In preparation for the interview, I reread Quiet Strength and enjoyed a couple of pre-interview calls with Coach Dungy. I’ve always admired Dungy’s leadership and spiritual strength from a distance. He’s everything you would hope for and far more up close.

Tyndale House Publishers also provided me with an advance copy of Coach Dungy’s new book. I’m so thankful for his exceptional work on the important subject of mentoring. This is a must read for pastors and spiritual leaders.

In fact, at Life, I will be doing a 4 week teaching on mentoring and investing in the next generation of leaders in September called, “I Believe in You.”

If you are able to attend the Summit or a satellite broadcast location, I know you will benefit from his story and example.

And, more and more people are adding the Bible to their phones. In just the last four weeks, the Bible App was installed on more than 650,000 new mobile devices! That’s approximately one new user every four seconds, and in that same four second period of time, 17 other people open up their Bible App and use it.

We’re committed to making the Bible available to people around the globe, and we just took an additional step in that direction. 
Today we introduced the first native translation of YouVersion.com with the rollout of a Norwegian language version. This means the entire interface of the site is available in Norwegian. Next up: Spanish!

And have I mentioned that we’re hiring? To keep up with all the great things God is doing through YouVersion, we’re adding five people to the team. Should we hire you?

For years I tried to be like other ministers. I listened to messages, attended conferences, and devoured every Christian book I could.

Each time I learned from a new leader, I tried to become more like them.

God led me to do something very different. (I don’t recommend this for you. I’m just sharing the story of what God led me to do.)

For an extended season, I stopped attending conferences, reading ministry books, and listening to others’ sermons. Instead of becoming like others, my goal was to become who God wanted me to become.

It was very difficult to cut myself off from learning from other people. During this season, I felt like God wanted me to learn directly from Him.

I still love to study and learn from other leaders, but this journey of intensely seeking God freed me to be me.

Many pastors copy models.

There is the “seeker sensitive” model, the “purpose driven” model, the “emergent church” model, the “contemporary church” model, the “spirit-filled classic charismatic” model, the “small group” model, the “multi-site” model, the “missional inner-city” model, the “dream center” model, and the list could go on and on.

Each of those models and the leaders who practice them have contributed a ton to the Kingdom.

Rather than copying the latest model that moves you, I suggest you let the Spirit of God direct your ministry based on the values, gifts, and people God gives you.

• What are YOU passionate about?
• What has God put in YOU?
• What needs can God use YOU to meet?
• What breaks YOUR heart?
• What are YOU uniquely equipped and called to do?

Even if you learn from another model, make it your own. Adapt it for your community. Improve on it. Tweak it. Take it up two notches.

Don’t copy models as much as you follow what God leads you to do.

I see it as one of my biggest roles to encourage and strengthen our staff.

Almost every time we gather, I remind them they are part of something special. But no matter how often I say it, it doesn’t mean as much as when an outsider tells them.

We’ve been blessed to have Dr. Sam Chand, Chris Hodges, Perry Noble, Steven Furtick, Jentzen Franklin, and Bill Hybels speak to our staff.

Each time, I promise you they say things very similar to what I often say, but when they say it, it means so much more!

• Invite the youth pastor from the other side of town to speak to your youth leaders.
• Call another worship leader to lead your choir in worship.
• Ask a neighboring pastor to speak to your volunteers.

Leverage the voice of friends to lift those around you in a way that you can’t.

How have you observed this in your life or ministry?

• We’ve kept the launch fairly low-profile to give ourselves some margin as we iron out any issues that have popped up. We don’t wait to go live until things are perfect–that’s just asking for indefinite delays. Now that it’s out there, it’s easier to see what’s working and what’s not, and we have a stronger sense of urgency to get those things updated.
• We designed for mobile first. Knowing that mobile devices are going to dominate the usage of the web in the future, we didn’t want our mobile site to be an afterthought. It drove our development and forced us to include only essential content. We killed many pages, streamlined the design, tightened up copy, and were very intentional about the interface.
• We shifted our focus to people who are new to LifeChurch.tv. I’ve posted already about the way we offloaded some online functionality to Facebook, and that shift allowed us to change our focus for this site. Instead of trying to create a site where people would hang out (now our users are doing that on Facebook), we were able to narrow the audience and gear our content toward visitors and people who are trying to learn about us. Of course, plenty of areas (giving, resources, etc.) still offer helpful content for regular attenders, but our overall strategy is to reach out to new people.
• We added more storytelling. I’m a firm believer in looking back to recognize all the things God has done within the life of our church. Our new site incorporates some of the work we’re doing to document, share, and celebrate what we get to be a part of.

