This One Day Event with Tony Morgan and Casey Graham is a MUST. The Cost is $49 if registered on or before April 30. We have 30 rooms for $35 a night first come first serve, just email us at info@brandnewchurch.com.

#1 Tony will assist you with Ministry Strategy, Leadership Vision and Structure. His blog is read by thousands and you can order his book here.

#2 Casey will not only enable you to raise funds, create a 12 month objectives,  and a 90 day financial action plan for your organization, but he will tell you how his amazing team can bring leadership to your finances for pennies.

#3 Brand New Church will be a place to inspire you and help you see that God wants to work mightily in every church no matter the obstacle. I will be teaching on “How to Lead Past the Church Bully” and giving practical helps for Leadership Success in the local church setting.

We will also help you with: Volunteers, Excellence on a Zero Budget, 4 Non-Negotiables of Brand New Church and much more!

You can register right here, right now! Can’t wait to meet you and grow with you.

2 Peter 1:3-8 is a passage you don’t need to pray in your life…you need to add it to your life. It says, “make every effort to add to your faith…”. God has done his part, now you do yours. Don’t PRAY THESE, PLAY THESE in your daily living. There are seven, one for every day to add to your Christ walk:

#1 Goodness – praiseworthy
Be intentional with your goodness.
#2 Knowledge – intellect of God shown in right living
#3 Self Control – masters your desires and appetites
Eating, Addiction, Flesh
#4 Perserverance – Endure, hang in there
When you have a deliberate vision and purpose…don’t waiver!
Your tolerance for pain is the indicator of how great you will be!
#5 Godliness – Reverance, Respect
Revere the things of God…His Church, His Word, Your Relationship w/Him
#6 Brotherly Kindness – Love people like family
#7 Love – benevolence
Act on someone else’s behalf

WHY??? SO THAT YOU WILL BE EFFECTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE IN YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST! Verse 8 gives you this promise!
Share with me practical ways you will be adding these to your life.

Let me share with you 5 things I did not learn in Seminary:
#1 How to Communicate Vision
#2 How to Lead a Staff
#3 How to “Exhort” the Church Bully
#4 How to Handle membership Loss
#5 How to Love Your Wife as Christ Loved the Church

The Youngs deal with all of these in this video conversation. Thank you Ed Young and Dr. Ed Young Sr. for this dialogue. Father and son learning from each other and encouraging thousands during this lesson. In 45 minutes you will learn more than you can imagine concerning church leadership. Staff Issues, Time Off, How to Lead Leaders, Personal Evangelism, How to Develop Staff Leadership and so much more. Calendar the time to watch this remarkable question and answer.

Everyone around you is looking for encouragement and acceptance. It is up to you and me to give it, or create chaos in a life. Your words are the only thing, once it has left you, that you cannot get back. You can speak power into them or drag them down with poorly-put words. James 3:6 says, “the tongue…sets the course of his life…” Let me illustrate this truth with commonly used phrases:

Poorly Put
#1 “Not now.”
#2 “You’re stupid.”
#3 “You can’t.”
#4 “Good for nothing.”
#5 “You never.”
#6 “It’s your fault.”
#7 “I fell out of love”
#8 “You’re a liar.”
#9 “Do you ever listen?!”
#10 “Forget it.”

Pure Power
#1 “I’m wrong.”
#2 “You can do it.”
#3 “I believe in you.”
#4 “I love you.”
#5 “I’m proud of you.”
#6 “Thank you.”
#7 “I need you.”
#8 “I trust you.”
#9 “I respect you.”
#10 “Please forgive me.”

Add to these list and let’s empower those around us with Pure Power!

Dr. Sam Chand ask this question; “What is your leadership capacity?”. He stated there are 7 areas we must be increasing capacity as a leader.
Let’s look at these seven areas:

#1 Pain
You will only grow, if your threshold for pain is growing. Leaders will and must experience pain. You will only know blessing if you have been troubled.

