Lesson: Down time is needed!

All great teams have learned that a season can be grueling & grinding at times!  There are injuries to overcome, tough parts of the schedule to endure and just the strain of performing day in & day out.  Each player, during that season, is constantly evaluating their performance & play and seeing what they can do to get better and improve.  Coaches are always tweaking their game plans and looking ahead to learn what to do for the awaiting opponent!  It is hard to enjoy a win because there is another game coming just around the corner!  

Life can feel this way at times!  You know that you are making a difference and sometimes you get some huge wins but you have no time to enjoy the victory because there is a new challenge coming!  Therefore, when you are able to get some down time, enjoy it….relish it and use it!  Everyone needs to be “off” at times.  It is not a sign of weakness to get down time, in fact, you can be sharper for the “game” if you know how to “come down” off your edge!  

I admit, it is hard to turn it off and to slow down!  However, after 18 years of full-time ministry, I have learned that I not only need it but my family needs it as well!  I don’t want to be burned out and burned up for the people I love the most!  Schedule your down times….work your best in your “game” times and watch yourself have your best year yet!!  If Jesus needed “solitude” and “getting away” occasionally, I bet you do to!

Rearview Mirror

• Incredible “Couples Night Out” with Tim Hawkins!!  Two sold-out shows and tons of laughs…..So proud of CA & his team (Ludell & Eddie, Sharon, Jill) for pulling off the night!!  Hundreds of couples – praying that they all get connected!!
• Our building guys, Robert & Steve, are amazing!  There is a banquet or event in the building almost every night and these guys work so hard keeping everything looking just right!
• Great week 2 of our “The Journey” series…..we talked about yesterday….the ultimate thing that God really wants from our lives is us….all of us!  If you missed it, make sure and stop by our website and catch up!
• Announced to our 5pm service that we will not resuming it after the new year!  We are slam everyone in to our Sunday morning venues and move all of our sunday PM workers to spots in our prime hours!!  It is going to be a crazy few months!  Hate the Sunday PM experiment did not take – but I so appreciate our awesome NStar people who just roll with the punches and do whatever is best for others!!
• Our NStar family packed out a box truck and 15 passenger van for MUST ministries – helping provide toys for needy families!!  I am so proud of everyone who served and helped to make this day happen!  MUST told one of our team that was the largest single day gathering of toys that  they had ever had!  WOW!!!
• Had a great MGMT team meeting this AM…..love these guys who help us dream & look into the future!  So many exciting things ahead but so much to think about!!  Love serving with these guys!
• I am looking so forward to our kids being out of school – 2 weeks with no homework will be awesome!
• Can’t wait for the week ahead!

Lesson: Great teams have players that believe in their system!

I just spent a weekend watching a ton of college football conference championships.   All of the these teams were great for a lot of reasons but there were all very different.  Just take the offenses for each of these teams:  (Alabama) – traditional 2 man back-field pro set,  (Florida) – spread option offense,  (Georgia Tech) – triple option, (Clemson) – CJ Spiller…I know they run an offense, but after watching him on Saturday PM, he is all they needed!  I think you get the picture, it is not necessarily the particular offense a team runs, it is a question of “do they believe in the system and do they execute the system”.  Each one of the teams above, executed their systems all season, that is why they ended up in the championship games for their conference!

I talked last week about “great coaches knowing their systems” but the key to that working is for the teams they coach to believe in that system!  Churches are no different than teams, there are a bunch of great churches out there that do it a ton of different ways but at the end of the day, the one’s who really make it work are the one’s that have a system in place and they work that system!!  Each of them, love the Lord and want to make Him known, “HOW” they do it is many times completely different!

I thank God for our great team at NorthStar who works so hard to “Show God’s love in such a way that people would exchange ordinary living for an extraordinary life through the transforming power of Jesus Christ”!!

