@aaronswensen

Do You Have Leadership BLIND-SPOTS?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:10:00 +0000

As a young leader wanting to be apart of the GIANT picture of what God is doing in the world I am always looking for insight, tips, challenges, and really anything that I can get my hands on to glean wisdom from people that have gone before me. There are some consistent voices that I listen to and have learned a ton from.

One of those voices - Pastor Perry Noble from Newspring Church in the great state of South Carolina nestled in the town of Anderson. Do you remember the movie "Radio"? Anderson, SC is where they filmed that movie. Anyway, he hit on some big temptations that my generation are facing and will face as we continue to lead out in our jobs, ministries, families, and any other arenas that God opens up for us.

Here is Pastor Perry's Post - 7 Temptations Leaders Face

(*Note - I have copied the points below to save you the reader time...but click on the title above to read this post on Perry's Blog.)

#1 – Wasting Time – We live in a world where it is easier to waste time than it ever has been before. Comment wars on blogs, tweeting arguments, browsing through random facebook pages and numerous other things can absolutely distract us from what we were put on this planet to do. (BTW…I don’t think the world will EVER be changed because of the comment section on a blog!!!)

#2 – Cruise Control – Leadership is exhausting, and so we must constantly battle the desire to just allow things to be the way they are. This mentality will put us on course towards an iceberg that will sink even the largest ship! (”I won’t ever let go Jack!”)

#3 – Excuse Making – When a problem/difficult situation arises we can either deal with it or simply excuse it away. And people who make excuses rarely make a difference because they are way more obsessed with doing what is easy rather than doing what is right.

#4 – Being Passive – This is a cousin of #3, but passivity has no place in leadership. Ignoring a problem does not make it go away; in fact, it often makes is become larger and, in many cases, overwhelming. If a problem comes to your attention DEAL WITH IT, don’t deny it. God brought it to your attention because you are the leader and you are the one called to make the tough decision.

#5 – Copying – We should NEVER be ashamed of borrowing ideas from others! I honestly feel that there really aren’t any original ideas on the planet…and even if the idea is “original” that person was given the idea from the Holy Spirit…so it actually isn’t original in the first place. However, when we build a ministry based on the imitation of others rather than revelation from God we do so out of laziness…and God NEVER honors laziness.

#6 – Meaningless Fights – Someone IS going to attack your church/ministry…and one of the easiest ways to get sidetracked is to begin to fight with people who don’t know you, care about you or care about your church.

#7 – Playing It Safe – When a leader stops taking risks because there is too much to lose…he is closer to losing everything than he actually realizes. We don’t follow a Savior who played it safe, if He said “take up your cross and follow me” then we need to understand that sacrifice and risk WILL be involved if we want to go where He is leading.

As I come out of reading all of this there is one...if I am being honest that nails me in the teeth. I have been so guilty of seeing what God is doing an another ministry and desiring that some thing to happen in my ministry. If I were to be more honest...I would say that there have been times where I see what God is doing something incredible in someone else and I say, "whatever they are doing...I have to do...because I want the same thing!"

God doesn't want me to be the next __________ (you fill in the blank). He want's me to be the best version of me...that he has created me to be. Paul said to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5, "but as for you, keep a clear head about everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, FULFILL YOUR MINISTRY." That deeply challenges me to stay in lock step with God and to keep his pace and to stay tuned in to what He is saying.

So, what about you? Which of these temptations do you see in yourself? Why do you connect with that particular one?

Thoughts On Preaching

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:59:00 +0000

Preaching is an awesome responsibly and an unbelievable calling.

There is no doubt in my mind that God has called me to preach. My father-in-law told me early on in my ministry, "Aaron, if God's called you to preach...you won't be happier or fulfilled doing anything else." For a while I didn't really connect with what he was saying...but now after being able to preach week in and week out in my current role for nearly a year I totally get it.

One preacher that I have been listening to and reading lately is James MacDonald. This dude can bring it. He has a way of being able to preach through the Word in a systematic way that isn't BORING or DULL, but ENGAGING and AUTHENTIC.

James challenges me in his preaching but also in his writing. Here is a blog post that he wrote in early September titled Thoughts On Preaching.

So, is preaching a big deal?

Mark Driscoll on CNN

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 15:21:00 +0000

What are your thoughts on this piece?

Sorry To Burst Your Bubble

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:27:00 +0000

We went to the doc yesterday to check on baby Swensen one last time before our induction and we got our bubble burst! We had to reschedule our induction for Wednesday 11th at 8:00AM. There were a couple of reason for the decision and honestly at the end of the day both Joy and I feel comfortable with where we landed!

So, I will be updating here as soon as we have more details with baby Swensen.

