Big Is The New Small

My team has went through a book discussion for almost every Seth Godin book that he has written.  I am obviously what Seth Godin calls a true fan; hence the blog title BigIsTheNewSmall, a spin-off of his “Small Is The New Big.”  Some of the ladies on my team have not always been fans of every one of Seth’s books; however everyone is really diggin’ his new book “Tribes.”  I’m going to share some thoughts as I finish Tribes this week; If you don’t have it, Go get it now.  Here are my Tribes quotes/thoughts for the day:

“It’s clearly more fun to make the rules than follow them, and for the first time, it’s also profitable, powerful, and productive to do just that.  Suddenly, heretics, troublemakers, and change agents aren’t merely thorns in our side–they are the keys to our success.” Seth Godin  I always encourage my team to make some new rules and consistenly ask the question: “What can we break?” 

“Leaders, on the other hand, don’t care very much for organizational structure or the official blessing of whatever factory they work for.  Leaders must become aware of how the organization works because this allows them to change it.” Seth Godin   I’m a strong believer that you can “not care about the organizational structure” and still be respectful of the organization.  Quit worrying about getting the organizational blessing; Go Lead!  Transcend The Isms…

• Are you, do you know or have you known a heretic that is/was a key to success?
• Thoughts on the heretic & leaders not caring much for organizational structure/organizational blessing.

BTW- Seth you can stop by and leave a comment as well! {Fist Bump}

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DESSERT

Dessert is defined as: A sweet course, treat or dish; served after the main course.

As I was thinking about the holiday season and all of the desserts that I am going to consume; I was reminded of what dessert really is by definition.  It’s that sweet course or treat after the main dish… In life that main dish could be college and the sweet treat could be that degree; that main dish could be your role as a leader and the sweet treats are the lessons that you learn daily; the main course could be that step in obedience in making the commitment to tithe and the sweet treats are the opened floodgates of blessings that God pours into your life, the main course could be the struggles of life, darkness, insecurity, sin… and the SWEET TREAT is the truth, life, grace and forgiveness through Christ.

You get the picture!

The bottom line is to always be mindful and thankful that even though the “main course in life” may not always be good or our favorite dish; there is an opportunity for a tasty treat after the main course. 

It’s All About The Dessert…   Transcend The Isms  

“Some people complain that roses have thorns, I’m thankful thorns have roses.”

• Are you able to anticipate the sweet treat after the main courses in life?
• What is your favorite dessert during the Holiday Season?  I’ll go first: “Pecan Freakin’ Pie”

Last week I shared a post that was inspired by the LifeChurch.tv all-staff time with Bill Hybels.  Bill shared quite the discerning quote: “Cool isn’t cool anymore!”  This quote has provided for some healthy dialogue for my team, whom for about a year now has been feeling the tension of the coolness and God.  We sat in the conference room and all just had it out for hours about our roles, our ministry, our place, our direction, our modus operandi…. and it was one of the most healthy, argumentative, challenging conversations that we’ve had.  I say one of the most, because we do this all the time. 

I always encourage my team to “Lead-Up, Challenge Things, Challenge What Appears to Be Non-Negotiable, Challenge the Status Quo, Challenge Me, Challenge Life as you know it….”  As we were haggling through the whole cool factor, our Campus Administrator Deidra rambled off a random quote that we all thought was quite profound, so I want to share it:

Our job is to make God cool, not the absence of God cool!

Do you encourage healthy haggling and does your environment foster opportunities for healthy haggling?

Share your thoughts on Deidra’s quote?

Five Leadership Quotes to Ponder: 

• The real leader has no need to lead – he is content to point the way. – Henry Miller
• If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities. – Maya Angelou
• Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely. – Karen Kaiser Clark
• When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally. – Lao Tse
• Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Bonus: One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. – Helen Keller

Any of these quotes speak to you?  Do you have any quotes that you would like to share?

The Monday Morning question… How was your weekend?

1. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. (John Quincy Adams)
2. A leader must have the courage to act against an expert’s advice. (James Callaghan)
3. Inventories can be managed, but people must be led. (Ross Perot)
4. Leadership can be thought of as a capacity to define oneself to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future. (Edwin Friedman)
5. If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants.(Isaac Newton)
6. A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be. (Rosalynn Carter) 
7. A great leader doesn’t care about being the leader, but instead cares about the mission, the vision and the people they are leading. (Scott Williams) 

Thoughts, comments or favorites from the above list; or share any personal favorites! 

RANDOM BULLETS: Friday Drive-by (21) 

LifeChurch.tv Northwest Oklahoma City Campus: “N-dub”

• Week Three of One Prayer “Ed Young” is Speaking!

• Over 200 People from the “N-dub” are going on the “One Prayer” Oak Grove micro-mission.

• Looking for a new LifeKids Director; my current LifeKids Pastor is going to be my Campus Admin.  If you are interested, you can check out the Job Description here.

My Life:

• Campus Pastor Forum is tonight and tomm. 

• We are going to Atlanta Tomorrow; I’m looking forward to the time off. 

• My boys basketball season starts this coming week.

Featured Bloggers & Frequent Commenters: Check out their sites!

• Dusty: The Randomness of Dusty Takle
• Jonathan: The Little Pastor
• Roger: Roll Mental Camera
• Bert: Men On Purpose
• Mike: Indescript

 Blog Ramblings:

• BigIsTheNewSmall will have it’s 1st. Birthday June 30th.  (LinkLuv and comments on Birthday will be appreciated)
• If you have linked BigIsTheNewSmall, let me know so that I can show you some LinkLuv.  Be sure you subscribe to my blog by clicking the subscribe button at the top right or click here.
• Follow me on Twitter: click here
• Facebook (Let’s be friends… click here)

Quotes:

You can’t get where you need to be until you recognize where you are.  Me

Get Your Drive-by On!

