This morning left my home with my PC, journal, and a book. I sat in Atlanta Bread Co. reading, emailing, writing, and making phone calls (all at the same time). I called Christy my wife to tell (brag) her about all that I had accomplished doing 3 things at once. I was pumped up about all I had gotten accomplished. Today was like a personal best day, because I got a ton done and learned a little bit more about myself. I learned that I can do more if I do 3 things at once rather than trying to do 1 thing at a time. Anybody like that??
By the way the book that started last night and finished this morning was Go Big by Bill Easum and Bil Cornelius. It’s a great read to remind us to expect God to do great things. He wants to blow our minds with his power. We just have to be willing to step out and lead like there is no tomorrow.
Bil Cornelius will be at the Churchplanters.com conference at Mountain lake church. His is a dynamic Pastor/Leader.
I am so fired up to see what God does in Columbus and the world…
We really did have a God sized weekend. We met some great leaders in Columbus, from pastors to business men and women. We spent time with friends and were able to take some of our newly forming launch team to visit Freedom church’s grand opening. All of our dialogue and discussions were great. There is nothing that I love more than sharing what God is placing in our heart. I really do think great things are going to happen in Columbus…
Today I am headed to Columbus for some meetings. I have a couple today and a couple on Friday. Christy and the kids will come down Friday night and we will hang out with some friends. Saturday we are going to meet our Realtor Gary Head Jr. and see some homes on the market. Thinking back to where we have been living for the last 6 years, it was a miracle to have the opportunity to see all of our neighbors come to know Christ. I hope and pray God will give us a similar experience as we search for where we can live and invest in people.
3 Prayer Requests:
I visited Oak Leaf Church this Sunday and had lunch with Michael Lukaszewski and his family. My wife and I were so impressed with how many things they do so well. I was blown away at the quality of everything they do.
Here are a few things I noticed.
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Great Signage
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Great Kids check in system(the best and most simple I’ve seen)
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Great looking theme’s that draw the kids into there rooms
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Everyone was very friendly
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Michael’s message was great– humor, content and passion.
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Great music.
Oak Leaf at only 16 months old and reaching 900 people is pretty incredible!!! God is doing great things in Cartersville.
I am excited to see Freedom Church Launch this coming Sunday Jan. 27th. I am bringing a group of people up from Columbus to see it. JR is a sharp young leader who really has it together. They (He and his team) have really worked hard and put a great game plan together.
Here is some of what I noticed:
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They put alot of time developing there Launch team.
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They did a great job marketing and making an investment into their community before they even launched publicly.
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They have spent time getting to know key leaders like the mayor in their area.
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They really know who they are and what God has called them to do.
I look forward to seeing great things happen in Acworth through Freedom Church. By the way I love the name.
Yes that’s what it is… I am sitting in bed listening to my wife give my son J.D. a bath at 1am. because he has thrown up all over himself and his bed. We had the whole flu bug twice over the holidays and now it seems that it may happen again. I know what your thinking…why are you blogging and not helping. Right. We’ll, I did help and that’s what made me think of how lonely and empty it would be if you had to do this all alone. I am sitting here thinking of how grateful I am to have my wife Christy. We should all be thankful for our spouse. It’s great to have someone to share the load with. Gotta run I think it could be an all nighter.
It’s always good to remember how you got to where you are. I got to go along with Mountain Lake Church’s ministry team as they took a couple of hours to walk back in time and remember all that was. The 1st first rented facility, the now fallen down barn that housed all of the equipment, the first office and all the funny and memorable stories that went with it. Shawn broke out a picture album that showcased years of hard work, sacrifice and trust. Shawn and the team are all serious about the vison to help people far from God BELONG AND BECOME and because of it, I believe God has truly blessed them. I want to say thank you to Shawn and David for all they have done to challenge me be all God is calling me to be. Thank you for your leadership in my life. May the Ministry of Mountain Lake Continue …
Today I’m hanging out with lead pastor J.R Lee from Freedom Church that’s launching on Jan 27. Freedom church has done some realy cool things that set the stage for who they are and what they will do to reach people. I look forward to getting to know and learn from their team today. Check back soon for an update on my take-aways from our meeting.
I am loving a book called Culture Code that my little bro. Chris Carneal president of Booster Enterprises put me on. Author Clotaire Rapaille says, people don’t remember information unless emotion is attached to it. Information+ Emotion creates an imprint on our mind. The stronger the emotion the more clearly the experience is learned.
Paul says in Romans 12:2 be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. So here is the ultimate question–What are we doing as Churches to create memorable experiences to move people to transformation???
Several months ago I read a book called ”Practicing Greatness.” My biggest take-away was that we need to know who we are and who we aren’t. Sounds goofy at first glance, but it’s true. One of the best things we can do to improve our potential is to be self aware.
In this process of growth at Mountain Lake Church and Churchplanters.com, I have become much more aware of my giftedness. I am like you, I don’t want to expend energy doing things that I’m not good at. I want to leave a legacy behind of being what God pre-wired me from birth to be. In order to do that, it’s important for all of us to develop the art of becoming self aware.
One very good book is Now Discover Your Strengths. You can also take an online test to discover your strengths by getting the abridged version StrengthsFinder 2.0 , which is highly beneficial. It only takes 20 minutes to get your results. The information I learned from this was better than ANY personality testing that I have ever seen. I know many churches and businesses that use this tool for all of their hiring and on-going relationships. I have had 10 of my friends and my wife take it recently–it’s amazing what you learn about each other (definately one of our best marriage-builders). So, if we want to change the world–and we know we can’t change it alone—then we need to know as much about ourselves and the people we do life with.