Thank you all for your prayers!!!

Random Weekend Wrap-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 03:46:00 +0000

Wow, what a weekend! Chris took the weekend off and it was game time for me doing the 180 and the close. Some pretty funny things happended...I will get to that in a minute.

Our Experience was off the hook this weekend. We got it all started with our walk-in song by Rihanna's super hit Umbrella, sung by none other than the Tulsa Campus' LifeKids Ministry Coordinator, Nicole Brown. Let's just say that Rhinna better watch out cause Nikki - B is droppin it like it's hot!

Derrick and the band introduced a new song this weekend, Can You Feel It. Then a classic from Delirious, Now Is The Time, followed by a great Hillsong number sung by Allie, Lead Me To The Cross (BTW - you got to get this song on your worship sets for Easter...you wont be sorry!), rounding out the set with Gazing. It was a great set and I could tell that the band was having a blast and our people loved worshiping with them.

We landed at 1963 for our total weekend attendance and we had 389 kids and 11 people stepped across the line and gave their life to Christ this weekend...that is all worth it!

Thank you GOD that I get to be apart of this!

Journey Through Psalm 119

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:38:00 +0000

"Then I would not be ashamed, if I were focused on all your commands."

verse 6 NET

Is is me or is it totally hard to stay focused on God's Word? In this verse the phrase, if I were focused, literally means to gaze, look intently, to favor or care.

Man, I read in Matthew 7 that I am not to judge...period, but I still do. I read in Ephesians 4 to watch what I say, and I continually cross the line. I read in 1 Peter 5 to give everything to God, but I still worry! Is anyone with me on this?

I can sense God calling me to focus intentionally with Him and to not be ashamed of it!

God help me and help us all to focus on you and what your Word calls us to do!

Random Weekend Wrap-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:03:00 +0000

So, lets wrap up this weekend.

Derrick and the band totally rocked it out! Their walk-in song was Midnight Rider. The worship set kicked off with Let God Arise, then Solid Rock, followed by Deliver Me, and ended with Marvelous Light. 18 minutes of pure splendor...good job guys.

I did our pre-message announcements...we call it the 180. It is 3 minutes of talking between worship and the message, hence calling it the 180...creative! I talked about LifeQuest - new believers class and our next MicroMission to the Day Center for the Homeless. Did you know that on any given night in the US the homeless community hovers around a million people! We filled this MicroMission in one weekend. Our people at our campus loves reaching out to people!

I also did the call to hands...our "alter call." I always love doing this. Seeing people give themselves to God is the coolest thing ever!

Here is where we landed for the weekend:

total attendance - 2246
LifeKids - 346
decisions - 19 (this is freakin awesome!)
LC.tv total - 21,368

You have got to try out the game Rock Band...this game is ridiculously fun!

Did I mention that I am tired.

Our staff meeting in the morning is at Savoy...killer cinnamon rolls...I wish I could have one.

Did I mention that I am tired....wrapping up and I am going to chill with Joy and Syd!

Journey Through Psalm 119

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 01:08:00 +0000

"If I were predisposed to keep your statutes."

verse 5 NET

"But I will make a covenant with the whole nation of Isreal after I plant them back in the land, says the Lord. I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people." Jer 31:33

Have you ever heard someone say, "unleash your hidden potential?
As a follower of Christ my hidden potential is Christ's character, the fruit of the spirit. Sometimes it is so difficult to tap into that! I know that when my actions consistently reflect the character of Jesus...God is honored by my life.

Unleash your hidden potential - Jesus' character - today!

Journey Through Psalm 119

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:10:00 +0000

"You, God, prescribed the right way to live; now you expect up to live it."

verse 4 Message

A week or so ago Joy, my wife, got this nasty head cold. She laid in bed and just tried to rest it off. This is the way she has always medicated herself..."if I rest, it will go away!" After a week goes by she is still feeling like crap. Finally, I call my drug dealer...pharmacist and he told us call the doctor and get him to write Joy a prescription for some medication that I cannot spell. We did this and 1 hour later her drugs were ready!

After a few days of taking her prescribed medication...letting it get in her blood stream killing off the sickness...she was a hole new Joy!

God has shown me the right way to live in His Word. When I allow His words to run through my veins it begins to kill off all of the things that conflict with who he is.

After His Word is in me it becomes apart of me and now I am more like Jesus!

Journey Through Psalm 119

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:08:00 +0000

"They do nothing wrong; they follow His ways."

verse 3 NIV

Do you remember as a child your parents saying to you, "if you do what I ask of you we wont have any problems..." ?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with simply doing what God asks us to do. There are times where God has asked me to do something that I know I should do but I am not very comfortable with, i.e. Abraham and Isaac. Then there are times when I am so sure I heard the voice of God that I must move, i.e. Noah (6:9-22). This reminds me of Evan Almighty!

