OK, here they are (10 Reasons not to Blog)

Since you asked, here's Tony Morgan's 10 reasons not to blog:

1 You haven’t determined your primary audience.

2 You don’t post regularly.

3 Your posts are too long.

4 You are trying to sell yourself.

5 You don’t use humor.

6 You are attacking other people or ministries.

7 You have forgotten that blogging isn’t private.

8 You are not a thought leader – you're just taking things from various places on the web and regurgitating it back on your blog.

9 You are listening to your critics. - It is just not worth it. When you respond you give credibility to your critics.

10 You are not revealing the real you.

10 Reasons Not to Blog

Technorati Profile

Back from the Buzz Conf, although I'm still 'buzzed' about all that I heard & experienced in the last 36 hours - not the least of which was the breakfast meeting with Tony Morgan on the subject of "10 Reasons Not to Blog". He convinced me to step it up a notch, and also told us about some neat tools, including technorati, which I'm signing up for right now. Later-

Mark Batterson at CLC

After meeting him and hearing him in person (I already subscribe to his podcast) for the first time, I'm quite impressed with Mark Batterson, and can't wait for his visit to CLC.

Yep, that's right: Pastor Mark Batterson, author of 'In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day' is coming to CLC this August 11/12! Mark the dates now - you won't want to miss this!

Since we've got some BIG lions of our own to chase at CLC this Fall (you'll hear about that on August 25/26), his visit couldn't be more timely - so I'm excited! We'll have a couple of boxes of the book for sale in our lobby when I return, so no need to go to Amazon to get yours.

Get ready; get ready; get ready; get ready; get ready (ok, that's my best T.D. Jakes imitation, but you understand...)

Washington D.C again

I flew out here this morning with our own Joe Dascenzo for the Buzz Conference where I had a chance to meet some of my latest heroes: host pastor Mark Batterson and special guest Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.tv

Thoroughly enjoyed today's sessions and got some ideas on helping CLC be more buzz-worthy, to get the attention of our community so we can get a hearing for the Gospel. I usually figure if I can get one good idea at a conference, it's worth attending - so this one is already a winner and there's still 3 sessions tomorrow before I fly home.

Had dinner tonight with Pastor Troy O'Quin (former CLC staffer who now pastors River Oaks Community Church in South Holland) and we had a chance to catch up a bit. Always good to hang with fellow pastors!

Then I took the "Monuments by Moonlight" trolley tour of some of the key sites/monuments around D.C. Very interesting - if you're coming this way for a vacation, I'd definitely recommend it. Now I'm headed to bed since I've been up since 4am!

one more thing about last weekend...

The reports continue about folks who decided to trust God with their finances last weekend (even though that was just one application from Noah's life), and this morning Perry Noble of NewSpring Church did it again - his post about his own financial history is inspiring, to say the least. So, CLCers, read this and know there's hope for you, too!

It's probably too far for you to attend the seminar at NewSpring tonight, but we've got resources in our media center and other ministries that can help you, so don't be shy to ask. In fact, let us know thru the blog or via email and we'll hook you up with the help you need.

weekend reflections

Yeah, yeah; I know -it's already Monday afternoon...but I've just now gotten a chance to reflect on this past weekend, and I'm both pleased and pumped!



I'm pleased because of at least 6 different reports I received from folks who stepped out by faith to trust God in the area of finances after hearing the teaching this week. (I figure those 6 who told me about it probably represent at least 60 others who didn't bother to contact me, but who needed the 'nudge' just as much). I can't wait to hear the testimonies that result from folks who step out in faith to obey God, as Noah did!

I'm also pleased because my wife also taught this message in Shorewood Sunday, but from her perspective, of course, and her emphasis about Noah was simply, "what are you doing for God that requires faith?" WOW! That blessed me and made me think: what is that I'm doing in my Christian walk, not out of habit or routine, but that's stretching me and causing me to have to trust God in order to do it? That's a great question for every believer to ask - especially in the light of Hebrews 11 and all that God's people have done by faith!

I'm pumped because we're just barely into this 'Road Trip For God" series (there's still 10 lessons left) and we're already gaining such insights and practical stuff for today - can you imagine what it will be like by Labor Day? Are you as excited as I am about this?

Another big question: who are you going to invite this week? If you'll bring hungry, hurting folks to this series, I'm confident that God's Word will do a work in their life and they'll find Jesus as a result! Now that's something to be excited about.

too good not to pass along

Ever now and then I read something that's just too good not to pass along to others, and today's blog from Pastor Perry Noble of NewSpring Church was one of 'em. (I actually shared an elevator with Perry at a meeting last December, so does that qualify to call him 'my friend'?) If you're not acquainted, he's a young pastor doing an incredible work for God in Anderson, SC. At any rate, here's the post you gotta read and heed (CLCers, keep in mind: it applies to a lot more than just church planters!)

