I’m participating in my first webinar ever!
These guys are doing some great stuff!
Online learning
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Monthly Archives: June 2007
Ashton’s first smile
I saw Ashton smile for the first time today… and I caught it on my cell phone!
Leading at a higher level
I just finished Ken Blanchard’s book, Leading at a Higher Level.
This book is his magnum opus. The self-description of this book = “The definitive Blanchard on leadership. 25 years of breakthrough leadership insights in one extraordinary book.”
It took me about 25 years to read it too! But, after working my way through it I must say… it was worth it!
For my own sake, and hopefully for your benefit too, I’m going to spend the next couple of weeks blogging some key lessons from this book.
To be continued…
A little scared of God
Sometimes I get a little too comfortable with God.
I know there’s a paradox here because we’re supposed to be comfortable right? After all, He does tell us that we are to call Him “Father” and He let’s us know that we are His children.
It’s true. I am a child of God… but sometimes I still need to be reminded that God is BIG and even though He’s my Father, He doesn’t mess around.
These following verses bring me back to reality. They make me humble in His presence. They make me evaluate my life and realize my need for a savior!
- Psalm 76:7 No wonder you are greatly feared! Who can stand before you when your anger explodes?
- Psalm 90:11 Who can comprehend the power of your anger? Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve.
- Romans 2:8 But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and practice evil deeds.
So these verses, and others like them humble me, but they don’t overwhelm me because of this verse…
- Romans 3:25 For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.
The future of this blog
A large portion of you who read this blog come here from the Northgate website.
In a couple of weeks the link to this blog will be removed from the Northgate website.
If you are interested in continuing to follow our journey by reading and interacting with this blog there are a few ways to do that:
- You can sign up to get it in your e-mail. Just click the blue letters on the upper right hand side of this blog that say “Subscribe to Paul Peterson by e-mail” and then follow the two-step process.
- You can sign up to get it in your reader (e.g. Bloglines). Just click the Bloglines, Google, or Yahoo icon on the right hand side of this blog and follow the directions. If you do not have a reader, I recommend Bloglines… It’s how I keep track of all the blogs I read.
- You can bookmark this site and visit it as often as you like. Of course if you do that you may miss an update, and you will have to go to the work of finding and clicking every day. So why not just have it sent to you? But if you insist…
Thanks to all of you who have been reading and interacting with this blog. This has been a wonderful experience and one that I plan on continuing! So come along with me! Let’s travel together!
(P.S. I’m going to post this reminder a couple more times over the next couple of weeks.)
Highlights: you are what you prioritize; words hurt; the cause of mediocre churches
Another great morning of soaking in words penned by great authors…
The Bible
- 2 Kings 17:15 – “They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves.” This is a description of the Israelites worship practices and consequential life pattern. A couple of thoughts:
- I prioritize what I worship and what I worship shapes who I am.
- What does my life-story say about my worship? What are the priorities in my life? What/who am I becoming as a result of my priorities?
- Psalm 89:50 – Ethan, the author of this psalm is lamenting the downfall of his king, David. Apparently he had heard some pretty harsh words and maybe even been the object of a few. He writes, “I carry in my heart the insults of so many people.” Harsh words don’t go away for a while… and sometimes they never go away. A few ways that I have responded to harsh words:
- I have become defensive
- I have withdrawn
- I have avoided
- I have confronted
- I have forgiven
- I have lashed out
- I have allowed them to cut away good “pieces” of me
- I have allowed them to cut away the junk in my life
- I have held on to them
- I have let them go
How do you handle insults/harsh words?
Breakout Churches – Thom S. Ranier
- Ranier and his research team discovered that the single greatest obstacle in the path of a church moving from mediocrity to ministry effectiveness is conflict with believers. He writes,
- “We identified 172 problems and struggles in both the comparison and breakout churches. Of the total, 171 of the problems were issues with other Christians. Only one church mentioned non-Christians as the source of the struggle, and that source was noted only once.”
- “The cost of becoming a breakout church, ironically, is most often the result of problems and conflicts with other believers. Many of the comparison church leaders grew weary of the struggle with fellow Christians. The breakout church leaders had no fewer conflicts, but they decided to persevere despite the pain and struggles.”
Jesus says that our love for one another and our unity together will prove to the world that He is who He says He is (the savior of the world).
I wonder what people think when they observe cranky, divisive, mean-spirited Christians, and ineffective, empty churches?
I wonder what would happen if the church in America set out to love Jesus completely and work together to accomplish what He has called us to do… connect people to God doing whatever it takes to make that happen!
One man and five ladies
This is as good as it gets…
The “First Lady” of the Peterson household…
And the rest of “The Ladies”…
Lexington
Reagan
Dallas
Ashton
Highlights: influence; a moment of worship
From my reading today…
Seizing Your Divine Moment – Erwin McManus
- In his recommendation of this book, Dr. David Jeremiah says, “I wish I could say I couldn’t put Seizing Your Divine Moment down. The fact is, I had to put it down many times to think about what I had just read.” HE’S RIGHT! This book is packed with paradigm-shifting info that must be consumed a bite at a time! Anyway, a few takeaways…
- “A life touched by God always ends in touching others.”
- “All of us pass a bit of ourselves onto others.”
- “Often divine moments look like inconveniences on the front end.” Yup! I’ve felt “inconvenienced” many times before a critical moment! Sometimes (more often than I’d like) I’ve missed “divine moments” because I did not want to be inconvenienced. God forgive me!
- “One of the ways we miss divine moments is to treat what we consider nominal influence as irrelevant. We must never underestimate the importance of one moment, one word, one deed in the life of another human being.”
The Bible – God
- Some beautiful verses of worship (Psalm 89:5-18 NLT)…
5 All heaven will praise your great wonders, Lord;
myriads of angels will praise you for your faithfulness.
6 For who in all of heaven can compare with the Lord?
What mightiest angel is anything like the Lord?
7 The highest angelic powers stand in awe of God.
He is far more awesome than all who surround his throne.
8 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies!
Where is there anyone as mighty as you, O Lord?
You are entirely faithful.
9 You rule the oceans.
You subdue their storm-tossed waves.
10 You crushed the great sea monster.
You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11 The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours;
everything in the world is yours—you created it all.
12 You created north and south.
Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon praise your name.
13 Powerful is your arm!
Strong is your hand!
Your right hand is lifted high in glorious strength.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
Unfailing love and truth walk before you as attendants.
15 Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship,
for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
16 They rejoice all day long in your wonderful reputation.
They exult in your righteousness.
17 You are their glorious strength.
It pleases you to make us strong.
18 Yes, our protection comes from the Lord….
Two amazing little people
Cool stuff in the blogosphere
Highlights from my daily blog readings…
- Perry Noble gives five pieces of advice to church planters:
- Have a vision.
- Stick to your vision.
- Stop trying to run off all the Christians.
- Stop making excuses.
- Meet with other pastors and ASK QUESTIONS
(Read the entire article here) I really dig this guy!
- Steven Furtick has posted his first video blog. He discusses the value of being off site and what God usually gives him… questions! Two points of note:
- You do your best thinking about the church when you’re away from the church! This has always been my experience and recently it has been confirmed by Shawn Lovejoy and most recently, Steven Furtick. Thank God for godly leaders who are sharing what they’re learning!
- Questions are a great gift to a growing/learning organization. The organization that is always evaluating and strategically adjusting will be the organization with the highest impact and greatest value.
