#1 – “What Do You Think?”

Whenever someone brings a problem to my attention and wants to know how to handle it…I always ask them this question before I offer what I may think is a solution.  (If you always have to be the one to solve problems…your church is in BIG trouble!)

The reason for asking this question is…I want to see if the person who brought the problem to me is a leader or not.  You see, if he/she is a leader….then they have already figured out the solution that needs to be put into place.

If you ask this question to a person often…and they never have an answer for what they think should be done…then most likely you don’t have a leader.

A leader is BEGGING for his/her opinion to be heard…and this question can allow some unbelievable leadership potential to be unleashed in your oganization!

#2 – “When Do You Need An Answer?”

Often times leaders will ask for your opinion/advice/permission when it comes to something in there area.  Unfortunately I have made the mistake many times of telling someone I would get back with them and not understanding the urgency of their request for some input.

So…I’ve learned that when someone seeks my advice one of the BEST things I can do is ask them when they need an answer…that tells me whether or not I have time to think about it…or if I need to immediately seek the Holy Spirit’s help and just give them the thought that He brings to mind.

#3 – “How Would BLANK Handle This Situation?”

Often times as leaders we get so emotionally tied to a situation that it clouds our ability to make the right decision.  SO…a few years ago whenever I was faced with a very emotional BUT necessary decision I would ask, “If Andy Stanley or Craig Groeschel were staring at this situation and had to make a decision…what would they do?”  (Or you could say – WWAD or WWCD!)

Why Andy and Craig…because they are two leaders who I believe God is using to change the world and make a difference.  They have both mentored me and I highly respect them both as men of God and as pastors/leaders.

I can honestly say that there have been times that I’ve been stuck and this question has brought clarity to the situation.

SO…pick a leader you know and admire…and put there name in the blank.

#4 – “Who/What Area Will Be The Most Impacted By This Decision?”

The reason for this question is simple…no matter how your leadership process is set up…if someone on your staff (or an entire area) is going to be impacted by the decision that is made…then that someone (or a rep from that area) needs to be included in the decision making process.

If people are more involved in the decision making process…it is WAY easier for them to buy in.

#5 – “How Many Times Have We Dealt With This Issue?”

I saw a sign the other day that said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get different results.”

When a leadership team has to continually wrestle with the same issue…continually makes the same decision…constantly experiences the same frustration and then goes through the cycle again…insanity has began to reign supreme.

If I just described your leadership meetings…then SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE.  What?  I’m not sure…but I am sure that the way you’ve been trying to handle it isn’t working…so something new needs to be embraced.

Romans 15:13, “May the God of all hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

So…let’s break it down…

“May the God of all hope fill you with joy and peace…”

• He IS the God of hope…and I pray that you will be filled with hope…with joy and peace, not despair, anxiety and a desire to quit.
• HOPE is understanding that Galatians 6:9 is TRUE!
• HOPE is understanding that Philippians 1:6 is a REALITY…that if HE began the work HE will complete it.
• HOPE is NOT found in comparing yourself to other ministries…but rather committing yourself to the calling that Jesus has placed on you!
• JOY is seeing your biggest givers walk out the door…and God supernaturally provide for what your church needs…even though you didn’t see how you could survive without “them.”
• (When we depend on “them” more than “Him”–it’s over!)
• JOY comes from understanding the reality of who you WERE verses who you ARE in Christ.
• JOY comes from the fact that He knew every stupid/foolish thing you and I were ever going to do…and He STILL called us and equipped us for ministry!  (Please see II Corinthians 4:1!)
• PEACE comes from the fact that He loves your church WAY more than you do.
• PEACE comes from the fact that if the vision is from Him…then HE will make a way.
• PEACE comes from the fact that the more “impossible” the situation seems…the more glory God gets out of the win when it comes about.
• PEACE comes about by understanding that things over our head are still under His feet…He reigns!

“…as you trust in him…”

• Not your ability!
• Not your technology!
• Not your strategy!
• Not your denomination!
• Not your gifting…
• NOT that ANY of the things mentioned above are bad…but all too often we trust in THEM way more than we trust in HIM!!!
• If we are not desperate for what He can do…then He will allow us to see the limitations of what we can do!
• TRUST HIM!!!

