Another week has come and gone and already, September is here!  In Denver, that means the snow can’t be too far behind.  Well, as I cozy up to a cup in the early morning, here’s some posts for you to check out this weekend if you have time…

If you are involved in ministry, you will want to read Chris Forbes’ thoughts on “Marketing is Not Another Church Program”.  As a pastor who worked for years in the secular broadcast industry, I understand this well when Forbes talks about churches wanting to purchase marketing kits during slow times.  Most churches will not seriously discuss this area because it sounds so unspiritual but in reality, all that you do puts a face on your image in the community and the people you serve.  Marketing is a constant.  That might be another series for another time!

Along those lines, I enjoyed Seth Godin’s post on “Reaching the Right People”.  When reading this, we must be creative in how we can adapt it to our own situations.  Think!  How can we create value to our message and bring in new folks?

Tim Ferriss cuts to the chase with a post on making tough decisions.  It’s not easy.  It’s part of the “Eating Frog” metaphor I dicussed last week, but it must be done.  Think about it.

Jacob Riggs is now blogging his devotions.  Jacob’s blog “AFrayedKnot” is good stuff.  I’m sure the devotional blog will develop over time as well.  Happy writing Jacob!

Greg Stier of Dare2Share ministries has a post on his MAP for September.  MAP stands for “Ministry Action Plan” and it’s a nice concept to consider as you set goals.  Check it out.

That’s it for the week.  Have a great day and weekend.

Reading daily from God’s word is another area where Christian leaders can lack.  I’m amazed when I meet with other pastors and they admit to me (privately of course) that they are neglecting this time in their daily lives.  Oh we study for our professional tasks be it teaching or preaching but when it comes to taking time to feed ourselves, we lack because we find other things to occupy our time.  Just one more visit, one more phone call, one more email, and the list goes on and on.  For me, I enjoy my daily reading in the early morning but find myself scrambling to get the time back when my kids are back in school like they are now.  They get up earlier and it messes with my routine I set up that summer.  No matter, I either get up earlier or find ways to make the time up.  For me, this is a no brainer.  Like taking a walk for my health, bible reading is necessary for my spiritual health.

One of my favorite books on this topic is Wayne Cordeiro’s “The Divine Mentor”.  In it, Cordeiro shares stories from his ministry career and one of those that hit me square in the eye was one he told of a pastor friend of his that had committed adultery and was now permanently spiritually scarred from the experience.  When Cordeiro asked him why it happened, he quickly replied that it was because he had neglected his own bible reading and devotional time.  He said something else in his response that ministered to me.  He said (and I’m summarizing here) that he was quite good of pulling a bible text, referencing it in his various study tools, and preaching an informed sermon to his congregation but that none of the words were internalized in his own life.  Could it be that we can get so caught up in the daily must do’s of meeting other peoples’ needs that we fail to fill ourselves for the task?  Is it any wonder then that when we are weak and emaciated spiritually that Satan could possibly send a pretty woman in to take us down like what happened to Cordeiro’s friend?  It’s definitely possible.  Perhaps it’s not a woman but Satan knows where you are weakest and he will find a way to exploit that area if you are not careful.  The book of Ephesians warns us to be prepared for this and uses the metaphor of the “full armor of God” to illustrate to us the important of the spiritual disciplines.  Included in those is the Word of God.  In short, the passage says if we don’t take up the armor, and the Bible is called the “sword”, we cannot stand against Satan.  I would say it’s imperative then that we do all we can to be prepared for the spiritual attack that is coming our way.

Personally, I use the “ESV Daily Reading Bible” from Crossway publishers for my daily reading time.  It’s convienent because the plan is built right in.  You read from three spots each day and ribbon bookmarks are included for each section.  The plan is built right into the text so you don’t have to keep a paper copy somewhere else.  Just pick up your bible and read!  Afterwards I journal my thoughts using Cordeiro’s “S.O.A.P.” method outlined in his book.  I follow that up with a time of prayer and my devotional time is complete.  That doesn’t take away from my preparation and planning time for Sundays.  That’s an entirely different process from this personal time where I’m alone with just myself and the Lord.  It’s wonderful and it’s easy to do once you make it a habit.  

