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turning tough times into triumph

Dictionary.com defines resilience as: “the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched.” In other words resiliency is the ability of a company, church, or person to bounce back after facing major adversity or suffering a life altering challenge.

Drop a Christmas ornament and it shatters. Drop an orange and it bruises. Drop a hard rubber ball and it bounces right back. These objects all react differently because they have differing compositions. They’re made of different stuff. Similarly companies, churches, and people have different compositions. When faced with serious adversity some organizations fall apart. Some put their head down, do what they’ve always done, and survive but emerge wounded and bruised. Some, however have the capacity to bounce right back.

In the book Bounce author Keith McFarland (who also wrote The Breakthrough Company) asserts that there are six steps to rebounding from tough times.

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Posted in Leadership

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I used to beat my brother up

Today was one of the coolest moments I’ve ever been a part of at a Church. Because today, I had the privilege of speaking at my brother’s Elder Installation at Genesis an Acts 29 Church Plant in Boston. For a guy who is used to speaking in front of large crowds and generally pretty good at keeping my composure…today with a heart bursting with love for my brother and for the Church I couldn’t keep it together…I lost it. Below are some thoughts from the charge that I gave to my brother, and to the Genesis Community. Granted this was a very personal day for me, so this may be a longer post than normal.

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Posted in Family, Leadership

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creating memorable moments

Life is defined by moments, especially the ones that we don’t see coming. It’s those surprising moments and how we respond to them that have the potential to shape the entire trajectory of our lives. And while life-changing moments may surprise us, they don’t just happen. More often than not, they come as the result of great planning and hard work. They come from a series of decisions, and doing the right things…or the wrong things, over an extended period of time. Eventually, in a moment, it shows up. This principle is true of companies, churches, and families. In fact, this past weekend we created a memorable experience for my daughter’s 7th birthday. Creating memorable moments can be an art, and all take the following into account:

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Posted in Family, Leadership

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when life doesn’t go according to plan

Sometimes when you’re preparing to teach it has more to do with what God wants to do in you, than what He wants to do through you. This past week I had planned on diving into a teaching series about the life of Joseph. But instead of teaching about it, I find myself living it. Life just hasn’t necessarily gone according to plan this week. So maybe the teaching series will have to wait a little bit. But until then, here’s some of the stuff I’m living in the moment.

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Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation

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fighting the sin of becoming a boring church part-2

Broken Window Theory is the idea that your environment tells you to act. That is to say, if you live in a community with run down dilapidated buildings, with broken windows, graffiti, and trash on the streets it affects your ideas, feelings, and ultimately your behavior. In the 1980’s New York City was at the height of one the worst crime epidemics in its history. In particular perhaps one of the worst places to be, was on the New York Subway. As a result, in the mid 80’s the New York Transit Authority hired George Kelling as a consultant to help with the problem. He urged them to go about combating crime in a unique manner. Clean up the subway, literally. Get rid of the trash and the graffiti. Then they began going after fare beating, people who jumped the turnstile to sneak onto the Subway without paying. Two incredibly small, non-essential, seemingly inconsequential items when you’re talking about fighting an epidemic of crime. But guess what happened. The environment of the Subway changed and with it so did the criminal behavior on the Subway.

We all know that the environment we place people in matters. And when we’re dealing with heaven and hell and not simply selling more lattes, cars, clothes, or fast food it matters all the more. Below are four simple criteria to consider when building your environments:

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Posted in Leadership