Coin

I began a new series at NStar yesterday called "Coin". The series is about what we do with what we have been blessed with, in fact we are Rich! We have had this series planned for about 4 months and then discovered that Andy & Northpoint had just done a series called "Rich"....Great stuff and great place for some ideas....okay, a lot of ideas!! We really did have this down to do for a long time!!

Today I was meeting with Steve Roach who was helping me write and formulate the upcoming message "Scream". We were going through some different stuff and study material and we fell upon a quote by Ed Young Jr......when talking about Greed he said we have to learn to be "content with our contents"!! WOW - that is right on the money!

I wish I could stand up on the stage this coming weekend and know that I have this area of my life completely under control but I do not and it is a process for me! I want to be that "content" with the "contents" that God has blessed me with....it is hard when you are driven and you have this desire to acquire and do more but you have to balance that with if God chooses to only give me what I currently have - that is cool!

Learning a lot in studying for Coin........I want to pass on the right way to my kids and they are going to do what they see not what I say!

Unload

Thoughts from the weekend:

• Georgia Tech #15 in AP poll....
• South Carolina, need I say more?
• Great start to Coin series today....bottom line - We are blessed to be a blessing and we really are rich!
• Incredible time of worship at all 3 of our services - it is hard to believe how incredible our team is every time they hit the stage!!
  
• Had soft start to our new True North "video" venue today...heard it went great but more work to be done to work out kinks before official launch on October 7
• Great crowds all 3 services.....really curious how it is going to shake out when we have 4 good times (9:30 & 11am)...a little nervous but really excited!
• Long day at the ball park today - we split a DH - should have won both!!
• Started Tony Dungy's new book on Friday - what a great man and a great coach!! It is full of great quotes and great thoughts and some good stuff to build your life around!
• Looking forward to a busy week as we keep preparing for game day on October 7th!
  
• Tomorrow - I will be studying all day and writing for the Coin series and the Fanatic series in October!
• Ready to chill for the evening!!
  

Friday........

I have always loved the day Friday, in elementary school it was the beginning of a long weekend just doing nothing!! In middle school & high school, I always remember looking forward to Friday night football or basketball games and then in high school, going out on a date or out with friends to start the weekend!! Friday's in college were the beginning of great weekends whether playing ball on the baseball diamond or just hanging out with your buddies!! It is just a great day!

It is so great to see that same expectation in my kids as they know it is the one day, even if you have homework, you can put it off until tomorrow and it is the night you start making plans about what to do for the weekend!!! Friday's are awesome!! I still love going to high school football games and on a normal Friday night, I am somewhere (Harrison, North Cobb or Kennesaw Mountain) watching a great game and seeing players, band members & cheerleaders from NorthStar!

However, selfishly I know look forward to Friday's because it is the one day Anne & I get to just be together! The kids are in school until 2:30pm and I am off and the morning & early afternoon is ours......it is a blast to just run errands, hang out at the pool or catch an early movie!! To have a best friend and that best friend be your wife is just too good!! I fell in love that good-looking Liberty U cheerleader the first time I laid eyes on her in the fall of 1989 and now in the fall of 2007 - she looks better than she did then (I don't.....in too many ways to describe) but she does!! Saturday's are full and Sunday's are crazy but Friday's are just too good!! I love Friday!! Off to enjoy the day!

Lessons

We take one Wednesday a month and bring in a guest to train & challenge our staff team. It is really easy to get into a rut and not be challenged by someone from the outside in the area of leadership. I believe that you if you as a leader are not learning and being stretched, you will slip into "ruts" that you may live in for miles. I remember the old quote, "a rut is just a ditch with both ends kicked out".....Very true!

