One Prayer Interview

Over on the LifeChurch: Swerve blog they are interviewing pastors who have been participating with One Prayer this year. I think this is an awesome way to get to know some leaders better... so I figured I'd answer the same questions that they are asking....

1. What is the biggest leadership lesson you’ve learned over the past year?
This year, God has really been showing me that leading is hard! And it may not win you a lot of friends :) There is such a delicate balance between leading people and pleasing people... Luke 12:48 is really hitting home these days, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." I'm learning more and more when it's time to push God's plan forward... and when it's time to let everyone around me catch up... and praying that I'm doing well with everything that God has entrusted to me :)

2. What is God showing you personally?
God is REALLY rocking my world lately! The more I submit and follow what he wants, the more it's stretching and challenging my thinking. God is showing me more and more that it's all about Jesus... and nothing else! It doesn't matter what makes me comfortable or what I prefer, but rather it's all about Christ and the mission of seeing more and more people be made whole through his power. And if God has to break me a little (or a lot) in order to make that happen, well, I'm totally OK with that!

3. What is the top ministry challenge you’re currently facing?
Right now my biggest ministry challenge is managing expectations. Being a cell-modelled church, which was planted by more traditional modelled churches, creates some fuzzy confusions on what the focus should be. I'm learning a lot about this and it's going to be really cool working with our leadership team and congregation over the next few months as we regroup and refocus.

4. What do you do for fun?
I love hanging out with my family. I have the greatest wife and kids in the world! I'm also a total movie nut... that's how I justify the LCD TV and the Blue Ray player! :) I also love playing board games with friends. I'd like to be able to say that I go to the gym for fun... but I actually hate that... I just do that because I don't want to be a fat pastor! :)

5. What books are you reading?
I'm currently reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan, The Principal of the Path by Andy Stanley and Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis by Dr. William J. Webb.

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