Dan Gould

Category: Church Stuff

  • National Day of Prayer

    As I get started today here are the things that I am Praying for. I put it in an acronym I stole from Doug Fields. You can use this as a format for prayer.

    Adoration
    God you alone deserve my worship.
    Your faithful love amazes me.
    You have provided and blessed me beyond what I deserve: loving wife, healthy kids, friends that challenge me to grow, food and shelter, and the list goes on.

    Confession
    Sometimes I am fearful instead of faithful.
    Sometimes I am selfish instead of selfless.
    Sometimes I try to solve things in my own strength.
    I wish I talked to you more.
    Sometimes I catch myself going through the motions without being totally present.
    I need you.

    Thanksgiving
    I am thankful for my wife, she blesses me more than she knows.
    I am thankful for my kids, they area a joy/challenge but teach me everyday.
    I am thankful for the friends that have been prayer warriors for us this year.
    I am thankful for the opportunities to be used by you to influence students for your Kingdom.

    Uplifting
    I have been encouraged by the miracles we have seen with Jackson.
    Seeing students come to know you amazes me how you can use me as an influence.
    Following your leading even when we haven’t understood completely has blessed and encouraged us.

    Petition
    Guide my thoughts, actions, re-actions, attitudes, and time to maximze the opportunities I have as a Husband, Father, Friend Leader!
    Comfort those that are hurting from a loss or illness.
    Give our ministry a vision that is bigger that we are so when we look back we see that you have been with us.
    Give our church a clear unified approach to reaching and caring for the people in Collin County.
    Strengthen families and relationships in our community, nation, and world.
    Protect the innocent and those that have no voce for themselves.
    Convict us of our sin and help us to turn to you with all of our hearts.
    Lead pastors to be bold in proclaiming your truth with love.
    Give wisdom to our government leaders as they address issues and make policies.
    Give us wisdom as a nation as we begin to choose a new president.
    Please lower gas prices.

    God these and many other things are on my heart today. You know my heart, my thoughts, my needs, and my desires I pray that this day as christians gather around the nation to seek your face that you would hear our prayer and begin to turn hearts back to you! I pray all these things in the Name of Jesus

  • The Day from Crapville

    Today was one of those tuff days that you never want to repeat. However, when you look back on it later in life, it is sure to be a pivotal marker in your development.

    It all started with my evaluation. Not that the evaluation went bad, it was actually pretty good. I seem to be above expectations in all areas but one. I understand leadership development and want to grow as a leader, but I learned something today that I am still fleshing out. Today in my evaluation we flew through the things that were above average and spent most of our time on one area that was average. I think there were like 8 things that I was evaluated on but to be honest, I have no idea what the other 7 were because all we really talked about was the 1 area I was average.

    Lesson 1: Leaders are Learners I want to be the best leader I can be, but spending more time on the success instead of skimming them to get to the one average area, can cause people to miss the opportunity to celebrate successes. Growth has to happen, and challenges have to be given, but lets not overlook success to get to that point!

    Secondly, when you work with volunteers, sometimes it is hard to read what they mean by the way they say certain things. As much as you try not to read into a situation or comment, it is hard not to take things personally. I don’t think it was meant to be a personal thing, but it could easily be taken that way if I dwell on it.

    Lesson 2: Leaders are Learners I want to be the best leader I can be, but sometimes constructive criticism can be hurtful if you are blind-sided by it or take it in the wrong way or with the wrong attitude.

    I know these are times that I am growing and being stretched as a leader, but it isn’t fun!!!!!

    “As iron sharpens iron,
    so a friend sharpens a friend.” Proverbs 27:17 (NLT)

    Refiner’s fire

    Purify my heart
    Let me be as gold and precious silver
    Purify my heart
    Let me be as gold, pure gold

    Refiner’s fire
    My heart’s one desire
    Is to be holy
    Set apart for You Lord
    I choose to be holy
    Set apart for You my Master
    Ready to do Your will
    Brian Doerksen / 1990 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing

  • What Is Your Leadership Skill Set?

    Next week I am heading to a leadership summit put on by, you guessed it, leaders summit. Tuesday, two days ago, I was given a stack of stuff for the conference and was told before I attend I have to take an online leadership evaluation and fill out 3 pre-session info sheets. I took a deep breath as he handed it to me and set it on my desk to plow threw yesterday. Well yesterday came and went and i didn’t touch it so today I pulled it out and took the online test to see what my strengths and weaknesses were when it comes to my leadership. I hate taking test like this, I think it’s partly because of my perfectionist mindset and trying to read in-between-the-lines sickness, plus I never give myself a perfect 10 because only Jesus was perfect so I probably mess everything up by that. I know I need help!

    However, the test was informative and it is free to take at www.leaderssummit.org . Here is how I scored

    Vision 9
    L3 8
    Followers 8
    Signature Soulprint 9
    Change Agent 7
    Emotional Intelligence 8
    Execution 7
    Character 9
    Communication 8
    People Skills 8
    Inspire 9
    Social Intelligence 8

    I am guessing 1 bad 10 great. I typically look at this in terms of percentage. A 9 would be 90% and so on. Some of the questions were based on my opinion and I am sure I skewed it one way or the other. I think I am going to ask 3 of my volunteers to take it with me in mind and see how I come out in thier opinion. That will at least help me see where I really am and where I think I am.

    I let you know how the conference goes! If your a leader I encourage you to take the test and see where your strong and weak points are. It only takes about 10 minutes if you’re slow like me!

  • Who do you talk to?

