- Make much of Jesus, not yourself! – point people to Jesus, He is the only one who can meet needs.
- Much much about others, not yourself – serve others!
- Meet the needs of people – take your eyes of yourself and see the needs of others!
- Listen to others – so you can hear their needs.
- Build Others Up – celebrate the work of God in others.
- Tenaciousness – don’t give up and work hard.
- Serve – simply seek to serve others, and serve continually.
Category: Leadership
That was fun – The Fox and Friends – Summer Camp Journey
- It was great to see kids having fun and our students doing what they do best – building friendships and talking to them about spiritual matters. They did awesome today – I am proud of each of you!
- It was great to see the hosts get involved – I don’t know how they do it… live TV is wild and everything is a moving piece!
- It was great to see Tommy and Carrie Sewall be able to do the segment together and our Florida Camp Karate Elective get featured! I had no idea I would be talking karate today – the original plan was for outdoor programming:) Like I said- it changes quickly.
- It was cool to have a dedicated landing microsite for this event – check it out and join the fun: www.experienceWOL.org
Fox and Friends to feature camps!
Okay by now you have seen me post on social media or someone else post concerning the opportunity for Word of Life to participate with the Christian Camping and Conference Association on a segment for Fox News Channel’s show Fox and Friends Morning Show. The segment is all about the Power of Camp in the lives of a child, teenager and families. As you can imagine we are excited to be a part of this and I want to personally think Gregg and Penny Hunter of CCCA for their hard work on this.
- Yes – camp is fun
- Yes – there are great activities
- Yes – counselors are awesome
- Yes – Meetings are high energy and the music is incredible
- Yes – We still believe in camp for the whole family
- Yes – I am excited about tomorrows show and nervous all at the same time
- Yes – I have no idea what to expect
It’s okay not to be okay….
“It’s okay not to be okay…” I heard this statement for the first time at Grace Community Church in Washingtonville, NY about 2 years ago. The Pastor of the church Jarrod Jones (challenge you to listen how he does this here and the rest of the message) is a good friend now and I remember thinking at that moment, that is easy to say but do they demonstrate it? I guess you could say I doubted it… but after sometime with them and seeing how missional they are, well let’s just say I am now longer a doubter. The key to that statement is the follow up… “It’s not okay to be okay, but we don’t want you to stay there and we love you enough to tell you the Truth”
However, after listening online to Jarrod a few times, being there a few times… one day the Holy Spirit of God worked on me and the thought occurred… do I believe it? Do I personally love people enough to say they are “okay to not be okay” as a friend of mine, or co-worker, someone in my community or church? I am embarrassed to admit that I discovered this was not true of me all the time… but I know I don’t want to stay there:)
Maybe you are reading this and you have the same problem. I often find myself judging people that don’t think the same way, act the same way, or say what I say, or believe what I believe and I have built up a wall of some sort to say, “well, actually you are not okay to not be okay” if you I know you. This is a dangerous place to be!
Can I encourage with this?
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love… Ephesians 4:1-2
When I live with humility, gentleness, patience and catch the last statement – bearing with each other in LOVE! I truly can understand and practice the statement “it’s okay not to be okay”.
Love will determine how I view others, how I treat others, encourage others and will determine my love for Jesus as I love the way He wants me to…
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35
I must be okay with myself and others not being okay – understanding the deep love Jesus has for me who is not “okay” will allow me to love others who are not “okay”!
So, from one not okay guy to whoever might be reading this… We are deeply loved by the one has made us okay – because of what Jesus has done for us!
Defining open communication…
- Open: “allowing access, passage, or a view through an empty space; not closed or blocked up”
- Communication: “the imparting or exchanging of information or news”
- “Providing all accessible information in a truthful, unbiased, timely fashion to any vested or interested parties”
- Vision
- Direction
- Decisions
- Useful Information
- Empowering
- Encouraging
- Equipping
I hear voices…
Okay, so I probably got your attention with the title… but in all seriousness in leadership and in life there are so many voices coming at you!
No, seriously I have numerous people throughout the day wanting to share their ideas, opinions or criticisms… Now please if you serve with me understand I love to hear from you! If we network together I love our partnership and I love to hear from you! So who am I talking to…. No one in particular but some thoughts on dealing with the voices we hear or if we have a voice and like to share it.
