I was with Michelle and hundreds of leaders in Dallas, Texas for a few days this week.  I spoke at the conference specifically about the "Dangerous Church in 2020", what will the church look like and what do we need to do today, etc.  Thanks to Leadership Network for putting on a really good conference.  I was able to talk with great leaders and sit down and network.  Excited about the future.  I think perhaps for me the best part of the conference was connecting with pastors and leaders.

Thanks to the speakers who all did a great job.  I think it was the gathering of dream team communicators.  Guys like Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, Greg Surratt, Larry Osborne, Dave Ferguson, Matt Chandler.  Many of the biggest and most forward-thinking churches in America were represented. 

I preached Wednesday morning.  I felt like I was in a preach-off.  It was a little intimidating to say the least.   

Innovation.  That is the buzz word in most of corporate America.  Many of the best companies in America, like Pixar, spend huge portions of their budgets on research, development and innovation.  

Wanted to put some of my thoughts down before I forget.

Thoughts about innovation.

1.  INNOVATION TO TRANSFORMATION

I think the best innovation in the future church will be less about the next breakthrough idea and more about the broken heart.

It's what God wants.  It says in Psalm 51 "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.."   The difference today is that more and more people understand their broken and messed up lives have left them in a place where they need truth and they are looking for God now more than ever.  A leader HAS to go first.  Lean into what is truth.  You are broken.  Paul knew this 2000 years ago when he told the church at Corinth, "Your grace is made perfect in my weakness".  I believe that in the future, the leaders who are the most authentic will reach the unchurched people.  There are 100 million people in America who do not go to any church, or haven't in over 6 months.  That isn't just a problem, it is an epidemic. 

2.  INNOVATION IS SIMPLIFICATION?

Paul told the church at Corinth, "I fear that somehow you will be led away from your pure and simple devotion to Jesus Christ."  2 Cor 11:3

"Pure" and "Simple".  Those two words have been so much of my new thinking about church, leadership, etc.  The early church was no different than us today.  It is easy to do church for people who "do" church and in the process forget why we exist.  

It is easy to over complicate what is simple.  We are so over saturated with technology and methods that we are missing simply the gospel.  Technology HAS to serve the church and it's mission, not become the goal.  

The statistics unfortunately tell the truth.  87% of American churches are either plauteaued or declining in attendance.  We can and should innovate until we are blue in the face.  We can twitter and blog and connect through social networks.  We can have conferences and cheer each other on.  We can do multi-site and plant churches.  Of the 13% of churches that are growing, check this out...  LESS THAN 3% are growing by conversion growth.  That means 10% are just doing a better weekend that attracts more Christians.  Jesus didn't come to reorganize, He came to simply seek and save lost people.  He came to reconcile us with the undeserved and unthinkable love of God.  

When we return to the simple gospel message, we will see churches reaching people like no other time in our generation.  Simple is always better, but especially in the church.  We can become so about activity that we mistake that for maturity.    

Simple works for you as well.  Simply stay connected to the life-giving source of Jesus.  Simply connect to others who can encourage you and love you and help you.  Simply serve people because they matter to God.  

3.  MOTIVATION FOR INNOVATION

What fuels innovation?  In a company it is simply the bottom line isn't it?  IF a company does not innovate, they cease to exist.  The bottom line is dollars.   For church, our motivation has to be about what God's "bottom line" is.  PEOPLE are the reason we exist.  When Paul says "Pure" I think he may have been thinking of ultimate blessing;  which is when our hearts are "pure" our motivation is to want what God has for our lives.  Jesus said it best, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Matthew 5:8  The more my vision increases, the more my options will decrease. 

I love innovation.  We wouldn't survive the way we do church without it.  We rely on it in fact.  So do our campuses each and every week.  It's safe to say most people do.  I guess the ultimate thing is what is it about?  In other words, is it about innovation for innovation's sake or is it about people?

I still say "do everything we can to reach people for Christ".  Anything!  Everything!  To reach someone!  

It's good to learn.  I am blessed to have Leadership Network invite me to speak at their conference.  In fact I was privileged to go to a dinner, honoring Bob Buford who began Leadership Network 25 years ago.  It was a true honor to meet him and thank him.

Also, I got to meet Peter Drucker's wife.

