Recently I discovered how to tap into a new reserve of downtime to allow me to connect more w/ our folks: I started strategically using all the time I spend driving in a car.  Usually, I like to keep ‘car time’ as ‘down-time’.  I pray, I listen to worship music, I let my mind breathe – and all of those things are important.  However, starting 6 weeks ago I began to purposefully schedule many of my ministry calls during the drive times that I had in between meetings.  This accomplished several things for me:

1. It put the calls on a schedule, rather than “I’ll call you when I have time”, or “you call me when you have time”…which rarely (maybe never) happen at the same time.

2. It put a certain stop time to the calls – which allowed me to work w/ purpose on the call rather than just ‘shoot the breeze’ for an unspecified time.  I let people know that I have to walk into a meeting in 15 minutes, but I wanted to be able to answer their call or question and do it in a timely manner.

3. I put all my ‘random’ calls I had to return in my phone’s ‘Notes’ section w/ the number (so I just have to tap the number to dial) and I use any spare moments during drive time to call people back.

These small changes to my schedule have allowed me to both feel and become much more accessible to our folks through the week on phone calls – and I feel like they’ve allowed me catch up on the never-ending need to connect w/ people and leaders as a pastor.  The only drawbacks: I can’t really carpool anymore…and I don’t think and drive as much as I used to (or ‘sing and drive’…or ‘pray and drive’), but I’m getting more done each week.

Just a small strategic leadership tip: I’d love to know what you are trying to do to master time-management in small ways in your life. Leave a comment and help me get better.

Ball #1: Spiritual Development

As a Pastor, I’ve clearly been called and commissioned to help people develop spiritually. From my staff, to my Leadership Team, to our Volunteers, to every person who enters our church, it’s my job to help them grow and develop spiritually.  This part of my job will never end – HOWEVER – I’ve learned that I have been too narrowly focused on this component of development at our church to the detriment of the two new areas I am wrestling with.

Ball #2: Leadership Development

If I am the greatest Christian in the world (which I am not), and I have the most spiritual staff in the world (which I do not – sorry guys, just keeping it real), but we are not developing as leaders (and developing MORE leaders), our church will not remain healthy as it grows.  The last several weeks I have been challenged and pushed to develop this part of our church, specifically at the staff, leadership, and volunteer levels.  We will not do this IN PLACE of Spiritual Development, but we have to learn to do this IN STEP w/ Spiritual Development.  We have to keep growing leaders at the same rate that we are growing disciples.  Why?  Keep reading.

Ball #3: Organizational Development

What happens when an organization grows, but it doesn’t develop?  I’ve been wresting with the reality of that and the answer to that since January.  Our church is growing at a great pace [on average at more than 30% each month compared to last year], and some things we did at 100 people don’t work at 300, and some things we did at 300 people don’t work at 500 people.  How do we shape the development of our organization so that the church remains healthy and having impact without just collapsing one day?  This is my 3rd area of focus as I head into the Summer of 2013.

What I’m learning: These 3 areas are both complimentary to each other and continuous to each other – IF you start w/ Spiritual Development. Here’s why: People who are developing spiritually will always draw others to them who will engage in your church and ministry.  As they develop spiritually, they will also begin to serve (their heart will lead them to want to make a difference and to give back) – creating a wealth of volunteer energy.  The more volunteers that you have, the more Leadership Development has to be done so volunteers are led well, loved well, trained well, and carefully watched over for issues such as bad attitudes (can’t have that), bad aptitude (not very good at something – need to find a different fit), or lack of balance (burnout).  When you have lots of volunteers, but only a small number of people trying to lead them – people will slowly slip through the cracks of attitude, aptitude, and burnout…which will be spiritually detrimental, not spiritually developmental. This reality leads us to the importance of  structure.  How do you build, lead, and reshape organizational structure so that the church and its people stay healthy as it grows.

If you run into me and my mind seems to be somewhere else – it’s trying to dissect this puzzle and answer the questions it presents.  If you know of any great leadership books or resources or conferences that speak to this tension – please throw them my way.

Enjoying the Journey – fighting the tension!

Some other memorable statements from yesterday’s message:

• “God is always speaking – many times we just aren’t listening…”
• “Intimacy w/ God is born out of conversation w/ God.”
• “Record your daily ‘God-sightings’ [When/Where you feel God has moved or directed or shown up in a specific way] in a journey for 40-Days to learn how to tune your ear to God’s voice.”
• “Daily application of what you’ve learned from your Bible reading leads to spiritual transformation.”
• “God knows the right thing to do anytime, every time.”
• “Looking for the big signs from God w/out searching for the ‘small voice’ of God is a sign of spiritual and emotional immaturity.”

You can check out the entire message at www.takethejourney.cc/watch-and-listen soon!

