Weekend Update

1. I picked Kansas to win the NCAA National Championship on my staff bracket. At least it's in the Big 12 family. I think I heard that it's the first time ever that all number one seeds made it to the final four.

2. My youngest son was running a high fever this weekend. He seems to be doing better.

3. I forgot to tell the church on Sunday that we are having a baby boy. Our fourth baby is due in July, and it will be another good looking boy!

4. There were over 20 people who gave their lives to Christ on Sunday. Thank you, JESUS!

5. I love having the extra parking in the PC parking lot. It's hard to believe that we have been operating a church of our size with only 168 paved parking spaces. I thank God for the overflow gravel parking lot we have had over the almost two years of being in the new building, but I am glad we were able to get over 160 more spaces paved before Easter. WE NEEDED IT!

6. The Perfect Kid series is going really well. God is helping a lot families and future families.

Random Thoughts

1. My wife and I went on a super hot date. We went out to dinner and then to a movie. We had so much fun and laughed our heads off at dinner and especially at the movies.

2. Both OU boys and girls got beat out of the NCAA tournament.

3. On my NCAA bracket, I picked Kansas to win it all.

4. The weather has been great this week in Oklahoma.

5. I can't believe April is next week.

6. I can't believe that I get to live my dreams every day. I mean it. I am living the life I could only dream about as a kid. This is awesome.

7. We have a super special family day planned for the kids. The kids are going to have a blast today. I am taking them to one of their favorite places before nap time, and after nap time, we are having our family date night.

8. There is CRAZY work going on at our land. They are working like CRAZY to get us into our 42,000 square foot addition as soon as they can.

9. Sunday, I will be speaking on The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Kids Pt. 2.

10. Invite a friend, neighbor, relative or co-worker to join you at church on Sunday.

What My Week Looks Like pt. 3

My Monday and Tuesday schedules are changing beginning next week. Mondays will look a lot like Wednesdays. I am moving my executive meeting to Tuesday afternoons, and immediately following the executive meeting, I will be leading our leadership staff meeting (6 people). I am taking over leading our staff meeting because Josh, the executive who has been leading the staff meeting, is overseeing the construction of our new facility. I want him to be laser-focused on getting us into this building with speed and excellence. After nine months of primarily leading our Executive Team, I have a new energy, passion and excitement about pouring into our Leadership Team.

Here Are Few Helpful Hints About Time Management

1. Do what works best for you. I've learned my own rhythms and I roll with what works for me.

2. Do not let people control your schedule. This is an easy trap for pastors to fall into. Of course, things come up that are unexpected in my schedule, but me and my assistant do our best to stay in control of my schedule.

3. Do not feel bad for saying no. There are always good opportunities that will easily distract you from what really matters.

What My Week Looks Like pt. 2

Wednesday & Thursday

1. I spend some time hanging with my kids when they first wake up.
2. I have my quiet time with God.
3. I work out at the gym.
4. I study for Sunday's message. On Thursday afternoon my sermon is emailed to the office for the bulletin notes and PowerPoint presentation.
5. I finish the day with busy work, a meeting with a staff member, or with creative and strategic thinking.
6. I head home around 4:45 to 5:00PM to eat dinner and spend the evening with my family.

Friday

This is my off day and family day.

Saturday

I take some of the day off. I spend some of the day making last minute changes to Sunday's message and memorizing portions of the message.

Sunday

I preach 4 times and then come home and hang out with the family and relax. During football season, I come home and watch football and cheer on my fantasy teams!

What My Week Looks Like

Many people are interested in what a pastor’s week looks like. I do enjoy gleaning from how certain pastors organize their daily routine. I am always eager to learn and become a better time manager. Over the next few days, I will share what my week looks like and some changes that I am making to my daily schedule.

