“If You Don’t Have Time to Do It Right, When Will You Have Time to Do It Over?” -coach John Wodden What are you speeding through trying to get done quickly and uneffectively today?  And how in the world will you ever have the time next week to do it all again? It’s an easy trap to get in, and a cycle that we need to break. What do you need to do right the first time today? Link Todd

Matt Chandler writes:  I was 28 when I became the pastor of Highland Village First Baptist Church (now known as The Village Church). I had had a rough go early on in my church experience, and at that time I was not fully out of my “disenchanted with the local church” phase. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure at the time that church membership was biblical. Despite that, the Spirit had made it all too clear that I was going to be pastoring this small church in the suburbs of Dallas. That was one of the many ironies of my life in those days. Highland Village First Baptist Church was a...

People often ask me how I became successful in that six-year period of time while many of the people I knew did not. The answer is simple: The things I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. I found it easy to set the goals that could change my life. They found it easy not to do. I found it easy to read the books that could affect my thinking and my ideas. They found that easy not to do. I found it easy to attend the classes and the seminars, and to get around other successful people. They said it probably really wouldn’t matter. If I had to sum it up, I would say what I found...

Steven Furtick writes:  Many people have a warped view of God’s reaction to our sin. They think that if God is disciplining them, He’s out to get them. They’ve walked away from God, so now He’s paying them back. Getting even. Settling the score. This misses the whole point of God’s discipline. God doesn’t discipline us to pay us back but to bring us back. To our senses. To the life we were saved for. To Him. One of the most unloving things God could do would be to allow you to live in sin and operate under the illusion that you’re still close to Him....

David Fitch writes:  This is an idea whose time has come. It is easy, simple, saves money, and I think it seeds the mission of God in N America for generations to come: STOP FUNDING TRADITIONAL CHURCH PLANTS and instead fund missionaries to inhabit contexts all across the new mission fields of N America. Traditionally denominations have funded church plants. They do this by providing a.) a full time salary plus benefits for three years, and b.) start-up funds for equipment, building rental etc. to a well-assessed church planter (read entrepreneur). The goal is a self-sustaining church in three years...