Becoming a godly influence

Getting the full Value from our Life Lessons is greatly enhanced when we have a influencer in our life, a coach, a mentor, a parent.

Life lessons occur around us all the time and generally go unnoticed and unappreciated. The role of the influencer is to help us recognize the lasting principles displayed in these moments. The influencer has the power to drive the point deep into the formative DNA of our souls so that we never forget the incredible lessons of life. Influencers are the memory markers. Life is the memory maker. Life presents the opportunities for memories to be made, but the influencer points them out and marks them in our soul. The influencers help us discover the full weight of the events in our lives. They point out the principles.

How are you helping others discover the significance of their days?

Making Progress on the Journey

 My friend and often source of great annoyance, Dennis, once again challenged me to pick up the pace on my journey. Specifically he suggested that rather than simply share what the books I read said, I should share the impact they had on me. I think his point was to move the conversation from shallow information to a deeper level of transformation.

 

So here goes:

 

I just finished reading Andy Stanley’s book “The Principle of the Path” and it dove tailed into a conversation I have been having with my brother, Jeff Hanson and our other brother, Jay Jordon. Our conversation has been about the challenge to determine what to direct our attention and thus time towards. Jeff shared an article with us in which a successful man was asked “What is the most important thing that you do to achieve what you define a success?” His answer was profound. He said, “I spend one hour of every day deciding what to do with the remaining twenty three hours.”

 

My challenge is being disciplined enough to “decide” what I am going to focus on. All day, every day, I face the challenge of not allowing other people or urgent situations to determine what I pay attention to. It is a constant battle of prioritization, where feelings get hurt and people get mad because what I believe I must pay attention to is not what they would like me to focus on. However, as Andy Stanley says in this book our destination is determined solely by the path we travel. The road doesn’t care who you are, what your intentions were, or how smart you are, it simple takes it’s travels to where it leads. The direction of our path determines our destination, there are no exceptions. And our attention, what we pay attention too, what we think about, what we focus on determines our path. So “attention determines direction which determines destination.”

 

What are you paying attention to? Who are you paying attention to? We drift toward whatever we focus on.

 

I am going to pay more attention to my wife’s needs. I am going to focus on spending time with my kids. At work I am going to direct my time to: Discipling Leaders, Teaching on Sundays, and long term visioning. And to do this I am willing to take the licks for not doing the 3 thousand other important things.

 

Dennis, thanks for the guidance, I think this helped me personally process the material more deeply.      

Recent Reads

Okay. So I have clearly not being doing very well with my goal of blogging my reading reflections. I will not waste the time with explanations, but will rather quickly try to catch up.

 

Recent Reading:

In the category of Finances/ leadership:

Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate by J. Clif Christopher.

This book completed my stint of reading books on money and was outstanding. It really dealt with the churches failure – my failure – to connect with people in a way that will help them give to the God’s ministries through the local church.  I wouldn’t necessary recommend this book to everyone, but it is a must read for every pastor or leader in the area of church finances.

 

In the category of Sociology/ business:

The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell

A historical review of the factors which create momentum and result in a “tipping point” which cause something to catch on and spread like wild fire. It explores what causes things to become popular fads or go viral. It was a really pretty fascinating, but was a book in which it is easy to get a bit bogged down. The three principles of epidemic transmission are: 1) The Law of the Few 2) The Stickiness Factor 3) The Power of Context.

 

In The category of Ministry Systems:

Fusion by Nelson Searcy

Good book. Very practical information about how to turn first-time guest into fully-engaged members of your church. I recommend it for all church leaders.

7 Practices of Effective Ministry by Joiner/Jones

Excellent and totally enjoyable. I lead my whole leadership team through this book. It is a very easy read with clear and insightful wisdom. Everyone needs to read this book.

 

In the category of Leadership:

Go Big by Easum/Cornelius

Great book for pastors or ministry leaders about thinking on a different scale. Probably not for everyone but for the leader with the right personality some useful information.

