I have finally gotten around to posting the review of the book “Collapse of Distinction” by Scott McKain.  This is part of the Thomas Nelson – Book Review Bloggers program

The title and subtitle grabbed my attention right away, the subtitle is “Stand out and move up while your competition fails”. When I started reading it I went into the book and thought is this only going to be a book for business or will it be able to be applied to church as well.  I think the concepts and principles in the book are valuable in both cases.

McKain does a good job in describing how business’ struggle with sameness. The pitfalls of being the same as everyone else. He also tells you what to do about it. How to stand out, to become distinct.

One of the first things that caught my attention was when McKain wrote that many business’ focus on not losing to the competitor.  He says that we should be focusing on the customer instead. What the customer really wants.  I believe we can give lip service to this and say we are customer driven or focused.  But I think this book gives good insight it making that a reality rather then just a good statement on the company website.

The customer must get the sense or the experience in dealing with your business or church that they have received exceptional value in that experience.  Or a compelling experience.

McKain describes three levels of business or professional differentiation:

1. Sameness
2. Differentiation
3. Distinction

He also goes into detail on 4 cornerstones

1. Clarity
2. Creativity
3. Communication
4. Customer-Experience Focus

I am in the midst of starting a new business venture and I plan on reading through this book again and building in concepts of this book into my business from the get-go. I recommend this book to any business leader, church leader…especially those that are just starting out.

I read the following post on Rhett Smith’s blog, called “The Values of Generation Y/Millennials That Will Help Transform Work and Church”.  I recommend you read the post and also the watch the clip from 60 Minutes, which I have embedded.

After reading through Rhett’s post and watching the video, even though I am of Generation X, I would say there are items in this report that fit me well.  Like Rhett, I feel at home and operate well with this generation due to being involved in youth ministry and college/career ministry over the past 10 years.

I have noticed in my 9-5 workplace……even if they wouldn’t admit to it, they have a long way to go to adapt.  I find my current 9-5 employer is very old-school when it comes to things in this report.

Watch the clip and head over to Rhett’s blog he has lots of posts and resources.

Here is a interesting quote from an article by Chip & Dan Heath in Fast Company Magazine.  I was flipping through the magazine tonight at Chapters while drinking some Awake Tea and this jumped out at me, so I jotted it down in my Moleskin.

“When you have a big idea, make in come alive with a story. Make it real, color in some details, let it be something people can care about. Just don’t make it snappy.” Link to whole article (Fast Company, Dec ‘08/Jan ‘09)

and

“Toss the slogans and start communicating”

Tags: FastCompany, Moleskin, Slogans, communicating, Chip Heath, Dan Heath

Here is a great post from Tony Morgan.

“How to Get from Here to There”

“So, as you can see, it took about 12 years in various marketplace roles
before God transitioned me into ministry. And, it’s taken me not quite
10 years in ministry to get to the place where I am today.”

As mentioned in the previous post, we wrapped up the Small Group Leadership Weekend for 2008 this past weekend. Saturday morning I spoke on a topic I titled "glocal." The premise was to set the table for the two sessions that followed. I have not spoke in a continuim of sessions before, especially setting the table. It was a little different, but I think the flow of the three sessions went very well.

I connected the parable of the Good Samaritan with glocalization. Defined what being a neighbor was, and how it is not enough to have compassionate thoughts about the "least of these" but there needs to be action that comes out of the compassion.

Then I defined what glocalization is from a Kingdom of God standpoint, "is the culmination of God’s plan to connect all of humanity to redeem this world. It is not the result of technology and economics, but God’s plan all along of connecting people to see this world radically transformed by the power of Jesus Christ." (Dr Bob Roberts, Glocalization, Fermi Shorts)

I went from there to discuss how Christians engage this glocal world. It is about impact and credibility. In being missionial in this glocal world it is not about "religion" but the question becomes do we care that they are hurting and can we help them where they hurt?

We need to put ourselves in positions to help or we can be waiting a long time to serve.

