In order for me to run regularly, I need the motivation that I’m going to have a time posted for the world to see online as the result of my running a race. So…I’m trying to keep races at regular intervals, no more than 6 weeks apart!

Here’s the first draft of races I’ll be running in 2012

1/6-7 RAGNAR Miami-Key West —DONE

2/25   Scenic City Half Marathon, Chattanooga, TN—DONE

3/31   Run For the Roses 5k, Cleveland, TN—DONE

4/28   Derby Mini Marathon, Louisville, KY

5/19   Scenic City Trail Half Marathon, Chattanooga, TN

6/16   Riverbend Run, Chattanooga, TN

10/6   Rock Creek Stump Jump 50k, Chattanooga, TN

10/21  Bridges Half Marathon, Chattanooga, TN

11/9-10 Ragnar Tennessee, Chattanooga to Nashville

May yet add a few and or remove a couple of these, depending on how my body responds…

Where are you running this year?

Time flies.

Every month seems to go faster than the last.

I try to occasionally (not often enough) slow down and reflect on what’s gone well and what needs to change for things to go better.

It’s been an amazing year, one of the busiest, hardest, and most stressful so far…some highlights-

Anniversary trip with Erika to NYC, we had a great long weekend in the City, went to the top of the Empire State Building.

Spring Training trip to Lakeland, Florida to see the Tigers with the kids, this is becoming a tradition…and I like that!

Mom and Dad’s 40th Anniversary, we celebrated with the whole family going on a Caribbean Cruise, I think Ben enjoyed it more than anyone else.

Baseball trip to Bean town with Alex, the Tigers lost, but getting to meet Justin Verlander was pretty cool.

Finally got Erika to Paris, France. It was even better than imagined, a great time in a great city, with a great lady…I’m blessed.

 Take the time today to reflect on what went well this year, and then start using that as fuel to do even better next year.

I originally wrote this last summer, as I was trying to figure out what to write today this is what came to mind…

I don’t remember where I saw this video first, but…It’s AMAZING!
Watch the whole video, you won’t get it if you don’t!

A few things we can learn from this video…
1. One man can start a movement.
2. A movement need not be started by the most skilled.
3. When you look around and nobody else is joining your dance, just keep dancing.
4. When the one guy who joins your movement slowly fades away, keep going.
5. Before you know it, the people joining your movement won’t even know you started it.
6. When your movement takes a life of it’s own, just let go… There will be no stopping it.
7. The very people who are staring at you like your nuts, as you “movement” alone, will be the same people dancing the hardest in the end.

It’s time to start your movement, or if you already have and it doesn’t seem like anyone has joined the dance…keep dancing!

to…
Overindulge
Spend
Speed
Rush

May you take the time today to overindulge in family, spend time with those that matter most, speed through the gifts and into the fellowship, and rush to a time of reflection and thankfulness for all that you have.

Merry Christmas

My friend Bill is a great guy, we’ve worked together for the last five years.

He has some of the oddest (in a good way) comedic timing and dry wit.

He has a lovely wife and two young boys a little younger than my two boys.

He also has cancer.

I’ve been watching him deal with this and can only hope that I would have half the grace and strength he has modeled through the battle.

A few days ago, he shared a post that was both beautiful and tragic and I’m sharing it here in the hopes that you will pray for Bill and his family.

A couple weeks ago I watched the movie Shadowlands again. This is the story of C.S. Lewis (author of Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity among other things) and how he met his wife Joy. Early the movie he is in a church giving a message on why God allows pain. “God whispers to us in our pleasures, but shouts in our pain; it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” This seems consistent with Romans 8:20 which seems to say that God frustrates the creation so that the creation will call out to Him. Don’t we all (me included) seem to call out to God most in the middle of some crisis. In another sermon Lewis likens God to a sculptor and man to his clay. God is an artist, and with each painful chip of the sculptor’s hammer God is attempting to liberate his perfect sculpture from that which is hidden within rock (my paraphrase). This would seem to parallel James 1:2-3 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” 

Lewis dedicated his life to writing books and teaching at Oxford and only later in life met Joy Davidson. Not long after they meet she develops cancer. They get married and she has a period of remission where they truly are able to enjoy each other and Lewis for the first time experiences real love, having been a bachelor into his 50′s. Then not too long after that she dies. There is a scene where Lewis is left weeping with and hugging his wife’s son Douglas. Lewis says at that point “I don’t have any answers anymore”.  

