Weekend Update

1. It was a great weekend! Friday, I got my haircut, worked out at the gym and got some Starbucks’ coffee. Then, I got home and spent the rest of the day with my family.

2. The family and I went to eat at one of our favorite spots on Friday evening.

3. My wife and I rented a movie and watched it after we put the kids to bed.

4. Saturday morning, I slept in. My wife got up with the kids, and I laid in bed until 9AM. That is not normal for me, but it sure was nice.

5. I did a lot of work on Saturday. God has been giving me some clear direction for our church, and I'm making plans to implement what He is speaking to me. We also have quarterly reviews this week with our staff, so I was preparing for that as well. Plus, I had to put some final touches on Sunday's message, and I read a book. BUSY BUT PRODUCTIVE SATURDAY!

6. The Juicy Fruit series is really impacting a lot of lives, including mine! I thank God for the work of the Holy Spirit. God is moving at PC. Believers are growing spiritually, and people far from God are giving their lives to Christ! Thank You, God, for all the people who placed their faith and trust in You on Sunday!!

7. Our Newcomers’/Membership Luncheon went really well on Sunday after the fourth service. Many people signed up to be a member which means that they are getting committed to PC. There's nothing like getting COMMITTED to a local church.

8. I was wiped out after speaking 4 times on Sunday and then speaking at the luncheon, but it's a good wiped out when the Kingdom of God is being advanced!

9. This coming up Sunday is GOODNESS! Yes, goodness is a fruit of the spirit!

10. HAVE A SUPER MONDAY!

Random Thoughts

1. It has been a great week.

2. I ate really good this week and worked out at the gym a bunch. I have eaten bad for several months in a row, and my body started to feel bad. I've lost some pounds this week and feel much better. Next, I'm going to shed a few more pounds.

3. We have several exciting changes that will be taking place at People's Church over the next couple of months. I can't tell you what they are right now, but trust me, it's going to be exciting and allow us to make an even greater impact in OKC!

4. God has really given me some great clarity and direction regarding People's Church. I really love when God is speaking to me about the future direction of PC!

5. PC is experiencing a wonderful momentum. Great days are ahead!

6. Juicy Fruit has been a great series for our church. Studying for this Sunday's sermon has really challenged me. I struggle with patience. You, your friends and your family will be challenged and inspired by this message.

7. I went to lunch with Clark Mitchell on Wednesday. Clark is the Senior Pastor of Journey Church in Norman, OK. www.journeychurch.tv. We have become pretty good friends over the last 1 ½ years. Clark gave me some wonderful insight about some decisions I was wrestling with. I am very thankful for the circle of pastor friends that God has placed in my life.

8. My mom's birthday is today! Happy Birthday Mom!

9. Today is my off day. I have a couple of errands to run, and then, I'm spending the day with my family. We are going on a family date night, and my wife and I are going to rent a movie and watch it. I don't think I will eat popcorn while watching the movie. I have to watch what I'm eating :).

10. Next week, I will be sharing more things that you may not know about me.

11. Make it a GREAT Friday and weekend!

Things You May Not Know About Me pt. 3

11. I ran a 4.4 forty yard dash my senior year in high school. It was in the high 4.4 (4.48 or something like that).

12. I preached my first real sermon when I was 17 years old. When I was a kid, I preached to the church when they let the kids run the service one evening. I can't remember how old I was. Somewhere around 7, 8 or 9 years old.

13. My first (real) sermon was to my youth group at First Baptist Church in Wewoka.

14. My youth pastor, Jimmy Reynolds, was very instrumental in my spiritual growth.

15. My favorite food is Mexican and seafood. Mexican is probably my favorite. Well...I like a good medium steak as well! :)

Things You May Not Know About Me pt. 2

6. I grew up eating a variety of foods such as squirrel, rabbit, coon, chitterlings, pig ears, pig feet, neck bones, quail, frog legs and alligator. This list GROSSES my wife out!!!

7. When I was growing up, my hometown only had two chain restaurants, Pizza Hut & Sonic. I guess that's why I love Pizza Hut and Sonic so much today :).

8. I was Vocal Music President my senior year in high school. The Worship Team needs me desperately, NOT! I really am a bad singer, and I can't figure out how I carried a tune back then. I guess I was an OKAY singer in high school, MAYBE!

9. I was National Honor Society Treasurer my senior year in high school.

10. I was Student Council President my senior year in high school. I guess you could say I was pretty involved. It's my A.D.D!

Things You May Not Know About Me

1. I was born in Los Angeles, California. Both my dad and mom are from Oklahoma but moved to California for a brief period of time.