“…so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

• I pray that we will become more desperate for HIS Holy Spirit.
• More desperate for personal conviction.
• More desperate for HIS leadership.
• More desperate for Him working THROUGH us.
• More desperate for HIS wisdom.
• More desperate for HIS presence in our services in order to draw people to Jesus.
• That we would pay attention to HIM and not quench what He is doing inside of us!
• That we would allow HIS passion and not people’s opinions to consume us.
• That is my prayer for us today…

That we would EMBRACE Jesus and all He has called us to be!

• Florence campus had their highest attendance EVER today…WOW…so excited about what Jesus is doing down there!!!
• REALLY getting more and more excited about our 10 year anniversary service in the BILO Center on Sunday, January 24th!  It’s going to be an AMAZING day…over 15,000 people coming together for the purpose of lifting up Jesus and celebrating all that HE has done!!!
• We had one of THE BEST creative meetings EVER this past Tuesday…and as a result I believe our Christmas services are going to me AMAZING!!!
• BTW…we don’t just depend on our creativity…because we know that creativity minus conviction from the Holy Spirit equals “church as usual!”
• Today we talked about, “Don’t Get Married Until…You Are Willing To Be A Man!”
• We saw MANY people surrender their life to Christ today…that NEVER gets old!
• The definition for manhood in America has gotten ridiculous…and in the church it has gotten flat out goofy!
• Yes, I did make a “Smokey & the Bandit” reference today…and yes, when I was little, I did want a Trans-Am with a firebird on the hood!!!
• Ladies…you can tell a lot about a man simply by the way he handles his money!
• Money and the heart are connected (at least that’s what JESUS said in Matthew 6:21) – so, if he’s not honoring God with his money, his heart doesn’t fully belong to Jesus.
• He may argue…but Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 that no one can serve God AND money.
• Single dudes that refuse to work – uh, I Timothy 5:8!  GET A JOB!!!
• Men are called to pursue a woman, not vice versa!  (Proverbs 18:22!!!)
• Men, pursuing is NOT facebooking, texting or sending your friend to talk to her.
• Pursuing is also NOT hinting/flirting with a girl with NO intentions on backing what you say up!
• Pursuing is being HONEST with a lady and putting your ego on the line…asking her out on a date and being ok with her rejecting you.
• We started to hand two marbles out to every single dude who attended NewSpring today…because that is the only “set” they would have!!!  Dude…if you are single…MAN UP and pursue a woman instead of a video game!
• Hey ladies…is he slacking off in his efforts to make you feel special?  You had better address that now…marriage will not solve that problem.
• Hey husbands…are you pursuing your wife right now like you did “back then?”  When is the last time you went out of the way to communicate to her how valuable she is to you?
• Ladies…does he respond to correction with sincerity and grace…or with bitterness and a desire to be right?
• Ladies…does he speak with you/listen to you…or does he yell at you?
• A real man is willing to identify Himself with Jesus…and not merely try to camouflage himself into society.
• Ladies…the question, “Are you a Christian” is NOT the best one to ask when you are trying to get to know a dude…a better one is, “Are you a daily follower of Jesus Christ?” is SO much better!!!
• Next week we will be talking to the ladies…it will be fun!
• And…the next week Lucretia will be joining me on stage….I REALLY can’t wait for that!!!

That’s about it for now…I hear my bed calling!!!  :-)

#2 – Works for the applause of heaven and not for the applause of men.

#3 – Seeks God for direction instead of merely asking Him for permission.

#4 – Doesn’t pretend that he has all the answers.

#5 – Seeks to submit to the Spirit instead of constantly grieving Him.

#6 – Understands that he will go insane if his goal is for everyone to understand him.

#7 – Is willing to repent when he is wrong…and do whatever it takes to make things right.

#8 – Puts personal preferences aside when making decisions that will impact the church.

#9 – Has a sense of desperation for God…fully understanding the reality of John 15:5.

#10 – Refuses to compromise the vision…even when it may be convenient to do so!

Bonus:  Doesn’t have the majority of comments on his own blog.

#2 – When the church becomes content with merely receiving people that come rather than actually going out and finding them…in other words, they lose their passion for evangelism!

