouble. Learn about leadership from Jesus. We have no better guide.

GREAT Staff Mtg. last night!

It is such a great feeling knowing you have a committed and faithful staff. Seriously these guys could have made it difficult for me and my wife but it has been an amazing transition since we have become the Senior Pastors of this amazing church. Everyone on staff has jumped on board with the mission,vision, and purpose that I know God is leading us towards.

I know that everyone brags about having the greatest staff in the world but try taking on a church that's been around for over thirty years and a staff that has been very committed for several years and then add a high energy,loud, in your face, honest Mexican in the mix and a staff that is crazy enough to follow him I think that equals the GREATEST STAFF IN THE WORLD!!! Blake, Erica, Ms. Jeannie, you guys are amazing!!! Thank you so much for trusting us and getting excited about the future. Ya'll ROCK!

Anyway our meeting was basically about the church calendar. I am so jacked up about the summer! We are planning a Extreme Church Makeover for our church in May which will lead into a new sermon series called...you guessed it, "Extreme Home Makeover: God's Edition." We got Youth camp in June and Kids Camp in July, we're also planning a community event for kids in June and I'm praying that we are able to plan a car show for Father's Day at our First Annual Dad Fest. That's just the summer, wait until the fall it's going to get CRAZY!

One thing that I have learned from my past experience is I don't want to plan an event for the sake of doing something. I'm tried of doing a lot of good events and missing opportunities to do great and effective events. I am learning LESS is MORE. So I am determined to be strategic in everything that we do at Dahlonega Assembly of God. Our goal is for people to Connect to God so that they can Become like Jesus so they can begin Influencing the World.

So in the future when people think of Dahlonega Assembly of God they'll think EFFECTIVE & STRATEGIC! DAGer's we're going straight for satan's jugular!!!!

Long Night...

It was a long night. Our son woke up around 3 in the morning burning up. He had a 103.5 temperture freaked us out. Yesterday my wife took our son to his doctors and we found out he had an ear infection and a viral infection and on top of that he's cutting teeth. I hate when my little boy is sick:(. Anyway after calling the doc this morning I gave my son a bath it was actually pretty fun. For having a 103.5 he was doing pretty good,but then he pooped in his bath water...not gonna lie that was pretty gross. After cleaning up the mess we took another bath. The great thing was his temperature came down after a while. After some meds and a bottle he finally fell asleep sometime after 5am. The joys of being parents. Please pray for our son he still had a temp of 102.3 at 10am.....oh crap......actually he just threw up everywhere! He's okay now he's looking and acting alot better now. It's always nice to have vomit moment! Thanks for the prayers!!!

21/21 CHALLENGE!!!

On Sunday I started my very first series at our church, Building onto the Legacy. I thought it would be really important for me to communicate to the people of the church that my goal was not to come in and CHANGE everything right away. I realized that is a fear especially when the church has been around for a while. I shared with some of the leadership that my goal was to come in and listen, watch, and learn for the next couple of months. I told them that my wife and I didn't want to come in and destroy the legacy of the church. We exactly wanted to learn and build onto the legacy of the church and take it to the next level. So as I prepared for Sunday morning I wanted to give them a clear picture of how we were going to start our new relationship as Senior Pastors and church and how we were going to complete our new mission, vision, and purpose.

"Building onto the Legacy" I could have gone so many different direction with a series like this but I wanted to keep in simple and applicable. In Matthew 7:46-49 Jesus shared this amazing and simple illustration about building a house. I shared with my church that Jesus give us a blueprint how to build our house on the right foundation.

"I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock."

Jesus made it very clear that when we heard his word and took it and applied into our lives that no matter how big the tsunami was that we would survive it. There's this saying "we are either one of three stages of life, you're either entering a storm, you're in the middle of the storm, or you're exiting a storm." I told my church that as we move forward we will face storms as a church and in our families but if we hear and "COPY THE BLUEPRINTS" Jesus gave us we will successful in the begin, middle, and end of the storm.

I closed my sermon with the 21/21 Challenge. I told them that if they would copy the blueprints (read the Bible) for the next 21 days for 21 minutes and apply it to their life that they would begin to see God's Word change their lives. Simple I know but that's how simple it is.

This morning I had a woman from our church call me and tell me that her husband has been reading his bible for the last two days!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT GOD DOES WITH OUR CHURCH!