We have a new meeting each week and it has become my favorite meeting.

Meetings are valuable for teams.  It is certainly possible to have too many meetings, too long of meetings, and probably the most common error is to have a lack of meetings.

Realizing our growing team needed additional “glue”, in January I initiated an all-team meeting called Momentum.  It’s a Monday morning meeting to start the big MO.  This meeting is for 3 things:  Inspiration, Celebration, and Communication.  It’s very positive and we avoid doing “heavy lifting”.  It may be my favorite meeting because it’s also our shortest meeting.  Great meetings don’t need to be long.  They need to be well planned and effective.

It’s great to start our week with Momentum.

What is your favorite meeting?  What do you think are components of an effective meeting?

What an incredible night. Thanks to everyone who came out and helped make You Shine an amazing experience.

Here is a link to the CCH Facebook page where we have uploaded a few images from that night.

We’re now in the process of post-production. Thank you for praying for us as we work to complete this project, which I believe will have an incredible impact on many many people.
I’ll give updates here on Threads on our progress every couple weeks or so.

- Brandon

Public ministry requires an audience.  What we do in public ministry is for the benefit of others.

First, your audience may be only one.  In fact, that is enough.  God has called us to look for “the one” and share His love and life with them.  Look for an audience today and begin to do ministry.

Secondly, your audience may be a small group or a large group of hundreds or even thousands.  But whether it is one or 10,000, ministry is not ministry if you are just doing something – preaching a message, leading a bible discussion, singing a song, or just talking to the crowd.  Ministry is only ministry when you connect with someone.

I saw someone recently “leading worship”.  Their intentions were right, and I’m sure their motives were pure, but they weren’t effectively doing ministry.  They were playing an instrument and singing a song, but there was no connection with their audience.  Even though worship ministry must be focused on the ONE we worship, if you are leading others to Him, you must first connect with your audience and take them there.  You can’t lead someone anywhere if they are not WITH you.

Think about this: Simply doing something in front an audience is not ministry.  Whether it is many or a few, make a prayerful and intentional effort to connect with them through prayer, verbal communication, eye contact, body language, emotions, and facial expression.  Help them to know and feel you’re in this together.  Ministry is not ministry if you’re just doing something.  Make sure you are connecting with your audience.

Just as the sky and sea are blue, The BLUE Experience is an opportunity for you to explore the heights and depths of leadership.  BLUE will challenge you to reach for the potential God has for your life and to dive deep to form your character.  Join us for our very first BLUE Experience on March 7 at 6:00PM.  For more information or to register visit the Welcome Center or visit us online at www.churchatchapelhill.com.

Often people like to disguise gossip as a concern.  Let’s expose this idea because God sees gossip as a very serious offense.  Look at Romans 1:29-30.

²⁹They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents.

God places gossip right there with envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice and God-haters.

Yet gossip has many participants.  Why?  Because gossip is simply “casual or unrestrained conversation or reports about other people, typically containing reports that are not confirmed as true.”   Yet even truth (concerns) being reported by the wrong people to the wrong people becomes gossip.

Sharing concerns with people who cannot “fix the problem” becomes an act of gossip.   When you have a concern, find the person who can help you, and can solve the problem.  Don’t let your concerns become gossip.

As a servant leader, remember that problems (concerns) go up, and praise goes down.  Bring your concerns to the person above you.  Take your praise to the people under you.

Be careful!  Sharing your concern to the wrong people may be … gossip in disguise.

Join us on Friday, February 26th at 7:30PM.

Revelation 21:23 (NIV) The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

Light is so powerful.  The sun generates light and warmth to our entire planet and because of that it brings great benefit too mankind.  Although the sun brings countless blessing to creation, it is important that we never forget the powerful capability of the sun.  The sun’s light can cause blindness if stared at too long.  Man can only endure the sun for so long before he receives the repercussions of over exposure.  Light from a strong source is a powerful thing.

Some people fear darkness and its capability, but darkness has nothing on light.  Darkness can never drown out light, but light can diminish darkness.  As a child of God, there is no reason to fear darkness.

One day when the New Heavens and the New Earth is restored, God will be our light.  Since God is the Creator of the sun, it only makes sense that He outshines the sun.  Maybe that is why God said to Moses, “…no one may see me and live.”  (Ex 33:20).

Since our Father is a Father of light, let us live as children of light.  May our lives benefit others and at the same time expose the darkness around us.

Our mission is Worship the Lord…Reach all People…Equip to Serve.  We must keep the main thing the main thing.

I took my wife to a restaurant last night that seemed to be stuck in 1963.  They did not accept credit cards – the sign read “Cash Only”.  They were very friendly and made us feel like we were locals.  A sign on the wall read “If you made a reservation, you’re at the wrong place.” The food portions were huge but the price was very reasonable.  The waitress (no servers) turned in our order on that green pad of “Guest Checks”. Remember those?  And, when we paid for our meal, we walked up to the register – none of this paying the server business.

And this place was packed on a Wednesday night.  Why?  They were focused on the main thing.  The food was GREAT (lots of fried food – nothing healthy).  The service was GREAT.  The price was GREAT.  They simply focused on the main thing.

What is the main thing for the church?  Worship, Reaching, and Equipping. We can have all the newest technology and our methods can be on the cutting edge, but we must always… keep the main thing the main thing.

The Church at Chapel Hill will present “You Shine” a live worship recording Friday night, February 26th at 7:30PM.

Make sure to tell your friends and family members to come & join with us as we worship our God and capture the heart of a church that is passionate to glorify His name!

We will also be broadcasting this event live on our internet campus so help us spread the word.

I am connected.  Everywhere I go, I can get online, check email, send tweets/texts and make phone calls.  Modern technology has made me über-connected to the world around me.

I am connected.  I find myself surrounded by opportunities to network, make friends and fill my time with relational opportunities.  It seems like I get a dozen new friend requests on Facebook every week.  This number grows exponentially month to month.  The more connected I get, the more opportunities to connect to more people.  This is a salesperson’s dream.

But am I connected?  Both of these previously mentioned things can be very helpful, but also very distracting as I try to quiet myself and get alone with God.  I find the words of Jesus in John 15 echoing in my overly-connected consciousness:

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:4-5 NIV)

Even though we live in a connected society, let’s be careful today that we don’t lose the most important connection in this life.

Leave your response: What is the biggest distraction from your ability to stay connected to Jesus?