Previously, pastors would celebrate their pastoral anniversary by having a banquet at a hotel or banquet hall. This year we decided to change the game and hold my 10th Anniversary aboard The Spirit of Chicago.  We had an AWESOME time! I want to thank Mary Taylor, our staff, and our members for making this a memorable occasion.

Enjoy the video!

Much like the National Baseball Hall of Fame for Major League baseball players, each participant, upon induction, receives the coveted American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame ring and officially becomes one of the Cooperstown Dreams Park Little Majors.  The Kodak photo of each player with his teammates is affixed to the Commemorative Induction Plaque for future enshrinement on the walls of the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame.  Our family will cherish this moment for the rest of our lives!

(Congratulations to Indians for finishing 10th out of 104 teams)

While away, I had a chance to reflect on life in general and the Lord revealed several foundational shattering truths that I plan to share in subsequent blog posts.  These truths challenged me to think about life in a different way and challenged long held beliefs that have become TRADITIONS.

I use to believe that life is a series of peaks and valleys – you go through a dark time and then you go to the mountaintop – criss-crossing back and forth.  Our African-American Baptist tradition supports this view and encourages believers to praise God while you’re on the mountain and double your praise if you’re in the valley.  We often hear a familiar colloquialism of the faith: “YOUR BREAKTHROUGH IS ON THE WAY.”

I NO LONGER BELIEVE THAT & HERE’S WHY…

The good that happens in life and the bad that happens run on parallel tracks. At all times you either have something good AND something bad in your life – BOTH OCCURING SIMULTANEOUSLY!

In case you haven’t figured it out, life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you’re just coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into another one.   The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; He’s more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.  We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that’s not the goal of life.  The goal is to grow in character, in Christ-likeness.  Sometimes it takes bad situations to make that happen.

What’s your take?

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I guess you all know by now that my baby and I attended the John Legend & Raphael Saadiq concert Friday Night @ Cadillac Palace Theater & it was ALL THAT!!!  Since I'm into Neo-soul music & a great fan of both (been a Tony, Toni, Tone fan since "Feels Good"), a good friend hooked me up w/an autograph that I would like to share – Thanks Sheila!!!

In order to be more productive in life, leave a pen and paper by your bed.  When the issues of the day start to nag at you, make a note.  The payoff is immediate!  Writing down your concerns will actually help you let go of them so you can sleep.  Then take those pages with you to work.  As you prepare for the day, look them over and sketch out how you can alleviate your concerns.  The key is to identify the issue and determine how you will address.  Create a time frame for carrying out your plan & hold yourself to it.  Not only will you work more effectively, you'll sleep better too!

Go ahead & give it a try and let me know the results!

 

I've made plans be part of Catalyst's newest offering: a One Day
leadership experience (glad someone figured it only took ONE DAY to say what they have to say) packed with teaching and insight from Andy
Stanley and Craig Groeschel, two leading voices in the Church today.

They say we're going to learn how to:

• Discover the key to creating and sustaining momentum in your organization
• Identify and break through the barriers to momentum and overcome personal leadership lids
• Leverage the three triggers which ignite organizational momentum
• Create a culture of continual improvement
• Embrace a new approach to leading organizational change

I really like these two guys & I'm pumped to hear what they have to say!