I am really stoked about this month's Capital that's coming out this Sunday. It will contain cool stuff about:
You will not want to miss grabbing and reading it this Sunday! See you at church!
I am aware of a Pastor/friend in need of an automobile as fast as possible (and I want to help him). He is in search of a good running vehicle for $4,500 or less. He could buy it in the next few days.
Anybody have any ideas? It would be greatly appreciated. Comment, email or call me.
I couldn't believe my ears early this month when Rick Warren insisted on having his picture taken with every Pastor at the meeting at NCC. He did! We lined up and did just as he asked. They promised they would email us all. They did. Here I am with Rick Warren at a meeting on February 4th. They just sent it to me.
Get this: Rick Warren is stupid rich! The amount of money that he makes off of Purpose Driven Life is in sane. So, you know what he and his wife Kay do? They reverse tithe. They live off of 10% and give God 90%. He drives an old pick up and they have lived in the same modest house for the last 14 years. He shares that there are two big temptations for him (or anyone in his situation)...the money and the fame.
He deals with the money by giving most of it away and living modestly off the rest.
He deals with the fame like Solomon did in the Psalms...he wants to use it to speak for the broken and oppressed who have no voice and to advocate for the justice of those with no strength.
Neat, huh? I really respect this guy!
Been wanting to find some time to write some lingering thoughts about John 6. We preached from John 6:22-69 on Sunday. We are going to continue in John 6 this Sunday as well. Man, this passage is loaded with messages for the church. If you get a chance, I encourage you to read it. I will be posting more about it soon.
Click here to read John 6!
Blogging connects you to a very open network of readers and learners. It is always cool to receive responses from my readers that add to and improve what I have already written. A friend of mine is on staff at Christian Life Assemble in Camp Hill, PA. Recently the Pastor of this large church shared the following with their congregation. If follows up on a post of mine from last week. I thought I would share it with you. Good stuff. Don't think I am hounding on this, I just want to share good stuff when I get. Be sharpened!
“Biblical Guidelines for Giving Constructive Criticism”
1. It needs to be con-structive NOT de-structive. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out
2. It needs to be based on Scripture, NOT personal preference. Personal preferences are just
3. Tell it to Jesus first, then to leadership second. We ask that you take 5 days to pray about it
4. Don’t talk to anyone else about it! Protect the unity of your church. This is in our
5. Help keep your spiritual leaders healthy, for your benefit and ours! Remember that your
This is not an effort to stop truly constructive criticism! We’d much rather hear concerns straight
I am running so fast and doing so much to try to catch up and run in pace today, that I literally feel my adrenaline rushing! I guess I need something that creates adrenaline since I darn sure am not playing any sports. Shame on me. So much cool stuff is happening around here and it's fun!! I love my job! When you hear me vent, remember that the Joy of what I do FAR outweighs the pain!
On a treadmill today...Jaye says that I am on one every day! But, she is not right very often. Sike!
I was not able to post a picture on the road, but I wanted to share the sight that Tricia and I got to see last evening as Mike and Kelly and many others stood on the stage praying (and crying) as the church released and commissioned them for ministry at CCF. It was a cool experience. It is hard to explain the feeling we felt as we walked through this church and person after person approached us to tell us how blessed we are to be getting Mike and Kelly. Some people were mad at us and only spoke out of politeness :-). We were the people stealing their Pastor. That's real!
What I read on Mark Batterson's blog tonight ties right in with some of what I shared last week about receiving criticism. It was right on time. Oh, how we need it to grow, but oh, how it needs to be done biblically to be effective. This is what Mark wrote today:
As a leader, there are times that you need to deflect criticism. I quote something I heard Erwin McManus say all the time: If an arrow of criticism doesn't pass through the filter of Scripture, don't let it pierce your heart. Listen, if it doesn't pass through the filter then you need to ignore it. But if it does, you need to let it pierce your heart.
Every once in a while I'll get a critical email or critical comment. And I don't like being rebuked anymore than the next guy. But I've come to appreciate it because it forces me to look in the mirror. And it's the only way I'm going to grow.
One of the tricks of leadership is having thick skin and a soft heart. But if I'm going to error on either side, I pray that God would give me a soft heart. I need voices that speak into my life. The second a leader thinks they are beyond rebuke it's the beginning of the end.
--Amen! And well said!
A few random weekend highlights....and a great one it was!
Nothing like DC weather. Monday it's 73 degrees. Wednesday it's snowing. Friday it's icing. I'll take it because we get a family day. My mother in law is in town with us too. To Davis, she is Abuela (Grandmother in Spanish). Good times.
The story behind the picture: Tricia calls me Monday (mind you it is 73 degrees) and asks if I mind if she buzzes Davis's hair. Our plan was to do it this summer, but curiosity got her. I hesitantly agreed, but reminded her that it was 73 degrees, but the end of the week it could be snowing (I made that comment having not seen the weather forecast). Lo and behold...
Here is Davis with a buzz.
I just read about a Pastor giving up yelling for Lent...and another one giving up control for Lent. Adds a whole new meaning to fasting and sacrifice, huh? There is actually great value in sacrificing something during this season. It has a way of preparing your heart for the coming and power of Easter.
Just had an additional thought(s)...
OK, this post is me being transparent. Perhaps more transparent than some of you think I should be. I look at it this way. This is my blog! This is my place and avenue to share my heart. The good, the great, the vision, the memories, but even the bad, the frustrating and the personal. I am sometimes cautious as I work to find the blogging balance, but today I am needing to bear heart...