What methods do you use to ensure a time of daily bible reading in your life?  Share with me in the comments section and let’s chat about it.

With the labor day holiday behind us, many are now thinking ahead to the fall and winter seasons and plans for growth, be it in their businesses, churches, or personal lives.  I always like to reflect on my goals both personally and professionally at this time.  As a pastor, I’m always looking at the basics of personal time with God, reading the Bible daily, and taking adequate amounts of time for prayer. Of course there are always the “professional” tasks to consider such as sermon preparation, visitor follow-up, administration, planning, and all of those other things tied to the actual “job” of being a pastor but I’ve found that if I don’t stay in tune with the basics and constantly give myself to a regular review of them, my ministry will suffer and so will everything else tied with it.

With that in mind, I’d like to take the next three days to discuss these basics.  If you have some insights to bring regarding these disciplines, please comment. I’m curious to read about others and their journey toward keeping their inner lives vibrant.  Let’s proceed.

Your personal time with God

Sawyer's Excellent Book

For many, this is the toughest of the three since it requires us to quietly sit and allow God to speak to us in His “still small voice”.  If your personality lends itself to being in motion all the time, this can be very difficult  For others, it’s a struggle because in some Christian circles, we’ve been taught that such practices are too “new age” and are “taboo” in our walk with Christ.  Whatever the reasons, we need to practice this discipline with diligence if we are going to follow the bible’s command to have our minds renewed to be more like Christ’s (Romans 12:1-2). In recent years, some new resources have been developed to help in this area.  Author and Free Will Baptist pastor Randy Sawyer focuses on this discipline in his book “Regaining Balance” when he writes: “As an orchestra becomes focused and tuned by the first violin, so the chaos of our desires is calmed and centered when we give God His place.”

Finding time for contemplative prayer can be difficult, especially if you are a minister that is bi-vocational.  But even if you aren’t, we are prone to check things off our “To-Do” list and feel more accomplished than we are to sit quietly and rest in God’s presence. (I am chief among you in this!)  Lately though, I’ve made it a point, even if I have to schedule it in my day planner, to make time each day to get alone to a quiet spot and allow God to speak to me.  Many people who are opposed to Christian meditation will say that is what Bible reading is for.  While daily time in His word is vitally important, it’s not a substitute for a regular quiet time. Many times, after reading the bible, I will meditate and ponder a passage I’ve read and give God space to allow His words to touch the deepest parts of my soul with their impact and truth.  A superficial reading of the text does not allow this.

Other times, I’ve given thought to the many prayer requests I’ve written down and give those to God as I walk along a path in the cool of the morning and pray quietly as I seek his wisdom in so many areas.

Whatever it takes for you to develop this habit, (assuming you are not doing it already) take the time to make this a part of your daily life.  Along with your bible reading and prayer life, this key habit will refresh and revitalize your personal walk with Christ and that, in turn, will make you a more effective husband, father, and pastor.

Happy Labor Day to my readers. For many, the labor doesn’t really end as workers in many service fields are on the job today.  My children are home from school and enjoying the last gasp of summer before the leaves turn color and the fall season hits us in the next few weeks.  This time of year is one of my favorites as the cold snaps refresh you in the early morning and the mild weather of the mid-day keeps you comfortable without having to constantly run the furnace or the air conditioning.

For me, a good cup of coffee and some quiet time with the Lord while I walk in the cool mornings keeps me refreshed and satisfied.  It’s hard sometimes to stay focused, especially this year.  The church plant I pastor is preparing to move into a storefront in the next month.  We have spent our summer busily preparing for the fall but the city we are locating in has had a thing or two to say about how fast we move.  I never would have dreamed the land mines I’ve had to traverse while dealing with city officials on everything from parking spaces, air flow, bathrooms, drinking water, and lighting.  It’s amazing the stones that have been put in our path at times and the money it takes to correct each problem that’s found is crazy.  For me, it has been a learning experience in patience and grace.  Patience because I thought we’d be closer to being in the spot by now and grace because each time I receive a phone call from the city, I have to remember I’m representing the Lord in all of this and I need to be a good servant.  Others have been through this and have given good advice but still, when you plan for something for months (We started this process in April), it can get discouraging not only for your own self but for the people you lead.  So far, our folks have taken this quite well but they really want to be in the place by October. It is my hope and expectation that we can make that happen.