After my session, one of our group leaders got up and shared about their groups project to help a Rwandan family. This just blows me away. They took it upon themselves to help a lady in their group that had to flee the country because the military was chasing her, to unite her with her three kids that had fled to Uganda. The kids had to flee once this lady did, because the military went after them after she arrived in Canada. So the leader of this group started a process through World Vision to sponsor the children to come to Canada ($20,000). She decided she would not get a new car, and the money would go towards their sponsorship. Then a whole pile of things just started happening that are nothing short of "God things". The lady is getting landed immigrant status, and this moves things in the sponsorship to new levels and opens doors incredibly. During this time, the children were going to be sent back to Rwanda because of an agreement between the governments of Rwanda and Uganda. However, because this group started this process of sponsorship, these three children were granted a special paper to stay in Uganda. Then because she might receive the landed immigrant status, the $20,000 might not have to paid by the group. Simply amazing, a blog post doesn’t do it justice, mind blowing.Â

Our third session was a announcement of a special project that our Small Groups are launching in 2008. We are going to be raising money to build some clean water wells in the country of Rwanda.

2008 looks to be a interesting year within our small groups.

Tags: Rwanda, Small_Groups, Leadership, glocalization, missional, clean_water

Tomorrow morning I will be speaking at our annual Small Groups weekend.  My topic is simply titled "glocal".  This year it is a little different as I am specifically table setting for the 2 speakers to follow.  It will be a good morning, because I believe what I am speaking on will set it up nicely. 

Glocal is becoming groups that are missionally engaging society locally and globally in a flat world…if I can sum it up in one small sentence.  I will post a summary hopefully sometime this weekend. 

I have a few upcoming speaking sessions, this Sunday morning in Catalyst, and then next weekend both Catalyst and our annual Small Groups Leadership weekend. 

For the Small Groups weekend I am speaking in one session, the first one on the Saturday morning.  I am speaking on a subject as a lead in to an announcement/project being presented in the second session.  So that means I have to present in a way that does not overload. My title right now might be called, "A Flat World".  A play off the book by Thomas Friedman, "The World is Flat"….I have not read the book, but might reference its premise in my session. I have been asked not to go into specifics on my site yet about the project being presented to the leaders….so what I can say is that it has global aspects and I need to connect the local small group to the global action.  Interesting.

For Catalyst this weeked, I am continuing the "God is Green" series on a topic called, "Moving from Faith to Works".  This will be an interesting session as well. Here is a quote that I will be using….

"Energy — electricity, wood, coal, gasoline, propane, and oil — is like food. It is a blessing, and it sustains us. Our relationship to God’s gifts can be one of entitlement, ignorance, and gluttony or one praise, thanks, and temperance." (pg 75. "Serve God Save the Planet", Matthew Sleeth)

The next weekend the topic will be on "Too Much Stuff".

Here are a couple of posts that I read today that are worth checking out (click the titles to read the full post)

1. Jonathan Herron - leading forward

"Forward leading can be lonely at each new initiative; by nature you are in front of everyone else.  That’s where vision and faith collide.  Most people dream.  But a dream without faith is a fantasy.  God-infused dreams fueled by faith become reality.  But only if you’re leading forward."

2. Jay Hardwick - Pour Your Heart Into It: Find Your Own Sound

"What would it look like if you threw off everything that was familiar and prayed like crazy for God to let you hear your own sound. And, in hearing your own sound, what if you then could see a "big one" opportunity that no one else sees?"

Side Note: Does anyone else get driven up the wall by all those term contracts that you are bound to in order to get services from various companies, ie, cell phone contracts, alarm system contracts, home heating plan contracts etc. 1 year, 2 year, 3 year or 4 year contracts.  The thing is, in most cases you cannot get the services without the contract, and some of them self-renew and can only be cancelled on the automatic renewal date….argh!

I am in a dispute with one of these companies right now, their process is stacked against the customer. I should hear back tomorrow.

