Robo-dog, a live toy, and wisdom

When Levi crawls he looks like Robo-dog. It's hilarious. His big brothers now think they have a live toy to play with... one that doesn't require batteries! It's amazing how a crawling baby changes everything around the Everette house.

On another note, I am in need of your prayers for wisdom. We've got some big decisions involving The Point coming up and I need wisdom and insight from God. I do appreciate your prayers.

Speaking of The Point, I am excited about the fall. I am looking forward to what God might do. I'll fill you in soon.

"One small knee..."

"One small knee for Levi. One giant life change for the Everette family." That's right, you heard it first right here on this blog read by 3 people. Today was the day that Levi started crawling. He held off until I got back from my trip, but I got to see the first three knee-steps. It was a momentous occasion celebrated by a standing ovation from Mom, Dad, Nathan and Matthew. Now the hard part begins: Containment!

It's great to be back in the blog mode. This past week I had the privilege of being the Project Coordinator for a Power Plant mission project in Myrtle Beach. It was an amazing honor to be able to speak into 100+ lives about church planting and following Jesus.

A big shout out to Jancy, Bob-O, Corley, Jonathan and Clark for all your hard work as Summer Staff. You all were awesome and we more of an encouragement to me than you'll ever know. Thanks for the fun. I love you guys and can't wait to see how God is going to use you.

The cool thing is that I get to do it again next year. The bad part is that I get to go another week with hardly any sleep (I slept more last night than I did the past three nights combined).

Advent Conspiracy

Thinking about doing this. Would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Tom's Shoes

I heard Blake Mycoskie speak a few months ago and was intrigued by his story. He's a Christ follower who is putting his faith in Jesus into action by providing shoes for kids in developing nations.

Not that any of us need new shoes, but here's a way for you to serve/minister to some kid in a developing nation and get a pair of shoes at the same time. Check out the website and story here.

The guy in the kayak

What emotions go through your head if you're the guy in the kayak?

Staff

As most of you know, The Point's "official" staff consists of... me. But the other day I read Devin's post about Staff Expectations and thought it was worth passing on for a couple of reasons. First, I do believe that one day we will have an official paid staff and I think his list of expectations is one of the best I've run across. Second, since we don't have an official paid staff our volunteers are the staff and I think these expectations translate to volunteers just as easily as they do to people who are getting a pay check. (Giving credit where credit is due, some of the following is a direct quote of Devin's post and some is commentary from me.)

1. Loyalty -- Devin says loyalty is: I've got their backs and they have mine. I don't think you can have a healthy, functional, growing church family without loyalty among those who are in positions of leadership and influence.

2. Excellence -- My passion is that we strive to maintain an attitude of high excellence at The Point and it stems from the top down. We should not settle for second best. I want people to have the "holy discontent" that Hybels talks about and to constantly strive to get better. Now I've got to say that excellence is different than perfection. We don't need to get the two confused. Excellence means maximizing and doing the best with what we have. It means giving our best and not the left overs.

3. Personal and Spiritual growth -- Our ministries need to be an overflow of what God is doing in our personal lives. We need to be seeking after God with our whole being and submitting to his authority in our lives. This really is a given, but needs to be stated.

4. Passion -- For God, His people, and our ministry. If there is something that we are doing that we cannot be passionate about, then we are doing a disservice to God and the church.

5. A Positive Spirit -- Negativity kills. I want people to be who they are (crazy, zany, and sarcastic) but to be careful of belittling others, even in humor. This positive spirit should come through in everything.

6. Wisdom -- Be wise in your use of words (what you say and how you say it) and in your actions.

7. Have Fun -- I want us to have fun together.

8. Mistakes -- People are free to make make a mistake (once). Experiments are allowed. Risks are encouraged. However, repeat mistakes due to a lack of preparation are not allowed. I don't want staff or volunteers to be afraid to try new things, and with that comes mistakes. I want us to learn from our mistakes and allow them to move us to the next level.

9. Honesty -- Integrity at all times, in all matters. There are too many horror stories in ministry about a lack of integrity. My passion is that we have a climate of authenticity that allows our people and our leaders to be real. This helps eliminate the temptation to internalize struggles for a fear of repercussions. Integrity is a must. The gospel is at stake.

10. Work hard -- Give 110%. This means at church, in the community, and at home. I want my staff to have healthy lives at church and in their homes. I want them to work harder on their marriages and relationship with their kids than I do their ministry at church. Their primary ministry is at home. But when they are serving God through The Point, give it all you got. Laziness is unacceptable. God and the people with which we have been entrusted deserve our best.

Friends

Your friends will determine the direction and quality of your life.

When I was working with teenagers I taught this often. I have seen so many people screw up the direction of their life because of who they decided to hang out with.

Scripture teaches this in Proverbs 13:20 - He who walks with the wise grows wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.