Yesterday, Chuck Bengochea, the CEO of Honey-Baked Hams, came & spent almost two hours with our team talking about "Sustaining Excellence". It was good stuff!! Not only is Chuck a passionate follower of Christ but he brings years of great corporate experience at GE, Coke and now Honey-Baked Ham to the table. There were so many great take-aways for our team but one of the things he said that stuck out to me was......what you execute is really what represents your de-facto strategy. So many times we say we are good at this or that but the reality is what we DO and finally execute is our strategy! Chuck also made a comment that is huge for anyone in leadership and that was...you must be passionate about the destination & the journey. He said that it really does not matter what you represent, but passionate people draw followers! So true....I have watched so many churches through the years and the styles of what they did were so different but the passion of the leader was contagious! It was great to have J.R. Lee and Todd Lollis from Freedom Church with us in our meeting - they are two guys who have passion for what God has called them to do and they are going to do a great job in leading a great new church!

I guess our real leadership prayer should be.....God never let me lose my passion for You & for People!

The Art of Delegation

I got my day started early meeting with the Executive Bible study that I lead every other week. These men are not only great leaders but great men. The majority of them are either leading their companies or they are in key positions in their organizations. Today we were studying through the life of Moses and in Chapter 14 of Moses by Chuck Swindoll. The lesson we learned about was delegation and how important it is in our lives to learn to share leadership with others. It was so fascinating to hear from many of these guys (around 20) some that have reached the height of the what the world says is success and to hear about the lessons they have learned a long the way.

Moses father-in-law Jethro was huge in his life and in the eventual organization of the nation of Israel....the key was Moses listened! I am so thankful that I have guys in my life that have been that for me through the years. If I had to look back on my journey and lessons learned over 16 years in full-time ministry and 10+ years at NorthStar....learning to build great teams by delegating to the right people would be right at the top of the list!

Here is the outline from Moses by Chuck Swindoll:

Four Thoughts to Grow On:

Ex. 18:17 Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform.

1. Separate the essential from the additional

“The principle is that God assumes responsibility for enabling His man to fulfill every task to which He has appointed him. Now there are some self-imposed tasks which others can do better that we, and we should relinquish them. But even should they do them worse, we should still relinquish them – a severe test for the perfectionist?” J. Oswald Sanders in Spiritual Leadership

2. Restrain yourself more, involve yourself less

3. God’s servants are not exempt from natural laws

“You will break the bow if you keep it always bent” Old Greek Motto

“his eye was not dim, nor was his vigor abated” Deut. 34:7 Moses was 120 when he died

4. Efficiency increases as we relinquish

(adapted from Moses by Charles Swindoll)

Post game

It feels good to chill out after a crazy day today.....

• Great day at NStar - Chris did super leading in the Lord's supper...always a great time to stop & reflect and remember how much He really did love us!
• Due to not speaking today - I was able to go up and hang out with the students for a few minutes....even thought it was Labor Day - the middle & high school students were slammed in the new True North auditorium - it was nuts!!
• We announced our new schedule today that begins Oct. 7th.....2 great times (9:30 & 11:00am) in both the Compass Centre and now in the True North venue. We will be shooting the signal to True North live so we will have awesome worship in both places and I will be speaking live in Compass and on video live in True North!! It is going to be awesome!! ALL ministries will meet at both hours - I will keep you posted on how it goes - as usual - NStar people just go with the flow! Our people are the best!!
• My travel baseball team won again today 11-3....we are off to a great start!
• Came to tonight after a long day and hit the pool with the fam and now it feels good to just chill and know I can sleep in tomorrow!!

How about those Jackets..

Tech fans are never confident in big games....I will be honest, my expectations were low with the GT game today!! I am blown away at how complete the squad looked at South Bend!! Could this be the year? It was great to see NorthStar product Tyler Evans with big playing time today and local legend Jonathan Dwyer, a true freshman, with a TD on his 2nd collegiate carry!! Dawg fans, let us enjoy our day!! How about the Mountaineers of Appy State taking it to the Michigan Wolverines....gotta love College Football!!

If the day was not good enough...WVU won big (my Annie is happy) and my little girl's rec. football game was cancelled because not enough of the other team showed up!! I am out of hot water with my 10 year old - that is really good stuff!!