Preaching Rocket is a new organization committed to helping pastors grow as communicators of the most important message in the world. After talking to hundreds of preachers, they’ve found most preachers love preaching, but the grind of preparation can often become a pain. Here are three things they’ve seen.
1. Great Preaching Comes From A Great Preparation System. Perry Noble doesn’t prepare in a vacuum. He has a team at NewSpring Church that helps him prepare. Perry will talk about how this works at the PreachBetterSermons.com FREE online event on March 15th.
2. A Preparation Day Is Better Than Feeling Like You Have To Prepare All The Time. Andy Stanley sets aside every Wednesday to prepare messages, and his team helps him keep this time guarded. While Andy is gifted, his commitment to preparation helps make his messages memorable. Andy will talk about the structure of his preparation day on the Preach Better Sermons online event.
3. Developing A Sermon Planning System Takes The Pain Out Of Preparation. There are things you can do on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis that will dramatically improve your preparation time and help you deliver better messages. Helping you put something like this into place will be a part of the free online event.
Make a commitment to be a better preacher. Sign up for the free online conference. Here are the details.
- Date: March 15, 2012
- Time: 1pm – 4pm EST
- Speakers: Andy Stanley, Perry Noble, Louie Giglio, Dr. Charles Stanley, Vanable Moody, Jeff Foxworthy. The event is being hosted by Jeff Henderson.
- Registration: Free sign up at preachbettersermons.com
Valerie & I watched Moneyball last night. I was shocked that I got her to watch a baseball movie. A big thanks to the rugged good looks of Jonah Hill & that other guy, I think his name is Pitt, are probably in order for getting her to buy in. After all, it's not just a movie about baseball; it's a movie about the business end of baseball. I'm sure it sounded like a riveting topic to my wife who has never seen the baseball classic, The Natural & maybe not even Field of Dreams.
First off , it's a great movie. Great writing, great pace, & Jonah Hill actually does deserve the Best Supporting Actor nomination that he received. It probably won't win Best Picture & Brad Pitt probably won't get the Best Actor nod, but I'm just glad a movie with such mainstream success got attention at the Oscars. Usually it's just a bunch of odd ball flicks like The Artist that get all the attention.
After processing the movie, I was hit by some huge leadership lessons that jump out of this story of how Billy Beane built a winning baseball team with misfits, cast-offs, & nobodies.
1) What Has Always Worked Might Not Work In Your Current Context.
A business as usual approach to that Oakland A's team would have resulted in a mess, but turning the baseball world on its ear resulted in a division championship. It also laid a pattern for the Boston Red Sox to follow as they built their World Series team of just a few years later. What has always been done in your field might not work in your particular circumstances, & what you've always done might not be what you need to do in the specific context you might find yourself in.
2) The Guardians Of The Status Quo Are Ruthless & Powerful.
Billy Beane paid a pretty high price for what he did. His scouts thought he was insane. His manager was less than supportive, & the baseball world viewed him as a heretic...until they started winning. Then Billy Beane was a genius...until they lost. Then it was back to saying, "See I told you that wouldn't work." If there is something you have to change, be prepared to be wounded. Jonah Hill's character, Peter Brand, told Beane, "The first one through the wall gets the bloodiest."
3) Vision Must Be Cast & Re-Cast.
Leaders know this, but it's easy to get sidetracked by tasks. The result is that we & those we lead begin to lose focus on the ultimate goal. In the movie, the team doesn't really begin to take shape & fulfill their potential until Beane & Brand are shown meeting with players explaining what they are trying to do & how each player fits into the team.
4) Know The REAL Problem You're Trying To Solve
There is a great scene where Beane is sitting around the table with his scouts looking at the overwhelming task that faced them following the 2001 season. The scouts perceived the problem as one of simply replacing the player(s) they would lose in the off season. It's the same problem scouts & GMs have had to face every year. However, Billy Beane understood it wasn't that simple. They couldn't replace the guys they were losing because they couldn't afford to keep them, so how could they go sign someone to "replace" him. Beane understood that the real problem was that the baseball business system was inherently unfair. Therefore, they had to adapt or die. What is the real problem you & your ministry or organization are trying to solve? Don't spend your time focused on a symptom of the bigger issue.
Moneyball is a great movie. It's entertaining, funny, & really insightful. There's a little bit of language in it, but for a PG-13 movie, it's actually light on questionable content. It was really interesting to watch the movie & actually remember the events on which it's based. I'd recommend it to everybody.
For the last few weeks, our church has been going through the series "Walls", which looks at the story of Nehemiah in the Old Testament. Whenever we do a straightforward book study, I try to also read along on my own in order to not only try to keep up & anticipate where our pastor is headed with the series but to also hear the things from God that He wants me personally to get during the series. Now Nehemiah is easily one of my favorite books in the entire Bible, so narrowing all the good stuff in there down to a handful of nice, concise lessons is really hard for me, but here goes.
1) You Don't Have To Have A Pedigree To Lead A Great Movement Of God.
Nehemiah was a cup bearer, not a prophet, not a priest, not a teacher, yet God used Him greatly.
2) Once God Gives You A Burden, Pray & Plan
Nehemiah HAD to get back to Jerusalem but it seemed impossible, so he prayed, he planned, & when the opportunity came to present it to the king he was ready & God blessed it.
