Neverlift

time invested

2011-09-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

I’ve spent years investing in friendships, people, companies, and my own life. It’s been a life of great enjoyment. The difficult times I’ve walked through with friends, family, companies, even my own mind, over the past few years have made me the man I am today. I’ve always looked at these difficult times in my life as opportunities to encourage, change, lead by example, sometimes just having to make plain old hard decisions. This past year has been the most reward and the most difficult. I’ve seen my wife of 26 years recovering from what should have killed her years ago. My boys have turned from being teens that at time made some poor decisions into fine young men. A daughter who has made the jump into college life while still keeping her values true. I’ve been a part of the healing of a broken company while starting up a new company with people I made a commitment to helping. I feel as though my tank is running on empty. I found myself asking the question, have I been investing in the wrong places? I always had a belief that if I could find the weak spot in someone, a company, a relationship, there was something I could work with/on. A friend once told me I was a “master manipulator”. Not true, never true, almost offensive. I’ve always looked at these countless events in my life as building relationships; some might even call it “Leadership.” It’s easy to see the strengths in people, and companies, but its much more difficult to find their true weaknesses. I encourage you do just that, find the weakness. Build, encourage, be the voice of that weakness. Companies as well as people, never want you to know just what that is. It makes you vulnerable. There have been people in my life that have given up on me in my time of need and I never knew why. I tried my best to never do that. I wasn’t always a boy scout, but I can look back on my life and say I’ve tried to make the best decisions given the circumstances I had to work with. This week I’m re-evaluating just what’s important in my life, because I need fuel more then ever.

Collaboration #F309

2009-08-22T04:16:00.000-07:00

To Glorify God

2009-08-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

I heard this lesson from a friend of mine, Pastor Brian, a few weeks ago and felt it was worth repeating. Glorifying God is not duty driven. God is glorified by our obedience. The more we obey the more He is glorified. Obedience cannot be the reason we love God.

What is our main motive – is it out of duty or is it to delight in the Lord? How you answer this question will determine how you live your life.

Let me give you an example – kissing my wife goodnight – after 24 years of marriage there has been a lot of good night kissing going on.

I could kiss my wife because I don’t want her to be mad. I could kiss my wife to let her know I’m not mad with her. I could kiss my wife to gain her affection, if you know what I mean. I could kiss my wife to let her know everything is ok even though my heart is far from her. I could kiss my wife because its what I always do. Or I could kiss my wife because she is my delight. She’s the one I love. I want her to be the last one I kiss at night and the first one I kiss in the morning. If I’m kissing my wife out of duty, that could be a bad thing. I should be kissing my wife out of delight. Delight has to be my main motive.

When it comes to my relationship with the God I could obey Him because I don’t want Him to be mad at me. I could obey God to let Him know I’m not mad at him. I could obey God to gain his affection. I could obey God to let Him know everything is ok even though my heart is far from Him. I could obey God because it’s what I always do. Or I could obey God because He is my delight; He’s the one I love. If I’m coming to God at night because I delight in Him it’s a whole nother thing.

I should obey god because I delight in him. Delight has to be our main motive. God is jealous for his own glory. This is a good thing.

Leaders / Designers

2009-06-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

As our team here at PotentialStudios.tv is just about to start working on the next series, I started thinking, what if we approached leadership decision making like we do a new series design project.

A clean sheet.  Every design starts with a clean blank sheet of paper, even if we are given a direction to go in or an idea from the creative planning team, we still begin with a clean sheet of paper. Every good leader should begin the process in this manner. Leave your ideas and assumptions at the door and lead from your values.

Hear what is being asked.  The really good graphic designer will listen to what the needs are first, than design second. We need to grab a hold of the idea and bring the idea to fruition. A great leader will always listen first and ask question second.

Visualize.  Designers, by nature, “see” our designs in our head first, by using our imagination. Leaders “see” the result before it becomes reality. They use their “vision”, so to speak

Inspiration.  Designers need creative inspiration. We do research by viewing magazines, web sites, other designers’ work, to spark our creative juices. Leaders find inspiration from other leaders, read magazines, books, web sites and talk with other leaders to help them with the decision or project in front of them.

Rough Sketch.  Design is about color, placement, typestyles, energy, and creativity. The end result is NEVER what we started with. We always hit the delete key far more than we do the save command keys! Leaders should always “rough draft” their decisions or projects. Brainstorm, brianmap, use whatever is available at the time, just always be willing to hit the delete key far more than the save command keys.

