Decided to read through a few Twitter updates before bed last night, and Super Bowl champion quarterback Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers) shared this tweet. Don’t watch these videos unless you want to start making Ugly Faces in the middle of conversations, pranking people while talking on your Bluetooth or asking people to Look At This. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! The last clip of the four is an interesting take on Harold Camping’s false rapture prediction from last week.

Was sitting at work today and saw a YouTube video of the story behind the song “I Refuse” by Josh Wilson come through for the radio station’s website. With all of the natural disasters taking place, it excites me to see the church (the people) start walking their faith out in service. I’ve included a bit of the lyrics below (click here for all) and the video. Song definitely challenges us to stop sending up empty prayers and recognize when it’s time to get out of our seats / pews and do what God has called us to do ourselves. The world’s not going to just change while we watch, that’s for sure!

This world needs God
But it’s easier to stand and watch
I could say a prayer and just move on
Like nothing’s wrong

But I refuse
‘Cause I don’t want to live like I don’t care
I don’t want to say another empty prayer
Oh, I refuse

To sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself
Oh, I could choose
Not to move but I refuse

My father-in-law mentioned this man (Herman Cain) last week in a chat we had at his place. I had never heard of him before, but I think that (now that he has officially announced running for President) is about to change. Race won’t be an advantage (how it should be), but it appears a faith in God sure will re-enter center stage. This is about to get good, don’t you think?

The whole Family Radio end-times theory sure stirred up the web for the past few weeks, and annoyed me with a billboard on the way to work every day the past few months. I decided to have fun with it all and throw together a quick website to share the truth – you can visit and share it if you’d like over at StillHere521.com.

Enough about that. Here are a few things that are going on in my world. I’d love for you to leave a comment and let me know a thing or two that’s going on in yours!

Saved up a few hundred dollars from designing websites, and am starting to invest more time + money into a dream of mine, the Digital Disciples network. Marla and I will be making that happen by driving down to Charlotte next Thursday for a free STORY creatives meetup with Ben Arment, Sarah Cunningham, and many more awesome people. You can see the details here, and be sure to share it with friends in that area that might be interested! I’ll be sharing Digital Disciples for a few minutes, but am most excited to meet some great people and support some great things!

On the way back from the meetup, we have the privilege of stopping by Charleston, WV and attending Matt Holley‘s (and Krista) wedding. They both live here in Columbus, but originate from West Virginia. I’ve gotten to know Matt via his involvement in the Jared Mahone band, and a trip we took together up to (ironic – see above) the first STORY conference in Chicago. Excited for them!

Speaking of Jared Mahone……if you haven’t checked out their music, I’d recommend doing it before finishing reading this. They’ve just started a Kickstarter Campaign this evening to fund $10,000 in 64 days for their next album. You’ll want to stop by that page and check out the video Matt Holley (from above paragraph) created! I helped them update the site tonight for that, and also snapped this photo this week for the promotion of it.

Have a great rest of May 21st. If we don’t meet again, hopefully I’ll see you on the other side, LOL.

Anytime I hear the word leadership, I just cringe. I wouldn’t have paid to go and listen to John Maxwell last night (to be as honest as I can be), but I got a free ticket from the radio station – so I brought my good friend Kary along and kept my expectations in check.

My intent is not prideful, thinking that I can’t learn a thing or two from Mr. Maxwell. He did guarantee that I (and the rest of the crowd) would learn “something” from the 90 minutes we got to spend with him. My intent in writing this, as I always pray is my goal, is to not just listen to people because the world thinks something of them. It’s to listen to them and channel EVERY thing they have to say through the truth of God’s Word, regardless of their accolades or the amount of followers / readers they have.

So here’s the truth (if the blog goes long, it goes long). I wasn’t expecting this when coming to the event, but while on the way out Kary asked me what I thought. My first response was (knowing that John’s a devout follower of Christ) “He didn’t share anything at all from the Word of God”. That might seem harsh. You might suggest that I give him a break, or that I shouldn’t expect him to preach to us since his area of expertise seems to relate to business.

I can tell you that I did learn at least 1-2 things when listening to him. But hearing him being neighbors with Joe Namath, having a meal with Gail Devers, consulting the United Nations, blah blah blah blah blah……..shouldn’t and doesn’t impress me. And honestly, knowing he’s considered the leadership expert, I was thinking an evening listening to him would have left me wanting an encore. If you read through my notes from yesterday, I’m sure you’d agree that most, if not all, of the 10 tips he shared with us could be found somewhere else. It’s not hard understanding that all of this “worldly wisdom” has been around for a long time.

In my eyes, no matter if you’re wealthy and famous or 8 years old and selling lemonade along the street for a quarter, if Jesus Christ has changed your life – your life should be about Jesus. To hear that he’s now creating a coaching network for thousands of individuals, charging them each $4,800 in an effort to leave “his legacy” with others, actually now scares me a bit. There’s a chance they’ll get hundreds of one-liners that they can share with people who might need it, but maybe never be challenged to share who the real life-changer actually is.

What if I were to tell you that I think we need more followers in this world than leaders? People who have the leader in Christ that they need, and if they’re doing any counseling they’re sharing advice from the source that has led many men and women to greatness through the centuries? What are we to think of leaders when we attend sessions like these and then return home and open up Jeremiah 9:23, 2 Corinthians 10:17-18 or 2 Corinthians 11:15?

I guess you probably get my point by now. Leadership to me is a megaphone. When you speak through your megaphone, do people hear the Word of God or your own words? Don’t be afraid to lead, just make sure you’re not standing in everyone’s way as they’re trying to follow the footsteps of Christ.