Today I saw some old friends

Some of you that read this blog know I spent 10 years working for a company (ministry) called LifeWay. Once a month, on Friday, the division I served (Church Resources Division) has a leadership meeting for the managers and directors in the division. The Vice President for CRD (John Kramp) has extended an open invitation to me to visit this meeting as a guest at any time.

The last three years I served in this division John would give a "spiritual leadership talk" at the end of these meetings. They are always thought throuh, challenging, thought provoking, and best of all, biblical. John always presents these at the end of these monthly leadership meetings. I decided today to take John up on his open invitation and attend the end of the meeting to listen to the talk ... as well as reconnect with many friends.

As usual, the talk was inspiring. He taught on what happens when a leader's preparation meets an opportunity using the incident from the life of Joseph when he gave Pharaoh the plan to get through the time of famine. Good stuff. I hope some day John will publish / release the archives of these teachings. If he does, get a copy.

But my favorite part of today was the chance to see many old friends. The people of LifeWay are truly a special group of people. Over the 10 years I served in this ministry I got to know many of them personally. It is always refreshing to see them and do a little catching up.

The time I spent in the building at One LifeWay Plaza today also reminded me how blessed I am to have been privileged to serve in this ministry and alongside these people. For those of you familiar with the ministry of LifeWay, I would ask you to take a few moments to pray for God to continue to bless this unique ministry as they walk along side churches. LifeWay's future is as bright as ever under the leadership of Dr. Thom Rainer. He has surrounded himself with a gifted group of leaders. May God give them insights beyond their imaginations!

Welcome to my halftime

In the past few weeks I have personally past two more milemarkers in the road. I had my 46th birthday. I can still remember when my grandmother turned 50 and I thought she must be getting close to dying since she was so old. This past Sunday marked 1 year as Pastor of ClearView. That's hard to believe.

Does time really pass faster as you get older? It's cliche, but it sure seems like it. It seems like just yesterday I was pastor of a church where I was the youngest person on staff. That won't ever happen again!

But as time passes I do find myself thinking about the focus of the years I have left. I guess some would say I am at the halftime of my adult years. Maybe so. I played basketball through high school. Most people think halftime is for resting. They have obviously never played sports.

As I recall halftime usually went something like this: 1) Brief reflections on the first half, but only for the purpose of learning. No time for crying or whining because we have a second half to play. 2) The bulk of halftime was used to make adjustments needed and make any new assignments the coach felt we needed to make. We could change plays that weren't working. Add new ones we hoped would work better.

Well, if I am at halftime, here are some plays and some adjustments I'm taking in to the game in the second half.

1. Play with more urgency. The halftime score is irrelevant. The only score that matters is the one on the scoreboard when the game is over. I long to hear, "Well done good and faithful servant."

2. No whining. There is no time for self-pity. The mission I (we) have been given is not mine (ours) and it is not about me (us). That means I can't live just for MY preferences and MY desires. I personally think all desert should include chocolate and NO nuts, but I don't get it my way every time, so I compromise.

3. Don't leave anything on the floor. For those of you that may not have heard many locker room talks this means you give everything you think you have to give then give more. At the end of the game you want to be completely spent. Christ said I am to take up my cross daily. My plan is to sprint to the end, then fall over the finish line having spent all the energy and resources I have to live out that calling.

4. Pettiness is out. I honestly don't have time for it. My pettiness or anyone else's. I don't have enough emotional energy to spend any of it thinking about things that have no eternal value.
2 Timothy 2:3-4 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. To please the recruiter, no one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of everyday life.

5. Get as many as possible focused on The Mission. I am privileged to have a role that I get to spend the bulk of my time (assuming I can live out numbers 2 and 4 above) thinking and praying about how to get as many people as possible on The Mission, living The Mission, and being obsessesed with The Mission.

Will you join me on The Mission?
Matthew 28:19 - 20 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.

Expelled

I don't go to a lot of movies these days because there is just not much worth seeing. But I took the opportunity today to see "Expelled", the movie / documentary made by Ben Stein. Wow! Ben and his team did a great job of uncovering evidence of the scientific community's cover up of any openness to Intelligent Design. Scary!

I recommend this one as a must see. I will definitely own the DVD when it is released.

Met a Titan Today

As the previous post indicated, today was the ROI (Return on Integrity) lunch with David Thornton (Titans linebacker) as our guest speaker. You know how this can go if you bring in a "professional athlete" or some other "famous person" but you have never heard them speak or you have never spent time with them personally. You are just not sure how it will come off.

Well, I've got to tell you, I was very impressed with David and his openness about his relationship with Christ. You knew early in his presentation "this is going to be good"! He shared his story of his college experience ... which wasn't a lot of playing time at University of North Carolina. That is, until his 5th year! That's when he was all conference, etc. Now, that's perserverance. Then drafted in the 4th round by Indianapolis. And after a few years, coming to the Titans.

It was obvious Tony Dungy influenced him and his faith greatly during his time in Indy. David did say there were about 12 guys on the team that are holding each other accountable to read the Bible through in a year. Is that great or what!?

It was heartwarming to know some of these guys that are in a position of influence as a role models for so many young people are passionate about their faith and live it out loud every day.

Thanks David! [Like he is going to read my blog ... LOL]

Join David Thornton for lunch - National Day of Prayer

We still have a few spots open for lunch this coming Thursday (National Day of Prayer). David Thornton (linebacker for the Tennessee Titans) will be our guest. He will be giving his testimonty during this lunch. We will be meeting at Mere Bulles in Maryland Farms in Brentwood. You can find more information and register online here.