All in all..... INCREDIBLE 2 days.  AMAZING, GIFTED and ANNOINTED leaders of the Church (capital C).  A little time with Michelle and Missy Hannon (who spoke on women in leadership, and did really good).  Also, a stretching (causing sickness even) experience speaking to hundreds of leaders who I have learned so much from.

Loved the time and excited about the weekend.  We will wrap up the series "NEW" with the one danger in the local church.  More dangerous than any single thing.  I would even say this one thing is what Satan has leveraged to "level" or disable our relationship with God THE MOST.

DON'T MISS THE WEEKEND.  

And for you Super Bowl crazy people, we will have a "special" pre-game 1 hour (I promise) service for the one o'clock crowd.  In fact, we have some great giveaways too.  You will have fun and still get to watch the game.

Talk soon.

JOHN

A purpose driven life.

Rick Warren.  Pastor of one of the largest churches in North America.  The author of the popular book "Purpose Driven Life" which is the best selling hardback book in history (except the Bible).

His prayer was inspirational and transformational.

Why people criticize him really blows my mind.

I met him in 1997 when we started Living Hope.  I love his books, his humility and his ministry.

Thank you Rick!

From a guy who has benefited by your life-changing and church-transforming ministry.

JOHN

Here is the prayer.  Really good!

Rick Warren's Prayer

I haven't watched the news for a couple weeks.  Traveling, speaking, resting, not interested, etc.

Just watching the NEWS.  History will be made in our lifetimes, on Tuesday morning.  People say this will be one of the most historic events in our generation!

President Bush will leave office on Tuesday early morning and in JUST THREE HOURS the Obama family will move in.  Well, people will move them in.

That includes painting, moving, wallpaper changes, etc.  The chaos will never be seen by the new first family.

Talk about a well planned and orchestrated event.

I hope everyone is praying for our new president and his administration.  I am, we all ought to be.

Praying for our leaders is biblical, historical and practical.

Pray for the inauguration.  Pray for the transition of power.  Pray for the ones who are in office.  Praying for our leaders is just so right.  Pray for the ones who know Christ, that they will be light and salt to other leaders.  Pray for those who don't know Christ, that in this season, God will be revealed.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to pray when we have no words.  Pray for wisdom, for clarity and for a new season of hope.  Pray our leaders will lead and govern in a way that both honors God and helps the people they are empowered by.  Pray for God's will, today and everyday.

I can't believe how amazingly complex the whole "transition" thing is.  Incredible.

I love living in the greatest country in the world!  (Yes, I am biased.)

John

Getting ready for the weekend.

It is official  - one of the biggest resolutions for 2009 is to lose weight.  It involves behavior modifications.  New thinking and new actions.  It will take time and effort.  Really though, lasting change won't happen without desire change.  It will take a plan.

I may need to do a couple of installments on what it means to have a new heart.

This weekend I want to talk about desire.  I think simply when we leave desire, we really leave who we are.  

All of us have the tendency to allow our hearts to become hardened.  In various ways we have this tendency to allow what I call DESIRE DRIFT.

Our hearts become hard and it is a self-induced thing.  We have choices that over time make our hearts hard.  It is a pretty dangerous journey.  The goal is to keep our hearts soft and moldable with and for God. 

We shouldn't trust our hearts.  Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, "The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked.  Who really knows how bad it is? But I know!  I the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives..."

Why the heart is so critical is because the perception and understanding of spiritual truth becomes obvious when we grasp the meaning of the term.  In biblical thought, the heart includes that part of us that processes information, reaches conclusions and makes decisions.

The smartest/wisest human that ever walked the earth said this, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."  Proverbs 4:23

The more I see what God wants, the more I will want what God sees. 

Desire is craving enough to sacrifice for.  God designed you to be loved and love.  Intimacy with Him begins and ends with desire.  It is his dream for YOU.

I am excited to answer these questions and really look at what it means to have a NEW HEART.

Check out this verse.  One of my all time favorite verses written by my favorite Bible mentor.

"Delight in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart."  Psalm 37:4

The Hebrew word for "Delight" is ANAG which means "to become soft or pliable, delicate with enjoyment".

This is what it means to be in shape.  To have a heart that is surrendered, soft and pliable.

To enjoy God alone.

A heart for God.  Sold out, devoted and living free.  A new heart is pliable, soft and moldable.

We will take a couple of weeks and talk about what it means to "guard" what comes in and what goes out of our hearts.

OK

Some thoughts.

