Chris is the husband to Ashelie and the father to Lailah. He is servant at Cross Culture and great neighbor in Green Valley. He also launched our men's ministry this summer. Check out his vision for the future!
Leading Past Your Time
Leading is hard! Any type of responsibility is hard. I have three younger kids. Two boys and a girl. They are beautiful, but parenting them is difficult. One of the hardest parts of parenting is the thousands of books out there on parenting the right way. Which one is it? What’s the best way to be responsible about anything?
I’ve been thinking a lot about legacy and leading past your time. What I mean by “leading past your time” is leading after you think or society tells you your time is up. In a culture or society where retirement and quick ease is the goal, we need more leaders to keep leading even when they think their time is up.
The biggest lie of leadership in the world is that older leaders need to get out of the way. It’s a lie from Satan. Here is what happens when the more seasoned leaders completely step out of the way.
*We have young, instant success, under-30 leaders who are training other leaders with much more experience. Dumb success doesn’t equal understanding and wisdom. This isn’t blog about false successes, but that definitely plays a role in the problems in organizations today.
*We have young leaders losing steam or confidence because they are making the same mistakes that the leaders did before them. Dumb success catches up to them. We need to find redemption in our mistakes through helping others avoid the same mistakes.
*We only grow wide and not deep. Take a minute and read the parable of the sower in Mark 4. That’s a great description of how easily surface growth can dwindle. Success and growth need to be rooted in a way that lasts.
The best way to grow your organization is through legacy. Legacy takes time and people who have stuck around.
See you Sunday,
Michael
Stand Up to the Bear
I’ve spent the last week in bear country. Everywhere you go there are signs giving warnings, telling you what to do and what not to do. Don’t leave food out. Carry bear spray. Travel in groups. Don’t go off the trail. Now these are all things that you are to do before you actually meet a bear. You do everything you can to avoid the encounter. But when you actually meet a bear, the rules change. There’s no more avoidance. For most of us, our proclivity would then be to run. Get out of the way of danger. Flee the scene as fast as you can.
Worship Defined
Worship defined.
We have been in a series on worship called Unstoppable. In Romans 12:1-2 Paul encourages us that worship must be our response to all that God has done and who He is.
Worship, ultimately, is ascribing worth or value to someone or something in a way that changes the direction of your life.
Paul is begging is that we don’t waste the Creator's design for us, and, most certainly, we don’t waste the redemption He has done for us through Jesus Christ.
Take a moment and take inventory on the direction your life is headed. It will surely identify the placement of your worship.
What do you spend your time, treasures and resources on?
This isn’t a blog intended to guilt or shame anyone. Like Paul says in Romans 12:1, he urges you and I to do what we were designed for, that is to offer our lives to ascribe value to Jesus and the things He values.
Today take some time and change the direction of your life by taking three simples steps:
- 10 minutes before bed each night meditate on and read about all He has done for you as His beloved. Romans 8 is a good place to start.
- Identify the things that don’t deserve your value. Invite someone in to this conversation that knows you. Ask them what do you think I value the most.
- Make a plan to go to church for 6 months in a row to get your worship right. Dedicate 10 minutes a day to repeating step one.
See you Sunday,
Michael
Worship at Cross Culture
Jasmijn White is our worship director at Cross Culture. She has not only built and developed a worship team, she has led the way to a culture of worship at our church. Jasmijn is a Texas transplant and Cowboys fan, and she spends her days as an Impact Manager for City Year. Check out below as she shares with us the vision for Cross Culture worship.