    Just talked to my good friend Tyler V. We both served together at FBC WBURG and now God has us serving in different places, I am at Grace and he is at Life Church. I like talking to him because I feel like we are a lot alike and we can encourage and challenge each other with our various learnings and ministry experiences. Ministry can sometimes cause us to feel very lonely and maybe even ineffective. If we aren’t careful, we could easily withdraw from people and feel overwhelmed. I know several Pastors who are no longer doing ministry because of this. It breaks my heart to see this happen. So I have to ask myself, what am I doing to keep this from happening to me.

    I do several things from my own personal time with God, hanging out with my family, fellowship with other people; students, volunteers, and other youth workers. But I have found that being able to talk with a trusted friend is very valuable. Not only is it a time that I can encourage and be encouraged it’s a time where I can listen and think outside the box in a safe environment. Some of the best ministry learnings and ideas have come from these types of conversations. I am thankful that these people are in my life, because they make me better, and encourage me to be all that God wants me to be.

    Who do you have to talk with that can encourage you, challenge you, and listens to what’s going on in your family, ministry, and personal time with God. I hope you have someone!

    “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”
    Proverbs 27:17 (NLT)

  • One Year Anniversary

    Well today marks my one year anniversary at Grace Community Church. A year ago my wife and I pulled into an empty parking lot that was going to become our new church family. A lot has happened in this year. . .

    We have seen God do some amazing things in our family. Not always easy, well pretty much all of this last year was hard with the birth of our son Jackson. It seemed we went from one heath problem to the next. However, today, he seems to be doing good and hasn’t been to the doctor in a month, It’s a new record for him. Joe turns 4 Saturday and several of his friends and our family will be here for his party. Stephanie now works at the church as the front desk receptionist in the afternoons. She loves it and it gives me some time in the afternoons with the boys. She is such an amazing mom, and wife. I really need to tell her that more often.

    We have seen God do a lot in our student ministry. We knew we faced some great challenges. However, God has been changing lives. I wish I had a better way to track the salvation’s that have happened this last year, but if i counted hands right we have seen over 30 students pray to receive Christ this year. Now we just need to see that number being matched by baptisms. Our leaders are great, and we are so thankful to have the leaders we do. They are so faithful and fun to be around. God has used them more than they will probably ever know. We do need more, so if you are reading this an want to get involved, let me know. It is exciting and the students are so thankful. Watch a video to see!!

    I have seen God do a lot in my leadership development. This year has stretched me and grown me into hopefully a better leader. I know I have seen things modeled that I want to press toward and seen things modeled that I want to steer clear of. Leadership is challenging, I have had to have more than one hard conversation encouraging people, holding them accountable, and trying to lead with integrity. This part of leadership can be tuff, but God has been faithful.

    I look forward to what He is going to do next. But pray that He prepares me now for what He has for me today!

  • Blogs from C3 Conference

    Tony Morgan has been posting outines and zingers from the C3 Confernce at Fellowship Church. Here is some great stuff that Perry Noble said Thursday.

    Here are some of the insights from Perry’s session. Thanks, Joe, for sharing your notes.

    Environment matters
    -Matthew 17:1-3
    -If you are preaching at or working for a church that you would not otherwise attend, WHY?
    -The fire starts in the Senior Pastor’s heart. If the Sr. Pastor is not fired up, why would anyone else be?

    Vision matters
    -Matthew 17:4-7
    -Peter wanted to stay on the mountain forever. He couldn’t see past the current events.
    -You’re only as deep as the last person you served.
    -You may say that we are not deep. What you really mean to say is “You don’t confuse me enough.” I can confuse the crap out of you.
    -Listen to the one God gave the vision to – and God gives that to the Senior Pastor!
    -Matthew 17:7 “Get Up!” – Get up! “Don’t be afraid!” Operate by vision and not voting.
    -We want the back door of the church to stay open. The church is the body. If the back door of the body stops up, it is not good! We want the back door to stay open.

    Jesus matters
    -Politicians can’t help the nation, Jesus can!
    -Matthew 17:8 – When they looked up, they saw no one but Jesus. That is our goal – that people show up to our church and see no one but Jesus!

  • Student Life Tour 08

    Students Life Tour this weekend was fantastic!!! If you can take students to this two day event it is worth your time and their money. Click here for their website. The theme is “Become”. The whole weekend forces you to wrestle with the question “who are you becoming?”

    It was Awesome!

    Today I spent time with the family. Great day just to hang out and together!

  • Wrestling with Community

    There is a lot of talk in the circles I run in of what it really means to live “in community” with other Christians. To most people, I think community means getting together for Sunday school, maybe having lunch at O’Charleys after church, or sitting in the same pew around the same people on Wednesday nights. There is nothing wrong with all of that, but I think living “in community” might require a bit more.

    I believe when we begin to wrestle with what it means to live in community, we are wrestling with what it would look like to be honest, vulnerable and transparent with other believers. To be really forthcoming, as much as I hope for that type of community and work toward it in my own life, sometimes the idea scares the heck out of me. I think it is there, in the tension of my own struggle, that I recognize the real issue: If the Church is going to stay relevant and engaged in our culture, we need to figure this community thing out.

    READ MORE

  • Weekend Review

    We talked about the Fear of Rejection this weekend. Seemed to be pretty powerful. Found this fun video on youtube and used it to introduce the topic! Enjoy

  • You’re Not Deep Enough

    Here is a great article by Perry Noble pastor of NewSpring

    If you are a pastor/church leader then you have probably heard this statement before–and it just bothers you…I will admit it has always fired me up. BECAUSE…when a person makes a statement like this it is not an attack against you, although they mean for it to be, but rather an indication of their own spiritual condition–which would be both lazy and self serving.

    My daughter is three months old…and I am confident that within the next year or so that we will not have to feed her…a part of her growing up and maturing is her being able to feed herself…and if she doesn’t learn to do that then we will have problems.

    Read the rest on his blog here