Archive by Author

Thank You Easter Vols

April 28, 2011 in Blog with 0 Comments

We had an incredible Easter weekend at LifePoint. Eight services at our three campuses here  in the states. Our Bangkok campus is engaged in incredible ministry as they get closer and closer to a full campus launch. Even our Brussels staff that is on the ground had their first outreach. The stories have been awesome and conversations with people taking next steps in their Christ-centered journey are powerful.

You can watch the full service from the FBCSmyrna campus.

One of the best examples of LifePoint being an incredible place is the hundreds of volunteers…the people of LifePoint who contribute, give and serve each week to make a difference. Our Worship Programming staff took some time this week to say thank you to our Awesome Vols!

One last thing, yesterday after one of our Worship Team Leaders viewed this video they called my phone and said, “This is the most valued I have ever felt. This is a hallmark of the amazing ministry we have. I can’t articulate how valuable this is. Makes me wat to serve just as hard, again. Serving is so fulfilling.” Wow! Now, that gets me fired up!

Get High on Helping

April 20, 2011 in Blog with 0 Comments

One of the big learnings I have experienced over the years is how serving…volunteering…helping is often the greatest cataylst for growth in an individual, family, group or organization. As a leader in a church and other organizations, I see this truth time and time again. When I help people take a step into serving their acceleration for spiritual growth, leadership capacity and contributing to a vision big than themselves sky rockets.

Today, April 20, has a lot of meanings in our culture. While some of these are unfortunately negative and destructive, I love the beauty of Tim Sanders’ idea of claiming today as High on Helping Day. The information and inspiration in his blog post is incredible. It spurs me on continue to help others take steps in their journey towards a Christ-centered life, hear the Gospel for the first this weekend, get healthy, accomplish their goals and more.

Here are just a couple of quotes from the post that jump off the screen:

  • “When you share what you have to help others, in that moment, you are worth something.”
  • “To rid yourself of negative emotional states, push them aside with positive emotional states and the simplest way to do that is to just go out and lend a helping hand to somebody.”
  • “Giving is a WonderDrug, the only one to take when you need a dose of Euphoria or a cure for the blues or a stressful life.  It lasts much longer, probably costs you less than substance or alcohol and more importantly – converts your selfish approach to ‘coping with life’ to a life of service and significance.”
  • “Looking for a buzz?  Volunteer.”

My encouragement to you:

  1. Read Tim’s Post now
  2. Share his post with others—send them a link in an email, share in social media, just read it to them
  3. Take time to help someone today
  4. If you are a LifePoint’er and do not have a place of service, fill out this form and we will get you going today!
  5. Save it so you can continue to read it again and again, I just saved a copy for me in Evernote
  6. Leave a comment of your thoughts, experiences, etc. below
  7. Don’t Delay

Stay Productive

March 31, 2011 in Blog with 2 Comments

I am big fan of David Allen…his books, resources and thinking. I daily try to implement his systems and workflow for my own personal productivity. I have tested and used several products over the years. I came across this short video on the GTD blog today. It was helpful for me to be reminded of some key productivity principles it short video form. I thought it might be helpful to you, too:

3 for Thursday: eBooks

March 10, 2011 in 3 for Thursday, Blog with 1 Comment

Leaders are readers! Here are three free eBooks I have come across this week that will help church staff, Pastor folks like me. These resources will inspire your organization’s growth and help you go further faster.

  1. Nine Game-changers for Global Missions by Eric Swanson and Leadership Network. I am big fan of the resources and people of Leadership Network. I am constantly learning as a result of what they are producing. In this eBook you will read about Game-Changers like mutuality, partnering, good news & good deeds, focus, technology, etc. We are experiencing the same Game-Changers in our Sending Church Movement at LifePoint.
  2. 125 Tips for Multi-site by Jim Tomberlin. Jim is not only a consultant, he was a pioneer and practitioner of Multi Site for two churches. Plus, he pastored in Europe which was a great connection with us at LifePoint when he came and did coaching with our staff a couple of years ago.
  3. The Mission Book by Upstream Collective. Upstream Collective are great friends and partners of LifePoint. We are journey together in this Sending Church movement. The guys at UC have deep and wide connections in the missionsphere. They have used those connections to develop a great online book with many contributors telling their story and wrestling with profound questions and principles about being on mission. Plus, you can contribute!

Which Creative Are You?

February 17, 2011 in Blog with 0 Comments

I am drawn to creativity, new ideas, innovation. You are probably like me at times, I don’t think I am creative. Once in a while, people tell me I am creative. Part of my role on LifePoint staff is to lead creatives and artists. I finally have become comfortable as a strategic realizing I am also a creative, this quote helped me grasp this idea. Most of the time I am adaptively creative:

“Everyone is creative! Some are originally creative. (If it has been done once … why would we do it that way again?) Some are adaptively creative. (Why re-create the wheel?) Both are creative. Which are you?” -Bobb Biehl

My hope is that this quote will encourage you to develop your creativity to accomplish your dreams, help others and even extend the Gospel. So, which are you?

