Bloggers Book Study: ax.i.om by Bill Hybels...

Happy Monday morning! What a week and weekend! Shout out to my husband, Heredes, and everyone from Potential Studios and others that made F309 a major success.

This morning we will be in pages 40-48 in the book ax.i.om.

9. The Fair Exchange Value: It comes right out of 1 Timothy 5. In any type of "corporation"- "leaders try to extract the most output from staffers in exchange for the least amount of input". Hybels says that sadly it even happens in the church. He shares the occurring years [5 yrs] that this would happen at Willow. Every year staffers hoped for that raise, etc. But it didn't really happened but they served excited and still at a high level. But after a couple of years, and seeing more buildings and ministries being built, the level began to drop and some had to have that talk with Hybels. He shares about one of his leaders who had to find a marketplace job. At the end Hybels and him worked it out and he is still working and leading after 32 years.
"I had espoused the value of fairness for as long as I could remember, and here I was losing one of my best workers for one simple reason: I was violating the fair exchange value."
And to all of you on staff at Flamingo Road Church- man, you guys rock! Thank you for the sacrifices you take in day in and day out. God has your reward.

10. The Value of a Good Idea: Hybels was in Spain leading a conference and was heading back home but needed to bring in a good idea to see change in Willow's congregation. "I might be one good idea away from a message series that could fire up our church again." Before leaving, he walked on the beach, back and forth, until God gave him that best good idea. God did. ;)
He asks, "What is the value of a good idea? A thousand lives added and tens of thousands of lives touched- all of which could be traced back to a desperate plea to God on a rainy day in Spain."
"Leaders traffic in idea creation. The best leaders I know are ferociously disciplined about seeking them out and incredibly committed to stewarding them well."
I loved this small section: talking about- to get to that one best good idea, you need to allow for hundreds or even thousands of mediocre ideas. "After all, if your big 'aha' is number seventy-eight, you'll never discover it unless you discipline yourself and your team to think through numbers one through seventy-seven."
Steward good ideas well. And great leaders keep a pad of paper and a pen by their bed. ;)

11. Build a Boiler Fund: Mismanagement is one of the many causes organizations fail/close down. And most of the time it has to do with a financial area. "The painful truth is that unless we become consistently profitable, we will not exist to minister another day." Proverbs 6:6- we should be like the ant storing up a reasonable about of reserve. As a church, there should be a boiler fund, so when something huge breaks down, etc. it can be replaced by the reserve we have set aside. "If you and I really believe that the local church is the hope of the world, then I believe we should do everything in our power to make sure that, at least from a financial perspective, the ministry can thrive well into the future."

That concludes my section. Thanks for stopping by. Join us tomorrow as Stacie Gonzalez leads the review. Now off to work! ;)

Bloggers Book Study: Crazy Love...

Book 2 has begun. If you missed, check it out: Ch. 1 & 2: Genie , Ch. 3 & 4: Yoel,
Ch. 5 & 6: Stacie

Chapter 7: You're Best Life, Later:
Chan states that we need to make a distinct choice: to either just live life OR actively run to Christ. There is "Beauty in a deep walk with Christ."

I love that he bases a lot of this chapter off of Hebrews 11- The Hall of Faith. Woopee!!
What should or does our life look like daily? When we look at the "Hall of Faithers" :) do we feel that we would never be as "spiritual" as them?
Chan reminds us that all had their mistakes, failures, etc... but they ALL trusted and had faith in God. "By faith.."v. 17

Faith: doing what others see as crazy... And when we think of all the "hall of faithers" were called to do, it was a huge leap of faith.
Chan: "Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers"
Vs. 35-38: The martyrs... "the world was not worthy of them"-- read hebrews 11: man it is incredible!
Bottom line is these believers had faith in a real God; they obeyed to the end- even if they saw what was promised or not...they gained a better resurrection.

There is so much to write, but as condensed as possible, Chan shares what love is..It is based around Christ's two commandments: love God with all & love others. He talks about what if we take the Bible literally. Giving and loving. "As we love more genuinely & deeply, giving comes more naturally, taking becomes unattractive." Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice. Just dwell on that for a while. Live a life of reckless abandon. Compassion. Loving the poor, the weak, the lost.

Chapter 8: Profile of the Obsessed:
Obsession: "to have the mind excessively pre-occupied with a single emotion or topic."

