Monthly Archives: March 2008

Easter reflections

Posted on
2

Today was a day of reflection for me.

A few things in particular have been on my mind:

  • It is good to be married to Sherri.
  • It is good to have a family in which expressions of love and gratefulness are common.
  • It is good to be loved by friends.
  • It is good to live with the confidence that we are doing what we were made to do.
  • It is good to live without guilt or fear because the living Christ presents me to God as forgiven and worthy of love because of what He has done for me through his crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.
  • It is good to be alive.

Some further reflection:

  • Today was the first Easter in the last eight or nine years that I have not preached. I really missed it.
  • I missed the excitement that goes on behind the scenes as the church prepares for Easter.
  • I missed the exhausted yet fulfilled feeling that many of my pastor friends went home with today.
  • I missed inviting people to consider Jesus as a friend and potential savior of their lives.
  • I missed being a pastor and loving on my church.

I can’t wait until next Easter… the first Easter at Walls Down Church!

Preaching and the Bible

Posted on
1

“Throughout the history of the church the greatest preachers have been those who have recognized that they have no authority in themselves and have seen their task as being to explain the words of Scripture and apply them clearly to the lives of their hearers. [...]

Essentially they stood in the pulpit, pointed to the biblical text, and said in effect to the congregation, “This is what this verse means. Do you see that meaning as well? Then you must believe it and obey it with all your heart, for God Himself, your Creator and your Lord, is saying this to you today!”

Wayne Grudem – Systematic Theology

Budgets and tears

Posted on
7

This morning Sherri and I had our weekly “Coin and Calendar” meeting.

Every Friday (our day off) we have a scheduled time to work our system.

Our system looks like this:

  1. Enter all receipts in the checkbook
  2. Balance the checkbook
  3. Enter the receipts on our Spending Plan (budget) so that we can track each line item
  4. Adjust the “Kill-It Plan” (our get out of debt payment plan)
  5. Make any necessary adjustments to our Spending Plan or “Kill-It Plan” (Sometimes we overspend in a category and have to move funds around to make up the difference)
  6. Pay bills
  7. Calendar (during this time we look ahead and make sure we are on the same page with dates, appointments, etc. AND we make sure that our Spending Plan reflects our schedule in the upcoming days.)

This is probably the toughest meeting of either of our weeks. Anybody know what I’m talking about? ;-)
Today we were frustrated because we keep going over on groceries and gas.

After our morning meeting we talked to three other couples about what they do in these two areas, and guess what…  each couple said that these two areas (groceries and gas) are budget busters for them too!

So what are we going to do?

Well, we can’t stop eating or going, so we’re in the process of identifying how to cut costs, shop smarter, and travel wiser.

How about you?

What do you find are your budget busters? Do you have any tips you want to share?

If you are looking for some help check out my friend Casey Graham, founder of Re-Think Money.

Systematic theology

Posted on
5

Yesterday I sat in Barnes and Nobles for an hour and read from Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology. I sipped some Starbucks, nodded off occasionally, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

It is important to read and study theology.

Theology is simply what we believe about God and the world as it relates to God. We all have thoughts about God and the world and therefore in some sense we all dabble in theology.

The issue is not whether or not we think about theology. We do. The issue is how we think about theology.

Charles Ryrie, in his book Basic Theology, writes,

Theology is for everyone. Indeed, everyone needs to be a theologian. In reality, everyone is a theologian – of one sort or another. And therein lies the problem.

There is nothing wrong with being an amateur or professional theologian, but there is everything wrong about being an ignorant or sloppy theologian. Therefore everyone should read theology.

I enjoyed Grudem’s definition of systematic theology. I think he makes systematic theology accessible for everyone with this definition:

Systematic theology is any study that answers the question, “What does the whole Bible teach us today?” about any given topic.

Based on this definition, we all do systematic theology from time to time when we say, “The Bible says…”

Again, the issue is not whether or not we do theology… we do. The issue is how we do it. Are we sloppy or prepared?

So, how about you?

Have you ever read a theology book?

Why?

Why not?

What would make you want to read/study theology?

Seven things about millionaires

Posted on
3

Money has never been a big deal for me. In fact, it’s probably not been bright enough on my radar.

Over the last seven months I’ve been paying a lot of attention to finances for two reasons:

  • Personally: Living on less requires that I manage better what I have been entrusted with! Starting a church is not the best way to line one’s pockets, but it is one of the best ways to learn how to live well on less! This experience has forever changed the way I view and handle money.
  • Professionally: I feel an increased sense of responsibility to learn more about financial management so that I can lead Walls Down Church with integrity and wisdom. As soon as we can we will hire/recruit someone to oversee this side of ministry, but until that point it lies squarely on my shoulders.

