In my opinion you should have them on speed dial if you desire to build wealth and leave a lasting legacy.  Your aim should be to develop a team that understands your financial goals and advise with a human touch.  Today, I’d like you to consider adding a seventh and final financial friend:

An Estate Planning Attorney

I Don’t Have Enough Money…

Wrong!  People often think of estate planning, wills, and trusts as tools and services for the wealthy.  Not so!  Why?  The laws governing wills and trusts affect the wealthy, middle-class, and the working class.  Additionally, there’s a lot of confusion surrounding wills and trusts.  People, they are not synonymous.  ”A will controls your assets in your individual name when you die, but a trust is used to hold your assets during your lifetime,” according to Vicki Lee Parker, writer for Black Enterprise Magazine.

As a pastor of a thriving church, I can’t tell you how many family fights I had to mediate because no one took the time to consult an estate planning attorney.  Today, many siblings and relatives do not speak because no one took time to plan accordingly.  Since each state has different laws regarding inheritance, your estate shouldn’t be left to the state or do-it-yourself wills.  ”An estate planning attorney can help you set up a trust that offers more flexibility and control over how your assets are managed after you die,” says Steve Hartnett, an estate planning attorney in San Diego and associate director of education at the American Academy of Estate Planing.

I Confess…

As I conclude this series, I want inform you that I practice what I preach.  I have six of the seven financial friends on speed dial and I’m currently interviewing estate planning attorneys.  I plan to make my decison by the end of September and will keep you posted.  Thanks for reading and reflecting on my blog posts and my prayers are with you as you assemble your team!

Did I miss anyone?  Who do you have on your team that I missed?

A “Proven” Real Estate Agent

The recent economic downturn forced many agents out of business looking to make a quick buck.  If you intend to build wealth and leave a legacy, gone are the days when you can call your novice cousin, uncle, or high school friend to help your purchase or sale property.  Times have changed and with so much uncertainty in the real estate market, it’s important to have a proven agent in your network who has the expertise to help you achieve your property ownership goals.

Who Should I Call?

“Take some time to find an agent who knows the market you are interested in and has experience in the specific type of deals you want to make,” says Vicki Lee Parker, writer for Black Enterprise Magazine.  Before deciding which agents to interview, do your homework!  The top agent in your city may not be the best choice for marketing your particular home.  Your choice should depend on which agent is most successful in attracting buyers to homes similar to yours in price and amenities.  Some agents specialize in luxury homes, some in downtown condos, and some in a particular subdivision or price point.  To optimize your selling success, choose an agent who is successful in selling homes similar to yours.  Check out these questions before you list your home.

Do you have a “proven” real estate agent on speed dial?

What an incredible weekend at Mars Hill as we celebrated Mother’s Day in a very special way.  We kicked off our celebration on Friday with thousands attending our “Women’s Only” Worship Empowerment Service.   We reminded women that they are a “Fragrance of Beauty” and gave gift bags to them as they entered our worship center.

Their gift bags contained the following items:

1. A Compact mirror – to remind them they’re beautifully created in God’s Image
2. An Emory board – to remind them how God has the ability to file away the rough edges
3. A packet of Kleenex – to remind them that God can wipe away every tear

Additionally, the service included:

1. Women’s Praise Team
2. Women’s Dance Group
3. An all Women’s Band
4. A Woman Sound Engineer, & Camera/ Video Operator

In short, women were empowered to DO IT ALL & had fun doing it!

Yvette Williams gave a powerful testimony that had everyone sitting on the edge of their seats.  1st Lady Shauntai Stowers gave a riveting introduction that literally brought the ladies to their feet (maybe she should’ve gave the message).  I preached “As Is” from John 4 which told the story of The Woman at the Well.  The point of the story is how Jesus accepts our condition “as is.”  We don’t have to cover up, make excuses, or hide behind shame. It was truly an inspiring message.

The evening concluded with prizes given to the woman who had the most guests in attendance. The winner’s prize: Dinner for two with my wife & I.  Shauntai and I are looking forward to this special event.

Here are a few of the many comments I received:

“It was indeed AWESOME, the devil tried to keep me home, but I’m glad I came…”

“AWESOME indeed…had a life-transforming experience”

“Pastor thanks for delivering a message from God that encouraged and ministered to women…that we can meet God just as we are…The women in attendance needed that…”

“Pastor thank you for seeing the need & delivering a dose of medication that was so necessary! I am more empowered today than I was on yesterday.”

“I came to the service expecting & ready to receive and I got WAY MORE!”

In closing, I want to publicly thank our staff & the hundreds of volunteers who gave their time & talents!

I’M BACK! I took a much needed break from blogging to focus on our Easter Weekend Worship Experiences and it was AWESOME!  I just put the finishing touches on my new series: “Supernatural.”

Read on…

What you see is not all there is. The Bible says, “We are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world…” (Eph 6:12, NLT).  Scripture says, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons that we fight with are not the weapons of the world.”  Though we live in a physical world, there is another world.

The Lord’s Shifting…Are You Spiritually Ready?