Tags: Jay_Hardwick, Jonathan_Herron, service_contracts, dream, opportunity

Tonight before our general leadership meeting, I had the opportunity to meet with a small group leader over some coffee. I asked to speak with this leader to get some feedback on their thoughts and opinions from last week’s small groups leadership meeting; the meeting that I taught. It was a good meeting, and I was able to take a lot away from our conversation. I really appreciate leaders like this that can speak very honestly about how they feel things are going with our small groups. He gave me his views on how he sees things, not just on what I taught on, but how it fits within the context of our local church. The best comment I took away, was something that I really believe and taught in Catalyst before, he said to the affect, "we can sometimes always say that we need to pray about things, but there are times when we get to the place where we just have to go out and do it." (not the exact words).  Knowing this man’s prayer life, it was said with added weight. 

Comments like that really make think more and more about Radiant Village.

I should have a work-in-progress website up and running in the next couple of days.  I have purchased a domain name and will be putting some content on the website.  Not sure if I will implement an ongoing blog on it or not, possibly.  Right now, it will be a means to communicate what Radiant Village is about.  It will grow in content over time, as questions are answered etc.  I do not want to use too much print material at this time, rather direct people to the website.

We are also looking into getting involved with the local Community Business Leaders Breakfast here in Rockland.  Need to find the contact information, and times etc….I think it is an hour every Wednesday, right after the kids leave for school.

Tags: Rockland, Ontario, Community_Breakfast, Small_Grooups, Leaership, Radiant_Village

This past Tuesday evening, I spoke in our Tuesday night leadership meeting. This was a lengthy meeting, a few weeks ago when Jeremy asked me to speak I knew what I would speak on, Small Group Principles. I have posted about them before.  These principles are for the style of small groups we have implemented at Calvary Church, based on the cell-church.

I spoke for approx an hour and a half. Then when I finished we had a discussion for about 45 minutes. There were times, I thought things went really well.  Then there were other times that I was kind of discouraged with some of the comments made by different people. It seems at some times, some people have a totally different understanding of what our small groups are about. That is why I believe we have hit a barrier with our small groups.  Until the principles are fully grasped then this barrier I do not think can be crossed. We will have some measured success, but not the full potential.  For some I guess that is ok.

I was asked how I would rate our groups to the principles I presented, and in some ways I couldn’t give us a high rating on some principles. I didn’t say which ones, but on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being "Great", some principles I would rate a 2 or a 3…some others would be a 7 to a 9. I also said that these ratings were from my perspective, and others in small group leadership or the pastors could have different ratings.

The principles were previously posted on here….

This meeting also really continues to drive my desire to see the Radiant Village project get off the ground. We are been doing some more preliminary work on that this week. I have a phone call to make tomorrow, and if all goes well we will have our first task to tackle. 

Tags: Small_Groups, Cell_Commas, leadership, Radiant_Village

Well tonight, for whatever reason, the small groups leaders didn’t show up for the meeting.  Just the Small Group coaches did, there was no reminder in the church bulletin on Sunday, so everyone must have thought the meeting was not happening. Truth be told I am not sure how this could happen, the meeting has been a mainstay for 6 years, with approx only 1 meeting canceled. I guess, a communication note needs to be sent each month, to make sure the meeting gets well attended. I was a little
disappointed by the lack attendance, and not just because I was to speak.

It did allow me to get home, and watch the rest of American Idol with the kids, maybe everyone was at home watching, “Idol Gives Back”. Then I watched what it quickly becoming a favorite show of mine, the medical drama, “3 lbs”. 

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Small Groups

Tomorrow night I am on deck to speak in the small groups leadership meeting.  Pastor Jeremy taught the last one on the local vision of the group.  I am picking up on this topic tomorrow night. At least this is the plan now at this point.  I want to speak on taking the vision of our local church that is contained with the LIFE statement and deconstruct that into the local groups vision. I am thinking of having more of a conversation style meeting tomorrow night.

Here is a quote that I may use tomorrow that I came across on Ben Arment’s Blog, which he quoted “Derek Webster, a mass movement specialist to Zurich, Switzerland, recently posted a challenge to this theory on his blog. He wrote:

‘I would submit that it is mission that provides the motion from which community is created… In this scenario, community isn’t the key for reaching the lost, but CAUSE is the key.’”

 Interesting, I am going to read this other blog post now, and put some things together for tomorrow night.