Rearview Mirror

• Huge weekend at NorthStar!!!
• The first ever “Christmas @ NorthStar” was a huge hit!!  Best estimates were that over 7000 people came through the campus during the weekend…..Unbelievable!!
• So proud of Marlon for all of his hard work making it happen and coming up with the idea!  Way to go buddy!!
• Marsha, Tricia, Terri, Lyndi & Kristi did an amazing job coordinating our kids area and hundreds of kids, who do not attend anywhere, got to hear the Christmas story!!  Awesome job!!  Kris Griffin, on of volunteers worked so hard, pulling everything together!!
• Robert & Steve, our facilities coordinators, kept the campus spotless, as usual, and provided a great place for people to visit!!
• Bill Glossen & the security team did an amazing job, working with our campus officers, keeping things safe for everyone who came through!!
• Finally, Bill & Todd with JRM Management, who master minded the weekend, were incredible staying on top of every detail….thanks for partnering with us guys!
• Sunday was a blast kicking off our “The Journey” series!!  HUGE crowds in the AM…..had kids singing and the beginning & end of the services, tons of grandparents & parents with camera’s everywhere!!  LOVE the energy that kids bring!
• We had around 20 pray to receive Christ during the morning and settle on their “Destination”….praying now that they take the right steps in this new relationship!
• Working on tons of ideas for NStar in the coming months…..exciting stuff!!
• GT almost wore me out saturday vs. Clemson in the ACC Championship but they pulled it out – so proud of the Jackets!!!
• Ordered tix to the Gator Bowl to see WVU play FSU!  Anne loves her Moutaineers and this is part of her Christmas every year!!!  We will have a blast in Jacksonville for the game!!
• So much great stuff ahead – no more time to look back – too much to get done!!!

Lesson: Great coaches know their systems

Every coach that I ever played for through the years had his own way of doing things.  Some coaches just emulated what they had seen their coaches do,  but then there were a few that were unique and they knew their:  players, program & environment so well!  Everything they did had purpose & meaning and when you played in their system, you knew your role & what part you were playing!  These guys seemed to get so more out of you because you knew what they were shooting for!

Yesterday, our team got to spend a few hours with Andy Stanley from North Point!  Everyone knows Andy to be one of America’s greatest communicators, but after some time with him….he is so much more!  He spent time breaking down their system for us and sharing why they do what they do.  I left there knowing…Andy knows his:  players, program & environment as good or better than anyone that I have ever met!  

My challenge as a leader is to articulate our system better so that our NStar team knows “why” we do what we do!  I want us to be our very best so we can be focused on reaching this community that God has called us to reach!

Thanks Andy for being a coach not only to your North Point team but also to us and so many others!

Rearview Mirror

• Great thanksgiving week!!  Loved having the kids out of school and a week of “no schedules”!
• Enjoyed Anne’s sister, Beth, who was in town visiting!  Fun to see the 2 of them catch up and enjoy each other!!
• Spent tons of time with Casey just hanging out while the girls “did some shopping” – love my boy and so proud of the young man that he is becoming!
• Got to spend Sunday PM with MM – she is so funny and has such a passion to enjoy life!  The girl never likes to slow down and battles the disease that I have…..whereever you happen to be – you always are thinking about being somewhere else!  Praying that she gets a better handle on it than I have!
• Watched tons of football and just hung out around the house – no where to be & nothing to do….it was a crazy feeling!
• Spent a good deal of time early in the week doing some counseling via the phone – my heart breaks for so many families that are struggling
• Enjoyed Thanksgiving day with Anne’s family & my parents…..I have been so blessed by so many wonderful people in my life!
• Brutal GT game with UGA game on Saturday….got some last minute tickets and had a blast being there in person.  Hated the outcome but loved the experience!
• Went to NStar on Sunday AM and had a blast just being an attender!  Daniel knocked it out speaking and the worship was incredible!  No doubt, NStar is where I would go, even if I did not work there!  Love that place!!  Love the people and the love the grace I feel when I walk in!
• Love having so many all-stars around me that I can be off the platform on Sunday and know that we will not miss a beat!  The teaching team of guys that we have is incredible!
• So proud of Annie – she just finished a kitchen project for some friends of ours – turned out great!!  She is so talented – the cabinets that she did “re-did” looked incredible!!  I can’t do squat – so glad that God blessed her with the abilities that she did!  I got to see the final product and it turned out super!
• My heart is broken for the family & church of Thomas Young…..his passing is so sad and such a reminder of how broken this world truly is
• Ready for the next stretch, now to Christmas, and praying for tons of changed lives during this awesome time of year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is absolutely one of my favorite days of the year!  The day is not about getting it is about “thanking” God for all He has blessed us with!  We will never learn contentment in our lives if we do not have the habit in place of being thankful for what we have!

