Success Begins With Your Philosophy

So where does your life bring value?

Your philosophy (the way you think) creates your attitude, your actions & your results... and that creates your life.

“Do the thing and you shall have the power.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Take for instance the transformation of Nike with there then-new ad, “Just Do It” that appeared on the scene in 1988. Nike spent a staggering $300 million on overseas advertising alone to build this mindset into culture. This advertising took the $877 million in worldwide sales to a staggering $9.2 billion in only ten years to 1998.

We have been brainwashed into the mindset of

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Social Networking and The Need to Know

The idea that your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends is sometimes a very interesting concept. How many people (person B) on Twitter or Facebook randomly show up on another friends network (person A) friend list and you KNOW they probably have zero connections? Maybe there are connections through the need to know. Here are my thoughts on some possible possibilities: 1. My friend 'A' came on my network and began seeing who is my influencers and found friend 'B'. Or friend 'B' came on my network and found friend 'A'. Or the 3rd reason, and I think more unlikely would be the randomness of me and friend 'A' stumbling on the same person. Now granted some leaders show up on ALL the networks because of their pull and popularity. Some however are in the shadows and for me a random blog led to an interesting article that linked to a poll that led to a Twitter that linked to a Youtube where a comment talked about a website that had a guest speaker who used an illustration that mentioned friend 'B'.

Now what is the point of this? To bash on people 'A' that they went through someones network and clicked and added all their friends? Clearly not. There are enough friends to go around! It is more the psyche of OUR need to KNOW! Social Networking has put complete strangers in each others own living rooms that may live hundreds or thousands of miles away. Social Networking has made our walls in our minds become a glass house so that random people can see in. Social Networking has made people of different economic classes sit down at the same table in a coffee shop for inspiration. Now of course none of these may have happened literally, but they happen ideologically, I can hear your heart, thoughts, opinions, hates, likes, tastes, etc as if we sat for a Vente (as if that really means anything other than a marketing tool) at a little table in a quaint coffee shop preferably not $tarbux (I don't like drinking muddy water & spend $6)!

When you look at tribal behavior in history, life lessons were taught by taking a young boy out and he had to kill a large threatening big game animal and live on his own in the land for 3 days then he entered manhood and learned what it 'took' to be a man. As time has gone on, writing and language was developed and then written down. Then electronics and video screens and computers. Now here we are where we have computers with social networks with complete profiles that give more information than our own friends know. Just last night I saw a young teen girl who sent out a message for all her friends to text her and gave out her cell phone publicly. I must interject myself and say this, be careful, be safe. Know your audience, there are people that don't deserve to live in society that are preying on people's Social Networks. Back to topic, because of this technology it has allowed the stories and life lessons to be shared with multitudes. Our need to know drives us to the place to know. Networking is the easiest 'place'. So if I want to get deep in a subject I will find friends who are there and see what are they sharing and who do they know who they get their information. This comes down to an internal argument whether we take it personal or take it as a compliment or even indifferent. I have chosen the indifference approach, it works well.

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What's The Problem with Plan B?

When purchasing an item at a local store over the Christmas season a few months ago I was asked whether or not I wanted a gift receipt with my purchase. The thought struck me that if I included a gift receipt with my gift it would be like saying to the person- “I doubt you will really like this anyway, but here, take the credit and go get something you really want.” This is a type of 'plan B' approach to gift giving that also permeates the rest of our society as well.

Take for instance the instant replay - instead of instilling trust in the official on the football field, we’d better check the instant replay just in case.

Not that I think that things like gift receipts and instant replay are necessarily evil, but…
This 'plan B' mentality is also seen in areas of morality as well. “Sure we’d like our kids not to be having sex, but just in case, let’s make sure they’re prepared.” And marriages are doomed to failure before they even begin with plan B prenuptial. What if this doesn’t work out?

When I speak of a 'plan B' mentality, I am not really talking about wise planning - which is something we all ought to do. Rather, I am speaking of a mentality of settling for last resorts.

This subject is faith, and people of faith are not governed by “what if?”. They live life with an intense determination to pursue the will of God, and they let the pieces fall where they may.