The Details.  Designers spend a lot of time on the details. Color, white space, symmetry, etc. It’s never the main elements that makes or breaks the design, it’s the details. Many leaders fail to spend time working through the details of their decisions or projects. Take time for the details, it will make a difference.

Add your own feel.  There’s a difference between technique and style. Every designer uses the same basic techniques, but no one has the same style. There are times you can look at a new design and instantly know who designed the piece. Leaders are much the same way. Leaders far to often, lead too much from technique and not enough from their own heart. Embrace the style God gave you and go with it.

Be Proud.  Designers love to leave the own personal touch on everything they design. Leaders should ask themselves, “Am I proud enough to put my name on this project or decision?” If leaders truthfully asked them selves this question, it would certainly change the way leaders start new projects in the future.

Just thinking out loud.

Think Forward

2009-06-26T12:22:00.001-07:00

As leaders, we were once praised for our ability to react to difficult situations; as a leader today we must “think forward,” analyzing what's ahead of us and minimizing obstacles that sit in our paths. We must anticipate challenges, cultivate consensus on desired outcomes, and develop and implement processes for reaching goals. We must take time every week to scan the environment we work in and develop solutions and/or mechanisms that ensure that we just don’t survive but continue to thrive even during these challenging times. As today’s leaders, we can’t take a wait and see attitude to see what happens; we must be out there making things happen.

Quote for Life

2009-06-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

“I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.”
Talleyrand

Silence Is Golden

2009-06-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

I took a much needed break yesterday. I spent the day floating in the pool on a raft smoking cigars. I needed solitude.

One of the most underrated spiritual practices in our culture, I believe, is solitude. I get so into doing that the thought of solitude makes me cringe. But lately I’ve seen that if I fail to seek solitude I many times fail to really seek God. I never stopped praying, but I found that what I was praying was growing evermore shallow. It wasn't that I didn't seek God, it’s just that I was spending more time seeking answers from Him than I was seeking Him as the answer.

So I took a day - a personal day during my vacation - and I went and just talked with God. I prayed. I worshiped. I journeyed. And there in the quiet of the pool floating alone - I realized how desperately I needed that time.

Yesterday, I commitment to seek solitude like this, once a quarter. That time brought so much clarity to my relationship with God, to my focus in life and ministry, that I cannot afford not to seek it out solitude on a regular basis.

The old saying is true in my life, "silence is golden."

Inspiring People

2009-06-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

If you're leading people where they want to go, is it really leadership?

Inspiring people into the unknown and challenging them when they wander, is leadership. When others don’t or can’t see the vision it’s our responsibility to lead them there. Leadership, in its truest form, is leading people where they don’t want to go – or where they need to go but lack the vision to get there.

If your leading people where they want to go, it’s likely that you are not really leading; you are just supervising a trip.

Don't Just Go Through The Steps

2009-06-18T15:04:00.001-07:00

We must be doing leadership right for ourselves before we can package it and present it to others to follow. In order to lead others we must first lead ourselves well. This is only amplified if your attempting to lead others to a deeper walk with Christ.

Spurgeon once said:
I cannot know Jesus through another person's acquaintance with him. No, I must know him myself; I must know him on my own account.

How will you grow today? Not just as a leader but as a follower of Christ? Don’t just go through the steps of just showing up. Don’t ride the shirttails of your leader or the passion of others. The truth is, there’s no substitute for the real thing. Learning and leading on your own.

Preparation

2009-06-18T05:29:00.000-07:00

Preparation is key. Lincoln once said,
“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax."

What would happen if we all lived our lives with this same perspective. Imagine how productive we could be if we spent 6 hours of every 8 hour day sharpening ourselves. I believe that you can’t walk others down a path that we have never walked down ourselves. Before we attempt to lead anyone else we must lead ourselves – especially spiritually.

Can you imagine how much more effective we would be if we prayed 3 times as long as we prepared. How much more effective we would be at anything if we devoted ourselves 3 times as much at planning as we did actually doing?

“Work Smarter, Not Harder” – philosophy worth living by.

2009-01-27T13:48:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DG-CcX2lRY

Mediocrity or Perfectionism

2009-01-12T13:35:00.000-08:00

What is excellence about? Webster’s dictionary describes excellence as “being superior. “ I read somewhere a better definition, something we can all relate to in ministry. Excellence is doing your best with what you have. Now don’t take this as a pass and just use the excuse, “that’s all the time I had for the project”, or “that’s all the money in our budget to get this series off the ground.” This definition should move you from being a perfectionist to giving your all, from competing for all the glory to an honest assessment of the resources you have to work with. What someone or some church my see as excellence might only be mediocre in another’s eyes. The Lord has challenged us to do our best with what He has given us. Colossians 3:23 (CEV) “Do your work willingly, as though you were serving the Lord himself, and not just your earthly master.” We serve a God who has always given us his best. All He asks for in return is the same.

