LAST POST ON THIS BLOG!!!

Yep, you read the title of this post correctly: This is the last post on blogspot for me! Go ahead and check out my new blog which is ajrankin.org. A tool you can use that has helped me in my blog reading is Google Reader. It will help you organize the blogs you subscribe to and read regularly. Put ajrankin.org into your Google Reader subscription list and enjoy!

NEW BLOG COMING SOON!!

I am making a few last minute touches to the launch of my new blog and I will blog when the new site is ready. I also will update Twitter when I post my first blog on my new site. I'm getting excited!

New Year's...Implementations?

Here are some things I am going to begin implementing this New Year. I don't really like the word "resolutions", so I'm going to go with implementation.

- GET MARRIED! And have a great first 6+ months to mine and Allison's life together.
- Eat healthier. Drink more water (Eliminate Drinking Soda & Don't Drink So Much Sweet Tea).
- Exercise 4 times per week.
- Come to grips with the fact that I will be completely bald really soon, so the little bit of hair I have will be kept short forever.
- Read 48 books this year. I will be reviewing them throughout the year. (Of course, I will be reading the Bible as well; that's non-negotiable.)
- Use better capitalization and punctuation when blogging and twittering.
- Use as much of my gifts and potential to help Northwood Student Ministry go where God wants us to in 2009. I want to see students' and volunteers' lives changed! I love the opportunity God has given me and the people I get to do ministry with.

These are big implementations, so I am going to set goals in 21 day increments (Thank you Jeff Henderson) to monitor progress more efficiently.

Also, this blog will be coming to an end soon. I will be launching a new site and will let you know more about that in the next few days through this site and my Twitter. Thanks for reading and I will let you know the new Web Address very soon!

Happy New Year!

what makes a small group great?

i wanna hear it from you. if you've ever been in or led an effective small group, what made it so great? talk to me about it. talk to each other about it. leave a comment below and let the discussion begin.

what happens when you lose your voice?

if any of you were to talk to me right now it would sound like you were speaking with a 98-year-old man. i lost my voice yesterday after our first week of All I Want for Christmas at SHIFT, NSM Middle School Ministry. in some weird way, i think i lost my voice for a very specific reason.

this morning phillip and i went to pointe north community church to visit their student pastor and our friend, sean rheaume. he observed The Element last wednesday and had some great insights for us. i love when God uses others' observations to stretch us as leaders and pastors, even when the insights are things you didn't want to hear.

during our debriefing with sean this morning, i really could not even talk. just a few weeks ago i wrote about actively listening. well, this morning i forgot about my voice because i basically did not have one. instead of waiting for my turn to talk, i was truly, no i was actively listening. and boy did phillip and i need to hear it. thanks sean. love you bro.

as weird as this sounds i really want to say thanks to God for the loss (hopefully only temporary) of my voice. i do not want to sound like this forever. but i want to be someone who listens and learns from what they hear.

Proverbs 12:15 "Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others."

please pray for NSM for 2009 and for me personally to become a much better listener this upcoming year.

overflow of joy

II Corinthians 8:1-4

"We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints."

in the devotional i am reading it then asks: "how did the macedonians' joy relate to their giving?"

the title of the this week's chapter is true love: duty or delight? II Corinthians 8:1-4 is evidence that true love is delightful. the way in which we love God and one another is what i believe God tells us to monitor and take inventory of. this Christmas, start something that will change the rest of your life: turn up the intensity with in which you love, honor and respect our God. turn up the intensity with in which you love one another.

DO IT WITH DELIGHT. it will change things.

sundays are my favorite days

9:00 am - arrive at SHIFT to get ready for environments
9:40 am - leader meeting & prayer with our awesome 10:00 am Middle School group leaders
10:00 am - service begins with some really fun games which i had the privilege of hosting (decorate your leader & egg nog chug through a candy cane straw); worship; message; GROUPS!!
11:10 am - another leader meeting & prayer with our amazing 11:30 am Middle School group leaders
11:30 am - our second service begins and we get to worship God again (except this time my microphone doesn't work; the gameroom has a mind of its own as far as programming goes)
1:00 pm - we are packed up and headed to wild wing cafe to watch 7 nfl games at the same time (allison couldn't come today :( she was in a parade)
3:30 pm - write a blog post and watching games on tv and gamecast on my computer (holding onto a small lead against kevin harris in our fantasy football playoff game)
5:30 pm - arrive at THE AVENUE to get ready for service
6:00 pm - leader meeting & prayer with our super HS group leaders
6:30 pm - dinner at THE AVE, followed by worship, a message by phillip and GROUPS!!
9:30 pm - lock up the extension after hanging out with the band, leaders and students after THE AVENUE
11:00 pm - call allison to say goodnight, read for a bit and call it a day

p.s. i like mondays too

currently reading

i just picked a new book, emotional intelligence by daniel goleman. just reading the introduction and the challenge at the beginning of the book have gotten me amped about reading this book.

