"I don't need to go to church."

We’ve missed the point. We’ve been led astray.

See, we’ve changed something beautiful, and we’ve made it our way.

Something that was built so great, yet at the will of our hands,

We’ve turned it into a house built on pillars of sand.

There’s a disease in the "church", called self-gratification,

And if we don’t take action now it’ll be our own condemnation.

We continue to make it about ourselves and not about Him,

Choosing our time of worship around our favorite songs and hymns.

We spend our time absorbed in making a name for our “church”,

And yet we turn our faces away from the lost and hurt.

We’re quick to help others when eyes are upon us,

Yet when no one is watching we whine and we fuss.

See, things need to change, that’s without a doubt.

We need an attitude adjustment, a spirit-led reroute.

We need to start seeing people as Christ himself does,

And stop asking ourselves what's in it for us.

It was the most unlikely of people that God Himself used;

The broken, the doubtful, the outcasts, the abused.

We have to treat each person as a gift from above,

And give them an chance to share Christ’s love.

The church was built for much more than we know,

And if we do it His way, it’ll undoubtedly grow.

Not for the money, and not for our fame,

But to help the poor, the sick, the lame.

Take your eyes off your pastors, your needs, and your band,

Put your face to the floor, cry out, lift up your hands.

Stop asking for your own gain, realize His request.

You don’t need the church, but the church needs your best.

You were made to be a part of a heavenly whole,

A body of believers, millions of souls.

You can take your own path, and go your own way,

Or take part in the victory for which you were made.

10 Things That Can & Will Destroy A Leader

Leadership isn't easy. Anyone who's ever served in a position of leadership knows that people can be difficult, and the responsibility of equipping and guiding them can be challenging. Here is a list of ten things that can and most likely will ruin any leader if not tended to quickly enough.

1. Laziness:
A leader will get results that are equal to the amount of work that is put into leading. The lazy leader will fail to equip volunteers, employees, and followers, who will then in turn look for a better leader elsewhere. Your people will do just as much as you do, so if you want productivity, set the example and get your hands dirty.

2. Envy:
When a leader is caught up looking around at the success of the leaders around them, they miss out on the golden opportunity God has placed in front of them. Each leader has a unique calling, and that calling can be missed when a leader is too busy wishing he had the organization or success of another leader. Cheer for the success of others, and they will be glad to help you reach yours.

3. Blaming Others:
A leader who is constantly pointing the finger at others is a leader who is pointed towards failure. A true leader will assume responsibility for mistakes and errors in their organization and will spend more time seeking a solution and less time seeking a scapegoat. A leader knows that when a follower fails, it usually points to miscommunication or a lack of training from the leader.

4. Lack of Vision:
The easiest way to steer someone off track from their goal is to give them two destinations. A leader knows what they want, and is not distracted by flashy opportunities elsewhere. Until the goal is reached, a leader does not pursue outside ventures that can jeopardize or prolong the completion of the primary goal.

5. Procrastination:
When a leader continually pushes a responsibility to a later date, the leader shows an inability to follow procedure and a lack of concern for the deadlines of others. This leader has little regard for others, and only prioritizes his own to-do list. Procrastination also hints at a fear of failure for small tasks and can cost an organization. This leader will likely end up causing the organization to pay interest rather than collect interest. Be wary of the procrastinating leader.

6. Being a "Yes-Man":
A leader who cannot say "no" is not much of a leader. This leader finds himself overly-committed to many things that he or she does not want to do. This leader runs the risk of burning out, selling out, or running out of funds to pursue the ultimate goal of the organization. It is okay to say no, especially to an opportunity that does not fit the mission and vision of the organization the leader is in charge of.

7. Ego:
When a leader finds himself unable to listen to the criticism of others, he is in serious danger. This leader carries a "know-it-all" attitude that will take his organization to the grave if not dealt with. This leader will ignore warning signs, and is unwilling to learn new things. This ego will cause the business to either fail or plateau, and followers will begin to see the lack of growth and seek opportunity elsewhere.

8. Savior-Complex:
When a leader begins to feel as if they are the reason for the success or well-being of their followers, they adopt a savior-complex that places their followers in a position of dependence. This leader now has unreasonable expectations from his team and is surprised when his followers aren't brimming over with exaggerated appreciation for all of his "hard work" and "care".