Revolutionary Leadership by Tri Robinson

I actually reread this book while in the Holy land and had forgotten how good it was. Again probably best suited for pastors, but useful information about being a leader and developing systems to support ministry. It is basically the story of how Tri started the Vineyard in Boise.

The Radical Edge by Steve Farber

This is the sequel to his first book, The Radical Leap, but you could start with this one I suppose. I LOVE THIS BOOK! I loved his first one and think every leader of anything should read these two books. They are very short and very easy to read. They are written in story form and weave great wisdom and insight into the story through colorful characters.

 

Okay so that catches me up on my recaps.

I am currently reading or rereading:

“Ordering your Private world” by Gordan MacDonald

“The Principle Factor” by Andy Stanley

“The Relationship principles of Jesus”

Giving

One of my goals for this year is to write a brief review of the books I read to help me retain the insights gleaned. Part of the rationale for this undertaking comes from a book I read last year that I think said you know you are reading too much if you are not reflecting and apply what you read. (But I can’t make sure that is what it said because I can’t remember where I read it.)

So here goes:
All three of the books I have read this year have to do with money or more specifically our heart toward money and our habits of giving. This is unusual reading for me and has been significantly impacting. These books have grown me in some really neat ways. My entire outlook on giving has been greatly expanded.

The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn
Basically the treasure principle is “you can’t take it with you – but you can send it on ahead.” There are several “keys” to unlocking the reality of this mentality.
Key #1 God owns everything. I’m His money manager.
Key # 2 My heart always goes where I put God’s money.
Key # 3 Heaven, not earth is my home.
Key #4 I should live not for the dot but for the line.
This was a really good point. The “dot” is our life on earth and the line is our eternal life.
Key # 5 Giving is the only antidote to materialism.
Key # 6 God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my
standard of giving.
After reading this book I made a commitment to be a generous giver. In fact, I signed a giving covenant and that begun an exciting journey.

The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach
A simple and enjoyable read this book lays out a “powerful one-step plan to live and finish rich”. This is really a money management book which provides a simple practical step of making sure you are wise with your money. The concept is basically that you will not consistently make wise choice so take the choice out of your hand by setting everything up to operate automatically. Make the commitment one time and reap the long term benefits of the wise choice. I have redone several of my financial things because of reading this book. Specifically increasing my pretax retirement contribution and I am rethinking my current mortgage arrangement.

The Blessed Live by Robert Morris
This was an extremely challenging book for me, but I loved it because it really stretched me. He masterfully keeps from tripping into a prosperity gospel yet celebrates the generosity of God to generous people. I can’t really explain it, but my heart shifted during the reading of this book and I suddenly wanted to give. I wanted to give as much as I could. I wanted to give more than I could. I got true joy from giving. God has repeatedly shown me that He blesses givers so they can be even more generous givers.

I have now started reading “The Tipping Point” and the introduction totally hooked me.

Creating a Win Win World

I’ve been thinking again. I know it is dangerous on those rare occasions when my mind actually turns on and starts producing thoughts but wouldn’t it be great if we could create a “Win Win World”.

 

Yea, I know times are really hard right now for a whole lot of people. People are losing jobs and everything is costing more. Heck, if you have a job you can hardly afford the gas to get to and from work. Stocks are down and stress is up. I know it looks bad on the surface, but I’ve been thinking, what if God wants to use these times for something amazing. See here is what I am noticing, some people feel like they have nothing left but time on their hands others are being stretched so thin they can’t find the time to get everything done. So what if we started helping match people with time or talent with those who have needs.

 

Think about it. This is the perfect time to get some help with that project you have been putting off. Maybe it is a new web page for your business. Maybe it is landscaping your yard or building a new deck. You name it and I bet there is someone in our community of faith who could help you. Got an extra room and need a roommate? Looking for a carpool to school or work?

 

I am getting calls every day from people who are looking for work and they have lost more than income. They need to make a difference. They need to have some purpose to their days as well as a little cash to cover some bills. So let me know if you have a project and I will try and match you up with someone who can help.

