28 Years!

It's my birthday today and I haven't even thought about it until this week. Actually my Mom and Dad's birthday is the day before mine and I didn't even remember until Tuesday-Sorry!

The only one I seem to be thinking about is my little girl and I can't even see her. Not sure if that is good or not? By the way she will be 25 weeks on Monday!

My 28th birthday wish is not for myself, but that Chloe would grow up Loving God, Loving her Family and Loving Life.

Genuine Leadership

"A Genuine Leader doesn't search for consensus he molds the consensus."

-Martin Luther King Jr.



It's our job as leaders to Cast the Vision, not make people run with it. We must write the vision on their hearts with our words and on paper with a pen. When you define The Win, the purpose behind your vision, a culture is molded around that vision. And instead of searching for the next best idea, that idea is birthed out the culture created around the vision.

Leaning Into The Dip

Seth Godin has a book titled "The Dip", a short read I recommend to anyone in leadership or business. It's been a while since I read it, but some difficulties I've been facing this last week brought one of the principals back to mind.

It seems any time you get a Vision to do something and Start Doing It, opposition finds a way to make you struggle with sticking to the vision. There is always a low point of near failure called The Dip, where you wonder if it's worth continuing or should I push through. The short of it is I discovered the Vision God has given me is worth pushing through.


After a week long struggle at every turn I saw The Win this weekend. Through all of the distractions and mistakes (man I hate that word) I believe some ground was gained and the Vision is getting clearer.

Stick with it, don't give in, push forward because the pay off is bigger than you can see right now. Lives will be changed, dreams realized and history written because you choose to lean into what God has called you to do.

Free!

Jim Wideman is now offering to impart what has taken him years to learn for Free. If you sign up for his monthly newsletter you'll also get his leadership teaching on MP3 for Free for the rest of the summer. His main focus is Children's Ministry, but he is a very good teacher on leadership and I highly recommend it.

Cultivating Your Prayer Life

A couple of months ago I was asked to speak in last Wednesdays service at my church. I first want to say it was an Honor and I greatly enjoyed it!

I talked about praying in minutes. Praying in the morning for a few minutes, on the way to work, at lunch, on your way home and before you go to bed. So prayer becomes a part of your everyday life. As we all Do Life we have so many things pulling on us and demanding our time, we don't always have large blocks of time for fellowship with God. Mark Batterson blogged something this morning right in line with that.

Mark posted about a 40 Day Prayer Challenge, that I am personally starting today. He had 10 great ideas, here are the ones that stood out to me:

1) Set Prayer Goals--pray thirty minutes five times a week. I know that sounds a little like "punching the clock" but it's a great way to develop a habit and I believe God smiles on those kinds of goals if our heart is to hear His voice and seek His heart.

2) Keep a Prayer Journal--this is a great way to cultivate the spiritual discipline of journaling. Yes, I think it's a spiritual discipline. It's a form of meditation.

6) Set Your Alarm an Hour Earlier for 40 Days

7) Turn Your commute into a prayer walk or prayer ride--turn off the radio and tune God in.

8) Pray with your spouse before bed for forty days.

Beautiful!

As promised here is picture of the love of my life, Kristy, and the amazing gift of life growing inside of her. And after a late night run for some fruity pebbles, an early morning pancake cook off and enough corn on the cob to feed an army I still have a very happy pregnant wife. I may have exaggerated about the corn on the cob, but as that old saying goes "If momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy". So whatever momma wants momma gets!