Oh, by the way any of you guests to this blog know someone that wants to buy a house, we are still on the market in Orleans, please pray that we are able to sell our home.  We have an eye to one in a town 20 minutes from here, huge potentials for the kingdom if we can get into it.

Technorati Tags: Family, Leadership, Small Groups

Last night I posted the definition of loyalty. I have had a couple questions thoughts the past couple of days on loyalty.

a. Can you be loyal to a fault?

b. At what point should your loyalty cease towards a particular person, position, job, etc?

c. There has been much said about Situational Ethics, can you have situational loyalty?

d. Is loyalty between friends different when business gets involved, or church leadership? I guess that is kind of the same as above.

What are your thoughts? Do you have additional questions to add to the list.  Do you have answers to the above. Drop a comment or email (reg@radiantjourney,ca)

Technorati Tags: Faith, Family, Leadership

loy·al·ty       (loi’É™l-tÄ“)  Pronunciation Key 

n.  

pl. loy·al·ties

1. The state or quality of being loyal. See Synonyms at fidelity.
2. A feeling or attitude of devoted attachment and affection. Often used in the plural: My loyalties lie with my family.

I have been thinking a lot about loyalty this week.  A few things have caused me to think about this word, so I went to dictonary.com and got the definition to post.  This will not be a complete post tonight, maybe tomorrow I will finish it.

Technorati Tags: Faith, Family, Leadership

Just got back from the Amazing Grace preview showing tonight, from the tickets I won from the Ottawa Citizen.  Here is a review on the movie.

Considering I love to read and study about history, I almost went to a couple of universities and studied History as a major, this movie was something I was interested in seeing and learning more about the life of the William Wilberforce and how he provided the leadership in Great Britain for the antislavery movement.

It was very interesting to see how a young man struggled within himself as to whether to take up entering into the work of God or to enter public life as a politician. During this process that Wilberforce is wrestling with, he comes to the conclusion that by taking on the British Empire through politics to end the slave trade, he was was in fact performing the work of God, that very work that God set before him. 

I also like how the movie portrayed the struggles that Wilberforce endured to the end; political, physical, emotional, and spiritual.  They showed the very realness of what it takes in leadership.

I kept thinking throughout the movie of the current series we are going through for the Catalyst Class on the “Chase the Lion” book.  So many of the topics are applied throughout this movie.  It made me think of the things God has placed before me as my lion to chase. 

It also made me think of the social injustices that are going on in our world today, and how in one scene Wilberforce says to his friend Pitt something to the affect, “How can we live in houses like this over here, when they are living like that over there.”  I think that rings true today, just as it did then. 

The movie production was very good, I really like how the main actors were not superstars (or at least they weren’t for me) such as Russell Crowe or someone of that nature.  That helped this movie, as the message was central and you were not distracted by star presence overshadowing the message.  The story line was engaging and delivered very effective.  My son asked me in the car when we were driving the babysitter home, if it was for kids….I told him….most definitely this movie should
be watched by everyone.  This movie would be an excellent discussion in small groups and in other settings, such as the class we have in Catalyst, in fact on the movie website, there is a discussion booklet and other resources.

If you saw the movie, what are your thoughts, send me a email [ reg@radiantjourney.ca ] or post a comment I would like to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Technorati Tags: Catalyst Class, Chase the Lion, Faith, Leadership, media, movies, Small Groups

Here is a video that shows what Pernell Goodyear is doing in Hamilton with a coffee shop….very interesting

Technorati Tags: Leadership

This weekend we had class again, after a 2 week break, one week I was supposed to be speaking in the main service, and last week Pastor kept all the classes in the main service. 

There were some first time attendees in the class this week, as the rotation for Sunday School teachers took place. 

I started into S01E07 - Seizing Opportunities.  I got just off the first page of my notes, used the following scripture

Colossians 4:5 - “Make the most of every opportunity”

Then a question was asked, and we just went from there, and did not get back into the notes.  So we will continue this topic next week as well. 

The question was centered around the following, “what would happen if we missed a God-ordained opportunity”.  A similar question during the last class was asked, that class was centered around taking risks.