So you like your voice:)
- Did you pray about what your getting ready to share? Seriously – when I pray about my words it is amazing how many times I don’t say anything or change it up.
- Do I need to say anything? Sometime the best thing to do is just be silent.
- Is this about me? Am I focused on my agenda or about God’s Glory and how I can serve and build up the person I am speaking with.
You did the above and now you want to speak up…
- Realize that the person you are getting ready to speak with has probably already heard to their full already – so be sensitive to their time.
- Realize they are hearing numerous voices and probably numerous times about the subject you are surfacing – so come with facts and solutions, not opinion and problems.
- Don’t expect immediate reaction or decision – some leaders or people are quick to make decisions others want to pray, process and provide feedback before rendering a decision.
If you hear voices here are a few things I do my best to practice…
- I always try and remember their are probably two sides of the story or multiple factors to consider.
- I don’t listen to just one voice but I have a multiple people I trust and work through when deliberating and preparing for a decision.
- Seek the Lord and ask for wisdom – James 1 tells us to ask for wisdom.
- When you know what the decision is – do not delay in communicating it… Delay only frustrates.
- Do not delay hoping it will go away… It won’t so either say you need more time and set an end time or render a decision.
- Guard against the continual negative voices – I have those in my circles who are brutally honest with me and help deliver reality, but if you are surrounded by continual negative voices… You are in trouble.
- Guard against the continual positive voice – everything is always perfect, you could be in trouble and they are not delivering reality.
- Use your voice to Glorify God not you!
If you are one who has the ear of someone, use your voice carefully – get out of balance and you could loose that ear. If you are one who hears the voices – be sure to listen carefully and when you use your voice in return use it for God’s Glory and the joy of others.
Yes it is Monday, Yes I love it and today sets the pace!
Monday… for many it is a dreaded day! Especially if you dislike what you do, but you are the only one who can change that. I am writing to the one who enjoys their job but does not enjoy or gets overwhelmed with Mondays. Experience tells me Monday needs to be your day of setting up for success. I use Monday’s to set the pace for the rest of the week. I have a few written/understood rules about my schedule that I and my assistant keep. Mondays are for setting up the week and Friday is follow-up of the week. With my role I am in meetings continually throughout the week but you can almost guarantee it will take an act of congress (that is getting Abbi to make an exception) to book an appointment/meeting Mondays and Fridays. I made this decision about a year ago and it has changed my productivity tremendously. I remembered Michael Hyatt talking about his ideal work week – while mine does not look like his it did make me think about mine.
- Writing Meeting Agendas – if you have ever been in a meeting with me you know I believe in agendas it keeps us all focused on the goal.
- Preparing for meetings – taking the time to make sure I understand the topics that will be discussed.
- Working on Projects – I use Mondays to work on long-term projects
- Vision Planning – I find vision and strategic planning on Monday makes my week seem brighter and I get really excited about the future… making the rest of the week bright!
- Follow up on Assigned Projects/Tasks
- Follow up on meeting notes and check in with direct reports for accountability.
- Work on Projects – continue to work on long-term projects
- Dreaded(Routine) Tasks – we all have them, I use Friday as my routine task list day… get the things off my plate so I can enjoy my weekend without thinking about the routine tasks I do not enjoy all weekend.
Just be yourself?

Encouraging your team! Learning to express thankfulness…
Continue reading “Encouraging your team! Learning to express thankfulness…”
Just stop and listen!

- Stop talking and interrupting them.
- Stop thinking of how you can respond, it might take more work and constraint to just listen. Winston Churchill said it this way “Courage is what it takes to stand up and also speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen”
- Stop believing they came to have you just talk over them with everything you think you know. On-line the other day I read “When you talk you are only repeating what you already know, but if you listen you may learn something new.”
- Listen deeply – it may take hours, maybe days!
- Listen distraction free – put down the phone, turn off the music and just listen. Interesting little fact from Alred Bendel: “The word “listen” contains the same letters as the word “silent”
- Listen openly – be open to hearing all things without blinders on. It is easy to listen through filtered ears and thoughts, listen just to listen.
- Listen with love – I have heard this statement, but do not know the original author, but I love it. “Listen in such a way that others love to speak to you, and speak in such a way that others love to listen to you” Love the person through whatever they are trying to communicate and in a loving compassionate way.