2. We moved to Wewoka, Oklahoma when I was a little kid. Wewoka, OK, is located in Seminole County.

3. I was one of the fastest kids in elementary school, if not the fastest. I'M PROUD OF THAT :)

4. When I was in middle school, I thought Guess Jeans were the bomb.

5. I grew up eating and loving barbeque burritos. My mom took us kids to a convenience store almost every Friday to buy burritos.

YOU WILL LEARN A LOT ABOUT ME SO STAY TUNED IN…

Weekend Update

1. Friday, my wife and I got a babysitter to come watch the kids after we put them down for bedtime, and then, we went to the movies. We went to the Indiana Jones movie. I thought it was good but not great.

2. Saturday morning, I went to help out at giving Eisenhower Elementary School a makeover. The community missions project was a huge success. I know the kids and faculty will be very excited about the make over. The principal of the school goes to our church, and she was super excited about the makeover. There's nothing like seeing the church in action. YEA GOD!

3. One of my closest friends, Tommy Sparger, spoke at People's Church on Sunday. Tommy is the Senior Pastor of North Point Church in Springfield, Missouri. He started the church almost 5 years ago, and they have 2300 people attending on Sunday mornings. He did a very good job! He talked to us about allowing God to stretch our faith. I needed that message. The Christian life is a life of faith, and I want to be known as a man of faith!

4. Our Programming Director, Brian Rush has been on vacation the last two Sundays. I thought our Worship Team did a good job while he was gone. GOOD JOB, WORSHIP TEAM! PC is truly blessed to have such talented, humble and anointed musicians and singers.

5. There were lots of people that gave their hearts to Christ!

6. I am so pumped up about our 42,000 square foot addition. We needed more space yesterday. Tommy Sparger, reminded us yesterday of how more space is going to allow us to go to the next level in reaching MANY more people for Christ. THANK YOU, GOD, FOR BLESSING THIS PROJECT SO THAT MANY, MANY MORE LIVES CAN BE IMPACTED FOR YOUR GLORY!

7. We are diving back into our series titled Juicy Fruit this coming up Sunday!

8. Have a super Monday!

Random Thoughts

1. Today is my birthday. I don't really celebrate or expect anything for my birthday. Just another day, but I do thank God for his many blessings!

2. I took my boys to a movie earlier in the week. They love to go to the movies with me. We ate popcorn and M&M's.

3. My wife is a beautiful pregnant woman.

4. We went to some friends’ home last night and ate pizza and went swimming. We had a great time. I even got to play on a Wii game system (I think I spelled that right). I lost in baseball and tennis, but I won in bowling. If my friend is reading this, you better practice up your bowling skills because I think I may be pretty good. :)

5. Tomorrow from 8AM to 5PM we are invading Eisenhower Elementary School and doing some great projects! It's going to be an awesome day as we SHOW KINDNESS to our community!

6. This morning my wife is sleeping in, and I'm hanging with the kids. I just fed them breakfast. Cale and Caris had pancakes, and Cade had a waffle. My wife deserves some rest. She is a great mother to our kids.

7. My number one responsibility as a pastor and as a man of God, outside of cultivating my relationship with Christ, is to take care of my family. I'm passionate about loving my family.

8. Next week I'm going to blog about some very personal information.

9. Church family, I look forward to seeing you on Sunday as we lift up the name of Christ!

I Hate Staff Retreats pt. 3

Fun

That's right! We go on staff retreats because I like to have fun with the people I work with. One of the non-written core values of the People's Church staff is to have fun. I want to work with people who know how to work hard and who also know how to play hard. Our staff flat out gets the job done. They are all super hard workers. They are driven for excellence. I require excellence and productivity! What I have tried to cultivate in our fast-paced, get-it-done, working environment are times of fun. Everybody who gets to know me knows that I love to crack jokes. I don't take myself too serious. I love to laugh. Because I value fun with our staff, we do fun things like have a Leadership Team Fantasy Football League. We go to Buffalo Wild Wings in August or early September and eat lunch and spend a couple of hours drafting our players. Every week during football season, we have a great time harassing each other about who's winning and who's losing in our league. It creates lots of fun and laughs for our staff. When I'm losing, it creates frustration! SERIOUSLY! :) Because I value fun, we go on an all family leadership staff retreat to the lake. We have a blast at the lake for a few days. The staff really looks forward to this fun time every year. I THINK THE WORK PLACE CAN BE FUN, AND I TRY MY BEST TO MAKE IT THAT WAY!

I Hate Staff Retreats pt. 2

Investing

I enjoy staff retreats because it's one of the ways that I can invest in my team. One of the huge reasons People's Church is such a great church is because of the INCREDIBLE staff that God has blessed us with. I am so blessed to work with such gifted, passionate and God fearing people.

