J.R. Lee

It’s almost the new year. A chance to start over.

But the question is what is your top priority?

For many of us it’s Jesus, relationships, health, friends, family, or finally getting our finances in order.

We’ve got a few ideas what it should be.  Join us January 1 at 11:30AM, and find out why it shouldn’t be Jesus.

DON’T FORGET!!!  ONLY 1 WORSHIP EXPERIENCE ON NEW YEARS DAY AT 11:30AM

Sleep in just a bit and don’t be late for what promises to be an incredible day as we kick off 2012 in style at Freedom Church!  

I love the arrival of the New Year.  New goals.  New dreams.  A FRESH START!

One of the things that I try and do each year is map out a general plan for reading the Bible.

Sometimes I try to read through the entire Bible in a Year through a One Year reading plan.
Sometimes I set a goal to read through certain portions of the Bible in a Month, Quarter, etc.
Sometimes I go much slower and concentrate on just a few verses at a time and try to memorize certain portions.

My desire is not simply to read the Bible and check it off my list. My goal is to read and get to know Jesus more so that I can consistently be becoming more like Him.   I am looking for transformation not simply information.

Whatever your strategy, here are a few resources that should be able to help you out…

ONLINE READING PLANS :: This is a great resource if you like reading from the screen (Computer, Mobile Device, etc).

PRINTABLE PLANS ::  If reading from a screen drives you crazy – this might be a better option.  I LOVE these because you can print them off and keep them in a small notebook for easy access.

ONLINE/PDF/PRINTABLE PLANS :: These are good options as well.

Look things over and find a plan that works for you.  Miss a few days – just pick up where you left off.  When you miss a meal it doesn’t mean you give up on eating.  Stick with it!

The Best of 2011 Blog Series continues with a short and sweet post from leadership guru Seth Godin.  It’s very appropriate as you plan out 2012.

That’s one of the most important decisions you’ll make today.

How much time and effort should be spent on intake, on inbound messages, on absorbing data…

and how much time and effort should be invested in output, in creating something new.

There used to be a significant limit on available intake. Once you read all the books in the college library on your topic, it was time to start writing.

Now that the availability of opinions, expertise and email is infinite, I think the last part of that sentence is the most important:

Time to start writing.

Or whatever it is you’re not doing, merely planning on doing.

The Best of 2011 Blog Series continues with a post from my friend Pastor Steven Furtick.  Loved this when he wrote it.  Love it today as well.

One of the things that really troubles me about the church today is the phenomenon of church hopping and church shopping. It’s a consumeristic mindset towards the body of Christ that grieves the heart of God.

It’s time for us to stop the hop. This isn’t Christianity. Jesus didn’t die so we could sample different churches like varieties of meat on a party platter. Jesus died to establish His church as the most powerful entity on the planet.

We are alive at the greatest time in history for the advance of the gospel. We have so much going for us.

We have the ability.
We have the resources.
We have the people.

What we don’t have is them committed to a place where they can actually be used for their God-ordained purpose.

If this generation doesn’t make the impact it should, it won’t be because it didn’t have the resources. Or even the passion. It will be because it was too busy hopping to different churches to stop and commit to one where its resources and passion could actually find an outlet.

The church is the change the world is waiting for. God help us if we keep the world waiting for us while we try to find the perfect church for us.

If you’ve fallen into the trap of church hopping, let me encourage you: embrace your place somewhere where God can use you. At the end of your life, God’s not going to be impressed or pleased that you saw what He was doing at ten different churches. He’s going be more pleased that you were a part of what He was doing at one church.

And you’re never going to find the perfect one, so give up looking. If the church you’re visiting doesn’t have what you’re looking for, it might be because God wants you to provide it.

Let’s all commit together to begin a campaign to stop the hop.
Find a place to get planted. Embrace it. And start changing the world.

The question of our day isn’t if God wants to do incredible things through the church. The question is will we be in place to experience it?

The Best of 2011 Blog Series continues with a post from my friend Pastor Perry Noble.  Love this and agree 100%.  You should as well!

I honestly believe that Sunday is the most important day of the week…and I make no apologies for that.

It’s a bit insane to see some in church culture become irritated at pastors and church leaders who look forward to and celebrate Sundays.  They make comments like, “It’s not about what happens on Sunday but what happens the rest of the week…”

Don’t get me wrong…I TOTALLY get what they are saying…but my fear is that in saying things like this we are throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Honestly, it would be the same as saying to a college football team, “you guys seem to get way too excited about Saturdays!  Seriously guys, it’s more than just about Saturday…it’s how you practice, it’s how you conduct yourself off the field.  I think you guys are really narrow minded and shallow because you all seem to focus on one day.”

Anyone who said that to a college football team would be considered insane…but we’ve started calling these people “holy” in church culture.

RIDICULOUS!

I say to pastors and church leaders…GET PUMPED ABOUT SUNDAYs!!

Get EXCITED ABOUT SUNDAYS!!!

Sunday is GAME DAY!  And you should NEVER apologize for your passion about the day when God’s people gather together!!!  EVER!!!

Yes, what happens for the rest of the week matters.  Yes, Sunday SHOULD BE a catalyst for all of us to walk out the doors and live for and share Christ with others all week long.  Yes, we should follow Jesus as passionately Monday through Saturday as we do on Sunday’s…I get all of that…

BUT…those things are NO REASON to DIS SUNDAY!!!  Sunday is the day that Jesus rose from the freakin’ GRAVE…THAT IS FREAKIN’ EXCITING!!!!   And…excuse me (and others) for being PUMPED about it…but when God’s people get together to focus on, proclaim and celebrate who JESUS IS…well, I THINK THAT IS A BIG FREAKIN’ DEAL…and it is something that we should ALL look forward to!!!

Church leader…if you’re not excited about your church then I can promise you that satan is!!!  And church leaders have GOT to lead the way when it comes to PASSION and PURPOSE!

People have tried to criticize me in the past saying, “you always think that this coming Sunday is going to be epic, the best ever…it can’t always be that way.”

YES IT CAN!!!  Don’t try to hold me hostage in your prison of predictability and passionless leadership!!!  I can’t WAIT for the next Sunday, the next series…and I really do believe it is going to be THE BEST EVER!!  DANG…how much would it suck to serve under a leader that didn’t believe that God had anything great in store for the church?

AND…one more thing, when God moves in your church, when someone receives Christ or a prodigal comes home or anything like that…CELEBRATE…tell the WHOLE WORLD what JESUS has done!!!  Don’t hold back…CELEBRATE!!  Good gosh…Christians should LEAD THE WORLD in regards to HOW TO THROW A PARTY!!!  Don’t hold back because you are scared that others will think you are boasting…you ARE BOASTING IN THE LORD!!!  You are boasting in WHO HE IS and WHAT HE IS DOING!!!  Don’t hold it in…SHOUT IT OUT!!!  Jesus said in Luke 15 that we should throw parties when just ONE person surrenders their life to CHRIST!!!

Sundays are AWESOME!  I love Sundays!  I anticipate Sundays!  I celebrate Sundays!!!  Every church leader should!!!  (Psalm 122:1!!!)