
Yesterday she walked the isle in the P-Mac and received her diploma in 3 1/2 years, we are so proud of her!

Yesterday she walked the isle in the P-Mac and received her diploma in 3 1/2 years, we are so proud of her!
The ALL ACCESS Conference presented by ARC…
The ALL ACCESS Conference presented by ARC is April 27-29 in Baton Rouge at our former church, Healing Place Church! Registration opens Dec 15th. Check it out at www.allaccess2010.com
Since turning over Life Church Charlotte to DaVon And Stacy Alexander, Melanie and I have been traveling, ministering and making some new awesome connections for Church Planting resources!
Yesterday we met with Hugh Allison and Adam Carlan of www.intheimage.com. Great men with skills to help church planters establish an identity in the community with great marketing and website design. We look forward to working closer with them in the future.

I heard today on ESPN’s “The Herd” that the city of Pontiac, MI (my birth place) sold the Silverdome to a group of developers for $583,000…WHAT? It cost more than 55 MIL to build back in 1975!
I remember enjoying Lions(NFL Monday Night Football), Pistons(NBA), Invaders(USFL) & all manner of indoor motor events there. Our high school even used the indoor turf area for our graduation ceremonies, which was awesome.
Has it got that bad back home that they’d sell for pennies on the dollar? Michigan was a great place to grow up in, they may be down, but never out!
GO BLUE!!!
Posted by Craig Groeschel, pastor of Lifechurch.tv
I Love The Church
I love the church more than I can describe.
Bill Hybels has often said, “The local church is the hope of the world.” I believe those words with all my heart.
Many people today specialize in criticizing churches. While I acknowledge our (American) churches have a lot of room to improve, I see so many good things:
I love that many are becoming more missionally minded.
I love that churches are putting more emphasis on building people than on building buildings.
I love that churches are working together.
I love that many people really believe the Church can make a difference in the world.
I love that many churches are becoming more passionate about worship, holiness, and knowing God through His word.
I love that many churches are becoming passionate about reaching those far from God with the gospel of Christ.
While I applaud and support many parachurch ministries, to me, (and I believe to God), nothing replaces the power of what God wants to do through the local church.
I love the church!
Another version uses “shaken” for “moved”. As long as He is set before us/us following Him, we can not be shaken-d or moved from the path that He has prepared for us!
“I will not give to the Lord a sacrifice that cost me nothing.” 1 Chronicles 21:24
This verse should keep us all going!
Saw this while I was traveling yesterday…Geoff Surratt fellowships with us in the ARC.
This weekend Gary Lamb, one of the more popular pastors in the social networking world, admitted that he has been in an ongoing affair with his assistant. Following the direction of his church Overseers he resigned from the church he planted five years ago effective immediately. The damage his actions caused will continue for many years in the lives of hundreds of people. I do not know Gary personally but I have followed him on Twitter for the past year and have read his blog occasionally. I have no comment on his specific situation other than to say I am praying for his family, his church, the woman he has been involved with and for Gary.
I do, however, want to comment on pastors shipwrecking their lives and the lives of their families. I have been involved in ministry all of my life, the past 27 as a staff member or pastor at three different churches, and I have seen stories like Gary’s over and over. The details vary, but the end result is the same; total devastation. The key question is not what happened, but rather how can we avoid the same fate. Here are some random thoughts:
As ministers we are in a marathon. If you do not pay attention to the danger signs along the way you will crash before the finish line. Your crash may be a spectacular moral failure like Gary’s, it may be the slow destruction of your marriage, or it may be the rotting of your soul; but Satan will use ministry to destroy you. And God will not say to you in Heaven, “Too bad about your family, but awesome job building a great big church. Fist bump, dude.”
Three things every pastor needs to do:
You don’t wake up one day and decide to shipwreck your life. You do it one stupid decision at a time. As someone who has seen this happen again and again and again I am begging you to take action today because it will happen to you.
Geoff Surratt
Jerry here…
I believe we all can learn from Geoff’s valid points.
10 Important Keys to Leadership Success
Saw this recently and had to pass it on…
The world is famishing for leaders. Jesus said we are to be salt and light to the world around us. Can there be any better place than the Christian Church for leadership development?
A few years ago the Spirit of God spoke to us about the need to create a leadership culture within our local church. With that in mind we set out to teach leadership to those with a desire to improve their lives and make the world a better place. What we learned is the skills of leadership are both taught and cultivated. As one learns the language of leadership and applies its traits they can expect to achieve positive results. We have learned at least 10 important keys to leadership success:
1. How You Think Affects Everything: All of us are products of the decisions we have made in our lives. How you think controls what decisions you will make with your life. Right decisions equal right outcomes.
2. Set Goals: Without goals you can never move forward in your life. Goals, short-term and long-term help you identify your progress. Without them you wander endlessly and waste years of life being ineffective. Write your goals down today. What do you want to carry out this year? Be specific.
3. Take Action: Faith without works is dead. Goals are nothing without action. Do something today. Act on your beliefs.
4. Never Stop Learning: Every successful person throughout history maintained a lifestyle of learning. Read books, attend seminars, watch training videos.
5. Work Hard And Be Persistent: Success doesn’t happen overnight. Success is a marathon and requires fortitude and persistence.
6. Stay On Top of Your Game: Don’t ignore what’s happening in your life. Analyze details. Learn from your mistakes.
7. Stay Focused: Benjamin Franklin once said, “He who follows two hares is sure to catch neither.” It’s easy to get distracted from your goals and lose focus. Make a “to do” list and finish something every day.
8. Innovate: Successful people do things differently. Innovation is the key to improvement and breakthrough. Innovation is doing something new and different.
9. Learn to Communicate Effectively: Effective communication enables you to be understood. All successful people are masters at clear conversation.
10. Work On Your Character: Character development takes time and is forged in the trials of life. Character includes resolve, honesty, responsibility, trustworthiness and discipline. Without right character all the other traits don’t mean much.