So, are you more inclined to being lazy and accepting mediocrity as a way of “getting by” or an obsessive type “A” person in pursuit of perfectionism? As Christian artist doing our best to live a Godly life, we should find ourselves somewhere in the middle and never on either end. So where do you find your self living week in and week out?

As a Christ follower, we should be living the type of life that we would never have to apologize for, when it comes to giving our best to God and our church. Giving excellence in everything you do will cost you. It’s not cheap, nor does it come easily. There is a price to pay when we choose to follow the vision God’s given our churches. Time, money, our gifts, etc., there is always a cost. But with that cost comes a blessing no man can describe.

Making the Change

2008-12-31T18:57:00.000-08:00

Mark Batterson noted in his blog "In the 1960’s, a study was done on the campus of Yale University. The subjects were Yale seniors who were educated about and encouraged to get a tetanus shot. Most of the students were convinced by the lecture that they needed to get the shot. But only 3% actually went and got the shot.

Another group of students were given the same lecture, but they were also given a copy of the campus map with the location of the health center circled. Then they were asked to look at their weekly schedules, make a plan for when they would go and take the shot, and look at the map and decide what route they would take. 28% of that control group got the shot. That is nine times as many! Why the radical increase? Because they identified how, when, and where?"

We all need to make changes in our lives going into the New Year. Start or stop doing something, learn to say no or submit to saying yes. But in the end, 3% will make changes not knowing the how, when, and where.

Set aside one hour. Look at your planner and schedule it now. Don’t wait. Make that appointment with yourself and keep it above everything else you might have going on that day.

Spend this hour in prayer and journaling. Make a list in your journal set up in headers: prayers, family, friends, creativity and needs. Ask your self the hard questions and be honest. Make this your daily self assessment. Ask God to make it known what changes in my life are needed. Be still and Listen.

Start now. This is your New Years Resolution, your Goal, call it what you will. Make it a change that honors God. Start out slow with no more than there resolutions!

Once you pen these to paper in your journal refer to them daily. Send them as a reminder to yourself from your calendar every day. Whatever it takes to make it happen. When you set out knowing the how, when and where, change will come that much easier.

First Steps

2008-10-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege the week to talk to man a little about life. Nothing religious - just life. I was at his house to purchase an old 1976 VW Van for an up and coming series we will be doing here at Flamingo Road Church. When I told him that we're going to use it at church he said, well, I guess we won't be talking about Obama. We both laughed. I was given the opportunity to tell him about the last weekends teaching by Pastor Troy on voting. When I shared how Pastor Troy did not tell people whom to vote for, he was in disbelief. It opened the door for me to share more. Here's a guy who was not a believer, who had a skewed view of Baptist in general, and the door was open to share my heart and my passion for what we are all working so hard at...Read more on November 22

Eating in the Rain

2008-10-27T03:29:00.000-07:00

Eating in the Rain... not very comfortable. It's the title to a new book I've started writing. Part autobiography, part novel. The pain I feel for what my wife has been going through over the past few years has had a great impact on everyone in our family. The more I prayed about our situation, the more God showed me that I need to stay the course. God did His best work through those that were going through tough times. I believe God has great things in store for our family, for being faithful to Him in the good times and the bad times. I'll share more tomorrow.

75 Days Left on 08

2008-10-25T04:25:00.000-07:00

Now I know there are less than 75 days left on 08, but just over a week ago Pastor Troy challenged each person on staff to set a 10-week goal. I accepted the challenge. I bought a journal and a pen. I love pens. Nothing feels better than writing with a good pen. Sorry, back on track. Pastor Troy encouraged to set goals for ourselves in: How many books will you read before the end of the year. How many CD/MP3's will you listen to. How many days will you work out each week. How many Major Ideas will you develop? How many days will you eat right. He challenged us to come up with 3 more goals for our selves: Spend more quality time with my wife and kids. Spend more quality time with my friends. Start writing again.

In my journal I'm keeping track of all of the above and I've got to tell you, it's an eye opener. The time you think you're spending at home - not there. The major ideas need to be written down and talked about. The books to be read - I need to get past the first few chapters and finish before going to the next one. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I'm embracing this challenge head on. I will finish strong. I deserve better for myself. God desivers my best. God will get my best!

Soon

2008-07-31T03:23:00.000-07:00

I'll soon be back in the swing of things.