It’s Never Too Late To Start Over…

Someone recently asked me to define a “good day”!  I told them that was an easy task.  Every day I wake up in the morning and can get out of bed and help others is a good day!  Therefore, everyday is a good day for me!  In fact, when people ask me how I enjoy being a Pastor and Consultant, I tell them; “when you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life”!  And I LOVE what I do.  My website motto is: “Our goal is to facilitate Your Success”!  Check it out at: www.agleadershipservices.com.

I feel like the luckiest (most blessed, for my religious friends) man in the world.  I have a wonderful wife and children, a wonderful church family, wonderful friends, good health, financial security (as much as someone can have during our recession), and most importantly, a wonderful God I serve.  I have purpose in my life every day when I get up in the morning.  It doesn’t get much better than this…

It would be easy for me to feel guilty about not blogging for the last number of months.  It’s easy to start something, but it takes some sticktuitiveness (that’s a real word!) and perseverance to keep on keepin’ on.  And once you’ve “blown it”, doesn’t it seem so very hard to start up again?  It’s kind of like dieting (which I’ve been doing all of my life, ugh!!).  Once you blow it, it’s soooo hard to not just “pig out” because, well… I blew it, so I might as well REALLY blow it!!!  I’m so frustrated and disappointed in myself I owe it to myself to have a really good pity party!

Here’s the good news.  His mercy is new and fresh every morning!!!  The essence of mercy is “not receiving what we really deserve”!  And frankly, without Jesus, I deserve nothing but judgment.  Thankfully, every day is a new day and a fresh start.  In fact, no matter how many times you fall… to be successful, you just need to get up one more time than you’ve fallen… and you’ll finish the race.

Have you fallen down…  Are you really tired and discouraged…  Just get up ONE more time… because it’s never too late to start over!  Remember, it’s not how you start that matters…  It’s how you finish!!!  Now, join with me and let’s finish strong!!!

a new day has dawned…

 The 21st century has brought many challenges to the church. If the church (as we now know it) is going to survive, we are going to need to make some wholesale changes. No more can we open our doors and think that people are going to come in because we’re there. We are living in a post-Christian society, therefore we better have something to offer worth people’s time, energy, and resources.

At our church we are simplifying our ministry and reinventing ourselves with a lean ministry philosopy in mind. People’s lives are frenetic in general to say the least. There’s no time to spend unprofitable hours at the church. We’re going to be lucky to get people for a couple hours a week. We better make them count. We’ve developed a strategy to accomplish a new paradigm for a new era.

We’re propagating a three-fold process to help people keep a balanced lifestyle. It’s simple: Receive… Relate… Serve… In order to keep it simple we recommend to our folks to attend one service per week. Attend one small group per week. And serve others one time per week. It’s simple, but it’s a discipleship process that fits the 21st century.

The day of asking people to be at church every time the doors open is effectively an expectation of the past. This is a battle that we WILL NOT win. We must change our expectations to survive and flourish.

Remember this; it’s as simple as loving God (receive), loving people (relate), and serving the world (serve).

Simplicity is in… Complexity is out…

Your thoughts?

JPF

Why Can’t Christians Introduce People To Christ?

Colin Adams in a short article named 7 reasons why Christians have difficulty sharing the good news about Jesus Christ.  I’d like to put my own spin on his reasons.

1.    Church members can’t articulate the gospel clearly.

My response to this is easy.  Tell three stories; their story, your story, and His story.  It can’t get easier than story telling.  We can all do that.

 2.    Church members have few non-Christian friends.

We’ve been trained to insulate and isolate ourselves for fear of contamination.  It’s the power of Christ that is available to set free people from sin and bondage. It’s infiltration that we need.  Take back your city and the culture for God.

 3.    Church members lack of motivation to share the good news.

Some of us are comfortable in our lifestyles and don’t want to rock the boat with our friends and family.  Rejection is the predominate fear.  Is hell an acceptable option?

 4.    Church members are unable to answer questions.

We don’t need to have all of the answers.  We need to emphasize the fact that we have been changed and undeniably transformed by the power of God.  Let others assist us in the answering of questions.

 5.    Church member’s lives don’t properly reflect the good news.

People recognize that Christ-Followers aren’t perfect, they’re forgiven.  Humility and meekness prevent hypocrisy.  Don’t pretend you’re perfect when you’re not.  That’s what people resent about us.  Be authentic!

 6.    Church members are judgmental and lacking compassion

Serve others and the community and let them see that the church is about serving the needs of others and not judging their lifestyle.  This testimony of action will go along way to dispelling these stereotypes.

 7.    Church members don’t lead people to Christ, ministers do.

It’s about a lifestyle of relationship and friendship that cause people to stop listening to the myriad of voices around them and hone in on yours.  You are in touch with people that need Christ every day.  Share with them the good news.

Just thought I’d give you a few tidbits to consider for the weekend.  You can fill in the blanks with your own comments.  In fact, why don’t you comment on mine?

 Talk to you Monday.  Make it a great weekend.

JPF

Don’t Let Your Past Determine Your Future

With everything else going on in the world, I’m focused on simply getting my computer to work again.  Did I say again?  Yes I did.  My hard drive crashed and I had the Dell guy at the house trying to put humpty dumpty back together again!

