to IT...

so this morning i heard from craig groeshel at the leadership summit hosted at a flamingo road cooper. some of his thoughts on ministry regarding church were pretty good. some stuff was refreshing, some stuff was different. he basically broke the idea of the "IT" factor down. the IT factor is the special something that people/churches/organizations may have that separates them from the rest. it's not the Holy Spirit because all believers have the HS. there's something different. not sure what that different is, but craig calls the difference, IT.

so here you go...these seem to be some consistent qualities in people/organization when IT is present:

1. focus - less ministries = better ministries

not trying to do a lot of stuff at a mediocre level, rather focusing on what one does well and kicking butt at it

2. opportunities, not obstacles 

you find a way when others fail to do so

you realize that you have exactly what you need to accomplish what God wants you to do

3. you have to be willing to fail 

failure is often the first step to seeing God and who He is

if you can do it, it doesn't require faith. if it doesn't require faith, you can't see God

4. lead by people who have IT

the leaders of these organizations need to have IT

IT finds it's way out to others and can become contagious - when you have IT inside, it tends to spread outside

and to close...

when it becomes about your church or your organization and not His kingdom, you will lose IT

is he crazy? does he have a point? chime in and let me know. 

to the 'pause'...

and so we find ourselves waiting for God to do what He does best...acting in His time. that's right boys and girls, the lopez clan are at another crossroads that will be determined by God's timing more than anything else. so we'll see what happens and when God moves, we'll let you guys know. we need God to provide for us - adriana is looking for a job; we know He will, it's just...when?

in the mean time, help me understand what you do when you are in the 'pause.' i know that we're supposed to wait and we are, and we're good. we really are. different people handle it differently when they are waiting for God to respond to a situation. i'm just curious, how do you handle it?

help a brotha' out!

...to spider sense!

at our gathering tonight, we touched on acts 8 - philip and his adventures to places that normally are not welcoming. my hats off to those brave enough to trust Christ and His leading to places others may call hostile or unwelcoming. i raise my cup to the person willing to risk all that he/she may have for obedience towards a calling. because of philips' obedience, the word says that many 'samaritan' nations came to faith and rejoiced. then he's off talking to a foreigner about things that pertain to history and heritage...a eunuch from ethiopia of all people. why? because the Spirit led him to do so. crazy. 

what kind of 'spider sense' or what 'frequency' was he in tuned to? 

i want that. 

i just fear how i would respond if the Spirit told me to do something as difficult like go to a 'hostile' place or speak to a random person, because the Spirit told me to. 

what would you do? have you ever had one of those moments when you knew that God was leading you to do something, something that seemed so foreign or weird to you that you simply had to stop and question everything about the situation? i have. 

great questioned was posed tonight: who is the "eunuch" in your life that you need to be sharing with? 

what do you think? does this kind of stuff still happen? let me know of your experiences with it...i'm still trying to figure things out myself. 

mama mia...why?!

i don't normally do this, but because of the epic proportions of 2 hours of life, i will. i went see a movie with adriana today called mama mia. i know, what was i thinking. i wanting to be a better husband. one who supports and encourages. that's what it got me today. let me just say that if weren't for the spectacular scenery of the greek isles, the movie would have sucked. instead, it was just bad. it takes a lot for me to hate on movies. so, if you are a lady looking for a romantic movie, don't use this one unless you're trying to make him pay for it. if you're looking for movie to score you some points with the beautiful babies, they are not worth it with this movie. 

music = cool

story = ok

acting = ok

mix them altogether and you get good actors doing bad film. i'm just saying. i'm not even trying to compare it with the dark knight or other summer films, it's not fair to mama mia. if i had to watch mama mia or sweet sixteen, sweet sixteen any day and twice on sunday (at least it changes).

needless to say, i wouldn't even recommend it as a rental; even if you've never seen it and love abba. 

sorry. 

for those poor unfortunate souls that have seen the film, what do you think? am i hating too strongly or am i right on?