I'm really loving using my new Google Voice service.
Here are the best things about it:
> it's totally free
> when Google adds new features, I automatically get them
> it turns voicemails into transcripts that get texted to me (perfect for when I'm in a meeting)
> it allows me the capability to download my voicemails as an mp3 file (now I can save precious messages)
> it allows me to record phone conversations (of course not without the other party knowing)
> it allows me to hold conference calls with basically an unlimited amount of participants

Here's a great example of it's voicemail feature.

What Are Your Strengths (or Know Thyself)

"What are your strengths?"

That's a very important question. And if you want to spend your time wisely, you'd do good to get to know what you're good at. Can you answer that question for yourself? If you need help discovering what your strengths are and why you should be OBSESSED with them, I highly recommend this book.


I read the book and took the assessment a while ago and it was eye-opening to say the least. But it's been a while since I thought about it's findings. So, I just took a look at my Strengths Finder Signature Themes because, to be honest, I was beginning to forget them. 

If you're interested, here's the summary of what it says for me:

RelatorRelator describes your attitude toward your relationships. In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls you toward people you already know. You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people—in fact, you may have other themes that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends—but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk—you might be taken advantage of—but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. And the only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.
AchieverYour Achiever theme helps explain your drive. Achiever describes a constant need for achievement. You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself. And by “every day” you mean every single day—workdays, weekends, vacations. No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied. You have an internal fire burning inside you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more. After each accomplishment is reached, the fire dwindles for a moment, but very soon it rekindles itself, forcing you toward the next accomplishment. Your relentless need for achievement might not be logical. It might not even be focused. But it will always be with you. As an Achiever you must learn to live with this whisper of discontent. It does have its benefits. It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out. It is the jolt you can always count on to get you started on new tasks, new challenges. It is the power supply that causes you to set the pace and define the levels of productivity for your work group. It is the theme that keeps you moving.
Focus“Where am I headed?” you ask yourself. You ask this question every day. Guided by this theme of Focus, you need a clear destination. Lacking one, your life and your work can quickly become frustrating. And so each year, each month, and even each week you set goals. These goals then serve as your compass, helping you determine priorities and make the necessary corrections to get back on course. Your Focus is powerful because it forces you to filter; you instinctively evaluate whether or not a particular action will help you move toward your goal. Those that don’t are ignored. In the end, then, your Focus forces you to be efficient. Naturally, the flip side of this is that it causes you to become impatient with delays, obstacles, and even tangents, no matter how intriguing they appear to be. This makes you an extremely valuable team member. When others start to wander down other avenues, you bring them back to the main road. Your Focus reminds everyone that if something is not helping you move toward your destination, then it is not important. And if it is not important, then it is not worth your time. You keep everyone on point.
LearnerYou love to learn. The subject matter that interests you most will be determined by your other themes and experiences, but whatever the subject, you will always be drawn to the process of learning. The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you. You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence. The thrill of the first few facts, the early efforts to recite or practice what you have learned, the growing confidence of a skill mastered—this is the process that entices you. Your excitement leads you to engage in adult learning experiences—yoga or piano lessons or graduate classes. It enables you to thrive in dynamic work environments where you are asked to take on short project assignments and are expected to learn a lot about the new subject matter in a short period of time and then move on to the next one. This Learner theme does not necessarily mean that you seek to become the subject matter expert, or that you are striving for the respect that accompanies a professional or academic credential. The outcome of the learning is less significant than the “getting there.”
ResponsibilityYour Responsibility theme forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion. Your good name depends on it. If for some reason you cannot deliver, you automatically start to look for ways to make it up to the other person. Apologies are not enough. Excuses and rationalizations are totally unacceptable. You will not quite be able to live with yourself until you have made restitution. This conscientiousness, this near obsession for doing things right, and your impeccable ethics, combine to create your reputation: utterly dependable. When assigning new responsibilities, people will look to you first because they know it will get done. When people come to you for help—and they soon will—you must be selective. Your willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead you to take on more than you should.

 If you know me, does that sound like me?
It's almost scary for me to read =)

C.S. Lewis's Impact

(My great friend Zac Smith gave me a significant portion of the most popular portion of the C.S. Lewis library as a wedding gift and I will always be grateful to him for that.)

It's one of my goals in life to someday own & read EVERYTHING ever published C.S. Lewis.
He was such a great thinker and writer that I think everyone should read at very least 3 of his books (suggestion:  Mere Christianity, The Weight of Glory, and The Screwtape Letters). If you're not convinced of his importance and the potential for your life to be changed, take some time to watch this lecture by John Piper. It is a long lecture (lectures usually = slow at times), but one that is well worth your time.


