What about this guy leading worship at MKCC one week?

I just love creativity! God is totally awesome!

The power of encouragement

This has got to be one of the best videos I have seen for some time.

Enjoy! Then think about it for a little while and after that, let's all commit to do something great in this city to make Jesus name famous because God is encouraging us to go for it.

Who's following you?

The children's song came to my mind the other day, 'We are following the leader, the leader, the leader we are following the leader wherever he may go..' This really challenged me as I thought about who was following me. Let me ask you the question today, ' who's following you?

L-E-A-D-E-R

Listen
Speaking out and taking stand is one thing, but keeping an open ear is essential. Listening will always empower a leader to speak more wisely.

Enthusiastic
If you are passionate about something, enthusiasm will radiate to those around you. Enthusiasm will always be attractive and will draw others to you.

Action
Having a plan of action is crucial to know where you are going and what we want to achieve. I love to be around movers and shakers who commit to getting things done. We need to be creative and willing to take risks in order to find new ways of accomplish our goals.

Dependability
People should be able to trust a leader to operate ethically and with their best interests at heart. If we want the trust of others we have to be dependably and consistent. Fulfilling promises and goals are vital in maintaining loyalty and confidence.

Educated
Knowledge is important and learning crucial. Many stop learning and therefore stop growing. A leader should also lead by example.

Results
We should always look for results and actions completed. A leaders motivation should be about getting something positive done.

Leadership thoughts....

A true leader is always looking to learn from others. I came across this article recently that is well worth thinking about. Enjoy!

In honor of Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time magazine, put together Mandela's eight lessons of leadership. Stengel writes: "[The lessons] are cobbled together from…conversations old and new and from observing [Mandela] up close and from afar. Many of them stem directly from his personal experience. All of them are calibrated to cause the best kind of trouble: the trouble that forces us to ask how we can make the world a better place."

Here are Mandela's eight lessons of leadership:

1. Courage is not the absence of fear—it's inspiring others to move beyond it.
   
   
2. Lead from the front—but don't leave your base behind.
   
   
3. Lead from the back—and let others believe they are in front.
   
   
4. Know your enemy—and learn about his favorite sport. [In order to work more effectively with Afrikaners, Mandela learned their language and all about their most cherished sport: rugby.
   
   
5. Keep your friends close—and your rivals even closer.
   
   
6. Appearances matter—and remember to smile.
   
   
7. Nothing is black or white.
   
   
8. Quitting is leading too.
   

Everyone needs models and mentors

I believe we all need to learn from others to help us get better. In church leadership terms, Pastor Rick Warren has inspired me for some time and I value his input into my life. He is a great leader who is making a difference in the world for good and for God. There is much I desire to learn from him. take time to read this article and think about intentionally building some people into your life to help you develop and grow.

We Need Models and Mentors by Rick Warren

Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. Philippians 3:17 (NIV)

*** *** *** ***

For us to mature, we need models and mentors.

Many people make the mistake of thinking all they need to grow spiritually is God’s Word and prayer. But the truth is, we need people to help us grow.

Christlike character is built through relationships, not in isolation. There are many things God wants you to learn about life that you’ll never learn on your own. You’ll only learn them in community.

We always grow faster and stronger with living, breathing examples who can model for us what a purpose driven life looks like. We need more than explanations, we need examples.

Paul realized the power of a pattern when he advised, “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you” (Philippians 3:17 NIV). To grow, we need to see principles in practice. We need to see what beliefs looks like when they are translated as behavior in everyday situations.

When Paul would travel to a city to start a church, he would begin by simply living among the people. He was a “living Bible,” echoing the life of Jesus, where “the word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14 NKJV).

After Paul left a city, he would write back, “Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9 NLT).

Who are your models for following Christ? Who are you watching and learning from?

Here’s a tougher question: Are you an example for anyone else? In elementary school, you probably enjoyed “Show and Tell.” As believers, we’re often better at “telling” than “showing.”

In today’s culture, the world desperately needs people who can show us how to love our spouse and make a marriage last, how to relate to our kids, how to do business with integrity, how to handle conflict in the way Jesus would. These are lessons we learn by watching others.

