Most Christian parents want to encourage their children to mature spiritually, but they do not know how. I am not an expert at this and I am still learning, but my boys are incredible men of God and they sincerely seek after Christ into their young adult years. Here are some thoughts for producing children who desire to grow spiritually:
Last Friday night Cheryl and I were invited to dinner at a woman’s house that attends our church. She had previously attended The Gathering in Nashville, but the drive was wearing on her each week, so she was excited to find a similar church closer to home. She wanted us to meet her former pastor and his wife, David and Paula Foster. I cannot accept every invitation, simply because there are too many in a church our size to accommodate them all, but I am glad I accepted this one. David is a great leader and church planter. I had met David several times, but never spent any time getting to know him.
Taylor, one of my 18 year-old son Nate’s best friends, is going to Wheaton University this fall. I am excited that he will be an hour away from Nate who will be at Moody Bible College. I wrote a blog about their friendship a couple months ago. Read that post HERE. I had coffee this morning with Taylor, because he is leaving this weekend for an extended and unusual college orientation.
Bear with me through a little Bible pilgrimage to illustrate a point about grace.
As an avid user of social media in my work, people seem to enjoy sending me negative articles on the rise of social networking and its negative impact on our culture.
Most businesses are being forced to think through and add a social media policy to their human resource policies. The rise of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking choices means the workplace is being impacted greatly by social media. Individuals represent their organization even during their personal time and that needs to be considered in employee management.
For most of us though, we need better customer service than this. We must train our employees and volunteers to represent the organization well by putting on a smile, leaving personal problems at home, and being ready to assist our customers or clients with a welcoming attitude.
I had a great conversation with one of our original core members this morning as he stopped in to say hello. We were reminiscing about the first four years at Grace Community Church. Our anniversary is in September. God has continued to amaze us with His presence. Last Sunday we had a 43% increase in attendance over the same day in July last year. Wow!
Leaders should not use individuality as an excuse for inadequacy. Excellence should be a standard for all leaders. There are key leadership principles, especially Biblical principles that no leader can ignore, but the goal should never be to carbon copy another’s leadership style. Just as every individual is unique in his or her personality, every leader will have uniqueness in his or her leadership style. Great leaders figure out the style that works best for them to produce the greatest results.
An average message takes about 20 to 25 hours from start to finish. I am a slow processor and I like to sit with things in my heart and mind a while before I put them on paper.