Monday

1. I spend some time hanging with my kids when they first wake up.
2. I have my quiet time with God.
3. I work out at the gym.
4. I have my Executive Meeting.
5. I study for Sunday's message.
6. I usually finish the work day by swinging by the office and finishing up some busy work or meeting with a staff member.
7. I go to my Community Group.
8. I spend the rest of the evening with my family.

Tuesday

1. I spend some time hanging with my kids when they first wake up.
2. I have my quiet time with God.
3. I work out at the gym.
4. I study for Sunday's message.
5. I finish the work day with busy work and/or meeting with or coaching a staff member.
6. I head home around 4:45 to 5:00PM to eat dinner and spend the evening with my family.

Weekend Update

1. Our 5 Easter services were PHENOMENAL!

2. I thought I was going to pass out after preaching 5 times in a row. My body is use to 4 times, but adding a 5th service was tough but doable.

3. We almost had 2500 in attendance.

4. The excitement level was off the chart yesterday.

5. 80 people gave their hearts to Christ! THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!

6. Volunteers, YOU SHOWED UP IN A HUGE WAY YESTERDAY! Thank you for stepping up and ministering to our church family and our guests. You all are truly inspiring and UNBELIEVABLE!

7. The worship team was off the hook yesterday. Thanks worship team for leading us into God's presence.

8. To the staff that I have the privilege of serving with, THANK YOU for your hard work to pull off an incredible day. It's a joy serving at PC with you!

9. To all of our guests, it was GREAT having you worship with us at PC yesterday. I look forward to seeing you back at PC this coming weekend for another great time in God's presence!

10. Invite EVERYBODY you know to be at church this Sunday as I continue the series The Perfect Kid. The title this Sunday is The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Kids Pt. 2. Trust me, you don't want to miss this message, and you’ll want to get everybody you know to attend with you. It will revolutionize your family!

Random Easter Thoughts

1. EASTER SERVICE TIMES: 8:30AM, 9:45AM, 11AM, 12:15PM & 1:30PM!

2. Invite everybody you know to attend services this Easter. Get to church early because the intro video is AWESOME! I saw it yesterday, and it got me pumped up!

3. Regular attenders, we need you to attend the 8:30AM and 1:30PM services if all possible. This will free up seats for our many guests.

4. Regular attenders, on EASTER, don't spend all your time talking to the people you know, find a guest and get to know them. You all are always very friendly and inviting, but LET'S TAKE IT TO ANOTHER LEVEL THIS SUNDAY!

5. I am going to have a relaxing and fun day with my family.

6. SEE YOU ON SUNDAY! IT'S GOING TO BE A GREAT EASTER! Don't you dare miss it!

Risky Business pt. 3

Here are some of the risks (FAITH) that we have taken at People's Church.

1. Tiffany and I left what many would consider a very successful traveling ministry to start People's Church. God had blessed us with a full speaking schedule, spiritual results and financial blessings, but we left it all to start a new church called People's Church. We sold our home in Missouri and moved to a city that we had never lived in before. I am from Wewoka, Oklahoma and my wife is from Wisconsin/Nebraska (she lived in both states while growing up).

2. We had no fat cats that promised to give us money to start the church. We just moved here with Brian and Alicia (our programming directors) and prayed like it depended on God and worked like it depended on us. THIS WAS A HUGE RISK!

3. We started a brand new church in May of 2002. Starting a new church in May is not the smartest thing in the world to do. Matter of fact it is called STUPID! I was depressed all summer long and I was even wondering if I missed God's will for my life. Churches normally don't grow in the summer and we didn't break that mold with our new church plant :)! This was more of my stupidity than a risk :).

4. We started our second Sunday service when we were a little over a year old. God blessed that risk in a wonderful way.

5. We bought 50 acres of land when we were just a little over two years old. We also kicked off a stewardship campaign around the same time to build our first facility. We raised money to build our current facility from many people who had been attending our church for six months or less. That's a huge risk, but God blessed it!

6. Our first Sunday in our new building we added a third Sunday service. Most churches drop services after they build a new facility but not us, we added a service. We just had faith that God wanted to bless our church and BOY DID HE EVER!

