I am not a New Year Resolution guy, but I do think the start of the year is a GREAT time to set some goals and evaluate what is working and what is not working in your life.  I’ve been thinking a lot about my life lately and realize I let some things get me off course in 2007.  I’ve been thinking of the areas of my life that I am going to focus on in 2008 and to keep me accountable, I am going to post them for all of you to see.

Spiritual:

• Start EVERY day in the Bible and prayer
• Consistent Family Devotions
• Listen to at least 2 sermons from someone else a week
• Spend more time with my mentors - I did a BAD job of this towards the end of the year
• Lead our staff by example in spiritual matters
• Learn from others more
• Read 2 books a month

Personal:

• Lose 30 pounds
• Ride 100 miles a week on my bike
• Take a day off EVERY week
• Enjoy the adventure of life more
• Get away twice a year for a few days by myself to spend time with God

Family:

• Date my wife
• Spend more time with my children
• STAY off the computer when I get home from work
• Turn off my cell phone when I get home
• Become debt free
• Realize my family is my #1 ministry

Church:

• Lead Revolution without apology
• Pour my life into our staff
• Become MORE dogmatic aboout our vision (I feel I let some people and some things sidetrack that just a little)
• Love and appreciate our volunteers more
• Get back to investing in church planters
• Continue Revolutionary Love year around
• Launch a second campus
• Invest in Haiti Cheri with more than just our finances (not sure what that looks like yet)

My friend, Bob Franquiz is a reading machine. He has a very insightful post about how he goes about reading so many books that you can check out here. Bob and I are supposed to be reading the same books right now, but I am the polar opposite of Bob when it comes to reading. So inspired by Bob, I thought I would tell you how I go about reading.

1. I hate reading books - Seriously, I despise it. I get bored, I lose interest, and I think 99% of the books that are written could be 2/3 shorter then they are.
2. I give a book ONE chapter to grab me - If you don’t have me after one chapter, I’m done with you.
3. I look for books on CD - I spend a lot of time in my car or at my desk working. If I can listen to something, I do that over reading any time.
4. I look for book reviews online - Book reviews on blogs are GREAT! They hit the things that are great about a book without me having to read all the junk. Reading reviews on books is a great way to get the great insights found in books.
5. I order sermon series - I listen to a LOT of preaching. Most books written by pastors were preached in their churches first. I find the series where they taught the book and listen.
6. I don’t read word for word - I read chapter titles, first and last sentances in paragraphs and skip stories. Again, this allows me to read the main points without all the fluff and waste of time.
7. I stick with authors I like - I actually do like to read some authors and the ones I like I stick with. My favorites are Erwin McManus and Andy Stanley. When I find someone I like, I stick with them.
8. Lots of magazines - I love to read things that are short. Therefore I love magazines. I subscribe to about 20 different ones and buy them like it is going out of style. I joke that I know more useless informtion then anyone else.
9. I read all the books sent to me - The good thing about a blog that is read a lot is I get a lot of books sent to me to read. I feel like I should read those, so I do.

There you go. I am sure that is a wealth of wisdom for all the pastors who read this blog. My suggestion is take Bob’s advice over mine and you will learn a lot more.

Andy, even though you have probably never heard of me and have no idea who I am, I wanted to say THANK YOU for your new book Making Vision Stick. The book was a great read and I learned a lot and was reminded of a lot. However the main thing I want to thank you for is that this book is SHORT!!!! In only 74 pages you said what need to be said. Thank you! You didn’t stretch it to 250 pages like most people do. Thank you! You didn’t repeat yourself a thousand times. Thank you! You were direct and to the point. Thank you!

For the first time in a LONG time I actually finished a book and can remember what I read. You’ve hit a homerun with this book and I hope more authors follow your leadership and learn that less is more.

Saw this on Bob’s blog and thought it was pretty cool. That is WHY Andy Stanley is the pimp! Snoop couldn’t have picked a better book to read that is why we give them away to every first time guest.

I met John Atkinson about a year ago online. I think he emailed me to let me know he was praying for me? Are you freaking kidding me? This guy is on the leadership team of one of the most creative and fastest growing churches in America and he emailed me? I remember being very humbled and thinking it was cool.

Anyway, he is big time now and has written a book called Go Big: Small Groups and you need to check it out.

At RSC we place a tremendous emphasis on our Home Team (Small Group) ministry. As a growing church, we believe that Home Teams are a vital key to keeping our people connected and Home Teams are a vital key to seeing life-change.  We are too big for connecting on Sunday mornings.  To get plugged in you have to be in a Home Team.

If your church does not have a small group ministry, or maybe has a small group ministry that does not seem to be effective, let me recommend this book.  John provides valuable information from their years of frustration and eventual success in establishing effective Small Group ministries. Regardless of the stage of your church’s Small Group Ministry, there is something in this book for you. From a leader of a small group meeting in their home, all the way to the Senior Pastor of your church, they should all read this book – it will give them a new appreciation for this very important ministry.

This was the FIRST book I gave to Malcolm when we hired him at the end of last year.  I finally got my own copy and it is worth the read!

Another reason I am pumped up about the churchplanters.com conference is to hear Dave Ferguson talk.  Dave has one of my favorite blogs and is a champion in multi-site church.

He recently came out with his first book called The Big Idea.  I read it in a couple of days and thought it was great.  The big idea of the book is that we are overloaded with information and they have designed their church around one big idea a week.  Everyone learns the idea from children to the main service.

I love this idea and we actually do this on a limited scale.

ALL of our Home Teams discuss the sermon topic and that is great.  We hope to move to where we are doing in our children’s area as well in the future.  This will unite families around a topic of the week and enable them to discuss together what God is teaching them.

I thought the book was very well  and very detailed.  He left no stone unturned.  I especailly loved the focus on multi-site church and believer when we launch our campuses in Jasper and Elijay this will be a huge benefit to us.

I 100% recommend this book and if you bring to the conference or buy it at the conference you could probably get him to sign it.