If you have any random thoughts or comments, please share!

Question:

Do you or your church participate in small groups?  Do you feel that small groups are helpful, necessary, effective… Why or Why Not?

Have a great weekend, I’ll be blogging from the ATL next week! 

Me and a good buddy of mine who attends another campus of LifeChurch.tv and I had a really good exchange the other day as it relates to secular music in the Church.   This is one of those arguments that people have a wide range of polarizing positions. 

I recently ran across an article on the same subject by Tim Stevens, who is the Executive Pastor of Granger of Granger Community Church and author of new book “Pop Goes the Church, Should the Church Engage Pop Culture?”  If you want to read his article, “Does Secular Music Have a Place in The Church?” in its entirety click here. 

I am going to share a few of Tim’s quotes, a few of my thoughts and then we will let the debating begin:

“Every element in your service doesn’t have to be prescriptive.  Yes, you are trying to teach a principle or encourage people to consider a truth, but you can use certain elements to raise questions and other elements to help provide answers.”  Tim Stevens 

“It’s amazing to me that the same pastors who have never allowed a secular song in their services have quoted secular authors, secular poets, and secular historical figures.”  Tim Stevens 

My buddy that I was talking to asked me “What genius came up with the idea that playing secular music or certain secular music in church was a good idea?”  The abridged version of my response and our conversation was this:  We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ, the bottom line is Changed Lives; both eternally and daily.  It is all a piece of the experience to engage people where they are and open their hearts to hear The Truth.  Jesus just didn’t teach and preach… but he met people’s needs: feeding, healing….     

Anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ means just that, walking up to the line and doing anything short of sin. 

Does secular music have a place in the Church?  Why or Why Not?    

Does your church play secular music or do you listen to secular music?

RANDOM BULLETS

BigIsTheNewSmall Milestones:

• First 40 Comment Post: The First Black President (Go make a comment and Let’s make it 50)
• Reaching 1,000 Comments : We are at 1071 (Thanks for commenting!)

Comment of the Week: Oh the things we can learn from diarrhea! Jeff Riles 

Quote: 

• Aren’t you tired of being relevant, I’m sick and tired of being relevant, relevant means someone else got there first and now I’m trying to connect; we need to stop being relevant and start leading the way.  Erwin McManus 

 Life:

• I am coaching Jayden’s 4yr. old Basketball Team.
• Tomorrow is date night for my wife and I!
• You guys almost put me in jail yesterday! Check it out here.

Why:

• Why are people so scared to be different?
• Why are people so scared of people who are different? 

Facebook: I just hooked up a facebook, I’m a rookie! (let’s be friends)

Link Me and I’ll Link you Back: If you kave linked BigIsTheNewSmall, let me know and I’ll give you a shout out. 

Questions: 

• Should pastors be allowed to bring political candidates in front of their congregation?  I know what the IRS says, but what do you think? 

Thanks for reading, Holler!  BigIsTheNewSmall……

My wife and I had the opportunity to watch Denzel Washington’s new movie this week entitled; The Great Debaters.  This movie is inspired by a true story and highlights a small Historically Black College in Texas; Wiley

 I won’t go into all the details of the movie, if you want to check it out you can visit the site here.  As you know, I always enjoy good quotes and this movie had many good ones.  I want to share a quote/exchange that Denzel would have his debate students repeat aloud; prior to initially preparing for debates.  Here it is: 

• Who is the Judge? 
• The judge is God!
• Why is it God?   
• Because HE decides who wins or looses, not my opponent.
• Who is your opponent?         
• He doesn’t exist.
• Why doesn’t he exist?         
• He is merely a dissenting voice to the truth I speak.
• Speak the truth!

That quote really caught my attention.  God decides who wins or looses period; not my opponent in any situation, not even Punk Satan!  The Truth……! 

What do you think about the quote?   What and Who are the descending voices to “The Truth” HE speaks through you?

RANDOM BULLETS:

LifeChurch.tv:  NW Oklahoma City Campus

• Attendance was down last week due to the horrible ice storm.  We have 100% chance of snow today and tomm.
• Child Dedications are this weekend.
• I will be rolling out campus vision/goals for 08′,  in a couple of weeks.

Life:

• Wesley and Jayden are both signed up to play B-ball.  Jayden’s team currently does not have a coach.  I might coach so they won’t cancel the team, you can’t break the hearts of 4yr. olds.
• I think my wife is going to do the Christmas shopping this weekend, depending upon the weather.  I don’t like Christmas shopping, gift cards are the best.

Poll:

• Participate in the poll question about Santa at the bottom/right of my blog.

Sports:

• I don’t know what to think about the Mitchell Report, dealing w/ MLB and steroids.  I am beginning to think that the people really don’t care.  If you have a positive tests great…. who knows, there were obviously a bunch of people who used performance enhancing drugs either knowingly or not.  See fan reaction here.

Quote:

• You can either follow history, or make history.  Scott Williams

Worthy Links:

• Tony Morgan on getting old: Parachute Pants and Next Generation Leaders
• Elevation Church is partnering w/ New Birth for Christmas:  Christmas at Cricket
• My girl Gina McClain has a Friday Fly-by, it’s similar to a Friday Drive-by…they both shoot random bullets.
• The Best and Worst Shows and Music for 07′
• Will Smith’s “I am Legend” comes out today.  Will is the man!

Question:

What do you think about Barack Obama and Oprah’s endorsement of him?

If you don’t like to talk politics: Is your Christmas shopping is done, or do you wait til’ Christmas Eve? 

Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!