Yesterday, I had the privilege of meeting with David Foster, Lead Pastor of The Gathering. We met at my favorite Starbucks in Cool Springs. I always like meeting with Dave because he is very inspirational and encouraging. He truly is a pastor of pastors.

As we talked, I could sense the enthusiasm he had for The Gathering’s potential move from the movie theater in Franklin to Centennial High School. They would have a bigger auditorium and more space to have kids classes. In the middle of all that, they will also be closer to the growing area in south Franklin.

I shared with Dave about what’s been happening at Elevation and his comments were very encouraging to me. It reminded me of Ben’s post about the church planter’s second church plant (say that 5 times really fast). There were so many takeaways from our conversation, but here’s one. He said the best thing for us right now is to enjoy the season we’re in. To truly love on people and allow God to grow the church (because it’s His anyways). Enjoy the time, love the people, and allow God to grow the church.

Meeting with gifted leaders always leaves me challenged. Next week, I’ll be meeting with another buddy of mine here in Nashville, Pete Wilson. Should be a blast!

Nearly 45 years ago, Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech on this spot.

Today is a holiday to commemorate his birthday and the work that still continues.

“A pat on the back and a kick in the butt is only six inches away” - Source
Eric Berry (UT Vols Defensive Back)

For a while now, I’ve thought about the 10%. I’m focusing on the influence of a local church. Here in Middle Tennessee, we have large churches all over the place. While I haven’t seen any evidence to suggest this, I think that a single church can have a maximum 10% of the community in attendance. So let’s say that a church is located in a city of 50,000 people. By the 10% rule, that would mean that the church would max out at 5,000 people.

You’re probably saying whoa now. That’s not true. Let’s continue.

Lakewood Church in Houston reportedly has close to 50,000 worshipers on a given Sunday. There are over 1 million people living in Houston. So the math holds true here. Another example is Willow Creek. In a city over 2 million people, Willow averages around 20,000 people each weekend.

This percentage does not apply to all cities and towns. AND I’m not saying that this percentage will never be broken. We are seeing the rise of multi-site churches and Network churches all across the country. It’s safe to say that at some point, that number will eventually be broken.

What this says to me is that we need to be working together to reach our communities for Christ. Instead of my church putting on an event, why not team up with another church in town. Or many. Instead of being territorial, let’s lay down our pride and do it for the sake of the Gospel. The point is, we’re in this thing together to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. Let’s do it together!!

What do you think?

Before Monday night’s game between Buffalo & Dallas, Bill Parcells shared his list of 11 commandments of quarterbacks. This list can definitely be applied across all spectrums of leadership.

Quarterback commandments:

1. Ignore other opinions – Press or TV, agents or advisors, family or wives, friends or relatives, fans or hangers on - ignore them on matters of football, they don’t know what’s happening here.
2. Clowns can’t run a huddle – don’t forget to have fun but don’t be the class clown. Clowns and leaders don’t mix. Clowns can’t run a huddle.
3. Fat QBs can’t avoid the rush – A quarterback throws with his legs more than his arm. Squat and run.
4. Know your job cold – this is not a game without errors. Keep yours to a minimum. Study.
5. Know your own players – Who’s fast? Who can catch? Who needs encouragement? Be precise. Know your opponent.
6. Be the same guy every day – in condition. Preparing to lead. Studying your plan. A coach can’t prepare you for every eventuality. Prepare yourself and remember, impulse decisions usually equal mistakes.
7. Throwing the ball away is a good play – sacks, interceptions and fumbles are bad plays. Protect against those.
8. Learn to manage the game – personnel, play call, motions, ball handling, proper reads, accurate throws, play fakes. Clock. Clock. Clock. Don’t you ever lose track of the clock.
9. Get your team in the end zone – passing stats and TD passes are not how you’re going to be judged. Your job is to get your team in the end zone and that is how you will be judged.
10. Don’t panic – when all around you is in chaos, you must be the hand that steers the ship. If you have a panic button so will everyone else. Our ship can’t have a panic button.
11. Don’t be a celebrity QB – we don’t need any of those. We need battlefield commanders that are willing to fight it out, every day, every week and every season and lead their team to win after win after win.

I have bookmarked some great posts using Bloglines. Sometimes I just bookmark everything and other times, I only bookmark what impacts me on that particular day. Today, I want to share some of those with you.

Thanks to Tim Stevens and others, I am able to see what happened at Catalyst without attending the conference. With Elevation starting in a few days, I wasn’t able to make it. But the bloggers came out in full force and posted some of the key points made during the conference. Here’s Tim’s notes: here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Church Marketing Sucks has been running a series on a guest coming to church. Check em out: here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

David Foster is a friend of mine here in Nashville. He has written a number of posts titled “Hello, I am” and then he uses many different scenarios to describe someone who may visit your church. Check em out: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Oh and Perry’s post about Sundays in the south is awesome! Read it.

That’s it for now. I’ll have more later.

Thanks Tim for the heads up!

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