The Best of 2008 (Part 4)

Highlights from 2008

Highlights:
1. Achieve breakfasts with PL
2. Running Revolution for 1 year with Sean and Zack
3. Laurelville Retreat with PL and 180 Youth
4. Seeing the Lion King – Broadway
5. Monthly breakfasts with Pastor Craig, Zack, Ben, Sean
6. The opportunity (turned down) to intern in Atlanta w/Catalyst
7. My Life – Parent Night – 3 amigos (Zack, Sean, and I)
8. David Crowder Band Concert
9. National Youth Ministry Conference in Cincinnati with Sean (Saw Tony Dungee speak)
10. ? and A with Zack and Sean at Revolution
11. On the Border Nights with the Boys
12. Resident Evil 4
13. Joel Osteen (Mr. Steidel taking my dad)
14. Sara coming to church for a few months
15. Spoke at Concord – 180 Youth
16. Wynne Lewis Conference
17. Pens making it to the Stanley Cup – lost to Detroit
18. Having breakfast with Pastor Kistler from MRBC (Middle school church)
19. Riley’s High School Graduation
20. Running Race for the Cure with the Bettencourts
21. Impartation Conference – Keith Moore
22. Starting to Blog/Twitter
23. Meeting Keith Moore
24. Healing Team Training
25. Lunch with Pastor John
26. Vacation in Canada with the Walczaks, Cory, Geisels
27. Spending a week with Nephew Michael
28. Getting an iPhone
29. Running the Great Race with PL
30. Siba Dinner with Laura when she got back from NYC
31. Going through I Timothy with PL
33. The Cadre Fall Retreat to Atlanta at Jeanne Mayo’s House
34. Light up Night in Station Square
35. Thanksgiving at the Mixters
36. Phone calls with Brad Cooper (Perry Nobles youth pastor)
37. Ryan Walczaks Wedding

Revolution Highlights:

• Pastor Nathan getting hired

• Fear Factor, Cedar Point, Silver Ring Thing, Third From First Concert, His Beloved/Geared events and Olympics, Lunch and a Movie: Prince Caspian and Madagascar 2, Pizza Eating Contest, Nerd Prom, Summer Scream Camp in Iowa (Camp in the Cornfield), 4th of July Party, Costume Party, Paintball, Turkey Bowl

• Series: Culture Wars, Say What, Only the Strong Survive, How to be Rich, On Your Own, The One, Story, My Revolution, Fear Factor, Going all the Way, Identity

19 North
• Roller Disco
• Broom Ball at 19 North
• Glade Run Halloween
• Video Scavenger Hunt
• Moving into the Main Sanctuary

Accomplishments:

• 1st year on staff at Victory Family Church
• Finishing my 2nd year of Bible School
• Running the Chicago Marathon
• Becoming a part of The Cadre – Jeanne Mayo’s Mentoring Program
• Leading my First Leadership Meeting – Taught on Teamwork
• Graduating from Robert Morris University
• Moving out of my House

That was 2008 for me - An unbelievable year - Really looking forward to 2009

What were some of your highlights and accomplishments?

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The Best of 2008 (Part 3)

The Top 3 Videos You Must Watch of '08

Beautiful_02- Single Guys Outtake from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

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The Best of 2008 (Part 2)

A Bunch of Random Bests of 2008

Top Revolution Videos:

1. The Revolution Staff Boy Band
2. Skipping School for the Ski Trip
3. Bubba Getting Fired
   

Top Categories on the Blog of 2008 According to You (Most Viewed):

1. Ask Anything Fridays
2. Dating
3. Sex

I'll make the assumption that if I blog on sex and dating - my views per day will sky rocket!

Top Blog Posts of 2008 According to You:

1. Fall Highlights
2. My Life Changing Trip to Atlanta
3. All About Me (Part 4) (Guess people love to hear about my weaknesses!)
   

Best Friends Blogs of 2008:

1. The Rath Faction
2. Zack Blairs
3. Pastor Larry Bettencourts
   

Top Blogs of 2008:

1. Perry Noble
   
2. Seth Godin
3. Swerve

Top Website of 2008:

1. Twitter
2. Google Reader
3. Hulu

Best Books (That I Read) in 2008:

1. Good to Great
2. Church Shift
   
3. Tribes

Top Movies of 2008:
1.) Seven Pounds
2.) The Dark Knight
3.) Prince Caspian

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The Best of 2008 (Part 1)

The Best Lessons I've Learned in 2008

1. People need You when they Need You
2. Anyone can give money – it’s when you give your time that it makes a difference
3. It’s not and never will be Your Ministry – it’s Mine – so be obedient and work hard -God
4. Our first purpose above anything else is an intimate relationship with the Father
6. The Power of Forgiveness and Unconditional Love
7. People need consistent relationships in their lives – not entertainment
8. God is my confidence – I don’t need to compare
9. God cares more about me, than what I do for Him
10. The World isn’t watching me as closely as I think
11. The best minute I spend today – is the one I spend investing in people
12. Speaking is a very small part of ministry
13. Don’t bed led by Opportunities
14. The importance of time with yourself
15. What scriptures am I standing on for the things I’m believing God for?
16. If I want to be sensitive to God’s direction, I need to be sensitive to His direction
17. 2 qualities of a successful Christian life – 1.) Love God’s Word 2.) Love God’s word
18. Don’t put your pursuit of a mate over your pursuit of God
19. Your biggest attraction can be your biggest distraction
20. If I’m going to be willing to go, do, say anything God asks me to do, so will my future wife
21. What am I believing God for (My Ephesians 3:20’s list)
22. You can disqualify yourself from the call of God
23. The Significance of Saying – Sarcasm/Dirty Jokes
24. Always be leading something
25. People aren’t all where you are
26. My life is but a vapor!
27. People are going to summarize your life in one sentence – pick it now
28. In myself – I can do, say, know, and am nothing – in Him – I am everything
29. God thinks I can do anything!
30. Never put periods in your life, use commas
31. Always ask – am I able to sustain this?
32. The Best Question Ever is: In light of my past experiences, current circumstances, and future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing to do?
33. Jesus is THEE Standard – Don’t let anything else or anybody else set a standard for you
34. God is my Source – not my job, friends, family, etc.
35. The Power of being Diligent
36. The downside of being sarcastic – to be taken seriously – you must be serious!
37. Who I marry isn’t only about me – it’s about all the people I’m going to reach with my wife!
38. Getting in the Word for Information vs. Intimacy

