4 Ways to Intentionally Lead Your Family in 2012

As the year ends it's a great opportunity to look at how we lead our families. Here's some simple thoughts and actions to ponder as the year kicks off in a few days...

1. Summer is coming. I've found that unless I plan my vacations I never end up taking them. Now's a good time to sit down with the family and break out the old calendar. Where will we spend holidays next year? Who's family? Where will we go / stay together? Any fun day trips we can look forward to? 
2. Where do we want our family's faith grow? For us it's going to be growing as parents as we welcome our second daughter home in March. However there are several other areas that I feel God is calling us to grow in. In what area do you want to see your family have a vibrant and fruitful faith? Maybe a life group to join or to allow your kids to see you reading the Bible or praying.
3. What goals do we want to set for our family? If the above talk about the direction you'd like to intentionally see your family grow in, then this question is the road map. It's one thing to say we'd like to be more generous in 2012 to put a measurable goal to that would look like.... We want to give 2% more every month or we want to generously serve in our church's youth ministry and see the gospel transform the lives of young people. 
4. What hurdles can we have to prepare for next year? Most of the time we can't see the big ones coming. Sometimes we can. What might be the big trains coming down the track? Mark Twain was once said that..."If you have to eat a bucket of frogs... Eat the biggest one first." What big frogs do you need to address? Maybe it's getting that emergency fund in order to handle the unexpected. Maybe it's adjusting that W4 so you keep more of your own money and Uncle Sam takes only what he needs. Maybe it's getting that life insurance you don't think you'll need.

Question

John Wesley's Small Group Questions:

  2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?

     Cultivating a Life for God (Church Smart Resources 1999)

My Top 10 Books From 2011

10. Teen Proofing by John Rosemond

This is a great book written with sound advice and a little humor. It's the only book on parenting I've read where I've found myself chuckling out loud at times. Worth the read before you have teenagers under your roof.

9. Rid of My Disgrace by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb

This book I didn't want to read, didn't like reading it, yet knew it was one of the most important books I'd open all year. If you work with people in ministry this book needs to be in your arsenal. It offers help and perspective to those working with the victims of sexual abuse. It is a hard read due to the nature of the content but with statics proving true something you will deal with.

8. Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels

This leadership classic came out awhile ago and I'm just now getting around to it. It's great at helping a leader "embody the vision".

7. Radical by David Platt

This book is exactly what the title says. It's challenging, inspiring, and a good reminder of the faith we're called to. The subtitle is "taking back your faith from the American dream."

6. Dug Down Deep by Josh Harris

Actually, I read this last year however I reread it this year with a group of high school students.  The takeaway line is "If you want to feel deep you must think deep." It's a well written look at core doctrines of the faith.

5. A God Sized Vision by Hansen and Woodbridge

A little shout out to Randy for the heads up on this book.  It's a collection of revival stories. In this day and age I found myself highly skeptical of big spiritual moves. I find myself thinking they are driven by popularity, or money. This book is a great reminder of how God through the ages has sent his Spirit to stir the hearts of believers. It covers the Great Awakenings as well as some contemporary events. Highlight for me was that many of these were touched off by teenagers.

4. Disciple by Bill Clem

A good book that covers what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. It's meaty and a good read. I appreciate how Bill Clem covers the interplay between word and deed.  It'll give you something to think about.

3. Seven Practices of Effective Leadership by Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner, and Lane Jones

One of the best leadership books I've read in a long time. The first half of the book is told as a story which is highly engaging and readable. It's a great answer to the question what's the win? I'd love to walk through the first half the book with a team. 

2. Note to Self by Joe Thorn

When I picked up this book this summer I was surprised. I thought it would be a huge book on preaching the gospel to yourself what I got was a small book almost devotional in nature. I approached cautiously. What I found was one of the most challenging, life giving books of 2011. It applies the gospel to life (not self help) in a sweet way that challenges yet encourages. I ordered a stack and gave a copy to my team as well as a few other friends. Here's some other blog post I've put up on this gem of a book.

