Q&A with Craig Groeschel

Pretty funny! Share and enjoy!

The Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley (book reivew)

This is the second book I got for FREE through Thomas Nelson book review bloggers.

If you have ever listened to or watched Andy Stanley teach at his church or at a conference, you know that he is very simple and easy to understand. Well it the same with this book. Very simple yet profound and powerful thoughts and insights. The book has been very helpful for me, especially because of where I am in my life. There are some really good stories from Andy Stanley's life that he shares in the book to get the points in different chapters across.
The book is a very easy read. Here are some points that really stood out to me:

1. Direction, not intention determines our destination!
2. Acknowledging God = Submitting to God
3. Divine direction begins with unconditional submission. Not information!
4. Every decision has an outcome, and every path has a destination.
5. choices are now but outcomes are later.

There are many more things you will learn from the book. You will learn how to choose the right path. If you want to and need help with making better and wiser choices in life, this book will definitely help you with that. At the end of every chapter are great questions for life application.

The book challenged me in many ways and I believe it will continue to do so as I strive to make better choices in life.

If you have read the book, what are your thoughts? What book or books are you currently reading?

Joyce Meyer - Fruit of the spirit

Joyce Meyer was recently in Hampton, VA and i was able to attend one of the sessions. She taught on the fruit of the spirit. Here are some of the notes from the session.

1. Jesus cursed the fig tree because it was fake!
   
2. A fig tree is supposed to have fruit under the leaves and this one had no fruit.
   
3. Covering up with leaves did not work for Adam & Eve, and it will not work for us too!
4. 1 Corinthians 13:7-8
5. If you study success more than you study Love, you will not have true success!
6. If you study prosperity more than you study Love, you will not have true prosperity!
7. Patience - You will have to wait in life weather you like it or not! The important thing is how you wait? (attitude)
8. James 1:2-4
9. As a person you have the potential to hurt just as many people as you help!! Especially true for leaders!
   
10. Psalm 131
11. Hebrews 12:2-3
12. What people want to see in you is the fruit of the spirit.
    
13. You can be pitiful or powerful but you can't be both!

Conquer the sin of pornography!

This is a small clip from a conversation between Carson, Piper and Keller. You can watch the entire conversation here.



If you are a person struggling with pornography, here is a free book by Pastor Mark Driscoll that will really help you.

leadership is about giving up!

The picture that you see above is the tweet that was left by my leader Anthony Bass a few days ago. Anthony got on to twitter and facebook a little over a month ago and has been enjoying reconnecting with friends on facebook and connecting with new people on twitter.

Even though he is not "crazy" about facebook and twitter I know that this was not something that was very easy for him to do. So I began to think.....a part of leadership is giving up! I am not talking about giving up on goals, vision, people etc. but about giving up on something that we "like".

It doesn't matter where you are leading, as a leader you are always required to give up something for the people that you are leading. With that in mind:

1. What are somethings that you had to give up as a leader?
2. What are you willing to give up so that you can be a better example for the people who are following you?

Would really like to hear your thoughts!

Flutter - the new twitter!

This is a great video!



Pretty funny!

Unleash '09 - Session 2

In session 2 at Unleash Perry Noble talks specifically to Pastors and leaders in ministry. If you have not seen session 1 yet you can see it here.

Collapse of Distinction by Scott McKain (Book Review)

Scott McKain's book might be one of the most relevant books that I have read in the last year as far as business books are concerned. The main issue that Scott McKain addresses in the book is weather or not customers can tell the difference between you and your competition. He first addresses how individuals and companies got into the mess in the first place and then spends the rest of the time addressing the different avenues of differentiation. He also addresses the four cornerstones that every individual and company need to pay attention to.

The four cornerstones are :

1. Clarity
2. Creativity
3. Communication
4. Customer-Experience Focus
   

There are many great examples and stories in the book that get the point across. One of my favorite chapters in the book is "The Ebert Effect". The Ebert effect states that when people, from their perspectives, are inundates with indistinguishable choices, they perceive a product, service, approach, or experience with a specific point of differentiation to be superior. That point alone is worth the price of the book because it can help an individual and company to make some very important decisions based on that principal!

I also really liked the format of the book. At the end of every chapter is an executive summary and another section with action steps, questions and ideas. Both the sections are very helpful and at the end of each chapter.

The book is also a part of the Nelson Free program. With this program once you buy the book you get to download the audio version as an mp3 and an ebook version for FREE which is great value for your money!