#2 Relational
Your marriage, your friendships, your co-workers are growing your relational leadership or you are dying. When you stop relating, you stop being relevant or needed. Don’t be afraid of hurt, pain, betrayal just love big and trust God.

#3 Exposure
God grows you ministry and exposure as you expose yourself before God! Be honest in confession and be available to hear from God.

#4 Identity
Don’t change who you are for anyone. God has hard-wired you to be you.

#5 Crisis
Never waste a crisis. Learn from it and capitalize on it. Crisis will separate “the fans” from “the followers”.

#6 Character
Your talent can take you where your character cannot keep you. Your 3 or 4 closest influences are determining your character and destiny.

#7 Risk
When you are 100% sure you are to late.

What areas would add to leadership capacity?

Ed Young Sr. gave some practical advise for pastors and church leaders here at C3. He is a 74 year old man and SBC pastor of 50 years. Here is what he says hinders church growth and promotes church growth:

10 Things that HInder

#1 Poor Location
#2 Committee-Led Church
#3 “Right Size” Mentality
#4 Negative Preaching
#5 Fear of Debt
#6 Staff that does not Function
#7 Church without a Leader…(Pastors MUST Lead)
#8 Threatening Atmosphere to the Unbelieving
#9 Evangelistic Counting
#10 Shabby Building

10 Things that Promote

#1 Leadership, Leadership, Leadership
#2 Surplus Parking
#3 Visibility
#4 Prioritized Ministry (Non-Negotiables)
#5 Prayer
#6 Shared Vsion
#7 Quality
#8 Constant Change
#9 Discernment
#10 Preach the Word of God!

Ok, many have asked what I learned from my first (and definitely not last) marriage counseling appointment:

#12 Cindy is the best wife on planet earth!

#1 Never waste a good fight (work through it, don’t bury it).

Make certain you find a “Christian Biblically Based” counselor. I highly recommend Fellowship Counseling Services. You can learn more by clicking here

John 4:23-24 “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

I have friends that love the sensational and I have friends who love scholarship.  Jesus says he is looking for worshipers who love both which always equals “SUBSTANCE”.  God wants you and I to be FOUND as true worshippers of His Son.  I try to illustrate this here…let me know what you think…(please forgive me for the cheerleader spirit fingers)

Spirit Fingers from Shannon O’Dell on Vimeo.

I love Valentines, (we have three children born in November) I mean I really, REALLY, love Valentines! Love is such a beautiful word and it’s meaning is so much deeper than a feeling…it’s a covenant. So is my marriage to Cindy. To enhance this covenant marriage I have 5 Valentine events scheduled for her:

1) Prime Rib dinner and flowers on the 13th (Provided by BNC).
2) Comedian Todd Oliver (Vegas, Branson entertainer) on the 14th (at BNC Bergman).
3) Taking her to Dallas on the 16th to stay in one of our favorite hotels.
4) Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse for dinner that evening on the 16th.
5) This event, #5 is what I really want to talk about. I have scheduled on the 16th a MARRIAGE COUNSELING appointment.

Cindy and I will be meeting with Dr. Jonathan Cude who’s office is in Los Colinas, Texas. I can already here the questions and pondering thoughts. What? Marriage counseling? Are they having problems? Has the pastor lost touch?  Marriage counseling means I am weak, right? Getting counsel and wisdom means this…I value my marriage!! Cindy and I have the best marriage on planet earth…no, seriously the best! The truth is we, like every married couple, have matters that we want to overcome and learn how to be more effective in. I don’t want to see a marriage counselor when things are bad, I want to see one when things are going well. Cindy and I have desired this for years and are taking the first step, of many steps for the future. We are excited about every Valentines event, but this is TOPS for our Valentines 2010.

Pastors, leaders and married adults, be honest about your marriage and do what it takes to perpetuate your covenant to the next level. I will blog next week the outcome of learning from Dr. Cude.

What you think about my Valentine’s Plans?  Comment here…