There is a spirit world, where there is a war raging.  There is the Kingdom of Light versus the kingdom of darkness.  And when we engage in the spiritual battle, we don’t fight with the weapons of this world.  Tonight during Bible Study I’ll share a preview of my forthcoming series “Supernatural.”

Here’s a brief overview:

Is the third Person of the Trinity a distant Mystery, a vague cosmic Force?

Many believers acknowledge Him as a component of faith – but perhaps not as a reality in their daily spiritual walk.  Yet the Bible is clear: the Holy Spirit is a vital, equal part of God, promised by the father to all Christians

In “Supernatural – Walking in the Spirit,” I’ll reveal the inner workings of the Spirit with simple, straightforward wisdom.  During this series you can better experience this awesome gift of God and learn how the Holy Spirit helps us during this war.

You’ll discover:

Spiritual Warfare
Angels & Demons
What Holiness is – and is Not
Seven Works of the Holy Spirit in Your Life
Three Potentials God Desires You to Develop
How to Remain Full of the Holy Spirit
Four Great Questions to Ask God Everyday

If you are faltering, or easily fall prey to temptation, maybe you’ve forgotten to rely upon the Power of the Holy Spirit and begun to rely only on yourself.  The Christian life is meant to be increasingly dependent on His power working within you.

Are you spiritually prepared for warfare?

We all have blind spots.  You can’t see them!  We can’t avoid them and probably will never get rid of them!  Seems obvious, but YOU aren’t in the best position to see your blind spots or to know how they are affecting the people you lead and the relationships you’re in.

Here’s what I’m learning as I lead:

Your greatest strengths can also do damage to your team dynamics. You tend to think that everyone values the same things you value and that everyone is good at the same thing that we are good at.

NOT TRUE!

Over the next few weeks I invite you to join me as I read Strength Finder 2.0.  Strengths Finder 2.0 is the follow up to Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton’s Now, Discover Your Strengths. The book includes a revamped version of the StrengthsFinder test that shows you not just what your top five strengths are, but also how you rank in the rest of the 34 strengths from Buckingham & Clifton’s model.

I recommend that you get the Strength Finder’s book. It’s a great tool to have on your shelf.  After reading the book and completing the Strength Finder survey, I will post my results and encourage you to do the same.  I hope this discussion will encourage you to become more aware of your own blind spots.  Please join me on this amazing journey.

Are you up for the challenge?

My Aunt Doretha used to make the best pound cake in the whole world. It was so rich and creamy. I remember visiting my Aunt Doretha one summer and she explained to me that it was called a pound cake because it used a pound of butter and a pound of sugar (talk about busting the diet). Although it may not have been healthy, it sure was delicious! As I reflect on my aunt’s recipe, I wonder if the pound cake would lose its taste if one of the MAJOR ingredients (sugar or butter) were missing? Would it remain rich and creamy or morph into chewy disaster?

In today’s politics, both Democrats & Republicans demonize those who attempt to move to the middle in an attempt to forge compromises and solve problems that meet the needs of all. We all suffer from this polarization. We desperately need more leaders in Washington who can collaborate.

Google gives an example of what could happen if people would collaborate:

To improve collaboration with others, there may be no greater source for “how to” than Dale Carnegie’s 1936 classic How To Win Friends and Influence People. The principles are timeless. Some of the techniques we can each use to strengthen our collaborations with others include:

1. Become genuinely interested in other people. Take the time to ask them about themselves, their points of view, their histories.
2. Be a good listener. Remembering we’ve been given two ears and one mouth, and using them in that ratio, is a great first step. Let others do the majority of the talking. Put yourself in the “reverent” listening mode, like the person you are speaking with is telling you the most important thing in the world. No multi-tasking while listening. No trying to get in a word edge wise.
3. Be empathetic. Try honestly to see things from the other’s point of view. Repeat key points of what you’ve heard. Even if you don’t agree with the idea, paraphrase your understanding of their thoughts and needs and refrain from judging.
4. Be open, supportive and encouraging in your collaborations with others. Encourage diverse perspectives. Seek to understand. Be optimistic and supportive when hearing other points-of-view.

In my humble opinion, there’s something wrong with leaders from every walk of life. It appears we’ve lost the art of collaboration. It’s the missing ingredient we all need if we’re to be successful in life!

Do you currently practice collaboration with others? If so, how? If not, why?

For that matter, think of their characters: LeVar Burton in Roots, Jack Dawson in The Titanic, or Denzel Washington in The Book of Eli.  What do they have in common?  All are GREAT stories and all GREAT stories and have a hero.  Additionally, their stories possess two key elements you should incorporate into your story:

1. A serious challenge
2. A hero dealing with challenges and learning something as a result

It’s easy to see why most stories fail.  Try this story from a typical church conference speaker:

My wife and I started this church in 19xx with a few people and a heart to win lost people to Jesus (they leave out the part where millionaire donors foot most of the bill).  Today, we are a thriving mega-church with 15 campuses and a $20 million budget.  We host conferences, trainings, and training resources to help you get to where we are (not stated – but implied).  We are #6 on Church Growth Today’s list of the fastest growing churches in America.