Thanks, Perry - you really hit it out of the park on this one!

home sweet home & mark your calendar

Nothing like travel to make you feel special - we were delayed by 4.5 hours taking off from DC and spent a lot of downtime sitting around the airport as a result (after frantically battling rush-hour traffic to get there on time!). But it's good to be back home - and the closing night of the conference included a special treat as Israel Houghton led worship and our new friend, Pastor Joel Brooks brought the Word!

Best of all, we got confirmation that Bishop Joseph Garlington is returning to CLC this September 11-12 - so mark your calendar and plan here for 2 great nights of ministry!

Why do some resist tithing?

Listening to the past few hours of discussion at our Reconciliation! Ministries Int'l team meeting today has raised a familiar question for me: why is it that some Christians resist tithing?

Hearing the pastor's discussion regarding this great Fellowship that CLC as recently joined just makes me shake my head as I have so many times in the past - I don't get it - why would any of us resist God's plan that will ultimately benefit us in that vital area of fianance?

Since you can reply to this blog anonymously, if you are reading and you don't tithe to your local church, would you help me (sincerely) - why don't you? I want to help you, and you can certainly help me if I understand what the issues really are. Just hit reply and speak your mind - we'll get some helpful dialogue going on this blog.

Mark Chironna coming to CLC

Last night was one of the longest church services of my life (well, at least in recent years) as we began at 7pm and didn't leave until after 11pm....but no one on our team was unhappy, because Dr. Mark Chironna was absolutely on-fire, off-the-charts, in his ministry at the conference!

I don't have words to tell you about it now, but I want to urge CLCers to mark your calendar for our 2008 First Love Conference, because he's already been confirmed as one of our speakers. It's over 6 months away, but I'm already excited!

the family that laughs together, grows together!

I don't know if that saying appears anywhere else, butI sure thing it's healthy - especially for church teams who constantly deal with the eternal - every day of the week, our CLC team traffics with life-and-death issues in the congregation: impending divorces; unexpected deaths; hospital calls; family crises; etc. - every day!

So it's been especially good for a dozen of us to get to this Reconciliation conference in Washington, D.C. - where, even though the day & night sessions have been very heavy in content and spiritually impacting as well - it's also afforded us time together in the van or around the meal table where the laughter has been virtually non-stop. We're releasing a lot of endorphens into our collective bloodstream, I promise!

When's the last time you had a good belly laugh? Better yet, how long has it been since your family shared some hilarity together? Life is too short and too important not to laugh at ourselves along the way. Find something funny today and share it with those you love!

off to D.C.

Twelve CLCers are off to Washington, D.C. this morning to participate in the Reconciliation! Ministries conference led by Bishop Joseph Garlington. I'm really looking forward to renewing and developing some great new friendships we've begun with our 'tribe' since we joined this network of churches earlier this year, not to mention the impartation we always receive from Bishop Garlington.

It will also be good to have some time with our pastoral team outside the office - somehow I think it helps our creativity and stokes our passion a little more to get away for meetings like this, breaking out of our normal routine.

I'll try to get online to blog from the conference, and for sure I'm looking forward to our return on Thursday and another SUMMER SPLASH with our friend, Pastor P.G. Vargis of India!

Sunday night reflections

Father's Day was a fun day, beginning with both services at CLC - I absolutely love teaching thru the Bible, so after looking forward to it for so long, to finally get into Genesis today was just plain fun for me. I was as excited about sharing as some CLCers were about receiving, so it was a good morning. I really hope you will take time this week to invite some unchurched friends or family members to join you next weekend when we'll look at "Warning: Flash Flood Ahead".

Then my family treated me to lunch at Outback where I enjoyed my favorite salad and their good company, not to mention some hilarious F.D. cards from my kids. (our family goes for humor over sentiment every time, and I love it!)

Jen & Brent & Sol plotted together and got me the latest I-pod gadget that let's you insert the chip into your Nike shoes and be able to measure how far you run (in my case, walk) with all sorts of fun stats as well, AND the pair of new Nike's to go with it. For an El Cheapo like me, it's my first ever pair of Nike's (or any other brand of tennis shoes that cost more than $25), so now I'll feel pretty special on my daily walk regimen!

The joy of the day only ended on the way home from the store when I was pulled over for speeding - my first traffic violation in about 10 years - hate it! I don't think I'll drive Chris' car for a long time; I'm convinced that yellow T'Bird with the top down attracted the cops' attention!

