I have recently been working on an online calendar for Krys and I. As school is starting back and the kids are taking classes here for this and there for that we needed a way that we could keep up with everything. Krys is the most organized person I know, for the first couple of weeks that we were married I had to where a name tag that said “husband” (you guys think I am kidding, the dog was the one though that didnt like being labeled;o).) She is able to keep all of her activities as well as the kids in her scheduler and just does an awesome job and getting everyone everywhere that they need to be.  The issue that has started to rise is that since I have ministry obligations and Krys does as well we  were beginning to have overlaps, and as the man that I am sometimes I say sure to commitments before I check out schedules to see if it can be done.  So all of that to say that I have created an online calendar that does everything that we need and emails us an agenda for the day as so forth.  The only issue with it is that it requires Krys and I to actually put the data into the calendar.  So we have to manually sit down and put all of our commitments into this interface; so that means that single point of failure is US.  We have to take the time to put it into use so that the tool can be succesful.  Well this morning this struck me on two points as so true for our Christian walk as well.

1)  If you had an appointment with you boss would you miss it?  If you have a court date would you skip it?  If you had a relative have life or death surgery would you not go?  If you answered “no” to these questions then let me ask you another one that I bet you might answer the same way.  Do you put the same amount of dedication and energy into your devotion everyday?   When you make an appointment with a friend and you dont keep it what does it say to that friend about their value?  The same is true with our walk and with God, if we do not take the time to sit and talk with Him and to read His word how much value does that show in our life.  Is he to believe us when we call Him LORD?

2)  If the Bible is going to make an impact in our lives and is going to be a “tool” that we can use to change us then we have to use it.  We have to take the time to read and devour it.  We have to take the time to learn what it says and to learn to apply it’s principles to our daily steps and thoughts.  If you have never laid tile before and you come up to a problem wouldn’t it be nice to know how to handle it?  Well when we are walking through our days and we come face to face with so many situations it is awesome to have an ability to go the “handbook” that God gave us and learn how to react, what to say, where to go, etc.

In both of the scenarios however WE are the single point of failure.  We have to be the one that is disciplined enough to step up and have our devotion everyday and invest time into God’s Word.  Are you scheduling time with your Father to learn His ways versus your ways?

God Bless ~ Tyler

My senior pastor sent out an email to all of us on staff this morning that I really thought was profound and a great check-up for those in ministry.   I know that it was an attitude check for me in some of the areas of ministry that I am involved in.  I hope that whether you are a Sunday School teacher, a mentor, a pastor, a nursery worker, youth leader or whatever that you will take the time to read through this and hopefully allow the Holy Spirit to touch you and speak to you where needed.

While spiritual leadership involves many of the same principles as general leadership, spiritual leadership has certain distinctive qualities that must be understood and practiced if spirit-ual leaders are to be successful.

The spiritual leader’s task is to move people from where they are to where God wants them to be. This is influence. Once spiritual leaders understand God’s will, they make every effort to move their followers from following their own agendas to pursuing God’s purposes. People who fail to move people to God’s agenda have not led. They may have exhorted, cajoled, pleaded, or bullied, but they will not have led until their people have adjusted their lives to God’s will.

     1. Spiritual leaders depend on the Holy Spirit. Spiritual leaders work within a paradox, for God calls them to do something that, in fact, only God can do. Ultimately, spiritual leaders cannot produce spiritual change in people; only the Holy Spirit can accomplish this. Yet the Spirit often uses people to bring about spiritual growth in others.
     2. Spiritual leaders are accountable to God. Spiritual leadership necessitates an acute sense of accountability. Just as a teacher has not taught until students have learned, leaders don’t blame their followers when they don’t do what they should do. Leaders don’t make excuses. They assume their responsibility is to move people to do God’s will.
     3. Spiritual leaders can influence all people, not just God’s people. God’s agenda applies to the marketplace as well as the meeting place. Although spiritual leaders will generally move God’s people to achieve God’s purposes, God can use them to exert significant godly influence upon unbelievers.
     4. Spiritual leaders work from God’s agenda. The greatest obstacle to effective spiritual leadership is people pursuing their own agendas rather than seeking God’s will.
     5. Too often, people assume that along with the role of leader comes the responsibility of determining what should be done. They develop aggressive goals. They dream grandiose dreams. They cast grand visions. Then they pray and ask God to join them in their agenda and bless their efforts. That’s not what spiritual leaders do. (They) seek God’s will, then marshal their people to pursue God’s plan.