This is also a good time to reflect on the past twelve months and prepare for another season of ministry (or business, etc.).  As I’ve stated before, I like to plan my years from September to August and usually, we have a large kickoff of some sort for the fall season but this year, given the move, we will hold off.  I’m already planning for the Christmas season and the coming Easter holiday in the spring.  Expectations are climbing for our future and I think once we are inside our new place, we can really put some legs to that.

For now though, we plan.  Plan to rebuild our new location with new doors, cleaned carpet and freshly painted walls.  A new stage will be built and our sound system should be tremendous inside this new site.  My worship leader is preparing to welcome new band members we are praying for and I have some new sermon series to consider.

If you are so inclined, would you please pray for us in these areas? I could use all the prayer I can get.  Pray for the coming fall harvest.  Pray that we see new families come to faith in Christ.  Pray for our permits.  Pray that our people stay in good spirits as we make the move.

Have a blessed holiday today. Thanks for stopping by!

Are we really already at the last Friday of the month?  Where did the past eight months go?  I guess it’s time to get ready for the cool temperatures of fall that will soon be here.  While we wait, here’s some posts for you to read this weekend.  Enjoy!

Trying to figure out a good book to read?  Merlin Mann has some tips for you in this post.

The kids are back in school and that means we have to be better organized to make getting them off for the day not so much of a hassle.  Dustin Wax has twelve tips to make the process easier.  Read about them here.

Mike St. Pierre at the Daily Saint has a good post on going lo-fi in your planning.  I for one agree with him.  My Circa Ring paper planner has been serving me well and never needs batteries.

If you like Starbucks, here’s a link for you to download a free recipe ebook.  I’ve not tested these yet so if you do, let me know!

That’s it for this week.  Have a great weekend and for those who qualify, a nice labor day off Monday.

I was talking with a barista friend of mine at a local coffee shop this week. When I entered the shop to do some work, he was being held captive by one of our local public servants and was unable to take my order initially. No problem. I just went ahead and set up my laptop and got ready to do some work. When I was done he asked me what I would like so I told him an iced tea sounded good. In a few moments he brings me my drink and says “no charge”. When I asked why, he mentioned that he noticed I had not been able to order initially due to his guest and wanted to give a free drink to apologize. To be honest, I had not thought much about it but his quick reaction to my predicament was refreshing. He’s a single college student who could have simply said “It’s not my responsibility” and let it be. He told me he was a bit busy because he was the only one scheduled to work that day. I might mention that this place has a drive-thru along with it’s sitting area. The poor guy was expected to field orders, fix drinks, and take money all in one shot. He said many folks were frustrated at the extra wait time for their beverages so he gave many of them away for free. It’s quite unusual to have just one person in a morning cafe like this one. Everytime I’m in a Starbucks, I see a minimum of three people working to keep things flowing quickly. My friend mentioned that the owners did not foresee many customers though it was a morning shift so they asked him to tough through it. As a result, it cost them several drinks and likely, more customers.

Lack of vision and poor expectations haunt many businesses and yes, even churches today. In the church realm, we do not have to have the largest crowds or the biggest buildings to have the expectation for God to move in our midst. The key mistake occurs when we do not plan for it. I’m not talking about tons of people but perhaps a few more. Are your greeters prepared to help? Do you have people directing them to parking (if needed), do you have enough treats and refreshments at your refreshment table? Nothing says “we don’t care about you” then when a guest comes and we have no one to meet them and we’ve run out of hot coffee and Krispey Kremes. Just like my friend in the coffee shop, people won’t realize he’s a nice guy. They will just make a judgement based on the fact he’s not meeting their needs be it his fault or someone else’s. They will not come back because there are as many as seven similar type shops on the way to the highway that they can stop at for the same basic service.