Lovers: obsessed with true love; a kind only found in Christ. [Luke 6:32-36; Luke 14:12-14] Be willing to forgive and LOVE those who have hurt you.
Risk Takers: obsessed with God's kingdom.
We have all prayed on a trip, "God protect us. Put your angels around this car..etc." We need to pray "whatever it takes" prayers.
Friend for All: obsessed to connect their lives to the poor in some way.
Chan saying here that we need to be intentional to meet people not like us who are in need.
Crazy Ones: obsessed to obey God rather than doing what is expected or fulfilling to status quo
Chan shares his selling of his house for a smaller one. Everyone thought he was crazy. But he asks "who really is the crazy one?" Those gladly sacrificing time, house, comfort are trusting in God's promises.
The Humble: obsessed with knowing the sin of pride is always a battle. Fight pride with focused prayer
Servers: obsessed with knowing that serving is not a burden.
Chan used to "work" hard to show commitment to God. Now he has realized he serves out of being madly in love with Christ.
Givers: obsessed with giving to those in need.. not takers
Soul Journers: obsessed with thinking about Heaven frequently.
Ex. of his wife's grandma: at a play. He asks her if she enjoys it. She answers "I don't know if this is where I want to be if Christ returns."
Engrossed: obsessed with a committed, settled, passionate love for God above & before every other thing & every other being [Deut. 6:4-9]
Unguarded Ones: obsessed with being RAW with God. To have true intimacy with God, we need to be "naked" before Him.
The Rooted: obsessed with meditating on the Word with delight, not out of religion or schedule.
The Dedicated: obsessed/more concerned with his/her character than comfort
Sacrificers: [Psalm 50:9-12;14] just being faithful to our Savior in every aspect of our daily lives

After listening to these chapters [free audio book here] I'm not sure how I felt. I don't know if I agree or disagree with some of the ideas shared. I appreciate Chan's heart to live a totally unselfish, abandoned life. I get what he is saying. Like he said, many accept salvation to get a spot in Heaven and forget that there is a life that needs to be lived for Him. Jesus told the disciples to leave ALL and follow Him. I guess I was torn between what is over spiritualized and what is just getting and living out the two commandments. Well, you decide if you want to read or listen to the chapters and expand your thoughts for discussion.

Follow Miguel's blog tomorrow as he ends the last two chapters.

Day 8- Bloggers Book Study

Before I begin, if you are joining us for the first time, you will want to catch up on the previous chapters. So, click here. If you missed Chapter 9, you have to check out Matt Miller's blog.

Today I will be summarizing Chapter 10: A leader's Prayer. Here goes...
"God, Mold and Shape Me to My Full Leadership Potential."
Hybels opens with a moment on his boat in Lake Michigan praying and journaling to God saying, "God I want to be a better leader..." He felt led by the Holy Spirit to take a trip down the Old & New Testament & study some of the greatest, diverse leaders & take a look at the "praiseworthy components of their leadership." And so he begins...
God, make me like David:

• His faith-based OPTIMISM
• Attempted feats for God where more cautious leaders would never have considered.
• A giant could not intimidate him, a murderous king could not paralyze him, & genocidal enemies could not defeat him
• Where God pointed David, he marched confidently expecting grace & power to be revealed along the way
• David clung to hope even when he morally failed.. "I [David] thought, 'Who knows? The Lord maybe gracious to me & let the child live." 2 Samuel 12:22
• "Optimists expect to experience God's greatness & love, even when they're facing bleak circumstances."
• The people we lead hear way to much pessimism. They need & deserve to hear leaders who are optimistic, who will be passionate about the hope that is there & ahead. Change can happen, will happen. Transformation will happen through the changing power of Jesus' love & forgiveness.
• Leader, don't we need that optimism?

God, Make Me like Jonathan:

• His capacity to LOVE
  
• A bright, gifted, young leader whose "position in life was not as impressive as the condition of his heart."
• He offered his heart on a platter & offered it to David. [Who would be the one to take the throne]
• Pastor Troy says this to us all the time, we are not here to use people, they are not our little tools. We should not sacrifice community on the "alter of kingdom cause."
• Don't we all want to be remembered as leaders who LOVED, rather than just a man/woman of vision, of strategic intent, or one who achieved a lot of goals?

God, Make Me like Joseph:

• His INTEGRITY/PERSONAL HOLINESS
  
• We know his story right? His power & influence grew quickly/meteoric [i like that word]. His family didn't appreciate that very much. They actually hated him for that.
  
