I spent the evening at our South Hanover church site last night. It wasn't surprising, but I still felt a warm feeling in my heart at all the great ministry to people that was going on down there. Our new youth pastors, Daniel and Dee Scotton are fantastic. It was a real pleasure to see them in action. The kids ministry was great too. I brought my 3 older boys and they had a blast. They could not tell me what the lesson was about, but this is very normal, and I'm confident it's not because the teachers did not deliver a fine lesson. Besides those, there were two adult classes going on under the leadership of Pastors Marv and Jeff. There was just good life there.
I'm slowly becoming more comfortable with my role as a coach offering encouragement and oversight to the leaders on my teams; even at branch sites. I'm reading a great book right now by Pat Lencioni called "The 5 temptations of a CEO". Yeah, I'm no CEO, but the leadership principles are exactly the same. God's really convicting me lately about how poorly I've held people on my team accountable. Not only that, but I think I'm learning a healthy way to do it . . . at least I'm stumbling through some new attempts.
I had an awesome day with my boys yesterday. I love those guys so much. My wife's not too shabby either. I'm so blessed and I feel like the luckiest man in the world. What a family!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
fall
It's feeling like Fall outside and that just adds some extra energy to me. I love this time of year more than any other, and now that Jude's in a pretty regular sleeping pattern - he was up at 4:50am this morning, but he eats fast and is back to sleep in about 20 minutes - I feel like a nice season of focus and growth is underway in my life.
I started a "family meeting" with Sara last night where we just talk about dates, goals, ideas, etc . . . concerning our family. I absolutely loved it. She endured it for my sake as it too closely resembled a staff meeting at work for her tastes, but I love her so much for putting up with my strange style of approaching things. The bottom line for me is that I need to find new and more definitive ways to lead in my own home and this is an attempt of mine.
God is teaching me something new about leadership lately . . . that I know next to nothing. Yes, almost 1 decade into it, I find that most of my trial and error has been error. But I feel fine about that, because I can feel God leading me into a season where I learn some much more profound and lasting leadership principles than I ever have before. I'm just excited for what God has next for me as a husband, father, pastor and leader in general.
I started a "family meeting" with Sara last night where we just talk about dates, goals, ideas, etc . . . concerning our family. I absolutely loved it. She endured it for my sake as it too closely resembled a staff meeting at work for her tastes, but I love her so much for putting up with my strange style of approaching things. The bottom line for me is that I need to find new and more definitive ways to lead in my own home and this is an attempt of mine.
God is teaching me something new about leadership lately . . . that I know next to nothing. Yes, almost 1 decade into it, I find that most of my trial and error has been error. But I feel fine about that, because I can feel God leading me into a season where I learn some much more profound and lasting leadership principles than I ever have before. I'm just excited for what God has next for me as a husband, father, pastor and leader in general.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
sleep, pain , overload . . . perspective
Our baby Jude has slept the whole night through the last two nights. I can't tell you how good Sara and I feel with two full night's sleep under our belts.
I've had some serious pain in my ribs since last week. I guess I had a rib pop out of place. It hurts to do everything, especially to breathe and laugh. It is getting better and I'll see my chiropractor again about it today. Man, I'm so thankful for chiropractors.
We had another meeting with our building project consultant yesterday. All I can say is that my brain is seriously overloaded. I started feeling a little desperate about it yesterday, then God reminded me that we're playing offense, not defense, with this project.
I like a full night's sleep, but partial is ok for the sake of my baby. I like a pain free life, but improvement is better than where I was last week. I like serving God with no sense that I must go to a new level, but doing it from an offensive posture is better than from a defensive one.
It's all about perspective. Thank God for a healthy perspective today.
I've had some serious pain in my ribs since last week. I guess I had a rib pop out of place. It hurts to do everything, especially to breathe and laugh. It is getting better and I'll see my chiropractor again about it today. Man, I'm so thankful for chiropractors.
We had another meeting with our building project consultant yesterday. All I can say is that my brain is seriously overloaded. I started feeling a little desperate about it yesterday, then God reminded me that we're playing offense, not defense, with this project.
I like a full night's sleep, but partial is ok for the sake of my baby. I like a pain free life, but improvement is better than where I was last week. I like serving God with no sense that I must go to a new level, but doing it from an offensive posture is better than from a defensive one.
It's all about perspective. Thank God for a healthy perspective today.
Monday, September 22, 2008
I love my sons
This is a straight copy and paste from my journal I keep as I read through the bible. I'd appreciate your prayers when you think of it.
1 Sam 8:1-5 - As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. 2 Joel and Abijah, his oldest sons, held court in Beersheba. 3 But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice. 4 Finally, the leaders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. 5 "Look," they told him, "you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king like all the other nations have."
I can see from the following passage that the reason that the Israelites really wanted a king was their heart-level rejection of God as their king, but this seems to say that the greediness and lack of character of Samuel's sons precipitated the whole thing. It seems like these men of God in the OT had a heck of a time raising sons with Godly character. Now, I'm not such a man of God, but one of my most intense desires is to raise Godly sons and be a great father to them. Lord, please help me.
1 Sam 8:1-5 - As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. 2 Joel and Abijah, his oldest sons, held court in Beersheba. 3 But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice. 4 Finally, the leaders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. 5 "Look," they told him, "you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king like all the other nations have."