It’s an impressive story, but there’s a problem:

IT’S NOT A GOOD STORY &
IT HAS THE WRONG HERO!

If you want your friends, family, church members (pastors), colleagues, or clients to identify with your story, you must do what great story tellers do:

HELP THEM IDENTIFY WITH YOUR HERO!

Trust me: People won’t readily identify with you, your church, or your company/business for a simple reason:

YOU ARE NOT, AND NEVER CAN BE,
THEIR HERO!

Instead, they are their heroes.  People identify with themselves; they want solutions to their problems.  Unfortunately, they are not interested in helping you reach your goals.  Instead, they are interested in making their own lives better.

The ideal story talks about the person, not about you, your church (pastors), or your company/business.  It puts the listener in that hero’s shoes, and creates tension around some challenge that faced the hero.  Your best stories are not about you; they are about them.  Tell stories that make people the heroes and help them identify with them.  Then they will see how you can help them!  It’s a tough task, but, you can do it!

Did I challenge you to change your story?
If so, how?  If not, why?

We think we know: Each was a natural who came into the world with a gift for doing exactly what he ended up doing.  Guess what, I found the secret to their success and because I want you to succeed, I’m ready to share my discovery with the entire world.  I’m about the let you in on a secret that has the potential to revolutionize your life!

Shhhh…Lean Closer….

Here it is:

THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS TO SUCCESS.  PERIOD!

Nobody is great without hard work!

Researchers have identified what they call the ten-year rule when it comes to becoming a world-class performer.  In 2006, Fortune Magazine published, “What It Takes to be Great” which coined the phrase “Performance Principle.”  The Performance Principle says that it takes a long time to be an overnight success.  Furthermore, the author goes on to say, “Even the most accomplished people need around ten years of hard work before becoming world-class…”  This pattern is so well established researchers call it the ten-year rule.  In short, what they and others have discovered: There are not shortcuts!

The best people in any field are those who devote the most hours to what the researchers call “deliberate practice.”  It’s activity that’s explicitly intended to improve performance, that reaches for objectives just beyond one’s level of competence, provides feedback on results and involves high levels of repetition.

Fortune magazine gives this example:

Simply hitting a bucket of balls is not deliberate practice, which is why most golfers don’t get better.  Hitting an eight-iron 300 times with a goal of leaving the ball within 20 feet of the pin 80 percent of the time, continually observing results and making appropriate adjustments, and doing that for hours every day – that’s deliberate practice.

Have you ever been tempted to take shortcuts?  Did you?  What were the results?

Two ways: SIMPLIFY and CLARIFY!

Recently, I accompanied Shauntai (my wife) to the grocery store and was quickly overwhelmed with how many brands and types of toothpaste there were.  In the typical Target store, you confront rows of over sixty options, including pastes with whitener, tartar control, breath-freshening, baking powder, tube and pump, in over a dozen different brands (what ever happened to just plain ole Crest) .

Let’s be honest: We all FEEL overwhelmed. Our DVD players have more functions that we can learn.  When something goes wrong, few of us know what to do.

Additionally, we ARE overwhelmed. Everyone you deal with is overwhelmed.  Whatever you want to communicate to them, you must learn to do it simply and clearly.

The first rule in communication is:
Communicate so that you cannot be misunderstood.

Clarity inspires trust. We worry about the opposite: we fear that people we do not understand may be concealing something.  We suspect the confusion might be a smoke screen, intended to keep us from the truth.

Clarity inspires faith. We assume, as jurors assume when they hear expert witnesses, that a person who communicates clearly understands her subject.  I remember reading somewhere where a leading jury conslulting firm discovered that people regard “clarity” as the signal trait of a true expert!

Here’s The Point:
Make yourself clearer, and people will think you’re an expert.

What tips do you have to share that’ll help others to simplify and clarify their message/product/service?

The author describes the main subject of his book as “thin-slicing:” our ability to gauge what is really important from a very narrow period of experience.  In other words, spontaneous decisions are often as good as—or even better than—carefully planned and considered ones.   Gladwell explains how an expert’s ability to “thin slice” can be corrupted by their likes and dislikes, prejudices and stereotypes.

Whew, that was pretty heavy.
Take a deep breath…relax…are you still with me?

Here’s what Gladwell is saying:  People rarely make decisions as a product of long deliberation.  They make take weeks to announce a decision but often make the decision in minutes, perhaps seconds.

People do not gather data to make a decision;
they often gather it to JUSTIFY their decision!

They are not accumulating understanding; they are seeking comfort and support.  Most decisions are made, and then justified, rather than the other way around.

Therefore, that leads me to one obvious implication: “First impressions are really lasting impressions.”  The first impression, with startling frequency, is also the FINAL DECISION.

HERE’S THE POINT:
The first thing to plan for is your first impression.
Why, once a mind is made up, seldom does it change.

Has anyone judged you based on their first impression?

Have you ever judged someone based on your first impression?