7. We added two Saturday night services in January of 2007. They were successful but they didn't accomplish the mission of our church so we stopped them in December of 2007. Of course, both of those moves were risky.

8. We added a fourth Sunday service in January of 2008. God has blessed this step of faith!

9. We kicked off our second stewardship campaign in February of 2008. We haven't even been in our new building for two years but because of the tremendous growth, we are building again. It's a risk but I know God is leading us.

10. Our stewardship campaign commitment Sunday was February 24 and we broke ground and started building our new building on February 25. We didn't let any grass grow under our feet. We made a lot of the preparations for this new building long before we knew what our people would commit. We even ordered the steel for this building a month before commitment Sunday. It was risky, but once again God blessed it and People's Church pledged 3.1 million and our church family is already giving generously and aggressively above their tithe to build this 42,000 square foot addition!

11. Invite everybody you know to our 5 EASTER SERVICES! 8:30AM, 9:45AM, 11AM, 12:15PM & 1:30PM. God is going to do awesome things this SUNDAY!

12. If you are following God, it's RISKY BUSINESS!

Risky Business pt. 2

Every time I've seen God do something significant in my life, it first required risk (FAITH). Before I preached my first sermon at age 17 to my youth group, I took the step of faith and surrendered my life to Christ in front of most of my high school football team at an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) meeting. I think it is a positive thing that I became a follower of Christ before I preached my first sermon :). I don't know that this always happens in our world today :).

After my freshman year of college, I left my full football scholarship at a state university to pursue the call upon my life for full-time ministry. This was a major step of faith, but God honored it in a huge way. 7 months later God opened up a door for me to play college football at a Christian college on a football scholarship. This opportunity allowed me to get a Biblical Studies Degree. That huge step of faith literally changed the entire course of my life. I built relationships that I still have today. I made ministry connections that I am still reaping huge rewards from. The best thing that happened to me is I met my wife Tiffany at this college. We fell in love and now after 10 years of marriage, and almost 4 kids later (our fourth baby is due in July), we are still madly in love. If you are really following God, it's RISKY BUSINESS!

More tomorrow

Risky Business

For the next few days, I want to talk to you about risk (FAITH). I think most people go through life playing it safe. I think most people live a life full of regrets. I think most people get to the end of their lives and think, "I wish I would have __________________." You can fill in the blank. I am determined not to live a life of full of regrets and thinking I wish I would have _________________. I want to stay in tune with God, hear His voice and respond to His leading. When it comes to responding to God's voice, I would rather be aggressive than passive. Face it, we all miss God sometimes, but I want to be known as a person who aggressively pursues God's plan and vision for my life, my family and for People's Church. If I miss God from time to time (and I will), I am going to miss God moving forward in faith rather than standing still and doing nothing. If you are really following God, it's RISKY BUSINESS!

Weekend Update

1. It was a great day at church yesterday. We had a great time of worship and the Word, and we also had communion together as a church family. It was a holy moment!

2. I am glad spring forward and spring break is almost behind us. Those Sundays are not momentum times for People's Church or for any other church in America :) (Pastors, you know what I mean!!!).

3. I challenged our church to bring as many people as possible to church with them for Easter this Sunday. The title of my message was Bringing People To Jesus. I thought it went really well.

4. 35 people gave their hearts to Christ. I was encouraged that we had good guest attendance on spring forward and the first week of spring break. God is changing lives and that pumps me up!

5. My wife and I went on a little getaway without the kids. I love that woman. She is the best wife and mother on the planet. HANDS DOWN!! I love you baby, you are the absolute love of my life!

6. On Easter, we are beginning a new series called The Perfect Kid. I will be teaching about parenting in the 21st Century. God is going to help families and future families through this series.

7. Invite as many people as you can to church. I am full of faith that God is going to change many, many lives this SUNDAY! Quit procrastinating and start inviting!!