1. Logos by A ton of people

Ok so it's not technically a book...IT's A WHOLE STINKING LIBRARY. I'm not even sure where to begin but to say it's really been one of the great additions to my study of scripture. I got the super base model and it comes with a huge reference library, commentaries, Greek and Hebrew tools,  and a host of other charts, graphs, and gadgets. There's a feature that takes a passage and makes a wordle out of it to highlight key words or phrases.

Fry'n Turkey Downtown...

Spent yesterday morning with my brother (the bearded redhead) and a crew of men from St. Andrews in downtown Charleston deep frying a ton of birds for an outreach today at the Johnson Hagood Stadium. It smelled and hopefully will taste amazing!!

Born That Man No More May Die

Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.

Location:Warren St,Charleston,United States

Question

John Wesley's Small Group Questions:

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I am? In other words, am I a hypocrite? 

     Cultivating a Life for God (Church Smart Resources 1999)

Resources for Families: Nativity

One of our family's favorite Christmas traditions is putting up the nativity scene. For us it's not just an event but a progressive time of teaching our daughter about the birth story of Christ. So for now our scene only includes Mary and Joseph in the manger. On Christmas morning we'll add the Christ child, and shepherds, and then a few days later the wise men show up.

Wayne Rice in his book Generation to Generation has some great things to say about traditions and the importance they play in passing on a healthy faith to our children. Even for parents of teenagers, the simple act of setting up a modest nativity scene can be an important reminder. This fixture in the living room (or other frequently traveled area) can act as a visual for the reason Christmas is so important.

Where to start?

I've seen big money invested in elaborate creche (another name for a nativity scene). I picked ours up a few years ago after Christmas for about $12. Others are great because you can add to them every year.

Merry Christmas

Hitchens Vs. Wilson

This is a wonderfully done documentary on the exchange between Hitchens (who died last week) and Douglas Wilson. It's over an hour long and riveting. I don't suggest starting it unless you have at minimum 40 min. to spend.

He Is No Fool...

Here's a new addition to the hallway outside our youth ministry wing....

To Create A Consicious Need

"We preach our own experiences and people are interested, but no sense of need is awakened. If Jesus Christ is lifted up, the Spirit of God will create a conscious need of Him."

Chambers, O. (1993). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year. Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers.

Some Office Fun

70 In December

It's good to live where it's 70 deg. In December.

All Arius Wants for Chrismas Are the Two Front Teeth Santa Claus Punched Out

Here's a little gem I found out about in our weekly staff meeting on Monday... 

"One of the most interesting stories connected with him was his role during the Arian controversy. St. Methodius asserted that "thanks to the teaching of St. Nicholas the metropolis of Myra alone was untouched by the filth of the Arian heresy, which it firmly rejected as death-dealing poison."
Arianism was declared heresy at the Council of Nicaea. Arius, of course, asserted, contra John 1:1, that the Word [Jesus] was a created being and had not existed from all eternity.
One weak tradition has him actually attending the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325, when Arian doctrine was rejected. The story goes that he got into a heated debate with Arius himself about whether there was a time when the Word did not exist. Nicholas strongly disagreed.

The debate ended suddenly when Nicholas punched out Arius then and there on the floor of the council!

This gives new meaning to the ditty: "He's making a list and checking it twice, he's going to find out who's naughty or nice!"
The mental image of Santa Claus punching out Arius on the floor of the Council of Nicea with Emperor Constantine looking on has to fundamentally change the way one would ever see Santa Claus again. While I might not agree with his methods, I certainly admire his passion for Christological orthodoxy and doctrinal purity!"

from the St. Nicholas Center

How Things Relate : Prezi

A few months ago I came across a collaboration and presentation software called Prezi.  Basically Prezi allows the user to take their talking points, ideas, or bullet points and display them by showing their relationship to each other. Below is one I put together in about 25 min (there's a slightly steep learning curve) about our high school crew. (click to load it then, continue to click on the image to advance the slide.)
























