friday five…

Random things running through my mind…

• Took BOTH girls to open house last night.  As much of a challenge it has been having the girls at home this Summer and working from home, I am going to miss them.  They are growing up too fast.
• Do we really want the people who run the I.R.S the Post Office and V.A. hospitals to run our hospitals… just sayin’
• Really proud of my good friend, Chuck Lewis at Anchor Church… God is doing some BIG things in little Locust Grove.
• Excited (and a little overwhelmed) about this Fall… Praying BIG prayers for Lifesong church!
• Can’t wait till Sunday… rumor has it their will be something “unusual” during the Message ;-).  INVITE someone to come WITH YOU!!!

Mentors…

The Bible places a high standard in regards to wisdom.  Proverbs 4:7 says… “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Jesus called His followers Disciples, the very root of that word means to be a “learner.”  One of the best ways that I have learned to “gain wisdom” is to have a mentor, several actually.

Its not as hard as it sounds.  If you want a good marriage seek out someone who has one.

Want to raise healthy kids?  Find someone who is a good parent.

Want to know how to handle money?  Don’t hang listen to broke people.  Find someone who is successful with possessions.

Want to grow in your faith?  Get with someone who is further in their journey of faith than you.

Because of technology, people that you would never have had access to before are available.  Blogs and books are great sources of encouragement and wisdom.  Someone once said that “leaders are readers.”  The reason that many people never achieve is because they are not willing to invest the time and effort to be mentored.

The question is… who is mentoring you?

sunday night thoughts…

• Good day at Lifesong church
• Kicked off our Trinity series today… I earned my keep this week covering about two weeks worth of info in a twenty five minute message 😉
• Talked about God bowling and sang “Deep and Wide” during the message… listen to the podcast to find out why.
• The band did a great job this morning.  The Worship Diva (aka Jenny) is taking a couple of weeks off from leading and they really stepped up.
• Blown away at the Roadies of Lifesong… got to the theater this morning at 8am and BOTH trailers were empty and the front of house stuff was completely staged.
• Attendance is coming back… GREAT to see some “old faces” back and lots of new folks too.  I think this Fall is going to be CRAZY.
• Speaking of crazy… Lifesong Kidz is absolutely blowing up!  Over thirty kids today… VERY COOL!
• With that said… we need some of you to step up and VOLUNTEER to make an IMPACT in this area!  Contact tammy@lifesonglive.com for more info.
• We have several of the Lifesong Kidz volunteers here at the house getting ready for their next teaching  series on worship… I have golden microphones, guitars, and glitter in my garage.  Thinking of opening a night club for pre-teens 😉
• We had a guy sign up to volunteer after coming to Lifesong for just THREE weeks… VERY COOL!

Too good not to share…

Read this blog today from Mark Batterson about seven lessons he has learned as a parent…

1) Your greatest failures as a parent can turn into your greatest successes IF you simply apologize. You are modeling one of the toughest skills to learn: how to handle mistakes.

2) A great marriage is one of the greatest gifts you can give your kids so focus on your marriage first and your kids second.

3) You create memories via engineering shared experiences. Be intentional about setting shared goals. Become a student of your kids. Learn to love what they love.

4) Parents are prophets. Don’t just use your authority to speak correction into their lives. Use your authority to speak encouragement into their lives. Otherwise you will become a prophet of doom.

5) We have a Heavenly Father who compensates for our parental weaknesses. So take a deep breath and relax a little. Even if you’re a single parent, you’re not alone. God will make up the difference!

6) One of the greatest gifts you can give your kids is time. A little one-on-one time opens channels of communication like nothing else. If you hang with them when they are young they’ll want to hang with you when you’re old.

7) If all else fails, teach your kids to say please, thank you, and sorry. Especially to God.

sunday night thoughts…

• Special day at Lifesong today.
• We had the chance to baptize four people at our Baptism & BBQ and celebrated communion together.
• I see my role as Pastor of Lifesong church as a second priority to pastoring my kids… it was such an honor and blessing to baptize my oldest daughter, Lindsay.  It is a memory that will last for a lifetime eternity.
• Great weather… 80 degree’s in July…  Awesome!
• Loved the chance for everyone (almost) to take a break and just enjoy a service and a time to hang out.  We don’t get that chance very often and it was really good.
• With that said… I am READY to get back to the theater next week and do our thing!  We are kicking off our new series, Trinity, where we will tackle a really easy subject 😉 .
• Felt weird driving past the theater this morning and NOTHING going on.
• Had fun Saturday night at our Movie Night event at Truett’s… pretty cool how God has given us the chance to connect with them.  Pray for the couple of thousand cards that they will be handing our for us over this coming week.
• Just got in from the Laser Show @ Stone Mountain with several peeps from Lifesong… really enjoyed the chance to hang out and laugh together.
• Crazy week coming up, would really appreciate your prayers.

friday five…

Things I am praying for…

• For the folks who call Lifesong home.  There are MANY of you (that I know about) that are going through really difficult times right now and I am praying for you.  This is the biggest BURDEN and the biggest JOY that I have as a pastor.
• The staff of Lifesong church.  Ministry is tough and, make no mistake, you wear a bigger target on your back from satan (not a typo,the punk doesn’t deserve a cap) when you are the leader.
• For God to OVERWHELM us with HIS plans and for Lifesong not to settle for our own.  Learning that their is a fine, and somtimes fuzzy line, between “THY (God’s) kingdom come” and “MY kingdom come.”
• For Lifesong to DOMINATE this city for the cause of Christ… for us to be known more for what happens OUTSIDE the theater than IN it.
• For people to take their NEXT STEP (whatever it may be) this weekend.

behind the scenes…

Enjoy my first video creation… dramamine suggested 😉

sunday night thoughts…

• AWESOME day at Lifesong… simply awesome!
• Kinda felt like we got back in our grove today attendance wise… good to see everybody back from vacation.
• One person received Christ today… VERY COOL!
• The band was incredible today… loving our version of “Hands of the Healer”… awesome song (crappy video 😉
• Talked about spiritual warfare today.  First time in over eighteen months that the battery died in my mic while preaching… weird huh?
• Made a little video today, sort of a behind the scenes of Lifesong… will post it this week.
• Yes I said that I wanted to kick satan in his huckleberries today… I am tired of the devastation that he is bringing on some of our folks.
• Really excited about our Baptism & BBQ next Sunday.  Don’t forget, we are moving the service to Wyomia Tyus park… if you show up at the theater you will be very lonely 😉
• I have received several encouraging emails this past week… thank you!  You can never know how much they mean to me.

Sunday night thoughts…

• Awesome day weekend!
• Lifesong DOMINATED the parade on Saturday!  Thousands of icy pops and invite cards handed out… it was cool seeing the street covered by the “gray mafia.” 😉
• Without a doubt, we had the best float… no doubt.  Everybody likes getting icy pops.
• Got to hang out with several Lifesonger’s at a grill out and caught the  fireworks together.
• Had a great service this morning… decent crowd and most importantly, one person stepped over the line and accepted Christ today!!!
• So proud of all our volunteers.  We had TONS of folks out today and you guys stepped up BIG and made it happen…  VERY COOL!
• Felt like old times today with a four piece band… brought back memories of when we started.  Sounded great.
• I prayed for all our people that are out enjoying vacations… praying that God blesses you with rest and a chance to really connect with your families.
• Did I mention that one persons ETERNITY changed today?  THAT is why we do what we do!
• I have really enjoyed our “God @ the Movies” series.  Really feel that it is the right WORD at the right TIME.