Author Archives: Campus Pastors

Motivation

Tue, May 14, 2013 5 Comments by Campus Pastors

Corey Bullock – Ahwatukee Campus Pastor

My little girl loves life! I love this about her, but it can also cause some difficulties in leading her. She will fight to avoid a nap and does her best to delay bedtime each night. Lately, however, it has been the other side of the day that has been most dramatic. She can’t wait to get up and start her day so she looks for the first sign of light in the morning to arise. This can be problematic in the summertime seeing how the sun keeps coming up earlier and earlier. After several mornings of this sweet little girl coming into our bedroom prior to 6am and declaring, “the sun is up – time to wake up” my wife and I decided to navigate this dilemma.

Our first attempt was to simply to tell her that she has to stay in her room until we come and get her. If you are a parent of a toddler you can stop laughing now. This didn’t work so well. She would start yelling from her room the”sun is up” demanding that we come and get her while waking up her younger brother up in the process. On to trial two.

How to Save a Life

Tue, May 7, 2013 4 Comments by Campus Pastors

egypt kids

Perry Emerick – Mesa Campus Pastor

Like everyone in our nation, the news of the Boston bombings was like a punch to the gut. It was a terrible tragedy, and heartbreaking to watch and read stories from it. I don’t know if you follow the media or not, but these days it is pretty hard not to hear about something terrible happening somewhere in the world, and for good reason: there is a lot happening. The way in which these headlines are presented and reinforced can often define our understanding of something or someone or even whole groups of people.

Leadership and Golden Calves

Tue, April 30, 2013 Comments Off by Campus Pastors

the-golden-calf-idol

Scott Jones – Gilbert Campus Pastor

Ever feel the pressure to compromise as a leader? There will come a day in every leader’s life where they feel pressure from the people they lead to do do what they want instead of what they need. In a way it doesn’t really matter what the specifics are. It’s the bigger principle that is at stake. And when that day comes we have a choice as to whether we will do what is right and best for the organization’s future or will we compromise for short term gain.

Don’t be Tone-Deaf

Tue, April 16, 2013 Comments Off by Campus Pastors

tone deaf Aaron Pennington – Queen Creek Campus Pastor

One area of my life I wish I would have paid more attention to when I was young is music. To be more specific, I don’t know how to play any instruments, I don’t know the cords, I really don’t know much about music at all. Although I don’t know much about music, one thing I am not is….tone-deaf. Now, when I say that I am not tone deaf, I am not referring to it in the way the you think. Stay with me and I will explain:

Intense Evaluation

Tue, April 9, 2013 Comments Off by Campus Pastors

by Corey Bullock – Ahwatukee Campus Pastor

If you don’t already know this, we are really serious about the success of this church. The local church is the hope of the world and our church is the hope of the communities we live in. If we are going to be the very best church we can possibly be, we must take time to step away, intensely evaluate, adjust and redirect our efforts. Several times a year, our church leadership gets out of the valley and out of our normal work week to engage in an act of worship called evaluation.

It may sound weird to you, but I really believe that intense evaluation regarding the things that God cares about can be a great form of worship. It is hard work to be introspective. You must be willing to open up to scrutiny and to be intellectually honest. You must set aside time to neglect your normal responsibilities and place a higher value on getting better rather than getting things done. You must enter into a frame of mind that initiates change and pushes you to the edge of frustration in order to hone in your efforts toward your goal. It takes mental exhaustion to process through the details until you fine tune the vision and objectives. Not many people are willing to pay the cost of evaluation.

Do You Still Have Your “Man Card?”

Tue, April 2, 2013 2 Comments by Campus Pastors

Scott Jones – Gilbert Campus Pastor

Spent time talking with a good friend recently. We talked about spiritual life, marriage and family. The more we talked the more we both realized how vital it was that we have someone to talk to about these matters that are so critical to our lives. I’m not talking just about having a friend or even about having conversations. I mean a relationship and a time where men in particular are dealing with the big issues in their lives and bringing the appropriate accountability to bear.