I’m being reminded about how life is all about team work. Even the little things of life are easier when done through two or more people. All of the things I done this week (serving coffee and lattes to 2600 church planters, pulling electric cord through a twisted pice of conduit at Chris’, and putting up the corner posts on my in-law’s pole barn) have been so smooth because we worked as a team to get them done.

As I sit here and think about team work I’m reminded of the things that make team work happen.

Knowing where your team is headed
Every team has a coach, some times a player-coach, that sets the direction of where the team is headed. It is absolutely necessary to listen to the coach(s) on your team so that every player is playing their role and execute the game plan so that what ever your organization considers a win happens.

Know your role
Knowing your role only happens through communication. Through communication you find out what your expects you to do and how you are going to help with the win.

Stay inside your role
To many times we play outside of our role. Maybe we think we are better than where the coach sticks us, maybe we think we will have a big impact doing the something outside our role, or maybe we don’t clearly understand what our role is and we drift outside where we are supposed to be. Think if Shaq wanted to handle the ball and Steve Nash stood under the basket would they be a successful basketball team? Staying in your role is as important to team work as any.

But outside of the bullet points of successful teamwork lies the the most important reason for teamwork is what we were meant to live. When we are living in community and on mission we will see team work as absolutely necessary to accomplish that. How can we live on mission and try to meet needs or those around us by ourselves? A lot of the time we will try to accomplish to many things in life that would be so much easier with an extra set of hands.

So the next time you have something to do think about asking someone to come along and help. Think of people you are trying to build new friendships with, those you are discipling or mentoring or want to, or just someone you’ve not seen or talked with in a while.

I’ve been helping out at the National New Church Conference this week in Orlando at the House Blend Cafe booth. It is so cool to see all these people with a heart for lost people and launching new churches all converge on Orlando to be inspired, moved, challenged, to learn so new things and network with each other. God is doing a mighty work in church planting and its awesome to meet some new people and hear their stories about what He is doing through them.

Scott Hodge has a great list of guys blogging at the conference. Check out and see if you and glean anything from the notes.

“During the Eucharist, the child of God remembers the past in thanksgiving, experiences the grace of God in the present, and looks forward to the great feast promised in heaven.” - Bill Hull

The other day Tony Sheng quoted Francis Chan, “I tell my staff if they are not praying for an hour a day about their ministries to let me know and I will hire someone who will.”

That really struck me as I’ve been reflecting on strong leadership in the church. Usually strong leaders expect their staff to be good managers of their ministry, volunteers, meetings, relationships, and time. Rarely do you see lead guys (at least in the blogoshpere) talk about being good managers of their spirituality. I know for me, I struggle through waves of spending more time with God in prayer and not. I’ve worked to find more time (that is quite time) aside from the normal times associated with praying to pray and have have found that I really enjoy praying while I’m in the car alone.

I’m seeing a recurring theme in the books I’ve been reading and in my bible reading in regards to prayer. N.T. Wright spends a half a chapter on prayer in Simply Christian and really brings to life the Lord’s Prayer, “It’s a prayer about God’s honor and glory. It’s a player about God’s Kingdom coming on earth as in heaven- which, as we’ve seen, pretty much sums up what a lot of Christianity is all about. It’s a prayer for bread, for meeting the needs of every day. And it’s a prayer for rescue from evil. In Romans 1, the Apostle Paul talks about praying the for the church there at all times. Which all remind me of the examples that Jesus left for us like slipping away in the morning for prayer and the things He prayed for on the Mount of Olives. He prayed for His disciple for their faith, protection and to change them. He also prayed for future believers, for their unity and for us all to see His glory in heaven the way we were supposed to.

I have decided to challenged myself to pray at least an hour a day. So far its going well as I’ve found that I pray more throughout the entire day and have a deeper sense connection with God. I have also have a deeper relief from the normal weight I allow myself to carry.

Let me leave you with a story that I remember hearing and at first thinking was a little over the top but now relate to more than I ever thought. A seasoned minister interviewing a young minister about an urban ministry ask, “Do you pray at least two hours a day?” “No” answered the young minister. “Then why would I feed you to the wolves.”