Every get dry mouth or nervous when faced with a new guest in the lobby? Print this out and keep it handy in your pocket or wallet. This is what we use at Life Church:
Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast
3 Simple Tips that Create Momentum in Winning Organizations
Leadership Tune-Up
Sermon on the Beach
This past weekend I was away on a vacation with my wife in the Bahamas — it was awesome! Since I would be missing a Sunday morning at Life Church, I had already set up a guest speaker to speak in my absence. However, two days before speaking, my guest speaker had to pull out due to health problems. Suddenly I was without a speaker and Sunday was coming!
I improvised and filmed an entirely new message on the beaches of Paradise Island in the Bahamas. I was able to pull this off because of three things I had going for me:
An amazing shooting location
Technology for filming and uploading
Knowledge of the Scriptures
LOCATION: Obviously the outdoors were working in my favor since we were in a tropical paradise. It was easy and simple to find quiet areas on the resort where we could film segments. From the ocean shore to a rocky enclave, we worked within the environment we were placed in (by “we” I mean my wife and I).
TECHNOLOGY: Thankfully I had remembered to pack my iPhone 14 to film on along with a Wireless Lavalier Microphone. My iPhone offered HD quality video recording on location. Because it had noise cancellation embedded in the mic, I was able to stand along the ocean’s edge with the shoreline roaring yet my voice being able to be heard clearly and crisply. Because it was wireless, this also allowed me to move around on-screen and not be stuck in one position. My iPhone had preloaded video-editing software so that I could re-order the filmed segments and add a few little graphics. Thanks to Dropbox, I uploaded the edited film on Saturday afternoon and a volunteer at Life Church downloaded the finished product, dropping it into ProPresenter for Sunday.
KNOWLEDGE: Being a student of Scripture paid off as I improvised 14 minutes of live teaching at several locations for the filming. We need to always get into the Word so that the Word can get into us. 1 Peter 3:15 says to always be prepared to share the hope that you have. Because we are currently working our way through the Book of Mark, I was able to dissect chapter 9 and keep up with the calendar structure.
I love inspiring and pouring into church leaders!
That's why I formed the Fearless Leadership Network.
Life Church hosts Midland Comic-Con this March
Here’s something you don’t hear everyday: a church hosting a comic-con! Turns out the event we founded in 2020 has grown to become the state’s largest free comic-con. We’re proud to be part of this event and can’t wait to see it all unfold this March…
Midland Mall Comic Con Adds Kids' Night, Expands Cosplay Events
Originally published in the Midland Daily News on February 3, 2025.
Article by Dominic Sevilla.
Pick up your cape from the dry cleaners, start preparing your cosplays, and get your Pokemon cards ready to trade at the March 7-9 Midland Mall Comic-Con.
Midland Mall Event Coordinator Sarah Thomas is looking forward to this year’s event.
"One of the things we really wanted to concentrate on this year was making it a real Comic-Con," Thomas said. "So when you walk in, you see everything you would see at a Comic-Con—comic collectors, toy collectors, cosplay accessories. You name it, we've got it this year."
The Midland Mall Comic-Con is now being run directly by mall staff, with volunteers and event staff provided by Life Church Midland after a change in event organization in 2024.
Life Church Lead Pastor Jonathan Herron and Thomas said the emphasis this year is on being a family-friendly event, with the introduction of Kids' Night on Friday, March 7.
"What I'm really looking forward to is Kids' Night on Friday," Herron said. "We have a lot of local businesses coming together to provide a free, fun, family event with contests, games, inflatables, lightsaber-making, and all kinds of stuff."
"The other thing we really concentrated on this year was making it family-friendly," Thomas said. "I have four children, and everywhere we go, it is ridiculously expensive. One thing we really wanted to do was make it so families could come in, not pay a ridiculous amount, and have a good time. This year, we put a lot of emphasis on Kids' Night, and there are tons of businesses that stepped up to do activities for kids for free."
Families and kids can expect to see the following at Kids' Night:
Wand making
Face painting
Lightsaber making
Free Pokémon cards
Make-a-superhero-mask station
Make-a-superhero-cape station
Temporary tattoos
Additionally, there will be a free show on Saturday for kids on the main stage, presented by Neverland Entertainment, along with a free kids' cosplay contest to help introduce them to the world of cosplay.
Speaking of cosplay, Thomas and Herron said they hope to make this event feel like a full Comic-Con experience by offering different cosplay contests, cosplay vendors, and more.
"There are five cosplay contests over the course of the weekend," Herron said. "It's really exciting that we've been able to expand to categories like group, furry, and things like that."