#3 – The focus of the church is to build a great church (complete with the pastors picture…and his wife’s…on everything) and not the Kingdom of God.

#4 – The leadership begins to settle for the natural rather than rely on the supernatural.

#5 – The church begins to view success/failure in regards to how they are viewed in the church world rather than whether or not they are actually fulfilling the Great Commission!

#6 – The leaders within the church cease to be coachable.

#7 – There is a loss of a sense of urgency!  (Hell is no longer hot, sin is no longer wrong and the cross is no longer important!)

#8 – Scripture isn’t central in every decision that is made!

#9 – The church is reactive rather than proactive.

#10 – The people in the church lose sight of the next generation and refuse to fund ministry simply because they don’t understand “those young people.”

#11 – The goal of the church is to simply maintain the way things are…to NOT rock the boat and/or upset anyone…especially the big givers!

#12 – The church is no longer willing to take steps of faith because “there is just too much to lose.”

#13 – The church simply does not care about the obvious and immediate needs that exist in the community.

#14 – The people learn how to depend on one man to minister to everyone rather than everyone embracing their role in the body, thus allowing the body to care for itself.

#15 – When the leaders/staff refuse to go the extra mile in leading and serving because of how “inconvenient” doing so would be.

“Being filled with vision doesn’t always mean that God is inspiring us…but rather that He’s disturbing us!”

AND…I can’t get that thought out of my mind.

My fear for those of us in ministry is that we don’t want to be disturbed…we want things to come easy, for the dots to always connect and for the story to always have a happy ending.

BUT…the more I read the Scriptures the more I see that the visions that resulted in the biggest impact were the ones that were the most disturbing to the people who received them.

• Moses was DISTURBED that a nation was enslaved…and for 40 years he dedicated himself to God’s vision.
• David was DISTURBED that Goliath mocked God and Israel…and he walked where no one else was willing to walk to try what no one else was willing to try.
• Nehemiah was DISTURBED that the walls had been torn down in Jerusalem…and he established a plan and relentlessly followed through on all that God had put in his heart.
• Esther was DISTURBED that her people were going to be destroyed…and she placed personal preference and comfort aside and risked her life in order to do what was right.
• The prophets in the OT were DISTURBED that people were living in rebellion against the voice of the Lord…and were willing to be unpopular so that His truth could be proclaimed.
• Paul was DISTURBED that religion was trumping a relationship with God…and ultimately gave his life for the spreading of the message that Jesus, not religion, saves.

Great leaders are the ones who are willing to allow God to disturb them, to bother them…to make the vision so personal that they don’t just think about it…they feel it!!!

We aren’t called to seek comfort, affirmation from others, convenience, popularity, personal preferrences and safety!  The leaders that we admire in the Scriptures didn’t…and JESUS NEVER modeled that for us!!!

We are called to be disturbed!

I am praying that God will raise up more and more leaders who lead out of a burden rather than boredom…

Who lead out of conviction rather than convenience.

Who lead out of vision and not just “wishin!”

Who lead with passion rather than apology.

We are called to be disturbed…to be broken over the things that break HIS heart!!!

Disturb us God!

Normally I don’t get into weird things like ghost stories and such…but when I arrived at church yesterday morning our security team that reviews footage were FREAKED OUT because of what they saw and heard that our camera’s revealed!

This is actual security footage from Saturday night…not really sure what to make of it…but about 10 seconds or so into the video you can see AND hear something that, well, I can’t really explain it…see what you think. (Look and listen closely when the camera begins to focus on the front row.)