They hold on to the promise found in 1 Cor. 1:9
“God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus, is faithful.” They also know the truth of Phil 1:6 that He who began a good work in us will see it through.

When God called me into ministry I dove in head first - and my responsibility is to trust God to work out the details. If this whole ministry gig doesn’t work out I’ll probably be homeless, because I’ve got no plan B, no contingency plan - and I don’t want one.

There are two problems that come to mind about having a plan B approach to life.

The first problem with plan B is that it is selfish (“me-centered”)

When we live with a last resort mentality, We have failed to understand that it isn’t always about us - take the gift idea as an example.

The gift really doesn’t reveal as much about the receiver as it does about the giver. A gift doesn’t therefore indicate the worthiness of the receiver to deserve the gift, but of the benevolence of the giver (This is especially important as we consider the greatest gift ever given - the fact that God gave His only Son Jesus Christ to die in my place doesn’t speak of the fact that I deserved the gift, but it speaks of the fact that God is gracious and kind)

'Plan B' mentality is always self-serving.

But ultimately, the problem with plan B is that it is faithless

John Maxwell once wrote “Every vision dies when the cost gets too high.” He’s right! Just because you and I have good intentions to pursue plan A - that is, the thing we know God wants us to do - doesn’t mean we will. Remember the 10 spies in Numbers 13 and 14? They saw first hand what God had in store for them (they had the vision), but the cost was simply too high - so the vision died. I love Joshua and Caleb's reaction, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are able to overcome it."

The Bible is filled with examples of 'plan A' people - Daniel was one. When the law said he couldn’t worship as he was accustomed to doing, he said - “I’ve got my orders and I’m sticking to them.”

Essentially, God’s character is the basis for a plan 'A' mentality.
Remember 1 Cor. 1:9? He who called us is faithful.

God established a new covenant with us - not a new commitment with us, but a new covenant. You see, commitments shift in their intensity. Sometimes we can be more committed or less committed depending on circumstances. But covenants never flex - you are never less covenanted or more covenanted - you are either in covenant or you’re not!

As we seek to display the faithful character of God in our lives, we become people of resolve, of integrity, of loyalty. 'Plan A' type of people.

Where do you find yourself; a 'plan A' or 'plan B' type of person? If 'B', what are you going to do to try to change your mindset to be a 'plan A' person?

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I'm Only Liking It As A Friend

Why am I just likin' it when I should be lovin' it?

Us as leaders/pastors/business leaders all have a common goal, selling. We sell our belief system a.k.a. God, our leadership skills, a particular product. On a recent visit to an unnamed fast food restaurant I had a negative experience. First let me start off by saying I have worked many years in retail sells and direct sells. I say that to say my expectations have come by that which I am willing to give.

McDonald's, how much to expect? Maybe too much. Never sauce, no customer service. What should I expect? And for them to right their mistake I get nothing extra in return to want to come back.

Here's the full story, so I ordered my two McDoubles, Small Fry, and 4 Piece Nugget WITH Sweet 'N Sour sauce. I get home and realize that I do not have my sauce. In my frustration I also realize that this is the 3rd time from the same McDonald's that they have done this. I can remember the last time was the same guy. When we got their to order he stood there and looked at us and flat out ignored us, then after we made it very clear we were ready whether he was or not (didn't think he was too busy opening up a box of kids toys). By the time I got back to McDonald's my food was cold. The most the guy at the register could offer me was a couple packets of sauce. Not acceptable by me. I told him I needed new McNuggets since mine were now cold after the 15 minute trip home and back AND sauce. He then proceeded to ask his manager who told him to do it. He then gave me sauces... 5 to be exact for four nuggets, really? I could tell maybe a little sarcasm in that action. Needless to say I prolly won't go back there. The customer service, terrible.

Thoughts/Challenges: When you have a product to sell/service at your church/salvation/etc and a person is not satisfied what is your response? We must remember to always give 110%. Are we listening to people or only hearing part of what they are saying? In our world we need to show/preach/live out love and guarantee.

What would I do?

• Listen/Attention to Details - I would first have listened to the person to hear the small details. What exactly are they wanting. I would not make generalizations and assumptions. I take pleasure in that it is not my responsibility to assume what people want.
  
