The Comparison Trap

Okay… confession time:  I love the game of basketball.  I’ve been playing ever since I was like 6.  I was the kid who would watch the first half of the NBA all star game and then go “play it out” on my pseudo-court in my back yard.  I was Michael Jordan going in for the…

Leadership quotes

So for a couple of years I have been writing down in my journal some quotes to live/lead by.  I’ll be reading a book, hanging out with a friend, listening to a podcast or sermon… and all of a sudden I’ll read something or hear something and think…”I have got to put that one down…

just in case anyone forgot…

the “noise” of clutter

So we had our realtor come to our house Tuesday and assess what we needed to fix up/improve/clean out in order to make our house more “sell-able” to perspective buyers.  One of the main things that she basically said was, “less clutter will help people see more possibilities.”  It’s hard to see past a pile…

Trust & Obey

A while back I did a message about a lie that Satan tells Christians “God will never put more on you than you can handle.”  My premise was that it is never about what we can handle, but about what HE can handle.  I recently revisited this message for my own sake.  Have you ever…

my final words to the students of OSM

Last night was the last OSM (Oakbrook Student Ministries) that my wife and I will be at.  We have been in this ministry for 4 years… so how do you sum all of that up in 5-10 minutes?  The answer: you can’t.  So I just thought of a few things that I wanted to leave…

“It’s the Path you’re on…”

Something that I have taught my students over and over again for the past 2-3 years is the idea that “the path you take is more important than the destination you desire.”  No matter how much you want to travel north… if you start heading south, you’re not going where you want to go.  Andy…

Alive and Running – compassion message

here is a message that I did way back last April in Oakbrook Church’s “Alive and Running” series.

Think “STEPS” not “PROGRAMS”

about 4.5 years ago I read a book that completely ROCKED my paradigm of church.  It is called “The 7 practices of effective ministry” by Andy Stanley and Reggie Joiner.   Now.. I have to be honest here.  I only picked the book up initially because it had the name “ANDY STANLEY” on it and…

From the Outside… In.

I have a confession to make:  For the past 9 years I have worked IN a church (actually, a couple of churches). Now, that might not seem to be a major confession… but it is.  I have been guilty of looking at the church, the ministry, The website, and what we say about God and…