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My Year End Review (Part 3)

"Experience isn't the best teacher, Evaluated Experience is." -John Maxwell

My 2009 Calendar Planning

After I go through all the documents I've mentioned - I start planning my 2009 Calendar. We all need to schedule what our "ideal" year would look like. I really evaluate how I spent my year the year before and then I prioritize my year based on my findings. Here are some thing I make sure I plan:

• My 2.5% - I heard about this on a lesson I listened to by Bob Biehl. You schedule 2.5% of your time to make sure the other 98.5% of your time is focused on the right things. I do this through:
• Quarterly Reviews - I schedule 1 day a quarter to evaluate how I'm doing, where I'm going, etc.
• Family Time - This is where I've really struggled to be honest with you... but my goal is to schedule a breakfast/coffee/hangout time with each family member once a month
  
• Mentor Time - I figure out how many days a month I'm spending on purpose getting mentored - I talk to my mentors about going out for breakfast each month then schedule it.
  
• Vacation Time - I have to get away at some point in the year....if you don't take a vacation - you need to!
• My Required Time - Things that I need to do - Rev - I need to make sure I put in all of our events on my calendar so I know how much free time I have

One suggestion I would make to you would be: Go to the people that mean most to you in order of priority and ask them this question:

How much time do you need from me next year?

I.e.: Your spouse may need a date night a week, a mini-honeymoon every six months, and a vacation. Book it . . . then move on to your children - same thing, then clients, etc. and go all the way down the line.


What do you do when you schedule your upcoming year? Any thoughts or suggestions?

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My Year End Review (Part 2)

"Experience isn't the best teacher, Evaluated Experience is." -John Maxwell

My Bucket List, My Life Plan, Quarterly Goals, and Intentional Focus

The Second thing I do during my year end review is review these documents, evaluate where I am according to them, what I've accomplished, and what I need too change. What are they you ask? Here you go:

(If you'd like - leave me your e-mail address and I can send you my copies of these documents so you have a basic framework to work from)

Bucket List - This is a list of things I want to do to do before I die. Outrageous things like running a marathon, eating with the President of the US, specific places I want to visit, flying in an air force jet, etc.. I originally got this idea from this story about Lou Holtz. If you don't have one of these - I highly recommend you make one - dream as big as you can!

My Life Plan - So i just started this a few months ago after reading this post from Michael Hyatt. It is where you take the 7 major areas of your life, prioritize them, get a scripture you're going to stand on for each of them, write out a legacy statement of what you want to be remembered for in that area, write out where you are realistically right now on your way to accomplishing that goal, then write action steps you're going to take to get to the goal.

Quarterly Goals: This one is pretty obvious - I set the majority of my goals in 90 day increments. I review them - see how I did - and rewrite them for the next quarter. (Note: A lot of my goals are mini-steps I need to take for the goals of my Life-Plan)

My Life's Intentional Focus - This is basically an overview of my life... in it I include the following:

• My Vision Statement for My Life
• My Priorities
• My Values
• Principles I live my life By
  
• My Strengths
• My Weaknesses
• Mentors that I serve and how often I meet with them
  
• Potential Mentors
• My Current Growth Plan
• My Future Growth Plan - areas I need to study and get mentored in, in the future. (i.e. in 2009 I want to be mentored and study more on communication and writing - so I'm going to find books and hopefully some people that can mentor me on the subject)

More to come tomorrow - hope you're able to take some of these things and implement them in your life!

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My Year End Review (Part 1)

"Experience isn't the best teacher, Evaluated Experience is." -John Maxwell

One of my favorite things to do at the end of the year is my year end review. I'll take a lot of time over the course of the last week in December to review and evaluate my year. From that review I plan out the upcoming year.

This week, I want to share with you the process I go through. I hope you'll be able to take some of it, adapt it to your life, and implement it. First up:

"My Journal Review"

I split my journal into several categories:

• Daily Highlights - what I did that day
• Funnies/Memories - any memories I don't want to forget
• God - anything God spoke to me
• General - this is when I just want to write out my thoughts
• Scriptures - Any scriptures that really spoke to my heart
• Blessings - anything that God really blessed me with
• Prayer - things I'm praying about/for/ believing for/ etc.
  

I'll read my entire journal from that year and make a "Year End Report" of Several Things:

• How I Spent my Time - how much time did I spend with mentors, friends, family,etc.
• Highlights: What were the biggest highlights from that year
• Lowlights: What bummers were there over the year
• Themes throughout the year - Usually God puts one or two themes on my heart for my life throughout a given year (I'll explain this later)
• Biggest Nuggets Learned: What were the greatest lessons I've learned?
  
• Memories - I always type out ALL of the memories from that year so I have them
  
• Scriptures - I make note cards out of the scriptures and stack them and go through them on a consistent basis

How do you journal? Do you have any suggestions for me? Did this help you?

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