Growing up my mom taught my siblings and I that courage isn't the absence of fear; it's doing the right thing even when you're afraid. And this is the kind of courage it takes to lead; courage that will act despite how you feel. Here's a couple for instances: It takes courage to do the right thing, even when it might cost you something (i.e. like letting a bad volunteer or staff go without knowing who God will raise up to replace them). It takes courage to stand before your congregation and … [Read more...]
Is the Sabbath for Today?
The Sabbath is God's burnout prevention plan. Here's six reasons we know the Sabbath is important to God: God modeled it. In Genesis 1:3-2:3 God rested on the seventh day after creating the world and everything in it. God commanded it. In Exodus 16:23 and 20:8-10 God commanded the Israelites to work for six days and then rest on the seventh day. God gave extra attention to it. In the list of ten commandments found in Exodus 20 God dedicated 99 words to the Sabbath. In comparison, murder only … [Read more...]
The Sermon Run-Through
Every Thursday at 1pm I preach Sunday's sermon to my staff. When I'm done I go through each page of the message and ask for their input (i.e. What parts need more work? What parts were confusing? What parts were boring?). We call this the sermon run-through. Here are two main benefits of doing a sermon run-through. It gives you the chance to get feedback, so you know how to improve your message before Sunday. It ensures you aren't practicing on your congregants. By the time you preach the … [Read more...]
Someone Will Pay the Price
Someone will pay the price for your sermon. Either you pay the price in preparation or the people will pay the price on Sunday. Here’s a couple things I do to ‘pay the price’ so the people of New Day don’t have to: If I’m teaching on divorce for example, I will look up all the verses in the Bible that relate to divorce. Then I’ll usually read a book or two on divorce. Then I’ll usually listen to a sermon or two by other preachers that have taught on divorce. This of course requires you develop … [Read more...]
I now present you for the first time…
I recently did a wedding for a Spanish couple who are friends with someone who attends New Day. I met the couple for the first time the day of the wedding. We hit it off pretty good, and everything initially went off without a hitch. By my estimation things couldn't have been going any better...until... At the very end of the ceremony when it came time for the presentation (the part of the ceremony where, having declared the couple husband and wife, I present the couple for the first time). So … [Read more...]
Is this your Mom?
From time to time I'll be posting lessons learned from my failures. Today I want to share a funny one. One Sunday morning I walked up to someone on our worship team who was with a woman I had never seen before. Like an idiot I led off with "Hey Tim, is this your mom?" Tim said "Nope. This is my girlfriend." You won't be surprised to learn that Tim and his mom...I mean girlfriend...no longer attend New Day. Lesson learned? Everyone should be slow to speak! (James 1:19) Be sure to check back … [Read more...]