Just finished reading Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy. This is a great book! I thoroughly enjoyed reading about his life. IF you love football and leadership and wisdom, then this is definitely a must read for you. Coach Dungy loves Jesus with all of his heart, soul, strength, and mind. It showed throughout the book. There are a ton of wisdom nuggets throughout the book, be sure to write them down! Here are some of the ones that I wrote down:

• “Things go wrong at times. You can’t control circumstances. However, you can always control your attitude, approach, and response. Your options are to complain or to look ahead and figure out how to make the situation better.”
• “The truth is that most people have a better chance to be uncommon by effort by than natural gifts. Anyone could give that effort in his or her chosen endeavor, but he typical person doesn’t, choosing to do only enough to get by.”
• “…most of the failings of biblical leaders were spiritual rather than tactical.”
• “God’s plans don’t always follow human logic.”
• “We often can’t see what God is doing in our lives, but God sees the whole picture and His plan for us clearly.”
• “I am firm believer that the Lord has to short-circuit even our best plans for our benefit.”
• “VISION will ignite the fire of passion that fuels our commitment to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to achieve excellence. Only VISION allows us to transform dreams of greatness into the reality of achievement through human action. VISION has no boundaries and knows no limits. Our VISION is what we become in life.”
• “Do what we do….Let’s face it: if your system or approach hadn’t been working, you wouldn’t have come so close. So maintain your approach, and improve on it. There’s a difference between making incremental improvements and making sweeping changes that take you away from your core values.”
• “The Lord allowed us to win, but only in a way in which He had to get the credit.”
• “When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” George Washington Carver

Have any of you read this book? If so, what were your thoughts?

I just got my copy of ::MY FAITH by Kurt Johnston and Mark Oestreicher.I am loving how they set it up and wrote it as an easy read for any Middle Schooler. Here are a couple of comments about the book so far:

• Each chapter is written in a short, fun to read style, that will keep an INTEREST-SPAN deficit Middle Schooler reading through it.
• They included comments/quotes from Middle School Students.
• At the end of the first section, Kurt is real and honest. He talks about his Middle School days and what struggles he faced!
• They take the questions Middle Schoolers ask and answer them…What is faith? “Faith means believing and trusting in something even though you don’t fully understand it, can’t see it, and can’t prove it completely.”
• Also when they give a definition or explanation of something that may sound confusing to a Middle Schooler…see above…they give an example to clarify.

That is all I have right now, I just finished the first two mini-chapters of Section 2. Already good stuff.

If you are a Middle School or Junior High Pastor, do yourself and your students a favor and pick up a copy as a resource. After you read it I am sure that you will probably get a couple more to have around for your students to pick up. Click on the image above to go get your copy.

It has been some time since I posted on this blog. Lately, I have been really busy with some many things pulling me in many different directions. In that busyness, I have also been reading a small, but powerful book. The title of the book is, “What Matters Most…When No is Better than Yes.“

Needless to say, I have been giving so much of myself to MANY tasks and all of them not getting the best. I decided that it would be best to say NO to this blog. I took the time and tried to finish up some things, refocus on the things that have to have my attention, and give away what does not.

Here is a description of the book from SimplyYouthMinistry.com:

Every youth worker should read this book!

If you can’t remember the last time you said no to the senior pastor, the custodian, the church secretary, or the parents of that annoying kid, you’re on the road to… well… to nowhere. Actually, you’re on the road to death–the death of your passion, your ministry, you joy, your family, your long-term ministry effectiveness, and maybe even your faith.

It may sound dramatic, but the truth is, ministry often makes us feel like we have to say yes to everything for the sake of Jesus. We’re asked to sacrifice our time, our energy, our personal resources, and often our families. And we usually make these sacrifices for others who believe they know what really matters for us. But if it’s all in t he name of Jesus, do you think Jesus would really ask us to do it all?

Probably not, because Jesus said no on a regular basis. He said no to important people and significant opportunities. He took time to focus on what mattered most. He said no when he needed to refuel or refocus. In fact, Jesus was effective in his ministry because he occasionally said no. Can you imagine what your ministry could be if you took the opportunities to refuel and refocus from time to time?

This is your chance. Doug Fields, author of What Matters Most and a youth ministry survivor for more than 25 years, is giving you permission–no, he’s telling you–to learn to say no and say it often so you can say yes to what’s most important. If you want to do more than just survive, if you want to thrive in youth ministry, this may be the most important lesson you’ll learn.

This book will provide you with encouragement to stay the course, reignite you passion for ministry, and most importantly, nurture your passion for Jesus. After all, isn’t that what matters most?

Do yourself a favor buy the book, spend hour reading, and say NO!! You can do it and if you do it will change you and free you!