Last night was the final gathering for my \\VELOCITY leadership group.  \\VELOCITY is an high intensity pursuit of life, leadership, and God.  We have had an incredible time learning and growing together as we dug into Scripture and leadership resources.  The goal of \\VELOCITY was to expose a group of leaders to the resources that have greatly shaped my life.  Here the list of material that we walked through:

• We all read the New Testament in 30 days.
• We read and took the Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment.
• We read QBQ by John Miller
• We read The Next General Leader by Andy Stanley
• We watched Leadership talks by :
• Erwin McManus
• Dave Ramsey
• T.D. Jakes
• Bill Hybels
• Louie Giglio

If you’d like more info feel free to email my assistant, Aaron,  and he’ll hook you up with a document that covers all the details.

“There is always the temptation to look at someone and judge the amount of God’s blessing upon his life based upon the number of people who have chosen to follow him.  But if numbers tell the whole story, we would have to assume that God removed His blessing from Jesus toward the end of His ministry!  In the weeks prior to His crucifixion the crowds began to wane.  In the end there were only a handful of faithful men and women who dared to be associated with Him.  Followship is not an accurate indicator of one’s worthiness to be followed.”  Andy Stanley–The Next Generation Leader.

Too often I’ve judged the favor of God based upon whether or not all the numbers were up and to the right.  How wrong I was.  Next time you are tempted to think that you are any less blessed because the numbers are down and nobody is asking you to speak at conferences just remember that Jesus’ numbers dropped too and He never spoke at a conference either.  Your journey is unique!  Enjoy it!

While this happened to me this morning, this is not a isolated event.  I have been honked at, swerved at, and cussed at.  Bike riding can really bless you! What is crazy to me is what happens inside of me when that happens.  Something in me goes mad and I begin to pedal faster (as if I’m going to catch them) and I begin to pray that they catch the next red light (so that I can pull up beside them and smash their window out with my water bottle and drag them out by their collar) oops, did I just type that???  Ok, so maybe I don’t carry it that far but I do want to very kindly explain to them that “I BELONG HERE!” We have signs all over our city that say, “share the road with bikes” however, some people missed that day in kindergarten where we all learned about sharing.

I write this because the same thing can happen in life.  Too often we are minding our own business, trying to do the right thing, when somebody comes along and tries to intimidate us and tell us that we don’t belong here.  Sometimes it is a person and sometimes it is the devil himself.  “You don’t belong on this stage preaching!”  “You don’t belong at this church!”  “You don’t belong with these friends!” “You don’t belong in this relationship!”   “You don’t belong _______________!”

When those moments happen all you have to do is the same thing that I do when I’m on my bike.  When someone tells you that you don’t belong you simply point to the sign that says, “YES I DO!”  Somebody went ahead of me and put signs all over this city telling me that I belong.  We serve a God that has gone way ahead of us and has given us His Word to tell us that “WE BELONG!”

Don’t listen to the honking people!

What was one of your favorite toys when you were a kid?

My journey with Newspring began four years ago.  I’ll never forget coming across PerryNoble.com and being blown away by what I read.  I kept thinking to myself, “can he really say that?”  I found the Perry was saying what everybody else was thinking but afraid to say.  Needless to say, a curiosity was birthed inside of me to learn more about Newspring Church.

Within a few months my executive pastor and I managed to line up a lunch meeting with Perry in Anderson.  I’ll never forget what he said to me when I asked him about his boldness on stage.  He said, “the moment you begin to censor your words because of your critics you are done!”  That day I felt as if I was given permission to be ME…to say what God had put on my heart and to say it in a way that I WOULD SAY IT!

Fast forward through many trips to Anderson, multiple unleash conferences, and a pastors coaching network and somehow a friendship began between Newspring and Lifepoint.  There is NO Way I could adequately thank Karla, Jason, Joel, Lee, Ken, Brad, Shane, Lindsay, Margie, Coleen, and the rest of the crew for what they have meant to me and my team!  You guys are amazing and I am honored to serve alongside such incredible servants!

My experience preaching the Word of God at Newspring was an honoring one.  The nerves were definitely flowing!  I didn’t sleep much on Saturday night.  But the God who is rich in mercy stepped in and gave me everything I needed.  Throughout the course of the day I preached to over 9,000 people and saw 74 make decisions to begin a relationship with Jesus! Here’s a few random thoughts on my time at Newspring:

• The Newspring Team is over the Top.  I have to say thanks to Ben Coleman for filming a video on Saturday to send back to my Lifepoint crew.
• I couldn’t tell if my insides were rumbling from nerves or if it was just the bass rocking my world.
• I was excited about preaching on such a big stage until they told me that I couldn’t walk off the mat.  (apparently, walking off the mat=walking out of the camera which appears that I got raptured for all the campus’ watching via video)
• Yes, Perry made fun of me.
• Yes, he poked fun at my last name.
• Yes, my last name means cabbage.
• As it turns out, Pete Wilson and I are in a running for the best looking pastors in america award.  I think you can vote for me on facebook.
• You can tell that the Newspring team are really great friends.
• The 6 o’clock service definitely lived up to the hype.
• I was honored that my staff drove down after our 11am service to support me at the 6pm service.
• I had lots of friends praying for me and I REALLY appreciated it!
• I ate more food in two days than I have in the last two weeks!
• Hanger Steak and Peanut Butter Pie from Sullivans…HELLO!!!!!!