I bring this up because alot the scripture people seem to quote as encouragement assumes a successful a outcome. I’m afraid that if there isn’t a successful outcome then these people might have their faith devastated or go on quoting the same verses that don’t seem to work if somebody doesn’t survive (and we know that people don’t always survive). That seems to be the case with Romans 8:28 God causes all to work for good for those who believe him. Trials that develop perseverance only seem to be helpful if you survive. Chipping away at a sculpture is only good if the hammer doesn’t smash the whole thing to pieces. So I wept with the C.S. Lewis character because at some point there are no good answers and all you can do is hug and love those who are grieving. 

So here’s a good verse for those who want to provide comfort from Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. I think that means just love and support those that survive and don’t try to come up with good reasons why people die from cancer.

It’s essential to excellence.

How to get it?

It may take some searching, but you’ll know it when you find it, motivation is easy to come by when you’re working on something you love. FIND something that keeps you up at night and wakes you up in the morning. If you’re having a tough time getting or staying motivated, it may be because you haven’t found the right thing, it’s worth looking for!

How to keep it?

Once you’ve found the thing that breeds the motivation, the way to stay motivated is to keep revisiting the goal—It’s easy to get lost in the process and begin to lose motivation after a few days of hard work in the trenches…if I don’t remind myself of the goals every few days, my motivation starts to wane, keep the goals close and revisit them often.

I was recently invited to spend a day talking with church planters and here are the highlights of that discussion– 

There are lots of opportunities for failure in a church plant, but there is one that I see way too much!

What is the one area that I see derail more ministries than any other?

I’m sure you’ve already guessed  that it may have little to do with macro economic conditions or the weather, but surprisingly it also isn’t one of the more obvious things either like a loss of a big giver or key staff member…

Starting a church is hard, but continuing to grow a church is even harder and requires vigilant checks and balances to ensure financial and general integrity.

In good times and bad, the area that poses the greatest threat to ongoing success in ministry is a loss (or perceived loss) of integrity.

Here are three steps you can take to ensure your ministry builds, keeps, and even enhances, its financial integrity.

1. Create an involved finance committee—When I meet with churches, the norm is a conversation with the Sr. Pastor and a bookkeeper, the best have a competent and involved team of people who work together to ensure checks and balances and a competent group of advisors.
2. Hire outside CPA—If your ministry has more than $500,000 in annual income, your bank may require that you have at least a CPA compilation every year, I’d suggest a CPA review.
3. Report financial information—stay in regular contact with your congregation with updates about the financial condition of the ministry, this not only ensures they understand and hold leadership accountable, but can make it easier to ask for additional giving when its needed.

As you’re preparing your first budgets and setting up your financial and ministry structure, please realize that the cornerstone of any financial strategy must be financial integrity. Once you’ve set up your system it’s important to monitor and improve it constantly to help ensure your financial strategies are on track to enable success in ministry.

I spent a few days last week at the Worship Facilities Conference and Expo in Atlanta, Georgia.

It was a great event with lots of practical hands on educational training, as well as the latest cutting edge design ideas for ministry.

While I was there, I got the chance to visit with many growing ministries as well as many vendors and here are a few of the things that cutting edge ministries are looking at adding or upgrading next year. If I had to sum up the trends in a single word, it would be GREEN, whether looking to lessen environmental impact or improve operating performance and financial results, this years WFX was all about green.

1. Environment- This was a recurring theme, whether adding or replacing, many of the hottest trends involved energy savings and recyled content products, a few of my favorites included the continue move towards LED lighting for everything from signage to can lights to stage lighting-this technology allows increased flexibility as well as energy savings of up to 90% over older lighting technology. Other big hits in the green space included insulated concrete form construction panels and gymnasium floors and playground equipment made with recycled content. One thing was clear, everyone is more conscious of the importance of sustainability than just a few years ago.

2. Improvement-While WFX always attracts churches that are looking to build new facilities, I talked with many more that were looking to upgrade and improve the facilities they already have. There was a recurring theme of good stewardship and making better use of the resources we already have than I’ve heard in years past.

3. Outreach- Some of the best ideas I saw where not related to expanding or improving the ministry space, but about better utilization of the space ministries already have, by adding outreach programs like a fitness center, subleasing to other ministries, starting after school childcare, or even a full charter school. Ministries are looking for ways to reach more of their community while also keeping a close eye on expenses.

So it looks like ministries will be spending money in 2011 on improving the efficiency of their space. Whether that efficiency is improved through higher utilization, lower energy usage, or some combination will vary, but good stewardship is an increasingly important theme.  All of this reminded me of the importance of both walking by faith and counting the cost as we continue to look for new and better ways to reach our cities.