Random Thoughts

1. The OU girls’ basketball team doesn't look very good right now. Not good!

2. The OU men’s team plays today. They are looking pretty good!

3. A lot of movement is happening in NFL free agency.

4. This Sunday, I will be concluding our series You're Invited. I'm exited to share God's Word with you.

5. Next Sunday is Easter. Boy, how time flies! Our service times on Easter will be 8:30AM, 9:45AM, 11AM, 12:15PM & 1:30PM.

6. The construction workers have made great progress over the last three weeks. They are pushing hard to get our new building up as quick as possible. These are EXCITING DAYS!

7. Church, I am so proud of you. You prayed and responded to God's voice. You committed almost 3.1 million to the CRAZY Campaign. GOD IS SO FAITHFUL!

8. Invite as many people as you know to be at church this Sunday and on EASTER SUNDAY!

Things That Will Take Your Ministry To The Next Level pt. 3

5. Work harder: Some pastors are flat out lazy. They use spiritual mumble jumble to justify their laziness. If you want to go to the next level, it will require hard work. Start another service, prepare for staff and volunteer meetings, make your services better, make your preaching better and build relationships with the movers and shakers in your church. God doesn't bless laziness.

6. Work smarter not harder: Some pastors work harder but not smarter. These pastors don't struggle with laziness, but they are killing themselves by working harder and stopping the ministry from going to the next level. Learn to delegate, build a team, less is more, focus on only what you can do, quit micro managing and don't confuse long hours with accomplishment. Work smarter not harder!

7. Take a risk: THIS IS HUGE! If you want to go to the next level, it will require risk. You have to quit playing it safe. After all, the Bible says we should live by faith. When is the last time you took a MAJOR faith leap to get your ministry to the next level? When our church was a little over one year old, we started a second service. When our church was a little over two years old, we bought 50 acres of land, started a stewardship campaign and built our first building. THESE WERE ALL MAJOR RISKS THAT TOOK US TO THE NEXT LEVEL! TAKE A RISK!!

Things That Will Take Your Ministry To The Next Level pt. 2

4. Be open-minded. Some ministers are full of condemnation towards other ministers, churches and ministries because they are closed-minded. There is nothing worse than being judgmental and critical of everything that is different from you and what you are used too. There is a whole new world of opportunity awaiting you if you would be open to it. Let me give you some ways to expand your borders.

A. Meet with another minister regularly outside of your denomination or church affiliation.

B. When you meet with this person, quit trying to convince them that they are wrong and you are right and learn from them. Be more open-minded.

C. Meet with another minister that leads a church much larger than yours and one that is much smaller than yours. When you meet with these people, learn from them. One of my best friends in ministry leads a church of about 60 people, and I learn from him. I also have friends that pastor churches that are much larger than mine, and I learn from them. Be more open-minded.

D. Develop friendships with other pastors from your city. This is not a competition. We are on the same team. Some of the best advice that I've ever received have come from leaders who pastor in the Oklahoma City metro area. Be more open-minded.

Things That Will Take Your Ministry To The Next Level

1. Quality time with God. SERIOUSLY, crank up your prayer life and Bible reading and watch what God does in your life and ministry. It's easy to allow the ministry to replace quality time with God. The best decisions I make in ministry are birthed out of quality time with God.

2. Fasting. If you need a breakthrough in your life or ministry, go on an extended fast. Fasting does wonders for me. This flesh is something else!!

3. Give like crazy. Some ministers are stingy. I know you're not one of them :). Give offerings over and above your tithe, give your time away and invest in other ministers, give your sermons away and give your good ideas away. God always gives me back more than I give away! If you need a breakthrough, you NEED TO START GIVING!

Weekend Update

1. Chris Smith, our Student Ministries Director, spoke yesterday at People's Church. Chris is a great communicator of God's Word. One of the qualities that our team loved about Chris was his incredible speaking ability. Chris is also a very good leader. He understands that you have to be a leader, not a doer, to impact large numbers of people with the good news of Christ.