The only way I could answer this was in a shortened version, is that I do not think that God gives up on us when we do miss an opportunity.  Maybe someone were to fulfill this opportunity that we missed instead, maybe no one does.  Maybe God brings it back around to us again down the road.  However, this does lead into the continuation of the class next week….where we will dig into this a little deeper.

Technorati Tags: Catalyst Class, Chase the Lion, Leadership

This Tuesday we had the monthly leadership meeting for small groups.  I spoke on how our small groups need to reach into the gutter.

Here is the definition of the gutter, from Craig Gross’ book “The Gutter”.

“The gutter is the place I am least likely or inclined to go because it is a place where people are not like me or you; they are not Christians.”

We hear a lot of about evangelism and the great commission, we read about it, teach about, discuss it, and preach about it.  However, one of the things that sometimes escapes us is to actually doing the “go”. 

However, I really believe that people are genuine and want to reach people for the kingdom.  But they  struggle with the thinking that they can’t, that they do not have what it takes. So they play it safe and stay in the protected Christian environment.  

As small group leaders we need to step it up, and challenge those in our groups to get out into the gutter. 

Sometimes when we begin to engage the gutters, the communities, the cultures (whatever term you want to use). we look for the “results”.  We can feel if there is not an instant results response, we have failed, we have wasted our time.  There is something wrong with this picture.  We have to be willing to stay, it will take time, it is a process. 

Have we started to engage their spiritual questions yet? That is not a failure…it just may take time, we have to be willing to stay the course.

Our groups need to be looking to connect with our community.  After all, the community is not hanging out in our church, we have to “go” where they are to connect with them.  That may take breaking out of the familiar, we have to be creative, don’t do what we have always done.

When we do engage those in the gutter. we need to be honest and real about who you are and why you’re there, and people will respond.

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Small Groups

Yesterday I spoke in the evening service, the final session of the four part series, “LIFE”.  Which is the annual series on the purpose statement of Calvary Church.  I was suppose to speak in the morning service, the spirit moved in the morning service took up much of the time, and Pastor Jer asked me to speak in the evening instead. 

Here are some points from what I spoke on:

There was a small technical glitch in my media presentation, the sound booth click in Powerpoint and it stopped the automation I had, no worries, the sound guy rescued it and got it back going.  The media presentation was called, “Faces and Places”, and was to the song “The Real Jesus” by Downhere.

I started off by saying that having small groups in the purpose statement, “Evangelizing through Community Home Groups”, this creates some risk.  That it would be easier to have the statement more generic, something like “evangelizing the community” or “evangelizing out city”.  This wouldn’t be as risky, but having it as we do, this is challenge, and a good challenge to have.

I went on to talk about how in general Christianity has created, this protected, parallel environment that has removed Christians from the communities and cultures we are located in.  We could, if we wanted, go weekend to weekend going to conference after conference, church service/function one after another…completely isolated from the communities that we are to go and reach, into the highways and byways of our cities.

I used the term that Craig Gross used in his book, “The Gutter” to speak on the how Jesus was willing to take risks by loving all the outcasts - the people others avoided.

The gutter means, “the gutter is the place I am least likely or inclined to go because it is a place where people are not like me or you; they are not Christians.”(Craig Gross)

After speaking on this, I introduced the term, “missional” and how that term should pertain to our small groups.  Missional can describe what happens when we replace the “come to us” invitation with a “go to them” lifestyle.  A lifestyle that “the way of Jesus” transforms who we are, to be focused on living sacrifically for Jesus Christ and the communities we are located in.

With small groups we are taking the larger church body, and multiplying the body into smaller mobilized units or groups, that can exponentially impact the community.  These groups are located in various communities around our city.  It needs to become more about being local missionaries into our communities, then a particular model we are following.

In order to have our groups move into being more missional, it requires us to shift our thinking and really look at what it means to be missional small groups.  What is and what is not a missional small group.  That may make us to think outside of our traditional way of doing church. 

I read the following scripture as a word image, to picture what it means to be missional

I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink I was homeless and you gave me a room I was shivering and you gave me clothes I was sick and you stopped to visit I was in prison and you came to me (The Message)

I described what it meant to be Missional and what Missional small groups are not, what we can expect from Missional groups.

