Christmas Love

Im pretty pumped for this Christmas season.

Normally, that is not the case in fact most of the time I become so overwhelmed with shopping lists, credit card debt and parking spots that I forget why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

Not this year though, Natalya and I have committed to living different and striving to get back to the real meaning of Christmas which is love. A love so deep that the King of the universe sent His only Son to take the full punishment of my crimes, a truly selfless love!

This year we are dedicated to spending more time with family and friends trying to find more ways to show how much we love them. We have also decided to find a cause to support or organization to give to instead of buying gifts for each other.

Im interested to hear what you are doing this Christmas season.

Taking a Break

Hey everyone thanks so much for following this blog for that past few months.

Based on some things that I have been going through and learning, I will be taking this week off to rest and be thankful for all the good things God has given me.

I will see you all next Monday

Psalm 46:10

How to have a conversation

It can be so simple, yet so many people are bad at it. The art of conversation seems to have eluded so many people, and if you are a leader, then you better learn the basics.

I think its because in our schools the emphasis is on how to speak and not nearly enough time is spent teaching how to listen! Check out this post from Michael Hyatt on the "Art of Conversational Ping Pong."

Google Parenting

So I've been wanting to write this blog for a while now but just wasn't sure I had the evidence, and quite honestly I don't know that I still have enough evidence to back this but here is what I have seen.

Google has become a staple on the internet for instant education and or information for millions around the world, which can be a great thing. Unfortunately, for much of our "gen Y" young adults, it has become the all encompassing parental format of the 21st century.

We all know that school is the petrie dish where crude humor and sexual innuendo grow, and as it seems nothing much has really changed, but what used to be left for parents to explain, is now sought after via a quick Google search. You can already see the potential problems, when a young child hears his buddies joking about pornography and is unsure what "pornography" is he is likely to go home and Google the word "pornography" and you can just imagine what happens next.

So, whats the solution? I don't really know. What I do know is that parents need to start pre-empting some of the things that our children are already hearing at younger and younger ages. Is it difficult to talk to your child about sex and pornography? YES!

But is it harder and more difficult to step in at age 14 and break an addiction that has ravaged a young boys life and potentially ruined his perception of women, or to have 1 hour conversation about what sex really is?

Finally did it

I finally did it...I jumped! Despite Scotts best efforts to catch me!

Just a pic from the weekend..

Learning to Fail

As I have been studying for next Mondays message about facing our fears and realizing our destiny, something hit me, but for some reason has never really clicked.

1 John 4:18 says that "perfect love casts out all fear" then that means in Christ we have nothing to fear, including failure. All throughout scripture you can see the reoccurring theme that while Gods plan allows for us to fail, His plan was NEVER for you to be a failure!

Often times through disappointment and failure we develop fear of facing certain things in our life but because God is sovereign, you can never disappoint Him...Think about that for a second...YOU CAN NEVER DISAPPOINT GOD!

He knew the failures you would have, He even knew the mistakes you would make, yet He loves you anyways because His Love NEVER fails!

Threat Level: RED

Its one thing to learn leadership principles, its another thing to actually live them out and experience them first hand.

I cant tell you how many times I have heard, read and been taught that high level leaders are always humble, in fact, Jim Collins in his book "Good To Great" states that a Level 5 leader "is an individual that blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will."

Im always constantly asking myself, evaluating myself and testing myself to see what level leader I am, but then it finally became real. I found myself in a position where someone directly underneath me demonstrated their incredible giftedness and in that moment I was forced to make a decision.

Do let that persons talent and ability threaten me and my position as a leader, or do I encourage and exhort that person, trying to do everything I can to make them better than I will ever be?

Often times I see leaders in high positions get threatened by people beneath them, regardless if the threat is warranted or not, then become extremely negative and at times downright hurtful to those people.

So if your wondering what level leader you are, ask yourself this question, "How threatened am I by those around me that may be more talented than me?" If your threat level goes to red instead of encouraging then maybe your not as high a level leader as you thought you were!

Generate Parkour

The truth is that this picture probably doesn't need much explaining, but here is what I know.

Adam, Jason and Jeremy are 3 incredibly talented leaders at Generate. They love the Lord and also long walks on the beach and drives through the country! You can see Adam playing acoustic alongside Natalya and the Generate band, Jason, can be seen playing acoustic on Monday nights and singing background and Jeremy is behind the scenes setting all the tech up each week!

Love you guys!

To Be Kind

I absolutely loved Pastor Chucks message on kindness this past Sunday. The thing that got me was that, it's through "kindness" that God would manifest Himself and reveal His true nature.

That, is a fact that I think too often we as the church have missed over and over again. I find myself in this precarious situation often, when talking with non believers about Jesus. We get so frustrated with their lack of understanding, that, what began as a healthy dialogue, turns into a heated argument with neither side really listening!

We argue vigorously, thinking that if we hit the right theological point, or illustrate the facts perfectly that they will surrender all their years of thought and suddenly concede, giving their life to Christ...rarely if ever have I seen this happen.

I find it interesting that in John 13:34-35, Jesus says that "if we love one another" THEN "the world will know you are my disciples." It was love and kindness that would show the world who Christ was.

My goal this week is to show love to those I have a hard time loving and being kind to those that need kindness.

Learning in your 20s

Tonight Ill be interviewing a good friend of the Generate family, Brad Lomenick. He is the director of one of the biggest movements in Christiandom today called Catalyst.

Brad is incredibly gifted at getting the top leaders in the country together to discuss how to further the Kingdom of God and has inspired thousands through this.

Brad has an amazing blog that is inspiration as well as insightful. Check out Brad tonight but also check out this post from him about what he has learned in his 20's.

1. Use your 20’s to build a foundation for your 70’s. Create deep roots that will give you a foundation for when you are older. Finishing well means starting well.

2. Don’t worry about climbing the ladder. There’s no longer a ladder anyway. It’s more like one of those spiral staircases. And sometimes you are going across or down when you think you might be climbing. So don’t worry about it. Spend your 20’s learning and having life experiences. Travel, explore the world, take on projects that seem fun.

3. If your “career” path doesn’t make sense to anyone except for you, it’s okay. My 20’s: college at University of Oklahoma, wrangler on a guest ranch in Colorado, management consultant, business development officer, Magazine and media company, strategic business plan developer. WOW. That is all over the map. But God was orchestrating steps very clearly for what was next in my story. And continues to do so.

4. Be diligent and aggressive in developing your friendships and relationships. Create a core group of close friends who you want to do like with. This group may change a bit over the years, but it is imperative to find a circle of trust that you are committed to and they to you.

5. Figure out who you want to be, not what you want to do. Who you are is more important that what you do or where you live. Spiritually, financially, family, emotionally, relationally. Find two or three older, wise “sages” that you can learn from and count on as he

Fire Fall Down

Im excited to share tonight about the power of prayer in the Christian life.

As I have been studying it, I find myself more and more dumbfounded at the idea that a sovereign God would allow His creation to have a say in what He is doing! I mean think about that for a second, no other religion can make that claim. God does not turn a deaf ear to His children, and when we cry out in His courts He hears us...Amazing!

My goal is that Monday nights becomes a house of prayer and group that is known as "The children that call upon the name of the Lord." That in any situation their first reaction is to get on their knees and pray fervently for the Lords intercession!

The church as we know it was berthed in the midst of prayer, fire came down from heaven during prayer and Jesus prayed constantly while on earth...lets get back to that place.