HoW's YoUr 30?

There are times in your life when you really feel like your onto something, like you've really grabbed the heart of God. 

"30" is one of those things in my life currently that I feel God can take use as a catalyst for my leadership. Here's where it was born. 

A couple weeks ago, I began pondering what 2009 would look like. How can I get young people to grow consistantly and continually? I realized this. In about 2 and a half months peole will begin pondering in their minds the things they will do in 2009. Some will call them goals, some will deem them new years resolutions. Thin in 3 and 1/2 months (and 10 pounds added onO from now, everyone will have forgotten those "deemed' goals and life will continue, roll on , nad move forward. This produces an endless cycle of inconsistency in our lives, and gives us no strong bar for growth. One night during a quiet time, and in the name of measuring spiritual growth, I had this idea (or vision you could say). What if we were able to get people to continually evaluate their spiritual growth "DURING" THE GROWING PROCESS? (Think looking at yourself in the mirror as a child and "phisically" watching yourself grow). What if we were able to set goals, make commitments to God (LARGE and small) and measure our positive motion (movements towards God) throughout a 30 dayperiod. Roughly 12 times a year, stand up against a wall and mark off our "growth". I presented this to my "Remnant" (leadership Institute) and quickly the phrase "HoW's yOuR 30? (think New York accent "how you doin? but cooler) was born out of their spiritual creativity. What we came together to plan is a 1 year worth of "30's". Every 30 days for the next year we are going to challenge a group of about 150 students to evaluate, re-evaluate, and re-evaluate again their lives all in the name of finding who they are in Christ. The goal will be to be able to have a continual bar as which to gauge themselves by:

Eph 3:17-20 says this: So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

The word dwell comes from the Hebrew word "MISHKAN" which means "to live in". My hopes and prayers are that if we challenge people (especially this generation) to pull out the spiritual measuring tape every 30 days. To truly be honest with themselves and ask "HAVE I GROWN? or am I stunted spiritually?" If were able to monitor growth DURING growth itself, imagine how REAL God becomes to us! 

Make this covenant with God. Share your thoughts and your growth. You can check out what some of the youth are committing to  at 

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26639725265&ref=share

Under the Influence

Moments ago I was sitting in my office, doing what I do on a continual weekly basis. On Friday I have a little ritual to break down my week and I ask myself an honest tough question.

How much have of an influence have I been this week?

Now some weeks it's a very fun question. Other weeks I want to open up the earth and just crawl in. 

I like to think of myself as a leader who daily wants to be "UNDER THE INFLUENCE". When we think of these words, how we tend to think negatively. Mel, Brittany, Nick (btw one of my favorite photo's ever) may jump out into our mind.

But what about JESUS? We know when Christ came, he was severly under the influence. The disciples? obvious (and I won't continue on and on with cheesy christian analogies...you get the point)

    So @ i'm sitting in my office a dad walks in (and this always puts fear in my heart at first). Rob is a great guy. MAJOR ENCOURAGER. He and his wife have pulled me through some tense "moments" by simple e mails, or cards, or just simple smiles and "atta boys". Rob also heads up our mens ministry. As he walked briskly into my office he says to me words that shake me to my core.  He says this. "You know what your doing is influencing the whole church". See Rob is the head of our men's ministry. He's taken our mentorship strategy we've implemented in our "REMNANT" student leadership team, and began adapting it to the men's ministry. He then speaks of our "HOW'S YOUR 30?" covenant program, and how he's intrigued by it for the men. 

Rob blessed me this morning in so many ways. As he was walking out of my office he slyly said "Your making my job easy". When Rob left my office, I knew my "weekly tough question" had been answered.   I was under the influence.....and being an influence.

John Wesley said this.

DO ALL THE GOOD YOU CAN

BY ALL THE MEANS YOU CAN

IN ALL THE WAYS YOU CAN

IN ALL THE PLACES YOU CAN

TO ALL THE PEOPLE YOU CAN

ALL THE TIMES YOU CAN.