I know that it may seem difficult, but there is nothing wrong with doing what is right...following God's Word!

What is God asking you to do that is right?

What would it look like if we all took God at His word and did what was right?

Journey Through Psalm 119

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:30:00 +0000

"Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek Him with all their heart."

Psalm 119:2

Have you ever lost anything? Maybe it was your favorite San Diego Padres hat, maybe the jeans that you know look the best on you and you want to wear them tonight, or perhaps you have misplaced your car keys (just lost mine last night!). Loosing these things are SO frustrating to me. I will turn the house upside down looking for these things until i finally find what it is I am looking for.

God is asking me to SEEK HIM. Not for some personal gain so that I can say to people, "hey, I spend time with God...that qualifies me to say this...or that to you..". No, it is for the love of the chase. God loves it when we are chasing after Him with everything in us just because we want to.

God, I am looking for you in your Word, speak to me......

Journey Through Psalm 119

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:10:00 +0000

"Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the Law of the Lord."

Psalm 119:1

I can always tell when I have drifted away from reading God's Word. My life begins to spirial downward into a mud hole. Sin usually creeps in...in the form of a negative attitude and leaks over into a ton of areas of my life not to mention a complaining spirit, out of wack priorities, and the list continues. It is only when I reach a certian point doI finially come to the realization...i am here because of my choices and my choices are going to be generally far from God's best because my actions have said..."no, I got this God..." and on the shelf He goes.

Lifes journey is more...explainable, bearable, and quiet honestly worth it when I allow God's Word to frame my life.

Tulsa Hope Academy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:04:00 +0000

Yesterday we took a group of people from the Tulsa Campus to the Tulsa Hope Academy for a one day MicroMission. Check out the pics:

This motivates me to do more for Jesus! What about you?

STRENGTH

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:28:00 +0000

I ran across this when I was reading this morning:

God is our refuge and strength,

always ready to help in times of trouble.

Psalm 46:1

What does God's strength look like? When you have it do you know about it? How can I get more of it?

What are your thoughts?

Champion

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 02:14:00 +0000

Joy and I were out tonight looking at houses. We had a blast! We met this couple who just built their house (the builder just wanted us to see their floor plan) and they were the coolest couple. As we started to talk with them Jim, the guy showing us the house, walked off and Joy and I really start to engage with these people. After it was all said and done Joy invited them to church. I think we should take them to dinner so we could get to know them better. My wife is a champion for meeting new people and getting them connected in meaningful relationships. I have a lot to learn from her!

Mobile blogger test

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:47:00 +0000

Test

Burn For You

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:40:00 +0000

Joy got the Steve Fee CD, Burn for You, for Christmas. Christmas has passed now and the CD just sat in the car never to be played. So, this morning I put it in after a pretty awesome run...I was blown away! Every song hit me right where I am at in my spiritual journey.

Read these lyrics:

there is a stirring in my heart, unexplainable, there is a calling on my days, undeniable
there's a fire in my bones, uncontainable, and it's causing me to burn
it's causing me to burn, it's causing me to burn for You

there's a passion in my heart for the world to see, revival fires burning, great awakening
there's a raging fire inside this soul of mine, and it's causing me to burn,
it's causing me to burn, it's causing me to burn for You

i'll go anywhere, i'll do anything
at any cost for you my King

to the ends of the earth, to the ends of the earth
to the farthest part till every heart has heard

When I heard this my heart was stirred and I started to get excited about what God can do through me.

How about you? Is there a stirrung in you?

Breakaway Living

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Do you think that when you started your adult life you set out to be just like everyone else? Think about this. There are neighborhoods all over the country where your neighbor 3 houses down from you has the EXACT house! Is it really the American dream for every 20-30 something couple to have a few of kids and live in one of those neighborhoods that I am talking about and drive a white Tahoe? No not at all!

Andy Stanely, Senior pastor of North Point Community Church in Georgia said this, "as much as we like to think otherwise, our lives have a sameness that can be stifling and leave us feeling hemmed in and trapped." Incredible! We don't even realize it...we just have a tendency to do life like everyone else!

If I am wondering how my life became the way it is, it is because of the decisions I have made. My decisions are a result of my beliefs. If you and I want to breakaway from the same ole same ole of life then we have to renovate our beliefs or the way we think. We need some solid truth to renovate our belief system...lets use God's Word, Romans 12:2, Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Your thoughts?

