Today's guest post comes from Dave Arnone, who serves as Operations Director for Brew City Church in Milwaukee, WI. In today's post, Dave talks about the importance of churches being active online. You can find out more about the work Dave is doing - and get help with your church's online ministry - by visiting Ministry Designs. And if you too are interested in guest posting on my blog, please visit my Guest Post guidelines for more info.
Read MoreNEVER ENOUGH - I Thought It Was Just Me, Part 1
"Not good enough... not pretty enough... not smart enough... not spiritual enough... not patient enough... not loving enough... I AM NEVER ENOUGH!"
My guess is that everyone knows what it feels like to be "not enough." That's exactly why I'm so excited about the new series that we kicked off yesterday, "I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST ME."
We're talking about the silent killer that we all must deal with... the enemy of all that God wants to do in you and for you and through you this year and all the days of your life... INSECURITY.
We all go through it… we all try to hide it… and we all think we're alone. But in this series, we’ll see what God’s Word says about some of the common struggles we all face.
Read More“How Much Longer Left in the Liturgy?”
Today's guest post comes from Michael Guirguis - a dear friend and founding member of STSA who has since moved back home to Atlanta, GA. As an ordained subdeacon, Michael has invested his life to making Coptic hymns more accessible by recording them in English (see CopticHymnsInEnglish.com). He also just launch a new podcast called MEET & RIGHT, which aims to help you apply the Liturgy to your daily life. If you too are interested in guest posting on my blog, please visit my Guest Post guidelines for more info.
Read MoreHow I Set My Goals for 2017
“Everyone ends up somewhere, but not everyone ends up somewhere on purpose.”
That’s a sentence that I heard several years ago and it’s stuck with me ever since. Of all the fears in life that I have (airplanes, pushy salespeople, being stuck on airplanes with pushy salespeople), my greatest fear is getting to the end of my life and realizing that I missed out on what God had in store for my life.
The regret is too much for me to swallow. The feeling of “I missed out” on what God had planned for me or for my family or for my church drives me to be very intentional about the way I live my life and plan for each year.
I don’t want to just end up somewhere; I want to end up somewhere on purpose.
Read MoreLiving in the Moment
"Everyone ends up somewhere, but not everywhere ends up somewhere on purpose."
That one thought has always driven me to be very intentional about the way I live my life and the way I approach each new year.
In this week's message, I share about three "turning points" that we all need to make internally if we hope to get the most out of the new year and end up some place on purpose.
Read MoreMOMENTUM 2017: WE ARE
MOMENTUM IS COMING TO DC IN 2017!
That’s right. MOMENTUM – the annual conference for church leaders that we've been doing in NY, PA and LA – is coming to the nation's capital in 2017! It’ll be February 17-19 (Presidents Day weekend) and in case you can’t tell, I AM PUMPED!
The title of this year’s conference is: “WE ARE: radically different, eternally one.”
We don’t just tolerate what makes us different; we NEED those differences! Without them, we would not be the complete BODY of Christ.
That’s why this is called “WE ARE” and not “I am.” The Church has to be about who WE ARE, not who I am. And who are we? We are "radically different, eternally one."
Read MoreDo You Still Remember Your New Year's Resolutions?
It’s January 4. We’re now four days into the new year. Be honest… have you kept your resolutions for 2017? Are you still doing what you said you’d be doing? Did you even start? Is your year going the direction you thought it would by now?
Studies show that by the end of January, 40% of all New Year’s resolutions will have been tossed aside. And that number jumps to 75% just one week into February!
It’s amazing how easy it is to come up with things about our lives that we want to change and yet how hard it is to actually change them!
Why is that? Why can’t we keep our resolutions? Why can’t we make those changes that we know we need to make?
Did you know that...
- ...95% of those who lose weight on a diet regain it, and a significant percentage gain back more than they originally?
- ...even after a heart attack, 6 out of every 7 patients DO NOT make any enduring changes around eating or exercise?
- ...the average person makes the same New Year’s resolution 10 separate times without success?
The One Thing You Need to Make 2017 Great
Merry Christmas everyone! I know Christmas was three days ago but it seems like the party’s just ending now. I think because it fell on a weekend, this year’s Christmas felt more like a week-long event as opposed to just one day.
And in case you’re wondering how I spent that week, below are a few of the many highlights from an action-packed week:
- I took Michael to his first ever Redskins game on Monday night. After four hours in 26 degree weather, we were each wondering how many toes we had left because we simply couldn’t feel any of them.
- I spent five hours in a shopping mall with my wife and kids as we divided up and did our Christmas shopping all at the same time. It’s probably been since the late 1980's since I last purchased an item from a mall. No joke.
- I turned into the “hostess with the mostess” as Marianne and I invited close friends or family members over to our home 4 times in a 5 day period. For a family of introverts like us, that’s record-breaking!
LIVING RICHLY - Realizing Rich Part 3
"If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon (wealth), who will commit to your trust the true riches?" Luke 16:12
We wrapped up the Realizing Rich series by looking at why this issue of money and riches is so important: because God uses riches to test you and He will hold you accountable to what you do with it.
The way to fail? BELIEVING THAT "MORE" IS ALWAYS FOR ME.
The way to pass? BECOMING INTENTIONAL AND ABOVE AVERAGE GIVERS.
Read MoreIf Today Was Your Last Day...
The following guest post is written by Youssef Iskander - a high school student living just outside Toronto, Canada. Despite being young in age, Youssef presents a profound viewpoint on the recent bombing that took place at a Coptic church in Cairo. Very wise for an 11th grader! If you too are interested in guest posting on my blog, please visit my Guest Post guidelines for more info.