• Power/leadership tends to corrupt
• Oh but Joseph was such a leader, a man who never gave in to corrupt behaviors. He didn't screw up his leadership. He stayed unstained
• The Key to his integrity? He saw his leadership as a holy stewardship; He would stand accountable to God. Yikes! That puts it in a whole different perspective.
• We can achieve this integrity by being surrendered daily to Christ
• He shares what is probably my favorite hymn & line: "Come thou Fount"- Prone to wander Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
• Hybels share how he fights these moments of wandering with a few spiritual practices: writing out prayers, solitude, accountable to people, secret acts of service.
  
• What will your practice be? Mine?
  

God, Make me like Joshua:

• His DECISIVENESS
• One of his finest moments: Joshua 24:15
• More and more we leaders must take responsibility for leading people to decision points concerning life issues
• This is the guy who is plainly going to ask, in love, "who will you choose- God or not" "Come on get on board, don't wait or simply get out"
• Hybels pretty much says, if your looking for that person to ask people to get serious about membership, tithing, volunteerism, small groups [Lily], etc. this is the man for the job.

God, Make Me like Esther: [here you go leadhers]

• Her COURAGE- For real!
• "I'll do the right thing.. and if I perish, I perish." [Esther 4:16]
• Placed into leadership practically because of her beauty, she was at a crossroads to either save her people or not
• Willing to loose all status, position, security, etc. to do what God Called her to do
• Believed that certain values were worth living-and dying-for.
• "I find myself thinking that for church renewal to occur, a whole generation of leaders is going to have to manifest the courage of Esther." -Hybels
• What or who is stopping you and me to lead courageously?
  

God, Make Me like Solomon:

• His WISDOM
• Hybels shares a bit of the sleepless mind of a leader. All those questions & thoughts that go on in the middle of so many nights.
  
• To solve those questions, etc. we need to pray and ask for wisdom. And when someone asks how they can pray for you- tell them, I need wisdom; I desperately want it.
• People look to leaders to set direction
• How can we choose the right course apart from God's wisdom?

God, Make Me like Jeremiah: [Just finished reading about him, so loved reading this section]

• EMOTIONAL AUTHENTICITY
  
• Boy, talk about someone's ministry that never, ever went well
• He was so honest to God. He wasn't cynical or crazy, just plain honest. He told God how he felt, many times alone, abandoned, but he always allowed the Healer to mend his broken heart
• He stayed Faithful to his calling
• He was able to turn from despair to hope because he was honest with God, he didn't deny his disappointments
• Hybels talks about those times when we put on the "game face" only to be hurting or disturbed inside. You know those moments, or maybe not, when you just smile & you convince others your okay- but you don't convince your heart that it isn't
  
• When we are "emotionally authentic" like Jeremiah, God just pours down his hands and touches us with "healing balm". Lamentations 3:2b-23
  

God, Make Me like Nehemiah:

• His COMMITMENT TO CELEBRATION
  
• Led the rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall. 52 straight days of non stop work
• This man new how to celebrate a win; He knew how to throw parties!!!
• As leaders we need to be "intentional in planning the victory parties as we are at setting & achieving the organizational goals"
• All work and no play makes for "dull people and dull churches". No celebration is a formula for wearing people down & draining their joy.
• Leaders, Have you [I] planned any parties lately?

God, Make Me like Peter:

• His INITIATIVE
• Poor Peter, the Bible shares everything about his leadership- the good, bad and ugly.
• But even though many times he may have not made the best choice, he was always the first one to take initiative- even if that meant cutting a soldiers ear off to protect his Savior & friend who was being falsely accused
  
• He was the only disciple who got out of the boat
• Hybels shares when other church leaders bash other church leaders who are taking bold initiative to make a kingdom difference. We need to join those leaders that are "initiating kingdom action, trying something new, & launching out in ways that keep the enemy on his heels." - that's why I'm at FRC ;) Thank you Pastor Troy
  

God, Make Me like Paul:

• So Hybels ends with this great leader, Christ follower, lover of Jesus Christ!!
• We see Paul's INTENSITY.
• Hybels does a little modern day comparison. Michael Jordan [intensity to basketball] & Paul [intensity x's 1,000 for Jesus Christ].
  
