1.  My favorite conversation in the lobby today was when a CLCer hugged me & expressed his thanks to me “for being a real pastor, and for bringing in guest speakers who are real”. That comment got me thinking:

• “Being real” is probably my #1 criteria for the men of God that I admire and receive from.  I think more than ever before, the body of Christ needs leaders who are known because of their character more than their charisma.
• If my humble opinion means anything, Mark is the real deal.  From everything I see and sense about him, he doesn’t just talk the talk; he walks the walk.  In our personal time today at lunch, he challenged all our pastors and youth directors of CLC that our #1 priority is to minister to the Lord, not to minister for the Lord.  That’s the kind of encouragement & challenge that we all need, repeatedly, in a world that is so performance-driven.
• I loved how Mark unpacked Scripture for us today.  I’m probably biased, because it’s my favorite style of teaching personally, but I still love it when a pastor goes through the text and shows us one nugget after another that’s been there all along, just waiting to be discovered.  To teach like that requires a lot of study & preparation, combined with spiritual insight – and that’s also the kind of ministry I look for when inviting guests into our pulpit.
• I admire Mark’s “sanctified intellect“.  Read any of his books or listen to any of his sermons, and you’ll quickly recognize that he is a thinker.  Too many of us have settled for shallow thinking and can’t honestly say that we are loving God with all our mind.  (That’s one of the themes of his latest book, Primal, by the way) Being around men & women of God like Mark make me want to dig a little deeper and expand my thinking.
• I appreciate Mark’s humility.  He didn’t have to tell us about his failure in his first church-planting effort.  He didn’t have to tell us about his recent embarrassment of forgetting the wedding he was to officiate.  But by sharing his humanity, he draws us close and helps us all relate.  Nothing turns me off like arrogance in the pulpit, but guests like Mark give me hope that God can use even guys like me.
• I learn from the experience of others.  One of the things I value most about Mark’s teaching, in person and in print, is how he shares truth proven in the crucible of experience.  Don’t know about you, but theory doesn’t do a lot for me.  I much prefer the pragmatic, proven truths that have been uncovered by life experiences – and Mark’s teaching rings true because it has been proven.

2.  This 20th-anniversary year has highlighted my philosophy about all of the guests that we invite to minister at CLC: namely, I look for men and women whose ministry will complement and supplement my own.  Almost every guest we invite has a gift or specialty or anointing that is different than my own – and I believe their impartation makes CLC a stronger church.  My ‘interpretation’ of Ephesians 4:11-13 is that it will take more than my ministry as pastor to enable CLC to reach the full maturity that God desires for us; it will take the input of various gifts: apostles, prophets, evangelists, and other pastor-teachers.  Some of those we invite have a strong prophetic gift; others have unusual anointings in specific areas of ministry; still others come with an authority of ministry that only God could give – but ALL of them offer CLC the benefit of their unique calling & ministry – and we’re a better church for receiving them.

One last thing: bringing in guests like Mark gives me a chance as a pastor to build a godly relationship and friendship with men who ‘sharpen’ me (Prov. 27:17).  (This may be the biggest benefit of all, and I’m thankful for the chance to grow my friendship with Mark today)

That’s what I call a good day at CLC.

As we strategized about our ‘process’ for bringing people from their first visit to CLC, to being a fully-engaged member, we talked about what it is that we really want our people to do, regularly.  (Sometimes we make the Christian life way too complicated, you know)

Ready?  Here’s what we came up with: fast, pray, read, invite.

1.  Fast every week.

2.  Pray every day.

3.  Read your Bible every day.

4.  Invite someone to church every week.

Simple, isn’t it?  But if we can motivate every CLCer to do those 4 things, get ready for GROWTH – spiritual growth for you, and numerical growth for CLC.

That’s not just what we want from you; that’s what we want for you – lots of growth!

Whaddya think? Leave a comment below-

I’m learning a lesson that’s worth passing on: ‘we’ are better than ‘me’!  When we come together as a pastoral team, and add the creativity of our worship directors and media team, the end result is always better than what I come up with on my own (and with the Lord, of course).  I love our CLC team!

Harry Truman said it like this:  “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” and the great basketball coach from UCLA, John Wooden, said, “It takes ten hands to score a basket.”

Do you allow others to make you better? That’s one of the keys Solomon discovered about “working smarter” – and there’s a lot more of them coming this Sunday.  Invite a friend!

As a pastor, every so often, it’s important for me to get preached-to myself, and I am enjoying every minute of this opportunity:

Rick Bezet made me laugh.  Priscilla Shirer grabbed my heart and squeezed.  Robert Morris taught on money as well as I’ve ever heard it taught.  Miles McPherson helped me laugh some more.  And tonight, Dino Rizzo made me want to always stay small, no matter how big CLC ever gets!

Dino’s quote of the day: “There really are no big churches.  There’s just a BIG God, using small churches to do big things!”

Tomorrow is another full day before Ed and I hop on two more flights back to Chicago, but right now, my bed is calling me.  Coming home changed!