• We launched our singles series entitled, “Don’t Get Married Until…” today…and it was a BLAST!
• My prayer for this series is that singles will view being single NOT as a sickness, but rather as a season that needs to be embraced in order to learn all that God desires to teach them.
• We have A LOT of singles at our church…and I have a heart for them, that Jesus would be EXALTED in their lives and that they would view marriage as something to be held in high regard…and not merely a license to have sex!
• Today we talked about, “Don’t Get Married Until…You Hear From God.”
• Dating out of convenience rather than conviction will lead to compromise–EVERY time!
• Following Jesus doesn’t mean we compromise when life gets tough…but rather we establish convictions that are based on Scripture and stand by them, even when it seems like things aren’t going our way.
• If we are desperately seeking God…that means we are NOT desperately trying to convince God of what we want!!!
• God WILL make it clear as to who He wants you to marry, trust me, HE WANTS YOU TO GET IT RIGHT MORE THAN YOU WANT TO GET IT RIGHT!
• God wants to bless His children…so, if you are dating “a curse” then understand that he/she is NOT want God wants!
• The BEST THING for some singles (and engaged couples) is to SLOW the HECK down!
• “But Perry, we’re already sent out the invitations to the wedding and…”  STOP IT…if you are not sure, if you haven’t heard from God…then STOP!  Trust me, the money you spend recalling the invitations will be much less than you will spend on the divorce lawyers!
• If a dating relationship is immersed in worship then it can’t be immersed in wickedness.
• If a dating relationship is based on sex before marriage…it will be incredibly difficult to establish intimacy after marriage!
• (The talk about sex in the message today was fun…and intense…and necessary!)
• The last place single people need to run to for advice on marriage is other single people!!!  Seek out the advice/wisdom of people who are walking where you want to walk one day…who ARE married and have been for quite some time!!!
• It was SO exciting to share the news about our Christmas offering today…I am pumped out of my mind about what God is doing at our church.
• It is SO amazing how God has blessed our church and allowed us to move forward over the past two years…despite going through the worse recession we’ve seen in our lifetime.
• AND…there’s MORE to do!!!
• Had nearly 1,500 people register for Unleash (in March) before the early bird deadline of $39 expired (we had 200 register for that rate this time last year!)  We are expecting to sell out…so…I would register ASAP if I were you!
• Looking forward to talking about, “Don’t Get Married Until…You Are Willing To Be A Man” next week!!!
• AND…I’m looking forward to speaking at Clemson’s FCA this Thursday night!

That’s about it…going to bed!

Who are you bringing with you?

IN FACT, I believe the opposite…I seriously believe the churches best days are ahead of her.

Acts 2 wasn’t something that happened that we are supposed “to get back to,” it was where we STARTED FROM…and should be FOUNDATIONAL and not just some ideal we strive for…

And I’m seeing that!

I see leaders stepping up and leading with CONVICTION and PASSION…and begging God for HIS permission instead of begging committees for their approval!

I see Jesus being preached and repentance being demanded…and people RESPONDING in droves because THE GOSPEL, not some non-eternal agenda, has taken center stage.

I see churches being planted and video campuses getting started by people who are more interested in seeing birth given to babies rather than trying to resurrect the dead.

I see networking taking place like never before…where people are reaching across denominational lines and loving and learning from one another.  (THAT didn’t happen 15-20 years ago!)

I see the potential of a worldwide revival like that has NEVER happened right in front of our eyes!!!  The internet was not given so we could view porn…but rather as a TOOL to advance His Kingdom.

I see passion in church leaders being unapologized for.

I see churches and leaders that are NOT AFRAID to take risks and do things different in order to reach people far from God.

I see churches buying into the SCRIPTURAL idea that people do not have to be perfect to come to church…and just because they are in church doesn’t mean they are perfect either.

I see churches embracing the fact that the pastor isn’t the one who is supposed to minister to all of the people…but rather it is the BODY that is supposed to minister to the BODY!

I see churches stepping up in their communities and not just being a mouth that speaks out about what it is against and for…but being hands and feet and serving those in the area.

I see “non-professionals” (you know, fisherman, tax collectors and tent makers) leaving the marketplace and entering the ministry…and making a difference!

I see people inviting their friends to church because they understand they won’t have to apologize the entire time because churches are actually embracing that if we are doing something for Jesus then we should give it our best!!!

I see religion being rejected so that it no longer matters what you wear to church!

I am seeing it…for those who think it’s over for the church, I’ve got news for you…Jesus is still Lord, the tomb is still empty and the church is STILL HIS PLAN!!!

Church…we’re not called to play “prevent defense,” let’s PREACH CHRIST, BEG HIM FOR SALVATION TO FALL LIKE RAIN…AND RUN UP THE SCORE!!!