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Grace@Home -- Additional Resources

Hey everyone, here are the three books I referenced last weeked as we concluded our our Grace@Home weekend series.

• Missionary Stories with the Millers
• Design for Discipleship (DFD)
• Foxe's Book of Martyrs

I've referenced two other books pretty consistently throughout the series as well.  They are:

• Think Orange by Reggie Joiner 
• Family Ministry Field Guide by Timothy Paul Jones

Lastly, I've also include the list of parent/marriage/family/discipleship resources provided by our Grace@Home team.  You can download it here.

The Credit Belongs To...

Our Staff Strategy Team (SST) is reading and discussing 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell.  This book has a PROFOUND impact on me years ago when I, as a younger leader, was trying to develop my leadership skills.

While reading it this time, I found a great quote on "where the true credit lies" from President Teddy Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails with daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”  (Teddy Roosevelt)

Grace@Home Launched!

I cannot tell you what a privilege it has been to be a part of our Grace@Home launch this weekend.  This weekend's parenting/discipleship conference was the culmination of years of dreaming, praying, researching, planning, & preparing.

It was a huge privilege to engage people in conversations, share stories, hear the hearts of people, and watch God at work in well over 300 parents/disciplers. (I don't know the final numbers yet.) In fact, Cathy & I walked the halls last night during the 7 Physical Age seminars, prayed for each group, & got chills about what God was doing.

I am so thankful.

It's about our spiritual legacy.

My Two Discipleship Groups

There are two times a week that fill up my spiritual bucket -- fulfilling my life purpose of making disciples of Jesus:

• Discipling my Son -- I'm walking my 8th grader through the Design for Discipleship books put out by The Navigators.  We do this weekly in the evening. There are all types of questions that come up when we're hanging out together -- life u

• Discipling my Young Men's Group -- I'm spending the school year with a group of young men (mostly seniors and college students) through what it means to be a man of God. We do this weekly at a  very early time in the morning.

With my young men's group, I've had a general plan in my head with what I've thought we need to cover, but we have covered a wide variety of issues.  Here are just some of the issues that I remember off the top of my head (in the approximate order we covered them):

• Faithfulness
• Pride/Humility
• How to pray
• How to read the Bible
• How to lead
• What it means to be a man
• Heaven & Hell
• How to do a word study
• How God says "The 2nd is better"
• Temptation
• Communication
• How to find God's will for your life
• Dating
• How to see God do miracles in your life
• How to manage
• How to make big decisions
• How to handle criticism
• How to share news to the right groups in order
• How do we select what I teach
• How to follow
• What God judges leaders & followers on
• How to prepare a message
• Etc.
• Etc.
• Etc.

It's quite organic. It's not as neat and clean and ordered as the list above would indicate. A lot of times our topics come from (1) what's happening in their lives, (b) what's happening in my life, or (c) what I believe they need to hear.

I wouldn't trade those two times with my son & young men's group for the world.

We have been called to make disciples for Jesus.

This is how I'm trying to do so.

Kids (or Disciples) are Like Arrows

Last weekend, we kicked off our Grace@Home series with Psalm 127.  In verse 4, we read about what our kids (physically) or our disciples (spiritually) are like:

"Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one's youth."

We spent a good chunk of time talking about how to make sure we give our kids (or disciples) the best shot possible to hit the target (walking with Christ on their own & reproducing disciples themselves).  You have to make sure (a) the arrow is straight and (b) you're facing the target yourself.

My rock star admin, Maura, found the picture below -- arrows can only be shot forward if they're pulled backward first.  Sometimes as a parent, we have to see our kids (or disciples) take a step back to launch them forward in the future. 

Register for the Grace@Home Conference

The Grace@Home Conference is coming SOON!  (Fri-Sat, Apr 19-20)  You can find all of the details here and register here.  You can CUSTOMIZE your experience and only come to the parts that apply to you!

This conference will be HUGE for you, whether you are:

• A parent
• An empty-nester
• A small group leader
• A Bible Study teacher

You don't want to miss it!  Register today!

P.S. Here's my unbelievable wife, Cathy...

Grace@Home April 2013 Parenting Conference from Grace Church on Vimeo.

 

Invite & Reserve for Easter@Grace

 

We are just TWO DAYS away from Easter weekend here at Grace! We are talking about "Crosswalk." Imagine watching your own dad be called out of a crowd to pick up Jesus' cross and carry it for him! What would it be like to watch your dad follow in the footsteps of bloody & beaten Lord?

As we closed out our leadership series through Numbers, I challenged each person to practice leading by praying and inviting five people to attend an Easter service. If you haven't started yet, it's not too late!.  Pray for five people and get your invites out ASAP. Also, remember to reserve your spots here so that we can plan accordingly. 

• Sat: 3p, 4:30p, 6p
• Sun: 8a, 9:30a, 11a, 12:30p

We'll see you this weekend!

PRAY, PRAY, PRAY... and INVITE, INVITE, INVITE...

Want Help on the Book of Numbers?

Want help understanding the book of Numbers in the Old Testament?  We can help you go as deep as you want.  Here are 4 resources to help you:

1. A 12-minute Book Overview -- an OWNit365 Book Video
2. A 1-part Weekend Series -- called "Wandering"
3. A 4-part Weekend Series -- called "Numb3ers"
4. A 22-part Bible Study -- called "Numbers Bible Study"

It's my FAVORITE leadership book. Enjoy.

A Leader Says What Others Think

Great quote from Andy Stanley. Our rock-star Communications Director Jami Campbell saw it quoted by another rock-star Communications Director Kem Meyer.

“A leader is someone who has the courage to say publicly what everybody else is whispering privately. It is not his insight that sets the leader apart from the crowd. It is his courage to act on what he sees, to speak up when everyone else is silent. Next generation leaders are those who would rather challenge what needs to change and pay the price than remain silent and die on the inside.”

Nailed it.

Lecrae - Tell the World

I've STILL got "Tell the World" by @Lecrae running on repeat in my head. Check it out.