Christ-centered Journey

January 27, 2011 in Blog with 3 Comments

For two years now, our identity as a church has been LifePoint Church. We transitioned from the name First Baptist Church, Smyrna to LifePoint to help us fulfill our vision of being a multi-site church (one church meeting in multiple locations…and for us, that is even around the world). As we moved to being known as LifePoint, we also adopted a new statement to clearly communicate the vision of our faith family: pointing people to a Christ-centered life. A Christ-centered life is our unique way of communicating the abundant life Christ came to give us as fully devoted disciples, Christ-followers.

Over the last two and half years, we have worked hard to craft language and paint pictures for people to see how they can move towards a Christ-centered life. One of the effective way to move people to a devoted Christ-follower with their life centered on Christ, is communicating the reality that a life headed in the direction of Christ is a journey full of adventure with many steps, big and small. Specifically, we have crafted a communication tool called the Christ-centered Journey that gives definition to the common phases we all walk through in our Journey; helping guide people’s next steps in their faith journey.

The Stages of this Christ-centered Journey are:

Exploring

People “exploring” Christianity are disconnected from God and have yet to begin a personal relationship with Jesus.

Beginning

This is where the “real” journey begin with a new and forever relationship with Jesus. A person can best be described as an infant Christ-follower. Much like physical development, spiritual development begins with dependence upon other Christ-followers for growth and development in their “baby steps.”

Growing

“Growing” in our Christ-centered Journey is a season where Christ-followers are beginning to take increasing steps in their spiritual journey, specifically through the five characteristics of a Christ-centered life. Often, their spiritual life can be described as enthusiastic about their faith with many significant steps still to be made.

Maturing

A Christ-follower in the “maturing” phase is moving into a God-first and others-first outlook. In comparison to human development, this stage resembles a young adult in development…making significant contributions to God’s Kingdom and assembling the beliefs and habits for a life-time of living for God’s purpose.

Christ-centered

A Christ-follower who is Christ-centered experiences the joy of Christ by defining everything in their life by their position and purpose in Christ. God is all they need and they live to be a reflection of Jesus. They are reproducing their faith and life in other Christ-followers in the preceding stages…on mission, in unity, with intention.

Two Gatherings for Growth

January 26, 2011 in Blog with 1 Comment

As one of the thinkers and leaders at LifePoint, we are realizing there are two key gatherings that we hope to engage every person in for growth. First, spiritual growth. Second, growth as a leader and influencer in our culture.

1. Small Group — This first gathering are small groups of people connected for discipleship, community and service. This is a ride that we have been on for over seven years as a church. We believe that growth and life-change happens best with in the context of a small group. A lot has been and is still being written about the power and practice of small group ministry. Eddie and his team at LifePoint are doing a phenomenal job of crafting the conversations and methods of adult small groups gatherings for LifePoint and other churches. Eddie’s book will add a lot to the conversation. I realized years ago as a Student Pastor, the greatest leadership move I could make was gathering students into healthy small groups led by adults who love them and love God. That is not only true for teenagers but every age group. We are living that out at LifePoint across all ages. Yet, beyond just gathering people in groups we are intentionally creating systems to help people take next steps in the Christ-centered Journey. We are crafting visuals, environments and metrics to accomplish this task.

2. Huddle — Where the gathering of a small group helps each individual take steps in their Christ-centered Journey (Exploring to Believing to Growing to Maturing and finally Christ-centered); the huddle is a gathering of individuals coming together to grow in leadership and influence. The Christ-centered Journey is dynamic, adventurous with many on-ramps. The small group meets weekly, or close to it, with the intention of living life together. The huddle is linear with a specific, reproducible process for leadership coaching and development. The conversations are more one on one driven with a gathering more monthly than weekly. Everyone should be in a small group so they can have community and encouragement for the “journey”. Everyone will probably not be on the Leadership Path but we hope to create entry points for whoever would like the expedition of expanding their leadership to serve others and make an eternal impact.

Two of the catalysts for our recent conversations are from two of the books I mentioned in December.

In my learnings and conversations, I am realizing the real momentum and power from these two gatherings will build upon the ability to connect each person in a mentor—apprentice relationships. To truly have people experiencing personal development, they need regular-systematic life debriefing, the Journey and Path needs to be customizable and needs to have a life-centric focus. Plus, if service is the foundation or infused in the gatherings, the growth will be even greater.

