Blog post on Toy Story 3 by Donald Miller

Check out this blog post by Donald Miller. He shares some interesting thoughts on life and leading a team based upon the movie Toy Story 3.

Toy Story 3: What We Can Learn From a Great Story Pt. 1 of 3

"Who is the Holy Spirit and why should I care?"

If you are a Christian and someone were to ask you, "Who is the Holy Spirit and why should I care?", how would you answer them?

If you have some thoughts, I would like to hear from you. On Sunday morning we are doing a message on The Forgotten God. This is our fourth message on What Makes Christianity Christian? series.

Send me any thoughts or questions you have and I will try to incorporate them in my message.

The Forgotten God

In his book The Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit Francis Chan says, "The Holy Spirit is absolutely vital to our situation today. Of course, He is always vital; but perhaps especially now. After all, if the Holy Spirit moves, nothing can stop Him. If He doesn't move, we will not produce genuine fruit--no matter how much effort or money we expend. The church becomes irrelevant when it becomes purely a human creation."

Power through Prayer 2

E. M. Bounds in his classic book Power through Prayer says, "What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow on methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men--men of prayer."

Do you agree or disagree with Bounds' comments? Why?

Power through Prayer

How would you describe your prayer life? What kinds of things are central to your requests? Do you tend to pray primarily about your “wants” and things that have little eternal significance? Or is your prayer driven by the missional mindset of Christ to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:1-10)?

Do you pray specifically expecting God to answer? Or do you protect yourself from disappointment and pray in a manner that is so generalized you would never know if God had responded in some way to your prayer?

Would you describe your prayer life as powerful? Would you say that your prayer produces wonderful results?

James 5:16 says, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

What does it mean to pray earnestly? What does it mean to be a righteous person? When you read this text how do you want to see God change you and the way you pray?

Tell me what you think.

Forest Home 2

Last week Joy, the kids, and I went to Forest Home in the San Bernardino Mountains. It was a great time to connect, worship, rest, and play.

In this picture Caleb is engaging in a little competitive "diving" - trying to score points for his team!

We also had some time with the Contreras family, who are always a blast to hang out with!

On the last night Joy and I had dinner with Stan and Angie White. Stan is the president and CEO of Forest Home. I enjoyed getting to know him and learning more about the history of the camp and their vision for serving churches and building the kingdom.

Forest Home

I'm taking Joy and the kids to central and southern California for a couple of days. We're going to stop off at San Luis Obispo on the way. We're going to look at Cal Poly, the mission, go to Pismo Beach, and then continue south for family camp at Forest Home.

I hope to come back with some fun stories to share.

Until then, grace and peace!

When God's Grace Shows Up

In Titus 2 Paul tells us what happens when God's grace - his love and power - invades our lives.

It prepares and empowers us to say no to sin of every kind. It trains and strengthens us so that we are the masters of our impulses and we are able to live healthy and holy lives filled with the joyful expectation that Christ Jesus - our great God and Savior - is coming again.

Christ Jesus laid down his life for ours so that he could set us free from the power and contamination of sin. Now we can be God's holy people excited and passionate about doing what is right!

What if we prayed?

On Tuesday during staff meeting we had an interesting conversation. I asked the staff what would happen if we were to grow - really grow - in our understanding and practice of prayer and dependence on God? How would our church be different?

The answers were interesting. Elsa said we would hear from God. Matt said it would change everything. There would be a sense of God at work. Tessa said we would have a greater sense of boldness and urgency in everything we do.

There have been times for me when so much of prayer has felt boring or like a long list of petty petitions about a lot of things that don't really matter.

I want to change. I want to be changed. I want to grow in my understanding and practice of prayer and dependence on God!

Strategic Planning

In his book Advanced Strategic Planning Aubrey Malphurs says that every church or organization has a corporate soul. Effective leaders seek to understand and tap into the core values that are the heartbeat of the church or organization.

Malphurs says that these core values are building blocks or DNA that explain why the church does what it does. And these values become the foundation on which the mission and vision are built.

As a single individual’s values explain what is most important for a person and what drives his/her behavior, a church's values explain the priorities of a church and what drives its behavior.

The Importance of Values:

Malphurs lists nine reasons why a church’s values are important.

1. “Values determine ministry distinctives”

Values define the culture of a church and the culture of the church is what makes it unique.

2. “Values dictate personal involvement”

The more an individual shares the values of a church, the more involved they will be. The less that a person shares the values of a church, the less involved they will be.

3. “Values communicate what is important”

A basic principle for people and organizations is that what is valued gets done. What isn’t valued is usually ignored.

4. “Values embrace good change”

This, of course assumes, that the organizational values of a church are good. If a church doesn’t have healthy defining values, it may resist change when God wants it to embrace change and grow.

When we have healthy values and we have clearly identified them, they help stir the decision-making process of defining good change.

5. “Values influence overall behavior”

What is truly valued gets done. If we say it’s a value, but we don’t really value it at a heart level, then it won't really drive our decisions and behavior.

6. “Values inspire people to action”

When a group of people share values it has a unifying and energizing effect that mobilizes a cooperative effort that results in greater impact.

7. “Values enhance credible leadership”

Leaders must articulate their values well if they hope to lead people in any kind of kingdom-building venture. If people do not know or respect the values of a leader, then the leader’s ability to influence others will be compromised.

8. “Values contribute to ministry success”

Malphurs says, “It is the organization’s ingrained understanding of its core values more than its technical skills that make its success possible.” (page 99)

9. “Values determine ministry mission and vision”

Malphurs says, “Just because a church decides that the Great Commission will be its mission does not mean that this will be the case. If the church does not value evangelism, then in reality it will have some other mission that aligns more closely with its values, whatever they may be. churches that are not evangelical or that do not value the Bible may have some other mission and vision based on what they do value.” (page 100)