Easter 2010- The Tomb is Empty!

This is a special time of year and each year I get more excited each year Easter approaches. There is no story like this one. Jesus did what no other man has done because he wasn't man. He came to fulfill the Scripture and I am thankful for that. He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!!

Updated Thoughts and Ramblings: Just got Tyler Stanton's new book, "Everyday Absurdities" which is a thoughts he has been putting on the web for years at www.tylerstanton.com Some pretty funny stuff. Just ordered "A Failure of Nerve, Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix" looks like a tremendous jewel. Here is more about it:

http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadershop/9781596270428.html

Family and Life Updates...........

The kids continue to grow and are doing well with their transition from home school to Oakwood.

My wife loves her job and that is neat to see. I mean she loves it and is really doing some neat things as the high school opens this fall. She is working hard and taking good care of herself..

My son is a good young man and is Student Body President, the twins have just finished competing for drama competitions after a fall stint on the first volleyball team and doing great and little Sarah Beth is doing super in pre-K.

Fletcher and I started going driving last weekend to get him started learning to drive.

He is getting up at 5am in the morning to help with Oakwood's Easter in the Park event.

Our kids get the benefit of Woodland Park's Student Ministry and Oakwood's each week. wow...

My job continues to be a blessing. There is so much to do it can be overwhelming but that is what I love about it. I can go from an issue on the floor, an injury at 3am, to interviewing a sales candidate, to talking with our VP of Sales about territory strategy. Usually an ISO 14001 issue, Security issue to working on a training event to counseling an associate. The big item came four weeks ago.......

My church has been looking for a Senior Pastor for three years. After the last candidate told the elders no (for a super good reason) they asked me to lead a Pastor Search Team. Wow....what was really all God was that He had been shutting out ideas about men's ministry since November. I mean when I would work on event planning etc it was like He was saying no.....I don't want you working on that, then the ideas stopped, the passion I had was quenched and in talking with my mentors they had told me to simply pray and wait.

You know how hard that can be.

So I had stepped aside from leading our Men's Ministry- BridgeBuilders and handed leadership to another solid brother in Christ and stepped back. Still on the team but not leading.

That is when I got the call from one of my pastors. "The elders would like for you to lead the Pastor Search Team," "They feel with your background and giftedness in Human Resources, you would be a good fit for this."

I responded right away that I wanted to "Rebuild the Wall," ( We have been studying Nehemiah on Sundays) and I would be glad to lead this.

Wow..it was like so clear then. What an honor. Since that point I have had no worries about this process as I have been spending more time with Him than ever and He keeps reassuring me. I have enlisted many prayer warriors and I can feel their prayers...I know that God has the man who will be our next Sr. Pastor and we will find him.

The elders and pastors selected about 20 plus people from the body to be on this team with me. We met and talked about the process and asked each to pray and consider how much time this would take and if they were interested to come back the next week and we would begin.

That next week we had 17 people that felt God telling them to join this process. I lead a meeting thru Prayer, Sketching what we want the Pastor to look like ( just so they could realize that he can't be all those things, but be the man we need with the giftedness that fits this body) and then looked at the 12 qualities the elders said he should have. We also talked about giftedness of each team member and I thought it was superb that many had the gift of teaching. It would come in handy as we move forward. My gifts are administration and discernment.

I ask the Lord daily for a little bit of Solomon's Wisdom and the planning gift of Nehemiah in this process. My first issue was what to do with 17 people! So after prayer and thought, I decided three areas that would be key and let them sign up for which they would like.

Our Three Teams:

1) Process Development- this team comes up with things along the way to aid like a packet of information about the church, handles names from the body, and resumes.

2) Prayer and Communication-this team is to communicate with the body and to plan out the prayers for them to join us in. They are setting up a website to chart this journey too. Their first communication will be the 18th.

3) Research- this team has contacted seminaries and associations and the list of candidates the elders had and have been hard at work. They have my e-mail slammed with resumes.

This next Thursday the 8th we will regroup and compare where we are at since the 1st meeting.

I have called all 60 deacons of the church together for a short meeting on the 11th at the church to bring them up to speed in the communication process, ask them to take their place "on the wall" as Nehemiah did with many family leaders did. To stand with me, to begin to develop "Joshuas" in their areas and to be getting ready for growth of the church. This was the message the Lord spoke to me this past week.......He must be the focus not us!