Thank you C.S. Lewis. You have helped me love the truth and real joy more.

Why Would Jesus Rebuke His Own Mother? (Or Because We're All In This Together)

I promise I'm not as boring as I may sound.
Ok.
You may continue.


To set it up, Jesus has just rebuked his concerned mother (she thought he was going a little overboard with this whole Savior-thing) in front of a crowd of his disciples because it was so crowded that she couldn't get close enough to him. So, she basically tells a random disciple, "Hey, please get Jesus's attention & tell him that his mother & brothers are here to get him."(Ouch!)
Jesus essentially replies, "These are my mothers & brothers; the ones following me, listening to me, & obeying me."

Now, the explanation.
As I read this portion of commentary from the Life Application New Testament Commentary (by the way, one of my favorite resources) I knew I had to share it's contents which explain the story.

"Jesus gave a respectful rebuke to his overly concerned mother; he was not severing ties with his earthly family. Through this incident, Jesus gave another lesson to his followers by explaining that spiritual relationships are as binding as physical ones. This would be the basis for the new community that Jesus was building--the Christian family [aka. The Church]...In these words, Jesus was explaining that in his spiritual family, relationships are ultimately more important and longer-lasting than those formed in one's physical family." (in reference to Luke 8:19-21, emphasis added)

I love it!
Shouldn't this then change our attitude & behavior towards the people in our church communities?
Now, let these words sink in:

"Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." (John 13:35, NLT)

Most Clicked Tweets

Just in case you missed the opportunity but wanted to check out the links when you had some more time, here are my latest Top 5 Most Clicked Tweets:

1. I am loving our new church management system. It's web-based, secure, simple, cost-effective & empowering. Check them out! http://ow.ly/I41U (32 clicks)
2. If you're looking to ruin your marriage now or in the future don't read this from @perrynoble - http://ow.ly/J1Xj (22 clicks)
3. Want to know what the Jewish Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is all about? Expiation - http://ow.ly/Ji07 (16 clicks)
4. his is for @zacjs8, I found my new favorite-better-than-El-Sabrosito-authentic-mexican-food-right-on-my-block taco stand! http://ow.ly/Jkbv (12 clicks)
5. Asking the wrong questions can lead you in the wrong direction, so, ask the right questions - http://ow.ly/J21h (11 clicks)

Twitter is more than just a place to reveal that "you're going to the bathroom and the cat is starring at me" throughout the day. It's about sharing great content too.

A Strong Rebuttal For Charges Against Your Lack of Age

"Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity."

-Timothy 4:12 (NLT)

Instead of getting a bad attitude when this happens (the getting-thought-less-of), get stronger in your example. Let your words, actions, motives, faith, and pure living be the rebuttal to the charges made against you and your lack of age.

Put Your iTunes Library Online

Thanks to Lala.com now you can put your entire music library online. You can also download your Lala library to your iTunes library. Now your music libraries will be sync'd...for FREE!

check out Lala for the details.
IMPORTANT UPDATE:  it's not a true backup, so don't get rid of your regular backups.

Hillsong Creative DVD - Musician Training

Came across this online today & had to share it.
I would highly recommend every band & worship team buy it. It will challenge, inspire, & aid your growth. I'm getting one for my team over at Calvary, guaranteed.
Here's a sample (& one of my favorite Hillsong tracks tracks by the way):

A Great & Challenging Question

A well know leader, author, and down-right good guy, by the name of Tony Morgan has one of the best blogs on the planet. He's a guy I'd love to have lunch or dinner with on a frequent basis (unfortunately, he has actually turned a real lunch offer down that I proposed, but that's a whole notha' story.)

If you are a person in any church in America, I highly recommend you read this post by Tony.
It is so challenging and such a great question to ask that I will be conversing with many people about it.

(By the way, the link is the word "this post" in the above semi-paragraph if you're not familiar with the way we savi-bloggers do things.)

His Point Is Good, But His Theology Is Bad

President Obama recently used a portion of The Sermon On The Mount by Jesus in one of his speeches.

Check out a portion of the transcript here.

Good point, no theology, but good point that excites me.

That's My King!

Easter Sunday was off the chain yesterday.
God literally did an amazing work within the walls of our worship center.
And it all got kicked off by a "That's My King" video of Dr. S.M. Lockridge.

SM Lockridge (by the way: "S" is for Shadrach & "M" is for Meschach...that's cool) is one of my preacher heroes. I don't know much about him but I do know that he pastored faithfully in Texas & down in San Diego, CA for a while at a Calvary Baptist.

If anybody could sum up Jesus (which nobody can) it would be SM Lockridge's "My King" sermon.

PS. go here to view it.