3) You Need Others To Accomplish The Mission God's Called You To
Nehemiah had a burden & a call, but it wasn't one that he could pull off alone. God always calls us to something that requires Him & His people in order to fulfill it.
4) You'll Need Extreme Focus In The Face Of Opposition
Nehemiah faced almost constant opposition. Whether they were simply degrading Nehemiah & the people or actually plotting to take Nehemiah down, enemies were around. Who your enemies & opponents are will tell others almost as much as who your friends are.
5) Doing Something That Lasts Must Include A Commitment To God's Word
Immediately after rebuilding the walls, the people were pointed back to God's word. While they had accomplished a huge project, the real project, the rebuilding of their fellowship with God, was at risk. Even with rebuild walls, the people could have easily fallen back into the sin that led to their exile & the destruction of the city. Real change comes from the transforming power of God's word at work in us. Make sure that your mission is rooted in God's bigger purpose revealed in His word.
The other day our pastor was preaching from Philippians 2 & the idea of "working out" our salvation & faith in Jesus Christ. The point of the message was that God has done a work in us, but we have a responsibility to work what God has done in us out through our life. As I was looking at this passage, I was struck by the fact that immediately following this instruction to "work out our faith" is the command, "Do everything without complaining or arguing..."
Could it be that our level of complaining & arguing & what we choose to whine & complain about is an indicator of how spiritual growth & maturity? After all, Paul goes on to say that the result of cutting out the whining & complaining is that we become "blameless & pure" & that we "shine like stars in the universe."
So why is this important? How does this really have any impact on our spiritual maturity? Here are a couple of my thoughts:
1) Whining, Complaining, & Arguing Is Usually An Indicator Of Selfishness
Sure, there are times when speaking up & pointing out something is not only right, it's necessary. However, my own experience & the experience of some people I recently talked to about this is that we complain about mostly meaningless stuff that our complaining won't change anyway. We just don't like it, so we let everyone know we don't like it. What that communicates is that everything is about what we want, & that's selfish. And I'm pretty sure that selfishness is the antithesis of Christ-likeness. So if we're known as a whiner or complainer, there's a good chance we are not growing in our faith.
2) It's Just A Waste Of Energy
Think about it, of all the things that you & I have ever whined & complained about, how often did we really end up getting our way? Everybody I've asked that questions to said they couldn't really remember a single instance where incessant complaining got them what they wanted. That tells me one of two things. First, what we put so much time & energy into complaining about was so insignificant that we don't even remember our "victory" when we got what we wanted. Secondly, our whining doesn't really work, & eventually we have to just learn to live with a situation or decision we're not crazy about. Why not put our energy into learning to live with it on the front end? After all, weeks, months, & years from now we won't remember it because it wasn't really that significant, & there's a good chance we're going to have to learn to live with it anyway. Why waste the time & energy? As believers we've been called to an urgent mission to advance the Kingdom. We need to make sure that when we speak up against something that it doesn't end up distracting us from that mission.
So maybe Paul was actually on to something. Maybe our willingness to let things go & a willingness to not always have to have our way is a major mark of growth as a follower of Jesus. And as a result, we are used by God to shine like stars in the middle of the darkest darkness imaginable.
Growing up in the south, football, especially college football, is an obsession. Sickness may be the best word to describe. Anyway, it's definitely a disorder. People get their team's logo tattooed onto their bodies, have their cars custom painted to match that atrocious Tennessee orange & name their kids & pets after their favorite players. Some people even go so far as to think God somehow gets caught up in this hysteria. Now personally I've always believed that God has bigger things going on other than making sure Kentucky somehow managed to beat Ole Miss (the fact that either won could be argued as a miracle), but I'm beginning to think I might have been wrong.
Thursday night a guy who has been an obsession for a lot of people since he was in high school changed my way of thinking. In the name of full disclosure I must tell you I am one of the fanatics here in the south. I LOVE the Florida Gators, & Tim Tebow is like a national treasure for Florida fans, but even in all his years at Florida, I never thought God really cared who won or lost a football game. Then Thursday night, Tebow led the Denver Broncos to yet another win & to make it better it was against the Jets, a team no one expected them to beat. After the game, not only did they talk about Tebow, but they also talked to Tebow who took every opportunity to share his faith. If that weren't enough, after he left the set, the guys on the NFL Network continued to talk about Tebow's character & faith. With TebowMania hitting a fever pitch in Denver, Jesus actually got most of the spotlight.
So maybe God does care who wins a football game, if it's going to put His Son in the spotlight. If winning something as insignificant as a football game will allow Jesus to somehow get the glory that our world wants to throw at a guy who can run & throw, then maybe God does have a team or a player that He pulls for. After all, the Broncos were an absolute mess a few weeks ago, & they still look ugly for about 95% of the game, but then it's "Tebow Time". Then when the dust settles & the post-game flattery begins, the player in the spotlight deflects it all toward His Savior. So yeah, maybe God does care about a football game, just like He cares about that 3rd grade class you teach, those patients you see, that business you run, or that ministry where you serve. Perhaps leveraging whatever platform you have for the glory & fame of Jesus draws your Heavenly Father's attention & gets Him involved. Just a thought.