Leadership is not easy. You are constantly in the spotlight. People are regularly formulating opinions about the ways in which you have violated their perception of who you should be. They also need someone to blame when there church looks and feels differently than they want it to. I am the perfect target for some. It must be my fault. I am the Lead Pastor. Hence, people have negative stuff to say. All that is normal. I know that. I need to just accept it and get used to it. Here is the problem. You would be shocked at how little of this negative I get the privilege to hear (and I do mean privilege because it almost always proves mutually enriching when people biblically confront). It is shared with plenty of people...except me! I have been adjusting to this reality for almost years now and it doesn't seem to be getting much easier. This is an area of my leadership that needs work. I am always looking to hear the next criticism. It is not healthy and I will not be able to function long term that way.
Well, I think that I turned over a new leaf today (with the help of a dear friend). I decided to make a new commitment that I think will pay big dividends over the long haul...and is quite biblical. Here it is:
I know longer am willing to hear or entertain any negative opinions about me unless they are coming directly from the person concerned. This would include:
I can't hear this stuff and function in a healthy way. I am human and it hurts. It leaves me unsure of what to do, what to believe, who to confront, whether to confront or how to change. Hence, my new philosophy. The only things that are important enough to hear and respond to are the things that people are willing to talk to me about directly according to Matthew 18.
So, I ask you a favor. If you ever hear anything negative about me...
Maybe you are reading this and you have something you want to share. I welcome hearing from you directly. You may have read this and thought...wow! Pretty direct today, Noah! My question to you is...where is the value in inauthenticity?
"Halftime" and AWANA is canceled for tonight due to weather. Our policy is that if PG County cancels evening activities, so do we! So, we had to cancel for tonight.
It feels silly to cancel with practically no snow on the roads. Oh well, that is what we get for having a policy. We have to follow it...I guess.
Can I brag on my team for a minute? We have a great staff at CCF that bring special things to the table. I could brag on any of them, but let me pick on one today. Pastor Nelson blesses me on the regular! Earlier this week, in our one on one weekly meeting (where I am supposed to be supporting him), he blessed me and ministered to me in a big way. Then, today we worked together on our message for Sunday Morning. We are going to team teach this weekend. While we were in the throws of planning today, he jumps up and shares this passage of scripture. John 6: 22-71. As he read it to me with all the passion in the world, the story came alive. He felt it, so I felt it! I have read it countless times, but in hearing it today, it was as if I had never heard it! What a passage! I wanted to run the aisles of the Worship Center.
We will be using this passage this Sunday and quite possibly next week as well. In this passage, you will find several powerful messages for the church. And certainly for our church...one that has experienced lots of change over the last 3 years...and one that is clarifying and determining its purpose right now.
How badly I want to share the pearls that the Holy Spirit began revealing to Nelson and I today out of this passage....but I can't let the cat out of the bag. Gotta save something for Sunday. I will stop and flip to a Word Document....becoming a regular practice.
--Noah
I have said over and over again on Sunday mornings this year, that we must remain open, flexible and reliant on the Holy Spirit regarding our Sunday Messages. As we process through our purpose as a church, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to shape us and our direction.
I say that to say this: something cool happened at Staff Meeting yesterday. While we were sharing and processing together about the pulse of our community here at CCF, we felt the Holy Spirit lead us to a strong realization. This church is made up of a pretty sizable group of joiners and a pretty sizable group of belongers!
Who are joiners? Who are belongers? Why is it important to know? And what does it mean for us?
Pastor Nelson and I decided that we needed to team teach on this on Sunday! We know God is in it. We will be pulling up the couches and doing some community talk. We are about to spend the day preparing! Pray for us.
After I went to bed last night, I thought of how thankful I am for the "Adventures in Prayer" that is being held this Sunday Night at 6:00pm in the new Upper Room.
Last Sunday of every month (starting this Sunday)
at 6:00pm
In the Upper Room
There will be prayer for:
Many Thanks to Brother Lew and Pam Kaye for their leadership with this prayer initiative. It is one example of what I was sharing about in my post last night.
Some questions and thoughts are heavy on my heart tonight about prayer.
5 different people have come to me in the last 3 months to share their burden for more prayer at CCF. I agree, I agree, I agree and I share the same burden. I believe that prayer opens the windows of heaven, keeps us connected to God and God connected to us as His church! I want to see so much more prayer at CCF...a deeper hunger for it, more people doing it and it becoming a more intricate part of who we are.
Tough questions on my heart (this is me being real here):
Bottom Line is this...we need to pray more! Without ceasing! How do we do it? I have never pastored a church before CCF. I feel that this is one of my blind spots and I am not afraid to say it. However, I am afraid to ignore it. What do we do? I believe that if we put our heads and hearts together, we will see something happen! Something more!
When I walked outside this morning it felt down right weird! It was wild mild for February! What a crazy winter we are having here in DC. Marie at Starbucks said it best this morning...."it feels like the end-of-the-world type of weather."
Where's the snow? I want to go do donuts in a parking lot! Did I just say that?
Our college days will always hold a special place in our hearts. The relationships we made are at the top of the list! Among those relationships that we formed in college are David and Heather Cosme. Tricia and I always spend the Valentines Day weekend with Dave and Heather. It's a running tradition. Tricia and Dave both have great memories as they sat here and recounted the last 6 Valentines Day weekends that we have spent together (including what we ate and where we ate it). This is year #7 in a row with the Cosme's! They are here for the weekend and we are glad to have them. Good times!
Lover & follower of Jesus, devoted to my wife Tricia & my kids, Davis, Lily & Graceson, serving & living in Africa as a man on mission for the Kingdom of God.
