Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Being Transformed

Early Christian philosopher, Augustine of Hippo (354-430), proposed that to drive out the bad—those habits or qualities we don’t want—we need to focus on the good—those habits, qualities or strengths we do want. (Sounds like Ephesians 4:20-32)

There seems to be some support for this in current studies of neuroplasticity. Our brain physically changes—makes new connections—based on what we pay attention to; it moves in the direction of our most dominate thoughts.

We literally change our brain consistent with that which we spend our time thinking about.
God made our physical bodies and brains. This may be why he says that we need to change the way we think and what we think about. Check out: Romans 12:1-2 and Philippians 4:8-9.

When we do dumb things or live outside of the abundant life God has offered, maybe the biblical response ought to be, "What was I thinking?" And, possibly the best assistance we can offer others is to challenge them with, "What are you thinking?"

By the way, what are you thinking? It is shaping your brain!

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Meetings!

This has been a week of meetings! For two days it was literally back-to-back meetings. I tend to not enjoy meetings unless there is an atmosphere of energy, creativity and challenge. There must also be at least one clear takeaway or I end up with a non-consumer version of "buyer's remorse."

I thought I would review some of the takeaways from this week. Sort of a therapeutic exercise for me, but maybe something that will encourage you.

Here are some of the more significant takeaways:

1. Vision drives solutions. (Core leadership meeting)
2. Our "faith brand" is hospitality.* (Staff meeting) *(Takeaway of the Week Award)
3. We're serving in the Dominican Republic in October. (Outreach Director Meeting)
4. Breaking confidence has consequences. (Personal Staff Meeting)
5. Making Christ famous takes a lot of gifted leaders. (HR Meeting)
6. God uses churches to challenge and encourage one another. (C3 Debriefing Meeting)
7. Helping people function within their sweet spot is challenging. (Personal Staff Meeting)
8. God is really awesome and powerful! (Community Group Meeting)

How are your meetings going?

Friday, May 2, 2008

Lovin' Fridays!

I am outside messing with the yard, planting a couple trees, killing yard pests, feeding plants and generally having a good time.
At least I assume this is how Friday will go. Our office is now officially closed on Fridays. Yahoo! I'm loving a weekend day on a weekday before the crowds come. Especially now that we are "in-season" in Myrtle Beach.

Actually, right now it's Thursday and I am sitting at my desk, ready to take a lunch break. I'm wondering if Blogger really does have the "scheduled blogs" feature working like they said they do.

If you are reading this on Friday, the feature actually works!! This will be a great way to blog during those creative times and release them in the future.

It's suppose to be sunny and warm today. Maybe I'll take a motorcylce ride to cool off this afternoon. (Did that!)

See you Sunday.
Oh, well! This is being posted on Sunday because the scheduled posts feature apparently does not work yet. I am told by Blogger it will soon be released.
Today was awesome. There was an energy in the air that was a God-thing. God is so good. He is at work in the lives of people.
God is doing great things at Barefoot.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Community Groups

I've been praying about what role Community Groups play in our vision and how they should be administrated. The evolution of my vision for Community Groups has been a long and sometimes challenging road. I know that they are not the goal line in our strategy. In other words we do not believe that our goal is to get everyone into a small group. Our goal is given to us in Ephesians 4:11-12. We are to be equipping people for service.

Community Groups can play a vital role in that equipping. Last night, at our Community Group, part of our time was spent sharing how some of the serving is going and hearing testimony of how individual lives have been blessed and strenghtened in serving. The small group environment is a great place for encouraging each other in our growth toward service.
If we are to be like Christ, He said He came to serve, not to be served. As Leadership Development Pastor, it is my passion to see people grow and develop in their leadership. There are several environments and ingredients that encourage that growth. Over the next couple blogs I want to hit on some of them. Sunday/Small group/Service?

Got any comments or insights?