Now, I am not nieve. Even Nehemiah faced opposition. I see it daily in work. I am ready. "Let me be clear" as someone likes to say alot....God has also taken me thru much in my life to prepare me for this moment. I will not let Him down.....as soon as the church link is up I will share it here so you can follow and prayer with us.

Lord, give me wisdom today and help me to do the things you need me to do to 1) lead my family so you will be proud 2) to cherish my wife and kids 3) to be a good named worker 4) to be able to lead this team that will make You proud 4) to fulfill my calling as an ambassador for Christ. 5) to make much of you in the "Kairos" moment I am here on Earth.

Today how are you doing about being closer to God? The way to do this in 1) be in a bible believing church 2) read and study the word of God 3) be discipled by someone else 4) disciple someone else and keep applying the word to your life......Remember it is not about you. It is about Him. More of Him and less of you....and especially at Easter, He died for you and me to have eternal life. Now, that is what is so wonderful about Jesus, my Abba father. Hebrews 13:8 the media, tv stars etc can despise Him but they will come and go, He stays the same for you and me.....Always...

The Noticer Bringing Perspective

I signed up to BookSneeze to review books and here is my first of Andy Andrews book, The Noticer.

I read this whole book on the flight from Atlanta to Philly for business. It is a quick read and has it's moments. I think the added value of this is that it can be done with small groups with questions at the end and how they apply to your life.

The character/narrator at the beginning describes a pretty tough life and from what I can tell this is a story about the author's life. {Andy Andrews} Pretty tough. Centered on the Mobile Gulf Coast. Then he meets a man named Jones. Just Jones. The spiritual tie ins come starting in the first chapter when Jones asks the narrator of this story to step into the light. Reminds me of the movie "Simon Birch," where dark and light play such a huge role.

The key phrase for Jones is that he says "We need to start noticing a few things. We need to check your heart. We need to gather a little perspective."

This to me is so key, in that when I meet with a man with a problem in his life, I am always wanting to see where his heart is. Where he sees God. I liked this tie in and it comes up thru out the book as Jones meets different people and gives them perspective right when they need it. Their option is whether they accept the wisdom or not.

In this book all the people accept Jones wisdom and it changes their life from the actions they take. That is why it is in Christian Fiction. As even Christians don't do that.

That is one thing that confused me was Jones real for Andrews or just made up. I didn't ponder it too long but it is the premise for his life turnaround.

The key item in Chapter One for the narrator is that Jones ask him to ponder this question. "What is it about me that other people would change if they could?"

Once again this is a great question if you have some men mentoring you that will HONESTLY tell you these things to help you improve. Most people don't do this.

Next Jones helps a married couple about to divorce. I thought this was a weak spot to use Gary Chapman's Love Languages tied into this chapter. Thought Jones would have given both of them the book instead of looking like he was pulling that out of a hat....

He then deals with a man that is a worrier and this connects to workaholics....In Chapter 5 we find out that some people call him "Garcia." He speaks to some high school kids in this chapter about life, marriage and wisdom. "One way to define wisdom is the ability to see, into the future, the consequences of your choices in the present." Are as simple as John Maxwell puts it, "Your present decisions determine your future situations."

The wisdom he gives these young people about relationships was really good. I liked that and about marriage.

Another chapter deals with a landscaping/real estate guy that doesn't honor his word and of course that heart issue affects how he treats the workers that work for him. (like dirt). and needless to say his relationship with his wife was not good either and he was living on the edge of losing it all....Jones has some good wisdom and the chapter goes along enough for you to see the character trying to change his business and life.

Later on the author, goes with Jones and meets a young man under the pier the same way the book started.

Then Jones disappears and all that is left of his briefcase. This chapter lags and reminded me of a Murder She Wrote episode. There is no way that all those people would wait as long as they did to open Jone's briefcase and see what what was in it.

I won't spoil anymore of this book.

As I said it was an easy read and I think the Reader's Guide was a good idea to add for discussion of the deeper points of the book.

I reccommend this book to anyone who is struggling in life thru job loss, relationships and in prioritizing life and work.....then I would follow up with the bible verses on those areas and stories of some of those characters and how God intervened in their lives.