2. 18 people gave their heart to Christ yesterday! GO GOD!

3. My family went to my father-in-law’s church yesterday. We had a great time worshiping with their church family. My father-in-law is the Senior Pastor.

4. After speaking 9 Sundays in a row, I NEEDED a break. I was starting to feel wiped out.

5. I can't believe Easter is less than two weeks away! It is going to be a great day for People's Church. INVITE EVERYBODY YOU KNOW!

Guest Blog: Josh Brown pt. 5

Thank You:

I want to thank Pastor Herbert for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you this week. I also want to thank you for taking the time to read through the blogs this week. A big thanks to every pastor who shares and encourages their teams to be an open book and share what they have learned in ministry with others. In a society that pushes each man for themselves, I think it is awesome that churches are stepping up and opening up their wealth of knowledge to help other church leaders reach more people with the good new of Jesus Christ. I want to encourage you whether you are a Senior Pastor, Executive Pastor, Children’s Pastor, Youth Pastor, etc. to never stop learning and growing. Then, share your experiences with others in ministry. I cannot think of anything God has given us that He hasn’t asked us to share or use for His Kingdom. God asks for our time, talents, resources and knowledge. As you probably have noticed, I have referenced people in these blogs who have opened up their knowledge to us whether in person or in their writings. I honestly believe God has given us all of the resources we need to reach this world for Him. We just need to be willing to open up and share these resources.

Thank you to all who have chosen to lay down your lives to reach this world with the great news of Jesus Christ. We are better together.

Guest Blog: Josh Brown pt. 4

Building Part 2:

Below are a few more thoughts on building.

1. If you have the opportunity, purchase as much land as you can. At first glance, the 50 acres we have seems to be an enormous amount of land, but I can honestly tell you it goes fast. Ministry is not about buildings and land, but it takes a whole lot of building and land to do big ministry. At the completion of the current building phase we are working on, we will have around 60,000 square feet of facility and approximately 1,000 parking spaces. When you add in the utility easements and water detention ponds we will eat up around half of our 50 acres. If at all possible, get your church a lot of land.
   

2. More is not necessarily better when it comes to aesthetics. Bil Cornelius, Senior Pastor of Bay Area Fellowship (www.bayareafellowship.com), gave us some great insight about this. His suggestion was to pick one spot and put your money there to make it pop. My suggestion is to pick these hot spot areas in places you are trying to draw people’s attention. If you want to make it easy for first time guests to find your children’s wing, then make the check-in area or the entrance to the children’s wing the place with the greatest eye appeal. Building aesthetics are like a good laxative. A little goes a long way :)
   

3. Traffic flow is a big deal. After moving into our first building, we learned this quickly. Two areas to think about when thinking through traffic flow.
   

1. Children’s space: this is a key area not only because of the high traffic that runs through this area, but also because of the security issues that come with this department. Check-in and check out, as well as other security measures, makes the way you design your flow of traffic in this area very important.
   

2. Major corridors: if your facility is going to have multiple hallways (corridors) make sure to pinpoint your highest traffic corridors and allow plenty of space for easy traffic flow. This not only helps with the obvious (easability of movement), but also with security. The less traffic jams you create, the easier it is to keep a close eye on what’s happening in your church.
   

Something I’ve noticed since working with a growing church is that effective ministry takes brainstorming and strategy. Whether it’s working through how to reach and win the lost to Christ, how to build an effective Children’s Ministry or building a church building that will help you maximize your ministry impact. It all takes think time and strategy. There is too much at stake not to do your homework. I hope this helps.

Guest Blog: Josh Brown pt. 3

Building

I am going to switch gears this morning and talk about some thoughts I have for building either your first or next facility. We are right in the middle of this process at People's Church. We have just started breaking ground on a 42,000 square foot addition to our current facility. Here are a few nuggets I have grabbed going through this process.

