How I Prepare for Sunday Mornings

March 20, 2019

It’s Sunday morning, 8:30 am. The alarm goes off. Exhausted from staying up till 1 am the night before, you snooze 3 more times, buying you 27 more minutes of sleep. By the time you roll out of bed, shower and get dressed, it’s 9:21 am. You have 9 minutes to drive 11 miles, find a parking spot and get to your seat. In other words, YOU ARE GOING TO BE LATE FOR CHURCH!

And because you’re late (again), parking is scarce, there are no good seats left and you’ve already missed part of the service. You can’t focus because you missed the beginning and you’re trying to play catch up the whole time. You are tired. You are frazzled. You are frustrated. Is this what Sunday morning is supposed to look like?

The Best Advice on Leadership I’ve Ever Heard

February 6, 2019

I’m talking leadership today and those who’ve followed me over the years know that I don’t do that very often – not because I don’t think it’s an important topic, but rather because I don’t feel particularly qualified in that area.

When I think of great leaders, I think of people who started movements and changed the world with their forward-thinking vision. When I think of myself, I think of a guy just struggling to figure out what to preach for this week’s sermon.

Great leaders are the guys who know what they’re doing – the guys who got it all figured out. Great leaders are the ones who have all the answers. Right???

The Word You’ll Never Hear Me Say in Church

December 5, 2018

Have you ever heard of Christianese? It’s a language spoken by Christians and understood by Christians that makes little or no sense to just about everyone else. It’s like slang for Christians. For example…

“I feel God calling me to…”

Translation: “I want to do something that you don’t want me to do, so I am pulling rank by saying that Jesus sent me a text but did not include you on the message, which means if you disagree with me, you are actually disagreeing with Jesus. Sorry pal.”

The Confessions of an INDEPENDENT-aholic

October 24, 2018

My name is Fr. Anthony and I am an independent-aholic.

You know what that is, right? An independent-aholic is someone who wants to do everything on their own; they never want to ask for help. Independent-aholics are usually pretty successful in life, but eventually we all meet our match. At times we’ll find ourselves face to face with a problem that is bigger than us and we have to decide what to do.

How I Organize My Time

October 17, 2018

You asked and now I’m answering. Whenever I get suggestions about topics to blog about, at the top of the list are always questions like: “how do you organize your time?” or “how do you schedule your days?” or (my favorite), “what do you do all day?”

This topic is certainly one that is near and dear to my heart. It is probably the single most important factor (other than prayer and the support of my wife and all that good stuff) that leads to my ability to accomplish what I believe God has set in front of me. Simply put, without this, I’d be lost.

And that is the process of SETTING A WEEKLY SCHEDULE.

THE CHAIR (sermon video)

September 10, 2018

What's the one, most important, most impactful, most needed, can't-start-my-day-without-it habit of all? That's a no brainer to me!

If there's one habit that I believe will impact your life more than other - one habit that I challenge you to take seriously as we wrap up summer and kick off Fall - it's simple: YOUR TIME IN THE CHAIR.

Nothing you do today will be greater than what you do there.

Designer Differences - HANDCRAFTED, Part 3

August 27, 2018

OUR differences are for MY benefit.

That's the key thought for the final installment in our latest series, Handcrafted. Throughout the series, we've been looking at how God made us each uniquely - as a masterpiece created for a specific purpose.

But in this week's message, we flipped the script a bit and saw that not only are WE masterpieces, the people who are different than us are also masterpieces as well.

And why did God make us all so different? OUR differences are for MY benefit.

MY PERSONALITY TYPE - Handcrafted, Part 2

August 20, 2018

Are you an I or an E? An N or an S? A T or an F? Are you a J or a P?

That was our topic yesterday at The Well as we're in week 2 of Handcrafted and this week we're talking about PERSONALITY TYPE. Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as our backdrop, we discussed the differences in our personalities and how those differences might play out in relation to one another.

Why? Because as St. Augustine said, "How can you draw close to God when you are far from your own self?”

Healthy Relationships - SPEAKING OF HEALTH, Part 4

June 25, 2018

It's the finale in our series, SPEAKING OF HEALTH, and as always, we like to end with a bang! We not only talked about our need for authentic and vulnerable relationships, but we had a live example of what that authenticity and vulnerability looks like.

Be sure not to miss the special cameo appearance from a special guest at the end of this week's message.

And stay healthy everyone!

THE HARDWARE OF THE SOUL - Speaking of Health, Part 3

June 18, 2018

We're in Part 3 of our series SPEAKING OF HEALTH and this week, we're looking at the "Hardware of the Soul." In other words, we're looking at our brains and trying to learn how they work and what role different parts play.

Why? Because the more we understand how our brains work, the better we'll be able to a) diagnose a problem when it happens, and b) invest in the health of the various parts/functions of the brain.

So get ready to learn! Class is in now session :)

KILLING THE ANTs - Speaking of Health, Part 2

June 11, 2018

“You don’t have to believe every stupid thought you have.” Dr. Daniel Amen

That's a summary of this week's message in a nutshell. Too many of us are living as if we are slaves to our thoughts, but in this week's message we saw how we can change our LIVES by changing our THOUGHTS. Specifically, we learned that our thoughts are real things that literally have the power to rewire our brains.

