Let Me Introduce an Inlfuential Leader: Michael Hyatt

A Leader that I have been following for a couple of years is Michael Hyatt. He is the CEO of the largest Christian Book Publisher in America. He prints Authors like Max Lucado. He has some great insights and is really organized. This week he put out a blog on Authentic Leadership. It is a must read for every leader but something that everyone should read.

The Five Marks of Authentic Leadership

The Five Marks are:

1. Insight
2. Initiative
3. Influence
4. Impact
5. Integrity

Video of Shoreline Calvary’s mission to London

This was the promo video that Tonye Holdye showed at The Village Chapel on Sunday March 28th.

I Love My Kids!

This video was taken at my brother in laws house on his 31st birthday. The kids in the video are my niece and nephew and my kids. All of them crack me up. The ABC’s by Toby and Ashland is hysterical.

Sunday Update

I should really call these Monday reflux because I write them on Mondays and it is basically what I remember from Sundays. Nonetheless we will continue to call them what it is a brief picture of what God is doing on Sunday mornings at The Village Chapel.

Yesterday was a tough day. I am not sure why but I was in a fog all of first service and after I was done I went home and crashed. Still trying to figure out if it was the windy weather which always throws my allergies off or it was the partial cinamon roll that I ate that threw me into sugar shock. Whatever it was I was fighting it during first service. Thankfully I came out of it second service.

Here are a few of my thoughts from Sunday:

• I am loving the involvement of the Elders on Sundays. They continue to oversee most of everything that goes on but we have added them coming up front and praying for the offering. Each Sunday has been really cool since we started.
• So we got hooked up with getting some of Panera’s donated. To say they make our donuts look weak is an understatement
• Ellen drove up in a new car on Sunday. Normally not a big deal except she had been driving her old one for 31 YEARS!!!
• Our intern Joel seemed really cleaned up. Wonder if it has anything to do with his dating status? Things that make you go Hmmm?!?
• The prayer times after services have been packed. The Elders and Prayer teams are doing a bang up job.
• Some lady busted out a tamborine in second service! It was her first time.
• If you are a shy or introverted person you might be a little overwhelmed by our people. They like to get up in your grill and welcome you
• It was nice to see the newest member of our church, Lukas, at church on Sunday. Think he is only a month old
• Hearing more and more stories of hurting families in our fellowship.
• Easter will be here in less than four weeks! We are doing some new things as well as our annual Sunrise service.
• Looking forward to our leadership lunch on Sunday. Love connecting with our core people.

Why Champions are Exceptional

As I watched the Olympics the last two week a couple of things stuck out to me. First is that not everyone lives up to expectations and second champions not only live up to them they explode past them. This got me thinking what makes a champion? I think there are three factors that make up every champion.

1. Champions EXPECT to be on. Nobody is a champion until they win. This is what makes underdog champions so popular, they came out of nowhere. If you ask what took them over the top to win it was that mental edge where even though no one thought they could do it they believed they could
2. Champions EXCEL when they are supposed to. How many times have you seen someone come in with lofty goals and expectations only to fall short? You can blame it on conditions or bad luck but true champions turn it up a notch when they need to. Bode Miller is a perfect example of this. In 2006 in Turin, Italy he was the best skier in the world and came away empty handed. In 2010 he came home with three medals with little to no expectation of him winning.
3. Champions EXCEED expectations. True champions know that to be a champion you have to go above and beyond the pack. you can’t just do it better you have to push the envelope and set yourself apart. The risk is great but so is the reward. Shaun White is the perfect example of this. He had already won the gold before his second run and could’ve played it safe but instead went all out did his signature move.

This Takes Real Guts

Yahoo Sports is running a great story on a big time college football player who said no to the NFL. I wish we would more stories like this. This takes more guts that those who go on to the NFL in my opinion. We are not a society that turns our back on fame and fortune.

Nebraska’s Hickman takes rare pass on invitation from ‘The League’ – Dr. Saturday – NCAAF Blog – Yahoo! Sports

Volunteer of the Week: The Frank Family

This week the staff of The Village Chapel has voted for the Frank family as our volunteers of the week. Normally we choose an individual but the Frank family is so dedicated and work so closely that it would be a crime to elect just one. The Franks are one of the founding families of the church. Even though they live in the Village they were long time attenders and workers at Calvary Chapel Santa Maria.

