7 Reasons yesterday was awesome

Yesterday was one of the best days we've ever had as a church. Here's why:

1. People were set free. Many of us CANCELED THE DEBT of someone who hurt us. And in doing so, we not only set them free but ourselves as well. Anger no longer holds the power over us that it did.
2. Our first ever CONNECTION GROUP FAIR! ->
   This spring STORYCHURCH launches 9 different connection groups. Yesterday was your first opportunity to see each one, to learn about their groups and to get plugged in. If you didn't get to sign up, you can go HERE now.
3. We played Angry Birds. I'm not talking about that guy who plays on his cell phone all service long - we played it from the stage. That was pretty fun.
4. The worship team was outstanding. We have seriously one of the greatest teams on the planet and we are so blessed to have them lead us every week.
5. STORYKIDS continues to be more and more exciting. I am SO IMPRESSED with our leaders, the work they put in, and the quality of ministry they put forward each week.
6. Speaking of our kids ministry - we added two new staff people yesterday to our kids ministry. Shawn and Annie are HEROES!
7. Our DREAM TEAM knocked it out of the park yesterday. I saw people switching roles to cover for others who were sick, greeters standing out in the freezing cold (because the 1>99!), people creatively solving problems and finding new and better ways to do what we do, and never settling for "good enough."

I LOVE MY CHURCH!

What was your favorite part of yesterday?

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Fight for Your Heart

It's time for a check up. Your spiritual health depends on you having a healthy heart.

Guilt. Anger. Greed. Jealousy.

These four things represent spiritual heart disease.

If you've ever found yourself lashing out and wondering "Where did that come from?" or you find yourself secretly celebrating a coworker's failure, or maybe you constantly try and make up for something you did long ago - you've probably got a heart issue. And it won't be long before it affects every area of your life.

Over the next few weeks at STORYCHURCH, we will challenge you to move toward confession, forgiveness, generosity and celebrating other's successes. We will challenge you to fight for your heart.

I can't wait to see what God does in your life and in mine. I believe He is going to bring about healing in ways we didn't even think was possible.

(If you want to get a head start, I recommend reading Andy Stanley's book Enemies of the Heart.)

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2011 Books

This has become sort of an annual thing for me now. I set a goal for how many books I want to read in a year, and then I keep track. In 2010 I had a goal of 24 books - 2 per month. I didn't quite reach that goal. So I kept that goal for 2011, and this year I nailed it. Here's what I read in 2011:

1. From the top down - Lukaszewski
2. The Next Christians - Gabe Lyons
3. Storylines - Croft & Pilavachi
4. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Covey
5. Chuch Smith, a Memoir of Grace - Smith
6. Momentum - Hickey
7. Getting Things Done - Allen
8. The Art of Curating Worship - Pierson
9. Love Wins - Bell
10. 7 Practices of Effective Ministry - Stanley
11. Blink - Gladwell
12. The Divine Mentor - Cordeiro
13. The Principle of the Path - Stanley
14. The Attractional Church - Hornsby
15. Soulprint - Batterson
16. The E-Myth Revisited - Gerber
17. The Making of a Leader - Clinton
18. Strong Fathers Strong Daughters - Meeker
19. Lasting Impressions - Waltz
20. Enemies of the Heart - Stanley
21. Rework - Fried and Hansson
22. EntreLeadership - Ramsey
23. Taking your Church to the Next Level - McIntosh
24. The Thank You Economy - Vaynerchuk
25. The Flinch - Julien Smith (free on the kindle by the way, and a great quick read!)

Without going into detail on every one, my favorites were probably Strong Fathers Strong Daughters, EntreLeadership, and the Flinch. One thing I noticed is that I didn't read a single novel this year (though I guess I did read a couple of the narnia books to my daughter). So I need a novel or two for next year. I always tend to read things I want / need to learn about, but I need to squeeze in a few more just for enjoyment.

So, did you read any of these? What was your favorite read of 2011? What would you recommend make my list for 2012? I've got some work to do - my new goal is 36!

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