John

 Rocks.  We all know about them, we all have thrown them and we all probably have been hit by them.

Forrest Gump says life is like a box of chocolates, but most of us could identify with the reality that life can be like a bunch of rocks.

No matter what the size, rocks hurt.  Rocks of criticism, rocks of  judgment, rocks of failure, rocks of disappointment.  Rocks of words from someone you love.

These things come at us with painful hits and it's easy (it's HUMAN) to want to throw rocks back.  Don't we all want revenge, want recompense, want justice?  We want life to be fair.

I think fair isn't God's goal.  Being like Christ is.  In our new series we are learning the spiritual value and reality of NEW.  A new day, a new mind, a new heart (this weekend).

The truth of Christian life is that God is less about what happens to us, and always more about our reaction to what happens to us.  The truth is rocks have always been thrown and will always be thrown.

The Bible gives us many examples like this one in the life of King David:   

2 Samuel 16:5-13  As King David came to Bahurim, a man came out of the village cursing them. It was Shimei son of Gera, from the same clan as Saul’s family. 6 He threw stones at the king and the king’s officers and all the mighty warriors who surrounded him. 7 “Get out of here, you murderer, you scoundrel!” he shouted at David. 8 “The Lord is paying you back for all the bloodshed in Saul’s clan. You stole his throne, and now the Lord has given it to your son Absalom. At last you will taste some of your own medicine, for you are a murderer!”

 9 “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?” Abishai son of Zeruiah demanded. “Let me go over and cut off his head!”   10 “No!” the king said. “Who asked your opinion, you sons of Zeruiah! If the Lord has told him to curse me, who are you to stop him?”

 11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son is trying to kill me. Doesn’t this relative of Saul have even more reason to do so? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to do it. 12 And perhaps the Lord will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses today.”  13 So David and his men continued down the road, and Shimei kept pace with them on a nearby hillside, cursing as he went and throwing stones at David and tossing dust into the air.  14 The king and all the people with him arrived at their destination exhausted. And there he refreshed himself.

I think we can learn a lot from King David's example.

First - Shimei's accusations were false.  David had many opportunities to take the life of Saul but chose not to, and had in fact treated Saul and his family with love and graciousness.  The accusations were not fair.  Oftentimes in ministry we have accusations that are untruthful.  Reality.

 What can leaders learn?   First, rocks happen.  To all of us.   Expect rocks.  Expect criticism.  Expect problems.

Second.  RESPOND TO ONLY GOD.  God allows so many things that we miss, and in the process we don't grow.  Listening to ONLY GOD should result in trusting ONLY GOD.  The ultimate blessable zone is trusting God and seeing His hand in EVERYTHING.  When you can see God, you are positioned for great things.

Third.  Filter what is said through the truth of God's Word.  Through the pain of "stones" what is truth?  What needs to change in your life?  What needs to change in your church?  Your family?  Don't discount what is being said because the delivery is off-centered.  God speaks through donkeys, through people, through burning bushes and through Shimei.  All part of what God does to grow us.  Adversity is not about the absence of God, but rather the activity of God in our lives.  Trust that!!

Fourth.  Do the one next right thing.  This is hard, because we can't "see" but I believe when we are in Christ, we have the power of the Holy Spirit to lead us, to convict us, to encourage us and to show us.  The next right thing is sometimes just to breathe.  Sometimes it is about talking, other times it is about listening.  David was a master at this.  

Looking forward to the weekend.  Had an amazing time at New Hope.  Lots of people were saved.  I was able to spend a few days with Michelle.  I got to meet with Wayne Cordeiro, who is really an amazing leader.  I really enjoyed spending time with him and his team.

OK.  Take care.

John

Such a profound thought....(leave him alone and let him curse).  David didn't try to shut up Shimei. He didn't close his ears to unpleasant or critical words. David was willing to hear what God might say to him through a cursing critic.

David let Shimei speak because he was not a bloodthirsty man (what have I to do with you). Ironically, if David was the kind of man Shimei said he was, Shimei would be dead.  David was less about what people said and more about what God wanted.  I love that.

DAVID BELIEVED AND LIVED SOMETHING THAT CHANGED HISTORY:

David let Shimei speak because he saw the hand of God in every circumstance (the LORD has said to him).  He knew that God was more than able to shut Shimei up; David didn't need to give the order.

