Brian Peart is involved in the leadership of a Christian Mortgage Brokers Group and leads people all across the country in Bible Study each month via conference call technology. 

Check it out: 

http://seminoles.audioacrobat.com/download/ee26d5a3-0b89-0148-3569-6273cb8f96d2.mp3     

You can download it or play it. 

Memory Verse:
Ephesians 5:15 (NIV)
¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise,

Action Step:
Ask 2 or 3 people closest to you to give you some insight on where your Christ-like character could use some development or improvement.  Avoid feeling defensive and be willing to receive it to grow in your character and conduct. 

Random Thoughts:

• Going back to Thursday of this past week:  We had dinner with some of our closest friends in the neighborhood to celebrate our sweet friend Terri.  Terri has received a promotion and a great opportunity with her job and she will be moving soon.  I couldn’t help but think about the authentic community we shared with our friends.  It was great.
• Friday, I was able to spend some time with Mike from our police department here.  It was great to hear how God is working in his life.  We did some things to get ready for “Shop With A Hero” that is coming in December.
• Saturday I officiated a wedding ceremony for a sweet couple I have met through my friend Billy.  It was a beautiful wedding and Georgia beat LSU!  I enjoyed going to the wedding with my beautiful bride and without the kids. 
• Yesterday at The Grove was great.  Good crowd and a great service.  In the early service, Ric stopped right in the middle of the second song and dismissed the band from the stage and exhorted the congregation about authentic and genuine worship.  It was off the cuff and extremely relevant.  It was powerful. 
• We had a great community group last night.  I love the group.  God is doing some really cool stuff with this group and with Church at the Grove as a whole.
• I am really excited about this upcoming series titled “STRETCH”.  It is very timely in light of what is going on in our country right now.  We will share how we can STRETCH a dollar in order to STRETCH the Kingdom of God and how this all results in STRETCHING our personal faith. 

I am finishing a book titled Lone Survivor written by Marcus Luttrell about him being the only survivor of the worst attack on U.S. special forces in

 In light of their mission, the most famous and worst week of their training, called HELL WEEK, takes them to their physical, mental and emotional limits for the purpose of seeing what they can endure with the least amount of recuperation.  Only 25% of those that enter this week complete the week.  It is 5 ½ days of continuous training with only 4 hours of sleep total over the 5 ½ days.  It is constant drills, pushups, situps and running in and through sand and water while their teams carries either a telephone pole or a small boat.   

In contrast to the preparation of the Navy SEALS for their mission, God’s preparation for us to complete the mission He has given us it the antithesis of their preparation.  For us to complete the mission God has given us, we must pull back away from pushing our lives to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual limits.  God lays down some principles in His word that directs us away from pushing our lives to the limits so we can have the consistent, serial recuperation necessary to be effective in what He has for us in this life. 

Jesus encourages us to focus on Presence over Performance!

“The book of Acts is filled with prayer meetings; every forward thrust the first church made was immersed in prayer.  Take another look at the church at Pentecost.  They prayed ten days and preached ten minutes and three thousand people were saved.  Today we pray ten minutes and preach ten days and are ecstatic if anyone is saved.” (Pg. 38) (Emphasis mine)

This is significant, especially in light of our current series on “The Church”, and as we teach through the book of Acts. 

We came to this passage and I can’t get it out of my mind.

Judges 2:10-13 (NIV)
¹⁰ After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.
¹¹ Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.
¹² They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger
¹³ because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

I believe one of the imperatives of the missional church in our culture is motivating and equipping parents to disciple their children in the home.  One of the keys to halting the decline of influence of the church in our culture is to implement generational discipleship that begins in the home.  As we reach out to the unchurched and disconnected, we must continue to raise up our believer families through generational discipleship.  As we disciple new followers of Jesus, we must emphasize and equip them to disciple their own families. 

What are you doing that has been fruitful in seeing people and families discipled? 

When Jesus taught the sermon on the Mount that we read in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, it was accepted by law that a Roman Soldier could force a Jewish person to carry his gear for one mile.  The Romans were oppressive to the Jews and it probably wasn’t received well when Jesus made this outlandish statement regarding the 2nd mile. 

