“As heretical as it sounds today, it is probably worth telling Americans that you don’t need Jesus to have better families, finances, health, or even morality. Coming to the cross means repentance–not adding Jesus as a supporting character for an otherwise decent script, but throwing away the script in order to be writ…ten into God’s drama. It is death and resurrection, not coaching and makeovers.” -Michael Horton

The religious person may say, “I am doing the right things that God commands” and the irreligious person may say, “I decide what is right and wrong for myself.” But both ways reject Jesus as Savior (though they may revere Him as ‘Example’ or ‘Helper’). Both ways are strategies for self-salvation– both actually keep control of their own lives.” – Tim Keller

“Jesus’s teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect…. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect… on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did.” T. Keller

“The astonishing thing is that people can become religious without being converted. That is, they join churches and start reading the Bible and doing religious things with no change in the foundation of their happiness: It is still themselves. They are the ground of their joy.” -John Piper

A foward-moving organization is marked by two characteristics that, at first glance, seem to be opposing. First, the organization will stand upon core values that never change. Second, is the realization that everything else must be open to change to preserve the core. It takes a lot of clarity and discipline to understand where to categorize the different elements that make up the organization. The question to ask is whether things ought to be written in granite or sand. Things etched in granite are to never change; things written in sand are always in flux. Things written in sand aren’t things that should change…they are things that must change!

One of the main reasons people have such a hard time with the things that should change is because we don’t do a good job at clarifying what the things of granite are to be. Mancini writes:

Why is change management so hard in the church? Because we don’t see the stuff in the sand in light of the stuff of granite. In the absence of vision, the stuff of sand BECOMES the vision. In the absence of granite, sand is all we can grasp.

The leaders job is to help people embrace change by nurturing an emotional connection to the unchanging core vision. By clearly articulating the core vision, people are more apt to adjust and adapt.

Mancini’s final thought on the matter:

Make no mistake: our change management problems are vision problems first and people problems second. Many leaders want their people to run a missional marathon but unknowingly feed them junk food, leaving them malnourished and unprepared for the future.

But we are here now in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.   Aaron is enrolled in Coeur d’Alene High School. 

More to come when my brain unclutters with all the things that come from moving!

Our format was quite simple.  Study and share John’s gospel together.  Pray for each other.  And spend some time talking about the common issues we face as guys.

Last night’s gathering was special for me as two of our newest believers shared how God was prompting them to do something with their lives.  One of the men has recently been drawn into prison ministry, and after a lot of hard work will be heading up the very first worship service at the Summit County jail in two weeks.  He and his wife have also opened their home to some people in some difficult situations.  He shared that, prior to coming to Christ, he would have never let anyone stay at his house.  But God is producing fruit through him, and many are being blessed.

The other man shared how he was recently at a memorial service of a friend, and that no one of faith was present.  He said that the  service was really just a reason to party, as no one knew what to do or say.  So this guy decided to pull out his guitar to sing a few songs.  And then he sensed God prompting him to pray.  He knew God was nudging Him to make this service more than a time to hang out, but to bring some depth to service.  Afterwards, he was amazed as people thanked him for bringing a spiritual element to an otherwise spiritually-empty event.  This was doubly amazing to me when I think about the condition he was in less than a year ago!  He had so many issues going on in his life back then.   But he invited Christ into his life, and change began to take place.

That’s the sweet smell of good fruit.  People growing in the things of God so they might be used by God.

Well, the good thing with the Fall is that you fall back, so you won’t be late to anything…you’ll be early. 

So on Sunday morning our alarms sounded an hour early.  No big deal, just an hour of lost sleep.  So we corrected some  of our clocks.

This morning we realized one clock we hadn’t set was Aaron’s alarm clock.  He was up at 5 AM rather than the usual 6 AM.

All of this reminded me of the importance of throughness and follow-through.  When we aren’t thourough in our work, we leave opportunities for confusion and chaos.  Our schedules get thrown off.  But when we complete a task from beginning to end, we can put it to rest and move on to the next thing without fear of interruption.

My reaction?  The place, called the Silver King Cafe, was incredible.  Not by any means your typical hospital cuisine.  But, hey this is Park City.   The menu consisted of woodfired pizzas, homemade soup, very hip salads, and made to order sandwiches.  All chef quality.  But what really blew me away were the prices.  I had a marinated flank steak sandwich and fries for under $5.  A bowl of soup?  $1.25.  Albacore tuna wrap was $3.50.  The chef seasoned my steak, grilled it over an open flame and served it up hot.

We sat down in the seating area and if someone had brought me in blindfolded I would have never guessed I was in a hospital!

My only fear is that the word is going to get out that one of the best places to grab lunch in PC is at the Intermountain Hospital, and then it will get way too crowded and the prices will shoot up.

For this morning’s breakfast, I lined up a speaker from our church.  Lance is a teacher in our Jr. High dept., as well as a co-leader of a men’s group.  Lance has a lot of great stories to tell as he has lived in Antartica, runs in all sorts of endurance races (bike and running), and is a mountian climber.

This morning he shared a story about a climb in Canada that had a few bumps along the way.  The result was second degree frostbite on his feet, as well as his partners.  He shared a lot of lessons of mountain climbing that are transferable to the spiritual life.  He had a lot of photos he put up on the screen  which gave his stories even more drama.

Another good gathering of guys!

I will not simply be analyzed; I will be adored.

I will not simply be pondered; I will be proclaimed.

My sovereignty is not simply to be scrutinized; it is to be heralded.

It is not grist for the mill of controversy; it is gospel for sinners who know that their only hope is the sovereign triumph of God’s grace over their rebellious will.

A few of his quotes:

“Failure is not fatal but failure to change might be.”

“Learn as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow.”

“The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.”

“Young people need models, not critics.”

“Talent is God given; be humble. Fame is man given; be thankful. Conceit is self given; be careful.”

“A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.”

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”