If I were Satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God’s  kingdom and purposes, one of my main strategies would be to get churchgoers to ignore the Holy Spirit.

I can’t say exactly what will happen when you admit that you can  never fully know or experience enough of the Holy Spirit yet choose  to seek Him regardless. I know only that when you surrender fully to the Spirit, Christ will be magnified, not you (John 16:14).

When it comes down to it, many of us do not really want to be led  by the Holy Spirit. Or, more fundamentally, many of us don’t want  to be led by anyone other than ourselves.

The truth is that the Spirit of the living God is guaranteed to ask  you to go somewhere or do something you wouldn’t normally want or choose to do.

So, if you say you want the Holy Spirit, you must first honestly ask yourself if you want to do His will.

So, really, why do you desire the Holy Spirit’s activity in your life?  Do you want to experience more of the Holy Spirit merely for your own benefit?

I think a lot of us need to forget about God’s will for my life. God  cares more about our response to His Spirit’s leading today, in this  moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today’s decisions.

We forget that we were never promised a twenty-year plan of action; instead, God promises multiple times in Scripture never to leave or forsake us.

The key is that He never promises to reveal these purposes all at once, in advance.

Nowhere in Scripture do I see a “balanced life with a little bit of  God added in” as an ideal for us to emulate. Yet when I look at our churches, this is exactly what I see: a lot of people who have added Jesus to their lives. People who have, in a sense, asked Him to join  them on their life journey, to follow them wherever they feel they  should go, rather than following Him as we are commanded. The  God of the universe is not something we can just add to our lives and keep on as we did before. The Spirit who raised Christ from the  dead is not someone we can just call on when we want a little extra power in our lives. Jesus Christ did not die in order to follow us. He died and rose again so that we could forget everything else and follow Him to the cross, to true Life.

What I am saying, though, is that instead  of thinking and telling people they are crazy when they feel like  the Spirit is leading them into something that doesn’t necessarily make sense to us, we should join them in the discernment process. Instead of discouraging people, we should pray for more insight and  boldness. Instead of deadening people to the Spirit’s leading with our words and our actions, we should celebrate and join the Spirit’s movement in and through them!

Are you walking with the Spirit? Are you living each day seeking His control? This book was a challenge to truly practice what we often talk about – being filled with the Spirit. Ask Him to fill you – and He will!

The future of your organization and the potential of your employees are intertwined; their destinies are linked.

The great majority of people in the workplace today are actively disengaged.

It’s not that we don’t want to engage the people who work with us and for us. In most cases it seems that we simply have not found a practical, efficient, and affordable way to do it.

A company’s purpose is to become the-best-version-of-itself.  The next question is: What is an employee’s  purpose? Most would say, “to help the company achieve its purpose,” but they would be wrong.  That is certainly part of an employee’s role, but an employee’s primary purpose is to become  the-best-version-of-himself or herself. Contrary to unwritten management theory and popular practice, people do not exist for the company. The company exists for people. When a company  forgets that it exists to serve its customers, it quickly goes out of business. Our employees are our first customers, and our most influential  customers.

These people all have dreams. We need to find a way to connect their job today with their dreams for tomorrow.

If you ask people to talk about their jobs, they usually reply with a rote answer or a sales pitch  that they’ve given a thousand times before, unless they are really doing something that they’re passionate about. But if you ask people to talk about their dreams, in most cases you’ll see a remarkable increase in their passion and energy.

If we can help our employees beyond the quiet desperation of mere survival by teaching them to dream again, and help them to fulfill their dreams, we’ll create a loyalty and dedication that’s unmatched. And then our people will bring the passion and energy they have for their dreams to  their work.

In many ways, we are our dreams. But people stop dreaming because they get caught up in the hustle and bustle of surviving.

Isn’t one of the primary responsibilities of all relationships to help each other fulfill our dreams?

Most businesses fail because they have a few rainmakers and an army of administrative support. In any successful business, everybody has to be part of the sales force. When everybody sells,  you’re destined to succeed.

Some people needed to be encouraged to move on because they were toxic and poisonous to the team. Some simply were not a good fit. But others needed to be encouraged to move on because they simply outgrew the organization.

Wisdom is much more than the mere amassing of knowledge. Wisdom is truth lived.

Our dreams are the visions that shape our lives.

An employee is responsible for adding value to the life of a company, and a company is responsible for adding value to the life of an employee. This is the great  unspoken contract that exists between all employees and employers.

The most effective leaders and managers will be those who find ways to advance a company,  while at the same time helping employees to advance personally and professionally.

So what rocked my world? God clearly spoke to me that my awesome wife, Kim, has supported every dream that I have ever had and that I am to be her Dream Manager. Honestly, I was super convicted about it on my flight. So, last night she hired me to help her fulfill some personal dreams for her (okay, she did not really hire me, but she agreed to let me be a part of her dreams).

Who do you need to be a Dream Manager for? Reach out to them today.

Apprentices are people who learn from doing, and that is precisely what the Apprenticeship Model provides: practice, feedback, corrections, and more practice.

Unfortunately, it seems that our culture is valuing feedback and correction less and less. In most environments, they are non-existent. Why? Most of the time it is because leaders do not want to have the uncomfortable conversations. At other times it is because apprentices do not receive the tough conversations well, so leaders chose not to have them. Either way, it falls square on the shoulders of the leader. But think about this:

How much utter lack of care do you show for someone when you continuously allow them to fail without providing feedback or correction?

As a leader, your job is to have the tough conversations – tactfully, humbly and in a helpful manner. As an apprentice or follower, your job is to receive the conversation and make corrections.