New Year - New Heights

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:22:00 +0000

It is always nice to start the year off with a bang. Well, that is exactly what happened. Over our 6 experiences this weekend we had 3002 people attend our campus. That is flipen awesome. This is actually a non-Easter/non-holiday record for us at our campus. There are several factors that contributed to this huge number this weekend. First, it maybe stupid, but the new year always causes people to assess where they are in life and in turn they make New Years resolutions and maybe some people said, "Hey...I need to be in church more!" Don't laugh, it could happen. Second, we had child dedications. That was totally cool! Joy and I dedicated Sydney this weekend and it was a great experience. Here is Syd...

She was one of 29 kids being dedicated! Needless to say, there were a ton of extra family members that attended this weekend. Third, this is the weekend before our South Tulsa Campus launch. I think that people that are going to this campus have talked it up to the people that they work with, their family, their neighbors...people that they just do life with and it looked like these people came this weekend to check out what all the hype is about. Whether it is any of these three factors or not, I really don't care! GOD IS GOOD! That is my explanation. God chose to bless us this weekend and it was amazing!

What blessings can you thank God for already in 2008?

Christmas Experiences

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:00:00 +0000

So, it has been so crazy lately. This week will be the most normal...whatever that means...week we have had in a long time. The Holiday schedule has been lifted from us! We saw over 26,ooo people attend our Christmas weekend experieces here at LifeChurch.tv. Now this is all of our campuses combined and probably the coolest part is that there were over 400 people that commited their lives to Christ that weekend. That is what blows me away!

I thought that I would show you a little of what our experiences look like!

God is good!

Christmas Experience - Friday, December 21 7 PM

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 02:42:00 +0000

Tonight at the Tulsa Campus we saw 238 people come and one person commit their life to Christ! It was amazing. I will post after every experience to let you all in on what God is doing.

HE is so big and I am so small.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:13:00 +0000

This weekend we will be having a total of 8 Experiences at our church. Here is the line up:

Friday, December 21 - 7:00pm
Saturday, December 22 - 5:30pm, 7:00pm
Sunday, December 23 - 8:30am, 10:00am, 11:30am, 5:00pm
Monday, December 24 - 1:30pm

We normally have about 2500 attendees on the weekends. This weekend we are projected to have 4000! That is totally amazing. I never thought that my first job as a pastor would be at a church of such significant size and ministry impact. I am blown away at what God does here and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

We have 13 locations total and see roughly 25,000 people a weekend come to various LifeChurch.tv Campuses all over the country. I thought that our vision for 4000 at the Tulsa campus was huge...listen to this...we are projecting 50,000 people in attendance for our Christmas weekend experiences LifeChurch.tv wide!!! With all of these people coming I know that God is going to change lives.

As I sit at my house right now and start to mentally prepare for this weekend I can already see the people walking in the door that have been jaded by the church in the past. I can see people that got drug to church just because its a holiday (CEO's, as one of my friends call them...Christmas and Easter Only's) or people that have never been to church...which is amazing here in Tulsa, Oklahoma because there seems to be a crap load of churches here...a hyper religious culture. All kinds of people will walk in to our lobby this weekend and each one with a different story. They will probably get some coffee and doughnuts or tea and snacks and then walk in the experience room and make a connection with Jesus and they will give their lives to Him. That is why I love my job!

I will give you updates throughout the weekend to let you know what is going on and how God is moving!

What is God doing where you are at?

What is Christmas?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 03:53:00 +0000

Here is something that you might be interested in. This website unlocked a new perspective on Christmas for me and it might for you too. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Multimedia message

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:37:00 +0000

Where Is Church?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:38:00 +0000

Every morning at 6:15 I meet a group of guys at this trail in South Tulsa. This morning I woke up at 6:00 by a fluke because I forgot to set my stickin alarm. So I got up as fast as I could...got dressed and headed out the door. As soon as I pulled up to the trail there they were...my running buddies.

We have all kinds of conversations throughout our runs. We talk about sports, raising kids, being a good husband, church, God, life, and how bad we all eat between each run. This morning as we rounded the corner to finish our near hour long run I couldn't help but think, where is church? I know that seems random...just follow. I mean I go to church...I am at church all weekend...that is my job as a pastor. What I get to experience every morning with my running buddies is real and honest biblical community. We are accountable to each other, we encourage one another, we talk about our spiritual journey, we even pray together. You know, I never leave a run without feeling physically challenged and even more than physically challenged but spiritually challenged. This is my church...my community. Out on the trail we don't have lights (literally), haze, inspirational music, Starbucks Coffee, or Krispy Kreme doughnuts to make us feel like we are at church. All we have is the trail in front of us and conversation. I have never been more connected in biblical community than this! This is Church!

Where is Church for you?