Other vendors will be on-site selling items, such as:
Chainwear
Furry costumes and accessories
Jewelry
3D toys/gadgets, dice towers, helmets, and resin figures
Original work from artists and authors
Cosplay designs
Lego
Tabletop games
Pokémon, Tamagotchi, Splatoon, and Ghibli items
Handmade horror, paranormal, true crime, and pop culture vinyl decal stickers
Potion bottles themed around Harry Potter and Greek gods and goddesses
Pins, stickers, and posters
Hand-painted dragons
Plushies
Oddities
Knives and swords
Anime merch
"I'm a voracious collector of Funko Pops," Herron said. "I'm definitely in the community of loving pop culture. What I think it means to us (at Life Church) is that we get to serve with no agenda. That's been our heartbeat the whole time. It helps that I'm a bit of a nerd myself, and my son is excited about Pokémon cards being exchanged. It's kind of bringing all of these passions together."
More information and a full schedule can be found on the Midland Mall Comic Con Facebook page.
It's Time to Go Offense
Stop playing defense; offense is so much more fun.
There's for sure different seasons of your life. Sometimes we play offense... sometimes, we have to play defense. But if you played for too long… you're just letting life happen to you. You're not pursuing.
Are you making things happen or letting things happen? It’s time to become Fully Alive in 2025!
Here’s 5 simple ways to switch to offense:
1. Wake up ready
-How you wake up will set the tone of your whole day.
-If you lay in bed and hit snooze you'll be doing that all day.
-Get up with urgency and excitement!! You've got stuff to do!
2. Use the HALT method
-You're not playing offense if you're: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired (HALT)
-Sometimes you're playing defense because you're just trying to catch up.
Stay on top of your meals, take a sec to cool off if you need, get in community, and get good rest. Otherwise you don't have a shot.
3. Perfect your to-do list
-Your to-do list doesn't have to be perfect... but perfect your method!
-Is it best on your notes app? Written in a journal? Morning of? Night before?
Find out what works for you to be most productive, and stay on it! there's nothing better than checking things off...
4. Know your weaknesses
-We all have stuff that sets us back.
-Make a plan to attack those things, and try to predict when they'll come for you.
Maybe you need to set a reminder on your phone, tell a friend to let you know when you're acting some type of way, or set boundaries. just don't ignore it!
5. Stay focused on the present
-The past is just the past and the future isn't here yet,
-What's most important is what's right in front of you.
When you worry about tomorrow or overthink about yesterday, you're wasting the most valuable thing you have... the present!
Fight for Real Friendships
Something I’ve learned over the past five years:
Friends are revealed when you’re at your worst, not your best—when you're at the bottom, not the top.
When you have nothing to offer but liability to anyone who comes close, that’s when you take notice of who is still with you.
For pastors, it is very, very hard to experience true friendships.
Many times, it turns out that they weren’t really your friend to begin with.
Carey Niuwhof writes: “They were using you, or rather, using your power as a leader.
Beyond the power to hire and fire, you also hold the power to determine the mission and direction of the organization. Your words weigh more, and you have the clout that simply accompanies the position you hold, whether you feel like you do or not.
As a result—and here’s the dynamic—people build relationships with you for reasons other than just pure friendship.
Sometimes they’ve built a relationship with you because they want to be close to their leader or they want some influence over the organization’s future direction. Other times, they’re just drawn to the leader’s charisma.” (See: Why They’re Not Really Your Friends)
But here’s the thing: pastors need friends — real friends — they can depend on.
And so you have to fight for them. You have to double-down, grit-it-out fight for real friendships as a leader. And you have to learn to trust again after you’ve been burned.
If you’re like me, you’ve experienced friends leaving your life. For whatever reason.
If you have a grudge or a hurt or a misunderstanding that needs attending to, pick up the phone and make the first move.
Contrary to our instincts, hard conversations usually don't kill relationships.
They save them.
It's choosing the short, life-saving pain of surgery over the long-term, fatal pain of cancer.
You've Gotta FAIL If You Want to SUCCEED
Did you know that the average small business owner fails 2.7 times before finally reaching success? That means they have to publicly fall flat on their faces and lose everything over two times before they learn all the secrets necessary for full-time success! The term “Overnight Success” is an oxymoron.
I believe the same is true in ministry: you’ve gotta FAIL if you want to SUCCEED!
In failure:
You learn how not to treat the people you lead
Discoveries are made in scheduling and planning for major events
Emotional IQ is enhanced and increased
Persistence is stirred up for later reliance
WHO you can trust and count on during tough times is revealed
Humility is accepted as the pathway to greatness.
Every crisis is an opportunity.
Dream Again. Dream Bigger. Dream Better.
The Dream is the Distance: Everything looks different from a distance.
Even though you see empty seats, there is an opportunity for growth.
Genesis 41 tells us the following:
The dark room is where he develops the negatives.
The more God uses you, the more He humbles you.
Purpose Over Position -- Believe this and you will never get offended!
No Mess, No Ministry
No Drama, No Dream
God did not say this would be easy; He said He would be with you.
If you are currently experiencing or feeling failure, GREAT! It’s a necessary prerequisite to achieving greater ground for Kingdom expansion! Keep your chin up, your head low, and your posture as a servant-leader. In Christ, the best is yet to come!