Hi Collin,

It is a genuine privilege to write you this weekend. You are exposing yourself to the Lord in a setting much like the great Christ-followers have done for thousands of years. 

May I share with you my prayer for you this weekend?

I pray that like Moses, you will discover a burning bush – and learn how to burn for Jesus without burning out. 

I pray that like Abraham, you will hear a promise so big that you will be challenged by it for the rest of your life.

I pray that like Joshua, you will be a warrior for God, and lead his people with courage.

I pray that like David, you will commit to prove the Lord’s power in secret battles, so that when the giant comes, you will run to take him down – because you know what God can do. 

I pray that like David, when you fail – and you will – you will humble yourself and throw yourself on the mercy of God.

I pray that like Solomon, you will seek wisdom over ease, wealth or power.

I pray that like Daniel, you will discipline yourself to seek God daily, all your life, even though it costs you.

I pray that like Jeremiah, you will pray painfully honest prayers when you don’t understand God or why following him is so hard. 

I pray that like John the Baptizer, you will not hesitate to decrease in order that Jesus increase. 

I pray that like Paul, you will be a grace-guy – all grace, all gospel, all Jesus. 

I pray that like Paul, you will fight a good fight, finish your course and keep the faith. 

I pray that like John, you will become known as the man who loves like Jesus loves. 

All this is the project of a lifetime – and I pray that this weekend, you take one more giant step toward the high calling that is before you. 

May you be filled this weekend with the Spirit of the Living God!

Pastor Sam

1. Ministry is a marathon, not a 50-yard dash. It’s not how you start that matters. It’s how you finish the race. Sustainability counts more than speed. Don’t give up! Paul tells us to run the race for a “heavenly reward that never disappears” (1 Cor. 9:25). Live with your eyes on eternity.

2. Every church is large is God’s eyes. In God’s eyes, there is no such thing as a small or insignificant church. Jesus died for your church. That’s how much your ministry matters to God. It is the Body and Bride of Christ. The church is the only thing on earth that will last forever.

3. There is no correlation between the size and strength of a church. A church can big and flabby just as a church can be small and wimpy. Neither big nor small is better. Healthy is better. Strong is better. Focus on developing people and God will build his church.

4. Never compare your ministry to anyone else’s. God says it is foolish to compare (2 Corinthians 10:12). Why? First, you can always find someone doing a better job than you and you’ll get discouraged. Second, you can always find someone you’re doing a better job than, and you’ll become prideful. Either one can sabotage your ministry. When you get to heaven, God won’t say, “Why weren’t you more like (some other pastor)? He made you to be you and if he didn’t want you to be you, he wouldn’t have created you!

5. Live for an audience of One. The moment you start worrying about what other people think, your ministry is handicapped. If criticism is true, listen and learn from it. If it is false, ignore it and forget it. Remember that God is the ultimate judge of your life and ministry. Maintain a tough skin and tender heart.

6. Never criticize nor envy another ministry. I’ve seen more pastors defeated by these two traps than anything else. A critical or an envious spirit quenches God’s anointing. God loves to bless people you disagree with! “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (Romans 14:4). God is watching your reaction to the failures and successes of your brothers. We are to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15).

7. Be humble or you’ll stumble. He who gets too big for his britches will inevitably be exposed in the end! Whenever I am prideful I become the enemy of God because “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble people are teachable and don’t rush to judge others Humility is being honest about your weaknesses. Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less! It’s not about you!

8. Learn from everyone. The danger of looking at lists such as, “The 100 fastest growing churches”, or “The 50 largest churches” is that you’ll compare and compete. Bad idea! Instead, learn from the models represented by the churches on those lists. The Bible tells us that skill, not merely dedication, is what brings success (Ecclesiastes 10:10). Work smarter, not harder. Every time I hear about anyone making an impact, I say, “Amen! Now teach me how to do it too!” All leaders are learners. The moment you stop learning, you stop leading. You can learn from anyone if you ask the right questions.

9. Remember all growth is seasonal. Every living thing goes through seasons of growth (spring and summer) and dormancy (fall and winter). Churches go through these seasons. Healthy growth takes TIME. When God wants to make a mushroom, he takes 6 hours. When he wants to make an oak tree, he takes 60 years. Do you want to be a mushroom or an oak tree?

Churches that explode overnight are not necessarily growing; they may simply be swelling by attracting believers who transfer from other churches. That is not legitimate growth. Conversion growth is real growth, so focus on how many new believers you are winning and baptizing, not your attendance.

Nothing bears fruit year round. Your church may be in a Fall-like season right now (no leaves, no fruit) or winter (everything seems dead.) Keep on believing, learning, loving, and putting down roots. Spring and summer are coming! Hang on! The tide goes out, but it always comes back in.

10. Never confuse prominence with significance. My nose is prominent but I could lose it and still live a happy life. On the other hand, my lungs and liver will never been seen but they are far more significant. I’d die without them. You may be serving a small town or in circumstances with limited growth potential. So what? God put you there, and you’d better stay where God put you until God chooses to move you! God has every hair on your head numbered; your ministry matters to the Kingdom!

