Original post at http://www.williswired.com/2013/05/21/under-the-influence-of-the-spirit/

I really enjoyed preparing a message for Pentecost Sunday this past week. In fact, it struck me that without Christmas and Easter, there would be no Christianity, but without Pentecost, Christianity would have no power or ability to last!

Pentecost was so important that Jesus’ final instructions to his followers were to wait in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit, till they were baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Paul writes, “Don’t get drunk on wine, which produces depravity. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” Don’t live under the influence of alcohol. Instead, live under the influence of the Holy Spirit. He said they’d receive power for their mission of being witnesses of Jesus Christ after the Holy Spirit comes upon them!

The ongoing challenge is that we may forget our reliance upon, and need for, God. That was John Wesley’s fear for future Methodists. He wrote …

I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out. (“Thoughts Upon Methodism,” 1786.)

I’ve long prayed the prayer Jesus’ followers prayed in Acts 4.29: “Lord … enable your servants to speak your word with complete confidence.” But I’ve recently started praying the rest of their prayer, as well: “Stretch out your hand to bring healing and enable signs and wonders to be performed through the name of Jesus, your holy servant” (Acts 4.30). Hopefully, the result now will be as it was then: “After they prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking God’s word with confidence” (Acts 4.31).

Another passage of Scripture that has made it into my regular prayers is 1 Corinthians 2.4-5 …

My message and my preaching weren’t presented with convincing wise words but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. I did this so that your faith might not depend on the wisdom of people but on the power of God.

Turning it into a prayer, I often pray, “Lord, let my message and my preaching be presented not with convincing wise words but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that people’s faith might not depend on human wisdom but on the power of God!”

May God pour out his Spirit upon us anew so that we may live, and lead, under the influence of the Spirit!

Original post at http://www.williswired.com/2013/05/16/training-camp/

I finally got around to reading Training Camp: What the Best Do Better Than Everyone Else by Jon Gordon, which I’ve been interested in for a while. The book is a fictional story that shares lessons on pursuing greatness.

The story follows Martin Jones, an undrafted rookie trying to make it in the NFL. During training camp, Martin is mentored by a seasoned coach named Coach Ken, who shares life-changing lessons to help Martin be the best he can be.

The book is a quick, and good, read, especially if you like football. The lessons are shared in the context of football, but they’re applicable to life, in general. Coach Ken tells Martin, “Making the team is a goal. But striving for greatness is a life mission.”

The coach says …

You see, everyone says they want to be great, but very few are willing to pay the price. … People think it’s all about talent. But talent isn’t enough anymore. Everyone here has talent. It’s about infusing talent with heart, soul, spirit, and passion.

One important lesson is about the nature of purpose and calling …

Regardless of when and how, whether by practical experience, role model, spiritual insight, or lightning strike, the best of the best all had a moment in their lives when their vision became clear. When they said, this is what I truly want. This is what I want to strive for and I will pay the price to make it happen. It was as if they looked through a telescope and saw their future.

On the importance of trying to become your best, Martin recalled his mother’s advice: “To deny being your best was to deny the gift you were meant to give others.” Coach Ken adds, “The best are never satisfied with where they are.”

Coach Ken teaches Martin about the importance of process. He says …

The ideal of the overnight success is a myth. Just as the Olympian must train for years for one defining race, you must wake up each day and practice, prepare, and train to be your best. Don’t settle for mediocrity, but strive each day for excellence. It requires hard work, preparation, and hours of effort, but it’s worth it. … Becoming the best is a process. It’s a long and difficult process and it takes loads and loads of positive energy.

I appreciate the spiritual foundation of the book. Coach Ken tells Martin, “you can’t talk about greatness without talking about God.” He says …

You were made for a purpose and you were created to strive for greatness. But remember that you were made to become great in order to benefit the greater good, not yourself. God blesses us not for our own good but because God blesses through us to bless others.

Coach Ken also contends that it’s not about being the best but about being the best you can be. he says …

… being the best really (isn’t) about being better than anyone else but about striving to be the best you could be and bringing out the best in others.

Are you striving to be the best you can be by developing your God-given gifts and purpose?

