Albany, NY

God’s up to something in Albany, NY. This weekend, one of the churches I highly respect, lifechurch.tv, announced their latest campus is in Albany, NY. As Jennie and I prepare to move to Albany we’re thrilled by what God is up to – more great churches reaching out to more people who as of yet don’t know Christ. The people at the church we’ll be serving at have such an incredible heart to see more people come to know Jesus Christ.

For those who don’t know much about Albany it’s the capital of New York State and along with it’s surrounding suburbs has a population of 850,000. It’s about 2 1/2 hours from NYC and 2 hours from Boston. We look forward to making new friends, and having lots of our friends from Portland (and Charlotte) visit us in Albany.

Superheroes

It had gone on long enough, and finally this weekend the girls decided they didn’t want the boys having all the superhero fun. So this is their attempt at being super”girl” heroes. I love how creative and imaginative kids are! May they never lose it and may we never stop learning from them.

Whose son is this?

So Aidan ended up at Fort Vancouver this morning. I’m not sure if it was a history tour or photo shoot with Grandpa. Anyhow needless to say he’s taking after his mother in this department. Also had two soccer games. Lost one 6-5 (team scored 5 goals in the second half) and won the second 10-2. Aidan had some great saves in goal and scored one too!

What about the change?

If you’ve got kids you know there’s never a dull moment. They’re constantly changing – they grow taller, they gain more knowledge about how life works, their perspective on everything constantly changes because they gain more knowledge and more experience.

The more I reflect upon my relationship with Christ the more I realize it’s really all about change. How am I changing to become more like Jesus? Romans 12:1-2 really sums up the whole deal – don’t be conformed but be changed. How? By letting God change the way you think. Your perspective. Your outlook. In the book of Philemon we find Paul working to help Philemon change his thinking and thus perspective and actions toward Onesimus.

So how can we change our perspective? Here’s a few things I’ve been trying to do:

1. Read the Bible – duh… of course, God’s ways are higher than our ways. We should spend sometime reading what he has to say on life and relationships.
2. Read like crazy. Books, magazines, articles, websites, blogs…
3. Get around people you want to be like. There are so many wonderful people that have added to my life. Just being with people you catch so much stuff.
4. Change pace – do something different. Change your routine.
5. Change places – Get away. Try a new place. Forgo your favorite coffee hang out and try something new – guess what you’ll meet some different people and see some new things.

To quote Michael Jackson who was talking to the man in the mirror, “What about the change?” (did I just quote Michael Jackson? I’d better sign off and get some prayer).

First what, then how!

My good friend Ranjy and I have had many a conversation about what has now become a foundational thought in how I try to approach life. Ranjy coined the phrase, “Nobody ever asked how’d you do that until they marveled at what was done.” That being the case why is it that so often we as individuals, organizations, businesses and churches see how other people, churches etc are doing something and then end up doing the same thing without first asking what is it we’re supposed to be doing? Needless to say as I approach life I am working to create a mission filter that always asks what I am called to accomplish, before jumping headlong into whatever happens to be right in front of me. If we all asked ourselves what? How might we live life differently? What things would we give attention and resources to? What things would we ignore? So go ahead ask yourself – first what? Then how?

Maximizing Your Environment

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how leaders cultivate a winning culture. Read a great post from Mark Batterson yesterday – thought I’d pass it along.

Mark reports, “One of our most important and most difficult jobs as leaders is creating the right culture.” He then lists seven key thoughts that are worth applying:

1. Be Yourself
2. Stay Positive
3. Establish Boundaries
4. Little Things are Big Things
5. Think like a Guest
6. Exceed Expectations
7. Cast Vision Like Crazy

So how would you apply these thoughts to your situation?

Props to CBC

As Jennie and I begin to turn the page on the next chapter of our life it’s crazy to think what God has built into us over the past 16 years (31 years in the case of my wife). I firmly believe church is a community. A family that challenges you to grow in your relationship with Christ and His purposes. A community were you can be vulnerable, honest and grow in who God’s calling you to be. A community focused not on self but on Christ and those around us. For us there are so many rich memories, experiences and relationships. Thanks CBC!