Happy Thanksgiving…..I pray that you to take some time today to say thanks to God for His blessings and then thank you to those who have blessed you!

 

Lesson…..Enjoy the win!

When you are driven and are always looking ahead to new challenges, the hardest part sometimes is enjoying the victories you have just experienced!  I know in sports, if you dwell on the past too long, you don’t prepare to move ahead, but if you don’t ever celebrate wins….you can quickly lose the joy of what you do!  Great coaches and great leaders seem to have somehow struck a balance!

Yesterday was one of those days at NorthStar!  I sat for 3 services and listened to our people share their stories about what they have to be “thankful” for and what God has done in their lives and I was blown away!   Part of me wants to immediately leave the moment and keep planning our Christmas series and all that is coming in 2010……. but for the moment……I am going to “enjoy the wins” that God has had in so many lives!  Happy Thanksgiving!  I am so blessed!

Lesson: Mid-game adjustments are huge!

I had a great lunch today with a good buddy and we were talking about the difference in coaches.  Some coaches, once they get in to a game, they are stuck and do not have the ability to make adjustments as the game goes to thwart what the other team is doing.  However, there are those rare coaches that are able to not only make adjustments but they seem to have the ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstances in a game!  One coach, you have no confidence in when the pressure is on, the other coach….you always feel like you have a shot!

To be a great leader in any environment, you have to have the ability to adjust to what is going on around you.  You can plan and you can prepare…..but…you can’t plan & prepare for everything!  I pray that as I continue to grow as a leader, that my ability to adjust and to see what is coming will get better!

I know that if I can do this effectively, my team will sure believe in me a lot more!!!

Lesson: A great day is when your team outplays your coaching!

I have been off the field long enough and in coaching to see games where your team executes to the point you realize that talent & heart took over and outpaced your coaching!  You sit there as a coach and know that you will get some of the credit for the victory but in reality, you did not have a lot to do with it!

Yesterday was one of those days at NorthStar where the “play” of the team was greater than anything I could have “coached” or “led” them to do!  I sat down at home last night after the long day and looked back over all I had just experienced  and was so proud of our NStar team!  Here are a few highlights:

• We challenged our people a few weeks ago  “in this terrible economy” to give more away to meet needs in our community than they ever have done….over $5000 came in to buy turkey’s & over 2000 bags of groceries came in to bless families…..nothing like watching people “show God’s love in such a way”…
• I got to spend my day getting grocery bags out of peoples cars and saying “thank you” for believing in the dream of serving people with the love of Jesus!  I was blown away by all of those who went shopping and spent $20 on a bag of groceries for someone they may never meet!  WOW!  Publix @ Brookstone kept running out of pre-prepared bags…..One car pulled up with around 50 bags stuffed in there!
• Enjoyed being with so many awesome NStar people unloading cars & packing the trailers & trucks!  We had a blast out there together!
• Loved hearing so many walk out of church raving about the awesome job Marlon, our community pastor, did closing out our “Flash Forward” series!  He nailed it!  Shared his passion & his heart better than he ever has!  So proud of him!!
• I think yesterday was one of our greatest days and I had nothing to do with it – I just got to watch it happen!
• Got to close out the AM doing baptisms….never gets old seeing people “exchange ordinary living for an extraordinary life”…..love it!
• Hung out with our security team last evening – these guys are doing a super job in keeping our campus on Sunday’s a safe place!
• Great time @ Newcomers last night meeting….love meeting new people that are coming to NStar – hearing how they got there never gets old!
• Listened to so many at Newcomers last night share about how much their kids love coming to church every Sunday and how the kids get them up & going!
• Our couples night out for December with Tim Hawkins only has a few tickets left for the 5pm show!  Late show already sold out!  Love it!!

I love our staff team that I serve with daily……they are so amazing at what they do!  I love them not only because they are “all-stars” at what they do but they have incredible hearts and have not forgotten why “they do what they do”!

I love our church…..the more they are challenged to give, the greater the response!  I have never seen a place that loves to give so much!!  The most self-less group of people that I have ever met!!

I have never been more proud!