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Are You On Fire For God?
On Monday my 11 year old began reading a biography on Benjamin Franklin. We have enjoyed hearing Aaron share interesting facts that he is learning. I remember reading “Mr. Franklin often went to hear a pastor speak by the name of George Whitfield because he enjoyed watching him burn before his very eyes.” I believe […]
#1 Question To Ask If Your Church Is Declining
Todd and I combined have over 30 years experience in consulting with declining churches. Both of us love what we do. It’s not always easy but no job is. One thing is certain, there is great blessing in living out your passion. We love the local church and consider it a privilege to pastor and serve it when and […]
Leadership Summit: Bill Hybels
I respect and appreciate so many things about Bill Hybels. A few I want to mention are…his love for God, his passion, his love for those outside the church and his heart to help dying churches. Another quality he has that is like a breath air is his lack of pretense. Bill is honest and transparent in the […]
Why I Resigned
Over 20+ years ago I still remember a coffee and prayer time in La Jolla, CA with a co-worker (Fred Wevodau) that radically changed my thinking. The Holy Spirit used a simple prayer to serve as a catalyst in better understanding strategic praying to advance the kingdom. Prayer has been a vital part of my life since becoming a […]
For Pastors Only: Does Your Church Follow Up?
After our relocation transition from church planting to LEAD, on our “to do” list was to find a church where we could worship and tithe. Our prayer was that God would direct us to where he wanted us. We honestly did not care if the church had 30 people in attendance or 3000. Our denomination which […]
10 More Things the Church Does That Scares the Crap Out of Me
The topic yesterday was titled “10 Things the Church Does That Scares the Crap Out of Me.” According to my stat counter it was a big hit so today I want to share 10 more from my list of 30. In case you missed reading yesterday this blog comes out of over 25 years of […]
10 Things the Church Does That Scares the Crap Out of Me
Among other things God wired me to do church consulting. Back when I started over 25 years ago it wasn’t called that. It really didn’t have a name. Or if it did I didn’t know it. A pastor who was mentoring me when I was a collegian asked me to evaluate his ministry. Within […]
5 Ministry Alarms
Last week my sister had to call the fire department because her kitchen caught on fire. Because they acted quickly the fire was contained and the damage was minimal. It reminded me of a time when my kitchen caught on fire while living in La Jolla, CA. Wish I could say I acted quickly […]
Pink Flip Flops
When it comes to shoes I used to be pretty basic & boring. Black, brown or navy. Maybe white in summer. But during the summer of 2005 my good friend Liz had the coolest bright blue flip flops with sparkly thingies on at the ball park. Since seeing her flip flops I went a little wild over summer shoe color. I’ve had many colors but not pink. I searched 3 years for pink flip flops. Couldn’t find a cute pair in my size that fit my budget. It took 3 long years but I finally found some on sale a month ago. Hoorah! I was so excited to find them. Is it really possible to feel happier wearing pink flip flops? I thought so. If you’re a guy reading this please hang with me.
Tonight as I was wearing my pink flip flops my son ran in the house and told me he saw a girl fall off her bike in front of our home. With no emotion in his voice I assumed we were talking about a skinned knee in need of a band aide. When I got outside there were already a few people standing near the accident victim…4 kids and two adults. The 13 year old girl hit her head on the side walk and blood was everywhere and also running out her ear. She was scared, dazed and confused. Someone had just called 911 and she was crying for her aunt and uncle whom she was visiting from TN. Problem was she had no memory of their phone number or address. She could remember her uncles name but someone had been unable to find the name/number in the phone book. I immediately called 411 and got the number. Fortunately the aunt and uncle she was visiting lived in our neighborhood and only a couple of streets over. The aunt arrived just as the EMT were placing her niece on the gurney. She had rushed over without shoes and was going to go back home to get shoes before driving to the ER. I told her she needed to go with her niece in the ambulance. She replied that she was barefoot. I quickly threw off my pink flip flops and said you can have these. Hurry. We’ll take care of your car. Todd drove the car from the middle of the road to our driveway. More Ashley Green neighbors gathered in our driveway to find out what had happened. We gathered for about an hour, discussing the accident and then got caught up with one another. As I walked through our front door I remembered I was barefoot. I also remembered something else…pink flip flops do not make you feel happier…but people gathering together, helping one another, caring about one another, honest fellowship, loving one another, while realizing how fragile we are and that every day of life is a gift of God…this is what makes our lives real and relevant.
How fragile we are.
The Best Ministry is not 9-5
I remember 25 years ago when Skip Gray, (who btw is one of the best staff by far The Navigators ever had) informed me that your best ministry opportunity will never be 9-5. Skip was speaking at a Campus Outreach Christmas conference for college students in Gatlinburg, TN. Soon after when I went on staff […]
