…is the first day of my 12th year of marriage
…I saw some great volunteers begin to step up in our First Impressions ministry, as we launched some new leadership and systems
…we had two packed worship services, possibly our largest attendance for a non-holiday, special event Sunday
…we highlighted our global-i department as we are moving more and more people to join what God is doing across the world. The interaction among the folks were great and way to go on the look, Sully.
…we had a leadership gathering where Pat did a great job casting vision the leadership of our church did even better grabbing hold of where God is calling us
…I was reminded of a great leadership and communication principle: ‘keep it simple, stupid’.  We had a lot at stake today in one of our environments and adding just a little to the plan added a lot of unexpected complexity that created a huge obstacle. Simplicity almost seems always to win out.
…I finally got to relax for a few minutes and watch golf. As Parker was watching with me, I asked her when she gets bigger if she was going to play golf on the course with me like they do on TV. She said, "Yes, but I am not going to play to win, I am going to play just to spend time with my daddy." Outwardly, I am saying to her, thank you sweety that is great. Inwardly, I am saying, no you need to play to win.
…Chris shared this incredible story about one of our high school students. Even more special because I had the privilege of being part of the team that launched MaxImpact and Kelly was the adult who Lauren helped this past year.
…I gave a few guys a big idea, gave them freedom to do it and make their own and they blew it out of the water and took the idea beyond where I thought it could go. They created an memorable experience for our attenders as they arrived this morning.
…is the first day of my little brother being thirty
…is the first day for one of my best buds 40th year
…we had a great time hanging with our small group this evening
…Kelly and I are still wrestling with where our next home will be (we got a contract to sell our current home on Thursday)

Continue Reading…

Eleven years ago today, I committed my life to love, lead, share, and grow with my best friend. We had an incredible day back on August 9 of 1997. Kelly was beautiful that day. So many family and friends…all of those images are still burned in my memory. I am blessed to share life with a lady who encourages and challenges me. I love to laugh and dream with her. I am thankful I can navigate the future and parenthood with her. Kel, happy 11!

Just discovered another new and interesting concept from the web. The site is called Alltop and it’s tagline is "we’ve got all the top stories covered all the time." The design is incredibly clean and it is simple to navigate. The tagline and concept is memorable or "sticky" for those who have read, Made to Stick.

It even has a "Modern Church" section with several of the top bloggers and websites about the modern church and effective, growing churches. While Modern Church might be might first read on this site, Golf will surely be the second. Another winner for clarity and simple in a world of clutter and confusion. Looks like a great way to get up-to-date on a subject fast.

Dare You To Move Promo from FBCSmyrna on Vimeo.

Today in our services we played this series trailer. The response from the trailer was incredible and it blew us away. Our staff had a blast making it and hopefully it creates the buzz that this series deserves. It is so funny you have to watch it multiple times to capture it all. You can also see all of the uncut versions of each staff member.

Watch this! Clever and funny. Being on both sides of this story, I definitely identify and wonder…do I do this? We definitely gain some perspective when we watch ourselves. After you watch, maybe you will be like me and appreciate simplicity a little more.

Thanks to Kem for pointing it out.

We do our best to value creativity and collaboration as we plan series and Sunday services. Since my time at FBCSmyrna, we have had a few approaches for creative planning. First was a weekly meeting with Pat, a couple of other staff, and a few creative folks from the congregation that met consistently. Then we adjusted it to a per series or weekly meeting with staff. We have had some success with these approaches but we always felt we could improve.

Last night, I facilitated a creative meeting for our August series (the above pic is our creative board filled with ideas). The series that will be 3 weeks beginning August 10th is going to be huge, bold, daring, and exciting. Pat is going to share some bold steps in our continued mission to reach our community and world through effective and relevant strategies. For this creative meeting we took a new approach. I invited five key leaders from our congregation who creative, innovative, unified, and ready to go after God’s vision for our church. Instead of having the same people for every meeting, we decided to bring new people from outside our staff for fresh ideas. Also, in the creative meeting we are focusing on generating as many ideas as possible so we have moved the decision making to a Production Meeting with our Worship Programming staff. This way we separate the creativity from "I don’t think we can pull this off" in the same meeting.

We collaborated for about hour and half trying to generate as many creative ideas we could discover to create compelling, engaging services for the series. The meeting was a blast. I am thankful for each of the five folks who contributed and the incredible insight and creativity they gave. We generated some great stuff and I am anxious for the next steps in this creative process: for our senior team to narrow down some of the selections, then to a Production Meeting to refine the ideas and make decisions of what we are going to accomplish, then weekly check-in meetings until we launch the series on August 10, and more.

