Recent Blog Posts

The Little Leader

May 23, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I’ve attended some of the best leadership conferences and have heard inspiring talks about leadership.  From Catalyst to the Global Leadership Summit to the Chick-fil-a Leadercast, amazing leaders and speakers have shared their best.  But after all of these leadership events, you know what happens? I go home. Back to my family.  Back to work. [...]

Breaking Down the Best TED Talks

May 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

In the 20th Anniversary edition of WIRED Magazine, Jason Kehe gives the winning formula for the most successful TED talks.  I listen to several TED talks a week, so I found his list right on the money. Simple PowerPoints slides or graphics. It turns out, most great presentations have simple presentations with minimal graphics.  Those [...]

Ten Things Pastors and Preachers Can Do During the Summer

May 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Pastors, what are your summer plans?  Here are ten suggestions for how you can maximize those summer months. Take some time off.  Summer is a great time for a family trip or a vacation (yes, those are different).  Invite some people over to your home.  Maybe some volunteers, or key leaders or a group of [...]

Three Things Churches Can Outsource

May 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

In my work with the Rocket Company, I’m blessed to be able to work with hundreds of churches, especially in the area of preaching, volunteers and giving.  One of the questions church leaders frequently ask is the amount of their budget that should go to staff.  For most churches, this is the single biggest line [...]

Selah

May 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I was  with a friend the other day and asked how work was going. I explained our free trial model – how we let people test drive our coaching programs for 14 days. And then I explained how tough it was for me to see so many people decide not to move forward. Highs and lows.  Hills and valleys. [...]

Is the Internet Making Us Dumber?

May 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Nicholas Carr, writing in Wired Magazine, gives us powerful food for thought. What kind of brain is the Web giving us?  That question will no doubt the subject of a great deal of research in the years ahead.  Already, though, there is much we know or can surmise – and the news is quite disturbing. [...]

Basic Christianity by John Stott [book notes]

May 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

As a part of my 2013 personal growth plan, I’m reading slowly through twelve books this year.  Last month, I read Basic Christianity by John Stott.  Here are some of the things I highlighted my notes. Whenever our behavior is inconsistent with our belief, or our practice contradicts our preaching, we take God’s name in [...]

Sermon Notes: Andy Stanley – Follow Part Five

May 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Here are my notes from Andy Stanley’s message today at NorthPoint Community Church.  This was the fifth message in a series called “Follow.”  Catch all the messages in the series here. “I didn’t choose to become a Jesus follower because I loved Jesus but because I didn’t want to go to hell.”  A lot of [...]

Sermon Notes from Andy Stanley: Follow – The Fine Print

May 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Here are my notes from Andy Stanley’s message entitled The Fine Print.  It’s part five of the Follow series, which you can watch at followseries.org.  Mark 8:27 and the verses that follow were the main passage. Following isn’t always fun. Jesus was the Messiah – that’s a Jewish word.  ”Christ” is the Greek version of [...]

A Word to Pastors for Mother’s Day

May 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Mother’s Day is a big day for many churches and the mother’s day sermon is really important.  And while the day can be a great celebration, it can also be a painful time for many people.  Here are a few helpful lessons for Mother’s Day and preaching a Mother’s Day message. 1.  Don’t say “I’d [...]