What is in your head?

This series we have be doing at The Chapel on waiting has really picked my interest. (If you haven’t heard them, you can pull them of Itunes.)

The thing is I don’t really think the depths of the topic can be explored in a presentation format. There are so many twist and turns. So many “yea but”s that I think a conversation is required to fully develop the thought and accurately explain all the possible misunderstandings that can arise.

 So what have you been thinking about what you’ve been hearing? Let someone know what is happening in your head. I would love to hear your reflections.

There is nothing more significant more valuable than being made more like Christ.

  What would you do if you ran a business and it was losing money because of faulty equipment, poor management and lousy inventory control? I’ll tell you what you would do. You would improve the equipment, change the management and tight up your inventory control process because profit is the point. The value of the company is determined by the profit it produces so anything that ultimately hampers making a profit must be eliminated.   

With that same tenacity we must begin to grasp the value of our being conformed to the image of Christ.  The value of our life is determined by our Christ-likeness so anything that ultimately hampers that must be eliminated.

A Question for you.

A friend, actually it was the guy who got me started with this blog, just showed me that over 4,000 people have visited this blog. That absolutely blows my mind.  I am amazed that so many people have passed this way and I am amazed at how quite they have been. So I would like to invite those who are flying bye to stop for a second and share a bit.

Here is the current question I am pondering: Why do people go to church? Or if they don’t go, why don’t they go? Maybe the question is really what are people looking for and why or why don’t they think they can find it at church?

It doesn’t have to be much or any where close to profound, but I would love to hear what you think.

Crisis & Parenting

I’m not thinking about the crisis’s of parenting, although that would also be a topic worth pondering, I am thinking about crisis’s and I am thinking about parenting.

 

Lately I have been dealing with a lot of families who are experiencing crises of one form or another and I am discovering that crisis’s strip aware all the pretenses and get everything right down to the core. I have been amazed at the hidden strengths revealed within some families and by the complete absences of a sustaining strength in others.

 

That is where my thoughts have shifted to parenting. What produces this strength to endure devastating blows? How do I instill it in my kids? How do I develop it in my friends? Heck, how do I get it myself? Do you know when you have it? Is it a decision or is it a core belief? Does it have more to do with community or character?

 There is one thing of which I have become certain, the blow will come. At some point your legs get taken out from under you and then you have to see what you have left to stand on. I am also pretty sure that those who survive the blows the best are those who were prepared for them. They may not have known they were prepared and may not have intentionally prepared, but they had that strength.

Friday!?

Well it is Friday afternoon. I suspect that phrase conjures up a different feelings in the pit of a pastor’s stomach than it does for those who are not pastors. I think Friday’s are different for Pastors than for non-Pastors. Not better or worse, just different.

My wife went out of town for the weekend with a friend to go skiing. I have 20 people coming over tonight for a party and due perhaps to poor choices on my part; I still have two talks to write before Sunday. The point being that Friday seldom symbolizes “It is finished”, but most often represents it is all about to be “upon you”.

So while my plan is to take Friday’s off I am generally caught in the inevitable dilema to attempt to finish work and I end up here at the office. Yet there is still something about Friday’s that is impossible to completely escape. It is in the air I think.

 I spent the early morning hours with God and then was joined by some close friends. I spent most of the rest of the morning simply visiting with another friend. Oh our meeting began about “church work” stuff, but soon we were sharing our hearts. We were pulling for each other and speaking life and hope to one another. He shared his struggle that he felt that much of what he did didn’t matter and had no lasting effect. I found it hard to image that he could feel that way and then it hit me. Maybe what I do matters more than I realize. Maybe we are all making more of a difference that we are aware. Maybe people really do read my blog.  

Magnum P.I. once said, “The best way to know yourself is to look in a mirror and the best mirror of your self is your friends.”  If I turn out as good as my friends I will be very pleased.

 Make a friend this weekend by being a friend.