I want to invest in my team spiritually so we begin every year with prayer and fasting and have other times throughout the year of prayer and fasting. I want to invest in them financially so our board of directors makes sure they are paid well. I want to invest in them physically so I encourage them to work out, eat right, take vacations and to take their days off every week. I want to invest in their growth as leaders so I have them read books, we listen to cd's and DVD's of great leaders, we go to conferences, we have quarterly reviews and I encourage them to connect with other sharp leaders. I want to invest in them relationally so I have them over to my home throughout the year, we go out to eat twice a month as a team and we go on a all family staff retreat once a year.

Investing in our leadership team pays huge dividends! Staff retreats is one of those investments!

I Hate Staff Retreats

Just kidding, but I thought that I would capture your attention. We got home on Friday from our annual staff retreat. As the Senior Leader of PC, I want to share with you why staff retreats are important to our staff.

Relationships: We take the Leadership Team and their entire family on our annual staff retreat. One of the major focuses of this retreat is relationship building. All the men have a great time hanging out, talking about life and of course talking about sports. The ladies really love it. I know you probably won't believe this, but the women seem to talk more than the fellows do. I'm a big believer in having a strong and good relationship with those who work closely with me. I believe ministry flows best out of relationships. I think Jesus modeled this for us with his twelve disciples. Our annual staff retreat is the one time during the year where we get away for a few days and just connect, strengthen and deepen our relationships as a Leadership Team.

More tomorrow…

Weekend Update

1. While I was speaking on Sunday, I was rolling my neck around in circles imitating people who have bad attitudes, and now, my neck is hurting.

2. Remember that kindness is a work of the Holy Spirit. Today, let the Spirit take control and be kind to others.

3. I saw some dads give their hearts to Christ yesterday. One dad was holding his kid in one arm and then raised the other arm high into the air. It really touched my heart. Dads, God has a great plan for you and your family. Follow God with your whole heart.

4. I love the song “Lead Me To The Cross!” Great job worship team!

5. The Lakers disappointed me on Thursday night when they blew a 24 point lead in the second half. Last night, they didn't play good, but at least they won, and the series is now going back to Boston. My prediction is the Lakers will make history by being the first team to ever come back from being down 3-1. The Lakers will beat the Celtics twice in BOSTON!

6. I played hide and seek with my kids on Saturday, and they could not find me. It's funny listening to my kids talk about where I could be hiding. I was behind a closet door and they never looked behind the door. It was a classic moment!

7. Our Father's Day attendance is normally way down, but we had decent attendance for the summertime.

8. Tiger Woods is unbelievable! The last putt he made to tie it up was great. I don't really care for golf, but I enjoyed watching the match yesterday.

9. www.oneprayer.com is really going well! Over 1400 churches and around 800,000 people are participating. This is a great historic moment for the church of Jesus Christ! This Saturday from 8AM to 5PM at least one other church will be helping us fix up Eisenhower Elementary School. On June 21^st, churches all across the metro area are coming together and doing special projects around OKC! The church is being unified like never before! GO GOD!

How To Take A Vacation? pt. 7

Train somebody else to do your job.

Develop people around you so that you can take a real vacation. I'm convinced that when you don't take the time to properly train people, you can't have a real vacation because your mind is constantly bombarded with wondering if the under trained people are actually getting the job done. That's a horrible feeling! As a matter of fact, many people don't take full vacations, truly unplugging and relaxing, because they haven't trained and developed others properly.

One of the things that has helped me tremendously is I have developed people at our church who can speak and lead. We have 5 other people on our staff that can preach at PC when I need a speaking break. My goal is to get 2 or 3 of these people to a level were they can hit a triple or a home run every time they speak. Some of them are well on their way. Here is a list of things I do to help develop other communicators:

1. I help them put together their sermon by giving them resources.

2. I help them put together their message by looking over their sermon notes and asking lots of questions and by giving lots of feedback.

3. Sometimes, I have them preach the message to me and our staff a couple of times before they actually preach to the church. I give them tons of feedback regarding their content, transitions and delivery of the message.

4. I let them speak. I am a firm believer that you get better at speaking by speaking. I am not the same preacher I was 5, 10 or 15 years ago because I have grown tons by actually speaking. There is no substitute for experience.

This year 4 other staff members will speak in our Sunday morning experiences. This development process allows me to raise up other gifted communicators and to be able to take vacations and speaking breaks.

How To Take A Vacation? pt. 6

Find a place to unwind.

