WHY NOT?!

Why Not...?
Why Can't We...?
What Is Stopping Me...?

To get to an HNL(Hole Nutha Level) we need to see and think bigger.
Why can't we see this city won for Christ?
Why can't our teens see their class saved?

What is it about me and how I see that is getting in the way of moving to an HNL?


What are some of your thoughts?
Godspeed & Kaizan
Clive

How Do You Serve Your Coffee?

Thanks so much to everyone who came along on Friday to the Vision Youth Network. I was blown away and challenged to the core as we heard from Ps Jordan Smith and the insightful questions that we got to talk about.
This was our last official meeting for the year, but I will ring around soon to organize a get together over drinks to discuss 09.

I love the creativity of the coffee parable below... and as with all parables, it has a lot to teach us.



What one lesson has stuck out to you the most from this parable?
Leave a comment!


And as usual I have a useful link. This week the link is to an article about Best Practices for Internet Ministry. Click HERE to view it.

Till next time...
Godspeed & Kaizan
Clive

Is Time On Your Side?

Like most people in the western world... one of the most common plights that we all share is 'too much to do and too little time to do it in'. Ministry is no exception. I often feel like I could work all day and night and still not get through my to-do lists.

If we are going to maintain our sanity and our devotional lives we need to accept that we just can't get to it all.
At the same time that is no cop-out for not being able to achieve great results. After all... we are serving the King of Kings in our great work!

So how do we achieve this?
I have always marveled at the thought that Joe Blogs and the president of the United States all have the same 24 hours. What they accomplish in that 24 hours is significantly different though!

I have found a self management system that has been truly helpful and that is truly different from the usual time management systems out there. (I have never found the prioritizing system to work for me... its not fluid enough for the array of interruptions that I face).
Its called 'Getting Things Done' by David Allen. Click HERE to check out the web site.
I own the book and CD set if you're interested in checking it out, but I highly recommend getting your own copies so you can share it around your team.


On a different subject, check out this podcast by Rick Warren on 'Creating a Culture of Innovation'. I've listened to it about 5x now... its a boomer! Click HERE to check it out.


Lastly, don't forget that next week we are meeting up at Gateway Christian Centre on friday the 7th November from 2-4pm. Our guest speaker is Ps Jordan Smith - Youth pastor and Bible college principal at Equippers church in Auckland.
We'd love to have you there!

Godspeed & Kaizan
Clive

Are You Sitting On Your Butt?

This past week I got my hands on a truly great leadership resource by Andy Stanley called the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast. Its a fairly new podcast... there are only 2... but I think I could sit on these for a few months!

Andy's message on assumptions is what I want ponder on in this post. In it he states that as churches we usually wait for money to become an issue before we do anything about it. We may be cutting edge when we first start out but we fall in love with programs that we created... and although things may be in decline... we stick with them because of our emotional attachment to them.
Andy quotes Andy Grove of Intel who was speaking to his CFO as they were transitioning INTEL from a chip making company to something else:
"If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would he do? Why shouldn't we walk out the door, come back in and do it ourselves?"

Too often we fall in love with our programs... and cause we feel safe and secure with our paycheck... we never get real and get our hands dirty, working hard to take our ministries to the next level (we may be busy... but just with the wrong stuff... the comfortable stuff).
We should all be asking ourselves these 2 questions:
1) What areas are in decline?
2) In what areas are we having to manufacture energy?

Trust me, you'll want to listen to this podcast so click HERE! Come on... what are you waiting for?

Church Marketing Sucks also has a great complimentary read if you're wanting to get out there and make things happen. Just click HERE to check it out.

And lastly, another one from Church Marketing Sucks... we all know too well the pressure of having way more work to do than available hours. We've all felt like were sinking in the quick sand of our to-do list... well let me suggest this great short read on thinking outside the box to get some interns. Click HERE... you won't be sorry.

Vision Youth Network is all about helping to see ministries go to the next level so that together we can see our cities won. I trust that this post has helped to challenge your and your teams (you are passing this stuff on aren't you) thinking and therefore your doing.
In this light let me encourage you to be apart of our final gathering together for 2008 on the 7th November as Ps Jordan Smith (youth Pastor and Bible College principal of Equippers) comes to inspire and challenge us. The date has been changed from what was previously advertised so please do mark this in your diaries.

