You're late...and a liar.

I've made quick phone calls as I ran out to the car: "Just leaving, I'll be there ASAP!"
I've rushed into a conference room with a table full of people: "Sorry to keep you waiting."
I've texted friends on my way to meet them for lunch: "Go ahead and order, almost there."

Despite the calls, texts, and apologies, here is what you're really saying when you're late:


1. Trustworthy vs Liar
If you tell someone you'll meet them at 10am, then you are essentially making them a promise.  Be on time so you can be a man/woman of your word.  It's a character issue.

2. Reliable vs Flaky
Being on time shows you're reliable.  If you don't show up when you're supposed to, then people will begin to doubt whether they can count on you.  It's a dependability issue.

3. Disciplined vs Slack
Discipline can be exercised in your financial life, physical life, professional life, and even in setting/reaching goals.  Yet, being late shows a lack of discipline with your time.  It's a self-discipline issue.

4. Humility vs Arrogance
When you're late, you communicate to the person waiting that you are more important than them.  Whatever you were doing was more important than what they had to do.  Their plans and schedule take a back-seat to your plans and schedule.  It's a respect issue.

When you realize what is communicated when you aren't punctual, it will change the way you look at your clock.

For me, "on-time" means at least 5-minutes early.  I want to make sure I honor you and the time that you've given me to meet.

So what do you think?  Is punctuality no big deal, or an important part of life?

-3 Things I Hope My Daughters Tell Me at 18-

"Dad, I love you."

That means I did the parenting thing right.  I've heard some pretty brutal stories of how innocent, loving princesses turn into crazy, evil witches once they turn 12 or 13.  One dad's words to me: "You just want your daughters to survive adolescence and still love you!"

"Dad, I love Jesus."

That means I did the pastoring thing right.  It's my responsibility to teach my kids about Jesus, to show them what Jesus looks like, and to saturate their lives with this life changing message.  It's my job to pray daily for my kids that God would redeem them and do what only He can do in their life, to help them understand that Jesus loves them even more than their dad loves them.

"Dad, I love the Church."

This means I did the professional thing right.  Too many pastor's kids hate the Church when they grow up because they saw their dad allow the church to steal him away from them growing up.  If dad spends the time loving on the church that he should have spent loving on his kids, the kids will one day resent the Church for it.

What do you hope your kids will say to you one day?

-Stealing From Jesus & Cheating On Your Wife-

You can value everything, but you can't value everything equally.  Valuing everything equally means not valuing anything at all.

So you have to learn how to cheat and steal.  Let me explain:

You and I have a limited amount of resources in this life: time, money, and energy just to name a few.  We'll call this "sand."

You and I have major areas of our lives that require resources: work, personal, spouse, family, and God just to name a few.  We'll call these "buckets."

Here's the big problem...

We don't have enough sand to fill all of our buckets.  So that means you've got some choices to make.  To add to one bucket you'll have to steal from another one.  In order to make sure one is filled up to a healthy level, you'll have to cheat another one.

Here's the big question...

Which buckets in your life are you willing to steal from?  Who are you going to cheat?  Which ones are really the most important to you?

You're going to have to cheat something.  You're going to have to steal from someone.  So choose wisely!

Don't let your family, your marriage, or your relationship with Jesus be a casualty on the side of the road of life.  Be sure you're stealing from and cheating on the right buckets.

-Prep Work-

As I read Scripture and see how God blesses individuals and people groups, I'm starting to see a pattern.

"Preparation Proceeds Blessings."

It's easy to focus on the miracles, the hand of God moving, and the powerful times that God showed up and changed lives.  What we often overlook is the prep work that was done before those incredible verses were recorded.

Work like it depends on you, pray like it depends on God.

-Monday Morning Quarterback-

I have a ritual that I do every Sunday night and Monday morning.  It’s painful, unpleasant, and downright discouraging sometimes.  It keeps me up at night.  It consumes my thought process.  It’s a lot of thought about something that is impossible to go back and change.  It’s the dreaded Monday Morning Quarterback.

I am my biggest critic when it comes to feedback on my sermons.  When I get home after preaching our 2 Sunday services at REVO, I find myself analyzing what I just said.

“I could have said that better.  I could have made that clearer.  I should have left that out.  I can’t believe I forgot to say that.  Did that really just come out of my mouth?!”  Last night during one of my “personal evaluation sessions,” God asked me a question:

“Do you really think the power that My gospel has to unleash salvation hinges on your delivery?”

Touché.

It is important to evaluate and learn from mistakes, but you can’t forget where the real power is coming from.  Who changes lives?  Who softens hardened hearts?  Who draws people to God?  Who calls men out?  Whose message must be proclaimed in order to spark a revolution in the lives and hearts of people?  What gives your message authority?