Go somewhere you can relax. For some, that may be your home. For some, that may be with-out-of state family. For some, that may be the lake. For some, that may be the ocean. For me, I love to go out of town with my family. We have a couple of places that we go where I can really recharge my batteries.

My advice is don't take vacations and go to places where you are drained and actually feel more tired after the vacation. I'm not saying to dis your family or friends (I can actually recharge my batteries around some of my family). I thought I better throw that in there because some of my family read my blog :)! I'm just saying you need to spend a few days recharging your batteries. There can be such a thing as obligation vacations, and then there are relaxing vacations. You don't always need to take an obligation vacation. There are times you need a relaxing vacation. That may include leaving the kids with family or a babysitter and just you and your spouse go on a fun and relaxing trip together.

Once again, it's okay for you to tell your spouse about my blog :)!

How To Take A Vacation? pt. 5

Don't use your vacation to work!

If at all possible, don't do work projects around the house during your vacation. If you have to, at least take 2 or 3 days off to relax before you tackle a project around the house. I realize some people find house projects relaxing, I DON'T! They drain me. I hate house projects, so I don't schedule them during my vacations. I would rather come home and work late at night or even on the weekend so that I can finish up a project and actually use my vacation time to get some rest.

So many people go back to work more tired than they were before they actually took a so called vacation. My advice to you is take a real vacation and quit feeling guilty for actually getting some rest and relaxation. Some of you are just flat out workaholics, and you don't know how to rest. TAKE A REAL VACATION! You'll be glad you did!

It's okay to tell your spouse about my blog so that you can actually take a real vacation :)!

How To Take A Vacation? pt. 4

Take technology breaks.

When I am on vacation, I notify my staff not to contact me via email or by phone. I don't check my emails or take phone calls for several days in a row. I leave a voice mail on my phone that lets people know that I will not be listening to or returning phone calls. I actually unwind by doing this. I am wired to check my emails and to talk on my cell phone constantly, so a technology break really allows me to recharge my batteries.

You may want to check with your supervisor before you decide to not return their phone call or email for a week. I don't want to get you into any trouble on account of me. :)

It's amazing when I take technology breaks how I crave technology. It's like a drug to check email and listen to voice mail. WEIRD, HUH! Isn't it true that one bad email or phone call can ruin your day or your entire vacation? Take a technology break so that you can actually take a break from work.

To all the senior leaders and supervisors, don't email your people and call them about work while they are on vacation. Let them actually take a break. Let them get refreshed. You will have a much better and well focused employee if you let them really take a vacation.

It's okay to tell your boss about my blog so that you can get a break :).

Weekend Update

1.The Lakers stunk it up until the last 7 minutes of the game. My team is down 0-2. Come on Phil Jackson, get the troops motivated because we need a win big time!

2. This Sunday, I dedicated one of my good friend’s baby to the Lord. This is the first time in the history of the church that I dedicated 3 kids from the same family. It's kind of weird to have dedicated all three of their kids. I guess our church is getting a little older. We are 6 years old now. Unfortunately, my friends the Mundis' are moving to California in a little over a week. We actually went to college with them so we have history with them, before People's Church. Tiffany and I will miss them. BUMMER!

3. Tons of people gave their hearts to Christ. Always excites me!

4. I thought the message went really well on Sunday. Peace is such a precious commodity, and many people are living a life void of peace. I know the message helped a lot of people.

5. My energy level was back to normal this Sunday. 4 Sunday services in a row is no joke. Glad to be back to normal.

6. My right eye lid swelled up this weekend. I have a sty. This is the first time I've had one of these, and they hurt big time. Thanks for praying for me.

7. My wife is really ready to have our 4th baby. She is such a trooper, but I can't blame her for being ready to get the pregnancy over and get baby Case into the world. It's already getting hot outside! BLESS MY WIFE, JESUS!

8. I'm pregnant too! Just kidding! Lighten up on Monday morning. You are taking yourself way too serious. CHILL OUT AND LAUGH A LITTLE :).

9. I'm ready for football season. The fall is my favorite time of year. If football was in the spring, the spring would be my favorite time of year :). I'm a fantasy football junkie. CAN'T WAIT!

10. Tiffany and I went out to dinner Friday night with some of our closest friends in the world. I love this family so much. They are really like family to me and Tiffany.

11. I hate that PC couldn't be involved in www.oneprayer.com. I am praying for this unprecedented and unified moment in church history. GO GOD!

12. PEACE OUT G Money! Everybody at church yesterday is now laughing as they read that. LISTEN TO THE SERMON ONLINE, AND YOU WILL GET IT!

