I am reading a book by Charles F. Stanley. While reading I came across a section where he says “Each of us faces a four-fold challenge about any task we undertake”

It was very impactful to me so I thought I would share them with you.

1. Productivity  -  doing as much as we can
2. Quality  -  doing things as well as we can
3. Time management  -  doing things as efficiently as we can
4. Maximum impact  –  doing things as effectively as we can

That’s great insight to think about when we are taking on any task whether it’s at work or at home. So I challenge each of you as you start your week off to weigh what you do against these 4 things.

The name of the book is “How to Reach Your Full Potential for God”. It’s a great read and I will be doing a full review as soon I finish.

How do you start your day, maybe with 3 cups of coffee, maybe a trip to the gym? Every one of us has a morning routine that we live by; a game plan to help us kick our day off. Is our game plan helping us to have a more productive day or less productive day?

Most of the time we don’t have a problem planning out for something big like a vacation or getting a college degree or even a big project at work. Yet, when it comes to our daily lives we seem to just let things happen and hope for the best.

We may make a list of what needs to be done for that day, but do we have a vision for that day? Do we know how we want the day to look if we were to look back on it and say that was a good day? Now don’t get me wrong, I think lists are great but the average person never finishes their list. Some never even start because a list isn’t a plan it’s just a list.

Taking the time to plan out your day will get you a lot farther than a list of things that need to be accomplished. Try it out and see if at the end of the day you don’t get a little more done.

May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!  Psalm 20:4

Are you rock star? Have you made it to level in life where you feel you are entitled to have things your way?  If you don’t get your way do you make sure someone hears about it?

Let me give you an example in my own life. About every month my boss asks his team to make an appointment with him. Everyone on the team makes an appointment but me.  Now if your thinking I don’t meet with him that not the case. See we meet but I just walk up to him and start talking. It’s the same way with my barber. I’ve been going to the same guy ever since I got out of the army 10 years ago. I’ve never made an appointment. I usually just send a text and say I need a cut that day and somehow he works me in.

I’m not even sure why I do it, maybe because it makes me feel like a rock star. Well, I’m not and even if I was I should have more respect for people and their time. See Jesus came to serve, not to be served Mark 10:45 and if there was ever anyone who should have been treated like a rock star it was Jesus, yet he washed feet and gave his life for us. John 13:1-17

In this New Year let us all do our best to serve others rather than expecting others to serve us.

LEADING YOURSELF WELL  by (Heather Zempel)

Romans 12:8: “If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.”

Leadership is a stewardship issue.

1 Corinthians 11:1, “Imitate me, as I imitate Christ.”

Leadership begins with becoming a leader worth following.

1. Create a spiritual development plan (Acts 2:42-47)

• Seeking is the spiritual dimension of discipleship.  We want to be disciples who practice spiritual disciplines, discover and implement their spiritual gifts, develop the fruit of the Spirit, and understand and participate in the work of the Holy Spirit.
• Learning is the intellectual dimension of discipleship.  We want to be disciples who endeavor to have the “mind of Christ” and long to know more about Him.  We want to be people who are actively reading, memorizing, meditating upon, and studying the Word of God.  We want to be people who understand the core doctrines of their faith.
• Influencing is the relational dimension of discipleship.  We want to be disciples who change the culture of our generation, love our neighbors, and pass the faith to the next generation. It’s about community, discipleship, service, and mission. We want to influence neighborhoods and nations for the Kingdom of God.
• Investing is the stewardship dimension of discipleship.  We want to be disciples who are investing our finances, talents, time, energy, and resources into Kingdom work.  We want to be people whose calendars and checkbooks reflect Kingdom priorities.

2. Lean into your strengths.

3. Identify areas in which you’d like to grow.

4. Read.

5. Get around others who excel in the areas where you want to grow.

6. Write down what you are learning.

7. Put yourself in leadership situations that stretch you.

8. Have an apprentice leader.

9. Create accountability environments for yourself.

10. Take care of your personal life- family, friendships, health, finances.

Great first Day at the Right Now 09 Conference. Today events started at 1pm with worship being led by Kari Jobe, an international worship leader and songwriter.  She is a very talented young lady and she did an amazing job of helping to usher in the Spirit of God to start off the conference.

