I recently came across this helpful (and short) video from John Maxwell.  He asks the questions, “Why Do You Want to Be A Leader?” A good question to ask ourselves. Sometimes our motives get muddied. It’s time for a gut check.

The truth is that we should lead because we want to add value to people. Watch the video to hear what John Maxwell has to say about this important aspect of leadership. It’s an excerpt from the Catalyst Conference a few years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grJZRVnzn8Y

Have you ever noticed how junky your garage can get? Now, I know that some of you actually use your garage for parking and manage to keep it in pristine condition…but let’s be honest, most of us just use it to store our junk. And over time, the law of entropy takes effect, and our garages get more and more cluttered and messy.

Well, my wife and I took some time this week and tried to clean up our garage a bit. There’s still more to be done…we tend to be pack-rats. But, we did our seasonal cleanup.

So, here’s what I’m thinking. In the same way that our garages tend to get junkified over time, sometimes our lives get cluttered and disorganized. By nature, we lose focus on where we should be headed and what we should be doing. Perhaps, its time to take an inventory of your life and consider plotting a new direction. Have you been watching a little too much TV lately? Has it been a while since you were enriched by a good book? When was the last time you learned something? Have you been spending a little too much time on Facebook (gasp)?

Just something to think about. Maybe it’s time to clean that mess up.

My wife found this video today, and since I’m a teacher, I found it to be real really funny true. I hope you can appreciate it as much as I did.  And, by the way, these guys have several good videos.  Check ’em out.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak at my church.  I enjoy having the opportunity to communicate God’s Word to people in a way that applies to life.  My effort is always to make it clear what the Bible is calling people to do.

The title of this message was “We Need Your Help.”  It reviews the two requests that Paul makes of the people of Collosae in Colossians 4:2-6. Paul is out in the trenches of ministry, and he is asking for them to support his mission of taking the Gospel to the world (see the outline below).  He wants the people to support the mission (1) with their prayer life and (2) with their public life.

Today, the same requests may be made to the people of God in our churches. We need help.  We need people to pray diligently and deliberately for the spread of the Gospel.  We need people to support the mission in their public life by the things that they say (communication) and the things that they do (conduct).  If we are going to impact our communities with the truth of the Gospel, we are going to need help from everyone who claims to be a Christ follower.

For those interested, here is the bare bones outline. The illustrations are missing, but perhaps this outline will be helpful to some of you.

1. Support the Mission with Your Prayer Life.

– We Must Pray Diligently.
“Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert…” (4:2)

– We Must Pray Deliberately.

1. Pray for the Communicators who Preach the Gospel
“pray for us, too” (4:3a)

2. Pray for Chances to Preach the Gospel (4:3b)
“pray…that God may open a door”

3. Pray for Clarity in the Preaching of the Gospel (4:4)
“Pray that I may make it known as I should”

2. Support the Mission with Your Public Life.

– Our Conduct Must Be Godly.
“Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders” (4:5)

– Our Communication Must Be Gracious.
“Let your speech always be gracious” (4:6)

Well, not so much the Super Bowl (as in the game itself). But, I learned something from Christina Aguilera’s singing of the National Anthem and the Black Eyed Peas halftime performance.  I’m a firm believer in two things: 1) you can learn from anything/anyone, and 2) it’s best to learn from the experiences of others (I’d rather learn from someone else’s mistakes than have to make them myself).  So, here’s what I learned from Super Bowl XLV.

1. Stuff Happens
Despite our best efforts, some times bad things happen.

Certainly, Christina Aguilera practiced the National Anthem before the game. She has even sung multiple times before, and yet she messed up the lyrics at the Super Bowl.  Undoubtedly, the Black Eyed Peas rehearsed for the halftime show, and yet they still had audio issues (poorly mixed and/or mic problems) and a portion of the stage didn’t light up like it was supposed to (the “V” in LOVE).

For us, some times despite our best efforts, stuff happens.  We lose our job, our car breaks down, someone in the family gets sick, our project gets cancelled…you know what I’m saying.  Stuff happens.  It’s part of life.

2. Keep Going
Don’t stop even when bad stuff happens!

Although things didn’t go as planned during the National Anthem or the halftime show, the performers had to keep going.  They couldn’t just give up and stop the show.  Could you imagine what that would’ve been like? Christina calling it quites in the middle of the song and walking off stage…nope, that can’t happen, she had to keep going.

For us, we have to remember, don’t quit!  (This is a link to my favorite poem of all time). You have to keep going.

3. Get Help
Be willing to accept help from others when you need it.

The trending topics on Twitter seem to show that many people feel that Usher (and/or Slash) saved the halftime performance.  Usher stepped in at just the right moment and bailed out the show.

Sometimes, we’ve got to lay down our pride and accept help when we need it… whether it’s in the form of a person lending a helping hand or financial  or physical resources that are offered to us.  Everyone needs help eventually, and when we need it, we should accept it graciously, knowing that some day we will be called upon to help someone else.

4. Finish Strong
Even if you mess up along the way, make sure you finish strong.

Despite messing up in the middle of the song, Christina Aguilera managed to belt out that final line “Home of the BRAAAAVE!”  She finished strong.

We need to do that to regardless of the difficulties that come our way.  Pull it together, take a deep breath, and finish strong.  What’s happened in the past is done.  There’s no changing it, but we can finish well.  So, let’s do it!

So that’s what I learned from the Super Bowl.
Did you learn anything?

Also, stayed tuned as I post in a few days how these same principles were at work in the people of God in the book of Exodus.

Here’s a cute little clip.  It’s not spiritual or anything, but it’ll probably make most dad’s smile.  It’s a commercial for Volkswagen, and though I’m not a VW guy, I did enjoy this ad.  Why?  Because I have a son who would do just this. Watch and enjoy (especially if you know my son).