In this week's message, we not only learned the power of our thoughts over our lives, but also a practical way that we can implement God's command to “[bring] every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5)

SPEAKING OF HEALTH..., Part 1

June 5, 2018

“Make us all worthy, O our Master, to partake of Your holies unto the purification of our SOULS, our BODIES and our SPIRITS.” Excerpt from Liturgy of St. Basil

We kicked off a new series this week called SPEAKING OF HEALTH... And in it, we're talking about the importance of health in ALL aspects of life: body, mind/soul, and spirit.

This series has the power to open a lot of eyes about the root of many of the problems and struggles we face today. Maybe it's not just a spiritual problem after all. Maybe there's something more to it...

Check out the video above and you’ll see what I mean.

What Are You Going to Look Like in Five Years?

February 28, 2018

Recently I found some old pictures of myself from my younger days – my pre-priesthood/pre-marriage days. Nothing is more fun than looking through those old pictures (especially with your kids who think the world wasn’t created until they came into being) and remembering what life was life back in the good days of the late 1990s (aka, the Stone Ages for all you younger pups).

Things were so different back then. Life was slower and simpler. We used to "chat" with our mouths, not our keyboards. We used to play outside and drink from the hose and we all lived to tell about it. We used to read newspapers and magazines and books! And get this…back in the 90s, MTV actually played music!!!!

Times certainly have changed quite a bit since then. But as much as the world has changed in 20 years, the thing that struck me the most from those old pictures is how much I HAD CHANGED.

How Do You Define Greatness?

February 7, 2018

Two days away from MOMENTUM 2018: MORE THAN ORDINARY and I'm starting to get PUMPED UP! But in order to make sure that I'm not just excited for this year's conference but that I'm also PREPARED, I'm offline this entire week. So no blog post and no Periscope today.

But to help get you (and me) in the mood for the conference, I am reposting what I wrote 4 years ago, after Momentum 2014. And boy did that do the trick! God was glorified back then and I got a good feeling that He will be glorified again... AND I CAN'T WAIT!!!

And for those who aren't gonna be there, be sure to follow The HOPE Association on social media for highlights and updates throughout the weekend.

Giving Up to Get Ahead - WanderLOST, Part 4

February 5, 2018

It's the finale of WanderLOST and in this week's message, we talk about the one thing we can do to keep the message in front of us at all times.

We need DAILY time to RENEW our minds. Without it, we'll be in danger of SETTLING for what we merely WANT vs STRIVING for what we truly VALUE.

CHARACTER MATTERS - WanderLOST, Part 3

January 29, 2018

"What YOU really want and what GOD really wants are closer than you think."

We're in week 3 of WanderLOST and this week we're moving from the question of "What do YOU want?" and now we're asking the question, "What does GOD want?"

And if you look carefully and really consider what you really want out of life, I believe you'll find yourself staring face to face with God when you get there. That's how it happened in my life and if you check out the video above, you'll hear for yourself how I got to the point.

How I’m Reading MORE in 2018

January 24, 2018

“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” Harry Truman

Year after year, among the most common New Year’s resolutions is to “read more books.” It’s right up there with “eat better”, “exercise more” and “spend less.” It’s a goal that I’ve personally set many times in the past, with limited success.

NOT THIS YEAR!

This year, I turned “read more books in 2018” into “read 15 books in 2018” and you’ll be happy to know that I’m currently on track to more than DOUBLE my goal! I’ve already completed 2 books and should have a third complete by the end of January – putting me on pace to complete 36 books by the end of year.

Want vs Value - WanderLOST, Part 2

January 21, 2018

“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do... Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” Romans 7:15, 20

Part 2 in our latest series, WanderLOST, and this week we're looking at the fundamental problem of all humanity: Due to sin, what we naturally want is in conflict with what we ultimately want.

What does that mean and how do we solve it? Check out the message above and see for yourself.

2018: I’m Going Back to Analog!

January 17, 2018

If you're finding your goals on life support as well, I believe there are two possible reasons why. Your problem lies either in the process of SETTING GOALS, or in the process of FOLLOWING UP with your goals.

I’ve written before about how I personally set goals each year. I have a specific process that I’ve been using for the past 4-5 years and it works great for me. But what I want to share today is the process I’m using to FOLLOW UP with those goals – which is equally as important and might be the reason you find yourself falling short.

The main change in my 2018 plan is that I’M GOING BACK TO ANALOG! I’m using a “paper and pen” system to follow up with my goals.

What Are You WANTING For - WanderLOST, Part 1

January 15, 2018

The Well is BACK and started with a BANG! Kicked off a fantastic new series yesterday called WanderLOST where we seek to answer the question: WHAT DO YOU WANT?

What do you want in 2018? What do you want in your career? Your relationships? Life in general? What do YOU want?

That's the first question. Now the second question is this: ARE YOU SURE? Are you sure that what you want is what you REALLY want?

Did you ever consider that your pursuit of what you WANT might be standing in the way of your attainment of what you REALLY WANT???