Last Sunday I told our congregation that I would put some resources that Karen and I have used to help us get our finances under control. Specifically, these are resources that have helped us get our unsecured debt in check. Here they are. I hope they help! Good luck!
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Books:
“The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey. This book really helped us understand the issue and problem of debt. This is where you have to start!

“The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas J. Stanley. This is a book that will show how people with “real” money really live.

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Audio/mp3:
“Debt Free Pastor” by Nelson Searcy. If you are a pastor/church planter you have got to pick this up!
Link: http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=13

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Websites:
http://www.josephsangl.com/
This guy could change your life. Be sure to go to “Tools” under the menu for free budgets and all sorts of helpful downloads. This is a great site!

http://www.journeymetro.com/midtown/resources/financial_tools
This is a church that offers some great resources for personal finances. Also a great site for free downloads.

Anyway, I hope this helps you!

I just got back from our Rocky River Men's Retreat in Myrtle Beach. IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE! This is the first time we've ever done anything like this before at R2C2 - it's the first time I've ever done anything like this with a group of guys, period. We ate some good food, played 36 holes at World Tour (as fine a golf course as you'll play anywhere). We weren't sure how everything was going to turn out as far as the weather. And even though we had some rain - a lot of rain on Thursday - it cleared up and we really did everything we had planned to do.

We ate good food, laughed and talked smack for hours, grew spiritually and just had a great time. Here's a breakdown of the golf and fishing.

Thursday golf winners: Brian Bush, James Britt (my dad), Bob Givens (my dads golf partner) and Jimmy Britt. We broke Brandon, Travis, Greg and Brian Honeycutt's hearts on the last hole on the Open side at World Tour. Sorry guys :).

Friday golf winners: Greg Kesterson, Brian Honeycutt, James Britt (who played from the Senior tees because technically he is a senior) and Bob Givens (who is also old). They had a combined score of -9.

Friday golf, 2nd place: Brian Bush, Jimmy Britt, Rich Straight and Tim Gromis. We had a combined score of -7.

Friday golf, 3rd place: Brandon Whedbee, Travis Bush and Brian Walters. (They rotated shots to compensate for the 4th man). They had a combined score of -3.

Friday fishing highlights: Wilton Pait, Steve Hatcher and Joe Bagley slept late, fished for about 2 hours and drove from Surfside Beach to North Myrtle Beach to eat at Hamburger Joes. Then they took a nap. :)

Friday water volleyball match (5 games). Winning team: Brandon "smiling at you while I'm whoopin' you" Whedbee, Travis "the Hit Man" Bush, Steve "the Hatch" Hatcher, Greg "aging like a fine wine" Kesterson and Rich "pretty boy" Straight.

Runners up: Brian Honeycutt, Brian Walters, Brian Bush, Tim Gromis, and Jimmy Britt. We played like champions. :)

BTW, let me give honorable mention to Wilton "the Cooter" Pait and Joe "point me to a cot" Bagley for cheering us on...

Just in case our wives are reading this, we did devotions every night, we prayed together for our families and the spiritually lost in our community. We had some very powerful moments together. It was indescribable. I can hardly wait to do it again next year. Heck, we may do it in the Spring.

Tim, Greg, Brian H., Brian W., Brian B., Wilton, Joe, Steve, Brandon, and Travis... thank you for a couple days with men - men of God - that I will never forget. Thank you for letting me be myself and for having the courtesy of doing the same.

Man. We have some big stuff coming up at Rocky River Community Church. On July 29 we are going to make a couple of really big and important announcements. To say the least, God is moving in our church. And here’s the thing: When God is moving then He is also speaking. I’m not sure if He moves then speaks or speaks and then moves. What I do know is that it is extremely important to listen to God speak. If you are a leader – church planters listen up – there is NO SUBSTITUE FOR LISTENING TO GOD SPEAK – clearly.

Today I am going to kick off a three part blog-series on how to listen to God.

The FIRST thing you have to do to hear God is…
1. Get rid of the distractions. Bill Hybels (www.willowcreek.org) says that when God spoke to Moses He didn’t need to use a “burning bush.” He simply used the burning bush to get Moses’ attention. God was basically saying to him, “Moses, slow down. STOP and LISTEN! Take a rest from your busy schedule. I have something I want to say to you.” Moses did and the rest is history.

Moses was no different than the rest of us in that he was busy. He had the same kinds of noises and distractions in his life as we do. He was worried about his job; he had a wife and kids to take care of. He had a full calendar of activities. He had people to please. He was running in a million different directions. Those things, that stuff, important as they are, were distractions that kept him from hearing from God. So God used the burning bush to make him slow down, step away from the noise and distractions of life, so he could listen to Him.

See, talking with you, helping you understand your purpose and your reason for existing, is very important to God. It’s important to you. But sometimes we let everyday life, and the noise of everyday life, drown out God’s voice. So, sometimes God has to reach out and grab your attention.

Question: Is God trying to speak to you today? What are you missing by not listening to Him? What is it going to take for Him to get your attention?

[How to Listen to God, Part 1]

Today is my day off (I'm supposed to take Fridays off every week - sometimes I do sometimes I don't). I’ve been preaching lately about the importance of rest and a day off so today I played golf with Brandon, Travis and Myrick (Myrick is a friend of Brandon’s). We played a pretty nice course in Huntersville called Birkdale Country Club. I didn’t play worth a hoot but it was a great day – HOT – but great. It was a very tough course with small greens. We played behind a group that included Chad Knaus (Jimmy Johnson’s crew chief).

On the first hole Travis smoked a drive right up the fairway. But on his second shot he hit a power line that was hanging over the fairway and the corner of the green. When I say “power line” I’m talking about the big, huge steel ones with about six big lines hanging on it. These things actually sneaked throughout the course. When you’re under them you can actually hear the voltage running through them. It was amazing to think of the power in them, and a little nerve-wracking at the same time.

Sounds like a headline doesn't it?! It should be the headline of my life. I'm going to talk about my sins (one sin in particular) on Sunday. I am a repeat violator of the 4th commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) - "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy." This Sunday at Rocky River Community Church I am going to talk about what the Sabbath is, why God wants us to remember it, and how we are supposed to remember it. Specifically, I'm going to talk about the importance of taking a day off (1 in every 7) for rest. Ironically, I'm blogging this from my office - ON MY DAY OFF! :)

Anyway, I look forward to seeing you Sunday for this IMPORTANT LifeTalk. Be sure to bring your friends with you...!