Dear Younger David #1
My First Entry I've been journaling almost everyday ever since I was in tenth grade. What you’re about to read is part of my first official journal entry from 10th grade! I recently starting reading back through my journals and found there are many things I wish I could have told myself back then. So, I’m going to share a few of my entries along with my present day response to them. Background A little bit about me. My father died when I was in third grade from Leukemia. After 8th grade my mom decided to move us to VA. to ...
4 Steps to Using Your Past for God
The R.E.M. song is true- everybody hurts. Everyone has a story of some storm they’ve been through in life. I’m on a team teaching a class right now called GIFTED and this past week we talked about how God can use our experiences. Everyone worked though an exercise where they charted their biggest life experiences. (I’ll share the exercise in another post.) As people sat there, examining their life on paper, we explained that God can use your life experiences. Your greatest passions probably stem from the biggest moments of your life, this includes your moments of joy, but also ...
Personality Matters in Leading Your Team
Blindspots A few weeks ago I wrote a post about 4 quadrants of our life representing our public persona, secrets, blindspots, and potential. You can read it here. If we want to grow as a leader, we need to attack our blindspots (things everyone knows about us that we don't know about ourselves). One way we can decrease our blindspots is by learning more about ourselves. Earlier this week I asked a group of our leaders to take a simple personality test. It's actually one of the most simple tests out there. You can find it here. Also here's an even more ...
The Most Important Thing I Learned from a Life-Sized Singing Songbook
A Singing Songbook Memories are a funny thing. Growing up there were probably toys you played with or shows you watched you thought were the coolest. But, now when you go back and see those same toys or shows, they seem ridiculous. I grew up listening to tapes starring a giant, blue, singing songbook named Psalty. He helped teach kids about God through song. The tapes about Psalty are still great, but the movies are another story. A man with a blue afro, wearing more makeup than the Ronald Mcdonald clown, while sporting a big blue book costume and singing ...
Gideon: The Time Music and Candles Won a War
A few weeks ago I spent two weeks talking about how God used an ordinary man named Gideon to save the nation of Israel. If you're facing an impossible circumstance right now, this series is for you. Enjoy. Click the links to listen: GIDEON: part 1 GIDEON: part 2 EXTRA MATERIAL: Here's some stuff I wasn't able to share in my sermon. Here's where the battle most likely took place. The Israelites were up in the mountains with the Midianites down below in the valley. Here's a picture of what the Israelites were up against: Thinning the men round 2: ...
When Faith Feels Like the Hamster Wheel to Nowhere
Rainbows and Leprechauns Growing up, I used to love hearing stories about leprechauns and their hidden gold held at the end of a rainbow. I admit, there are times today when I’ll see a well-formed rainbow and only the adult pressure of responsibility keeps me from throwing caution to the wind and trying to find the end of the rainbow. It’s not that I actually expect to find the end or gold, but there’s still that little boy inside wanting to try. Now, I know that finding the end of a rainbow is impossible. No matter how fast or far ...
3 Questions Every Volunteer Asks
The moment someone signs up to serve on a team, the clock begins to tick. With every passing moment initial interest in your team begins to fade. So, the question is, how do you capture new volunteers and turn them into a fully engaged member of your team? Communicate! When someone signs up for your team, the most important thing you can do is communicate with them! Call them and introduce yourself. Also try to introduce yourself in person so you each have a face to go with a name. Communicate how your team works, the process to get involved, ...
I Dream of Pants
Getting the Mail Getting the mail often feels like an exercise in moving paper from my mailbox to my trash can. Every once in a while something breaks through and catches my attention. That’s exactly what happened a few days ago. This one advertisement sucked me in, and even after I threw it away, has continued to haunt me. Who knew one advertisement could hold such power. Here’s the advertisement (The first pic. is from the Gap webpage, followed by the advertisement we received in the mail which I had to save from the trash for the photo): The Jeans I’ve ...
The Prayer That Changed My Life Forever
Perspective is a funny thing. In some ways it’s nothing more than meaningless whispers in our mind, calling us to believe something that may or may not be true. But, in other ways it’s the most powerful force we hold, defining who we are and how we act. I never knew how much my perspective on my dad’s death affected me, until the day my perspective changed forever. I remember the night I said goodbye to my father. It was May of my third grade year. My two younger brothers (7 and 2) and I took the elevator up to ...
Setting Spiritual Goals and a Hot Date
Hot Date Last week I sat across from my wife on a hot date at the Cheesecake Factory. We were about to order our favorite foods when she asked what goals we could make for the new year, which I thought was awesome. Every new year is a new chance to become a better person. It was fun to dream about our upcoming year, including 5k’s, inviting more people over, and finding new ways to give. We’re still trying to nail down the specifics, but it was great to get the conversation started. Thinking I’ve ended up thinking a lot ...