Original post at http://www.williswired.com/2013/05/02/5-challenges-from-preach-better-sermons/

Yesterday’s free, 4-hour online preaching conference, Preach Better Sermons, was great. It will take some time to process it all, but here are five things that resonated with me …

1. Find your own voice and be who are.
It was great to see different styles among the presenters. At least two communicators (Mark Batterson and Pete Wilson) said they use manuscripts, a practice which doesn’t seem common (or recommended) anymore. More than one speaker cautioned against trying to preach like someone else, encouraging preachers to find their own unique voice and to be who God intends them to be.

2. Make the most of your prayer time just before preaching.
Prayer is a critical part of the sermon prep process, of course, but I loved the prayer routine Steven Furtick goes through just before he preaches. It was pretty intense. And somewhat quirky. His ritual involves scented anointing oil (I love Prayer Idiosyncrasies). I try to be intentional about my own prayer routine right before preaching (see my Desperate Preacher’s Prayer Guide), but after listening to Furtick, I need to do some work on my routine!

3. Show up every day.
Asked how he deals with writer’s block, Donald Miller talked about the daily discipline of writing. You never know when inspiration will come, and it’s more likely to come if you show up every day. Similarly, preachers must also develop the daily discipline of preparing. It reminds me that Elijah’s prayer during the showdown on Mount Carmel and Peter’s vision regarding Cornelius both took place during an “hour of prayer.” There’s something about showing up every day!

4. Check your motives.
Crawford Loritts said, “Don’t shoot to be the best preacher, but shoot to be a great preacher.” That’s a critical distinction, and an important reminder. One is competitive with others; the other seeks to honor God. Our goal cannot be to be the best, but to be the best we can be!

5. Focus on intimacy with God.
Crawford Loritts said, “You’ll never preach better than who you are.” Preaching isn’t just about developing and perfecting the right skills. The skills simply help us communicate what’s in our heart in the best way possible. The real power of preaching flows from a heart close to God!

These are five things that challenged me. Earlier this week, I wrote Preaching Requires Investment. This event was a great (and free) way to invest in your preaching!

If you missed the event, there will be a replay on May 16, 2013, 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. Sign up here!

Original post at http://www.williswired.com/2013/04/30/preaching-requires-investment/

Preaching is hard work. It’s not just the act of preaching that’s hard, but all of the prep that goes into it during the days (and sometimes weeks) leading up to the preaching event. Preaching requires a lifetime of investment!

Recently, I heard Bill Hybels quoted as saying …

Preaching has been the single most vexing activity that I am engaged in, in Christian work. Nothing beats me up or puts me on my knees for longer periods of time, frustrates me more, or creates a greater feeling of dependency on God than preaching and teaching.

My primary spiritual gifts are leadership and preaching. But it can be challenging to have two passions (I tend to have a one-track mind). That tension goes back about twenty-five years. Not long after devoting my life to Christ, I began sensing a call to ministry, specifically, “a call to preach.” But just before I graduated from college, I heard John Maxwell (before he was internationally known as a leadership expert), and I have been a student of leadership ever since.

For many years, I focused on leadership, and preaching took a back seat. That began changing in 2006 when I read Communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley and Lane Jones (see One-Point Preaching and 5 Years of One-Point Preaching). Transitioning to one-point preaching has been the single biggest transition I’ve made in ministry!

Ironically, the transition to one-point preaching occurred while I was working on a D.Min. program with an emphasis in leadership. When I chose a topic for my dissertation, I tried to unite my passions for leadership and preaching. In my dissertation, I used the term “leader-communicator” and looked at how leader-communicators shape a missional culture through preaching and communication. It was an attempt to unify my passions!

Now, I am in the middle of another major transition in my preaching life (I recently wrote What I’m Learning About Preaching). Whereas the transformation in 2006 was related mostly to sermon structure, this transformation is mostly about sermon preparation.

I’ve always known sermon prep was important, of course (see The 4 Ss of Sermon Preparation); it’s just always been a struggle to prioritize. On top of that, it doesn’t usually take me very long to put a sermon together. But, in recent months, I’ve been increasing the amount of time I spend soaking in and studying the text before putting the sermon together!

A major reason for this transformation is Preaching Rocket, a one-year video coaching program with monthly videos. It’s expensive (I’m grateful for my continuing education fund at Centre Grove!), but it’s an investment in my ongoing preaching development!

