I haven't dumped my mind in a while. It's 6:30 AM and I'm listening to a little Shooter Jennings and Foghat (Slow Ride) and that combination makes me want to dump my mind. :) Not really sure why but hear goes...

- A leader cannot take people where he has not gone. What is different about your church?

- Excitement is contagious.

- If you're a church leader out there - especially a church planter - there are some people around you right now telling you they love you and they will be with you until they die. In reality the first time you don't do what they want you to do they will hit the road. I ran into one of those families from my past yesterday in Harrisburg. They told me they would go through the fire with me at Rocky River when we were getting started. But when the first ripple came along - a financial one, and we really needed them - they walked. Beware of people like that. Now that we have about 700 people and not 7 on our mailing list let me tell you to beware of those people. In fact, you ought to test them now. Push them on something to see if you can trust them when the crap hits the fan. And don't be afraid to let people walk. In fact, don't be afraid to tell people to walk. If that doesn't sit right with you then spend some more time reading the Bible.

- Building a church is not about building a "building." I have a good friend - Garret - and he's a brick layer. Well, he's a business man but he lays brick. And he's kind of famous for it. When he lays block he doesn't really set out to build a wall. He sets a course. He sets one course of block on top of the other until the wall is built. And he does that until the building is finished. Leaders set one course at a time. At Rocky River we are laying courses; the building will come.

- You have to be confident in your own giftedness as a leader. If you're not, you cannot face the Pharaohs, the grumbling Children of Israel, and Goliath(s) in your life. And, if you are not confident in what God has called you to do, people will not be confident in you. And if you are not confident you need to know why. It may be that you called yourself and that is a dangerous place to be. Did God call you to start that new church or did your senior pastor piss you off? Or maybe a deacon board? You better decide that NOW.

- Changing your church, home, organization or whatever, begins with you - the leader. Leaders don't whine, they change things. If there needs to be change in your church stop crying about it and start making changes. If everything was going good in the church God wouldn't need you.

- Don't be afraid to lead. While God does bring people and leaders around you to help you, God does not give vision to committees or teams. He first gives it to a leader.

- Don't criticize other people, especially leaders who are leading at a higher level than you are right now. Who do you think you are?

- Have you ever thought that maybe your church is empty because you are?

- Don't let the bad press and the backbiting of others keep you from doing what God has called you to do. God told Moses to "go on before the people." That means to move out beyond them so you can't hear their grumbling.

*Note: Don't get caught up in your good press either. Other people's flattery can be a curse!

- If Bill Hybels (one of my favorite leaders) has taught us anything it is that we have to help people become self feeders. You have to get them feeding themselves and not draining you of your nutrients. If you don't wean people off of you they will suck the life out of you. In other words, people can't keep coming to you for everything. They can when there are only 10 people in the church but not when there are 400. Just like children (and our congregation is our spiritual children) you have to teach them to dress themselves, feed themselves, and wipe there own bottoms :). And that is a good thing. And if it is not a good thing for you then you are a narrow leader. You are narrow because you "need" them to come to you for everything because that (and not God's call on your life) validates you as a leader. And honestly, if you lead like that you'll never have 400 people in your church. You'll only have a few. Why? Because God won't give you more people than you can handle.

Gotta go...