bob thoughts

love God and love people

I don't think most people have a clue about the daily grind of being in ministry or how on a lot of Monday's many pastors in America are ready to call it quits. I have days where I wonder why I do what I do but it never fails that God has a way of reminding me.

So many times churches get viewed negatively because they are more interested in telling you what they are against rather than telling you what they are for. LifePoint is not a perfect church and there are no perfect people who attend. We do however try very hard to love God and love people.

We recently got a card at the office that spoke about this very thing. Here is what someone wrote about LIfePoint:

It's a great feeling to know you don't just preach Love God, Love People you life it as well. We are so blessed to have such awesome people in our life. Thank you for your love and support.

Here is what LifePoint is for - We want to help people find their way back to God and we do that by Loving God and Loving people.

lifepoint people are crazy

Yes I said LifePoint people are crazy! We had a BBQ bash Sunday night and a pretty good storm came through right at the time we were about to start. But it didn't stop us! Our guys cooked in the rain and then people started showing up. We didn't get to do all the stuff we wanted but it was a blast to hang out. Here is a quick video that shows some of the fun.

lifepoint at the movies

I am pumped about Sunday! This Sunday (March 22) will be our first time meeting at Showplace 12 in Edwardsville.

It will probably take us few weeks to get everything working the way we want it but this provides us with a great opportunity to make an impact on the 65,000 people living around us that NEVER go to church.

There are so many things we still have to do in order to be ready but with that being said I think we are in pretty good shape. The reason we are in good shape is because several people have been stepping up big time in order to make this happen.

Here are a few of the things that we still need to get done before Sunday.
• Get all materials printed (communication card, info table supplies, signs, etc.)
• Finish putting together all sound and lights
• Pack up nursery and children's supplies
• Train ushers, greeters, and security for our new place
• Learn how to fit everything into our trailer
• Purchase supplies
• Fine tune how we help people get from point A to point B
• Buy needed supplies
• All the stuff that I'll forget until the last minute
• Oh - and work on a sermon

I'm so happy to be on the journey with so many great people who are willing to do what ever it takes to help people find their way back to God.

THANK YOU!

revolution

I'm very excited about Sunday and I can't wait to see how God uses LifePoint to change the world. Here are a few of my thoughts for Sunday as we wrap up our time of REVOLUTION.

What is a revolution? Is it a year, the earth's 365-day orbit around the sun? Every time it passes through four seasons, the earth comes back altered, aged - changed. Is a revolution a day? Can a revolution take place with a simple rotation?  The dictionary defines a revolution as a sudden, complete or marked change in something. Whether you measure a revolution by a day or a year, something happens during a revolution - a revolution means change.

John Adams said of the revolutionary war: The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations. The Revolutionary war was not simply a war. It was a transformation of the colonists' hearts and souls. This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.

What does a revolution mean to you? Perhaps it's a sudden change. Maybe it's a simple but noticeable change. Perhaps it's an obvious overthrow. Anyway you look at it a revolution is a change. I hope you are allowing God to change you and then allowing Him to use you to change the world.

problem solving or creating

I love to think about the future and what church will look like. I can't wait to see what ways we will dream up to creatively share God's truth and love. That's all I could think about as I read the following article.

Solving a different problem

By Seth Godin

The telephone destroyed the telegraph.

Here's why people liked the telegraph: It was universal, inexpensive, asynchronous and it left a paper trail.

The telephone offered not one of these four attributes. It was far from universal, and if someone didn't have a phone, you couldn't call them. It was expensive, even before someone called you. It was synchronous--if you weren't home, no call got made. And of course, there was no paper trail.

If the telephone guys had set out to make something that did what the telegraph does, but better, they probably would have failed. Instead, they solved a different problem, in such an overwhelmingly useful way that they eliminated the feature set of the competition.

The list of examples is long (YouTube vs. television, web vs. newspapers, Nike vs. sneakers). Your turn.

revolution

We have been sending out daily devotional emails in conjunction with our REVOLUTION initiative. If you haven't signed up to receive the emails yet you can click here and then enter you name and email in the enews subscription box.

If you have missed any days you can catch up by going to the LifePoint Unifyer site, clicking on the news button at the top and then clicking on the Revolution button. If you don't have a Unifyer account yet simply click on the Unifyer button or graphic on the LifePoint website and sign-up.

mark batterson and purple cows

I have posted below an entry from Mark Batterson's blog where he talks about the greatest message deserving the greatest effort. Some day when I grow up maybe I can be as smart as him.

