I saw a neat link from my friend Jeff Leake today.
Check out the “How Pittsburgh Are You?” Quiz: http://www.gotoquiz.com/how_pittsburgh_are_you

Should be fun for those of you from the ‘Burgh (and totally confusing for the rest of you).

Surprisingly, I scored a 97% — not bad for a southern transplant!

Comment back with your score….

I like to encourage people to find out what recharges them and do it when they start getting down.  For me, here are a few recharging activities:

• time alone with God
• time alone with Amber
• time with Amber and TJ
• riding the motorcycle (not in the snow however)
• spending time with certain people
  • This is a big one.  It’s taken me years of my life to realize this, but I need to be intentional about making time for the people who recharge me.
  • I spent years letting other people (often the people that drained me) dictate who I spent the bulk of my time with and then I wondered why I was wiped out all the time.

I say all this because I just wrapped up a meeting with a friend of mine and thought about how much better I felt after we got done.  That marks about three different times this week that I had the chance to sit and catch up with someone who fires me up.

What a difference it makes!  Here’s my advice for the day: find your rechargers and stay engaged….

One of my great life struggles is the development and maintenance of a healthy routine.  Time management for me has historically been like nailing fruit-flavored gelatin snacks to a wall.  It is an area where I think the devil takes great joy in trying to mess me up.

That being said, I’m working on it again.  I’ve been trying to force myself to go to bed at a regular time, wake up at a regular time, and in doing so seeing my productivity go through the roof (it’s about time).

Then there are nights like last night.  I didn’t get a wink of sleep until about 4:30 this morning.  Not because I was dilly-dallying or catching up on work or watching a great movie — because great ideas just kept flowing into my brain.  God often tends to catch me at bedtime and send me all sorts of amazing thoughts and inspiration. 

So if you see my red eyes this afternoon, note that I wasn’t up all night drinking, but being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18

I got a link this morning to my buddy Shane’s blog to check out a video of the late Rich Mullins.  Rich was a Christian singer and songwriter who died back in the 90’s, but left a legacy of great music. 

I never saw the man in concert (that I know of) or heard him speaking beyond his music, but here’s a great short video if you have about 10 minutes:

http://theravingsofarunningrev.blogspot.com/2008/02/short-sermon-from-rich-mullins.html

I especially love this line:

Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken.   – Rich Mullins

Man it started snowing yesterday about mid-afternoon and went pretty much all night.  There’s a beautiful layer of pure white snow on the ground outside and I love it. 

I spent most of my life in the south where you have pretty much two seasons: hot and too hot.  Then there were a handful of days during the “winter” when you may have to throw on a light jacket.  Amber and I were talking last night about how we love having 4 distinct seasons here.

I especially love the snow.  As a boy in New Jersey I first got to experience it and I can’t get enough.  Even with the headaches it sometimes causes.  Here’s a few reasons why I love the snow:

• It’s pretty
• It doesn’t quite fit into a box (not rain, but not quite ice)
• It’s soft and fluffy (like me)
• It’s kind of unpredictable
• Finally, it reminds me of this great old hymn:
  • Nothing but the Blood (Robert Lowry, 1876)
    What can wash away my sin? nothing but the blood of Jesus;
    what can make me whole again? nothing but the blood of Jesus.
    O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow;
    no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

When it warms up around here I’ll have to deal with the messed up yard, the sloppy driveway, the dirty cars, but I’m thankful every day that thanks to Jesus I don’t have to worry about what’s buried under the snow of my life. 

Have a great day!

I know, I know… I’ve been gone from the blog for a while again.  I got sick all over again last Sunday morning.  This time it was a nasty stomach bug.  Wiped me out for a week.  But I’m back now.  And feeling better.

I have had a great day — spent a couple of hours this morning with my friend Bob catching up.  I ran some errands an worked on some of our advertising for Easter Sunday after lunch.  Then I had what can only be called an “uber-productive” meeting with Jeff.

We’ve been working together for about 6 months now and it’s amazing how much we’re still learning each other and working on how to be most productive together.  I think we made some great strides today towards being more efficient AND effective. 

I hate it when someone on my team has to lay the smack down on me, but Jeff was right on today.  He ripped me a new one for my stubbornness in not going to the doctor with this mess either time.  He shared with my how my illness affected everything at ICC and how my pride in not taking care of myself has now resulted in getting half our church sick and hurting the energy dynamic within the church.  It pissed me off a little bit…. because he’s right.

Thank God for honest partners in ministry.  I’m praying that I have learned my lesson.

The message I shared on Sunday at ICC was all about God’s plan for singles.  During the message I mentioned a book that I had been reading that dealt with some of the same issues. 

I have to be honest and share that I haven’t yet completed this book.  Here’s why: every time I get into it I run into someone who is going through a life situation where they need it.  And at that point I feel compelled to give it away. 

One of the best explanations that I have already swiped from Craig Groeschel in “Going All the Way” is that singles need to stop spending all their time and energy looking for “the one” — the one person of the opposite sex that will complete their lives and make everything better, and start focusing on “the One” — Jesus Christ, who can complete them and then enable them to move forward as a whole, healthy person.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Matthew 6:33

This book is chock full of good insights and solid biblical teaching about singleness, relationships, and marriage.  I definitely recommend it (click the pic for the Amazon link) as a resource for yourself and/or if you have the opportunity to counsel or encourage people in these areas.  I would call it a very helpful resource for college ministries, singles groups, or premarital counseling. 

The author, Craig Groeschel is the pastor of LifeChurch.tv and is – in my opinion – one of the most refreshing, kingdom-focused large church pastors in America today.  Now I have to go buy a new copy for myself . . .

Yesterday was an historic day for Iron City Church.  Our first two small groups met for the first time last night.  From all reports, they went very well and the groups are on track to fulfill our goal for them:

building relationships and being the church

If you’re an ICC’er (or just someone in the North Hills area) who’s interested in being a part of a small group, click here to sign up and we’ll get you plugged in: www.ironcitychurch.com/groups

Another good weekend at ICC.  We had a slimmer crowd than I had thought might be there, but with the sickness running around and the crazy cold weather we had yesterday it was decent.  We also had a few folks we hadn’t seen in a while there yesterday — good stuff!

I am stoked about our new series, “Family Ties.”  We’re spending three weeks looking at what scripture has to say about relationships in the family. 

We kicked off yesterday a little differently than what I’ve seen from a lot of churches.  Often, people who aren’t married aren’t included in this type of message series.  I think on a larger scale that in many churches the issues that singles face are rarely addressed with any level of seriousness. 

We talked about living single at length yesterday in a message called “Single in Limbo.”  The limbo aspect of singleness involves challenges, pressures and frustrations that the rest of society doesn’t necessarily deal with and I think God has a lot to say about it.  Here’s the link if you want to download the message: http://www.ironcitychurch.com/downloads.html

Good stuff.

I just got home after a late-arriving co-pilot and a strong headwind slowed my return from New York.  As usual, I came home with more than I left with (besides the mass quantities of gourmet popcorn). 

There is just something to being able to push away from the day to day and spending time both alone with God and in the company of other like-minded pastors.  It always leaves me both extremely encouraged AND challenged to do everything I can do to better lead Iron City Church. 

The statement that always encourages me as far as growing, changing and striving to become a better pastor is this:
GOD WANTS IRON CITY CHURCH TO GROW WAY MORE THAN I WANT IRON CITY CHURCH TO GROW!

With that in mind, it’s my job to continue to seek Him for guidance, learn all I can from others, and more than anything be disciplined, wise, and faithful to come home and put all that I’m learning into practice – knowing that God will bring the increase.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9