• Attitude - I would make eye contact. I would realize there is nothing else, short of an emergency, that would be more important than the customer at that moment. I would smile and be positive. I would be polite even if I had a bad day, it's not their fault how my day went.

What would I do if I made a mistake?

• Humility - I would take the higher road. Apologize and take ALL the blame, it is not any other person's fault. If it was another person's fault I would apologize anyways. Humility says, "It's always my fault."
  
• Costumer Satisfaction - I would do anything possible to make that person the happiest person in my mistake. In this simple little mistake I would have given a free drink, possibly upsized the fry or changed a 4 Piece to an 8 Piece and smiled letting them know. If possible I would have given them a coupon ensuring them a return visit.

So leaders/pastors/business leaders here is some thoughts to consider. My issue here is a generalization across the board. We simply do not listen all the time especially to the smaller details. Listen a little more. We also tend to have bad attitudes or maybe more simply complacency. Put a darn smile on and appreciate people and accept them and put aside your attitude for the moment. Walk in humility, own up to mistakes and don't make people feel bad for expecting to get what they want. Then simply satisfy peoples cravings. This doesn't mean bend over backward and let people walk over you but practice what you preach, under promise and over deliver!

Be intentional!

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Trends Facing Youth Ministry

There is a great post over at the Youth Specialties blog about the trends facing youth ministry. Youth leaders were asked to identify the top three trends they felt students and youth ministers were facing as it related to the future of youth ministry. Read it to get a better perspective of what I am writing. Here is my response to some of the questions and my insight to some of the issues affecting youth ministry. Let me know what you think.

These at least for me are not new but put me at ease that I am not the only leader dealing with these problems (tongue in cheek).

#1 square off has, I think, always been a battle, Competing for Time of a student is tough. I remember when I was a teen hearing my YP voice his frustration. OF course we can wrestle it till we are blue or learn to leverage it. I think there are ways to leverage the time we have and the time we don't. Help the student who is on the football team adopt his team as his personal mission field and help him identify himself as the pastor/shepherd to them instead of making him feel guilty over choosing football over a youth event/service. Allowing students their 'spot' to shine can help us with our 'need' of their time. We need to learn how to make the secular and the sacred mesh into harmony and not battle it, I admit it is very tough!

#3, Social Networking for me at home has been a win. In ministry/life learning to leverage what we cannot muscle has been the biggest advantage anyone has with something. Let us not be quick to call this a lack in any proportion, possibly we are seeing a new wave of culture moving across the horizon that many of us leaders are not a tune to. Learning to ride the wave can be your biggest advantage. Marty Burroughs, a District Youth Director for the state of Texas told me a story how a church of a 100 had a youth ministry of about 90, that is insane. Every kid that came in, they got their Facebook and Myspace and added them and their top 10 friends. Then when an event was to happen they would sent invites out to the students and their top 10. They were sending upwards of 5000 invites. I have responded to a post on twitter here, what a TOOL, I would pay for this if it weren't free (Twitter don't get any ideas). There are great ways to harness these tools.

twitter.com/shaunmayfield
twitter.com/eikonlive

#4, Economic Turndown is a killer, parents out of jobs is huge add-on to that one. There is not much to do but be more creative about our events and look and alternatives to costly events, sometimes those cheaper events can be more richer in the end.

#2 & 5 are tough, the Definition of Family and Sexual Confusion. These represent the cultural trend of a cultural agenda. Never before have we seen such an agenda at the forefront of America. The definition of family, at least here in AZ and in California and other states is in a battle to be redefined. This may not seem like a big deal but what it has attached to it's roots can hugely impact the church and pastors.

Secondly, identity issues and sexual confusion, I am so glad this hit the top 5. That sounds horrible of a statement, but I am glad because this will put more focus from a broader audience of YP's to effectively build curriculum and teaching lessons and sermons. For many years the 'church' at large has not been equipped to handle this and has almost feared the subject. We are dealing with it huge. What hurts the most is the agenda from MTV and Hollywood. The agenda is trying to make it a civil issue which then means that anyone who speaks out against it can be charged as a hate crime. It has become so rampant in the school system and what was once considered PDA between a girl and guy is now accepted as normal between two guys or two girls. This agenda has made it very curious for our teens to experiment. That experimentation mixed with just the sexualism of puberty has made so many students confused.