One of my favorite marketing books is Purple Cow by Seth Godin. The book revolves around this metaphor: if you've seen one brown cow you've seen them all. But a purple cow, now that would catch your attention. One statement in the book has profound implications: "If you aren't remarkable you're invisible."

Every church needs to paint itself purple. I'm not talking about gimmicks. I'm not talking about being different for difference sake. I'm talking about making such a remarkable difference in our communities that we are unignorable.

I have a couple core convictions:

1) the good news ought to make the news. Brown churches sit on the sideline and invite the community to come to them. Purple churches are always going and compelling. They are making such a big difference that they become a highly visible part of their community. And people drive by the brown churches--the churches that are invisible--to go to the purple church.

2) The greatest message deserves the greatest marketing. I know that marketing is a dirty word in some church circles, but does it get anybody else riled up that Madison Avenue is far better at pedaling its worthless wares than the church is at preaching the good news? I have a problem with that. We need sanctified competitive streaks.

3) The church ought to be the most creative place on the planet. Too many churches look too much alike. We need lots of different kinds of churches because there are lots of different kinds of people. Every church has a unique churchprint and ought to be a unique expression of the gospel in their kingdom niche.

So how do we paint ourselves purple? For starters, dare to be different. You might offend some Pharisees, but that isn't who you're trying to reach. Secondly, disrupt the routine. I think it starts with your personal routine. Change of pace + change of place = change of perspective. You need to get out of your routine so you can have some purple thoughts.

As a leader, you need to cause confusion. Jesus didn't do orientations. He did disorientations. You need to find new ways of saying old things (see the Parables). You need to find new wineskins. You need to sing a new song. Neurological studies have found that familiarity stimulates the left-brain. Novelty stimulates the right-brain. We need some Spirit-inspired, right-brained ideas that capture the imagination of the church and the world.

mediocrity

Have you ever heard anyone say "that's good enough for government work"? What about "that's good enough for church"?

The church at large is sometimes plagued with the disease of mediocrity. This really bothers me because the church has the greatest message ever told and as a result needs the greatest effort in sharing that message.

Check out this info from Seth Godin about what a little less or a little more effort will result in.

Doing 4% less does not get you 4% less.

Doing 4% less may very well get you 95% less.

That's because almost good enough gets you nowhere. No sales, no votes, no customers. The sad lie of mediocrity is the mistaken belief that partial effort yields partial results. In fact, the results are usually totally out of proportion to the incremental effort.

Big organizations have the most trouble with this, because they don't notice the correlation. It's hidden by their momentum and layers of bureaucracy. So a mediocre phone rep or a mediocre chef may not appear to be doing as much damage as they actually are.

The flip side of this is that when you are at the top, the best in the world, the industry leader, a tiny increase in effort and quality can translate into huge gains. For a while, anyway.

yesterday, today, & tomorrow

I don't know who wrote this but I thought it was a good reminder...

Yesterday I met a stranger...
Today this stranger is my friend. Had I not taken the time to say
hello, or return a smile, or shake a hand, or listen, I would not
have known this person.
Yesterday would have turned into today,
 and our chance meeting would be gone.

Yesterday I hugged someone very dear to me. Today they are
gone... and tomorrow will not bring them back.

Wouldn't it be nice if we all knew tomorrow they would be here?
But this is not to be, so take the time TODAY to give a hug, a smile,
an "I love you."

JUST FOR TODAY,
....smile at a stranger
....listen to someone's heart
....drop a coin where a child can find it
....learn something new, then teach it to someone
....tell someone you're thinking of them
....hug a loved one
....don't hold a grudge
....don't be afraid to say "I'm sorry"
....look a child in the eye and tell them how great they are
....look beyond the face of a person into their heart
....make a promise, and keep it
....call someone, for no other reason than to just say "hi"
....show kindness to someone
....stand up for what you believe in
....smell the rain, feel the breeze, listen to the wind
....use all your senses to their fullest
....cherish all your TODAYS

life happens

One of the things that I have learned in my short time here on earth is that life happens and there is nothing you can do about it.

Good things happen.
Bad things happen.
Your taxes go up.
Gas prices go up.
You laugh.
You cry.
You work hard.
You play hard.
You buy an iphone.
They come out with a new iphone.
You love your car.
You hate your car.
You live.
You love.
You die.

When life happens it is always good to know that you have family and friends. If you learn to live your life in community with others you find that the bad times aren't as bad and the good times are even better. Do you have someone that knows the real you. If not you are missing out.

Relationships are key to a happy productive life.