I look forward to seeing you soon

Godspeed & Kaizan
Clive

Do You Love Your Haters?

This last week I got to go up to our National Conference in Auckland and hear Ps Chris Hill (who is a part of Bishop TD Jakes' team) ... I just got to say... there just isn't anything quite like black preaching!!! What a phenomenal mind blowing time we had!

On the opening night Ps Chris' message really spoke to me and added a steel-like resolve to a few issues I had been dealing with at home. Over the past 6 months I have had increasing pressure to remove te preaching from our Friday night youth service. People were asking for more games and entertainment.

This continued and now I have all my leaders wanting the same thing. I began to really doubt my leadership and ability to lead teens... but during my leave I got to speak at Gatecrashers (Gateways youth ministry) and I really felt like I was in the right place... ministering to young people.

And since then I have been building coviction about our purpose and the centraility of the preaching of God's Word to see life change.
Hearing Ps Chris' message just continued to galvanise my decisions to stick to my guns. (This isn't to say I'm ignoring what the kids are saying... I have built a creative team that meets monthly and we are working on ways to up the fun in the service... but we will never touch the preaching of God's Word or the Worship of our wonderful Abba Father).

Ps Chris expressed it like this in his message on Joseph:

• We need haters (refering to Josephs brothers who hated him so much that they sold their own brother into slavery). They teach us to press into God!

• God asigns people to hate us for this season.

• Learn to turn your haters into esculators.

Do you have any haters at the moment who you need to thank God for?
They turn us toward God and force us to become clear about who we are and what purpose we are striving for.
Thank you Jesus for my 'haters'! Help me to be the leader that brings you glory and sees 1000's of teens running to you!!

I'd love to hear your comments on this post.

Godspeed & Kaizan
Clive

How To Handle Criticism

I know I blew Ps. Rick Fourie's horn in the last post but let me say again how heroic his departure from the 'normal youth ministry' is as he follows his churches identity and mandate. With this bold move... you've guessed it... our old friend criticism is a sure partner for the trip.

So how do we cope with the flack? I am going to share 4 points that I recently read in Ps Craig Groeschel's book, 'Confessions of a Pastor'. (Its a fantastic read that I highly recomend by the way!)

When some criticises you the very first thing is to consider is the 'source'. Is it someone who loves you and is involved in 'the game' or is it someone who is just looking for a place to gripe? Is this person seeking your best? If the source is good then we would be wise to listen to what they say (no matter how humbling it may be).

Proverbs 15:31 - 32 (NLT) says:

31 If you listen to constructive criticism,
you will be at home among the wise.

32 If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself;
but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding.

Secondly, if the person is voicing something because of a dislike for you (or the idea)... sometimnes its good to answer the criticism and set the facts straight.

If you believe that giving a response can help the critic understasnd your position... then go for it and share your side of the story.

However, some people will just always be negative no matter what. This criticism needs to be dismissed. (remember that hurt people hurt people - that their criticisms probably reveal what their internal struggles are). These people usually dislike themselves and critize others in a misguided attempt to validate themselves.

Lastly, if your critics are just in your face... and you've tried listening and dismissing what they have to say but they're just all in your face... then its time to endure! Endurance is critical if you want to succeed spectaularly at anything that God sets before you.

So we need to: Listen, Answer, Dismiss and hardest of all... Endure.

Above all else, never forget: You can't please all people, but you can please God.

I trust that this has been useful.

I'd love to read your comments on this subject.

Godspeed & Kaizan

Clive

STOP...Who Are You?

Anyone who has ever been involved in design will relate to this video big time. Give it a whirl and then read the thought below...



I must admit that Rick Fourie's (of Life Church in Hamilton) message at the last Vision Youth Network meeting still has me pondering. I'm sure that I am going to be thinking about the stuff for the next few months.
Rick spoke to us about knowing our identities... knowing our churches mandate, and having what we do flow from that.

The danger is that if we don't know who we are... well our ministries will end up looking like the STOP sign in the above video... and we'll be about as effective to.

Till next time...

Godspeed & Kaizan
Clive