9. Thin-Skin:
This quality pushes a leader to make changes whenever they are faced with criticism and insult rather than investigating into whether the remarks are valid. This leader is easily swayed by any comment about their leadership, appearance, company, or team and operates out of a very sensitive spirit causing them to rarely take risks and be manipulated by a team member with a personal agenda. This leader barely realizes that they are a leader, and instead tries to please his team in order to gain friendships and avoid pain.

10. Lack of Integrity:
This leader operates out of self-interest, and will break the rules for personal gain and comfort. This leader is on vacation while on the clock, spends the organizations funding on personal expenses, and may even gossip about team members. This is the most dangerous quality, especially in our day and age where there is easy access to records and information spreads so quickly through any department. The truth will expose this leader eventually, and their credibility will be destroyed. This leader is ridiculously fortunate if they ever get a second chance to lead, and will have to do some major trust-building in their new organization.

Church Decisions

Many churches are driven by different forces. The decisions a church makes can be driven by finances, the building, personal influences, or the purpose of the church.

When a church is driven by its finances, the reoccurring theme is "How much will this idea cost us?"

If driven by its building, the answer always sounds something like, "Well, it's a nice idea but we can't do something like that in our church. Something can be stolen or broken!"

If driven by a person, a few phone calls or intimidating words will seal the deal for any decision.

But, when a church is driven by it's purpose, amazing things can happen. This begs the question, "What is the purpose of the church?" We are called to make disciples of all the earth, bringing them the Good News. This means we are to invest time, money, energy, and tremendous effort into loving people, serving them, and introducing them to a God who died to turn their wrongs into nothing more than their past.

I know, investing so much into people who may literally wipe their ends with what you've given them seems too risky and not worth the pain, but as the old adage goes, "No pain, no gain." Jesus gave himself up for a people who would slander his name, abuse his grace, and ridicule his teachings. As he died on the cross, he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." We have to take up the same attitude when dealing with those who use the church one weekend, and badmouth the leadership the next. They don't know how precious the work the church does really is, but can we blame them for it? No, because He didn't.

We are the redemptive work of God through Jesus. We are the builders of His Kingdom, voluntarily here to introduce the peace of Christ to a world in chaos. If we allow the stress of this life to consume us, we are allowing the fire God has given us to be quenched, and we become useless for the work of the Gospel.

As the church, we must wake up every morning KNOWING that there our people literally dying to hear the message of Christ, and we must operate out of a desperation to do the will of the Father. From the moment we step out of bed we need to put on the mind of Christ, and treat every conversation, thought, and action as an opportunity to bring the light into our world.

Let's not worry about money, church attendance, a building that will eventually crumble anyway, or what someone will think of us. Rather, let's focus on building the Church, a body that will never crumble or decay, and will never go bankrupt. God will open up His heavenly storehouses on us and provide us with what we need to build His Church.

God bless you today, and this week.

Pastor Alex

The Challenge.

It's one of the worst feelings in the world; finishing a game or project and thinking to yourself, "I could have done so much better." This happens daily in sports practices, public speaking, and the art world. An opportunity presents itself, and for whatever reason, we only give 75% effort. If we've done something like it before, shouldn't we be able to improve with every new opportunity?

It's the same way when we are walking with Christ. Every day is a new opportunity to be more like Jesus than the day before. As days, weeks, months, and years pass, we should have so much experience that we start to really model Christ in a noticeable way! But why don't we?

The answer is our mindset. We live as if we have all the time in the world to get it right.

"When this and this happens then I'll start to live like Jesus."
"Let me clean up my life a bit before I take this religion stuff seriously."
"I keep trying to stop sinning but I keep failing. Who am I kidding, I'll never change."
"When I make enough money, then I'll start giving to things I think are worthy causes."

We have a backwards mindset that thinks that time will take care of our misfortunes, bad habits, and mistakes. The truth is that if over time you keep making the decisions your making, you'll continue to get the same results. You're not happy now, and you keep doing the things you're doing, guess what? You'll still be unhappy later!

See, God pairs His grace up with our effort. This produces lasting change. We will never be perfect, but we should never stop striving to be.

With this thought, I want to challenge you.

You have TWENTY FOUR hours to have the best day ever. How will your decisions be different today than every other day you've tried and failed?

P.S. If you can do it once, you can do it again.