At our dinner we had a chance to say “Thank You” to the people who make our church possible.  Just a challenge to all you church-leaders and church-planters out there: If you can’t live w/out your volunteers and you are over-the-top grateful for them, then TELL THEM, SHOW THEM, LOVE THEM, AND APPRECIATE THEM.  Most of them are serving God [not serving you], but a ‘Thank You” from you and your staff team will go a long way.

Thank you JCI Volunteers.  We love you and your families and appreciate your dedication and sacrifice!

Here’s a quick recap:

10K Giveaway: One of the greatest highlights of our weekend was the fulfillment of our goal to give $10,000 to the Coldwater Ministries this year as a church.  Coldwater works locally in Lee’s Summit to feed hungry children and support hurting families.  Through our gift, the final portion of which was presented yesterday to Coldwater’s Director, Jackie Knabe, our church has taken responsibility for 50 children in Lee’s Summit to ensure that they have food every weekend for an entire year.  Way to go church! We’ve now given more than $50,000 to Missions in 2012.

2012 Girls Getaway: We had almost 110 ladies from our church participate in our Ladies Retreat last weekend, and it was just awesome.  Thank you to Vanessa Higgins and the entire leadership team for putting on such a great event.  I’ve heard dozens of stories of lives impacted deeply.

Clayton King and Jesus: We had Clayton King in town to speak Sunday, and his message was just awesome.  If you did not get to church, you can watch the message here: http://takethejourney.sermon.tv/pv/5612810.  Not only did he minister to our church in a powerful way, but Jesus showed up too.  14 people prayed to give their lives to Jesus on Sunday morning!  If we never have church again – these lives have been impacted for eternity!

As a church our mission is “To see people far from God become passionate Christians who make a difference in the world”.  As for this weekend…I say MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

We are going to have the BEST MONTH EVER at JCI – Hope to see you Sunday as we celebrate our Children’s Musical and begin our Christmas Sermon Series titled, “The Big Miracle”.

The Best is yet to come!

Pastor C

In 2 Peter 3:18 Peter says, “But grow…” (add an extra ‘t’ here and there and that phrase gets your attention, huh?).

But GROW!

Are you growing spiritually?  That is the question we are asking all month long at Journey Church International, and it is the focus of our church as we study Matthew chapter13 all month long.  Where are we spiritually, where do we need to go spiritually, and are we willing to do what it takes to get their spiritually?  In other words…ARE WE GROWING?

I Corinthinans 3:1-9 Paul makes it so clear that God’s goal for Christians is for us to GROW!  However, not all Christians are growing.  So, something has to change, and it has to start with YOU.  Be determined to “grow” in your faith this month.  If you don’t know how to grow, tune in all month long to our archived video stream or our podcast at www.takethejourney.cc/watch-and-listen.  Or e-mail us at info@takethejourney.cc and request a copy of our “Spiritual Next Steps” booklet that we’ve produced for our church.  Wherever you are, there is a next step to take in order to grow.

“But Grow”…let’s get going!

**Leave a comment telling us some simple things you do to grow spiritually.

I was able to share a brief recap of the first year of ministry at JCI Sunday that I wanted to remind you of as we all thank God for what He is doing is at our church.  In the spirit of 2 Corinthians 10:17, which states that if we boast, we should “boast in the Lord”, let me brag on God a little bit with the great blessings of Year One.

• 76 people gave their hearts to Jesus and became Christians.
• 45 Christians who were away from God rededicated their lives spiritually.
• 46 people were baptized, publically declaring that they were following Jesus.
• More than 300 Bibles have been given away to guests and attenders to our church who did not have a Bible.
• $62,719 dollars have been given away to local outreach, global missions, and church-planting ministries.

If that is what God can use our church to do in just one year, how much ministry can we do with more focus in year two, and with more time in the next three to five years.  Thank you for being a part of our church, and your contributions to God’s Kingdom through your service, your giving, your prayers, and your involvement.

When you add Sunday’s totals to the first year of our church, 159 people have made decisions to draw closer to Jesus at JCI in the past 53 Sundays.  In the next month, as we begin our new Sermon Series, “Spiritual Drought”, we will all focus on how we can take our next step spiritually and grow closer to Jesus too.  I hope you’ll plan to be at church, or to watch services online all month long to see how you can grow spiritually this Fall.

Can’t wait to see you Sunday – The Best is yet to come!