Random Thoughts

1. The Lakers need to pull it together and beat the Celtics. This is going to be a great NBA Finals!

2. I had lunch with one of my pastor friends and mentors yesterday. He really gave me some invaluable advice about raising my kids. Most of his kids are in college, and they are serving the Lord. The other kids are still home, and they are serving the Lord.

3. Our fourth baby is getting close to coming into this world. July is coming fast! We are excited.

4. I really love and enjoy working with the team that is assembled around me. They are hungry, they are learners, they are growing and they are poised for greatness!

5. People's Church, I am so proud of you. Even through high gas prices, a slowed economy and all the negative talk on television, you are being faithful to God by returning the tithe and giving above your tithe to the CRAZY Campaign. All I can say is God is going to bless you, take care of you no matter what happens to our economy and it really shows your spiritual maturity.

6. We live in a world that is void of peace. I'm very excited about speaking about the subject of peace this Sunday. Invite a friend who desperately needs the love and peace of Christ to invade their life.

How To Take A Vacation? pt. 3

Over the next week I want to share some very important things that I do so that I can have a successful vacation experience. Some of the things that I am able to do may not work for you if you aren't the senior leader. But you will hopefully get some ideas from everything I share.

1. I plan my vacations and speaking breaks when I plan my yearly calendar. I do this 12 to 18 months in advance and of course it's subject to change (my vacations and speaking breaks rarely change). I have workaholic tendencies, so I have to plan my breaks. If I didn't plan out my vacations and time off from speaking, not only would I not take necessary breaks, but I wouldn't maintain my health and stamina for the long haul. Vacations and speaking breaks are a MUST. Friends, taking time off is something that is so important that you should take time to plan it. Most of my 2009 vacations are already on the calendar. PLAN FOR DOWN TIME! Lazy people don't need to apply this to their lives!

Please send this blog to all of your workaholic friends! It could be a life saver for them!

More next week...

How To Take A Vacation? pt. 2

Here are some things that have helped me take vacations.

1. I had to learn my personal rhythms. I have learned how many weeks in a row I can study and speak and still keep my creativity and energy level up. Six weeks in a row is ideal. If I go much past 8 weeks, I start to feel it mentally, physically, emotionally and even spiritually. I have been 13 to 15 weeks in a row without a study and speaking break and that's just flat out stupid. I almost lost it when I've done that. You have to learn your own rhythm and then plan accordingly.

2. Learn the rhythms of your organization. Churches don't grow all year round, unless there is a season of unusual momentum. You have to learn your organization’s natural down times. For most churches, one natural down time is during the summer. Because the summer is a natural down time for People's Church, I take several Sundays off during this time. You have to come to grips with the fact that every season can't be a growth and momentum season. You will kill yourself and the people who serve/work with you if you try to push at an extremely fast paced level during every season. There is a rhythm in your organization too, so learn it and roll with it!

How To Take A Vacation?

I want to share with you this week about how to take a vacation. So many people struggle with being a workaholic or not taking time off. If you want to function at a high level, you have to take vacations. You can't burn the candle at both ends at all times. The old saying is very true, if you don't break your schedule, your schedule will break you.

Here are a couple of things that keep people from taking a vacation:

1. The organization/employees/company needs me so much so I can't take a break! PLEASE! If you actually feel that way, you think you are more important than you really are. Just die and watch how things move on without you. Trust me, if you die, the very people and organization that you think can't make it without you will move on! For some of you, you are going to literally die an early death if you don't take a break.

2. Nobody can do it as good as me. WHATEVER! If you think that, then you are not as good as you think you are. If you are as good as you think you are, you would have trained someone to take your place so that you could take a break (or at least be in the process of training someone). You know you are a good leader and running a healthy organization when things can function as well in your absence as they do with you present.

Weekend Update

1. It was good to be back at People's Church on Sunday. Whenever we are away we always miss our church family, but I needed the break.

2. It's amazing how the body works. After not speaking for two weeks, I sort of got out of shape. You have to be in shape to do four services back to back. I stayed focused mentally, but I felt it physically. I was very glad that my voice held up well all four services.

3. Over 40 people gave their hearts to Christ. I praise God that every Sunday people give their lives to Christ.

4. Church family, way to bring your un-churched family and friends to church. I really believe if you will get them to church, God will change their lives. They Holy Spirit is moving in powerful ways.

5. The series on the fruit of the spirit is going to be so good for our church. I want to be a pastor and for us to be a church that exudes the fruit of the spirit.

6. It thrills me to see the diversity in our church. Church family, ALWAYS let the love of Christ rule your life. We need to continue to be a church where red, yellow, black and white worship Christ together. Don't EVER get snooty, stuck up or think that you are more important than someone else. We should be known for our love more than any thing else!