Not only do we need models to grow, we need mentors. Mentors are people who’ve followed Christ longer than we have and are able to share their life lessons. You’ve heard that it’s wise to learn from experience, but it is wiser to learn from the experiences of others. Life is too short to learn everything by experience! And some painful experiences can be avoided if you’re smart enough to learn from mentors in your church family.

Ask yourself this: “What’s been the greatest positive influence on my life?” Most likely it was not a sermon, seminar, or small group lesson. It was somebody who shaped your life through a personal relationship.

Can you see God’s wisdom in creating the church, a family full of mentors and models for our benefit?

That’s why being connected to a small group is so crucial to spiritual growth. It’s a regular opportunity to learn from each other.

Today, spend a few moments getting intentional about this. Write down the names of people in your church and small group that you’d like to learn from. Then identify what you’d specifically like to learn from them. Remember, they don’t have to be perfect to be a model or mentor.

To grow spiritually, you must also be willing to be a model or mentor to others. That may scare you but all it takes is being one step ahead.

People don’t expect you to be perfect – they already know you aren’t. What they want you to be is honest! So let them see your struggles, not just your successes. We usually grow as much from others’ weaknesses as we do from their strengths.

© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.

Busy but not productive

Ever find yourself being busy but not very productive? Yep, at times me too! I think if we are honest we all have times like this and need to realise where we are at, reflect on what we are doing and then refocus on what we should be doing.

Here are three simple questions that may be helpful?

What is the smallest step I could take that would result in a big impact?
Often, there is a small step you can take to get the ball moving again. It is an action or task that will give you momentum. Perhaps it's a phone call that needs to be a made, an important email you've been procrastinating about, or a decision you need to finally make.

You know what it is. Start small, but start now.

What's keeping me from being productive?
Get clear about what's impeding your productivity, then ask yourself this next question...

What can I do right now to remove that obstacle?
Whatever you identified as your obstacle, make a plan to remove it - immediately.

Notice when you're busy, but not productive. Then follow these three steps to get out of the rut.

God is an awesome God

I am not one for singing songs over and over and over. However, this was a live recording at a Michael W Smith concert that I think is awesome.

I want to encourage all people out there who are believing God to heal them or to bring a breakthrough in their lives to sing this and believe it from the bottom of your heart because our God is an awesome God and can do anything.

Phaze2 Camp

Yesterday I traveled up to the Frontier Centre adventure Centre at Irthlingborough Northamptonshire to join our leaders and young people at the Phaze2 camp. I was the guest speaker for the night and I couldn't wait to surprise, shock and embarrass etc etc my son Wesley who thought he escaped his parents for a week - The leaders kept it a secret from him - I loved it!!

Here are a few highlights:

1. We are privileged to have great leaders working with our young people. Ryan, you are the man and looked cool with the headset on!

2. The kids were building great friendships and were really sad that camp was coming to an end. They were left wanting more time together - Fantastic.

3. Some guys from a church in Rushden joined with our guys and really seemed to fit it well with our young people.

4. There were so many activities on site to keep our guys active.

5. I missed dinner but Nicola rescued me and made me a bacon sandwich.

6. I loved going round all the kids talking to them about the week. It was all brilliant stuff.

7. The evening meeting was brilliant. We watched crazy video's, sang awesome worship songs, some of the young people sang, danced and played instruments before I spoke. These kids are really talented!

8. I spoke to them about becoming a 'polished arrow' Isa 49:1-3 and how God has chosen them, has a plan for their lives, wants them to co-operate with his work in their lives and hit the target 'bulls eye' he has purposed for them. Almost everyone responded to God at the end and we prayed together. Awesome!

9. I drove away after supper (a nice mug of chocolate and a muffin) feeling this was a good night the future for MKCC is bright!

10. It was the last night on camp so I know that midnight feasts were going to happen and tomorrow would see many kids probably high as a kite on a huge sugar rush!

Until next year - Awesome guys!