Why You'll Regret Not Blogging

As much as we all hate those old childhood home videos because they showcase that funky '80s hair style or that goofy life stage you were in, the older you get the more your hate turns into a love. It's actually pretty cool watching stuff that actually happened. It's like re-living the moment again! See, I think looking at your past is healthy. When we look at our past we see just how good God is and we can learn what mistakes to never do again. (so long knee-high-socks-with-the-colored-stripe-at-the-top!)

Blogging, or journaling, helps me remember, reflect, and rejoice. I think those are worthy things to put some effort towards. Yes, it takes discipline, but it also takes a change of mind first. So...

Here's my list (in no particular order) of reasons why you'll regret not blogging:

1. You'll have missed out on the opportunity to journal with a built-in archiving system.
2. You'll have missed out on the opportunity to capture a specific experience because now you can't remember the details a week later.
3. Your good friend across the country couldn't get a glimpse into your life even though they would have loved to on a consistent basis.
4. You ended up with 6 blank fancy journals that ended up on a bookshelf.
5. You can add real video (can't do that on paper!)
6. You'll end up forgetting that great thought you just had to share with everyone
7. It could have helped you work through a particular thought
8. It would have helped your writing/communicating skills
9. Your thought/prayer/idea could have connected with and encouraged someone
10. The entire rest of your life is digital now (music, movies, mail, etc.) and you just now figured out that's why a journal never stuck.

I'm sure I could go on, but I won't. I hope I've changed your mind.
And now 10 months later when I start to doubt the benefits of this whole thing, I can come back to this post and remember!

Make Diciples Like Rick Warren Does

If you don't know who Rick Warren is please come back to planet Earth.
If you're sick of hearing about Rick Warren please leave planet Earth.
I've learned to take very seriously anything Rick says; he oozes out wisdom in the simplest of terms. He is on my "have dinner with before dying" list. Check this out.
Your church, your ministry, your family, can boost it's disciple-making impact Rick Warren style. Everything he, and his church, does tries to answer these next questions:

*1. Are people learning the content and meaning of the Bible?
*2. Are people seeing themselves, life, and other people more clearly from God's perspective?
*3. Are people's values becoming more aligned with God's values?
*4. Are people becoming more skilled in serving God?
*5. Are people becoming more like Christ?

That's it. Now you, and your team/family, can make disciples like Rick, and Jesus.
It's that simple. Not that easy, but that simple.

*from "Help People Develop Spiritual Growth Habits" by Pastor Rick Warren)

Check This Book out!

I've made up my mind: if you only read 3 books this year (by the way, 3 is NOT a lot), 1 should be The Relationship Principles of Jesus by Tom Holladay (the Bible should be another one & I'm still out-to-lunch on the third). And when I say "you" I mean you. Here's just a sample of it's profound simplicity and potent power from my first day notes:

Day #1 - Nothing Is More Important

• “Relationships are painful. Relationships are wonderful. We all live in the drama that plays out between these two truths.”
• “Relationships are filled with both wonder and pain.”
• “When Jesus came to this earth, he demonstrated that he understands both [wonder and pain]...Jesus came to show you how to enjoy a new way of relating to God and to others.”
• “...How easy it is to value things over people.”
• “Priorities become most important when we must make choices. If we had enough time to do everything, everything could be a priority. But we don’t…”
• “If we had the power to do every good thing we wanted to do, our choices wouldn’t be so important. But we can’t…”
• “When Jesus spoke about the priority of relationships, he could not have been clearer. He taught that relationships must be given the highest of values…”
• “He values our relationship with God, and he values our relationships with each other.
  “Your relationships with God and others will last all the way into eternity.”
• “A life without relationships may well be a simpler life, but it is also an empty life.”
• “The path to the greatest life possible and the greatest joy possible is found in the priority that Jesus taught us to keep at the top of the list: place the highest value on relationships.”

That is only the beginning! Personally, I believe that people all around me (including myself) that are in my age-group need to get the whole relationship-thing down because if we don't our lives will end up wasting so many opportunities and so much time in areas that are not as important.

Act, Learn, Refine...repeat

A big focus that I have this year is to learn more about who I really am; what God-given talents I have & what talents I don't have so I don't waste life and so I can surround myself with people who fill my gaps. I'm taking the wise approach and looking into many different areas for counsel (obviously Scripture as my top priority) and a huge help on the area of talent feedback is currently Now, Discover Your Strengths. Buy it. Read the 1st half, take the assessment, then read the rest.

Here's a great quote from the book:
"Building a strong life means that you allow performance to be the final judge of your strengths. Performance, properly measured, is implacable and unforgiving, and without doubt there will be times when your claims of strength are judged favorably." (p.127)

What are things I'm actually good at time after time? That's a great question to ask others to answer about yourself.