But before I go, just wanna share a couple of stories I heard yesterday:

• my guest (see previous posts here and here) met my wife for the first time Sunday – AND has attended each Sunday since that first visit and told me today, “I only wish I had started to attend sooner!” Yay, Jesus!
• CLCer Levar Fisher was invited to speak at a maximum-security prison, and about 800 inmates came to hear his message.  At the close, he told the story of being drafted to play in the NFL, and his excitement about the draft – then told the inmates that they were also being drafted – by the Lord Jesus Christ; he then gave a salvation invitation and over half of the men responded by praying to receive Christ!

Now that’ll get your motor started first thing in the morning!

Don’t forget: just 5 invite days till we look at Proverbs wisdom on “Master Your Money!”

1. the sanctity of human life;
2. the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife; and
3. the rights of conscience and religious liberty.

It is clear that these basic truths are being threatened today on all sides. Millions of innocent children are being killed by abortion; same-sex “marriage” has become common in several states; and there are very real threats to our ability to freely practice religion and follow our consciences.

As the pastor of Christian Life Center, I have in the past and will continue in the future to refrain from mere political statements or positions – but I see this as being far more than a political issue – it’s a spiritual issue for those of us who want to be salt and light in a nation that is increasingly becoming dark.  Therefore, I urge you to go to the website. Follow the links to read and understand the Manhattan Declaration and add your voice to the many who have already responded. Encourage others to sign as well. The goal is one million signatures. To date, over 440,000 people have signed, including hundreds of religious leaders.

Along with the authors of the Manhattan Declaration, may we “commit ourselves to honoring [these fundamental truths] fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about,

When he might have won had he stuck it out;

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–

You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,

It seems to a faint and faltering man,

Often the struggler has given up,

When he might have captured the victor’s cup,

And he learned too late when the night slipped down,

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out–

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far,

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

– Author unknown

Here are their requests, in their own words:

• pray for spiritual fathers to step up to mentor us-
• pray for us to have the conviction to repent for being influenced by our culture & instead find our identity as the sons & daughters of God-
• pray for us to keep our focus in this often-overwhelming, information age-
• pray for us that we not be deceived, but get wisdom and understanding-
• pray that we hear the voice of God clearly, not just what we want to hear-
• pray that we stand in purity!
• pray that we would have a relentless passion for the lost, to win souls for Jesus-
• pray that we be awakened to live righteously, in all we do-
• pray that we would return to our holiness roots-
• pray that we would be willing to pay the price as previous generations did-
• pray for Hispanic families, as this generation is seeing the destruction of the nuclear family-

I’d say those are requests worthy of our attention & intercession – and it’s what the next generation WANTS us to pray! As a pastor, I’m impressed with the caliber of young men & women God has raised up at CLC, and I want to see them go further and accomplish more than we have in our generation! I hope you’ll join me in praying earnestly for the next generation at CLC-

But the guys are definitely in agreement that they’re coming home different than when they left!  Besides the insights and practical tips gained in some of the sessions, there were definite ‘God-moments’ of inspiration and renewed passion.  And, as is so often the case, probably the greatest benefit was the unity and camaraderie developed by being with each other for the past 3 days.  Several of the guys expressed how they ‘feel’ like more of a team now and see their role of leading the youth for ALL of CLC, not just their individual campus.  All of that makes their pastor proud!

Without a doubt the biggest God-moment for me came this morning in a session led by Dr. Jack Hayford, when we closed by praying for the generation coming up behind us.  I plan to post more about that next week, so let me just say now that I don’t have words to describe what I felt and sensed as I prayed for our guys, but I can tell you that I’m coming home different, too – more determined than ever to pour into this next generation of CLC leaders, and to help them develop in their ministries.

Still can’t wait for tomorrow and the opening of “Making Your Life Work”.

Here in Tulsa, we left the hotel about 7:30am and just got back a few minutes ago – in the last 15.5 hours, our youth ministry leaders from the various campuses and I attended about 12 different workshops and two main services at Empowered21.  Each of the guys seemed to glean new personal insights and I’m already sensing a new passion in them for reaching & discipling our teens at CLC.  You would also be proud of them for the way they’ve responded – in fact, tonight when the main service closed, they wanted to stay behind for a late-night worship session, while I returned to the hotel.  I’m glad to be with them here, and I’m proud of these volunteers who lead our student ministries!

Meanwhile, I received a text message from Chris and the team of ladies in Ankara, Turkey.  The women’s gathering there feels SO strategic, as it was first requested of us about 5 years ago and we’ve tried to schedule it ever since then, with various complications that caused it not to happen until today.

They began with a leadership gathering first, and Chris wrote that the meeting with the Turkish leaders was “absolutely wonderful…..beyond words!”

Turkey is the largest unreached country in the world, and such a strategic nation that we feel the Lord has ‘assigned’ to us at CLC, so I’m thrilled with her brief report, and I ask that you would pray with me for the next two days with the larger gathering of ladies (beginning in the next few hours), and the Sunday services with our partners (they’re 8 hrs. ahead of us, so pray Saturday evening for a real outpouring of the Holy Spirit).

God is good!  I’m gonna get some shut-eye now so as to be ready for another full day here in Tulsa before flying home tomorrow night.  Don’t forget: one last day to invite someone to be your guest this Sunday for “Making Your Life Work”!