This past Sunday, multiple people were killed as part of an attack on the St. Peter Church in St. Mark's Cathedral in Egypt. I don't know exact number of casualties as many are still in hospitals and their life still at risk.
Why is this relevant to us?
Read MoreMaking Sense Out of Tragedy
By now, most of the world is aware of the horrific act of terrorism that took place three days ago in a Coptic church in Egypt. Someone went into a crowded church on a Sunday morning during the time of worship and set off a bomb that killed at least 25 people and injured 50 more – the majority of whom were women and children.
Awful awful awful. Makes me sick to my stomach. Another senseless tragedy to add to the list that was already too long to begin with.
What I want to talk about today is how we can make sense out of tragedies and disasters like this. How do we process the event and move forward – not forgetting what happened but also not letting it consume us and fill us with fear and/or anger?
Whether it’s across the world or across the street… whether it’s terrorism or racism… whether it’s called an act of God or an act of the devil…
…how can we make sense of the inevitable tragedies in our lives?
Read MoreTHE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES - Realizing Rich, Part 2
"...he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful." Matthew 13:22
What did Jesus mean by that? What does "the deceitfulness of riches" mean? There's no way that applies to me. Right???
Part 2 of Realizing Rich and this week we examine that question. What is "the deceitfulness or riches" and could it be possible that I am falling for it without evening realizing it? In the message, I speak about 3 ways to tell whether or not that "deceitfulness" is affecting me.
Read MoreBattling Against Spiritual Laziness
This is a guest post from David El Sabawy - a student from Mississauga, Canada who has guest posted on my blog before. In today's post, David writes about the internal battle we all face in life: the one against procrastination and laziness.
The absolute worst feeling in the world is to be unmotivated to do a task that you know you should be doing.
How terrible is it to feel, that you need to do something, but lack any self-motivation to get yourself to work on it? The regret that can build up in you after-the-fact is devastating because you begin to understand that there was more that you could bring to the table.
Procrastination, sloth and slacking off; all terms synonymous with LAZINESS
Read MoreWHAT IS RICH? - Realizing Rich, Part 1
If I don’t FEEL RICH,
I’ll continually try to GET RICH,
Never recognizing that I am ALREADY RICH,
Which means I will always LIVE POOR.
We kicked off a new series yesterday called Realizing Rich and in it, we're trying to answer a question that you may never thought to answer before: WHAT IS RICH?
"Rich" is something we're all after right? So how do we know when we've gotten there? And is there any chance that we're actually already there and just don't know it yet?
Read MoreWhen Life Turns Upside Down
This is a guest post from Minas Nehad – an office manager living and working in Cairo, Egypt. Minas works with a Coptic NGO that works to help the poor in countries throughout Africa and Asia.
As a graduate with high ambitions, I began my career with a large telecommunications company where I enjoyed the corporate life. I moved between several departments, gaining a lot of experience & real success
Then one day I realized what a nonsense cycle I am running in. A lot of effort… a lot of time… a lot of dedication… for what exactly?
Read MoreHow I’m Getting Ready for Christmas
Tis the season! It’s the last day of November and that pretty much makes it official: the Christmas season is here!
The music’s on the radio and lights are up everywhere you go. It’s just a matter of time before Christmas Day is upon us and we celebrate the single most important event in the history of all mankind – a day that divides history between BC and AD… the day that Jesus Christ was born.
If you’re in the Orthodox church, you know that we prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth by a 40-day period of fasting called Advent. Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter – a time to prepare ourselves for the enormity and significance of what is about to happen.
When something is important (ie, wedding day, birth of a child, Super Bowl), it takes time to prepare. You can’t just show up on the day of the event without preparation; doing so would lead me to question the value you place on that day/event.
That’s why the church gives us this time of fasting – so we don’t just “show up” on Christmas without being prepared.
So what should our focus be during this time? How should we prepare ourselves? What should we be doing?
Ask Me Anything Scope TODAY!
I've been off this week for Thanksgiving, but since SOOOOOOOO many people are off today - people that don't always get to tune in to my weekly scopes because of work - I'll be doing a special Thanksgiving week ASK ME ANYTHING scope today at 12:30 pm EST.
This is your chance to ask whatever question you want; nothing is off limits!
Read MoreOur Father, The Painter
Understanding the concept of "The Father" can be bewildering. The challenge is being able to separate YOUR father from OUR Father.
If you think of how you came to be, there's a good chance that within your parents’ grand design there was a child. But what they couldn't design was how you would turn out: the color of your hair, the width of your smile, the sound of your voice… these were all things that weren’t within their control.
But when God added you to His grand design, every inch of you was intentional: the color of your hair, the width of your smile, even the sound of your voice.
Read MoreINTELLECTUALS - Finding Your Flavor, Part 6
"Changed lives happen through changed minds."
We wrapped up the Finding Your Flavor series with my favorite flavor: the INTELLECTUAL.
That doesn't mean someone who is smarter than everyone else (although in my case, it's obvious to see how people could make that assumption); it means people who realize that the best way to move their hearts is by engaging their minds.
The Day After...
By the time you read this post on Wednesday morning, we will most likely know who our next President will be. The election will (hopefully) be over and it'll be time for us to pick up the pieces as a nation.
But as I'm writing this post, it's still Tuesday night. The election is still up in the air and all indications are that this one is gonna go down the wire.
Read More