For teaching points I think this would work great in the youth ministry world. There are a few things I'd like them to look at. Mainly that the editing process although painless did take some time to grasp. I'm told that After Effects has the same feature and a MUCH higher learning curve. Prezi also has an app however the Ipad app doesn't throw the presentation onto a bigger screen. We use an Ipad to run our teaching points via Keynote (see number 5)  right now. I do have a feeling this has A) more to do with Apple then it does Prezi or B) has more do with my inability to work the thing. Either way it's pretty slick and I'm looking forward to using it next semester some.

Dave's Top Ten Apps for Ministry in 2011

Drum roll please... Here's my top ten apps that make ministry a little easier...


10. St. Andrews 

Our church got it's own app and I must say it's pretty slick. Helps me stay up on the recent sermons, blogs, events, and even has a nifty bible reading plan. Very handy.

9.  Logos 

Here's a great app for studying scripture. The app is free but pairing it with the (rather pricey) bible study software is amazing.

8. Facebook

It's how students are communicating. A great tool to upload pics live from our retreat and because so many parents are on it now. It allows them to get a special look from our perspective.

7.  Instagram 

Instagram is a photo app that applys different vintage filters to pics. Make my lame photography skills look not as lame. Helps communicate via pics.

6.  Evernote 

It's big and mighty and almost daunting to use. Evernote helps me remember stuff but mostly the notes I take via my kindle app. Upload the notes and they instantly become searchable and easily accessible.

5. Keynote

This is an Ipad deal that we run our second screen off of for our high school gatherings. It's great easy to use and makes teaching points jump.

4. White Board Share

I'm a white board nut. I've got 2 in the office and one in every meeting room. Even have a giant 4 ft. by 6 ft. one in my study at home. Ever have a great white board idea that you'd like to share or even just remember? The White Board Share app takes a pic of the white board, adjusts the color to make the marks really pop out. Then either up loads it to Evernote (see #6) or emails to others. It's a great way to remember.

3. Bamboo Paper

This is a Ipad only one too. It's basically a paper you write on with a stylus. Here's why I like it over other similar ones. First there's a zoom feature that allows you zoom in write and when you zoom out your writing is crisp and ledge able unlike other stylus driven apps.  You can have separate notebooks etc. Great for taking notes during a staff meeting or a teaching.

2. Kindle

It's my e-reader. I haven't bought a paper book in a long time. The Kindle takes my notes, carries my library, and I can even tweet quotes to my friends from it. Looks good and works great.

1. Drop Box

It's the mac daddy king of my apps. A simple ( S I M P L E ) way to sync files across several devices and computers. It hosts docs and pics for the web and allows my team to work on them too. Love it. Oh and the base app is FREE.


Honorable mention... 

ImTask / ImExchange2

This is a task tracking app that talks to your Microsoft Outlook tasks and is a great bucket to collect all random stuff I have to get done. My one to do list is in my pocket. Love it.

Oh and of course

Angry Birds

Advent : Heart Foucsed, Eyes Steady

Advent: God With Us from The Village Church on Vimeo.

A Thinking Christmas

One of my favorite traditions at the church where I serve is that every year in Advent we forgo our normal Monday morning time of staff worship and all pile into the historic sanctuary underneath the massive pipe organ. There in the choir loft we take the morning and sing through many of great carols of Christmas.

I'm pretty good on knowing the tune and first verse of most of the hymns but getting to verses 2 and on can be a bit of a struggle from memory. However some of those later verses hold a lot of power. It's easy for me to shut my brain of this holiday season. To sing the songs I've sang on autopilot and to completely miss the point.

I wonder how many people were in Bethlehem living lives on autopilot and completely missed the  king?

Here's a popular one. Below is the first and last verse. The first is very familiar the last not so much. Yet I would say the power lies in the truth the final verse proclaims. 

The First Noel, the Angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winter's night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

...

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
That hath made Heaven and earth of nought
And with his blood mankind has bought.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

A resolution of mine for this Christmas : Pay attention.

Digital Story of the Nativity

Here's a little video that popped up last year. Merry Advent....