• Heather, I mean Chicagoans have an enormous advantage when it comes to understanding the concept of intensity because of the man- Michael Jordan.
• Jordan's legacy of focus, work ethic, competitiveness and drive to win shows pure intensity
• I just love this statement: "My heart's desire is to pursue an imperishable wreath with the same intensity that Michael Jordan pursues a perishable one."
• Let's ask God for greater intensity, not the type that is "frenetic busyness" but an "intelligent, Christ-honoring, apostle Paul-like intensity"
• May our prayers shape us, & may God's grace lift us to our full leadership [God] potential.
  

I am so glad God allowed me to read this and share it. I look at the lives of these men and women who have gone before us and they stinkin' ran the race and they reached their God potential! I love that I can be at a church that thrives and pushes for that. I share this verse with you all and then I will close the way this chapter closed. Hebrews 12: 1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders & the sin that so easily entangles, & let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." -They & above all, Jesus, is cheering for us on this race. Whoo hoo!!!

Join us for chapter 11 shared by our wonderful Lilibeth Rivera

Paul's Intensity:
"I do not consider my life as dear unto myself. Only that I would achieve the mission that I received from the Lord." "This one thing I do: I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." "I will gladly spend and be spent for the sake of the church." "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." "In a race there is only one winner. When I run a race I do so to win." "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith." 'There is a crown waiting for me- & not for me only, but for YOU too."
[acts 20:24; phil. 3:13,14; 2 corinth. 12:15; phil. 1:21; 1 corinth. 9:24; 2 timothy 4:7-8; timothy 4:8b]

Just some Random Thoughts...

Did you know:

• that last week my church, FLAMINGO ROAD CHURCH, baptized 333 people.
  
• 2 out of those 333 were two girls from FRC Kids Doral. Congratulations Mia & Casey!!!! [2 & 3 grade]
• The team at FRC Kids Doral set a goal of 5 kid baptisms for 2009 [I'm not always good at setting goals. Not always sure what is good or not]. We have had 5 kids get baptized so far!!! It's been reached so we will passionately lead & serve for 5 more. ;)
• Last week I realized how much I enjoy Disney better than Busch Gardens & all their parks. And not because of the rides, mostly because of the leadership. [& it is a little more magical]
  
• FRC Doral Life Development will have a Orientation on July 23 [& 26]. Excited to see new faces, structure, and eternal change for our campus
• Every Wednesday is Pixar Day at FRC at noon. Join us in the main auditorium, bring lunch in a creative lunch box, and meet some new leaders and life changers
• You can join our BLOGGERS BOOK STUDY, if you haven't already. Click the link to see what you've missed and join me here tomorrow to read our next chapter.
• FRC will be hosting the Leadership Summit on August 6 & 7. Get more information here and REALLY sign up!
  
• I challenged myself & FRC Kids Doral team to pass out 10 invite cards this week so people can join us at one of our services at FRC [Doral]

Yea, these are my random thoughts. I hope they spark some encouragement; spark you to participate in something you haven't yet. Do you have any random thoughts you'd like to share? Come on, give it a try here.

Have You Joined Us Yet??...

First, Heredes and I are back from FRC Pensacola and a short vacation.  It was nice to get a away for a bit, but the rain was not that fun.  But at least we have a lot of nourished and green grass.

Second, the Blogger's Book Study has started.  The book is Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels. It's not to late to jump in and join us.  Here are the awesome bloggers who have shared their chapters so far:

Heredes: Ch. 1 & 2

Barby: Ch. 3

Mo: Ch. 4

Heather: Ch. 5

My friend Meegee will be sharing on Ch. 6.  So far there has been a lot of great leadership nuggets.  Remember, there are about 5 more books after this one and when done, we will start our Fall group of books.  If you want to make book suggestions and/or participate in leading a few chapters, go ahead and jump over to Heredes' blog and let him know.  

For the full schedule, click here. 

Bloggers Book Study!! Yes, I am back...

Do you have hours on end to read all those books on your wish list? I didn't think so!! I never do. That is why I am so excited to be a part of this innovative new venture - the Bloggers Book Study. Actually, perhaps we should call it a books study!

This is our online collaborative effort to collectively review six books in the next nine weeks. Twelve bloggers, six books, one daily post. See the schedule of posts and blogs here and participate with your thoughts, comments and questions.

I guarantee this is going to be enriching. Please join me on this summer journey!

The first book is Courageous Leadership, by Bill Hybels. First blogger up TODAY is my husband, Heredes Ribeiro, recapping and discussing chapters 1&2 here. Tomorrow join our second blogger, Ms. Barby Ward HERE, recapping and reviewing chapter 3.

What do you think? Are you in? So let's head over to our first stop, right here!