This will be probably one of the biggest topics of discussion amongst church leaders in the next decade, that is my prediction. I believe this is just the beginning of an issue that will hit the church so hard we BETTER begin now or even a year ago on developing strategies on winning this war and #1, helping students learn their identity roles. We need to be teaching masculinity to the men and what marriage is and why the definition should be preserved in our hearts of a 'Holy Matrimony' between one man and one woman. That is why I grouped these together. When the definition of marriage is attacked and the agenda of homosexualism as a trend widens, these two unite as one joint problem. Let us look to God to direct us on how to love and teach and allow the Holy Spirit to convict and change hearts.

Thoughts?

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When the Golden Calf Becomes A Bronze Bull

Jesus People Pray That False Idol Will Save God’s Economy

I have so many thoughts that come to mind when I see this picture and read the headline above. "Jesus People," that's me... "pray that false idol will save God's economy." Hmm, ok this is clearly an incorrect assumption of all Christians. Should I, as a Christian, be praying for the economy? Sure. Should I spend $900 in airfare to go pray at the bronze bull in lower Manhattan? Certainly not. Then again, for people to be saying that those here are praying to an idol is ludicrous, they are praying at a statue for the economy, a statue that represents the monetary system...

Here is what one very liberal writer said in mockery:

Did you know that some Christian dingbat has dubbed today the “Day of Prayer for the World’s Economies?” Well here they are, at the Wall Street bull statue thing, praying to Jesus for money. The dingbat has explained, “We are going to intercede at the site of the statue of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will be the ‘Lion’s Market,’ or God’s control over the economic systems.” Don’t they know that God taking over the economic systems would be SOCIALISM from SPACE? Also: God will be very mad that they are worshiping a bronze idol here, since his second commandment PROHIBITS THAT, duh? Thank you Wonkette operative “Dan the Man” for the photo. [CBN]

I sometimes wonder about radical Christians that make so much noise in protest or in this case bugling a horn to get people to notice them. I wonder if those that are not Christian, those outside the church get so confused by our actions they don't what a Christian really is. One day they see some radical pastor shooting and killing an abortion doctor and on another corner see other Christians with signs saying "Turn or Burn" and "Gays are going to hell." When will Christians just live life as an example and learn to LOVE? If our demonstrations were in truly loving then nobody could be offended, maybe someone could be offended by a glass of cold water, but the Bible is clear that we break no law if we simply love.

Maybe what they were doing in this picture was right, maybe not. If my friends were going today to pray at the bronze bull I would stay home, that's just me. Maybe this is similar to See You At The Pole, where kids every September stand at their flagpole at school to pray for their nation, school, and friends. I see it a little different. The school represents the kid's mission field. I also see this as a easy way to publicly show they are Christians in a non-threatening way with the hope of starting conversations. See You At The Bull however, to me is a little different.

Is it different? Should it be different? I honor their prayers at the bull and hope and pray that America learns to steward itself better. Then again it was America's greed for money and devaluing the end user/buyer to make some big/quick bucks that has put us here. Lenders creating explosive home loans set to explode after 3 or 5 years and called them adjusting. Yeah they adjust, they adjust out of the reach of the home owners while you sit back and make millions then when it get's tough, big brother will bail you out, yeah the big brother that just a few months ago rolled 10 trillion dollars in debt. I will keep praying in my prayer closet. not for 'them', but us, we all got into this together and now we need to all get out together.

So I offer my prayer...
Lord Help?!?

This is very open ended discussion but what is your thoughts?

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Twitteranked and Self-Branding

"Twitteranked? Sweet now I can see how good I am really doing. 14.47, what a loser!

(click on the picture to read the full story)

Notice how I got twitteranked 17 hours ago then low and behold my great friend, God, updated me 10 minutes ago that I was scammed! It coulda been worse than it really was, I guess that's why God was 16 hours and 50 minutes late, the guy likes teaching me lessons.