We’re excited to get this launched and have a site that better represents who we are. What are some of your favorite church websites?

• YouVersion iOS (iPhone/iPad) Engineer
• YouVersion Blackberry Engineer
• YouVersion Symbian Engineer
• LifeChurch.tv Digerati UX Web Designer/Developer
• YouVersion Partnership Development

Even if you don’t fit these descriptions, you can help by telling people you know about these positions. Thanks for everything you do to help YouVersion break new barriers in Scripture engagement!

Since Tuesday we’ve been working with the people in those neighborhoods to offer help clearing and cleaning their houses, food, water, prayer, and other assistance. Here are a few of the pieces from local media that have been covering the response:

Helping Flood Victims

Volunteers clean up flooded neighborhoods

We’ve been overwhelmed by the people, organizations, and businesses in the community who have jumped at the chance to help. I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has been giving their time and resources so generously. It’s great to see the church being the church!

Successful people are often great at anticipating.

• If you want to be promoted as an assistant, anticipate how you can better serve your boss.
• If you want to be successful in business, anticipate what the market will do.
• If you want to be successful in church, prayerfully anticipate. What new thing is God going to bless?

I try to think ahead by asking questions like these:

• How are people relating differently? What will relationships and community look like in two years?
• How are people going to communicate in the future?
• What future technology/innovation can help spread the gospel?
• What trends (business, entertainment, philanthropy, etc.) will affect the church?

Think ahead.

I’d love to hear your theories or ideas about what is coming in the church.

The longer you do ministry, the easier it becomes to minister from memory. You tend to do what you used to do. It is safe, comfortable, and convenient.

To stay spiritually and creatively fresh, I suggest “strategic disruptions.” Today we’ll talk about disrupting life’s rhythms.

Because people can be creatures of habits, life often looks relatively similar from day to day, week to week, and year to year.

I suggest defining your rhythms—then disrupting them.

• If you drive the same way to work, take a different road.
• If you study the Bible the same way, try a different approach.
• If you listen to the same type of music, tune into something entirely different.
• If you read the same books, stretch yourself. Read out of your comfort zone.
• If you order the same thing off the menu, venture out and try something you’ve never had.

By disrupting your rhythms, you may experience just enough to change your perspective slightly. Suddenly, you could be more sensitive to hear something new from God.

Most churches experience a “summer slump.”

• Attendance drops
• Giving slows
• Volunteers miss
• Interest fades

What should a leader do during down times? Although I can’t answer the question for you specifically, I would say, “DO SOMETHING INTENTIONAL!”

You might:

• Challenge the church to host summer neighborhood block parties
• Ask your small groups to take the summer off and challenge them to devote one weekend a month to an inner city mission project.
• Write devotionals for people traveling on vacation.
• Do a summer long overview of the Old Testament
• Experiment with a different style of worship
• Participate in “One Prayer” (Couldn’t resist)
• Take some extended time off
• Challenge people to devote a week of their vacation to minister on an international mission trip

Whatever you do, don’t miss this great opportunity to pray, seek God, and do something intentional! Even though many are distracted, God still wants to do something powerful through your ministry this summer.

Please share any summer ideas or ministries you are excited about.

If you don’t train your church what boundaries are appropriate, you likely won’t  have many.

If you are the senior pastor, you can set the tone publicly.

