Production times are:

• Thursday, March 25 @ 7pm
• Friday, March 26 @ 7pm
• Saturday, March 27 @ 3, 5 and 7pm
• Sunday, March 28 @ 9:45 and 11:45am

Invite a friend who needs to be confronted with the reality of God and His purpose and plan for their life.

It’s that night each year that you lose an hour of sleep. So, before you go to bed, don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour. Then, you’ll be on time everywhere you go on Sunday!

• Sacred Storm & The Mystery of the Empty Tomb (March 25-28). Then, Easter. We’ll see over 12,000 people worship at Faith Promise over those two weekends!

• Finalizing the new entrance at FPC (hoping to have it finished for Easter). Check out the plan: FPC – Roadway Improvements.

• Our All-staff Retreat, April 18-21 at The Cove in Asheville, NC. We’ve asked two other churches to join us: Graystone Church and The River Community Church. It’s going to be an awesome time led by Jenni Catron, Dan Novak, Pastor Chris and me.

• The LIT Conference, April 29 at Faith Promise. 4 awesome leaders, 1 awesome price – $89. You can register HERE.

What are you looking forward to?

Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” John 21:20-23, NIV

Peter was worried that John may get more, have more or maybe even be known for more. So, Jesus told Peter not to worry about John. But when Peter retold the story, the rumor mill started.

The lesson: it’s Jesus’ Kingdom. He cares more than I do. He can judge motives and I can’t. He can bring correction that is needed in any situation. He. Doesn’t. Need. My. Help. (In this area). He will take my help in telling others about His Kingdom. He will take my help in training other leaders.

If you just worry about your life and your areas that need growth and development, you will change.

Just worry about you.

• 1/3 of the time is spent showing them I love them.
• 1/3 of the time is spent training them to be like Christ.
• 1.3 of the time is spent praying and begging God that they will honor Him with their lives.

These thirds just become the natural part of our time and days together. It’s not something that I spend hours planning for – it’s just what happens. And, most of the time I find myself praying and begging God in the quiet moments that I look at them in the rear view mirror or as they look into my eyes.

How do you spend the time that you have with your kiddos?

• Engaged
• Partially Engaged
• Unengaged

If you are like me, your first thought is to be okay with the first 2 groups. We all want to keep the engaged people (and hire more of them) and if you are partially engaged, at least you are not unengaged. However, my friend led me through a process where I arrived at this thought:

I do not want anyone sitting idle and partially engaged. I either want them moving to the engaged status or moving to the unengaged status. If we can help people see that they are unengaged, then we can help the find a new place that will help them meet their dreams.

The most dangerous place for people to be in your organization is “partially engaged.” They have not bought in and they have not decided to leave. They are just existing in your organization trying to decide if they will engage or leave.

Instead of getting frustrated, help them. That will help the organization as well.

What do you think?

A few years ago we had that problem. There were 411 parking spots on campus, and we knew that our attendance was being limited by our amount of parking. So, we decided to build a “Black Friday” parking lot (we added 364 parking spots for a total of 775 spots). Everyone knows that Black Friday is the largest shopping day of the year. Stores like Wal-Mart build their parking lot for Black Friday (the parking lot will never be full at any other time of the year). As a church, your Black Friday is Easter (or your largest weekend each year). As you approach Easter weekend, do you have enough parking? Consider this:

Total Service Attendance (kids & adults on campus) / # Cars in Parking Lot = Average Attendees per Car

So, at Faith Promise, we have found that our Average Attendees per Car is 2. With 775 parking spots, we can never exceed 1500 in total worship attendance per service. However, you should tithe your total parking for transitions between services. So, with 700 parking spots, we can never exceed 1400 in total worship attendance at a service. And guess what: we have never exceeded 1400 in a service (we have 1,050 seats in our main worship center).

Here’s your action: next weekend, count people and cars! Then, create a plan for more parking on Easter Weekend and add spaces BEFORE next Easter!

Don’t say, ‘I’m not a good listener.’ Just tell the truth and say, ‘I don’t value what you have to say.’

Ouch!

So often I have the tendency to tell people that I am not a good listener. Like others at times, I like to update my imperfections and sins by giving them a better name.

Instead of not valuing what people have to say at times, I should:

• Remember that another persons feedback can make a good idea a great idea.
• Remember that just listening adds value to others – people love to be heard.
• Remember that a team is compelled by a great vision and strengthened by listening.

What about you? Do you struggle to listen to others at times?

In leadership, learn how others think. Do not just learn what they do.

When we copy others practices, we are likely to find that those practices may not work in our organization. However, when we learn how others think -

• We gain understanding. When we just copy others behavior, we are acting without understanding. When I was a kid, we had a farm to grow corn for my uncle’s cows. One day he was putting dirt down the top of the corn plants and I followed suit. He immediately asked me to stop. Then, he explained that he was only putting the dirt in the plants that had signs of a worm in them. The dirt would kill the worm. Without understanding, I was stifling the growth of the plants.

• We learn principles. Practices are great, but principles are better. If a 300 pound lineman on a football team practices throwing the football 50 yards at each practice, that will be impressive. But, that practice will not help him in the game because he will never be the quarterback. Learn the principles that drive great leaders thinking instead of copying their practices.

• We improve application. If you understand the reasons behind the practices, you’ll understand how to make application in your organization. Christian leaders often desire application over understanding. If you grow in understanding, you will minimize the number of organizational mistakes you make from copying others.

It’s harder to learn the thinking behind the practices, but that thinking will change your leadership.

Agree or disagree?

Wayne, Angie and their family have been at FPC for several years. They have served faithfully in our ministries and last fall when I told Wayne that we believed he may be God’s person for the next FPC campus, he almost passed out! They sought God as a family and yesterday he started as the Blount Campus Pastor. Check out the video intro from this past weekend.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Welcome to the team, Wayne. It is going to be awesome serving together!