Stop thinking about how you dropped the ball, and start thanking God that despite your shortcomings, he still entrusts you with such an incredible mission and responsibility.

-Phrase of the Week: Leave It Here-

In life, there is always one more thing that can be done.  One more phone call to make, one more person to visit, one more room to be cleaned, one more check on the to-do list.  Work is a part of reality.  When you leave work at night, there will always be work waiting on you when you get back in the morning.

In an entrepreneurial setting, oftentimes pastors/leaders/business owners can become consumed with "work."  Being in a position like these isn't a 9-5 job that you clock-in and clock-out, so it's hard sometimes to know when to turn it off.  I challenged my crew to work hard during the day, and then upon packing up and heading home, leave the REVO work and mindset at the office.  Leave it here.

All of my senior leaders are married, and their wives are NOT named REVO Church.  They are real women with real names that God has entrusted them to lead, guide, protect, and love.  There is no way for them to accomplish the biblical responsibilities of leading their bride if they are giving all their time, energy, and resources to Jesus's bride.  

Too many ministers are having an affair with the church.  Let me make this clear: if you have a successful ministry but lose your relationships at home, YOU ARE A FAILURE!

So at the end of the day, learn how to leave it at the office.  When you get home, be ready to physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually engage your family.  Know the difference between your bride and His bride.  You are called to give 100% to one of them.  You lead yours, and He'll lead His.

-4 Things Leaders Do-

I have learned that you can do a lot of things well, but in an entrepreneurial setting like a new business or church plant, if you do not have leaders then you are going to be hosed!  Here are a few things I've learned during the process.

1. Leaders Delegate
Delegation is about equipping, communicating, and evaluating.  If you delegate without doing those 3 things, then you are just dumping tasks on people, not delegating responsibilities.  Another key success is to make sure the person you are delegating responsibilities to is competent and capable.  If they are not, then your delegation process will be like trying to put a square peg in a round hole; it damages both the peg and the hole.

2.  Leaders Develop
Training someone is simply giving them a task to do.  Developing someone is giving them a responsibility to own.  Training is focused on indoctrination of status quo ideas and methodologies.  Developing is about educating so the end result is growth, innovation, and focusing on the future.  Do you want volunteers/workers/leaders that just punch the time clock and check off the to-do list?  Or do you want people that are constantly thinking about ways to be faster, better, more efficient, and more effective?

3. Leaders Grow
You cannot take people to a place you have never been before.  So leaders have to continue to mature and develop in their own life.  If not, your leadership capacity hits a ceiling and your ability to lead becomes stagnant.  Here is a short, homemade list of leadership levels.
a. Model Leader- A leader that does it all himself.  Growth is limited to one person's ability.
b. Leading Leader- Still does the majority of the tasks, but has delegated some less-important things out.
c. Leading Leaders- Delegates responsibilities by leading people, not projects.
d. Leading through Vision- A leader that surrounds himself with leaders who lead leaders.  Growth is limitless.

4. Leaders Evaluate
There are no sacred cows in leadership/ministry.  If it does not work, then trash it.  Two really good reasons to quit doing something and reevaluate are, 1. If you have always done it that way, and, 2. If it is not being effective.  Sometimes the prior leads to the latter, yet you will never know these things if you do not take time to evaluate everything you do.

Thoughts?

-My Greatest Fear in Leadership-

Most people I know are scared to fail.  I'm not.  Am I scared of the dark woods behind my house?  Maybe.  But I'm not scared of failure.

Many leaders are scared of failure.  It clouds the decision making process and sways opinions.  The emotion of fear can easily replace the reason of logic.  Fear can make you do and say things.  Even worse, fear can make you NOT do things and NOT say things.

Being scared to fail can cripple a leader.  A fear of failure puts your focus on the rear-view mirror instead of looking out of the windshield.  Failure sees obstacles, not opportunities.  Failure is so consumed with the risks that the rewards are hardly ever mentioned.  Failure can make you satisfied with good, which becomes your greatest hurdle to ever being great.

I'm not scared to fail, but I will tell you what I am scared of.  In fact, scared is a mild term for it.  Petrified, intimidated, and downright aghast would be more fitting!

My greatest fear is the threat of mediocrity.  In my life, church, ministry, family, leadership, everything!

What if my ministry was successful, but not significant?
What if my church had the presence of people, but not the presence of God?
What if I lived an average life and died an average person?

The threat of being mediocre is an incredible motivator.  Figure out what your greatest fear is.  If it's something lame, then change it.  I would hate to look back on my life and realize that something so insignificant and trite as "failure" determined who I was and what I was able to accomplish.