Let me correct that.  All the people I know have bad days and discouraging moments.

It's just the people I hang around on twitter seem not to.  Everyone is so pumped to be part of an organization, has the perfect wife that they can't believe married them, loves their family and is excited about the future.

Now to some extent that's true, I'm sure.  I have a great wife, love working with the team at Connexus, am thankful for my kids and have moments where I'm downright pumped about the future.  But Toni and I argue and don't always agree on things.  There are good days and bad days in ministry.  My kids are great but we have conflict.  And I'm mostly pumped about the future, but some days I get discouraged.

Confession:  I tend not to tweet the junk.  At times it means there is silence.  At times I find the one positive thing I can tweet about.

Second Confession: I don't like following negative people.  I've actually stopped following people who are overly negative or rant all the time.  I love authenticity, but I don't like negativism.

Third Confession:  I'm not sure I want to tweet a struggle because I would never want to throw a co-worker, friend or anyone in my world under the bus intentionally or unintentionally.  It's just not fair.

I find blog posts and sermons the easiest to be 'truthful' on because they are longer and invite dialogue and explanation. But I won't criticize anyone there either because I think it's a bit unfair and unwise.   I can be self-reflective and self-critical because at least on blogs and in messages there's a context for junk (at least my personal junk) and joy (shared joy or personal joy).  Personal differences are just that - personal, and they should be worked out one on one face to face.

It's even easier to be self-reflective on a blog or in a message because you have time and a few minutes or words for context.  Twitter's and Facebook statuses are so hard because they are so short.

That said, when you tweet, blog, or update your status on Facebook, how do you tell the truth?  Are we putting up false fronts?  Building up false personas?  How do you tell the truth and still encourage others?  Is our on-line personae actually the real 'us'?  How can the real you be accurately known in social media?

If you do that:

• Your prayer life will grow
• The status quo will get shaken up
• You'll develop a fresh heart for people who don't know Christ
• You will begin to apply what you now know to your life in new ways
• You'll know God more intimately
• You'll better understand what you believe
• You can test what people tell you (including church leaders) for yourself
• You'll get more passionate about sharing your faith with people who don't know Jesus

Here's my current favourite way to read the Bible:  YouVersion. As you start 2010, you can access one of 20 daily reading plans here.  Pick the one that suits you best.  Some will take you through the entire Bible in a year...others through parts of the Bible.  What I love is that this gives people an easy way to make the Bible part of every day life.  If you've never read the Bible before, this could be an easy and do-able first step.

Best yet, you can access YouVersion off your desktop or your smartphone.  My daily bible reading has been off my phone for the last year and I love it.

Hope you find this to be a great new way to encounter God's Word in a fresh way.

PS.  I'm doing the M'Cheyne reading plan this year.

I've missed our community...so if you're still around, thanks!  If you are new, welcome. We'll start in earnest tomorrow with the blog, but a few questions here on day one:

• What do you think of the design and navigation?  Easy to use?  How does it interface with your browser?
• What are you thinking about these days?  I have a bunch of things to post about, but I'd love to know what's on your mind.  What is the burning subject you need a forum to talk about?

Welcome back.  Tell some friends, and let's have some great conversation.

This is a huge series for us, because we built our church around a family ministry strategy.  In Orange Families, we're covering for the first time the parenting strategy that Reggie Joiner and I have been developing over the last year.  I'm so excited to share it with our families and the wider church community (some of you have heard snippets of this on the Orange Tour and at last year's Orange Conference, but this is the first full run at it).

The easiest way to get the messages is via the Connexus Podcast. Just go to iTunes and search "Connexus Community Church" and our audio and video casts will pop up (don't have iTunes? click here.)  Subscribe away.  It's free.

You can also go to our website where we stream the messages.  You can also burn a DVD for yourself off our site.  Click here.

If you are a church leader or volunteer who wants to know more, I'm teaching a breakout at the Orange Conference on how to position your church to maximize a parenting series.  Orange is an awesome conference (you have to get to it) and, if you're interested, the breakout covering this is called "Communicating the Family Ministry Strategy to Your Church". 

Really looking forward to the next five weeks of Orange Families.  Excited by how God might change families because of it!  Looking forward to hearing your feedback and comments!

Thought we'd start off the conversation for a new year with some thoughts on life, mission and getting in position to let God leverage our lives and leadership. I don't have a list of specific goals, but here's what I'll be working on in 09.

• I'm refreshing my daily bible reading by switching to YouVersion, an online bible set up last year by the great folks at Lifechurch.tv.  Two days in, I already like it for two reasons:

• I'm reading in community.  The decision to move to YouVersion started December 31st when I twittered about that day's reading from Malachi.  By late that afternoon, six of us decided to read the bible together in a year on line using YouVersion.  If you want to join, just sign up, search for me, and follow me.  Should be fun!
•  Reading on a screen (in this case, my phone) makes me physically read the text differently than off the printed page, which I've read all my life.  It's making words and phrases pop in fresh ways.  Love it!

• I'm reading more intentionally in 09.  Recently, I picked up a dozen or so business/leadership books to sharpen my leadership skills.  Here's a sampling of what's on my list for early 09:

• I'm joining a gym.  Frankly, for two reasons.

