BLeach

Dream Away

I'll be staying in Traverse City for a few more days to pray and plan with Chris Bradshaw.  We sent Chris and Nicki last April to plant our first daughter church.  I'm really proud of their first 9 months at The Oaks.

I'm hoping to accomplish three things while we're here.

I want to lay out the details for our spring Life Group campaign.  The theme is missional living.  If all goes well I'll even start writing some of the material.

I've got two leadership decisions to pray through.  I've exhausted the rational route of decision making on both of them.  I really just need to share the mind of Jesus now:)

I want to dream with Chris.  We'll pray for each other.  We'll ask some strategic questions.  And we'll imagine Metro Detroit being invaded with the love and grace of Jesus.

Thanks for your prayers:)

Some Leadership Lessons

I've spent the last few days in Traverse City with our team at an annual minister's conference we attend.  I think this was our fourth year being here together.  Nothing like getting away for a few days to worship and learn together.

Dr. George Wood was the speaker.  He taught four sessions outlining several leadership principles from Paul's three missionary journeys.  I was in heaven:)  Acts 13 - 19 is my favorite stretch of chapters in the Bible.  I love Paul's church planting drive.

Dr. Wood made some refreshing observations about Barnabas.  For starters, when all heaven broke loose in Antioch, the Jerusalem delegation sent Barnabas to check it out.  Good decision:)  His primary leadership gifting was encouragement.  So naturally Barnabas started encouraging the Antioch pioneers.  Keep it up.  Your work here is covered with the grace of God.

But it didn't take Barnabas long to discern the new church's real need.  Hundreds of people had been converted but there was no teaching strategy.  So Barnabas remembered a gifted Rabbi turned disciple he had stood up for a few years back.  And he recruited Paul to join the Antioch leadership team.  The result was one solid year of teaching that ended with people from the city tagging the church with the title Christian.

Before Paul the Antioch new converts were encouraged (Acts 11.23).

With Paul they were taught (Acts 11.26).

I wonder if Barnabas realized that his primary leadership gifting (exhortation) didn't match the primary need at Antioch (teaching).  Think about the humility it took for him to admit his need for help and invite a larger than life Paul to assume leadership in the fastest growing church around.  It would be on par with a mega-church leader today realizing his primary leadership giftings are better suited for a support role, then inviting another leader in to take the leadership reigns of the church while he stayed on as a staff member.

Incredible.

An interesting shift took place.  In Antioch "Barnabas and Paul" are identified in that order.  But after Antioch the order switches to either "Paul and Barnabas" or "Paul and his company."  It seems to me that Barnabas elevated Jesus and His Church above his ego. 

The church advanced.

And isn't that what we're after anyway?

Dependency Disciplines

During my teaching this past weekend I referred to prayer as a dependency discipline.  I really like  the combination of those two words.  I'm more accustomed to seeing the word discipline coupled with another word.

Self-Discipline

But spiritually speaking, there are certain disciplines designed to empty us of self, and reposition us to depend entirely on God.  These are dependency disciplines.  They are disciplines for the desperate.

Prayer may be the most fundamental dependency discipline.  It requires us to sacrifice time spent working on our dreams in order to share the responsibility with their original author.  Perhaps that's why prayer feels annoyingly distracting to the self-reliant yet immeasurably valuable to the Jesus-dependent.

Fasting is another dependency discipline.  It is practical dependence.  Consistent fasting teaches us to depend on God as regularly as we depend on food.  When we combine prayer and fasting together we experience a dynamic duo capable of bringing heaven to earth.

As you develop resolutions in 2007, consider growing in the disciplines that will help you hand your future back to God.

Simple Blog

One of my 21 day goals was to simplify this blog with maintenance and readability in mind.  So here's the New Year version:)

I eliminated several things from the sidebar; hopefully nothing you'll miss too much.  If you feel compelled to surprise me with a gift I can still email you a link to my Amazon wish list!

And just to dispel any potential rumors, I am still a Michigan fan.  The color change from yellow and blue was not a result of our collapse in the Rose Bowl.

Not directly at least:)

21 Day Goals

I tried to focus my goal-setting this year by establishing shorter deadlines.  Instead of making 12-month resolutions, I'm going with 21 day goals.  If the researchers are right, that's how long it takes to establish a new habit.  My theory is that if I can make small forward steps every 21 days, I can be 17 steps further along the discipline road by the end of the year.

The goal that carries the most potential...my prayer goal.  Prayer can do anything God can do.  Meeting this goal will energize the rest.

The two goals I can accomplish at the same time...working out 4 times a week and listening to four preaching podcasts a week.

The goal I'll be most surprised to achieve...my cooking goal.  I started to type the specifics and realized I might have been a little too aggressive with this one.  Do leftovers from my mom's holiday cooking count?

The goal most likely to benefit you...re-tooling this blog.  I desperately need to update and simplify:)

The goal I just added...never to sit next to these two women at a coffee-shop again.

For what it's worth, I set a total of 16 personal goals divided into four categories (spiritual health, physical health, personal growth and financial planning).  The one exception to the 21 day approach is my 2007 Bible reading plan.  I'm teaming up with a friend for 12 months on this one.

Holiday Rewind

1.2.07

1.2.07

1.2.07

Just practicing so I don't have to redo all my check deposits:)

Last week I spent four nights sleeping in my old room at my parent's house.  One of my single friends put it well when she said that going home as a single adult is like staying at a free hotel.  Laundry.  Meals.  Cable TV.  My mom gets better with time!

My dad is still a little gimpy from his knee replacement surgery.  But it didn't show in his Settler's of Catan strategy.  His famous line is "I'm out of this game" (muttered right before his first turn).  I guess that makes him the comeback gimp.  He ends up winning about 33% of the games he was never in:)

My extended family from Columbus came over for a couple days.  The good news is we made some great new memories.  The bad news is we didn't get any snow.  No snow means no record breaking snowman.  That's two straight years of disappointment:(

Michigan lost...when it mattered most.

The Lions won...when it mattered least.

And I loved celebrating Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve on Sundays with our church.  I thought both weekends had a unique flavor.  Sunday night I capped 2006 by worshipping Jesus with some friends.

Yesterday I spent the morning with Jesus and my journal, wrapping up some year-end reflection.  I really think I'll look back on 2006 in five years to realize that more was done in me than around me.

The great thing about journaling is that the next page is always blank. 

Possibility...

Positively:)