What do you think the Roman soldier did when the Jewish 2nd miler offered to carry his gear for an additional mile?  He most certainly would have been surprised and would likely have asked “WHY?”  When this soldier asked “Why?”, it created a conversation opportunity that would surely lead to sharing about the Jewish carpenter named Jesus and what He was teaching. 

When we go the second mile with people in our circle of influence, especially when it may be with unlikely people, it creates conversation opportunities that lead to sharing the hope found in Jesus. 

This past Sunday I challenged CATGrovers to do a “second mile act of kindness” for someone in our circle of influence.  Have you completed your “second mile act of kindness” this week?  Have you made plans?  Have you thought about it?  Go ahead, make some plans and carry out a “second mile act of kindness” with someone and create a conversation opportunity.  You never know where it might lead. 

In Dr. Tim Elmore’s Habitude’s series he tells the story of the “Golden Buddha”.  The Golden Buddha was discovered in Bangkok, Thailand over forty years ago.  It had sat for a long time coated in ugly concrete until one day it was moved and the concrete coating cracked and the beautiful gold was surprisingly discovered!  While covered in concrete it would collect garbage, drink cans, and other objects, all because it was not seen as an object of value.  When the gold inside was discovered, it was treated and handled differently. 

Tim Elmore tells us:

“Leaders cannot perform well if they fail to see the gold inside of them.  Good leaders take a personal inventory of their God-given gifts.  This shapes self-image and, consequently, their results.”

How has this principle has applied to me:

• My security first comes in the fact that my identity and value is in being a child of God and a follower of Jesus ALONE, not being a pastor or a successful leader. Read Psalm 139:13-15 and 2 Cor. 5:17
• My security comes second in being the husband of Jill and the father of Josiah, Abigail, and Caleb.  I want to be a success in their eyes more than I want to be a success in the eyes of the people in ChurchWorld or the people at CATGrove!
• I have big dreams for CATGrove.  I see a multiple campus church.  I see a church planting school.  I see planting churches around the world.  I see raising up champions for Jesus and changing the landscape of East Metro Atlanta!  If God chooses to lead CATGrove in a different direction, I must submit to the plan He chooses rather than my personal dream.  I accept what He plans and does. 
• I will work hard and do my best to fulfill my calling and I will leave the rest up to God. 

Secure leaders accomplish more in God’s Power without sacrificing God’s glory, their identity, or their family on the altar of success or self-indulgence. 

Secure leaders speak the truth without worrying about others’ approval.  Secure leaders pursue the vision God has given them by faith and not in their own power.  Secure leaders are attacked, but can resist temptation because they live for the audience of ONE!

Secure Leaders understand that CHARACTER DOES MATTER!

I have felt led to blog a series on the issue of character in leadership.  I can’t help during this election season and with all the high profile leaders failing in disgrace wonder if being a leader requires any character development at all. 

I love the Habitudes: Images That Form Leadership Habits and Attitudes book series written by Dr. Tim Elmore.  You can learn about Dr. Elmore’s work and order his books at Growing Leaders.com

One of the first images he uses to describe the character development of leaders is that of an iceberg.  Ninety percent of an iceberg remains unseen.  Only ten percent of the iceberg is seen above the surface of the water.  That is how our character development is.  People only see what is above the surface in our lives; they see only ten percent of who we are.  Ninety percent of our character development is below the surface – or – unseen by others.

Character can be defined as “who you are when no one is looking”. 

Our character is a result of:

• Determining our values to live by.
• Developing a healthy sense of security only found in Jesus.
• Declaring your identity as a follower of Jesus.
• Disciplined habits of integrity.

I had a former pastor who’s ministry ended as a result of an extramarital affair.  He didn’t wake up one morning and decide to step into the realm of infidelity.  He slowly inched toward the slippery slope through making decisions based on faulty values.  His insecurity made him vulnerable to the flirting of another woman.  He wasn’t walking intimately with Jesus.  As a result of poor integrity habits he accepted a lunch invitation alone with a person of the opposite sex and soon his ministry was over.

“It’s what’s below that sinks the ship.”  Check out this verse in Luke 6:43-45 and work on BEING before DOING.