Putting Life into Perspective is what God calls us each to do.

One of the questions towards the end is Do you have a "Jones" in your life? are you a "Jones" to anyone else?

Discipleship and mentoring is something I do and also have three men I count on to keep an eye on me. Their wisdom and time with them means more to me than they will ever know. In Proverbs 27:17 men are encouraged to be as iron sharpening iron. Some times there are sparks and the can get "wee weeded up" as I President said. But, they still care for one another.

Andrews writes," Rebuild with a grateful heart. You may have lost a house, but you did not lose your home. Remember you are still breathing...(pg 95). I thought this was really close to what Truitt Cathy said many years ago about "When do people need encouragement? If they are breathing... " People always need someone to smile, to say good job...to just say hello!

I met with a dear brother who works discipling major league baseball players and he gave me a complement and I quickly said its nothing ....he calmly said...no brother...take the complement you have done well....

Men are so use to performance that we even have a hard time taking complements.

Get a copy of this book and then get some extras to give to others. Mine is gone already into some one's hands. Can't wait to discuss.

The way Andrews rights about Orange Beach too makes me want to go down there on vacation to the Sea N Suds......Thanks Andy for writing this. God Bless!

Looking back at the Week

This was a busy week. Most are if you working hard and involved in things around you. We had about 3 inches of snow last weekend and it was quite an event. The stories about how people where I work got home that day were funny. We aren't used to that type of weather here in Ga. We were blessed that no one was killed in the Tennessee Valley over that whole weekend.

This past week we went through hourly reviews of all of associates in operations. It is good to see managers/supervisors who thru the training we have given and also the questions asked on these reviews have rated people very solidly based on eight key areas of performance. It wasn't always that way. We have worked on performance coaching for three years. Conflict doesn't come naturally to us, as leaders we have to address it. Sometimes you have to ask the hard questions to actually help a leader see he is stuck or biased. Good HR people balance that divide. I am very much for the business but also very much for the associate. I had another issue this week after doing this for 25 years that always brings home the point that there are two sides to every story....and there are.....

Rick (Burgess) on Rick and Bubba on XM Radio and many syndicated stations was talking about the old days of radio during a segment with James Spann. That brought back memories to when I would cue up records on the 45 table and get it ready to play. They don't get to do that today with CD's.....If you don't remember 45 rpm records then you don't know what you missed either.

We were blessed to have Herb Reese visit us in Chattanooga on the 23rd. His visit thru New Commandment Ministries www.newcommandment.org There are 13 churches that will be taking his team approach to men's ministry to the Tennessee Valley! We also added one more team to our four groups.

Re upped with XM Radio for the 7th season. Get alot of enjoyment out of it. Have two SkY Fi units that are really old now...(7 and 6 yrs) but work great and enjoy the options of having something to always listen to. Got the Family Plan this year and saved a $1 per month. My son keeps one boom box in his room. He likes the Comedy Channel. I do miss HEAR Music that used to be XM. With the changes with the Sirius merge there have been a few misses but understandable. In the winter like now I listen to Alt Nation/80's/The Message/Nashville! and more. But listen to Dan Patrick, Rick and Bubba then Mad Dog at work each day.

Special week this week as Sarah Beth began to read to me at night. That was big. She is doing well with it too. Very, very special to hear her reading those words. Incredible. Praise the Lord for it.

Last thing from this week that ties it all together was Saturday meeting before we go out and do ministry to widows and single moms by working on their homes. Charles Fricks of our BridgeBuilders leadership team spoke on God using Ordinary Men to do Extraordinary Things. It was a good message and we got to pray over our elders and pastor that is now responsible for our ministry.

So, when you think about that. What do you see in your life that God is doing right now? Ordinary people are always involved in doing extraordinary things in His name. Are you involved in those things at work? By how you do your work? By how you don't gossip? By how you support your leaders? By how you honor your wife? By how you serve in church instead of just sitting in the pew?

The Day After

Well, Herb Reese was here and we had about 60 men attend our Saturday morning event with him at the Park. Several churches were represented there and that was the biggest answer to prayer of the event to have like minded men to attend. Treated Herb to lunch at Steak and Shake, {they don't have S&S in Colorado and he loves the 5 way Chili!} and updated him on the teams we had ministering to widows and single moms and how we were doing. He has a wonderful ministry and other posts below if your church and your men are not doing this ministry, check out what Jesus said about it. This is a mandated ministry and it is wonderful to help others. Bernie and Men's Ministry Network had about 30 men attend their dinner. All men that intend to implement these teams. They get it.

