Clean Graffiti

Found this fantastic video @ The Plow.
This is beautiful. Something that has been covered in dirt for years can become a work of art. Sound familiar?



Let me know your thoughts...

PS: for a look at a great art piece based on a famous quote from St Francis of Assisi then click HERE

Time To Review My Schedule

Well as I'm sure you can tell by my lack of posts... its been a busy week. I've had the opportunity to hang out with more people than usual and speak into their lives. I must admit that I really enjoy that. I wish I had heaps more time for it... so I will look to changing my schedules in the next few weeks to include more time for this and for spending extended time in the Word and prayer.

Our church conference started this evening. What an amazing night as we kicked it all off. We won't be podcasting the message for another few months but CDs can be purchased from Eastside.
Its so exciting to have this amazing input and to see the incredible effort that our teams are putting in to making this conference da bomb!

Another thing I'm excited about is getting my new iphone sometime next week. Boys must have their toys!

Till next time

Danny Guglielmucci One Liners

WE have the great privelege of having Pastor Danny Guglielmucci at our church this weekend. So I thought I'd share some of the great one liners that he has shared thus far from the Pastors lunch and the Staff and Elders Supper yesterday.

"When you're sent you go with authority.
When you're went you go with only your ability."

"Suspicion, insecurity and gossip are the three enemies of trust."

"Some people in church life contribute... others build."

"When we don't fuel the House... we rob it of achieving its purpose (the context is Malachi 3)."

"The degree to which you see Jesus, the degree to which you'll serve."

"We judge others by the evil in our own hearts."

"Your and determines your end."

"Unity flows from authority."

"I can't correct you until I can caress you."

Its been an amazing weekend thus far. I can't wait for what God has in store for us!


As I'm sure that many of you are aware that Mike Guglielmucci is fighting cancer. Actual Mike says that he is fighting for his destiny and he is letting God take care of his cancer.
Below is a phenominal song that is being played all over the world which Mike wrote when he learned that he had cancer.



And this is the story about the song:





Let me know your thoughts.

God Speaks To Me In The Movies (Antwone Fisher)

I am a pragmatic man by nature. I like to work on practical things to move forward. I hate excuses, especially lame ones where people try to play the victim and blame everyone else.
Being pragmatic I like to press forward. But sometimes in order to move forward, we must press backward. We must deal with our past then and only then can we march forcefully and triumphantly forward into our destiny.

I just watched a phenomenal movie called Antwone Fisher. Its a 2002 / 3 movie that Denzel Washington acted in and directed. The movie shows the journey of a young navel man who journeys back into his past and is able to move forward because of it. Its a great movie about redemption, forgiveness, family, mentoring and self esteem.
Its sooo good that I cried! Do yourself a favor and get this movie out!



Enjoy!

Great Quotes

I'm reading a great book that Ps Simon Moetara gave me for my ordination last year. Its called, "The Art & Craft of Biblical Preaching'. So I thought I'd put a few of the cool one liners that I have read thus far:

"When the Bible speaks, God speaks."
Augustine

"Men don't rebel against the idea of God; men rebel against the will of God."
Unknown

"The great design and intention of the office of a Christian preacher is to restore the throne and dominion of God in the souls of men."
John Piper

"When I coach our teachers around here at Willow, I always ask them 2 questions. 'What do you want them to know? What do you want them to do?' If theycant answer those two questions immediately I say, 'You're ill-prepared. Don't inflict that message on our people."
Bill Hybels

Hope you enjoy!
I look forward to your comments : )

Going Alone?

I have been going to gym for almost 2 months now. And I'm loving it. I've lost a couple of KG's, I feel more focused, more energetic... its delicious.
Now some things that I have noticed on my journey:
1) In the past I used to gym with a partner. My gym sessions took about 2 hours. I couldn't always do the routine I wanted, but I couldn't miss gym either as I would be letting my partner down.
2) I now gym alone. My sessions take 1/2 the time and I can fit it into my lunch break. I do the routine I want, and I can fly through it. However, the down side is that I don't get pushed as hard, and of course, its far easier to let myself off the hook and not go to the gym that day.

Its like that in leadership. I can forge ahead alone and get where I am wanting to go fairly quickly. But I reach that destination alone, and one can only accomplish so much.
But taking others with you on the journey... is slow and frustrating. Very frustrating! But you get there together and together we can accomplish a multiplied effect far far greater than I could have achieved on my own.

So I guess the question is... who are you taking with you on your leadership journey?
I'd love to hear your comments : )

Do You Believe?

I'm reading the book of James (from the Bible) tonight... and it reminded me of a great and challenging quote from Leon Bazel, who is a good friend of mine in South Africa:

"The only part of the Bible that you believe is the part that you do."

The apostle James said it like this:

Jas 2:17-26 MSG (17) Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? (18) I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department." Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. (19) Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? (20) Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? (22) Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? (23) The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." (24) Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works? (25) The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape--that seamless unity of believing and doing--what counted with God? (26) The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

So here is the challenge... 'What do you believe?'

I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments.

Got Your ID?

Ps Steven Furtick of Elevation church is a champion! I just love reading his blogs. He has a great leadership gift over his life. If you haven't checked out his blog yet... what are you waiting for? I want to give you a link to a great post that he made about identity. Check this snippet out:
"I need to remember that when I’m heavy with inadequacy and uncertainty. Who I am in Christ comes before what I do for Christ."
Click HERE to see the rest of the post.

Are You Living In Babylon? Part 3

How you doing? I have been trying to go to bed earlier because of this documentary that I was watching about sleep. They were insistent that 6hrs sleep was not enough and that we needed at least 8. Well I never rarely get more than 6hrs... I'm usually in bed between the hours of 12:30am and 1:30am and I get up at 7am.
I can't say that I've felt that much better... but I certainly haven't had much time to listen to podcasts, blog, and do some of the creative thinking that seems to come alive from 11pm on.

Well thats me. Hey, I just realized today that I haven't been twittering... I had just totally forgotten about it over last weekend and that was the last that I had thought about it... I better go and do an entry right now... hold on, I'll be back in a sec.
Oh heck, its been so long that I've even forgotten my password! shameful : ) By the way, have you checked out my (now) newly updated twitter? Click HERE to check it out.

I read a great thought from Rick Warren today. I can't remember the magazine that I was reading and I don't have it to give you a direct quote but it went something like this:
Life is a series of problems. Either you are right in the middle of one now, or you are just coming through it or are about to enter one. In life we constantly face problems because God is more interested in our character than our happiness.
What a great thought! And how relevant to our discussion on living with the Babylonian mindset that says at all cost we must cling to comfort. But the truth is that we cannot follow God and hold to comfort at the same time. look anywhere in the Bible and you will find God stretching people right out of their comfort zones. How odd that today we have leaders who want to speak and influence others ... but who desire to do it cheaply. Who are we trying to kid anyway?!

Let me know your thoughts :P