this is the quote from aristotle that goleman shares that has really challenged me:
"anyone can become angry-that is easy. but to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way-that is not easy."

the first 30 pages are interesting. they uncover the anatomy of the brain and look at where these emotions that we have actually come from. goleman also explains what the body does when different emotions are expressed.

the next section on the nature of emotional intelligence begins with a chapter titled when smart is dumb. sounds thought provoking, i'll keep you posted on some excerpts that i find helpful throughout my reading.

i'm also currently reading through the end of the old testament and i've placed a large emphasis on the book of jonah. he is such an interesting prophet because his emotions and life are still so transparent to today's reader. it is a bit scary how much of ourselves we can see in a jonah. all we have to do is look.

no shave november concludes

the beard growing and grooming has ended for me as the month of november has ended. kevin trimmed has trimmed his and phillip continues to let it grow. i trimmed my beard at 12:01 am last night and there was so much hair in the sink. it is exciting that i no longer look 35 years old and actually look 22 years old again. one thing i really regret is that we did not get a 1st annual NSM no shave group pic. that would have been amazing!

are you really listening?

a leadership fable seth godin uses in tribes is ronald reagan's secret to leadership. check this out.

your tribe wants a leader who listens. and by listen i mean actively listen. reagan says, "you should value what you hear and then make a decision even if it contradicts the very people you are listening to. people want to be sure you heard what they said - they're less focused on whether or not you do what they said."

for the most part i really try to give people my full attention when listening; however, so many times i am not actively listening. i make excuses like, "i am busy and there are 1,000 things going on in my head" and i just let something that someone said to me go in one ear and out the other. i am striving to become an active listener.

tribes

this idea of a tribe that seth godin has introduced NSM to has made us rethink leadership. i just finished the book and it had some nuggets that were really worth the read.

- "heretics are the new leaders."

- "...faith is demonstrated by the actions you take."

- "being charismatic doesn't make you a leader. being a leader makes you charismatic." (my guess is this is kevin harris' favorite line in the book)

- "the only thing that makes people and organizations great is their willingness to be not great along the way."

- "change is made by people, by leaders who are proud to be called heretics because their faith is never in question."

this book transformed the way i think about leadership. on the last page, seth challenges the reader to share the book with someone else if you got anything from the book. a few of you may be getting a copy from yours truly for Christmas.

NSMisms

i regularly read a blog by a pastor, Tony Morgan, from NewSpring Church. he calls quotes from the senior pastor, Perry Noble, at NewSpring Perryisms. he has inspired me to write the first ever blog titled NSMisms.

"That's money"
"Kevin Harris is now khartos"
"Bible says..."
"Organic Chemistry"
"Go Yearbook Yourself"
"You just got Pepe Le Pew-ed"
"Yeah Boy!" <-- Brian Jarvis Shout Out

there will be a lot where that came from.

ephesians 2:8-10

ephesians 2:8-10
8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

we are in the middle of our giving+thanks series at SHIFT and i will be giving a talk next week on putting our thankfulness into action. this verse in ephesians has stuck out to me and has been recurring in my mind over the past few weeks. tomorrow middle school students will be preparing Thanksgiving dinner boxes for Northwood Church's Turkey Outreach on Nov. 23rd. what better way for our middle schoolers to put their thankfulness into action?

that morning (before the Turkey Outreach) i will be speaking to our middle schoolers on this verse. i am praying that God will move in their lives and then in turn their lives will be full of good works streaming from the love of Christ that dwells within them.

recharging

what an excellent thing rest is. i really enjoy sleeping. when i got home today i was so tired but i couldn't go to sleep. this wasn't the type of rest i needed.

allison, her mom, and i went and visited allison's grandparents in cincinnati this past week. the 10-hour drive wore me out and i had not had a chance to catch up on my rest since i have gotten back on saturday afternoon. the rest i needed was to be recharged by God. God did that today through complete silence on my back porch (which i don't access near enough). the beauty of the night and coolness of the air were so magnificent tonight, and it is so amazing that nature was created by God and we can see His glory all over things like these. even thought the drive back from cincy wore me out i saw the beauty of His creation in the mountains, the starry night, and the colors of the autumn leaves. and man, was it beautiful!