Favorite moments of the week: Darius Rucker on Dan Patrick. Rucker used to be with Hootie and The Blowfish and still does gigs with them. He was a great guest and they sang and played Prince's song for the Vikings... terrible. Learned a new word : Fandomship.

XM/Sirius's Mad Dog Russo's infatuation with books on a sports show is funny. He has read John Adams and watched the HBO series and plays the theme to the show and yells "Join or Die!" He loves callers...

Attended the Catoosa GOP meeting last week {my first} and heard Joan Edwards speak about the churches role in politics and its social responsibilities. Great speech. Also got to meet a candidate for Attorney General....

XM 158...Rick on RickandBubba.com saying to the other guys, "Here is your cup of shut up juice take it and sip it!" haven't heard that before....funny.

Scott Brown riding his truck into the win in Mass. Many more of these coming to the Democrats that Obama has lead into believing they have political capital. They have spent it and now they will start to be replaced.

Allistar Begg's excellent series on What is the Church? www.truthforlife.org to listen. If you are a leader in the church you need to listen to the two sessions on Shepherding.

Twittering back and forth with Greta Van Susterin of Fox News, Wes Rucker of the Free Press, and John Fricke of Fox Sports Radio. @jaxstatefan is me.

BridgeBuilders:

We start back February 6th with Reveille! @ Country Place Restaurant with Charles Fricks leading on "Great Resumes from the Bible," @ 7am with our four teams and 8 new men that have signed onto our teams to minister to the widow, single mom and fatherless. It was great to have Bernie Ritterbush

Man in the Mirror is having several events coming to the Atlanta area in February:

- Friday evening, Feb. 12th, David Delk, Finding a New Best Friend in Your Spouse, Dunwoody Baptist Church
- Saturday morning, Feb, 13th, David Delk, Men's Breakfast, Peachtree City Christian Church
- Saturday evening, Feb. 13th, David Delk, The Marriage Prayer event, Mt. Pisgah UMC

My wife's birthday is this next week. So thankful to have her as my wife. I thank God for her and the four wonderful kids we have. God is good.......He didn't promise us an easy life, I am looking forward to heaven! Have you spent time telling your kids and your wife that you love them? Have you shown them? How about the people you work with ---do they see the light of Christ in you that should make you different? The Holy Spirit should do that!

and last but not least ---praying for you Gary!

God Bless,

Hank

New Commandment and Herb Reese in Chattanooga!

BridgeBuilders is proud to welcome Herb Reese of New Commandment Ministries of Colorado to Woodland Park for a special event on Saturday morning, January 23rd, 2010 from 8:30am until 11:00am centered around the biblical calling to men to care for widows, fatherless, immigrants or distressed persons within the family of the church.

“As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:10a

“Do not take advantage of a widow or orphan. If you do, they will cry out to me and I will certainly hear their cry. “ “He (God) defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.” Deuteronomy 10:18

Here is what Herb Reese will be discussing and reviewing:

*The difference between kind gestures and Christ's love.
*The three unique qualities of Christ's love.
*The role of good works in the Christian life.
*God's heart for those in distress.

*An alternate model for smaller churches.
*How to organize teams.
*Recommended policies.
*Suggestions for service projects.
*Frequently Asked Questions.*And more!


There are three ways to register you and your group for this free event.

First, contact Woodland Park by calling 423.899.9186 x102 and registering

or e-mail at men@woodlandpark.org

Last but not least you can register for this free event straight on the web @ this link:http://newcommandment.eventbrite.com/

Making Good Choices by Fred Smith

I couldn't believe how good these thoughts from Fred Smith fit into today. Especially with the confusing diatribe from Florida coach Urban Meyer. I encourage you to subscribe to his weekly thoughts that his family keeps alive. Contact info is below his postings.

I am always interested in going back to basic truths. Theories come and go ---- one is popular until replaced by the latest and greatest. I remember the detergents used by Mary Alice --- they were always “new and improved.” Fundamental truths never have to be bigger and better --- they are real from the git-go, as they say in Tennessee.