Good Riddance

December 27, 2010 in Blog with 0 Comments

Need some mental fuel to get going on the new year with momentum and traction? Here are some great thoughts and quotes from some pretty smart fellas:

“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.” -Albert Einstein

And then this short article by David Allen:

“It’s time to purge. The end of a year and start of the new is a great metaphorical event you can use to enhance a critical aspect of your constructive creativity—get rid of everything that you can. Your psyche has a certain quota of open loops and incompletions that it can tolerate, and it will unconsciously block the engagement with new material if it has reached its limit. Release some memory. Clean the slate. Want to be freer to go where you want to, when you want to, with new transportation? Clean out your glove compartments and trunks of your cars. And for heaven’s sake, get those little things fixed on your car or bicycle or motorbike that have been bugging you. Do you want more wealth? Unhook from the investments and resources that have been nagging at you to change. (And give more than usual to someone or something that inspires you to do so.) Do you want to feel more useful? Hand off anything that you are under-utilizing to someone who can employ it better. Want some new visions for your life and work? Clean up and organize your boxes of old photographs. Want to know what to do with your life when you grow up? Start by cleaning the center drawer of your desk. You will have to do all this anyway, sometime. Right now don’t worry about the new. It’s coming toward you at lightning speed, no matter what. Just get the decks clear so you’re really ready to rock ‘n’ roll.“ -David Allen

What are your best practices for gaining focus, momentum and creativity for the new year?

Radical Christmas Offering

December 17, 2010 in Blog with 0 Comments

If you condensed the almost 7 billion people in our world down to a village of 100, 20 would live in extreme poverty and 67 live without the Gospel. Run the numbers and you can see there are great needs around the world today. It can be challenging to enjoy the Christmas season (that often turns to excess materially) when we stop to think about the billions that are lost and hurting.

I am so thankful that LifePoint is not content with those numbers. So, as a response to these great needs, God’s call to extend His glory and our Radical Commitments we are coming together to give a Radical Christmas Offering this season. Specifically, we will have an additional offering in our services this Sunday for the Radical Christmas Offering and receive gifts at our Christmas Eve Services. Kelly and I will be taking part with our faith family in the Offering this Sunday. We will also take time to talk to our kids about the offering, what we are giving and encourage them to give at our Christmas Eve Services on Friday where we will worship together as a family.

I encourage to watch the videos here where Pat shares about the opportunities we have to make an impact through the Radical Christmas Offering. You will hear incredible stories from our local impact at a housing community in our local area, the exciting story God is creating in Thailand through our Bangkok Campus (with images from my trip there last week) and the love and support we will send to orphans in Ethiopia.

Obviously, to my fellow LifePoint’ers, I can’t wait to see the incredible Generosity we will display together through the Radical Christmas Offering. If you are not a LifePoint’er and haven’t selected an over and above place to give this season, I would encourage you to consider helping extend the vision of the Radical Christmas Offering. You can read more online.

3 for Thursday: Books

December 16, 2010 in 3 for Thursday, Blog with 1 Comment

Just last Thursday, I was hovering over the globe several thousand feet in the air. I had the life changing fortune to be in 2 countries to learn, listen, plan, dream, strategize and encourage. On the way home conversations were full on how to put the pedal to the metal of God confirmed strategy for LifePoint to be the church where there is no church in Thailand and East Asia.

Here are three books that are helping to shape the vision God is giving at LifePoint. They will give you greater altitude for the 30,000 foot view of your life and organization while adding to your runway view of making it happen. They are new so new to me that I  read and reread them on the trip. All three are targeted at church leader, church staffer types. But, if you have any desire for the Kingdom, leadership, discipleship or just how to make our world a better place go and grab one…or all three.

  1. Exponential by Dave and Jon Ferguson: I am a big fan of these guys as leaders, of their church, of their first book and now this one. I have read much of the book three times. I have bought it multiple times to share with some of our staff. I can’t wait to see how the principles in this book will shape the months and years ahead.
  2. Real-Life Discipleship by Jim Putnam- Eddie shared this book with me just last week. It is timely—being in conversations of how to make disciples in places like Tennessee, Thailand, and East Asia. Many of the core leadership principles I believe in are echoed in this book: Systems Create Behavior, Context Creates Culture, It’s All about Relationships, Put the Priority on Process and Intentional Leadership.
  3. Cracking Your Church’s Culture by Samuel Chand – For me, this is the perfect blend of topics for my wiring and passion. The book challenges many of our assumed leadership assumptions. Then,  it develops seven keys for organizational life to unleash its vision. There is even an online assessment tool that is pretty remarkable and free.

What are you reading that is shaping your runway view or 30,000 foot view of life and leadership?
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