I’d suggest a few of the following:

• Publicly communicate when your day off is. Talk about how important that day is to your family.
• At appropriate times, explain the challenges of your schedule. Some people think you only work on Sundays. Explaining some of what you face will create understanding.
• Create some level of screening if possible. Even if you are a solo pastor with no staff, a volunteer could help you with your email or answer phones. Many things you do daily can be handled by capable volunteers. You don’t need to know and do everything.
• Be willing to “go dark” at least once a year. You might explain to the church that you’ll be away with your family and not taking calls for a week. Ask your lay leader to be in charge. I’d suggest you give a phone number to one person who has permission to contact you with only dire emergencies. You need at least one week a year to disconnect.
• Don’t feel pressure to reply to emails instantly. I like all emails returned, won’t be slave to them.
• Protect at least one night a week for dates or family nights. Explain that Monday or Thursday or whatever is the one night you protect. When someone asks for counseling or a wedding rehearsal on that night, don’t do it.
• Be willing to say “no.” As a pastor who loves people, you’ll say “yes” to many invitations. Don’t be afraid to occasionally or often say “no.” Don’t feel pressure to give an explanation. A simple, “No, I’m sorry, but I can’t make it” is enough.

Ministry is a marathon, not a sprint. Set the boundaries that will help you go the distance.

What are your thoughts?

You might have noticed we’re doing some of that here on Swerve too as we change our normal posting schedule. While we won’t be blogging as frequently this summer, we’ll still be around to share what we’re learning. In the meantime, we’ll be featuring some of our favorite posts from the past.

We’re looking to add a few special people to the team…people who understand that the bottom line isn’t about how things look, but how they can help others become fully devoted followers of Christ. Specifically, we’re hiring the following:

• Design Manager
• Video Producer
• Graphic Designer

Interested? Visit our jobs page to learn more about these positions and several others.

If you’re signed up for One Prayer, the messages are ready for you to preview. And if you’re not signed up for One Prayer but wishing you had, it’s not too late. We’d love to have you join us as we share, serve, and give as one.

We’re really excited about the potential for an event like this to reach people who are looking for fulfillment all over the Internet. We’ve launched a global Google adwords campaign specifically targeted to people searching for pornography online. We’re offering the event throughout the week at multiple times to connect with people in different time zones.

It’s been great to see the response during the first day and a half. So far nearly 2,000 people have attended the event and nearly 100 of them have accepted Christ. People who’ve experienced the effects of pornography addiction are also showing up to offer support in the chat, like this woman from South Africa:

My husband was addicted to this and it nearly broke my marriage - we have been through hell and back. But, glory to God, He has become the number one in our lives, and no one can overcome this problem without Him.

We’re looking forward to what happens during the many experiences scheduled to take place during the week.

These week we’ve been talking about honor. I’d like to honor a few people:

My wife: Amy is my best friend and the woman who gave me six children. She is the most godly person I know. I love her and honor her with all my heart.

My parents: My mom and dad were unbelievable parents. They always told me that God was with me and with him I could do anything I dreamed of doing. I believed them. I honor my parents.

My pastor: Nick Harris took a chance on me when I was twenty-two years old. He taught me more about God’s word than I could have learned in ten years of seminary. I honor my pastor.

My staff: I’m grateful to my staff members who serve sacrificially and faithfully. I’m especially thankful to Jerry Hurley, Sam Roberts, Kevin Penry, and Bobby Gruenewald. These men have served with me for over ten years. They are the leadership strength behind our church.

My church: The people at LifeChurch.tv are willing to try anything. They are evangelistic, faithful, and more generous than any people I’ve ever met. I hope to serve them for my whole life.

My savior: I honor Jesus, the one who died so I could live. Without him, I’d have nothing. With him, I have everything that matters.

Feel free to honor anyone you would like to…

Interview with Craig Groeschel from Catalyst on Vimeo.

The reason our culture is dishonoring is because people aren’t honoring God.

We are treating God as common or ordinary.

God is not the “big guy in the sky” or the “man upstairs.” He is the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.

Jesus is not our “homeboy.” He is the risen and soon-returning King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

In Isaiah 29:13, The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

It’s time we stop giving God lip service and give him the honor He is due.

I like the mix of perspectives the book offers. It’s a great representation of how the Church is at its best when it encompasses the diverse strengths, gifts, and passions we all bring to the table.

What is God Really Like is available now on Amazon—just in time to get ready for One Prayer 2010 this June!