1. Give yourself time for designing your facility. We spent quite a bit of time in the design phase especially on the children's area. You probably won't get it perfect, but you want to get as close as possible.

2. Do your homework. Don't just guess on how much parking, children's space, auditorium, etc... you need. There are too many valuable resources out there to just play the guessing game.

3. Think outside of the box. There are plenty of ways to build what you need without it killing your budget. FYI: you can tie a lot of money up in making it pretty, and there are plenty of ways to make it pretty without blowing your budget.

4. Get yourself a great contractor. A great contractor will be focused on doing their due diligence up front to make sure the design meets your needs while focusing on your budget. A great contractor will be aggressive with your construction schedule but will shoot you straight on time lines.

I hope this helps. Happy building!!

Guest Blog: Josh Brown pt. 2

One Big "C"

Don't worry, I'm not blogging about what my grade was in Analyzing and Interpreting Literature this morning. I actually want to touch on the necessity for "chemistry" within the Executive Team. Bill Hybels, in his book "Courageous Leadership," states there are three "C's" you need to keep in mind when hiring anyone: Character, Competence and Chemistry. I think the first two go without much explanation, but chemistry can often be overlooked. I'm here to say chemistry should be looked at with any hire, especially when it comes to the inner circle of the leader. I am thankful that Herbert takes the time every week to pull Brian (Executive of Programming), an amazingly talented individual by the way, and me to the side to review the past week, plan for the upcoming weeks and strategize for the future. Can I tell you that if we did not have a common passion for the culture we are in and an incredible working friendship, we would not make it for the long haul. I'm not saying you should hire an executive that is just like you. In fact, I would encourage you to do close to the opposite. Herbert has surrounded himself with an Executive Team that compliments him well, but when you put our gifts and passions together it just plain works. Definitely hire competent character-filled executives, but not at the expense of chemistry. Our Executive Team at People's Church, though not perfect, is a testament that you can have all three. Build a great team, and you will make some incredible sparks for the Kingdom.

Guest Blog: Josh Brown

This week I am taking a blogging break. One of our two Executive Pastors will be blogging for me. Josh Brown is our Director of Operations at People's Church. He is one of the most gifted and high capacity leaders I know. Josh is a great leader who comes from the business world. He actually owned a construction company before coming full-time to People's Church. If you are a Senior Pastor, be sure to have your staff read Josh's blogs this week. I know they will be very insightful for you and your team.

From the Heart of an Executive Pastor

When Herbert asked me to blog this week there were two thoughts that ran through my mind. The first, as always, when he allows me the opportunity to share my heart with his team, church body and now blog readers is, “WHAT AN HONOR!!” I cannot begin to tell you how much I admire, respect and love the leader God has put in charge of People’s Church. God has truly blessed People’s Church with an amazing visionary leader. Secondly, I thought about what I consider as the biggest key to being an extraordinary executive. There is not a gifting, skill set or trait that is more needed in an executive than loyalty and trust. When I first came on staff at People’s Church, as with all staff members, I was asked to read the book Armor Bearer by Terry Nance. Pastors, if you have not had your team read this book, I highly encourage you to do so. The whole premise of this book is what does it truly mean to be an armor bearer for your leader. In essence, what does trust and loyalty look like. God has gifted me in a couple of areas, mainly in business/operations and construction, but I can honestly tell you none of that matters if Herbert cannot trust me or feels that I am not loyal to him, the vision God has given him for People’s Church or to People’s Church itself. If there is one thing that must drive us, must eat at us, must consume us, especially those who sit in the inner circle of the church’s leader, it has to be loyalty and trust. At times this may mean we lay down our own comforts and agendas to make sure this happens. We must be above any type of reproach in our actions and language (spoken and unspoken). Remember perception is reality. I honestly believe that it is our job as the leaders in the 2nd chair to do whatever it takes to protect the vision, heartbeat and culture our leaders have set in motion.