I can’t really point to anything specific about the Preaching Rocket program (I was one of the first to sign up nearly a year ago, as a charter member) other than it’s simply an opportunity to focus on my development as a preacher. And, the content is good. In the process, I’m gaining an appreciation for more effective sermon preparation!

Preaching Rocket kicked off last year with a free online conference called “Preach Better Sermons.” It was great (see 5 Takeaways from Preach Better Sermons). The next Preach Better Sermons event takes place tomorrow (May 1). There’s a great lineup of communicators, including Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Mark Batterson, and a number of others.

I’m especially looking forward to Nancy Duarte, whose book, Resonate, I’ve blogged about extensively (the last one, with links to the others, was “Resonate”: Bringing it All Together). Duarte’s work has been a significant part of my preaching development (the eight blog posts I wrote about Resonate indicate that!).

Well, you can sign up for the free online preaching conference here. I’m looking forward to it. It’s another opportunity to invest in my preaching (and it’s FREE)!

Original post at http://www.williswired.com/2013/04/26/what-the-most-powerful-preachers-do-before-breakfast/

In the last two days, I read three mini-ebooks by Laura Vanderkam. The books are from her series, What the Most Successful People Do. The books are good because they are short, practical, and include lots of personal stories and application.

What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast is about early morning routines and making the most of the early morning hours. Vanderkam asserts, “learning to use mornings well is … what separates achievement from madness.” Of course, this is certainly much easier to swallow for morning people than night owls!

Thankfully, I’ve always been more of a morning person. In fact, I’ve been working on improving my own morning routine in recent months. Before we had kids, maintaining a strong morning routine was much easier than it has been in the last five years!

This book has also got me thinking about what the most powerful preachers do before breakfast.

Back in college when I was discerning God’s call on my life, I remember reading about powerful preachers from past centuries. There were differences among them, in terms of theology, personality, and preaching style, but one thing they seemed to share was that they prayed during the early morning hours, usually getting up around 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. and spending two, three, or even four hours in prayer!

So, what do the most powerful preachers do before breakfast? Mostly, they pray!

In my morning routine, I try to include prayer, journaling, and Bible reading. I also try to exercise before breakfast. On the treadmill, I may listen to worship songs, read, listen to an audio lesson, or watch a TED talk.

Vanderkam contends, “The best morning rituals are activities that, when practiced regularly, result in long-term benefits.” She says, “When you make over your mornings, you can make over your life. That is what the most successful people know.”

What’s your morning routine? What do you do before breakfast? How can you improve it to make the most of the early morning hours?

Original post at http://www.williswired.com/2013/04/24/i-love-the-psalms/

I’ve always loved the book of Psalms. I am often reading through the psalms. In fact, in the earlier days of my journey, I followed what I heard was Billy Graham’s system for reading Psalms and Proverbs (5 psalms and 1 chapter of Proverbs per day, reading through each book once a month).

I want to pass on my love and appreciation for the psalms to our kids. I recently wrote about 5 Children’s Books for Family Devotions. The list included Psalms for Young Children. The book, which is nicely done, includes a few sentences from a number of the psalms.

During this past Lenten season, I was re-reading parts of 24 Hours That Changed the World by Adam Hamilton (see my blog post on the book). In the book, Hamilton discusses the psalms, noting that Jesus and the disciples would have sung selected verses from Psalms 113-118 following the Passover seder meal.

Hamilton writes …

Jesus turned regularly to the psalms, drawing from them throughout his public ministry. He taught from the psalms, he sang from the psalms at the Last Supper, and it was the psalms that he prayed as he hung on the cross. Clearly they were an important part of his spiritual life. If we seek to learn spiritually from Jesus, we will want to become familiar with the psalms. Like Jesus, we will draw comfort from selected verses. The Gospels do not show him reciting entire psalms but rather choosing this or that verse, often drawing on beautiful, noble, and lofty verses nestled among less noble, even vengeful, verses in particular psalms.

The psalms represent the heart and soul of the Bible, and Jesus’ use of them during the last twenty-four hours of his life beckons us to become more familiar with them. (32).

Are the psalms an important part of your spiritual life? How do you read the psalms?