just seeing the beauty of God in His creation makes me so happy and energizes me instantaneously. oh how i love to be recharged by His love, by His majesty, by His beauty, and by His glory.

the blazing center

all northwood student ministry male group leaders are invited to join the brand new group beginning this monday night at 6:45 pm at keith christmas' house. the group will be going through a dvd study with john piper's the blazing center. the study guides have just arrived at my door and will be provided.

if you have any questions email me at aj@northwoodstudents.com.

i can't wait. i'll see you there!

sacrifice

i was doing a word study last night on the word "sacrifice". i chased the rabbit back to psalm 50. the main nugget i took away from my study is that we offer sacrifices to God and then we forget the significance of the sacrifice so easily. as followers of Christ we must realize that we are giving up everything to follow Jesus because a true sacrifice is giving something that costs. most of us would agree that our lives are things we place a high value upon. the great thing about our faith is that Jesus says we are to give up our lives for His sake and for the Gospel and then you will actually save your life (Mark 8:35). yet, still it seems like we are so unwilling to give up comforts and habits that make our lives easy but steer us further from a Christ-centered life.

Jesus never said this whole thing we call life as a follower of Him was going to be easy. i was reading an interview with Francis Chan where he spoke about the commitment to follow Christ that Christians have made. he says this:
"Jesus almost gave an anti-altar call. 'are you sure you're supposed to be here? maybe you should leave because you don't understand the commitment to hate your father, mother, wife, kids. you still want to be here? pick up your cross and follow me.' Jesus preached sacrifice."

Jesus preached sacrifice. Jesus preached SACRIFICE!! sacrifice.

so, i broke the law today

i was going 34 mph in a 25 mph zone and i got caught. not only did i get caught but i got pulled over by a bike cop who was not even on his bike (you can go ahead and laugh at me now). he was standing in a parking lot, flagged me down and pulled me over. "license, registration and proof of insurance" has to be one of my favorite phrases!

God, ruin me?

i heard a message a couple of weeks ago in atlanta and it is still working on me. the realness, truth and authenticity sparked something in me. it is continuing to resonate in my heart and my mind, and is still challenging me. there were 3 points that craig groeschel made in his talk, for God to: heal me, stretch me and ruin me. i believe that God had me hear that message for a reason. it did something to all the other 12,000 pastors and church workers at the conference as well. this past week i have been praying over what that talk is still doing in my life. i want to be healed by God when i am hurt and i want to be stretched by God to follow after Him more. the real question is: do i want to give my life fully to God to the point where i pray for Him to ruin me so i can take my pride out of the equation and He can glorified through my life?

we hold on to our own lives so tightly sometimes. i pray that God would continue to work this Scripture through me: "for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Matthew 16:25

CATALYST Wrap Up

what a great conference! i heard so many great talks that were definitely from God and really spoke to our team. the emcees, lanny donoho and reggie joiner were awesome. they brought in a school bus, an elephant and jeff foxworthy. some inspiring stories were from a choir in africa and a student who started an organization to fight aids when he was 9 yrs old. here are some things i got from some of the speakers:

andy stanley - your moral authority gives you the boldness to lead. let what you have to say about these areas (forgivess, family, finances) match your practices in these areas.

become preoccupied with those you haven't reached as opposed to those you are trying to keep.

craig groeschel - honest. pray for God to heal me, stretch me, and ruin me.

matt chandler - guard your life and doctrine. speak truth directly from the Word in a contextualized language that people can understand.

steven furtick - passion. Scripture memorization. in between the promise God has given you and the payoff of that promise, there is a process.

dave ramsey - i have never heard ramsey speak on anything besides financial management. he spoke on the enemies of unity and it was phenomenal. the 5 enemies of unity: poor communication, gossip, unresolved disagreements, lack of shared purpose, sanctioned incompetence.

jim collins - humility is the signature quality of level 5 leaders.


what a blessing from God that this conference was for me, for our team, and for our church. the Spirit of God was definitely in that place.

day one in the ATL

well, phillip, kevin and i arrived in atlanta for catalyst early this morning. we got a few hours of sleep in and then we were off to the conference. our pre-lab session with reggie joiner, chief creative officer of the rethink group, was phenomenal. he spoke about momentum and how we have a tendency to not want to change things that we create.

in the afternoon, phillip took us to a very well built church, NPM's Buckhead Church. we got to do a tour and some q&a with some of their student ministry staff. today has been quite a treat thus far. the main stage sessions begin tomorrow!

another bonus: the house we are staying in is SICK! thanks steve.