I can see from the following passage that the reason that the Israelites really wanted a king was their heart-level rejection of God as their king, but this seems to say that the greediness and lack of character of Samuel's sons precipitated the whole thing. It seems like these men of God in the OT had a heck of a time raising sons with Godly character. Now, I'm not such a man of God, but one of my most intense desires is to raise Godly sons and be a great father to them. Lord, please help me.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
life
Wow, life has been such a whirlwind over the last few weeks. Last week was especially tough. I taught a complete (for credit) Old Testament Survey class in 5 days. Five really long and tedious days. Thank God that's over and I hope to never have to do that again. On top of that, getting up to feed Jude at about 4am every morning makes for some serious deprivation of sleep.
Well, the class is over and Jude slept until 5:30 this morning. Things are looking up.
One of the really great things that came out of me teaching that class is a renewed love of the Old Testament. I did some personal bible reading this morning in 1 Samuel and God was showing me new stuff. That is sure a breath of fresh air for me.
Masters Commission is starting in earnest this Saturday. Honestly, I have no idea if we'll enroll enough students to even make our budget this year and I also don't know if we'll have enough homes for the students who do come. It creates such stress that I can do no more than leave it in the able hands of my staff and God. It is frustrating that I believe in my heart that we offer such a high quality education and growth experience, yet it's always a struggle to attract students, make it financially solvent and find homes for the ones who do come. It makes me think that we must be off track somewhere, but I can't figure where. I sure do need God's guidance on that one.
Well, the class is over and Jude slept until 5:30 this morning. Things are looking up.
One of the really great things that came out of me teaching that class is a renewed love of the Old Testament. I did some personal bible reading this morning in 1 Samuel and God was showing me new stuff. That is sure a breath of fresh air for me.
Masters Commission is starting in earnest this Saturday. Honestly, I have no idea if we'll enroll enough students to even make our budget this year and I also don't know if we'll have enough homes for the students who do come. It creates such stress that I can do no more than leave it in the able hands of my staff and God. It is frustrating that I believe in my heart that we offer such a high quality education and growth experience, yet it's always a struggle to attract students, make it financially solvent and find homes for the ones who do come. It makes me think that we must be off track somewhere, but I can't figure where. I sure do need God's guidance on that one.
Monday, August 11, 2008
what a day!
Yesterday was pure crap . . . washing machine broke in the morning and it just went downhill from there.
But today . . . had a great meeting with our new building project consultant and I'm so excited about this new expansion project that I can hardly stand it! I came home and had some really special time with my three oldest boys - swinging on the swings, jumping on the trampoline. I'm so in love with my kids!
But today . . . had a great meeting with our new building project consultant and I'm so excited about this new expansion project that I can hardly stand it! I came home and had some really special time with my three oldest boys - swinging on the swings, jumping on the trampoline. I'm so in love with my kids!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
I'm back!
Man, it feels good to get some normalcy (is that a word?) in life again. Jude seems to be settling into life in the Fitch household just fine. He has a pretty nice 4-hour stretch of sleep at night and Sara and I can divide the "up at night" duties, although she still does much more than I.
But the point here is that this morning I'm up early having some time with my God and my thoughts and it's been a while since that's happened. I read a few chapters in the book of Ruth this morning, thanked God for giving me grace and favor on a couple sticky situations that could have blown up recently and now I'm even blogging. Life is sweet.
I'm reading "The 4 hour work week" by Tim Ferriss. The premise is predictable and shallow, but the thought process that Ferriss has about life in general is really interesting and challenging to me. He's a rebel, and arrogant about it at that, but he really thinks outside the normal boundaries. I'm not talking about someone who thinks it's cool to say "let's think outside the box". My gosh, thinking "outside the box" is squarely inside the box these days. Ferriss seems to intuitively think almost the opposite thoughts that I do and I really like being challenged in this way.
It makes me think about Christianity in the US. For so long (as long as I've been in the church word - almost 3 decades) Christianity seems to be all about what we're against and what we will not or should not do. That stuff has never felt right to me, but I always just told myself that I'm an obstinate sinner and I need to fall in line. I'm not talking about living in sin and and calling it freedom, I'm talking about following the holy spirit even when He seems to lead in strange directions. I can feel this coming and challenges to my thinking are welcome.
If any of you are reading or listening to anything that's challenging to your normal though process, let me know. I'd love to check it out and dialog with you on it.
But the point here is that this morning I'm up early having some time with my God and my thoughts and it's been a while since that's happened. I read a few chapters in the book of Ruth this morning, thanked God for giving me grace and favor on a couple sticky situations that could have blown up recently and now I'm even blogging. Life is sweet.
I'm reading "The 4 hour work week" by Tim Ferriss. The premise is predictable and shallow, but the thought process that Ferriss has about life in general is really interesting and challenging to me. He's a rebel, and arrogant about it at that, but he really thinks outside the normal boundaries. I'm not talking about someone who thinks it's cool to say "let's think outside the box". My gosh, thinking "outside the box" is squarely inside the box these days. Ferriss seems to intuitively think almost the opposite thoughts that I do and I really like being challenged in this way.
It makes me think about Christianity in the US. For so long (as long as I've been in the church word - almost 3 decades) Christianity seems to be all about what we're against and what we will not or should not do. That stuff has never felt right to me, but I always just told myself that I'm an obstinate sinner and I need to fall in line. I'm not talking about living in sin and and calling it freedom, I'm talking about following the holy spirit even when He seems to lead in strange directions. I can feel this coming and challenges to my thinking are welcome.
If any of you are reading or listening to anything that's challenging to your normal though process, let me know. I'd love to check it out and dialog with you on it.
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