Have you ever lost your data from not saving something?  Worse yet, have you had a problem and not backed up your data?  Either way you know that you are sc—-d when this happens!  Well yesterday was my day, but due to no fault of my own.  (A likely story)  I had a keyboard replaced and was told my hard drive wasn’t good.

So…. They replaced the keyboard and the hard drive.  Now I’m starting from scratch again.  When they replace your hard drive everything you ever had is gone.  You start with a clean slate.  In the computer world that’s a disaster especially when you haven’t backed up your data.  In the spirit realm that’s a delight.

As a coach or even as a leader, sometimes starting over is the new beginning that we all need.  As a leader we make mistakes and sometimes those mistakes can be very costly.  Don’t you sometimes wish that you could go back and have a “mulligan” (A free stroke in golf).

God desires to give each and every one of us that fresh start.  He says to let go of the past, embrace the present, and look forward to the future.  We can’t allow our past to determine our future.  Let go… and move on!!!  We all make mistakes.  Just don’t make the same ones over again.

The computer being like life, I’m not thrilled about all of the work that is still ahead of me.  Although I am thankful that I’m able to start over (my computer was running slow).  I get to “reload” all of the software afresh.  Why don’t you allow God’s grace and mercy to enable you to “reload” and start over.  You’ll be glad you did!

Remember, your future is not going to be determined by your past!!!

JPF

Sticking Closer Than a Brother

Have you ever thought about how special friends are so important to us in our lives? What is it about some people that you just don’t like them? And others you have an immediate connection?

I have a few friends that no matter how busy we get, once we reconnect whether in person, via phone or email, it’s as though our relationship hasn’t missed a beat. It could be 6 months, or even a year, but it seems like yesterday that we were hanging out and having fun together. This is the kind of relationship that we can have with Jesus. As a leader prayer should be our first priority, but if we were all honest, sometimes the urgent gets more attention than the important. And prayer is important!

The greatest “sin” a leader can commit is the lack of a significant prayer life. Prayerlessness says to God, “I can do this on my own without you”! Although I understand none of us would admit to that motivation, actions speak louder than words. The best part of having a personal relationship with Jesus is that no matter how side tracked we get, he’s always there waiting and desiring to have intimate communion with us. Sometimes I’m amazed at his patience with us. He’s always there waiting on us, as though not a day has gone by.

I’m not sure how many earthly friends you have like this, but who can believe that the God of creation is patiently waiting to spend time with us. That is a mind blower for me! No matter how busy life gets, I want to implore you to take time to meet with God daily.

Leaders have an immense need for wisdom, discernment, insight, patience, and the favor of God in their lives. As the old saying goes: “If you are too busy to pray, you’re too busy”. Remember only Jesus will never leave you or forsake you. Truly he is a friend that sticks closer to you than a brother.

Your thoughts…

JPF

Waiting Leads to Personal Renewal

It’s amazing some of the principles that the bible teaches regarding the Christian Life.  Some of them are easier to embrace and understand than others.  Waiting to enter into rest is one of those that I don’t really get, Isaiah 40:31 says:

“But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength”

It’s an oxymoron as far as I’m concerned.  How can waiting or resting really help you get renewed to take on the world?  Isn’t it interesting how much God uses the foolish things to confound the wise?

I would think that if you strength “suck it up” and keep going strong.  Only the weak stop and rest.  Yet God says that if we will wait upon Him, we’ll have renewed strength.  Do nothing and get stronger, yeah, right!

Well, I felt that little still voice in my spirit encourage me to take my morning hours to “wait upon Him”.  Now for me, I’ve got way too much to do to give the entire morning to basically spending time alone with God and doing some of my personal writings.  This would include this blog!

I think that sometimes to move forward, you need to take a step back.  That’s what I’m doing now.  No more breakfasts or early morning meetings Monday – Friday.  Why?  Because I feel as though God wants me to use the time to “wait and rest” with Him.

Stay tuned.  I’ll let you know regularly how I’m doing with this new project.  I’ll let you know whether this “waiting” really does really lead to personal renewal.  All I know is that it can’t hurt to take time with God and for the things that He has put in my heart to do with Him.

What’s your thought?  Have I lost my mind or what?

JPF

Transfomation Life Center

I just had the privilege of being on a conference call with the leadership team from Transformation Life Center.  They are entrusting three of their young men into our care as a part of their Aftercare Program.  We are honored and humbled to be entrusted with the lives of these men.

I don’t know about you, but drugs and alcohol were a very significant part of my life before I received Christ.  Until I accepted Christ personally my life was a yo-yo effect going from being clean to stumbling into these life controlling and life threatening substances.

It’s so good to know that Christ truly does make a difference, yet it’s very tough, if not impossible to do it alone.  That’s why the Bible gives us a picture of the church as a “body”, where each part needs the other parts in order to be complete.

Each of us has a part to play in the lives of our brothers and sisters, as they too have a part to play in our lives.  We truly need one another more than we’re willing to admit at times.

Are you fulfilling the calling to fill the void in the “body” or are you lacking the commitment to function according to what you know is right and true?

Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing today, whether you’re in full-time ministry or you’re a bi-vocational minister, remember this: to obey is more important than sacrifice!  Will you obey regardless of what you or others think?

Thank God for men and women that will help those struggling in the throes of addiction.  Thank God for Transformation Life Center!

JPF