It is amazing how Twitter or Facebook or Myspace or any other aggregate feeds and social networks create such a desire of self-branding. I will rabbit trail for a moment on 3 studs of professional self-branders, for the simple point for you to realize that...

"Anyone doing anything better than you is providing you the resources, strategies, and ideas for you to be better than you already are." - Me

• Seth Godin, who is a business genius and has an amazing ability to see what many others don't. He made famous the idea of permission marketing, which is as simple as it sounds. He has three elements that is seen in most of his writings. First, he realizes that advertisers can't command the attention of anyone they choose (great thought for church leaders in a post-modern world, that is basically post-modern marketing). Second, consumers are gaining more power, which means more respect, truthfulness and less bias on the marketers (more here for the church leader, are we slow to teach and explain theology in a philosophical way, why are so many Christian college students leaving? They lack the ability to argue theology philosophically). And third, the only way a product or idea will be spread, is that it has earned a buzz by being remarkable. (church leaders please re-read that then repeat two more times. Are we making a buzz in our culture, making a buzz in our community, neighborhood?!?)
  
• Josh Spear, is a youth specialist, trendsetter who saw the blog-phenomenon as a major thread in credible form of media. He, via his blog, has set out to be a "source of inspiration for marketers, brand managers, advertising executives, and a wide range of everyday people from around the world who love to stay ahead of the curve." (What could the church leader be looking into as the next main thread of getting into people's minds and hearts? Are you looking or are you doing tomorrow what you did yesterday?)
  
• Brian Shaler, this guy is one of my favorites, he's a jumper! He's a web developer, marketer, writer, speaker and photographer. He banks the term self-brander, probably one of the best in the field.

Now back to the original post before the rabbit grabbed my attention. In our personal seeking to be self-promoters which by all means we should be. Every human has something to market. The professional business person, themselves, their resume, their accolades, their education. The homeless, their loss, their story, their history. The Christian, their purpose, their life, their hope, their calling.

Our postmodern world leads us to be self-marketers, people want to know you, what you think and what you identify with. What is your brand? Your brand highly dictates your audience, your audience highly dictates your success. Many people get in the wrong arenas and begin to self-promote and fail because they had the wrong audience. You must sell your GENIUS, the Geenie-in-us. What is it in you that is special, that is magical, that sets you apart. Make your story and begin to sell it. Every person has an audience, a circle of people that are influenced by you. One general question I ask is who is your mentor and who are you mentoring?

Your audience was created because of your brand, now learn to market to that audience to hear the best message they have ever heard. For you Christians, be real, authentic, take off the mask regardless how ugly it is beneath the whitewash, then allow your audience to hear the best spoken message God has given voice to. Be an eikon, be the representation of God into your world not just in word but in action and deed too.

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Cultural Clarity de Peru: (Times) of the Culture

A really interesting observation that I made that I already talked about in my previous post I will expand a little more on is the time. Another funny thing with Peruvians is time is really just a philosophy or great idea but a poor invention. As the week started we would set times to be ready and be waiting for 20 minutes to an hour for them. Our leader, Doug, expressed his concern that we always be ready on time no matter what. Well by the end we were being pushed by them. So as we are getting more tired and slower and run down the local Pastors seemed to sense our eagerness to follow the clock so as we were beginning to slow they were there to push us.

By the end of the trip I heard “rapido” more times than I wanted. However I feel they were respecting us and our time consciousness. I began to think about the differences of culture. Are they wrong for being late all the time and not caring? Are we wrong for always holding the clock as a higher priority then relationships? I feel the root of this is true, there are differences of culture and that carries much of the weight however I feel a sense of blame and ownership. As two cultures collide, I believe our eyes are opened up to our shortcomings.

First off I will point the finger because there is less there to deal with, actually I truly want to focus on the American rush. If you are like my Peruvian friends, look at your watch, focus a little more, care a little more, be a little more courteous of others. If a car is about to run you over instead of forcing him to slow down pick up your pace, simply move.