The key is to raise your expectations. If you church is small, it doesn’t matter. Plan for at least 50% more than what your average is so you are prepared. If no one comes, you are okay but if they do and you’re not ready for them, the cycle will repeat itself as people come one but never again and the leadership lowers expectations. It’s a sure recipe for staying right where you are.

I enjoyed the free beverage my barista friend gave me but I hope that this little shop learned something and survives. It’s a nice place with nice people. Just because they have big name coffee places on either side of them doesn’t mean they can’t be viable and worth something to the community. Put that in the context of our churches or businesses and see what you can do to prepare for the unexpected! Raise your expectations…you just might be surprised at what God will do.

Nelson Searcy and the group at Church Leader Insights have put together a nice resource for pastors feeling stressed and disorganized.  Let’s face it.  When you don’t punch a time clock and your ministry is 24/7, you need a way to bring some order to your life.  Enter “Time Management for Busy Pastors”.  In this resource, Searcy gives you 35 tips for improved productivity.  I listened to this in one sitting at my local coffee shop.  The resource comes packaged on 3 CD’s or you can download it directly from the CLI site.  I chose to purchase the set since I wanted to loan it out to my leaders in the church.  Two CD’s are audio files only and cover the 35 time management tips mentioned by Searcy.  The other CD contains bonus audio files and several PDF files of Time Management articles designed to help you become a better manager of your time.

Searcy mentions at the beginning of the presentation that he is bringing together the best of the tips he has learned over the years and he does so within a pastoral context.  As I was listening, it was obvious to me that Searcy has read many of the same authors I had as tips from Steven Covey, David Allen, and Brian Tracy were featured along with some others.  All in all, I was pleased with the presentation.  This is an easy listen for your leaders who might be so stressed out now, the only way they CAN learn is to listen to a CD or MP3 audio file.  This along with CLI’s “One Year Personal Growth Plan” I reviewed earlier this month would make a nice gift for your pastor or to add to your church’s resource library.

Personally, I’m always on the lookout for resources like this that can reinforce what I’ve learned or give me new insights.  If you’re looking to add more hours to your day and be more productive, pick up a copy of this resource from Church Leader Insights and Nelson Searcy.

Tasty?

Have you ever eaten a frog? I haven’t…well at least in actuality but in terms of productivity, I’ve eaten several and they still don’t taste good but I feel so much better after I’ve done it.

Let me explain for those of you still reading!  “Eat the Frog” is a metaphor used in the business world for tackling a tough task and getting it out of the way.  It’s been used many times, most recently by popular productivity guru Brian Tracy but the term has been around for a long time.  I think it’s a fitting description too because I doubt many of us like tackling those tough tasks we would rather put off to another day.

There have been times I’ve put off eating the frog.  I’ve placed it in a drawer, tucked it away in my computer, or just put it out of sight so I wouldn’t have to see it.  The problem is, the frog remains.  The task doesn’t go away.  It just stays around waiting for you to complete it.  As a minister, it might be a tough meeting with a family, dealing with a staff person that needs to be talked to, or perhaps you have some paperwork piling up that HAS to be done.  Whatever it is, it’s best tackle it and to do it soon.

So how do you “eat the frog”? For me, I have to plan for it.  I plan each of my days the night before and I know what frogs are coming up.  I usually plan to tackle these as early as possible.  If it’s a meeting, I try to get it done early in the week since I like to have my mind cleared by Sunday so I can preach effectively.  If it’s paperwork, I try to make it the first thing I do when I start my day.  As I plan my “results” list, I place it at the top with high priority so I can tackle it first and get it out of the way.  Combined with the “power of 48″ principle I’ve written about earlier, I try to nail the task early and refresh my mind for the rest of the day.

