One Job of a Shepherd

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We have a great opportunity available in August – The Willow Creek Summit, Thursday and Friday (August 8-9).   Some of the presenters will be Bill Hybels – pastor of Willow Creek, Patrick Lencioni – business consultant and author of Five Dysfunctions of a Team; General Colin Powell, Dr. Henry Cloud – author of , Andy Stanley – Pastor and author, Vijay Govindarajan – Top 50 Management Thinker, and more.  Please contact me if you would like to attend.  It will be at Pure Heart Church in Glendale.

Have a great week – be the leader God called you to be, Dan

One Job of Shepherd

For the Joy

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So many great things are happening around North Ridge –
New people joining Life Groups
New Studies and new people attending in the Sunday Life stage Life Groups
Children’s ministry new electronic check-in will be up and running in a couple of weeks
Kate’s Cup had such a great celebration yesterday – Great job team
Youth ministry is honoring two dozen graduates and their families

And on
And on
And on

Thank you all for your roles in serving God and advancing His Kingdom in the north Valley.

Hope this video strengthens and encourages you.

For the Joy

I am owned by Christ

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Fellow Slaves –
I have tried to remind you the early Christians considered themselves as Slaves of Christ. Remember why? They wanted to use the most dramatic word possible to indicate they had given their life completely to Jesus Christ. I write to you as slaves so we will be reminded, a slave received their value from their owner, their daily tasks from their owner, and their protection from their owner. Spiritual growth can be defined as, “A growing awareness that I am owned by Christ.” Paul reminded the Corinthians, “…similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not becomes slaves of men.” I Corinthians 7:22a-23

Here is this week’s leadership video – if there are some areas of leadership you would like more information about please send me your questions or ideas.

God Bless –
Dan

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Pastor Dan’s Leadership Video

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It is such a privilege to do ministry with each of you.  At staff meeting this week we went around the table and several members shared neat things they saw happening in their ministries.  If you have a great story about what is happening in the ministry you are leading or facilitating please send me an email with the story.  I’d love to share it with others.  It is an old saying but it is so true, “We are better together!”

Doing ministry with you for God’s glory,

Dan

042613 Leadership

Special Message From Pastor Randy

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Dear North Ridge family,

This is a very special weekend for the North Ridge family.  We have the honor of celebrating and remembering the life of our dear friend, Jim Roden.  He lived his life well in every aspect, and we will honor him tomorrow (Saturday) at 1 PM.  If you knew Jim, you know how easy it will be to celebrate him. 


This weekend’s message comes from a passage that I have never preached.  Well, maybe when I was teaching Sunday school when I was in college, but until the past three weeks, I have never appreciated the many principles of living that the story of Zaccheaus offers us today.  I can honestly say that there is so much insight in this single event, that it could become an entire series.

What’s the bottom line?  I think you, like me, will be shocked on how Jesus provides clear direction for those of us who know Him and are already serving Him on how to, when to, who to, share our faith.  And here’s the cool part: it’s not scary.  Nope.  Not even a little bit.  Oh, and I almost forgot, I’m going to open up my message with a very moving video – one I promise you have not yet seen (or will ever forget).  Hold on to your hats, you will not see it coming!


Lastly, are you moved at baptisms as I am?  Pastor Dan will be baptizing 8 or 10 people this Sunday at 4:30 in the prayer garden.  If you attend church at 5, come early and celebrate these folks.  And if you’re one who has decided to be baptized this Sunday, good news.  The heater is now working.  For those who were baptized last time in cold water, sorry.

Safe in Him,

Randy

Luke 19:1-10 (ESV)

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 

8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”


10 THINGS FEAR CAUSES

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One of the most frequent commands in the Bible is “do not fear.”  (Once again…it is a command, NOT a suggestion!)

And yet every leader I know deals with fear.  As I’ve traced my own journey through fear in leadership I wanted to share 10 things fear causes in our lives.

(When I speak of fear in this post I am speaking of fear of man – see Proverbs 29:25– and irrational fear.)

#1 – Fear causes us to reduce the size of God and elevate the size and opinion of man.

#2 – Fear causes us to lead people in the wrong direction.  (Remember when the Israelites wanted to GO BACK TO EGYPT and being slaves because they feared going into the land that God had promised them?)

#3 – Fear causes us to stay quiet when we should clearly speak up.  (Mostly because many times we are OBSESSED with what others think about us, see Galatians 1:10)

#4 – Fear causes us to be passive about an issue that the Lord has clearly brought to our attention.  (As Edmund Burke once said:  ”The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.”)

#5 – Fear causes us to seek consensus rather than really seeking the voice of the Lord.

#6 – Fear causes us to not engage the broken, the hurting, the misfits and the neglected because if we include them in our lives and actually invite them into our homes then it could get messy.  (I’m so glad Jesus didn’t have that attitude…if He would have then I would have been screwed!)

#7 – Fear causes us to refuse to embrace change because we care way more about being comfortable than being conformed into the image of Christ.

#8 – Fear causes us to control things and take matters into our own hands rather than trusting the Lord and trusting others.  (People who are control freaks really do fear when things don’t go their way!  BUT…remember, control is the biggest illusion in the world, I wrote about that here.)

#9 – Fear causes us to conceal sin and shame in our lives when God’s Word is so clear that we should ask others for help – James 5:16

#10 – Fear causes us to seek the easy decision rather than seeking the right one.

 

(originally from Perry Noble)