A few changes that I have made in the world of finances since we’ve set out on this church planting adventure:

  • I balance our checkbook at least once a week. Before coming here I had never balanced a checkbook… Sherri always did that. I now own this process. In years past I abdicated financial responsibility leaving it all to Sherri… I earned it and she did the rest. No more.
  • We create a spending plan every month in which we balance to zero. We have learned from Casey Graham how to tell our money where to go… and we do it better than we have ever done it before! We create this spending plan together based on our calendar and upcoming expenses. It’s the best thing we’ve ever done!
  • I turn my receipts in every month. My buddy Jeff, the Director of Operations @ Northgate church where I previously served as senior pastor, still can’t believe I do this! Believe it Jeff.  ;-)

The list could go on, but the point is that sometimes having less forces you to be better!

Looking back, I wish I would have been as financially disciplined then as I am becoming now!

Anyhow, part of my financial training has been through books I’m reading.

One great book I’m reading now is The Millionaire Next Door.

The authors make seven observations about millionaires that I think are worth noting:

  1. They live well below their means.
  2. They allocate their time, energy, and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth.
  3. They believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status.
  4. Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care.
  5. Their adult children are economically self-sufficient.
  6. They are proficient in targeting market opportunities.
  7. They choose the right occupation. Hmmmm… I wonder if any of them are church planters? ;-)

I don’t know if I’ll ever be a millionaire… quite frankly, I don’t care. What I do know is that I will:

  • Manage well what God entrusts me with.
  • Lead our church with more financial awareness than ever before.
  • Model the way for the people of Walls Down Church in the area of personal finances.

So anyway I’m gonna go take Lexington to school…

Fusion – the book

Posted on
4

This morning I finished Nelson Searcy and Jennifer Dykes Hinson’s book Fusion, and now I am a happy man!

This book will shape our assimilation system at Walls Down Church.

If you are interested in assimilating people into your church you must read and apply this book!

Nelson has broken the assimilation process down into a handful of E-A-S-Y steps!

His basic strategy is to move people along a continuum from first-time guest to second-time guest to regular attender to member.

In the appendices of this book he provides sample forms, letters, surveys, and e-mails that they use at The Journey (the church where Nelson is Pastor).

He has done the hard work of creating the system. Our job is to tweak it to reflect our immediate culture and then implement it with consistency!

You can purchase Fusion here. 

Nelson also offers a TON of info through his website churchleaderinsights.com.

Leadership lessons from Tony Dungy (part 8)

Posted on
Reply
  • On the value of practice, Tony always looked back to a lesson from his father, “Like my dad always said, the test would be easier if you did what you were supposed to do in class every day. Practice was where we did our job.”
  • You and your team are not the first to experience the tough time you are going through. Find others who have gone through similar situations and gone on to win, and tell their story!
  • “At some point in life’s journey, professionally and personally, we have to be able to trust our preparation. When we’ve done everything we can, we need to wrap things up and move on.”
  • From the mouth of a head coach (Tony Dungy) at the funeral of his son who had committed suicide, “Parents, hug your kids – every chance you get. Tell them that you love them every chance you get. You don’t know when it’s going to be the last time.”
  • “Sometimes change is needed, but usually people simply need reassurance and encouragement.”
  • “Being stubborn is a virtue when you’re right; it’s only a character flaw when you’re wrong.” Chuck Noll
  • “I love coaching football, and winning a Super Bowl was a goal I’ve had for a long time. But it has never been my purpose in life. My purpose in life is simply to glorify God. We have to be careful that we don’t let the pursuit of our life’s goals, no matter how important they seem, cause us to lose sight of our purpose.”

Marriage, Millionaires, and Leadership

Posted on
2

What do all three of these have in common?

Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, in their book Leaders, “interviewed and observed” ninety leaders; “Sixty [interviews] with successful CEOs, all corporate presidents or chairmen of boards, and thirty with outstanding leaders from the public sector.”

They were seeking to identify commonalities in successful leaders.

They write,

“In short, with one exception, there were no surprises, demographically, in the CEO group; as a group, they corresponded to the various profiles of corporate leadership in America.”

And then they unveil the exception:

“The only surprise worth mentioning is that almost all were married to their first spouse. And not only that: They were also indefatigably enthusiastic about marriage as an institution.”

Now the “millionaires” piece and then I’ll make the connection.

In their book The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley and William Danko write,

“Nearly 95 percent of millionaire households are composed of married couples.”

The point of this post?

When you get it right in the home you are more likely to get it right in other areas too.

Pay attention to your marriage!