Thank you Newspring for setting an example for churches to follow.  Thank you Perry for being an authentic leader who pushes me to be a better pastor!

Thank you for an experience that I will never forget!

You can watch the message here.

I am excited to get to partner with ConnectNC to help develop fellow church planters.  There is a special place in my heart for anybody crazy enough to start something from nothing!  I believe that the local church is the vehicle by which the world is being transformed and I am thrilled to share my insights with the next generation of planters.

Check out ConnectNC.tv to learn more.

• It was a blast to be back at Lifepoint today.  The month of July was a whirlwind for my family.  My oldest made the all-star baseball team and that commitment turned out to be a bit more than we bargained for.  We spent 3 weekends traveling to out of town tournaments including a shot at the state championships.  While he didn’t win states, he had a great experience and we’ll think twice before committing to something so involved.
• Last week I had to opportunity to speak at Newspring Church.  I’ll blog more about that this week.
• My family was completely blessed to spend the 4 days this past week at Wolf Lake.  It was a much needed and appreciated time-out.
• Today was a great day at Lifepoint.  We kicked off a new series called BACKWARDS.   We also flipped our service around an placed the sermon at the beginning.
• I seriously thought the idea of flipping the service might blow up in our face but it worked out really well.
• I am super proud of Wes Rose and Patrick McCrary for doing such an awesome job of leading us in worship!
• Our worship leader, Daniel, had the opportunity to preach in Chadbourne, NC.
• We had a gorilla hanging out around campus today.
• Today I preached out of Phil. 2.  The title of my message was “Down is the new UP!”  You can catch it online on Tuesday!
• We ended the message with an opportunity for people to be prayed for.  It was a powerful moment.  I think we will do that each week during this series.
• About a month ago we collected baby bottles full of change for Lifeline Pregnancy Center.  I was blown away to see that our church gave $2,099.85.
• We are having a special BEACH BAPTISM on August the 8th.  We are going to have an old school pot-luck style beach party.  Contact us if you have not been baptized.
• We are gearing up for our Dream Team Experience on August 14th with special guest Pastor Randy Bezet.  This is an All-Hands-On-Deck-Dream Team-Celebration.
• I’d love to hear from you guys, how did God speak to you during our worship experience today?  Share your experience in the comments section below.
• See everyone next week!

Momentum breaker – double-mindedness
Momentum maker – focus

By creating and following a clear and focused vision statement, a leader develops momentum. A leader drains away momentum by shooting at nothing or attempting everything.

Momentum breaker – the past
Momentum maker – the future

An organization picks up steam when its leaders point to a better tomorrow. Momentum breaks down when leaders preoccupy themselves with the past.

Momentum breaker – individualism
Momentum maker – teamwork

If you want to kill momentum, then insist on doing things by yourself.

Momentum breaker – critical attitude
Momentum maker – constructive attitude

Tennis great Chris Evert said it best, “The thing that separates good players from great ones is mental attitude.”

Momentum breaker – tradition
Momentum maker – creativity

Don’t tear down the fence until you understand why it was built.

Momentum breaker – apathy
Momentum maker – passion

Passion energizes your talent and rubs off on those around you.

Momentum breaker – dishonesty
Momentum maker – character

Character is the sum total of our everyday choices.

Momentum breaker – conformity
Momentum maker – change

Although it’s difficult and may demand sacrifice, change is required to build momentum.

Momentum breaker – ingratitude
Momentum maker – gratitude

As a Chinese proverb states, “Those who drink the water must remember those who dug the well.”

Momentum breaker – indecision
Momentum maker – action

Anyone who takes a long shower can come up with a good idea. I’m impressed with a person who has the tenacity and discipline to make ideas happen.

Click here to read the complete article

I am never overly impressed with idea people. Anyone who takes a long shower can come up with a good idea. I’m impressed with a person who has the tenacity and discipline to make ideas happen.

I’ve seen many leaders break the momentum on their team by succumbing to the paralysis of analysis. Leaders have to act with incomplete information. You can never know all of the variables. Momentum and risk go hand in hand. As a leader, if you always play it safe, then you’ll never inspire excitement in those you lead.

Q?  What decisions have you been putting off in the name of “caution?”  What risk stands before you and where you want/need to be?

As a Chinese proverb states, “Those who drink the water must remember those who dug the well.” No one can claim to be self-made. Whatever accomplishments we attain in life have connections to the goodwill and support of those around us. When we express thankfulness for the benefits bestowed upon us by friends and colleagues, then those people are more apt to aid us again in the future.

Q?  Who do you need to thank for laying the foundation that you are building on?