I ended my speaking with saying that it would be amazing to be a community that is open to learning, growing and change.

Last weekend I spoke in the morning session of our Community Home Groups focus weekend.  The title for my session was “Engaging Culture”.  Last year, I spoke at the focus weekend and used some examples of how our small groups could get out into the various communities as a group.  Here is a summary of “Engaging Culture”.

Part of my key statement throughout my session, was to become a community of small groups that was willing to learn, willing to grow as a individual and group.  Being a group that was willing to give of itself, and become more missional.

Missional is going to be the topic that I will speak on more in the upcoming LIFE series @ Calvary Church.  I am doing “E” this year again.  Evangelism through Community Home Groups.  In fact the title will be something like, “Becoming a Missional Church of Small Groups”,

The main scripture reference was Acts 17:16-34, Paul @ Mars Hill.  I started of by saying that Paul was a missionary into culture, and like Paul we need to act as missionaries into the culture and communities we are located in. Paul related to the people at Mars Hill in the cultural context he found himself in, we need to ask the questions that will help us understand our cultural context.

Paul acknowledged the spiritual questions that were being asked at Mars Hill, and he responded to them,  As we find ourselves becoming more engaged with our culture and communities, we need to understand the questions people are asking locally.

Paul didn’t embrace the cultures he found himself in, just to embrace it.  Paul did this for the message of the gospel, and to effectively communicate it to those he was speaking to.  This is what we need to understand, we engage culture for the sake of the gospel.  This requires us to get out of our house, and the four walls of the local building. 

I then went through some shifts that we need to do in order to engage our culture/communities. If we are do this effectively, we really have to understand our local communities, and not just try to copy what is working in another city, or community.  What is working for one small group, may not work for another group, because it may be located in another community, engaging a slightly different local cultural context.  We really need to discern what will work for our group in our community.

Many times, small groups fail to become effective in a local church because they are launched as a copy of a model.  There are many models that work, very successfully.  But if you try to carbon copy the 5×5 or Groups 12, or House Church from Mars Hill in Grand Rapids….small groups are bound to dwindle and fail, because it is not about the model it is about becoming missional small groups engaging a local cultural context in local communities. You can use a model as reference and starting point
to structure your small groups…but it can’t be the model on its own. 

I closed with the story from the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell when Gladwell writes about “connectors”.  The story about Paul Revere and William Dawes 1775 just before the American Revolution started.  Paul Revere was a connector in the local community.  Revere was able to take a message that the British were coming to invade and have the message spread and capture people’s attention so that they reacted and responded to the message.  It spread into the communities.  Where as, Dawes
took the same message and it did not have the same affect, it basically did not spread and engage people. 

Gladwell describes “connectors” as knowing lots of people. Connectors are important for more then the number of people they know. Their importance is also a function of the kinds of people they know. (The Tipping Point)

In order to be able to engage the community and have “the message” spread through the community and culture we are in, we need to either become like Revere and be a connector or find someone that is a connector. There are people in our communities, that are connectors, maybe they are already in the small group.

In order to become a connector, or find a connector, you need to get into the community and culture, and ask questions, meet people, talk to people, find out what is happening in your community and culture.   Read about the local hardships of people, what issues they are facing in this community.  Who lives there, who is moving away, and why etc….engage the culture, engage the community.

Now, I will be working on my topic for the LIFE series.  Catalyst Class this weekend will be part 2 of the mid-series discussion on Chase the Lion. 

We have 3 more showings on the house this weekend.  Spending a lot of time getting the house ready for these showings.  This will be 8 in total.  Selling our house is the final condition we have on the offer in the one we are wanting to buy.

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Small Groups

Met with Jer today over at Starbucks to review this weekend.  Here are the three sessions for the weekend

1. Small Group Priorities

2. Engaging Culture

3. The Spiritual gifts within Small Groups.

I am working on my session for this weekend, “Engaging Culture” tonight and tomorrow.  As well as agreeing on a conditional offer on a home, and working with our agent in getting that finalized. 