So before I point the finger I am first to say, SLOW down America. Don’t shortsale relationships because of your over-exhausted time schedule. Don’t neglect your nature of relationship, we are relational by nature. Stop to say hello, slow down to have time to bless someone, don’t run so fast so that you can have a meaningful conversation of hope and purpose, don’t miss opportunities that are God appointed. Allow yourself to be in the moment and present for what God has intended instead of putting on the game face all the time and running. I realize that many times I speed when I drive and am not even in a hurry. I have accustomed myself to always be on ‘rush mode’. I seem to always be late for things even late for events that are not even scheduled, figure that one out. I want to sloooow down, I want to catch my breathe and breath a deep sigh of relief that the earth will still spin even if I’m not pedaling it. Did you hear that, our little planet will still keep spinning without you pedaling it and running on it.

Here’s the bottom line, you will always have more to do, more to finish, more work to do… set it down and relax, kick your legs up and enjoy the simple life all around you that is waiting to be explored. We make so much complication of God’s simplicity and make ourselves tired and God is saying rest in me my child.

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Cultural Clarity de Peru: The Kiss of Innocence

After the first conference a young lady approached me with Oscar, my translator, and she had a question for me as well as a prayer request. Her prayer request was that her father was a pastor for eight years and he quit and walked away from God. I could tell in your heart she was hurt and broken. Her question was that she felt very shy but had a heart to share her faith and she didn’t what to do. I encouraged her that it is okay that she is shy but I shared with her that when we receive that baptism of the Holy Spirit we receive power to be witnesses and I encouraged her to seek God for everything that He has for her. I spoke life into her and told her that she is perfect in every way, that her life has purpose and that God has a destiny for her. I told her that she was wonderful and amazing. I told her that when she shares her faith with people and they reject her they are not really rejecting her; they are rejecting God. She seemed to be very encouraged and lifted up by those words.

Let me step you back to the moment of her approach, as she neared me with Oscar they seemed to be pretty close and as I stood it was very awkward so the only way to make it not awkward was to turn the stand into a standing hug. When I went to hug her she hugged me face to face and then I heard her kiss me. At first I was very nervous and couldn’t understand why she did that. Then I realized that I had been seeing that from different people throughout the previous day. As the rest of the week every woman or girl hugged me as well as any person with a kiss.

Now the funny thing is I hate touching people’s hands, sure call me weird. To me it is gross and I wish we in America did not do the hand shake. Many times I will hit fists instead of shake hands. You know what also bugs me is holding hands to pray, call me unholy or what but I do not like it. Think about it for a second, the longer the prayer the hotter and more sweaty it gets, gross. To me the kiss is a little weird but in a strange sense beautiful. I remember our last night our bus on the way to the airport had to drive through the drive-thru and we sat there looking inside as three girls were finishing there meals and one had to leave and then she kissed her friends on the cheeks then left. Over and over I saw this happening and it brings the idea of trust and love as well as a personal relationship. I think it is a personal way of greeting inspiring love that a hand shake can’t do…. wait, wait, I guess we do have that, we have the clasp of the hands, snap the fingers, hit three times, hit the fists up then down, spin around, high five, then hug. We also have the gangster hands clasp, fist to fist, hug the side shoulder.

I must say that the love of the innocent kiss is beautiful and makes our hand shake quite pathetic. Here is my solution, I don’t think that we can ever change the culture of America to the kiss, at least not easily. However how can you show love more? How can you express the love that God has given you to the people in your world? God has given each of us our own circle of influence and our own world if you will. Are you able to affect your world in a positive way? I hear many times from people that would say, “I can’t change my world”. The truth is maybe you can’t, maybe that is too big of a task, but I believe in you. I believe that you can change your circle, your own ‘world’, your area of influence. So how will tomorrow be different than today? Will you begin to affect the destiny of others by loving more? Let’s see it.

