Random Thoughts On A Thursday

*Posted a few quotes from Andy Stanley's latest leadership podcast on Twitter this week. If you haven't listened to it (your probably already have) you should.

*Excited about the kick-off of our new series "Man vs. Wild" Going to be great! Make sure you don't miss it! It will be great to have Greg back.

*Getting ready to be batchin (is that how you spell that) it this weekend. Wife is going back to the beach with her mom. I know she'll have a great time but I will miss her for sure!

*New to Foothills? Check out our Get in the Game series on Sunday morning at 9:30 am in the Small Auditorium. This Sunday is Belong.

*Lots of cool things going on as we get ready for the Fall. Make sure you don't miss the action in and around Foothills Community Church!

Excitement

Man, I love this time of year. Why? Because college football starts taking over the sports world again, at least here in the South. Clemson will be starting pre-season camp soon and the first game will be here before we know it. I can't wait! I'm ready now for some football!!

But here's the thing...how come we get so excited and start counting down the days to the first football game of the season but when it comes to Church or Jesus it just seems routine or we don't get fired up or excited at all? As excited as I am about September 5th and watching the tigers run down the hill with Coach Swinney, I am even more excited about Jesus and what he is doing and is going to continue to do here at Foothills. I mean hello, the dude went to the cross and hung there and died for us so we could be free! He has blessed us beyond anything we can imagine. And most of all He loves more than we can comprehend! Man, if that doesn't get you fired up and excited you might want to check and make sure excitement button isn't broken...check and make sure you really know Jesus. And if you don't you can right now by just simply praying:

Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. Please forgive me of all my sins and come into my life. Take charge of me, all of me. Be my Lord and Savior! Jesus, thank you for saving me! Amen.

A Great Read

I just finished reading the new book from Andy Stanley "The Principle of the Path." GREAT BOOK! I don't want to give it away, but in the book Andy basically talks about how we control the outcome of our lives by the decisions we make. If you make good decisions, you have good results. If you make bad decisions, you have bad results. Pretty cut and dry. But so true and we seem to forget that. At least I do from time to time.

The one thing I loved about the book is I felt like as I was reading I was sitting across the table having a one on one discussion with Andy Stanley. (Who wouldn't want to do that?) It was like having an accountability partner sit down with you and talk through your life and kicking you in the butt where it needed kicking and affirming you where affirmation was needed. It also was practical and gave a positive message of hope for the future. "The Principle of the Path" is a MUST READ! What exactly is the principle? You'll just have to get the book to find out.

Back In The Saddle Again

OK, so I am showing a little bit of my Colorado side (yes I grew up in Colorado in case you didn't know), but I am back from the beach and vacation. Rachel and I had an awesome time and it was great to get away and just refresh.

We actually got back Saturday night because I just hate missing Sundays at Foothills. Even as a staff member knowing what the plan for Sunday is, you still never know what God is going to do during a service around here and I just don't want to here about it in a meeting. I want to experience it. This is the greatest church in the world and Rachel and I are absolutely blessed to be a part of it.

I am refreshed and ready to finish up summer and look forward to an incredible Fall!

Heading On Vacation

Just thought I would write, before I forgot, and let everyone know I will not be posting anymore blogs for the next week because I will headed to the beach for a nice vacation with my wife. This will be the first true vacation we have taken since our honeymoon a little over 2 years ago, and I am not going to take the computer with me.

I am excited about spending some quality time with Rachel and also getting refreshed to come back and hit the ground running here at Foothills for the Fall. We have an incredible Fall schedule planned from our upcoming series' and also a few other events along the way. I am excited and can't wait to see what God is going to do the rest of the year and even beyond that! I'll post again when I get back. Just stay tuned.

A Masterpiece

I love the verse in Ephesians 2:10 that says "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." The word that stands out from this verse in the word masterpiece. A masterpiece is defined as an artist's or craftman's best piece of work. So in other words, you and I are God's best piece of work!

What an incredible thought. The God of the universe who created everything around us, the oceans, the mountains, everything, considers us to be his greatest creation. His prized possession. If you have never thought about that take a minute today and just thank God for creating you and for loving you so much that he considers you his masterpiece.

Thoughts on Simple Church

As I said a few weeks ago, I started reading the book Simple Church. I would highly recommend it. It will make you think and evaluate the way you lead your church or your ministries within within your church.

The biggest highlight of the book for me was just how important it is to have a simple, defined vision and a simple defined process to correspond to the vision. I think a lot of churches have simple visions but their processes end up becoming to complicated. Churches need to define clear cut and precise "here is what you do now" steps. Help your people with an easy 1, 2, 3 process and not a 1 - you can do this, this or this, 2 - you can do this, this, or this, etc. process. You get the idea.

I would share more, but I don't want to give the book away. If you haven't read it, and your a pastor or church leader, go and pick up a copy. It is well worth the read! Would even be great for lay people to read as well, especially if you are an high impact volunteer in the church.