I watched this today and was impressed with the leadership that was displayed as Jarrett Stevens who leads 7|22 for Buckhead Church did the difficult thing of communicating a change in direction for that organization. 7|22 has long be an innovator and influencer in the lives of singles and an influencer for churches who wish to reach singles. Any organization that wishes to be effective over the long haul must change. Futhermore, leadership is exciting but difficult work. Anytime you realize that change is necessary to take bigger steps and be more successful as an organization you have to swallow your pride, buckle down for the journey, learn to trust, and lead out of a place of clarity and courage. Even being willing to ask the hard questions like their staff was willing to do is a great example of leadership. Knowing a little bit about 7|22 and networking with some of the Buckhead staff, I thought this brief picture was a great example of servant leadership, decisive & clear communication, and boldness as a organization.

This past Wednesday night, we had an incredible service to celebrate Camp Whatever, our student camp for 6th-12th grade students. Since Chris and I led our first camp at FBCSmyrna until this year’s fourth Camp Whatever, camp has grown in student attendance by 400% (from 100 student to 400 students). There is more than just numbers to celebrate: students trusting Christ at camp, even more students shouting to the world that they are Christ-followers through baptism, and teenagers who are willing to commit their life to serve him vocationally has been incredible. The stories of life-change are simply awesome.

I was thinking today about what I love about our student ministry at FBCSmyrna as I was reflecting on all the "wins" from this year’s camp. I love our student ministry and think it is one of the best ones going because:

• We have engaging environments for middle school and high school students to attend and invite their friends.
• Our student ministry staff (Chris, David, and Melanie) are fabulous. They are great at 2 things which are essential for a strong student ministry: creating environments where students hear and engage the truth of Christ and develop small group leaders who shepherd students and point them to Christ.
• We don’t want kids just to be good moral kids who stay out of trouble. Our student ministry calls students to be bold, crazy, passionate for Christ and raises the bar for them to be influencers, world-changers! (I have seen too many churches who have "youth groups" where they are just happy that kids show up and they don’t drink, smoke, chaw, chew and don’t date those who do.)
• Our student pastors are not building the ministry around them.
• We have high school students serving every Sunday morning along side adults in many of our ministry areas: Preschool, Children’s, Middle School, First Impressions, Production. They do a great job and it has been incredible to see several students who not only serve but take ownership in the ministry and have been elevated to roles of leadership in those areas. My wife who has taught middle school students this past year has had a high school student help her and the student has stepped up time and time again to not only help her but teach the class and has done it with excellence. Also, I was talking to a mom of a high schooler the other day and she said, "I am so glad our high school student serve." Me, too!
• I have always said that "student ministry truly happens outside of programs." The explanation:  a lot of adults think showing up to weekly programs is enough but I propose that it is not. Students expect you to do that. It is when small group leaders, youthworkers, etc. hangout and invest in their students during times that are not church organized activities, deeper relationships are built, students know the adults care, and ministry really begins to flourish between the worker and student. I love our student ministry because we have dozens of small group leaders who have caught the vision and are consistently engaging students outside of programs and on their turf.
• We are going to baptize more students this year than in any year in the history of our church.
• We had over 800 students on campus on one night just a few months ago.
• Small Groups are a priority where students have a place to be known, cared for, held accoutable, and encouraged.
• High school students are giving their lives to ministry, missions, and to use their life to live for Him.
• Our student ministry staff and small group leaders aren’t satisfied.
• and there are so many more…

What do you love about our student ministry?

The first full day of the family vacation is winding down. It was a great day! I had a blast playing with my two girls plus my two nieces in the ocean. My girls discovered "riding the waves" on foam body boards in the ocean. So, we had to grab a couple of body boards for our girls tonight. We spent a ton a of time in the pool, too.

I realized another reason that these times of vacation are priceless for our family. I was in the pool with our 3 kids plus the two nieces. Kelly’s brother-in-law and I were playing with the kids. Kelly, her sister, and her mother were relaxing by the edge of the pool. What I saw was the opportunity for Kendall and I to have what felt like unlimited time to interact with the kids and just have fun with them, which is hard for us to do during a normal day with our work demands. Kelly and the ladies were able to rest and relax which during a normal day they are usually up chasing the kids and working hard caring for them. Good to have needed time with the kids and the deserved time for the moms to relax.

Another reminder, too, that for kids…quality time is quantity time.

2008 has been an interesting golfing year so far. With my Achilles surgery in January, I wasn’t able to get on the golf course as much as usual. Then with all of the work to get on the house on the market and the summer activties, I have been kept away from the course. I have been able to play five times so far this year but I am gearing up for some golfing for the rest of the year.

We head out for vacation in Orange Beach, AL with family this weekend which usually allows for a few rounds of golf with my father-in-law and brother-in-law. I then have a charity tournament on the calendar and will play with Rodney, Mac, and Nathaniel, it will be a blast. In September, we will have our 3rd Annual Golf Staff Extravaganza where about 8 of us staff guys take off for four rounds in 3 days. Always a highlight of the year. Not done yet. For fall break, we head to Myrtle Beach, SC with the Hales where Nathaniel and I will be sure to fit in some golf on the incredible yet affordable courses in Myrtle Beach. There is 100+ courses.

For this week, I have my trusty Bridgestone e6s packed. Although I have a few dozen, I plan on using only one! Bombs away.