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Reports From Peru

Peru is a beautiful country and I have cherished every moment here. After the dozen or so mission trips to Mexico I felt very comfortable in Peru. One of the funnest and scariest parts is the driving, much like Mexico. There are really no rules, well at least rules that are followed. Stop signs are optional, red lights are recommended and the horn works as a tool for communication. Yet in the midst of seeming chaos and almost complete traffic jams, Peruvians seem to still stay positive and there are also no accidents, at least not in the week we were there and believe me, after watching the driving for 5 minutes I expected to see at least a few accidents daily. Another funny thing with Peruvians is time is really just a philosophy or great idea but a poor invention. They do not seem to be too worried of the time. Many times we would wait a while for the different local pastors and leaders.

There was a couple interesting things that happened. The first night we were still in a state of euphoria with the idea of being in a new country and the excitation of the days ahead. We were given our room keys and go to our rooms. My room was on the side of a VERY busy road not to mention all the honking. I could not sleep at all and it was a very good thing I brought some Sleep MD. Chicken is the main staple food, more prevalent than good clean water, no joke. So we literally ate chicken for every meal, now my first point is the chicken is the best chicken I have eaten in my life. It is all rotisserie and amazing. However after the first nine times in a row it became out of control. Now I must mention that there was a Starbucks only a parking lot away that I frequented every morning to do my "vanille latte con hellado" as well as the most amazing cinnamon roll that cost about $0.80 US. So finally ten meals in, that is lunches and dinners we end up at a high end outdoor mall that was pretty cool. Finally a food court, anything you would want including American fast food, yessss! No, because all the meals were included in our trip and they paid for them all at once, so guess where we found ourselves? Pardo's chicken, 10th time in a row. It will be a good month of Chicken Sabbatical for me.

The leadership conferences were amazing. God always does the unexpected. We were expecting about 200 at the fist conference and about 300 or so at the second, totaling 500-600. I personally was expecting about 70-80 youth pastors and leaders total. The first conference totaled just about 500 and the second was 500+. So with a total of over a thousand combined, I had about 100 pastors/leaders at each conference. They were hungry for learning and philosophies on ministry. I really felt that God had given me some great leadership ideas and strategies to give to these amazing people. One of the neat things is a couple days later when we were doing a children’s program at a little village a lady came up and told me that she was at one of the conferences with me and that it was 'excellente'. It was amazing to see one of the people in their own area of influence and that they were blessed by the conference.

At the second conference there was a homosexual couple that came in to see what was going on and got convicted so they returned that night for the service and wept knowing they were living in sin. Pastor Larry who was on our team who had been a missionary to Ecuador for many years ministered to these two guys and through tears of shame found God and left new 'men' of God.

I have never been so stretched in my life. The two conferences were in two days in different city/states, the first one in Lima and the second in Ica. These were about 5 hours away. The first conference was Tuesday, it began at 8:30am and ended at about 7:30pm then we all went for dinner, chicken. Rode the cab to the bus terminal (like our Greyhounds) and left about 10pm. We arrived in Ica at about 2:30am and then found our hotel and got only a few hours of sleep to make it to the next conference that started at 8:30am. This same schedule repeated that day ending with the drive back to Lima. Then the next morning up at the same time around 7ish to head to do some street ministry with the team that was here doing ministry while we were at the conferences. That day lasted until 11pm with a couple chicken meals in there for our pleasure. So three days of about 4-5 hours and then standing and walking for about 13 hours and ministering is one of the most exhausting things I have done. I ran my body to fully empty relying on fumes then ran out of fumes by Saturday.

Then Saturday was a day to shop and eat and see the country, it was great and beautiful. Then Sunday I preached at a church in Lima with a couple hundred in attendance. On my way the Book of Hope leader in Peru told me that the mayor goes to this church and will be there, nothing like pressure, eh. God really moved on me and even though I felt too sick to minister I always depend on God in those times and as I approached the pulpit the sickness was not able to follow. I poured my heart out with a message that God gave me for this church talking about how the gift of God, His son, is effective in our life. Myself, the church and the pastor all seemed blessed. Prior to the service the pastor led us through the church introducing us to all the teachers and pastors and as we were entering the Sunday School class for the teenagers the Sr. Pastor told my translator that I would be teaching the class, again nothing like pressure. I had nothing prepared but God led and I followed. When we are sick and at the end or feel great and have high energy God always comes through.

