Holiday Update

Wow, I have had a great time hanging out with my family! It's been a great holiday. I feel refreshed, and I'm ready to tackle the new year. My family and I flew to Minnesota on December 24th. My wife has a lot of family who lives up north. We had over 30 people at our Christmas dinner. It was a blast hanging out and just relaxing. I NEEDED IT! We are flying home today. I'm ready to get home. A week from the house is just about right for me. Here are a few highlights from our trip.

1. We stayed with my wife's cousin and her family. They have been close since they were little kids. They are youth pastors at her dad's church.

2. A lot of my wife's family are full-time ministers.

3. My kids got so many gifts from their grandparents that we couldn’t bring them all home on the plane. THEY LOVE THEIR GRANDPARENTS. We are going to have to make a trip to Nebraska to pick up all of those gifts (my wife's parents live in Nebraska).

4. I played a bunch of XBOX 360 with Kirby. Kirby is my wife's cousin's husband. We had so much fun playing against one another. We spent hours just goofing off and playing games. By the way, I dominated him in (Madden, Baseball & Hockey).

5. I ate way too much food. I guarantee I picked up 5 pounds. Oh well, I have to hit the gym really hard the next couple of weeks.

6. I HAD SO, SO, SO MUCH FUN ON THIS TRIP!

7. I'm very excited about what God is getting ready to do at People's Church in 2008!

8. Josh, our Executive Pastor, spoke this weekend, and I know he did a great job!

9. I'm beginning a new series this weekend called The Winning Hand. INVITE EVERYBODY YOU KNOW! LET'S PACK THE HOUSE and WATCH GOD DO HIS THING!

Christmas Eve Blog Action

1. This is the only blog I'm doing all week. I'm taking a blogging break and giving my staff the rest of the week off.

2. My staff has worked hard this year. Our church has grown somewhere around 30 to 40 percent this year. They deserve a few days off before we hit the ground running in January.

3. This weekend we were down in attendance because of the snow, sleet and ice we had on Saturday. My family and I actually flew off the interstate on Saturday, but God kept us safe.

4. Some of my drive to church yesterday morning was on ICE. That ice is dangerous stuff.

5. Even with the weather conditions, we still had over 10 people give their hearts to Christ.

6. We had a great communion service in all four services. IT WAS A HOLY MOMENT! If you missed it, YOU MISSED OUT on an awesome experience.

7. I love being your pastor.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! REMEMBER THAT JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

Random Thoughts

1. Yesterday, my wife and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary. I married an incredible woman. I love her more and more as the days go by. I took my bride to a GREAT restaurant and looked into her eyes and told her how much she means to me! WHAT A LADY!

2. My kids are excited for Christmas. I really love this time of year. It's my favorite time of year.

3. This week has been an incredibly busy week. The next 2 months is going to be a VERY busy season for me and my team at People's Church. It's worth every minute of it to see MORE CHANGED LIVES!

4. I'm tired!

5. I made it into the championship game in one of my fantasy leagues. The championship is two weeks long. My team is 12-2. I have to bring home the championship. GO TEAM GO!

6. Before you leave Oklahoma City to go visit family, be sure to come worship with your church family at one of our four Sunday Christmas services at 8:30AM, 9:45AM, 11:00AM and 12:15PM. I look forward to seeing you there!

7. In January, we are beginning a series that is going to change your life. I'm very excited for what God has in store through this series.

Student Ministries Director

I am looking to hire a Student Ministries Director. Our current Student Ministries Director has done a superb job of building our Youth Ministry. He and his family feel God leading them to be a Senior Pastor. If you are interested in being our Student Ministries Director, please email your resume to erin@peopleschurch.tv or fax it to 405-775-9992. Please no phone calls.

This is what I am looking for:

1. A leader of leaders, not a doer. A great team builder

2. A good communicator and vision caster

3. Works well with a team

4. Thrives in a multi-cultural setting

5. Is called to be in Youth Ministry for the next 5 to 10 years

6. Will fit into our philosophy of ministry (THIS IS HUGE)

7. Is passionate about seeing the People's Church vision coming to pass

8. Works well in a fast paced, rapidly growing and changing environment

9. Has the 3 C's, Character, Chemistry, Competency!

Send this blog to as many people as you know.

Guest Blog: Shane Hood

Hello, I am the Community Group Director at People's Church.