If you spend anytime around the Franks one thing will become evident really quickly, they love to share the Gospel of Jesus with children. Sara Frank has led the Good News club for several years and she does an amazing job with our Village Tykes (2-3yr old). My son absolutely loves her. Jerry is our faithful steward of the setup and tear down of our Village Newbies & Tykes programs.On top of that all of the children serve in some fashion. Rachel serves in The Village Kids, Nathan plays in the worship team and has run our powerpoint since day one, Daniel and Matthew help out in the ministries that they attend.

Our church is blessed because of the Frank family. They go about doing their business quietly but we want to take a week to love on them. If you see them at church go up to them and give them an “Atta Boy!”

Weight Loss Wednesdays

In my journey to lose weight and my insatiable need to alliterate I am going to start a new series of posts called “Weight Loss Wednesdays.” I am going to share with you what I am going through as I try to drop close to 70 lbs over the next year. I will also share with you some insights that I am learning along the way. This is in no way an attempt to present myself as an expert in weight loss. If anything I am an expert in weight gain but hopefully this will be helpful.

I started losing weight two weeks ago. Our church started the “Biggest Loser” contest and I signed up. When I first weighed in on Friday February 12th I weighed in at 291.2 lbs. Four days later I started the “Belly Off Diet” and in the two weeks of doing the diet I have lost 15lbs. Yesterday I weighed in at 276.3 lbs. To be honest I feel great but I think I am starting to drive Jen crazy with all the talk about what is going on. Hence the reason for this weekly post.

What has shocked me the most about this weight loss is that I am loving the food and I eat six times a day. Albeit the food I eat is radically different than what I used to eat I am actually enjoying it. It also helps that I have a plan going in each week knowing what I am going to eat. This is important for me because it keeps my focus. Otherwise I would rummage and pillage and that never goes well.

This upcoming Sunday will be four weeks since I had my last soda. For those that know me that is a big deal. I love soda more than any other drink but haven’t really missed it. I have replaced it with water and tea. I go to the bathroom about four times as much but that has to be a good thing right? The biggest lesson I have learned so far is that what got me to the weight I was at won’t get me to the weight that I want to be at. I had to shock my body into change. The benefits that I am enjoying from this so far is a clear mind, tons of energy, and looser clothes.

Check back in next week for my next update.

Book Review: Derailed

I just finished the book by Tim Irwin called Derailed. I thoroughly enjoyed this book but more importantly I was hammered by it. Dr Irwin does a great job of detailing and discussing something that has become very big in the business world: Emotional Intelligence or EQ. Many of of have been tested on IQ but have you ever been tested on EQ? EQ is much more important than IQ in my personal opinion.

Dr Irwin takes a look at several business giants who have scaled the heights of the success ladder only to fall off it in a spectacular fashion. He looks at people like Carly Fiorina and Bob Nardelli who led Hewitt Packard and Home Depot. They were renowed for their business acumen when they entered their job as CEO but left with a cloud of angry and frustrated people behind.

The whole premise is that if they would’ve used the five lessons from Dr Irwin they would’ve avoided the collapse. Everybody told me that you had to read the last two chapters because that was were the gold was and they were right. So many books spill it out in the first two but you really need to read these last two to get to the meat of what they are saying.

Quickly the five lessons that we all need to learn to have EQ are:

• Openness: Listen to the feedback of others
• Self Awareness
• Develop Early Warning Systems: Look for blind spots
• Cultivate Accountability: Find a mentor, and a peer who are willing to work with you
• Resiliency: When you do blow it admit it and work to get better

A True Test of Leadership

One thing that struck me as I listened to Tonye Holyde on Sunday was his description of 1 John 4:1 and testing the spirits. The Apostle John is speaking about the false teachers and prophets that have infiltrated the church and for us to test their teachings.

The word used for teachings is the Greek word Dokimazo. It was used by money changers when they tested currency back in John’s day. Just because a coin said 1 shekel didn’t mean it was worth that. The worth was tested by weighing it to see if the precious metal measured up to the real amount.

John is telling us to test the spirits of people we listen to and measure it up against the Word of God. This is a real test of leadership also. You know a true leader by how they measure up when they are tested. If they come through the test you know that they are the real thing. False leaders not only don’t pass the test but they often avoid and run away from the tests.

Now if you will notice I didn’t say whether you passed or failed the test but instead if you came through. We all will pass and fail many tests over our lives, but what makes us true is if we go through them. No one wants to follow someone who is fake. Many false leaders are, on the outside, well spoken and well liked but when it comes to being tested for what they are worth they never measure up because often they have headed for the door.

To be a true leader means you must go through the tests that come our way. If you stand and go through them you will be stronger because of it. If you shrink and run you will never be true. Be a true leader and not a false one.