I hope that you were touched by this email as well. 

God Bless ~ Tyler

This morning I was working from home real quick and decided to do something nice for my wife and make her a cup of coffee.   While the coffee was brewing I was also doing my study for church tonight and it brought up an interesting point that actually played out in my wife’s coffee.  As the coffee brewed it for some reason used 4 cups of water to make the equivalent of 1 cup drinkable coffee, which for those of you who are coffee drinkers made her cup look like molasses.  Well as I was reading my text for class it discusses how we as Christians don’t live the holy life that is expected of us and it basically waters down the gospel and what we as Christians stand for.  Think about it just like a cup of coffee, the more coffee and less water the stronger that it is, this correlates to our walk as Christians the more that we are in the word and the more that we are growing in Christ the stronger we will be.  Just like that strong cup of coffee that zaps you with caffeine and is noticeable different so will you be as a Christian to the outside world.  They will notice that something is different in you and that they are missing what you have.  To quote the text:  (Because I believe that the author said it very accurately)

The Church’s greatest testimony before the world is spiritual integrity.  When Christians live below the standards of biblical morality and reverence for their Lord, they compromise the full biblical truth concerning the character, plan, and will of God.  By so doing, they seriously weaken the credibility of the gospel and lessen their impact on the world.  When the unsaved look at the church and do not see holiness, purity, and virtue, there appears to be no reason to believe the gospel it proclaims.  When pastors commit gross sins and are later restored to positions of leadership in the church, when church members lie, steal, cheat, gossip, and quarrel; and when congregations seem to care little about such sin and hypocrisy in their midst, the world is understandably repulsed by their claims to love and serve God.  And the name of Christ is sullied and dishonored.

Just something to think about…is the life that you are living and what the world sees is it watering down the Gospel.  Are you actions of this world?  Are you using profanity, talking about attractive ladies in ways that are not becoming of a Christian, “borrowing” supplies from the office?  Is every action that you take something that would make Christ smile?  Remember He is always watching.  Lets make an impact on the world like 5 spoonfuls of coffee per cup of water!!!  Let’s be strong!

God Bless ~ Tyler

On my flight to Phoenix this week the airline showed a movie that I had seen before but I watched again because it is a great movie.  As I was watching it I realized that I had missed certain scenes due to either taking children to the bathroom, getting popcorn or whatever else the constant trips required.  Of course anytime you take 4 kids to the movies you rarely get to “watch” it!  But as I was watching it this time I realized that I had missed several key scenes and several pieces to the plot that made it even more interesting.  One of those scenes that was very profound to me and hit me like a brick to the head (I have never been hit in the head with a brick but I can only assume that it would get your attention.)

This scene was at a crucial part of the film when all of the success of the main characters depended on this one little girl finding the one who could save them from death in the great battle.  The one that she was looking for was named Aslan.  Throughout both of the Chronicles of Narnia films he represents Christ in everything that he does.  Now if you do not understand the meanings behind these films then you simply think that Aslan is a talking lion but if you are farmiliar with the underlays then you understand that Aslan is a representation of our “Lion of Judah” or in other words Jesus!

Throughout the movie before this scene the little girl had been seeing Aslan and the other 3 characters were not seeing him so they assumed that she was wrong.  They then went throughout the movie trying to do everything on their own strength without waiting for Aslan to arrive.  This however is another blog all in itself, the point today is what Aslan said to the little girl as soon as they were re-united.  Lucy (the little girl) as soon as she was face to face with Aslan brags that she knew he was alive the whole time.  And that the others did not believe her.  Aslan then asks a question that as a believer should really make you think.

Aslan says “Why would that stop you from coming to me?”

Wow! How profound and also how accurate is that.  We as Christians routinely often chose when we will go to Jesus and when we will fight on our own.  We will get in a place and begin to believe the lie that the devil tells us that we can do this without Him.  So dont let others or yourself stop you from going to Jesus.  He is our constant source of everything and our only HOPE.

Stay in the word and fight on your knees!!!

God Bless ~ Tyler

Aslan