Out camping last night

After much persuasion, last night I ended up camping in the garden with my youngest son Mitchell. I tried to wriggle out of it with a number of excuses but nothing seemed to work. He just wouldn't give up asking me to sleep in the tent with him! Please Dad... please.... pretty please..I'll do anything for you..... There is only so much a man can take of that accompanied by two big blue eyes looking at you pleading his case.

Yes I am a total push over and I finally agreed.

Well what an adventure it turned out to be. I crawled in the tent by torch light carrying all my kit for the night. I was determined to make sure I knew where my shoes were so that I would be prepared for a little trip to water the flowers in the night if required. I put my clothes neatly in a safe place and in a bag so they wouldn't get damp and finally got in my sleeping bag. It took me ages to zip up it up and excelled at a caterpillar impersonation. Then the air bed went down! Mitchel was beside himself laughing. I tried to blow it up several times whilst lying on it (just lazy!) but it was no good, the air just came rushing out and at one point came out of my nose - lovely! Mitchell said, isn't this great dad, just you and me! I said sure is son. All I could think about was my nice warm bed inside the house.

I finally fixed the air bed and we lay beside each other eating Doritos and talking about his experience last week on Summer camp. As we talked he started to tell me how much he just wants to know more about Jesus and also that he was thinking about being baptised in water. I can't tell you how that made me feel, I was almost in tears as we talked about why he wanted to do it. It made me realise that the most intimate moments that I often long for as a dad with my boys was going to probably going to happen most naturally on their turf, doing what they love to do. Somehow during the chaos and the fun you somehow arrive at a sacred moment in your conversation. A moment that as a dad that you long for, look for, ask for or work for but it arrives very naturally. This was awesome to me and I loved it. There we were Father and son laughing, eating and sharing from the heart in an easy unrushed manner - beautiful.

Come on dad's you know sometimes you always wanted you own dad to do something crazy with you and I bet you would have loved it! Think it through and seize the opportunity when it arrives.

Well, the adventure continued as halfway through the night it bucketed down with rain and it was really noisy. Probably only slept a few hours but the conversation with my boy was well worth it and I have thought about it all day. And yes, I did need to water the flowers, and yes it was pouring, and yes I got a little wet!

New Book: Wild Goose Chase

I am really looking to reviewing a new book that is coming out on by Mark Batterson. I think this is going to be an exciting read! Check out the info below and think about adding it to your collection.

Most of us have no idea where we're going most of the time. Perfect. "Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit-An Geadh-Glas, or 'the Wild Goose.' The name hints at mystery. Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed. An element of danger, an air of unpredictability surround Him. And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious, I cannot think of a better description of what it's like to follow the Spirit through life. I think the Celtic Christians were on to something.... Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. And I know that is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainty also goes by another name: Adventure." --from the introduction.

About the Author: Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of Washington, DC's National Community Church, widely recognized as one of America's most innovative churches. NCC meets in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the city, as well as in a church-owned coffee house near Union Station. More than seventy percent of NCC'ers are single twenty somethings who live or work on Capitol Hill. Mark is the author of the best-selling In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and a widely read blogger (www.markbatterson.com). He lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Lora, and their three children.

You can purchase the book at the following stores: http://www.amazon.com/ OR http://www.borders.com/

Check out Mark's 10 Steps to Setting Life Goals: http://www.chasethegoose.com/

Sunday thoughts...

1. Attendance down today due to August holidays, but still faily good crowds

2. Well lead today Vern, the worship was great

3. Most of our muso's were away today so I ended up playing Drums in the band. The overall vote from the people seemed to be I did quite well. However, I noticed a few hands go when Billy asked if they were against a return gig in the near future.

4. I was fired up today preaching 'what did Jesus accomplish on the cross' in our series Simply Jesus. In my preparations I was bought to tears several times and knew Jesus was very near. This blew me away! I challenge every Christian to seriously be grateful everyday, receive God's free grace and fall in love with Jesus for what Jesus has done for you by dying on the cross for you.

5. It was great to have a family from Lifechurchtv visit our 3rd service today. They are planting a new church in London and are eager to learn and wanted to look at what we were doing here in MKCC. I pray that God will give them great success!

6. John Dangana ran an excellent course helping equip people to share their faith and the gospel clearly. If you have not attended the course Discovering My Life Mission, I highly recommend you do.