• I need to get in shape.  Doing it on my own has lost me ten pounds in ten years.  Not good enough.  Looking at hiring a personal trainer to keep me accountable and get me moving.
• I need to get out of the Christian bubble.  I need new environments in 09 that get me more deeply into the fabric of the wider culture. A gym is one of those places.

I could say much more (I haven't talked about personal growth or even spiritual growth), but that's enough for now.  I'm deeply pumped about 2009 and excited about all that could happen.  God's faithfulness last year was far beyond any deserving, and I'm confident He's going to stretch and grow me and us more than we can imagine this year.

 How about you?  How is your 2009 starting, and what will be different about 09 than 08?

Three trends that got me thinking about church and being a wired Jesus-follower in 2008:

• Has the iPod killed commercial radio?  I'm not one of those guys who hates new music (I love a lot of it), but I am flipping through stations quicker than ever and longing to get back to my playlists. And I'm a former radio guy and still have friends in the industry!  What, if anything, will keep me tuned? 
  • Unique content I can't or wouldn't normally download.
  • Great personalities (DJs) I like who have something interesting I want to hear.

• Specialty channels continue to erode the market-share of the major tv networks.  Two trends in that one:
  • Broadcasting is giving way to narrow-casting.  We like what we like.
  • Eclectic is becoming mainstream.

• People have been quick to pronounce newspapers dead - and circulation is dropping quickly. But last week, I picked up a couple of Globe and Mails for the first time in ages, and I think I fell in love again.  People don't really read newspapers for news anymore, but the Globe has shifted to honestly intelligent, thoughtful interest stories you just wouldn't find elsewhere and you likely wouldn't search for on line (their print version is better at this than their online version).  Smart.

What's the common trend?  People have been turning away from traditional media in droves over the last 20 years, insisting that get what they want when they want it.

So how does this impact Christ-followers?  I think we went through a period in the 80s and 90s where pretty much
all we were about were the preaching and the music, and this decade has
made it a lot harder to compete.  Why not just play your favourite worship music in your iPod and download the best preaching podcasts your can find, and call that church?  I used to feel threatened by that thought a few years ago. But now it excites me. Bring it on.  I doubt that will kill the local church.  It might make us more literate and sharper.

But what will keep followers and non-followers of Jesus meeting together as a the church (in person) into the future?  Some thoughts on what keeps me coming back and might keep others:

• Real community.  Human interaction. Dialogue. Conversation. Touch. Genuine caring for each other.  Can't download that...yet.  Sure, we can do that on-line to an extent, but something happens when Jesus-followers and people who don't yet follow meet eyeball to eyeball that is powerful.  It happens in groups and in just about any setting in which people gather.

• A person.  I think we used to think we were introducing people to an Idea (God, Truth), but the heart of the Christian faith is a relationship with a person (Jesus).  Somehow facilitating a personal relationship is easier and more effective in person.

• An experience.  There are times when I'm listening to iTunes when I feel close to God, but being together in community brings a presence that transcends solo experiences of God.

• Surprise.  God is way more creative and interesting that we admit.  In hosting services, preaching, worship and in different environments we host, there is something about a live experience that is creative and engaging that can help people experience Christ in fresh ways that a download can't bring. And then there are the moments you can't script, where God just moves.  Wow.

• Love.  Can you love people fully without being present? Is love complete without presence?

What do you think the "unique" marks of the Christ-followers gathering in person will be in these next few years together?  What keeps you coming back, or what has driven you away?  I'd love to hear from you!

"I have enjoyed all your topics in the 4-5 months that my husband has been bringing me."

Let me tell you why I chose it.  I promise you it's not because she likes the messages.  It's the "4-5 months that my husband has been bringing me" part that made say "yes" deep inside.

One of the most exciting things for me personally in the life of Connexus so far is the number of people who have been inviting their friends and family.  I don't believe I have met K's husband (or K.), but it's so good to see a man investing in his marriage and in his wife's heart in this way.  It's been fantastic to see so many people bring their friends and family (talked to even more people brought by friends again yesterday).  That's just kind of how it went down in the Bible - no mass marketing, just people telling people that there's something about Jesus they need to explore.

K. - I'm looking forward to the series this summer.  Thanks for being open to exploring Jesus together with us.  K's husband - thanks for spiritually investing in the most important relationship in your life.

So much ministry energy is wasted trying to figure out why people die. You hear everything from "it must be God's will" to the ridiculous "they must have needed her more in heaven than we did on earth."  I always find those conversations frustrating, disappointing and heartbreaking all at once.  Because I'm not sure the image of God reflected in them bears much semblance to reality.

Enter Psalm 116.15:  "The Lord's loved ones are precious to him. It grieves him when they die". 

That's about a five year old New Living Translation rendition, but I love how it reads.  I think that summarizes the heart of God so well.  And I think if people could understand that the sin that entered the world and pains us so badly also pains the heart of God, our relationship with Him would run so much deeper and be filled with much more mutual love.   

Here's my pick for this week from M.W. Smith who commented on Preaching Cramp....Help Please:

"I doubt that we are courageous enough to love one another in a way that wakes others from their numbness."

When I read that it hit me so deeply.  How many of us are numb from lack of love?  What might happen if we really loved?  I could spend more than a morning camped out on that thought.

Hope this brings some life and depth into your weekend.