I wanted to share today on the importance of community in small groups and the church. To create community, people must have common interests focused around the vision of the church. As small group leaders start to connect with others, they begin to build relationships that promote doing life together, holding each other accountable for their lifestyles and reaching out to others to join in. To continue the momentum of people connecting and starting new groups, the leader of the Small Group Ministry must build a team of leaders around them. In that team of leaders, there must be an inner circle of a few top tier leaders of whom the leader develops and spends extra time with. The inner circle assists in promoting the vision to all the Small Group Leaders and keeps them focused on creating the culture of developing new leaders. As new leaders are developed, community can continue to grow with the church.

Why I Blog?

1. I think it's pretty cool to keep a log of what's happening in my mind and heart. I will enjoy looking back over the years and seeing what I was thinking and facing at the time.

2. It allows my church family to get to know me and my family a little better. In a rapidly growing church, it's impossible to have relationship with everybody.

3. It allows me to cast vision and give direction to my church family.

4. It allows me to speak into the lives of other leaders. I get a great deal of satisfaction pouring into the lives of leaders. I feel like one of the callings on my life is to equip, resource and encourage leaders.

5. I can't believe my one year anniversary of blogging is coming up in January. I'm getting in a groove!

Weekend Update

1. The weather was much better in Oklahoma this weekend! We actually had sunshine yesterday and today!

2. 11 people surrendered their lives to Christ this weekend. YEA GOD!

3. The four weekend services are going really well.

4. The Dallas Cowboys lost yesterday. I'm mad!

5. One of my fantasy teams didn't make the playoffs and one of them got booted out last week. I still have one team in the playoffs and tonight's football game will decide if my team moves on.

6. Don't miss our special Christmas Eve Services this coming up Sunday! It is going to be a fabulous time!

Guest Blog: Erin Brown Pt. 3

I thought that today I would list some of the things that I do on a weekly basis.

▪ I filter all of his calls, mail and emails that come into the office.
▪ I schedule his appointments.
▪ I assist with any sermon research that he may need. A few of the websites that I find helpful are http://www.sermoncentral.com/ and http://www.bible.org/. Both of these sites have great illustrations, quotes, etc…
▪ I make all of his travel arrangements, such as booking flights, hotels, etc…
▪ I make sure that he has everything he will need for the Sunday services.
▪ Everyday I send an “end of the day” report that has any pertinent information that I feel he needs to know.
▪ On a weekly basis, Herbert meets with Josh Brown, our Director of Operations, and Brian Rush, our Programming Director, in an Executive Meeting. After this meeting, there is a Leadership Staff Meeting the Josh leads. I sit in the staff meetings on Pastor Herbert’s behalf and make note of things that he needs to know.

My task list may differ from week to week, but these are a few of the things that I do on a regular basis. An essential element of being a good assistant is flexibility. Overall, I try to remember that anything, no matter how big or small, I can take off his plate or make easier for him is freeing up more of his time. The more time I can free up for Herbert as his assistant, the more time he can spend doing what he is called to do.

Guest Blog: Erin Brown Pt. 2

A few things:

1. Being an assistant to the pastor is an important job. It is so important that I feel it is my ministry and my calling. I consider it an honor and blessing to serve as an assistant to both Herbert and Tiffany. It is by far the most rewarding job I have ever had.

2. Another aspect of my role is protecting Herbert’s time. I understand how valuable his time is. How do I show this? I try and redirect things that don’t need his attention. I double check and confirm every appointment he has. When he comes in the office, I try and have everything ready for him so that he doesn’t have to wait on me. I have found all of these things to be helpful in my role as an assistant.

Guest Blog: Erin Brown

I have asked my personal assistant, Erin Brown, to share with you for the next 2 or 3 days some of her insights on serving in this role at People’s Church.

There are a few things that I would like to share with you over the next couple of days. I invite all of the pastors reading this to have your assistants read it as well. You never know where you will get something that might be helpful.

One of the most important roles I play as Herbert’s assistant is to be his “filter.” I get many, many calls every week almost all of which want to talk to Herbert. There is no possible way in a church our size that he can take all of the calls and meet all of the needs and still be able to effectively study, pray and deliver the messages that we enjoy every Sunday. Something would suffer. Herbert has built a great team that assists him in carrying this load. I would say that less than 5% of the calls actually get through to Herbert. I have found, that if I stop and ask a few questions to gather some details, most of the time either I can help them or another pastor would be more effective in taking care of their need.

Confidentiality and trust are vital in my role as an assistant. There has to be a level of trust where it is understood that I can be given information and it goes no further. It is extremely important to know that you have people around you that you can trust.