So this begs the question: Who are your friends? What is the direction of their life? Do you like where their life is headed? If not, then you need to change friends because you will end up where they are going.

Now people argue against this all the time. They say things like, I'm strong enough to not go where they're taking me... or They would never influence me. Can I be honest with you? Those are just lies you're telling yourself. If you don't believe me, just keep doing life with the people you're doing life with and come talk with me in five years.

So, where are your friends taking you? Surround yourselves with wise friends. Protect yourself from harm.

Equation

Sometime in my teenage years I heard a speaker say: God + nothing = Everything. While I understand how you could argue with that equation and find ways to pick it apart, it speaks to an amazing truth.

I was reminded of this as I was reading this book the other day and came across this question: Do I believe more and more that he is what I'm desperately searching for, or is there something else I think I need? Do I believe he is the source of the kind of life I really want?

Let's be honest, we've got so much clutter in our lives that we think we need. We trust in all kinds of stuff to make us happy, to give us security, to fill us, and we think we need it all. But what ends up happening is that we replace God with all kinds of other stuff when all we really need is him.

God + nothing = Everything... just something to think about.

iPhone Funny

Yes, I must confess, I would love to have an iPhone. My iPod is awesome and the iPhone just seems cool. There's no way I'd pay for one though (but as a gift...). I came across this video today. I'm pretty picky about funny stuff, but this made me laugh so hard I almost cried.

Stop pretending

I'm reading the book No Perfect People Allowed right now. It's thoughts have inspired a series by the same name that's going to begin on Sept. 9. I was reading on authenticity when I came across this:

Can we be this kind of church: The kind where people don't have to pretend? Where we can be ourselves and stop pretending we're more or less than what we are right now? That's the only way we can help each other grow to be all God intended us to be. If we can't do this, we're just playing church.

My passion, vision, hope, dream for The Point is that we are a church where people can come as they are. As you'll hear me say over and over again in the next few months, there really are no perfect people allowed... because there are no perfect people. Since that's the case, let's stop pretending. Let's be authentic. Then let's allow God to work in us to make us into the people he's created us to be.

Discipline

My friend Cliff started blogging a few weeks ago. I love the definition of discipline that Cliff shares in this post. That will give you something to think about.

Birthdays

No, this is not a shameless promotion of my 33rd birthday (which is today). But, if you didn't know, today is my birthday. 33 years ago today I was born in Weisbaden, Germany. Donations and gifts can be sent to the following address... just kidding.

The first thing my boys did when they got up was bring me my presents (a pair of Crocs and a Clemson flag to hang outside the house... cool gifts!). I had to open them before breakfast. The miracle is that they kept silent about my presents. That's a first. Matthew still thinks I need to be having a "Pirate Party."

Really, my 33rd birthday is the small news around here. One of my room-mates from college, John Gallman, got engaged over the weekend. I'm happy for the guy. I'm worried for the girl!

Back to the birthday... whenever I have a birthday I reflect on this question: I wonder what this year will hold? Year 32 was the toughest year of my short life. I'm curious to see what's going to happen, what God is going to do, how I'm going to grow and change during year 33. It was a big year in Jesus' life.

Now I can't wait for some of Liz's amazing carrot cake tonight!

Marketing

Today I'm spending some time working on the text for the door-hangers that we're going to hang out on the weekends of August 18 and 25. Here's what I've got so far... and I float these ideas out there for some constructive criticism and insight.

Door Hanger #1:
Front: Church for people who like to sleep late.
Logo, web site
Back: The Point meets on Sunday night @ 6 PM
Creating a come as you are church
Logo, web site, phone #
Map, address
Door Hanger #2:
Front: Warning: No Perfect People Allowed
Logo, web site
Back: A new series beginning Sept. 9
sermon titles and dates
logo, web site, phone #
map, address

What am I missing? Any ideas?

Pictures from Stephanie's wedding

Theme verse

I don't know why, but for the past few weeks, and more intensely the past few days, I've been coming back to this passage. I believe that this is our theme passage at The Point. I think it has the potential to make us unique. It is the goal. From it comes our mission (to create relevant environments where people are encouraged and equipped to grow in intimacy with God, community with insiders and influence with outsiders).

I heard a church one time say their mission is to help people find their way back to God. That's good stuff. That's what we're trying to do at The Point.

Giving

I was challenged by this quote that I got out of this book: Giving isn't really giving until it interrupts your lifestyle. That's powerful and kind of convicting.

Follow your heart???

This is such a great passage.

We are so often controlled and directed by our heart or by our feelings. "But my heart is telling me this is the right thing to do.... This just feels right.... I've got a feeling about this...." The list could go on, but think about your life. How often do you follow your heart?

The passage above states that "the heart is deceitful above all things." Above ALL things. The heart is DECEITFUL.

I think that's why we're commanded to "Trust in the LORD with all of our heart...." We're not to trust our heart. We're to trust in the LORD with all of our heart. So... where's your trust?