Growing stronger as a Jesus-follower

At Lifehouse, we're kicking off our next Life Commitments Course THIS Sunday!

Sign up now by emailing info@lifehousechurcheast.org.

This is an exciting 8-week discipleship course that teaches commitment to God and commitment to the body of Christ (the church).

We believe the church is a family; and it takes commitment to build a strong family.

The course is an interactive teaching with video illustrations, gifts assessment tests, and plenty of group discussions. The process concludes with an overnight retreat (called Encounter Weekend), where students are given the opportunity to deepen relationships with others in the class, review the material, and allow each person to individually experience God’s presence in a life transforming way.

If you want to go deeper with Christ, get more involved at Lifehouse, and build strong relationships with others who want to do the same, then join Life Commitments.

If you're wondering what your next step is at Lifehouse, and you have not YET gone through Life Commitments, this is the course for you!

Sign up TODAY!

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are you ready?

The other day I decided to swim again as part of my work out routine. I was excited, because I love swimming and missed being in the water. Since I'd been training for the marathon, I put all my focus into running instead.

Enthusiastically, I got to the gym and through on my shorts only to discover that I had no goggles with me. In fast, my goggles broke over the summer. But, undeterred I jump in the pool and swam in the highly- chlorinated water for a mile. Then, I spent the rest of the day rubbing my eyes and explaining to everyone I met with that I wasn't, as it may appear, hungover.

Fortunately, I'm a fast learner. Today, I remembered my new pair of goggles when I left for the pool!

Like I shared yesterday in my sermon, we must ready ourselves for battle before we get into the thick of it. Put on the armor before you need it, not after the bullets are zipping by your head.

Life is a battle, the enemy of our souls is out to destroy us.

Are you ready for the battle today? Or are you jumping in the deep end without goggles? Are you racing into the week ready for battle?

My challenge to all of us: SOLDIER UP!

What Gear do leaders ride in: lessons from biking

As I rode up and down several hills yesterday, I wrestled through a few key thoughts on shifting or stay in gear as leaders. What gear do you ride in as a leader and why?

First, an explanation on bike gears, so that my leadership points have context:

• Front gears are called chainrings (mine has 2 with 53 and 39 teeth), and the rear are called the freewheel (mine has 10 ranging from 11-29 teeth).
• That means that on it's "highest" gear ration, for each pedal stroke, my bike will move 9.5 feet and at it's "lowest", my bike will move 34.3 feet. At 90-rpm rate, I would be riding on "highest" gear at 9.5 mph and at "lowest" geat at 35 mph. At 120-rpm those speeds jump to 12.5 and 44.5 mph respectively.
• Typically, a rider would put their bike in the highest gear going up steep mountains and in the "lowest" gear going down the mountain.

Now, what does that mean for leadership.

• First, if you keep the bike in the same gear, you'll fall over. One can't climb hills in the same gear as racing downhill, and expect to ride for long.
• If you want to look like you're riding really fast and spin a lot, you'll keep it in the highest gear, but also not get very far. However, you'll look like you're going really fast. If you just want to look like you're getting somewhere, pedal fast while in the easiest gear.
• Others want to show their great strength, so they ride in the hardest gear uphill, but their strength gives out and they, either give up, or fall over. Out of pride, you can keep stay in a harder gear going uphill, and then burn yourself and others out.
• Leadership doesn't require choosing one gear and riding for as long as possible, but constantly adjusting the gears based on the slope of the journey and your (or your team's) strength.
• You can shift to an higher gear to rest, ride easier, or get up an incline. Some shift to higher gears just so they can relax and take it easy (go slower, but work less). A leader needs to discern the right gear for maximum speed and efficiency. I don't want to ride easier, I want to ride at my maximum speed whether going up or down hill. That means I must shift up to go uphill, and shift down when going downhill.
• It's better to shift to an easier gear and pedal slower to rest while riding on flat straight-aways than downhill. Usual if there's a downhill, there's an uphill ahead, and you'll need the momentum/ speed to get up the next hill. So, keep pedaling. Plus, you're maximizing each pedal stroke- meaning you're going further for each stroke than if you were on a flat ride, so enjoy the momentum and go faster.

What lessons are you learning about leadership? Love to read your thoughts.

Reflections on biking and leadership this morning

My observations from this morning, so far:

• it was a fantastic and gorgeous starry morning (at 5am). I was star gazing while biking, probably not the safest thing to do, but it was fabulous. Enjoyed the bright moon, and amazing constellations.
• this morning was was happier to be biking than driving. Didn't feel like I was living on less to give more. Felt less like sacrifice and more like a privilege and blessing. Amazing how God turns our surrender into wonder.
• We have an incredible team of leaders at Lifehouse. So grateful that they are less concerned about position and titles, and more burdened with doing whatever it takes to advance God's Kingdom. Insecure leaders can't trust others and develop leaders, but our team is passionate about "giving away" ministry and developing the leadership potential in others and mining their destiny.

Thanks to all for both your support and for being such an amazing leadership team.

Back in the saddle

I took some time off from running and training over the last 3 weeks. Great refresher, and I was crazy busy with Lifehouse.

Finally got a chance to get a run in this morning, and it felt great. 4.5 miles in the light mist. Invigorating. I want to get a marathon and olympic triathlon in by early summer. Time to get in gear and back into serious shape.

What are your phyiscal goals for 2009?

Oh, and I know that phyiscal exercise is not as profitable as spiritual, but Paul didn't say that it's not profitable at all. For me, training keeps me focused and at my best spiritually.

Here's why I run:

65,000 Steps

If you watch the video closely, you'll see me somewhere in the crowd running the Baltimore Marathon this past Saturday. Finished it in 4:38. Not great, but I finished. Considering my longest run before that was about 13-15 miles, I'm pumped. Besides, I've joined 1% of world population that's done it.

You read right. Marathon (26.2 mile race) = about 65,000 steps. It felt like a million on Saturday when I got to mile 21. They say a marathon can be divided in half: the first 20 miles and the last 6. That's about right.

I DID IT! I had set this a goal and now I've checked it off the list. Next up, shooting for eventually achieving one of my life goals, finishing an Ironman (swim 2.4 m; bike 112 m; run 26.2). Someday.


Lots of life lessons from the race which I'll be using in videos that I recorded with Corey about 30 min after the race. It's for our series at Lifehouse called, "OCTANE!"

Thin Places

In Wild Goose Chase, by Mark Batterson, he mentions the idea of inattentional blindness. The idea that we become blinded to things that we see all the time. However, the wonder of God is found in the routine of life, and when we stop and notice divine moments in ordinary events, those are called "thin places" according the Celtic Christians. The place where heaven meets earth.

I found a thin place in Hagerstown, MD at 5:45 this morning while running. When I began, the stars were bright and the moon lite the street. It was magnificent, breathtaking even. Then, as I ran, dawn began. I don't mean it crept in the way my daughters sneak into my bedroom. It gloriously arose. It was awe-inspiring. Truly wondrous. Steadily, what happens everyday happened, not again, but in a special way, that is one-of-a-kind. And as dawn arose, I could see the dew covered fields, and watched as a heavy fog began to descend over our town. Even the fog was spectacular. Toward the end of my 12 mile trek, the fog began to break and the sun shown through. And all I could say was, "Wow God! You Rock!"

What "thin places" have you seen recently? Would love to hear your stories.