This requires planning.  I will tell you from experience if you don’t plan your day and put the frogs front and center, they will stay out of reach and undone causing you more stress and less productive time in your day.  From a spiritual standpoint, this can be devestating to your walk with the Lord when you have “frogs” weighing on your mind while trying to grow in your relationship with Christ.

Tackle your frogs.  Plan to eliminate one today, either do it or schedule it for tomorrow in your day planner.  You’ll be surprised at how much more enjoyable your day will be when you follow this little principle.  I know it’s not pleasant but get the salt, the steak sauce, and whatever you need to make a bit more palatable and then, take a bite of frog.  It will be the best thing you can do for your day.

AT&T w/Starbucks!

This past weekend, I attempted to access the “free” wi-fi at my local Starbucks shop (actually ONE of my local shops, we have several!)  I love dropping by the shops and taking in the atmosphere while I read but I’ve never used them for online work since it was always a pay service.  There are many coffee shops here in the Denver area that offer free wi-fi so why bother?

With that in mind, I had heard of the new AT&T wi-fi and decided I would try it.  After dinner with the family Saturday, I dropped into the shop and began the log-in process.  The first problem occurred when my computer initially picked up their T-Mobile signal.  Apparently, so many people still pay for this service, you have to manually go into your computer’s settings and change the search for the new wi-fi signal.

A quick switch of the signal and I was receiving a high quality signal from the AT&T antenna.  The problem was, I did not have an account yet.  No problem I was told.  Just purchase a Starbucks card, register it, add the wi-fi and you’re good to go.  For brevity’s sake, let me tell you that was NOT how it went down!  In short, I bought the card, purchased some coffee with it, registered it on the Starbucks site, and was summarily kicked out of the AT&T wi-fi spot three times.  I called customer service because I was frantic to finish some work I needed to get done.  After 35 minutes of trying, I was told that for some reason, I could not access the wi-fi.  Apparently, Starbucks registered my card online and noted it’s contents while AT&T would not verify it so that I could add the “free” wi-fi to my “Starbucks Rewards” plan.  Under this plan, you receive one internet session, up to two hours per day at any Starbucks.

To say the least, I was quite frustrated.  I had done everything I was told to do by store employees and the lady over the phone at AT&T and yet, had no wi-fi to show for it.  I wound up leaving and made a quick stop at another favorite coffee shop across town so I could finish my work.  Had I went there in the first place, I would have been done by the time I arrived after my ordeal.  I wonder, why doesn’t Starbucks just offer free wi-fi like everyone else?  Why not make it easy for your customers to hang around, order more coffee, and work?  Would this be so hard?  How much money would you lose?  Of all the coffee shops I visit, Starbucks is the only one that makes you jump through hoops to get online.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love visiting the shops, the people are nice, but this little problem irritates me.  I will go back to that shop for reading, study, etc..but I likely will not go back when I need to work online.  I don’t see the need to go through the hassle.

This started me wondering…How many times in our churches do we make discipleship and access to Christ like my wi-fi experience in Starbucks?  Ultimately, it’s free but with a few strings attached.  My first problem with this whole experience began when I had to change antennas to find AT&T’s signal instead of T-Mobile’s.  If this were my father trying to go online, he likely would have quit right then because he doesn’t know how to switch signals.  The wi-fi should be as easy as firing up your machine, launching your browser and getting online.  In our churches, do we make mistakes at the very outset that will discourage those in our midst who don’t know certain things?  Or can we make access to the goal a bit easier by how we approach it?  I know enough church people who won’t stand for very much but the unsaved begin this journey with little knowledge of how to get “online” and yet, we create hurdles for them to jump through to access the goods.  Pick your hurdles because they can be different depending on the church.  When people visit our churches, can they get “online” quickly?  Can they sit down and grasp the basics of the goal without a lot of baggage attached?  Think about it the next time you plan another program, class, or outreach.  Don’t put them through too many steps to get to Christ.  If you do, you might move them further from the Lord.  Give them clear access to what they need to live a transformed life.

And I am back to my old haunts for easy access wi-fi from now on!