How 'bout you? Anything special on your Dad's Day? I'd love to hear how CLCers celebrated with Dad today.

SUMMER SPLASH isn't the same without you!

We're barely into our summer of special events and guests each Thursday and already I'm seeing a pattern: the events are GREAT, but we're missing a lot of you. (Now I know that summer is busy, but I really want to encourage you when you're in town to set aside 90 minutes on Thursdays for some terrific family-oriented events.

For instance, this Thursday we'll enjoy P.G. Vargis from India. You can check out his site for yourself here, or take it from me: he is an incredible Apostolic leader in the second-most populated country on earth. He has already become one of my favorite CLC guests from his previous visits, and I know this week will be more of the same - plus we get to meet his wife, Lily for the first time!

The following week will be a super FAMILY event with Tim Hannig. Check him out here, and then mark your calendar for June 28 and bring some friends - we're having a great Summer Splash!

the Binion's

If you weren't here Thursday for our SUMMER SPLASH event with David & Nicole Binion, you really missed it! It was just an awesome night in the presence of God, with some of my favorite musicians/singers/artists.

After service over hamburgers, David promised to agree with us in prayer regarding CLC's expansion and said, "The Spirit that's working at CLC is much larger than the size of your church". He had a lot of other complimentary things to say, but that one stayed with me the most.

What do you think? Is God nudging you that we need to expand our vision and increase our capacity? Do you think that could just be my (our) ego? Is it just a humanistic tendency to always want bigger and better? I'm interested in hearing from you, because I so want to lead us where God wants us to go.

Let me hear from you...

Didja see it?

Just curious: did anyone reading this see the Chicago version of TBN's, "Praise the Lord" today? (Available only on Comcast or with rabbit ears, I think - from 10:30am-noon)

Doing the recording yesterday wasn't as scary as I was expecting it to be, and Pastor Mark Smith definitely tossed me some softballs, so I was able to talk about a few of my favorite topics for men:

• when it comes to our 'issues', whether it's a struggle with lust, internet porn, alcohol, whatever - instead of keeping all of that to ourselves, God said that light is good! Scripture is quite clear that darkness is Satan's domain (read this and this.)
• So, in effect, when we keep our stuff secret, we are playing on Satan's turf....and all of us guys know about home field advantage!
• However, the Bible also says this
• So the real answer is for us men to develop safe places and godly friends with whom we can be transparent. In fact, I've learned there's something about bringing that issue into the 'light' by confessing it to another brother, that in itself breaks the power of that habit! It's amazing to me, but I've seen it numerous times and I know it's true.
• I also had a chance to discuss our Men's Fraternity at CLC, and that's always fun - if you're a guy between 18-100, I'd urge you to join us this next season when we'll explore "The Great Adventure".

At any rate, it was definitely more fun than I expected, and the station manager called me later to ask about our interest in doing more TV stuff in the future - so....you never know. Just don't look for me to wear white shoes or a used-car salesman sport coat!

uh, oh, me on TBN?

It's kinda scary after all the things I've said about televangelist's thru the years, but I've been invited to be a guest on the Chicago-version of TBN this week. I'm flying home early in the morning from our mini-vacation in Detroit for the taping of the show with my friend Mark Smith, and from what I understand the show will be aired on Friday.

We're supposed to be discussing the whole subject of ministering to men (with Father's Day just ahead), so I am looking forward to that subject that's a hot-priority with me, thanks to our own Men's Fraternity. I'll give you the 411 on when & where the show airs tomorrow.

Speaking of Father's Day - we're not gonna let you down this weekend - we've got a video tribute for all the dads, and a special gift, too - so don't say we go all out for the moms only!

weekend reflections

Wow...sorry it's taken me so long to reflect on last weekend, but immediately after last Sunday's 11:15 service in Tinley, Chris and I loaded up 'the boys' (AKA Jasper & Pedro) and headed to MI for a mini-vacation hanging out at my in-law's pool.

At any rate: Saturday's seminar with Walk Thur The Bible was off the charts! I still can't believe how much ground they covered, in such a FUN way, and still enabled us to retain the info. If you missed it, you really missed it!

I was also gratified by the response to the message (thanks, Pastor Doug) that God really does know what's best for us, even better than we know what's best for us!

How are you doing with your assignment to memorize this verse? I'm pretty pumped about the idea of our whole congregation memorizing 13 verses over the summer!

Don't dare miss this weekend as we finally get into Genesis 1-3 and go "Back to the Beginning" - I think we'll all learn a few things, and more importantly, find some keys to success in the now!