This trip was amazing and everyone that supported us in prayer, thank you. I was invited back again next year and really hope to return. The burden of leadership burns in me to return again. So be praying about considering helping me get there next year monetarily and in prayer. Oh and an interesting bit of knowledge, where we stayed the last rumored time that it rained was about 10 years ago, other than that it hasn't rained for hundreds of years even though it is on the coast, it just mists a lot.

...read more on "Reports From Peru"!

Viva Peru

Well I am sitting here at IAH, the International Airport of Houston for a 3 hour layover and am getting excited to finish my next flight, 6.5 hours to Lima, Peru. I was invited by Doug Reed to join him and a team of about 10 pastors to go to Peru for a Pastors Leadership Conference. It will be a great trip, I will get to lead three sessions with about 70-80 youth pastors and leaders. I have entitled the three sessions I will be leading:

• Seven Keys to Growth: What causes your ministry to be a magnet for teenagers that need Christ.
• Why Inspirational Leadership? 10 Roles For An Inspirational Leader.
• Ten Great Ways to Lose A Volunteer: Ten missteps that can cost you new and old volunteers.
  

Please keep our team in your prayers and that God uses us in powerful ways in Peru. We need them and depend on God to make this week memorable for everyone.

...read more on "Viva Peru"!

Secular & Sacred

As I met Kevin and Mark, the pastors at One Place in Phoenix I got to see a duo of very creative co-pastors. I knock on the door and wait for Mark to greet me and let me in and we all introduce ourselves and begin dialoging. Mark returns to his office, a makeshift table and a beautiful old 'goodwill' sort of arm chair from the 60's in the front of the stage floor level where the chairs filled on a Sunday night look to be a giant waiting room. He pulls up his desk, a quaint little plastic table with marker graffiti and writing all over it, and begins to tell me that this desk of his is also the cash table for all the concerts that come through their church; the church doubles as a music venue to the community and art gallery on Friday nights. They host in the winter about 1-2 shows a week and in the summer months 20-25 shows a month. Mark speaks up that approximately 70% of the shows are probably not Christian. Oh and then he mentions the table that people write on which probably has profanity on it his covered with a cloth and the elements are laid on it for their communion service the previous Sunday.

Their is something magnificent about how we treat what is secular and what is sacred. It seems to me that growing up, those were not able to coexist, much like a radical Muslim and conservative Christian strolling through the park sipping ice tea together laughing at the most recent 'Fox Trot' Sunday comics. See, I was brought up to believe that once something or someone becomes sacred that any signs of the old, any signs of the secular must be doused with gasoline and torched.

Many times we [Christians], do so good at portraying to non-believers that they are wretched and are unclean as was the individual that had leprosy and was removed form the camp until he was better then still had to wait many days before the priest would allow him back into the camp. And because of their condition we can not coexist!

Can what is sacred and what is secular coexist? I see Jesus who was perfectly content being with the non-believer and I would even further the statement and say that he found joy when he was amongst the secular. Jesus was, at least in my Bible a little more radical, a little more dirt under the fingernails, a little more willing to risk the view of what was suppose to be ideal sacredness for any church leader, let alone a follower. Today's Jesus I believe would mess up the theology of many of today's pastors. I believe Jesus of today would cause a lot of repentance, but not the typical repentance of, "I'm sorry, please forgive me", but a repentance from the church pastor that has the attitude of "how could I have missed it all these years". There have been too many moments of conviction from the 'priest' to the 'leper' of what must change and what can not coexist, and I believe God is saying today, "I want to mess up your theology a little and let you see that I am not so easily defined as you once thought".

Take a walk through the gospels and see how many times Jesus was with the seculars. The interesting thing is both places he went... He was either at the sacred Holy temple chastising the "self-puffed, self-righteous sacred leaders" explaining to them that they have missed it and simply don't get it. They were great on theology but lousy on application. They knew how to live the bible intellectually but not missiologically. Or the other place Jesus was at was with the seculars, the lepers, the drunks, partyers, etc. hanging out, feeding, teaching, loving, and number one of all SERVING. I do believe secular and sacred can coexist, the main difference is that the secular does not try to convict but loves and serves!

...read more on "Secular & Sacred"!