7. My parents are visiting for a couple of days so I am looking forward to spending some time with them.

8 I am so thrilled that our children had an awesome time at the Children's summer camp. Mitchell came home pumped. A huge thanks to Nicola and her team - well done guys.

9. I am excited about our teenagers going on our Phaze2 camp happening this week. Ryan and the guys have an excellent week set for them and I know its going to be brilliant. Please pray for them!

10. My boys are excited tonight as we have put the tent up in the garden and they are camping out tonight. Total nutters!

11. I pumped about our building extensions and am looking forward to works commencing on our Day Nursery shortly. If have not seen the plans we have for the new auditorium etc take a look at the plans on the wall in the foyer and feel free to ask questions. I want to challenge everyone to get involved and give generously to our Time2Build campaign and make the dream become a reality.

12. Can't wait to live another day tomorrow!

Let's keep fired up!

Above all - I'll live for your glory

Think about it.........

Then pray about it everyday......

Then live like it.......

Amen!

Not everyone will take the journey

Therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this said, "this is a hard saying, who can understand it?" ...From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. John 6:60, 66

Although many followed Jesus for various reasons, many also walked away. People seemed to struggle to understand what Jesus was saying in here or they didn't really like it and so they decided to walk away. Infact, the John tells us that these people actually said, 'that's it for me, I have had enough, I'm through enough is enough of this, I've had it' and left him and apparently never walked with him again!

Even Jesus had people walk away! I also believe that many of them didn't really have a lot of good things to say about him to others. As the usual 'jungle drums' played, it would not have been all positive! I am sure if Jesus would have heard the chatter by some people, "what he said, what she said" as he travelled, it could have been very discouraging.

Think about this and make your own list of what these people might have said and let God speak to you about it.

Surprisingly, Jesus allowed people to come and go. He didn't always go after people. He seemed to understand that some will travel along this journey with you and some simply wont. I heard a church leader once say, 'People come and people go for many reasons, get used to it'. Although this is frustrating to me to accept, history shows me it is true. This happens in all walks of life: Friendships, relationships, Family, church, Life Group, work, business, teams, sports etc). Although this can be disappointing, Jesus didn't let it get to him he stayed focused on his father and on his mission. He knew it was better to have God's approval than man's. A leader must lead and stay true to his course.

At the end of the day, people will only take a journey with you if they want to and usually vote with their feet or wallet in one direction or the other regardless of what they may say.

In these times, we must stay close to our heavenly Father and keep focused on his mission and this, as it did with Jesus, will carry us forward.

What inspires you?

Phil Wall of hopehiv (www.hopehiv.org) told me that he returns regularly to read the prayer of Thomas A Kempis as it inspires him and reminds him to keep focused on his mission.

Here is the prayer: More than These

"Lord, what can I rely on in this life? Or, of all the things under heaven’s vault, which object is my greatest comfort? Is it not You, my Lord God, whose mercies are without number?

When You were absent from me Lord, could things go well? And how could they ever go amiss when You are with me? I would rather be poor for Your sake than rich without You. Where You are there is heaven, and where you are not there is death and hell.

You are my sole desire and therefore I long for You, cry out to you and beseech You. There is no one in whom I can confide; there is no one whom I can trust to help me when in need, except You, my God. You console me and You are faithful in everything…

Therefore it is in You, Lord God, that I put my trust; on You I lay all my anxieties and worries. Everything that is not You I find terribly unstable and insecure. My many friends are of no help to me, nor can influential associates aid me. Wise counsellors can’t offer me the correct answer, nor can the books of the learned give me any comfort. No precious stone can buy my freedom, nor can any secret and tranquil place give me safety. None of these are any good to me unless You Yourself, Lord, assist and help me, teach and defend me.

Whatever may seem good for our peace and happiness is really nothing, if You are absent from us; of themselves all these things can do nothing for us.

You are the end of everything good, the highest point of life and the depth of wisdom. Your servant’s greatest comfort is to place his trust in You above all else. To You I raise my eyes. In you I trust… "

Do you have anything like this that inspires you? Please share it here and help inspire others today.