Marc Mcartney the director of events and developer of  Right Now Conference  then explained to us what Right Now is. That there is no time like right now to do what God has called us to do. That we should be “Traders” and trade in the idea of what the American dream is, and chase a larger God sized dream.

Next up was Tim Ross, the young adult pastor from The Potter’s House. As the first main speaker he opened up with a strong message of “you’re a leader, but are you worth following”. He talked about how leaders have to be H.O.T. honest, open and transparent. That leaders should not be trying to create mini-me’s but encouraging the followers to follow them as they follow Christ. He spoke from his heart and was very passionate. He even had one of my favorite quotes “Jesus did the most gangsta things ever; he came back and got his body”

The second main speaker of the morning was Alan Danielson who heads up the Editorial team at SmallGroupTrader.com. Alan spoke about the eco-systems and how everything that enters it has a positive or a negative effect. He than said now replace Eco with neighborhood and what is the impact your small group is having? He challenged us that there is no neutral. He had a great quote, “if you don’t believe there’s no such thing as neutral, try doing 65 on the highway and throw your car in neutral”.

The next half of the after noon was filled with breakout sessions. I choose one on “Developing Character while growing spiritually”. This was led by Heather Zempel, a Discipleship Pastor at National Community Church in D.C. It was a very thought provoking walk thru 10 steps of how you can be successful in growing in your strengths, working through your weaknesses and more that I will be posting about later.

The day ended with George Barna talking about master leaders. You can actually read more about that in an earlier post here.

It was a great start to the Right Now 09’ Conference. I look forward to what God is going to do over the next couple of days. Stay tuned and I will keep you posted on all that goes on.

Almost everyone knows that twice a year we adjust our clocks. In the spring we move them ahead 1 hour and in the fall we move them back 1 hour. This is done basically to give us more give extra natural light to help save on artificial light. The idea for first suggested by Benjamin Franklin back in 1784 but was not put in to use till 1916.

In our on personal life we should examine them to see what changes need to made from season to season. It is very easy to get caught in our set daily routines. Yet never really look at those routines to see what may need to be changed. We might be in a time of life where having to much on our plate is not what we need. For instance maybe you’re about to get married or children. Instead of just seeing what happen try being intentional with you marriage or your children. If your plate is already full you’ll have to look at to see what changes need to be made for these important additions.

Now you might be the opposite, your plate maybe a little on the empty side and you need to fill it up some more.  See there is no perfect plan for one size fits all or the same plan will work your entire life. We cant assume what you did in 20”s works in your 30’s or even what you did this past summer will work this winter.

Just like daylight saving time, when things change it takes sometime to get use to. For some it’s a week or less for others bit longer. Either way I encourage you to look at your plate and see if this is the right amount for this season of my life.

I’m pretty excited that next week I have been blessed with the opportunity to live blog for the LeadNow National Conference in Dallas Nov. 5^th-7^th

Speakers will be Matt Chandler, Francis Chan and many others!

The LeadNow National Conference believes that the mission of the church matters. We live in a world where followers of Christ appear to be frozen in their faith, unable to take the necessary steps required to initiate true life transformation. We believe the problem is big, but the solution is even bigger. We are calling our generation to a radical obedience.  An obedience motivated by applying our faith and not just discussing it! We believe that God is using The Church to ignite a movement of Christ followers who will put their faith in action.  You have a critical role in leading this movement.

We are calling this generation to trade in their pursuit of the American Dream for a world that desperately needs Christ.

A trader is a new kind of missionary – not defined by geography – but marked by willingness to apply the parable of the Good Samaritan and “go and do likewise.” Being a trader means being intentional with your time, your money and your passions. Christianity should be a verb, not a noun. It’s a movement that requires us to live out our faith … not just talk about it.

The purpose of the LeadNow event is to create traders and trader makers. We recognize that culture and consumerism has crept into the church and it has become easy for followers of Christ to give in to the American Dream.  It’s common for Christ followers to pursue the things of this world, even at the expense of a world that desperately needs Christ.  We can’t stand to let culture, consumerism, or anything else hijack the mission of the church.  We are creating traders and trader makers because the mission of the church matters!