So where did this wisdom come from?

Prayer of Sir Francis Drake 1577

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

Setting goals is an important step toward living a better story. Through goal setting we are trying to become better people and to accomplish greater things.

New Year’s is the perfect time to make a fresh start.

Goals are critical to success for several reasons.

• They provide clarity about where we are going.
• They give us a way to measure our progress.
• They help us stay motivated.

Without a clear understanding of what we want to do or who we want to be, decisions become more difficult, perhaps even conflicting.

If you have the goal of getting rid of your credit card debt, then the choices you make about spending money will be affected. If you have a goal of starting a new business, then the training you pursue and the ways you spend your free time will change.

Without goals, you may wander aimlessly.

Unfortunately, most of us will break the New Year’s resolutions that we make. Good intentions hide behind bad habits. Old routines will give way difficult changes.

One of the reasons resolutions fail is that we do a poor job making them. We set goals that will never work.

Here are 7 ways to help you make goals that result in real change.

1. Dream Big

Most of us only accomplish small things because we don’t dream big. We settle for less. We are content with the status quo. Don’t just imagine yourself a little better than you are now, imagine the way you should be. Who do you want to become? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? Answer these questions and then go make it happen. Do the impossible.

1. Be specific.

Dreams give us a vision for the future, but they won’t happen without a plan for today.  In addition in knowing where we want to head, we need to be specific about what to do next. Setting the goal of losing weight won’t work. We have to change our lifestyles. Instead of saying, “I need to exercise more,” your goal could be, “I will go to the YMCA at 6:00am on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays before work and run.” Being specific makes it harder to let yourself off the hook.

2. Be incremental.

In addition to having a bigger goal, determine steps that you can take to get there. If your goal is to run a marathon, but you haven’t run in years, the distance of 26.2 miles seems to great. Gradually build up to the distance by first getting in shape for a 3 mile race. Then build up to 5 miles followed by a half marathon. Then getting ready for a marathon is an easier task. Setting your goals in stages will give you confidence through early success and prepare you to take on the bigger distances.

4. Use a timeframe.

Goals without  a deadline are a set up for failure. Deadlines keep us on track. They help us to make sure we are making progress. They give us an extra motivator, a sense of urgency. Would you ever have finished a term paper if your teacher hadn’t given you a deadline? Instead of saying that you want to write a book, be sure to develop a timeframe fore each step. Set a goal of writing an outline by the end of the week. Write the first chapter by the end of January. The second chapter in February and so on. Eventually you will have written a book.

5. Constantly revise.

Our resolutions often fail because we are not flexible. We set a goal and then when we do not achieve it, we feel like a failure. Instead of viewing our goals from a  black and white perspective, see it as a process that constantly needs to be refined. The end goal may need to change. The means we use may be different. The timeframe may be off. It is not a failure to change our goals, but it is a failure to not make them.

6. Be accountable.

If you have a close friend you can trust, it is also helpful to tell them about your vision and resolutions so that they can help keep you on track. Accountability only works, though if you make yourself vulnerable. Be honest. Be humble. Be open. Knowing that you will have coffee with a friend next week will help you make better decisions today.

7. Develop a review process.

Establish a system to constantly evaluate your progress. Go over each specific goal and the steps you are taking to get there. Are you keeping up? What can you do to help yourself get there? What needs to change? Do this weekly, quarterly, and of course yearly.

Goals are valuable. They give us clarity and help us to know what direction we want to head. These 7 steps can help us not only make better goals, but factually keep them.

We’re a very blessed group of people, runners.  Running is a microcosm of life.  It’s a journey that we’re on, a journey that redefines us, deepens our identity, strengthens us.  We run alone.  It’s not a team effort.  No one else is going to get us out of the warm bed, away from the computer or playing with the dog and out into the world.  If we have a running coach, he’s not going to bench us for the game and Geoff Calkins will write us up in the CA if we didn’t make it to practice.  If we run with a group, they aren’t going to unsubscribe us for not showing up.  Running is commitment, it’s a promise made and kept by us alone.

Running is hot, and cold, it’s rainy and snowy and humidity thick as soup, it’s pain in every step, orthotics, braces, a bathroom fragranced by Icy Hot, having your podiatrist as a contact in your IPhone.  Running is the look of asphalt under your feet, the wrinkled peeling bark of trees along the trail, deer spotted in the cold misty morning at the Farms.  It’s old towels, gloves, Hot Hands, empty Gatorade bottles, stray socks, an extra hat and crushed race bibs in the trunk, shoes strewn about the garage, smelly shirts hanging on doorknobs.

Running is being so completely slap happy at mile 18 that all you can do is point at your running partner and sob laughing because neither of you can subtract 18 from 20 to determine how much further you need to run.  Running is blowing a snot rocket in the Kroger parking lot without even thinking.  It’s seeing someone you’ve run with for 6 months at the movies and not recognizing them because “they’re wearing clothes”.  It’s realizing that everything you have on except your jeans is running apparel, up to and including all foundation garments.