David let Shimei speak because he had the "Shimei problem" in perspective (See how my son who came from my own body seeks my life. How much more now may this Benjamite?). David knew that his real problem was Absalom, not Shimei and he did not lose this perspective.  Oftentimes we lose perspective in situations where rocks are being thrown at us.  We focus on the rock and the rock thrower and in the process forget God.

David let Shimei speak because he knew that God's hand was on the future as well as the present (It may be that the LORD will look on my affliction, and that the LORD will repay me with good for his cursing this day). David knew that if he did what was right in the present moment, God would take care of the future.

(Let him alone, and let him curse)  David could take this fellow’s head off and that in a moment, and yet he said, “Let him alone. Let him curse.”  If you can revenge yourself, DON’T.

(So they refreshed themselves there) David was not without hope or comfort. God allowed comfort to find him, even if it was in the small things. David was able to receive the comfort because he was at peace, knowing God was in control of Israel.

Hello Everyone,

This week Michelle and I are in Oahu where I have the privilege of speaking at New Hope Christian Fellowship which is led by Pastor Wayne Cordeiro and his wife Anna. 

New Hope is one of America's leading churches, with a passion to reach the lost and build devoted, mature, followers of Christ.  They have multiple campuses, and are one of the fastest growing churches in America with over 12,000 people in regular attendance.  They run 5 weekend services at the main campus including one at 7am.  (Pray for me.  7am is not my 'best' time.  In fact it's probably safe to say that sound check at 6.20am could be the biggest challenge of my speaking career so far.)

All 5 services will be streamed live, and you can follow the link above to tune in.  (NOTE: Hawaiian Standard Time is 2 hours behind PST.)

I am so grateful that God has allowed me to have a friendship with Pastor Wayne.  He is the author of several great books and a leader of leaders.  He is devoted to training, equipping and mentoring emerging leaders.  I'm excited (and humbled) to spend time with a man who has done so much for the kingdom of God.   

I am sharing with them the message of ONLY GOD LOVE.  About how brokeness can become beauty, and our past can be redeemed.  Pray that lives will be touched and changed, and that people will come to know Christ.  That is why we do what we do. 

Michelle and I have been incredibly blessed by Pastor Wayne, his wife Anna and New Hope Church.  They have taken care of the whole trip, and we are trying to make the most of the short time we have.  Taking the opportunity to celebrate our 25th anniversary which was on  December 26th, as well as serve the church here.  Pray that I am able to spend moments with Michelle in these few days that we have and also that I will learn all I can from my time with Wayne.

Today we went out for Sushi.  My wife is chopstick challenged.  I guess we usually take the "fork" option when eating sushi at home, but there is no such option here.  It turns out they will provide you with "training wheel" chopsticks.  Kind of like chopsticks for learners.  The whole process involves two chopsticks (one broken in half), a rubber band, and a good dose of humiliation.  Laughed so hard.  Brought them home as a souvenir.  

This weekend Pastor Rick will be speaking as we continue in our NEW series.  I am excited about the message, and don't want you to miss it.  

I'm so thankful to be part of a church that understands what it means to serve the body outside the walls of Living Hope.  Thank you.

 JOHN

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I am sitting here reflecting on everything from 2008 and at the same time excited for the new possibilities in this new year.

Isaiah 43:18-19 says....

 18 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."

This weekend we start a new series called "NEW".

It will be good to spend the month of January talking about and unpacking the idea of NEW.

I think NEW is a word that for sure gets overused and is oftentimes overlooked.  New matters.  New is our reality when we come to Christ.  

NEW is something we all want.  The question of the day is, how do we have sustainable change? 

How do we authentically "forget" the former things?  How do we NOT dwell on the past?  The best visual thing for me in thinking about moving forward and getting past the past is thinking about our cars.  The front windshield is so much bigger than the rearview mirror.  Maybe that is one of the ways we can remind ourselves to not get "stuck" in the past.  

GOD IS DOING A NEW THING, MY FRIENDS.   Don't we understand (or perceive) it?  He is the God that knows us best and loves us most.  He is the One who will make a way in the desert times in our lives.

Many of you are going through desert times.  Times where things seem dry and where you feel directionally (or even motivationally) challenged.  Trust God in those moments.  Talk with Him and walk with Him.

I am excited about our new series.  I am not too excited about the snow that I am watching fall at 1:15 AM.   New Year............NO SNOW would be my vote (not that we are voting....)

See you this weekend.

John