See you Thursday night with the Binion's!

Happy Thursday!

Just wanted to let you know it’s not too late: you can still register here for the “Walk Thru the Old Testament” seminar this Saturday at the Tinley Park campus! It’s going to be a highly-creative, interactive & fun day exploring the Old Testament, and I’m expecting to learn more in that one day that most of us have ever known about the Old Testament – what a great way to kick-off our summer of Scripture, “Road Trip 4 God” series .

Speaking of our new series, I’d really like to get God’s Word into your friends and co-workers and extended family – everyone benefits from understanding the Bible, so would you take a moment, right now to go here and invite several friends to join you in our RT4G? I’m so excited about what’s coming, and I know even your unchurched friends will enjoy this summer!

Don’t forget that every Thursday this summer is a big SPLASH, including our concert with the Binion’s www.thesoundofheaven.com on June 14!

Can’t wait to get started this weekend!

I'm a blessed man, part 2

Today gave me more than one reason to reflect on my blessings: I'm also blessed because of this. After almost 35 years of sharing life together, I can testify: I've got a good wife, and because of that, I'm blessed.

I was especially blessed today when she called Eddie Smith, who was just here this weekend to teach a seminar for aspiring writers. Eddie has been involved in publishing for many years, and is the author of several best-selling books (some as a ghostwriter for others; some in his own name). After the seminar he took copies of Chris' next manuscript as well as her Heart to Heart curriculum for women and promised to give her honest feedback. (She was pretty nervous about making the call).

After he reviewed her material, he told her that the content was "brilliant" and informed her that once she takes care of some suggested details, that he personally wants to approach the publishers to help her get the book done!

He also had some incredible ideas to help her fulfill the dream of getting the material to other churches, so that women around the world can receive the benefit of what God has taught her through the years!

So I'm feeling extra-blessed tonight - I've known for years that she's a brilliant and gifted woman of God, and I'm excited about this next season of ministry for her!

How 'bout you? Have you ever been even happier for someone you love than for your own accomplishments? (Surely some of you parents can relate to your kid's soccer feats or scholastic attainments) Any husbands feeling especially blessed by your spouse? Any wife wanna boast of your man of God? Let me hear from you, so our joy can be multiplied.

I'm a blessed man!

I had lunch today with a couple of south suburban pastor friends (something I haven't done in ages, but sure enjoyed today). After listening to them discuss their situations and some mutual pastor friends that we're praying for (it really wasn't gossip, I promise!) - I came away thinking how blessed I am to serve Christian Life Center!

I'm so thankful that I'm not having to deal with power-plays among the deacons, or dissension in the staff, or accusations and petitions to force the pastor's resignation! Thank God for the unity that we enjoy at CLC!

I'm not naive enough to think that everyone here agrees with every decision I make (neither do I!) or that every weekend message is a home run (sometimes I'd settle for just not striking out!), but I do know this and I can speak from experience: it is where God commands His blessing!

Sunday night reflections

This weekend was a fun introduction to our summer sermon series, "Road Trip For God" - but I gotta admit, I can't wait until next weekend when we really get started. The Old Testament seminar from Walk Thru the Bible this coming Saturday is going to be great, so if you still haven't registered, click here now.

I'm convinced that all of us need to invest in our own personal spiritual growth and development, so spending the money to purchase a New Living Translation as I suggested this morning, or to attend the OT Seminar where you'll get a handle on the 'big picture' of Scripture, enabling you to read with greater understanding in the future....well, let's just say it's money well spent! How many times do we buy junk food or go to a movie that at best provides just a few hours of entertainment....whereas this is a real investment in our own future!

It was really neat to see the first graduating class from our CLC video Bible school. Over the last few years, we've placed these Bible schools in probably 6-8 countries where we've developed missions partnerships, so it was great to finally be able to take advantage of the same world-class teaching to help equip CLCers for ministry. Congratulations to all of the graduates for all your effort in studying to show yourself approved!

This Thursday will be bittersweet, as we celebrate Communion together during our monthly "Refresh" service, but as we also say goodbye to our dear friends and co-workers, Sam & Heidi Stevens. Sam & Heidi have been a great blessing in the past couple of years, so while we're sad to see them go, we're also proud and excited of the challenge before them as they plant a church in one of the neediest areas of inner-city Chicago. I really hope you'll join me in blessing them Thursday night.

As usual, I'm tired tonight from a full weekend, but I'm just so pumped about the next few weeks - would you make it a point to invite a friend to join you for this series? It's gonna be life-changing!