Live a generous life....

'If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs'
In Deut 15:7-8, I believe God instructs the entire nation of Israel to imitate His generosity and grace. Especially to the poor and needy. This is the challenge that lies before all of us who call ourselves his disciples. The Christian life is not a life of talk but of obedience and action.

At the end of seven years, every Israelite was to cancel all debts owed by fellow citizens. By doing this they would model graciousness, forgiveness and care for the poor to all the people and other nations around. God would favour their land with abundant crops and protect their harvest. This is amazing to me. They had to learn to trust that God was in control of it all, the rain, the sun and the fruitful harvest times. If you like, their income and livelihood. WOW! Would you have been enthusiastic to obey God? hmmmm really? This is a lesson to learn in the school of faith! God wants to know whether we will obey him (whatever he asks us to do) and trust him to meet all our needs even if it doesn't always make sense. As we live we need to learn and I for one believe that Life is God's Bible School and we are all in it. Our goal is to become more like Jesus and to fulfil his mission. Learning to give and to be generous is high on God's agenda because it was on his.

Every believer is called to live a generous life. True Christ-followers are givers, not takers.

How are you doing? I challenge you today to intentionally look to be generous today, look for an opportunity to serve, help someone solve a problem, give to a noble cause, make a commitment to tithe and give offerings, bless a neighbour, help a stranger or give food to the Foodbank! A lack of creativity will keep make us dull when we are supposed to be Light in the community.

Come on let's get creative and make a difference.

Committing to add value to others

When people think about you, I wonder whether they would say to themselves, 'My life is better because of that person?'

In my book to really succeed in life, you must intentional try to help others around you. This will lead you down the path of sacrificing your time, treasure and talents for others. This is not easy, but Jesus didn't call us for an easy life! He gave his life for others and he simply calls us to 'follow him'. Zig Ziglar says, 'You can't get everything in life you want if you help enough other people get what they want'.

How do you turn your focus from yourself and start adding value to others? Can I suggest a few simple steps:

1. Make a decision right now to put others first in your thinking.
2. Find out what others need. Be alert and attentive to your work colleagues, family
members, neighbours and to others in general as you travel about.
3. Now, simple go and meet that need and be generous. Be courageous, you can do it! It will always take courage to make a difference.

Come on guys we can do this. Not rocket science really but it is the hallmark of those who follow Jesus and are committed to adding value to others and making an impact for God and for good in this world.

Wasn't Ayiesha brilliant...

Sunday was a blast

Ayiesha Woods was amazing and fitted well into MKCC. I know all our people enjoyed listening to her songs and her testimony. Can't wait until she visits again! Make sure you order her new album coming out in September.

The song that stayed in my mind for the rest of the day was 'I don't want to box you in'. I love the line, 'you've been doing big things since the world began.' WOW! It reminded me the words in a Lee Mcderment (Newspring) song, 'You are bigger than we let you be, you are strong enough to set us free'.

May we all live with a true sense of the greatness of God today and know that he is with us. Let's open our hearts and lives up to greater things and believe God to use us in ways we perhaps never thought.

Well after a quick lunch I was out with Wesley (son) fishing at Furzton Lake for a couple of hours. It was lovely, sitting there watching him fish and getting excited about pulling out of the water a few small perch. I enthusiastically lept up from the chair to look at his catch and rejoiced with him. As I sat their watching, I was overwhelmed at the thought of how God is enthusiastic about his relationship with us. He loves us so much and loves to rejoice over us every day. Even in the small things!

Ayiesha Woods this Sunday in all our services at MKCC

I am so excited to have Grammy nominated singer songwriter Ayiesha Woods and her brother Donni with with us this weekend, it is going to be awesome.

Between songs Ayiesha will share about her life and faith in God. Last time she was with us she impacted many lives and I know that this Sunday will be the same.

I really want to encourage you to invite as many people as possible along to one of our services this Sunday.

Check out the following on Ayiesha: (1) Two short videos on mkcc.org.uk
(2) www.myspace.com/ayieshawoods

I know she has also released a new album so bring some extra cash take her music home with you.