(Via ChurchCrunch)

Have you ever asked yourself that question before?  Is my password strong enough?

Have you noticed how much tougher it is getting when it comes to choosing passwords?  Back in the day, all you had to remember was a basic 3-4 digit code.  The lock on your bike had three numbers.  The lock on your locker…three numbers.  Your ATM pin code…four numbers.  It was simple back then.  Now, some site require lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and even symbols!  We are being forced to choose stronger passwords to make sure our information is safe.

So… are you having a hard time remembering them yet?  If so, I have a solution.  Stop trying to remember three, four, or five different passwords (and which ones are used on which sites), and instead develop one system for remembering countless passwords.  Let me share with you what I learned from this article at Lifehacker.com.

Remember 100 different passwords with 1 rule set.

You don’t need to remember 100 passwords if you have 1 rule set for generating them. One way to generate unique passwords is to choose a base password and then apply a rule that mashes in some form of the service name with it. For example, you may use your base password with the first two consonants and the first two vowels of the service name. Say your base password is “asdf.” (See how easy those keys are to type?). Then your password for Yahoo would be ASDFYHAO, and your password for eBay would be ASDFBYEA.

Something simpler – but along the same lines – might involve the same letters to start (say, your initials and a favorite number) plus the first 3 letters of a service name. In that case, my password for Amazon would be GMLT10AMA and for Lifehacker.com GMLT10LIF. (Include obscure middle initials – like your mother’s maiden name or a childhood nickname – that not many people know about for extra security.)

Before you decide on your single password generation rule, keep in mind that while password requirements are different for each service in terms of length and characters allowed and required, a good guideline is a password at least 8 characters long that includes both letters and numbers. To make a password even more secure – or applicable for services that require special characters – add them around it, like #GMLT10LIF#.

Good good idea, huh?  Now, go start implementing it in your life.  It’ll really simplify things.

And, just in case you aren’t convinced of the weakness of your current password scheme, check out this infographic about passwords generated by ZoneAlarm. (Click the infographic to see a larger version)

Now, go protect yourself.

(Via ChurchCrunch, Lifehacker, & ZoneAlarm)

Like many of you, I have simply been swamped with activity over the past few weeks (Thus, less blogging).  I went from a busy Christmas season straight into an intensive at Liberty University (My last one for my Master of Sacred Theology degree!)  and then got right to work planning for the launch of our new service at my church.  We’re calling it Church At The GYM. Check it out!

With all that’s going on, I am really looking forward to the Catalyst One Day conference that’s coming to my own backyard.  I think it’s going to be an incredibly challenging and inspirational opportunity.  The topic is building a healthy church culture… an important topic for us as we launch a new service.

If you’ll be in the Orlando area on February 17, you should come!

BTW, early bird registration ends January 27, 2011.  See you there!

Do You Hear What I Hear…sounds like it should be the title of Christmas song, doesn’t it?  But alas, this post is not about Christmas.  Sorry.  This post is about hearing the truth…maybe listening is a better word here.  And more than just listening to the truth, this is about applying the truth to our lives.

This week, we had new windows installed at our home (Yay for us!).  The tax credit helped to make it the right timing for us.  We’ve been losing A/C during the summer months and letting cold air in during the winter months for years through windows that are as old as me!  So anyway, our window installer was a pretty nice guy…let’s say he was a jolly soul…since it’s Christmas and all.  And so, as he worked, he and I talked…it was an all-day job so there was plenty of time to talk.  As we talked, he shared with me about his kids.  He’s a pretty fortunate guy.  His kids love and respect him, and they communicate with each other.  So, he tells me that his daughter is in her second year of college but is getting discouraged and is thinking about dropping out.  He had encouraged her, but once he learned about my academic background, he asked me to talk to her and encourage her to finish.  She was coming by my house to drop off some tools that he needed for the job so I would have a chance to see her.

While the story could go on, it doesn’t need to.  Because here’s my point…

Why is it that we often only listen and accept truth when it comes from “an expert”?

In this story, the father had talked to his daughter, but he thought that she would listen better to someone like me with a bunch of college experience.  This kind of thing happens at church, too.  Our pastor can make powerful truth statements, but when we hear it at the men’s conference from a guy who pastors a church of over 10,000, suddenly it clicks, and we accept it.  Here’s another one, when we were kids, our parents could communicate valuable truth to us until they were blue in the face, but we didn’t believe it until we heard Dr. Phil say it on the Oprah Winfrey show.  What’s up with that?

I think you know where I’m going with this…

Be a 360 Learner
Learn from those above you, beside you, and below you.  Truth is truth, even if it comes from unlikely sources.  So parents, learn from your kids. Employers, learn from your employees. And spouses, learn from each other.

Life is too short… to work at a job you hate, to do work that doesn’t matter, to do things that are not fulfilling, and to miss out on doing something big for God!

James 4:14 teaches us that “life is a vapor;” it appears for a little while and then vanishes away. We need to take advantage of the time that God has given us.

We need to be doing things that excite us and challenge us.  When someone asks us, “What are you involved in?”  Our excitement about our pursuits and passions should just flow from within us.

This week, Seth Godin share a few thoughts about being asked the question…

What are you working on?

If someone asks you that, are you excited to tell them the answer?

I hope so. If not, you’re wasting away.

No matter what your job is, no matter where you work, there’s a way to create a project (on your own, on weekends if necessary), where the excitement is palpable, where something that might make a difference is right around the corner.

Hurry, go do that.

The point is, life is just too short not to do something that you find enjoyable and fulfilling.  Maybe it’s time to make some changes.  The new year is coming…it’s a perfect opportunity to change things up and do something important.