Running is also sitting next to your loved one in a hospital, or getting laid off, or having to move away from loved ones, knowing that you can do this.  You can get up, you can get out of the house, youcan make it through this horrid day because you know that it’s just a part of the journey, not the whole.  It’s just this day, it’s just these steps, and while you’re plodding through, looking down at the dark road beneath your feet, you can at the same time look up and see the sky.  Because you are a Runner.

(Email from the Memphis Running and Track Club)

One of the lessons I rediscovered this year is the importance of reflection. “Consider your ways… pay attention to yourself and your doctrine…don’t you remember?…think about this and the Lord will show you… Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.”

Here is a series of questions I will be using over the next few days to reflect on what God taught me this last year – and what I am trusting Him for in the new year. It’s a long list of questions – maybe one/week for a month? The questions come from Don Whitney

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in 10 years? In eternity?
11. What’s the most important decision you need to make this year?
12. What area of your life most needs simplifying, and what’s one way you could simplify in that area?
13. What’s the most important need you feel burdened to meet this year?
14. What habit would you most like to establish this year?
15. Who do you most want to encourage this year?
16. What is your most important financial goal this year, and what is the most important step you can take toward achieving it?
17. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your work life this year?
18. What’s one new way you could be a blessing to your pastor (or to another who ministers to you) this year?
19. What’s one thing you could do this year to enrich the spiritual legacy you will leave to your children and grandchildren?
20. What book, in addition to the Bible, do you most want to read this year?
21. What one thing do you most regret about last year, and what will you do about it this year?
22. What single blessing from God do you want to seek most earnestly this year?
23. In what area of your life do you most need growth, and what will you do about it this year?
24. What’s the most important trip you want to take this year?
25. What skill do you most want to learn or improve this year?
26. To what need or ministry will you try to give an unprecedented amount this year?
27. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your commute this year?
28. What one biblical doctrine do you most want to understand better this year, and what will you do about it?
29. If those who know you best gave you one piece of advice, what would they say? Would they be right? What will you do about it?
30. What’s the most important new item you want to buy this year?
31. In what area of your life do you most need change, and what will you do about it this year?

The lighted area is South Korea. The dark area is North Korea.

Every year, I get away for several days near the end of year – to reflect, to pray and to plan. It is one of the most intense, most enjoyable, and most valuable things I do. My spirit is renewed, my love for Jesus, His church, and my family is refreshed.

I use a number of questions to help me process the previous year.

Here are several:

1. What are the 2-3 events that defined 2011 for me?

2. What people, books, accomplishments, or special moments created highlights in 2011?

3. How did I do in the following areas during 2011: vocationally, spiritually, family, relationally, emotionally, financially, physically, recreationally.

4. What am I trusting God for in 2012 ? What are the goals I want to accomplish in 2012?

5. Is a majority of my energy being spent on things that drain me or things that energize me?

6. Where do I want to be 5 years from now? 10 years? 

7. What have I been putting off that I need to take care of before the end of the year?

8.What are the unique needs of my wife at this season in her life and our marriage? What do my children need from me this year?

What other questions might be helpful in a survey like this? 

“I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”

~ Charles Dickens

“To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”

~ Calvin Coolidge

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.”

~Laura Ingalls Wilder

“May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love.”

~Ada V. Hendricks

“What is the instructive lesson to be learned from this first syllable of the angels’ song?

• He is glorified in every dew drop that twinkles in the morning sun.
• He is magnified in every wood flower that blossoms in the copse, although it live to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness in the forest air.
• God is glorified in every bird that warbles on the spray; in every lamb that skips the mead.
• Do not the fishes in the sea praise him? From the tiny minnow to the huge Leviathan, do not all creatures that swim the water bless and praise his name?
• Do not all created things extol him? Is there aught beneath the sky, save man, that doth not glorify God?
• Do not the stars exalt him, when they write his name upon the azure of heaven in their golden letters?
• Do not the lightnings adore him when they flash his brightness in arrows of light piercing the midnight darkness? Do not thunders extol him when they roll like drums in the march of the God of armies?
• Do not all things exalt him, from the least even to the greatest?

But sing, sing, oh universe, till thou hast exhausted thyself, thou canst not afford a song so sweet as the song of Incarnation.

Though creation may be a majestic organ of praise, it cannot reach the compass of the golden canticle—Incarnation! There is more in that than in creation, more melody in Jesus in the manger, than there is in worlds on worlds rolling their grandeur round the throne of the Most High.

Pause Christian, and consider this a minute. See how every attribute is here magnified.

• Lo! what wisdom is here. God becomes man that God may be just, and the justifier of the ungodly.
• Lo! what power, for where is power so great as when it concealeth power? What power, that Godhead should unrobe itself and become man!
• Behold, what love is thus revealed to us when Jesus becomes a man.
• Behold ye, what faithfulness! How many promises are this day kept? How many solemn obligations are this hour discharged?

Tell me one attribute of God that is not manifest in Jesus; and your ignorance shall be the reason why you have not seen it so. The whole of God is glorified in Christ; and though some part of the name of God is written in the universe, it is here best read—in Him who was the Son of Man, and, yet, the Son of God.

We have a blast for the second year – and we’re all a little sore today.