Tuesday, September 18^th, was the official one-year birthday of Journey Church International: and what a year it has been.  As I look back at the history of my life, no year will compare to the first year of our church and the incredible things God did through our church.  This Sunday, September 23^rd, I will be sharing a brief wrap-up of our first year of ministry, and I think your mind will be blown away at all things that God has accomplished through the ministry of JCI in just one year.  However, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

This Sunday marks the most important 5-week stretch that our church has ever seen.  For the last 90 days God has been revealing to me the importance of Spiritual Growth for the individuals in our church.  It is heavy upon my heart that every individual in our church take steps to grow spiritually this next year, and the next 5 weeks we will focus solely on identifying where you are spiritually, what your next step of spiritual growth is, and how you can take it.  Our team has finally finished our “Personalized 12-Step Spiritual Growth Plan” (thank you Pastor Ryan Holt!) and we will put that in your hands so you can track your spiritual growth for the rest of your life.  We will also study together the growth barriers that hold Christians back spiritually and keep us stagnant in our faith.  I am asking all of you to make a commitment to be at church every week the next 5 weeks, or to watch our services online if you have to miss for any reason.  I cannot stress how important this is for your spiritual growth this year!

As for this Sunday, I’m praying it will go down as one of the most memorable days in the history of our church.  For 6 weeks we have been talking about and praying for Harvest Sunday.  We are asking everybody in our church not only to come as we kick-off the second year of our church, but we are specifically asking every person to bring with them a friend or a family member who may not know Jesus.  We are bringing in a nationally renowned speaker, Tony Nolan, who has a special gift of helping people who are not from religious or spiritual backgrounds understand who Jesus is .  Just a few months ago Tony spent time with Billy Graham in his home in North Carolina, and he will tell us about that meeting.  We are praying that dozens of people will make decisions to follow Jesus this Sunday, and if we have the honor of witnessing that, it will be something that we never forget.  But you have to come Sunday, and you have to bring somebody with you to see this dream fulfilled at our church for a Harvest of souls!  WE NEED YOU!

Plan to be there this Sunday and bring somebody with you who may need a powerful introduction to Jesus.

I love my church!  I’m honored to serve you as one of your pastors, and I thank you for engaging in the vision and ministry of JCI this past year.  Let’s make the 2^nd year of our church even better!

Yesterday at Journey Church International we talked about the spiritual power of developing a “Spiritual Dream Team” in our lives.  In Daniel 2:14-18 Daniel is faced w/ a life and death situation and his first response is to turn to his friends and ask them to pray.  These friends would later stand toe to toe w/ the king and be delivered from a ‘Fiery Furnace’, because they stood together.  This group of 4 Christian friends may have been the strongest spiritual small group ever assembled (outside of Jesus and his disciples).  In Christianity, spiritual FRIENDSHIP is critical to spiritual growth!

I challenged our people to understand that the level of our spiritual growth and spiritual success is determined by the strength of those around us.  The 1992 Gold medal winning Olympic Basketball team featured 11 NBA basketball players and they won their games by an average of nearly 50 points.  All 11 NBA players on that team are in the basketball Hall of Fame.  These were 11 of the best basketball players in the history of the world on the same team; and their results spoke for themselves.  They were the best single basketball team ever assembled (sorry Kobe, it’s true!).

If you will choose to surround yourselves w/ the best Christians in life that you know – I promise you you’ll be much more dominant in the battles of your spiritual life.  Why?  Because spiritual FRIENDSHIP is critical!

For more info check the message here through audio or video: www.takethejourney.cc/watch-and-listen/

Can you hear me now?

Yesterday in our “Bedtime Stories” summer sermon series we studied the story of Moses and the Burning Bush, and we asked this question, “Does God have your attention?”  God’s Spirit was all over this message and the entire service.  I hope you’ll get a chance to check it out this week by podcasting or watching it at www.takethejourney.cc/watch-and-listen/

10 People Start a Personal Relationship w/ God!

After the message an invitation was given to allow people to move from just “hearing about God” to “knowing him personally and intimately” through placing their faith in Jesus Christ.  10 people responded by raising their hands that they prayed to take that step yesterday.  An awesome day of God moving.

Dozens pray for more of God’s Spirit in their life!

I challenged all the Christians in our church to remove whatever in their life was keeping them from experiencing a personal connection to God’s holiness (like Moses’ sandals) and to pray that God will invade their lives with his Spirit.  Dozens raised their hands that this was their desire and prayer at the end of the service.  Awesome!

Powerful Worship!

Our worship took a spirit-filled leap Sunday when our lead guitarist, Jeremy Ellsworth, and our worship leader, Danielle Newsome (my beautiful wife), took time to lead our church into God’s Word, into prayer, and into a time of meditation on the lyrics of our Worship time and our church responded powerfully.  What a great way to set the stage for a study of God’s Word.  Way to go Worship Team, and way to respond, Church!

Student/Kid’s Camp:

We have 30 JCI folks in Atlanta this week for our Summer Student Camp and Kids Camp for “Go Tell Camp 2012”.  Pray for our students, our kids, and all of our adult leaders to be powerfully impacted by God this week.  And pray for safe travel home this Friday!

This Sunday, July 1, we’ll study the story of David and Goliath.  It will be life-transforming, and you’ll never forget it!  See you then!