Update on my Dad, he is home (on Tuesday afternoon) and he is doing really well.  Thank you for all your prayers

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Small Groups

I know, I know, it is not the first day of 2007, and not the last day of 2006….but in 2007, this year, the goal is Chase the Lion that God has placed before me, that requires certain steps to be taken, some of those were started in 2006. 

Radiant Village is going to be a focus for me. 

Finances is going to be a focus for me. 

Family is a focus for me. 

Spiritual Disciples: journaling, prayer, and fasting will be a focus for me. 

We are in day 5 and I have already had a small set back, I thought I was going to be able to step into something, and after 2 days it had to be turned aside, just couldn’t pull it off. 

However, odds may seem stacked against me, but as I spoke about on Sunday morning,  “impossible odds set up for amazing miracles to happen”. There is no limit to what my God can do in these situations.  This will lead well in to the Catalyst Class this weekend, “Overcoming Adversity”.

Looking forward to the 2007 manifesto…adapted from Mark Batterson’s manifesto at the end of his Chase the Lion Series at National Community Church.

Grabbing life by the mane.

Chasing the lion!

Technorati Tags: 2007, Catalyst Class, Chase the Lion, Faith, Leadership, Radiant Village

Yesterday morning we launched, the class “Catalyst”…some good comments from a few people about the class, during and after.  I guess the best one, was that they would definitely be coming back. We had a smaller turn out then expected, due to the Christmas Program practice going on downstairs at the same time, but we still had a great discussion. We are looking forward to building upon this in the weeks to come.  Now it will be two weeks before the next class due to next week’s service schedule.

Our first class was the start of our series, “Chase the Lion!”.  The first episode of the series was “Locking Eyes With Your Lion”.  The main point here is that God places divine opportunities before us, and we have a choice we can turn and run, or we can step out in faith and chase that divine opportunity.  Each one of us can step out and seize the opportunities, because God positions us in the right place at the right time.

We had some great questions this week, and if that is how the class is going to be, we are in for quite a journey together.  The one question that sticks with me is someone asked about what happens when we are confronted with something in our life, that is very difficulty for a person to overcome that seems to hinder them from moving forward.  Which really led well in the next 7-8 episodes, as we are going to tackle the following topics:

Defying Odds

Facing Fears

Reframing Problems

Embracing Uncertainty

Taking Risks

Seizing Opportunities

Looking Foolish

It was a good launch….

Technorati Tags: Leadership

This Sunday, after a brief hiatus due to the Christmas Schedule, we will be having the second class for the series Chase the Lion.  S01E02 will be “Defying Odds”.  This will be an interesting topic to discuss.  Right now in my own life if I look at this and what I believe I am to do, to start and to launch into, I will need to defy the odds.  However, sometimes we retreat when the odds might be unbalanced.  So, I am looking forward to this weekend’s class.

I will be planning, a full blog review of the book as well, been kind of light on the time spent online this week due to our trip to New York, we also stopped over in Syracuse to do some shopping, and then we stopped for a few days in Gan to visit both sides of the family. 

My uncle and his family were in down from Alberta for a week (out west for you American readers).  I have not seen this uncle in 15-20 yrs.  He is newly remarried and has a 20 month old daughter.  My aunt is from the Philippines originally, and has a 16 yr daughter.  So it was nice to meet them for the first time.

Hopefully, things will be getting back into a regular routine this weekend and next week for reading, and such.

Technorati Tags: Chase the Lion, Faith, Leadership, Catalyst Class

Tonight our small group was down in the numbers, but that was alright, because you can still have some great meetings when there are just a couple of people.  Tonight, it was Pierre, my wife, and I plus Pierre’s 2 kids, and our 3.  How was this a good meeting, well, we combined the kids into the main cell tonight.  We discussed the Christmas story, and what Christmas means to each of us.  It was interesting to have the interaction between all the adults and kids discussing things.

The big thing that I picked up again today, was how much my kids look forward to the small group each week.  To see them get ready for the meeting each Wednesday, the ownership that they have taken to the group….when we pick them up from school, they ask what time is small group tonight, where is the meeting tonight every week.  It really is a special thing when these kids every Wednesday have an expectation that this small group is happening, why?  It has become part of their lifestyle.

Technorati Tags: Family, Leadership, Small Groups