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After an incredible week of Christmas fun with the family, it’s back to work. As much as I loved the break, it’s really good to be back in the office. Some of our team is still on vacation but there’s a good number of people here with me today – good because I hate being in the office alone, gets very dull!

This is a funny week. It’s like the world can’t decide whether to be on vacation still or try to get a few last things done before the end of the year.

I’m voting for productivity.

I’m really looking forward to heading down to McKinley Technology High School in DC this morning. Our friends at the World Mission Extension Center are hosting their annual Christmas Rally at 10 this morning and I’m excited to be speaking at the event. World Missions is one of our main partners in distributing Angel Tree gifts. So, it’s going to be cool to see a whole high school gym packed with families getting Christmas off to an early start.

I feel like it’s a great way to kick off the weekend before Christmas! Praying the kids have a great time but also asking the Lord to cause the light of Jesus to shine this morning in ways that are so supernaturally powerful that God alone is celebrated this morning.

I happened to catch the trailer for Jim Carrey’s new movie last night. Don’t think I’m going to be spending the time to go see it, but the title did get me thinking. “Yes.”

I wonder how many leaders in the church have a “yes” mentality and how many run the opposite direction? I’m not talking moral compromise here. I’m talking willingness to innovate, to embrace a new method of sharing an ancient message. I’m talking the desire to empower others. To see people pursue their God given dreams.

We need those kind of “yes” people leading the church. Not “no” people.

Does that make any sense? Would love your thoughts on this.

One of the real joys of getting involved in what God is doing globally is the chance to connect with old friends from around the world. I loved the chance to spend some time yesterday afternoon with my friend Myal Greene from World Relief Rwanda. Not going to lie – it was strange to see a friend from Kigali sitting here in my office in DC. But so good to hear what God is stirring in his life.

Myal is one of those people who sees God painting a global picture that is stunning in its complexity and it’s urgency. His heart for the church and the poor are a constant challenge to me. I always walk away from our conversations really inspired.

My prayer is that ’09 will carry many of you around the globe in a way you never expected.

I got to spend the morning with our year long interns in the Future Leaders Program.

They’ve been talking about public speaking for the last couple of weeks. To cap that off, each of them did a 7-10 minute mini-sermon this morning. It was so cool to be able to watch them accurately handle God’s Word.

They thought I was coming as some sort of Simon Cowall of sermons. But I was honestly there to be encouraged more than anything. I loved every minute of it and got to listen to 14 amazing mini-sermons. Let me tell you, these kids can preach!

So cool to spend a few hours in a room with the future of the church.

We live in a sea of demands; demands on our energy, demands on our finances, demands on our emotions. But it seems like it’s the demands on our time that take the greatest toll. There’s always something to be done. Or, maybe more accurately, 15 things to be done! All right now. All important. All deserving more time than seems available.

I’ve developed a question over the years that has helped me prioritize personally and in ministry. It’s pretty simple. “What can I do right now that best serves us?” In other words, what’s the one thing I can do in this half hour that will best serve us? I love it because it focuses me on the immediate chunk of time I have to work with – not what I might do tomorrow. It also reminds me that my job is to serve – that’s all of our jobs, by the way.

The key is defining the “us.” For me, there are five groups that make up us: Christ, His Church, The Gathering, our staff team and my family and friends. What’s the one move I can make right now that best serves those groups?

Simple question. But it can really help establish priorities.

This is always a tough time of year. Christmas is only 10 days away for those of you not tracking with the official countdown. But there’s so much to be done between now and then. I honestly think college students take the brunt of that pressure. I know most of you are sitting right in the middle of finals and papers. I have no doubt the stress is rising a little bit. Christmas seems really far away and if you make one more trek to the library, you’re going to scream.

I hope the words of Jesus give you some strength in that today:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.- John 14:16-18

I love it that God promises never to leave us as orphans. So powerful. The same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is alive and well inside of you if you’re a follower of Christ. He’s our source of strength, hope, life. He’s more than able to propel you through these next few days. He’s active, powerful and more real than we often give Him credit for.

I pray you’ll experience His grace in these next few days.

I almost don’t even want to post this because I feel like it will be inaccurate within minutes. But for right now, I’m at a point in my ministry that I don’t think I’ve experienced for over 5 years.

My inbox is completely empty! Stunning, I know.

For the cynical among us, it’s not because I just went in and deleted everything!! It’s because I locked myself away at home for hours this morning and just started answering emails. No doubt, everyone’s in the process of writing back now – but for the time being, I’m 100% caught up on emails.

Wow. What a feeling!

This time of year, my attention always shifts to a leadership development mode. I spent most of the day on Thursday in a workshop based on Bill George’s True North concept. It was a really thought provoking, encouraging and affirming time.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be reading a few different leadership development books to keep my thinking fresh. Wanted to share the titles in case you’re looking for some good reading over the Christmas break.

Divide or Conquer, Smith
Transparency, Bennis
Blue Ocean Strategy
Made To Stick, Heath

If you end up reading any of these books, I’d be interested in your thoughts on them.

On a human level, the story of last night’s Gathering at UMD would be told in terms of cold, rainy weather. Gotta love the combination of sub 40 degree temperatures and rain. By the way, please don’t think I mean “light showers.” I mean “Christmas monsoon.”

But on a deeper level, it was the story of seeing God write the final installment on what has been an amazing 3 plus months in all of our lives. It was great being able to end the whole thing celebrating the greatness of the Infant King whose arrival into the human story the world will celebrate in a few short weeks. But it was stunning to be reminded of the humility and service of this Great One. It’s a beautiful example of what our lives should look like and what I’m asking God to do in all of us.

Time to catch our breath now.

Heading to UMD in just a few minutes. It’s our last Gathering service for ’08. Always a strange feeling. Can’t believe 14 weeks have flown by once again. It’s absolutely amazing to think of how much God has done since the end of August.

Not going to lie, there’s part of me that’s looking forward to the break.

There’s also part of me that’s going to miss this like crazy for the next few weeks.

But, ready or not, the last service is here…praying God ends this chapter with a night that glorifies Christ in amazing ways.