Join us at LeadNow on November 5th – 7th in Dallas, TX. Let’s create a movement of traders!

Dale traded in extra hours at work climbing the corporate ladder to mentor fatherless boys in his neighborhood through basketball

Mel traded in her teaching career in Dallas to teach Muslim kids in Morocco

Adriel traded in a prosperous business career in America to start a kingdom-minded company in China

Andy traded in convenience to feed and build relationships with the homeless after work one night each week

Carrie traded in one night of free time each week to volunteer with Young Life

Heather traded in comfort and routine to be a foster parent to children in need

Jonathan traded in watching second rate sitcoms to answer phone calls from NeedHim in his living room and talk to people who need Jesus

Cameron traded in money he spent on Starbucks & Dr Pepper for 40 days to raise money for water wells in Uganda

Bill & Julie traded in their summer vacation to train graphic designers in Central Asia to create effective Christian resources

Are you a trader?

It’s not the 2 hour movie, the 4 hour game or even the 1hr sermon. It’s the hours of work that it takes to make it happen.  Nothing just happens over night, but many times we assume it does. Everyone seems to want to find that magic bullet. We think the day we sign up on twitter we should have a 1000 followers, or the first blog post you write should have 200 readers. It just doesn’t happen that way, no matter how much we think it will. You would be amazed at the amount of people I know that give up on a project before it even starts. We can’t just try something once or twice and because it’s not a big success just walk away.

Whether you are an athlete, actor, blogger or pastor it is the work you don’t see that makes what you do see happen. Once you get there it doesn’t stop. Kobe Bryant didn’t stop practicing after he won his first championship. If God has called you to do something, just because it doesn’t happen on that day; doesn’t mean you stop doing it the next day. You have to stick it out and work at it. The work you put into something determines the results you will get out of it.

Have you ever been in a convoy? You know, a group of 2 or more cars following each other, going to the same place. Well, that was the case last week as the N-Dub staff drove to Catalyst. I happened to be the driver in the lead car. So, I did what any true NASCAR fan would do, I drove like I was in a race. You have to be aggressive! Have you ever been in Atlanta traffic? Fun is not a word that comes to mind.

So over the week, I bobbed and weaved my way thru Georgia traffic, with my team behind me. I had the Turn by Turn GPS, great driving skills, and I was the leader.  At least that’s what I thought. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Everywhere I went, I left my team behind, I didn’t signal, and I drove like I was in a high speed chase. See, my problem was is I might have been the lead car but I was not leading.

You can’t lead if people can’t keep up with you because you’re moving too fast. People can’t follow you if they don’t know where you’re going. Just because you know where you’re going doesn’t mean they do.  Being a leader is not about being in front, it’s about leading, and if people can’t see you because your 20 miles down the road, you’re not leading.

Recently I have been feeling different. Not bad…just different. Like most people I am sometimes on the mountain top. Other times I have been in the valley. The trek is often the most difficult part.

I spoke with a friend on a subject that I feel best summarized what the trek is truly all about. My friend’s name is Stephen Mclean and he was telling me about an upcoming appointment. He was going to meet with a gent who’s purpose and passion is to see companies and individuals go from “good” to “great”. I immediately wanted to desperately sit in on this meeting. I imagined most of us would!

I found myself thinking about greatness and the equivalents thereof. I imagined figures and their “great” contributions to the record and history books! People such as Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Babe Ruth, Leonardo Da Vinci, Serena Williams, Paul Rodriguez just to name a few. All these people found out what they were great at! This is the “marvel”. I know that to be true because that’s what we do with great people or great accomplishments we marvel at them. We sit and wonder and we hope and pray that we, too, will hit our stride on the trek and move into greatness as well.

We should all be seeking to be great. God speaks to Abraham in Genesis 12:2 and says to him how he will take an ordinary man, and change him into an extraordinary man…(I will make you a great nation, I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.)

See, even God desires to see that you become a man or woman who will be great. He wants to move you into a place of great influence. Just like the great men and women of the past that we marvel at…. we, too, should spark a little marvel and effectively embrace the greatness we are called to.

Be blessed and know God wants you to be GREAT at your passion. He designed you to fulfill your dreams !!!

By Paul Ellis