What makes feedback and correction easier for you to receive?

Legalism is self-centered; discipline is God-centered. The legalistic heart says, “I will do this thing to gain merit with God.” The disciplined heart says, “I will do this thing because I love God and want to please Him.”

In the American culture we struggle with legalism. However, I’m not sure that our legalism is to gain merit with God much anymore. It seems now that our legalistic heart is more about impressing others. In the “Christian” culture, we often do things that are “godly” to gain influence with people. Life becomes about the pursuit of us.

It was a great reminder for me – discipline is about pursuing God in an attitude that says, “I want to love and please you, Lord.” No matter what the cost. No matter how often I fail. No matter how long it takes. It – is – all – about – YOU.

Are you self-centered or God-centered? Ask God to replace your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Then, pursue Him will all that you have!

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

The thought rang through my empty head: It depends on you. You can’t control others actions. You can’t control others reactions. You can’t make people like you. You can’t make people live in peace. But, as much as it depends on you and as is possible, you can be a peace with everyone.

However, most of us live like it depends on everyone else. Other people are supposed to bring peace into my life. But, I hold the keys to my life. I have to say the things that need to be said and listen to the things that others say. Then, it depends on me. It depends on me to forgive. It depends on me to let it go. It depends on me to move on.

So often, we chain ourselves to the people that we do not want to be around, and we do it emotionally. Remember – it depends on you. You cannot change them but you can change you! Who have you been trying to change and where do you need to change?

My trip to Costa Rica included travel with Micah Stephens, our First Impressions Director at FPC. Micah is crazy and will do just about anything that someone asks him to do. We were also partnered with a summer intern for Open Eyes Ministries, Kacie. Kacie is a tennis star who played at Oklahoma Wesleyan University and graduated in May. We had some free time on Thursday and decided to do a canopy tour. The tour was awesome, but Micah obviously got hungry while we were there.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now I know that Tony Morgan can kill some cockroaches and that they love that in Costa Rica, but Tony, can you eat termites? Obviously Costa Ricans love that as well!

PS – there is more video of Micah and Kacie for tomorrow!

In preparation for training the pastors and church leaders, I decided to use some material from Tony’s book, Killing Cockroaches. They loved when the translator said that the material was taken from Matando Cucarachas. People would smile and you could hear them repeat to each other “Cucarachas.” It was hilarious! They also loved it when I said that the church was full of Cucarachas (and it probably was!).

If you haven’t read the book, I would highly recommend it. Tony is a great guy and an awesome leader in the church today. Take time to read his blog, attend one of his coaching networks and follow his Twitter feed. And encourage him to have the book translated into Spanish – we all need a copy of  Matando Cucarachas!

The worst part about hell may not be the burning sulphur or lake of fire. The worst part of hell will be the realization that you are eternally separated from the one true living God.

Imagine if your family never has the chance to experience the one true, living God. Imagine your friends (like the rich man in Luke 16), desiring to have a touch from someone in heaven to quench their thirst. I was reminded of the finality of the situation again this morning, and it again renewed my burden. Listen to the words of Luke 16:26 -

And besides all of this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, not can anyone cross over from there to us.

Who are you investing in and inviting to church this year at a time when most people are open to consider it?

I was reminded from reading these articles that past our written words, someone is always watching what we say or what we do. Whether we believe that we are the most insignificant person or the culture sees us as the most influential in our field, someone out there is keeping tabs on us. Mary the mother of Jesus found that out. In Luke 1, it is recorded this way:

Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.” Luke 1:28-30 NIV (selected verses)

Here’s the deal – whether anyone else is watching or not, God is watching your life. Mary was blown away that God was watching her life. I believe she was troubled because she realized that the God of the universe had been watching her. And, He is watching your life and my life as well. Remember to be careful how you live – someone is always watching!

Tony Morgan’s new book, Killing Cockroaches, hits the bookstores soon (although you could’ve bought it on Amazon last week – and the Kindle prior to that). Tony is one of the greatest strategic thinkers and leaders in our day. So, what about Killing Cockroaches?

First, a cockroach story. Being from south Louisiana, I have seen some mega cockroaches. My fondest memory comes from my grandparent’s back yard. One afternoon we were playing out back when it began raining. Suddenly, these huge cockroaches (called Palmetto bugs) as long as your fingers began falling like missiles from the trees (and I agree with Tony that they are ROACHES). It was the craziest thing I have ever seen and was truly disgusting.

Killing Cockroaches isn’t disgusting (or is it?) but does uncover issues that bottleneck ministry in the 21^st Century. It was challenging (and refreshing) to hear some of the greatest leaders of our day communicate their struggle to empower others, get caught up in the mundane, have a tendency to micromanage, etc. Ultimately, the challenge of the book is to grow as a leader by strategically evaluating your ministry, making changes, and empowering others to lead. Also, there is a mandate to look further ahead in ministry. Most of the stories related mention that great leaders needed to evaluate their future leadership potential and obstacles closely and make changes quickly – but that didn’t always happen. Those leaders became the roadblocks within their ministries. Tony gives areas to evaluate within your context that may need new insight or immediate changes.

Bottom line: Killing cockroaches is killing churches (not the book – the practice). Leaders need to think strategically in the areas Tony mentions if the Church is going to impact our country significantly for Christ again. The book is packed full of leadership lessons needed in the church today. If you want to learn more about it, you can read on overview here.

Last, if you don’t know if you will buy a copy, do it because you are supporting a man who hates country music. Being a fellow hater, that is reason enough!

Great read, Tony.