One of the basics I enjoy studying is the question: “Where is your ego based?” I find with many men, their ego is satisfied more by their business than by their family. This motivation drives them to spend way more time at work than at home. Somehow they feel they have stronger possibilities and authority in the office.

I asked a friend why he didn’t retire. He said, “At the office I have seventeen buttons on my desk. I can push any of them and something happens. Fred, at home I don’t even have one!” This is a pretty honest statement of ego. I am not advocating this kind of ego control --- but it exists and we need to look at the facts.

Ego drives production. For me, it took a long time to understand the relationship between production and family relations. When I was about 60, it occurred to me I tried to run the family like I ran the business. I actually thought in terms of org charts and line responsibilities. I failed to understand one critical fact: in the family, relation IS the production.

This was hard for me. I made a conscious decision to shift my view of family, but man alive, it wasn’t easy. I was right there if Mary Alice or one of the children wanted to talk about a personal development program. I would get right with it. If they wanted to watch TV, that was too relational for me. Then, I realized : relation is the production.

I’m doing my best, but I will tell you – when you make a major change in your life, it’s very difficult. All of your reflexes, your habits, your thought patterns, and your experiences are altered. It is almost like a Christian conversion ---- you have to become a new person. But, the shift is worth it. I may feel more productive in the office, but I know this is a long term investment of great value. And, you don’t give up accomplishment for relation because they’re not opposed to each other. You simply understand what is primary and what is secondary.

The pay day for me is a drawing I keep on my wall, given to me by my granddaughter. It says, “My grandfather is interested in many things, but best of all, he loves me.”

This week seriously consider: 1) Where is my heart --- at home or at the office? 2) How do I honestly define production? 3) What does my priority list look like?

Words of Wisdom: “In the family, relation IS the production.”

Wisdom from the Word: “Then all the people returned to their homes, and David went to pronounce a blessing on his family.” (2 Chronicles 16:43 NET Bible)

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By Faith

This morning in our Bible Study class we got back into Hebrews 11 and I circled all the By Faith's in my NASB. It also helped to have a missionary in our class speaking today about his travels around the world and him giving us stories of people oppressed and in danger of losing their lives for following Jesus Christ.

By Faith.....so how is your faith? Is worry and this world winning out on your thought life? How are your actions affecting the world around you? are their any actions?

Are you involved in making positive change in the time you have here?

If you have faith you are called by the Holy Spirit within you to a greater story. A group of good friends of mine meet on Friday mornings and they are studying EPIC by John Eldridge right now. I was amazed at how this ties into Donald Miller's "Thousand Miles in a Million Years," book.

By Faith is written to give us remembrance of the great men/women (Rahab) of the faith in Hebrews 11 that they conquered kingdoms, adminstered justice, and gained what was promised. The verse continues with some of the unpleasant things that happened to them too.

Today I see more people affected by this economy than ever in my life. People without jobs, places they have never been before. While I can comfort them and reassure them as I have been there before, it still doesn't get them one of Maslow's basic needs which is security.

I think alot of it has to do with our world view today. What do you need to live off of? I will ask men unemployed what is essential for your family to pay the big bills coming up? We believe I think that we need more. We are taught from a young age to have, appearances, staying up with the Joneses. To have a house like everyone else, even if we can't afford it. Cars that we can't pay for etc....

These men in Hebrews didn't have all that clutter drowning out the Holy Spirit. They had little in most instances or even gave it up. ( See Paul, Peter etc) Because they had a life changing experience that focused them on Christ and not the World. Off of them onto others, to a better story. The best and biggest story of our world, the changing of a man or woman's heart by coming to faith in Jesus Christ. He is watching us right now looking at us and wondering what we will do BY FAITH and leave an impact and not an impression on this world.

So here are three thoughts I am working on over the holidays. 1) De-Cluttering to allow more focus time on God 2) Spend intentional time with older men to disciple me more --time moves too fast. 3) Spend time in prayer to ask the Lord to show me where He is working that I can join Him in making a better story of His story and His name in 2010.....

Love to hear yours. May God bless you and walk with you along the way to show you more of Him in these last days....He is wanting too oh, he is wanting to show you and me more of Him and His creation and we miss it.....let's focus on Him more and less of us....