The Original March Madness

TrueLife has been going through a message series that we have just finished, “The Original March Madness!”  It was a great series.  As I was thinking through the series,  I was thinking what were some key thoughts that have been communicated.

#1  TLC Core Value:  “You can belong before you believe.”  You can be part of community and experience the love of Christ through the Church before you commit your life to Christ.  What I love about this core value is that Jimmy Long has said in his book Generating Hope that there will be two conversations for the postmodern.  A conversion of community and then a conversion to God.  Our core value opens the door to reaching the postmodern generation.

#2  “Chasing the miracle moment instead of experiencing the miraclous life.?  We meet a lot of people chasing after a miracle moment instead of expecting God to work through our lives everyday.  The miraculous life is being a source of encouragement to those who are in dispair, it is praying and believing that God is with us and working out the details in our life that are beyond our control.  The miraclous life is allowing Christ to be part of our life everyday.

#3 God has called us to share our life with others and to not to live life alone.  I really believe that we cannot make it the long haul with our journey to follow Christ without joining with the community of believers and being involved in each others life.  I need you just as much as you need me.  I think it is key to point out that being involved with other believers means that we share what God is doing in our lives and also extending to others support and exceptance.

I know in the series other things stand out like: being pentecostal – which means to be in community, be inclusive and live missional lives, but my real question goes out to other TrueLifers:

– What stands out in your mind as we went through The Original March Madness?

– Second, Do you have any stories of what has happened in your life through the series?

UNC Customer Service

Today I had oriantation for my new position with UNC Health Care.   Since our family decided to partner with True Life Church in their church plant, this position will help me supplement my income for our family. 

One of the values that UNC strives as a public health care facility is customer service.  I really like their definition of first impressions.  Basically they said that first impressions is “the consumer’s reality of who an organization is.”  Great first impressions is vital as an organization for health and growth.  We need to continually evaluate how we respond to our customer base,  identify barriers that inhibit our customer to connect to our facility and create an atmosphere where team members go out of their way to make sure that everyone is able to receive the full benefit of the organization.  If you were to evaluate your customer service, how would you rate your organization?  Here are some questions to help:

– Is my facility easily visible?  If not, how can you help your customer have an easier time finding you.

– Once your customer arrives do they have a clear idea where they need to go?  This is where we need signs and team members to help direct individuals. 

– Once our customer reaches their destination, do they receive prompt friendly service?  Do they know that they are valuable as a customer?  How do you communicate this through your team members?  

– Are my team members positive and well educated about the organization and its services? 

 I’d like to keep this open ended.  What other questions do you ask yourself when evaluating your customer service?  I know for us who are in ministry, we don’t call this customer service, but the principles still apply.  I’d love to hear your comments! 

Get Motivated

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a business motivational conference at the RBC Center here in Raleigh, NC.  They had a couple of speakers that had some good leadership thoughts that I wanted to pass your way.

The first person that I want to highlight on is Coach Roy Williams from UNC.  He shared some of his favorite quotes that he uses with his team.  Here are a few of his thoughts: 

“Persistence prevails when all else fails.”

 “You can’t control the wind, but you can adjust the sails.” 

“Great opportunity comes from those who take advantage of small ones.”

“Nothing great is achieved without enthusiasm.”

“The speed of a Thoroughbred can be measured by a watch, but the speed of the race measures the heart.”

“Everyone has the will to win, champions are those who prepare.”

“A winner makes commitment, a loser makes promises.”

” A man must live with himself, he must see that he is in good company.”

“It’s amazing how much can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.”

“Do not condemn your neighbor unless you have walked in his moccasins for two full moons.”

“Good teams have good players, great teams have great teammates.”

“He who climbs the highest is those who helps others up.”

“We don’t have to be alike to be together, but we must be together to be affective.”

“When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.”

“Success is a journey not a destination.”

“One of life’s great pleasures is doing what others tell you, you cannot do.”

“Focus, sacrifice, work together”

“Play together, work hard, plat smart, recruit”

The second person that had some great leadership thoughts is Gen. Colin Powell. 

1.  Set clear goals for those serving with you. Have a clear mission and strategy.

2.  Take care of those who work for you. 

– Help them to be more skillful

– Equip them

– Recognize and reward hard work and accomplishments

3.  Find the weak part of the organization. 

– The key to a strong organization is strong leaders.  If you cannot develop those who are working with you then you must release them and find the best leaders for that area.

– Build a solid bond of trust within the organization.  I believe this is built by being consistent in your leadership, honest in your dealings, showing care by equipping and listening.  This element of trust is not built overnight, it takes leaders handling hard situations with care and handling them with integrity.  I have worked with those who have not  handled situations well and I  have lost trust and respect for their leadership. 

4.  Face reality don’t ignore it! 

– Change things that aren’t working well. 

Well that is all I’m going to highlight on for today.  Hope some of these great thoughts and insights inspire you to be a better leader and follower.

Demas

One of the hardest parts of ministry for me is investing into a person’s life for a season and a couple years down the road they make a choice not to follow Christ.  They begin connecting with wrong relationships that lead them astray or they just choose that the pleasures of this world is more valuable then following Christ.  So today let’s look at Demas who was one of Paul’s followers who abandoned him after ministering with him for 2 years. 

 Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. Colossians 4:14

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.   Philemon 1:23-24

Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.  2 Timothy 4:9

Many of us have heard Bible stories of the rich young ruler who had to chose to follow Christ and he didn’t, but I found a guy named Demas who was a co-labourer with Paul.  Demas went through many difficult situations with Paul, we know this because Paul held Demas in high regards, and was even imprisoned with Paul for the sake of the Gospel.  What is so hard to comprehend is when a person has been exposed to the miraculous, has sat under personal teachings of Paul and even stood up for his faith; he chose to deny Christ and follow after his own fleshly desires.  I’m sure Paul was sadden as he shared the news of his once companion in the good fight of faith and now has been deserted. 

The thing we must always remember is that Demas didn’t deny Paul, he denied Christ and made a personal choice to follow the world.  We in our ministries must not take the choices of those serving with us personal, it is spiritual.  The enemy would like nothing better than to make those who are serving in our ministries to stumble and follow after their fleshly desire, we must never stop believing in prayer that God would keep our people strong and do our best to equip each one of them. 

My Values

I heard a quote the other day that stated, “How you spend your time is the clearest indicator, especially to other people, what’s important to you.”   How you spend your time is also a true measurement of what you believe in. Whatever you say your #1 value is must line up with your calendar.  How much of your calendar day is wrapped up with what you say is your value?  It is obvious to me that I value blogging.  Almost everyday I focus on this addicting way of communication. 

The best way to gauge your life values is by journaling how you spend your time each day.  Start when you wake up and end the journaling process when you go to bed.  If you say being with your family is a value, how much time do you spend with them?  One ministry value that I say I have is mentoring others, but how much time do I spend growing and developing leaders?

There are some healthy values that we need in our life, but maybe we have not thought through how to make it part of our life.  Maybe they are not natural values that we possess, but as we begin applying these values that are unnatural to our lives, our unnatural values transform in us to be a natural value. 

The bottom line is what do you say is your life values…do they line up with your calendar?