There’s something great and beautiful about a fully engaged community group (or you may call them home groups or small groups).  If you’ve ever had a great community group, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.  You share life together and there’s prayer and encouragement.  But there’s this awkward time from the first meeting until you get to fully engaged. It’s like the time around 7^th grade when you hit puberty.  No one liked it, but it was necessary.  The best and fastest way to get out of this stage is to get everyone talking. The more you learn about the other group members, the closer you’ll become…or so the theory goes.

The obvious and most chosen route is to go with the book option.  You all choose a book, which the first one brought up has to be the 5 Love Languages.  But in every group there’s one couple that has “already done that like 7 times”, a couple that “read that a long time ago” and the couple that has no clue what a love tank is.  So, after much debate, you by pass the 5 Love Languages and move on to another title.  The goal is to read a chapter a week and discuss the following meeting.  Ahhhh. Such lofty goals. But, after a few weeks, you discover the following type of group members. You are warned

Mr. and Mrs. Over-prepared

This is the couple that read the chapter through multiple times. They underline, highlighted, and stared their favorite parts. They then made a list of all the areas that were extra special to their marriage.  But they couldn’t just stop with one chapter, they read ahead. And they find a way to drop that in the conversation like, “Yeah, that’s a great point.  Reminds me of the thing the author said in chapter 7 about praying together.”  Everyone flips through their copies to double check that indeed they  are on chapter 2.

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If you are attempting to do something great or creative or artistic, then you face the internal struggle of resistance. It’s that voice that tells you all the really important things you should do instead of working on your project. It tells you to slow down, take it easy, don’t get too into it. It’s an early warning sign, or more realistically, its an always on warning sign. If this sounds a lot like procrastination, it’s because it is.

But what about the internal voice that is trying to whisper wisdom to you? It tells you to slow down or change courses or to throw it out. Wisdom usually speaks in a soft tone, not to loud or brash. At times, they can sound awfully similar.

So, which voice do you listen to? Which voice is telling the truth?

Here are some thoughts on wisdom vs resistance

• Wisdom will never tell you to be lazy
• Resistance loves to relax
• Wisdom admires hard work
• Resistance distracts from real work
• Wisdom loves discipline
• Resistance loves clutter
• Wisdom wants long term success
• Resistance wants short term safety
• Wisdom does not want procrastination
• Resistance gives false since of purpose

Don’t confuse Resistance and Wisdom. One is always for you. You have to fight it if you want to create, to lead, to make change.

People ask me a lot what I’m currently reading so here’s the books I’m currently in. Shooting for my goal of 50 again this year.

Lynchpin - Ditch the resume and do stuff that is remarkable

Communicating for a Change : pick 1 point and focus on it

Story Learning the elements that make a great story. Learn the basics is the key.

Systematic Theology This is a big book, but the doctrine and content is awesome.

Les Misreable Redemption. Awesome!

At some point that’s what you have to do. If you have an idea or a burden or even a vision, it is worthless if it stays inside. Will it work? Can I really do this? Will it make a difference? The only way to answer those questions is to Jump IN!

You’ll never know if it will work unless you jump in.

You’ll never know if you can really do it unless you jump in.

You’ll never know if it will make a difference unless you jump in.

I’d rather have a failed attempt than a missed opportunity. JUMP IN!

After starting numerous projects, ventures, businesses and non-profits, here are some top mistakes I’ve seen and made in the journey.

Top mistakes by social entrepreneurs:

If you are among those that are out there trying to make the world a better place or you want to be, then consider some of these mistakes and errors in thinking:

1. If I start a non-profit people will give money
2. People who give money are the most important
3. If I launch a “cause” on Facebook, people will give money
4. Other people will care as much about my mission as me
5. If I have a cool website, people will visit
6. Number of hits on a website, Facebook Group or blog= success
7. Transfer of information is the only thing that matters
8. If we tell the story once, we’ll make  a huge difference
9. Someone already is focusing on what I’m passionate about so I should find something else.
10. No one cares about this
11. They gave once, they’ll give again
12. They bought the t-shirt, so they must be bought into the vision
13. I have to have a cool website
14. I have to sell trendy t-shirts
15. If I start a new ministry/non-profit I should be able to quit my job in a few months
16. I can do this on my own

Have you fallen prey to any of these? Any I missed? Add your’s in the comments.

Would love feedback for a writing project I’m doing. Thanks!

• What is the issue that keeps you up at night?
• What is the cause that you are fighting for?
• How did you find it?
• What do you want to see changed more than anything?
• What are  you currently doing?
• What are your plans for the future?

I had the privilege to listen to Mark Batterson share with a private group of  young leaders some principles and insights this week and this is the one I can not stop thinking about:

Think Long not Big

Many of us want to our idea (company, church, organization, causes, etc) to get huge and impact tons of people. There’s nothing wrong with that per se. But, the issue is most of us aren’t willing to submit to a realistic time table. We want it now. And while that is understandable, it also allows the temptation for many to quit too early. How do we change that?

Think Long.

Thinking long means committing to your idea (company, church, organization, causes, etc) for a lengthy period and not allowing anything to derail that commitment. If you commit 10 years to seeing your new idea get off the ground, gain traction and ultimately accomplish what you want it to, you’ll push right on through the Dip period. The Dip is that time in any life cycle of an idea where it becomes really hard to keep going. It takes sacrifice, perseverance and a genuine belief that it’s worth pursuing.

The reason why many have a hard time pushing through is an uncertainty in the vision or an unrealistic belief in their time line. If you are uncertain of the vision, when it gets tough or finances get tight or donations shrink, you’ll be more likely to quit. On the same hand, if you have an unrealistic time line, if you are not reaching your perceived goals in the first year or two, you’ll also be tempted to quit. This is why thinking long overcomes these two main killers of ideas.