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But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. -Matthew 6:33-34

Anxiety is something I am all to familiar with. When I take personality tests they always comment on how I am an internal processor. What that ends up meaning is I am the guy who lays awake @ night endlessly contemplating everything. I am not sure I will ever be able to turn my brain off but i have learned a few things I can do to calm anxiety…

1. Tell someone else
When I am worried that something may or may not happen I have found I can skip over my stress by just speaking the concerns out loud. When you tell a friend what you are thinking something powerful happens.

2. Consider the birds
What I need in this life and what i want in this life are two very different sets of things. I am not going to stress out over what i want, I am going to rest in the fact I will have what i need.

But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. -Matthew 6:33

I have often seen this verse engraved on cups, painted on walls in decorative fonts, or painted on canvas beneath a woodland scene. More times than not the verse is shown alone, out of context. If you had never taken the time to read Matthew chapter 6 you may easily deduce that God will give you the woodland scene pictured above the verse if you seek Him first.

What will be added unto you?
It’s a fair question, the items are listed in verse 31. God will provide for you the things you need to eat, to drink, and the clothes you wear, if you seek Him first. Earlier Matthew urges us to not worry about our lives. In other words…

The provision of God goes before the people of God.
If we will seek Him, He will handle the details of what we need. We can’t abuse the passage by twisting the words to read; seek Him and you will get everything you ever wanted. This isn’t a name it and claim it passage, or Gospel. But, we can trust, the provision we need will be there when we seek after Him.

So then here’s a question…
What does it look like to seek first the kingdom of God?
What would the kingdom of God look like if you found it?

Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.  -Isaiah 43:19

God is doing a “new thing” in our city.  Amongst the great churches in San Antonio we are planning to launch a new one.  We are blessed to have been given the support of Community Bible Church as we launch out to gather this new community.  The journey begins today for The Park Community Church.

Does San Antonio need another church?
Without question!  As we can see the churches in the city are doing an awesome job and serve as a light to the city but we are all to aware of darkness that still exist. Our prayer is that God will bless our community to stand among so many others to speak the truth of God into a lost world.

The Park DNA is comprised of three building blocks: Passion, Compassion, & Wisdom

1. The Passionate Pursuit of God. Each of us is hard wired by God to long for spirituality, to ask the question is there more?  We believe the pursuit of God is a life long quest, one we are individually called to.  In Christ we find God, but the journey continues as we daily try to know more of the heart of God.
2. Overflowing Compassion for People. There is something deep inside of us that knows we need to be connected to other people.  Even more, we know we are called to make a difference in the world.  Our prayer is, as a church, we would extend daily compassion to one another and as a community we would be known for overflowing compassion to the social injustices of our world.
3. Godly wisdom in every day decisions.
   Our attention is often divided between what seems to be wise and what the scriptures outline as actual wisdom.  We trust in God as the author of creation and; therefore, believe He offers us the very best way to live.  As we apply the scriptures to our daily lives our faith becomes alive.

We are asking 5 things of everyone we know, and anyone we can meet…

1. Pray for us.  Our dream is to gather a community whose calling is the passionate pursuit of God, overflowing compassion for people, and Godly wisdom.
2. Network For us. We are willing and ready to grab a cup of coffee, or a meal, and tell anyone about our vision.  Connect us.
3. Support us. We have committed our time and money to this new church.  We are asking you to do the same.
4. Join us. We will begin meeting soon, if you want to join us then e-mail me austintx1@mac.com and we will keep you up to date.
5. Lead with us. Our passion is to build a leadership culture sending people into the city for ministry.  If you think God may be calling you to leadership in this new church then let me know your heart.  e-mail me… austintx1@mac.com

As we build steam we are looking forward to a citywide launch service on Easter Sunday, April 4 at Orsinger Park.  It’s going to be an amazing journey, you are invited to join us.

I talked to a friend this past week who pastors a church on the  West Coast.  As he and i were talking about the good and bad decisions he has made since planting his church he made a comment that knocked me back in my seat.  His words were, “i know at least a dozen guys who planted a church and woke up two years into it and realized they hated the church they had planted.  Whether through adding too many programs or losing focus on the original calling there is always the potential of the creators curse.  I don’t have answers, but would love to hear ideas on how we avoid decisions that lead away from the original calling.

What are the four most essential elements for a person to follow a leader?

I recently completed reading the book, strength based leadership. It’s an excellent read if you have the time. Along with the book you are give a code to take a strength based leadership test. I have asked the guys who report to me to take the test and we are compiling their strengths as I type this. The book is yet another stab at the working in your strengths message the Gallup organization has been preaching for a decade. If you have not tapped into this philosophy on leadership and personal growth you REALLY need to. The writings of Tom Rath and Marcus Buckingham, both members of the Gallup staff, have revolutionized the way I work. Enough selling, let me get to the point.

As I read through this latest book I came to a section titled, “why people follow.” Without question this simple list was the most valuable page in the entire book. After polling 10,000 people over three years here’s what they found to be the most important elements needed to follow someone…

Trust
The chance of an employee being engaged @ work if they do not trust the leadership of the organization is just 1 in 12, according to gallup. If people don’t believe you are a person of integrity then they will not follow you.

Compassion
Gallup has asked 10 million people to respond to this question, “My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.” People who agree with this statement are…
- More likely to stay with the organization
- Have more engaged customers
- Are substantially more productive

Stability
This is a rough one for the church. While we have ultimate stability in Christ we are always changing our programs. In order to follow people need stability. The one thing we can offer is stability in our commitment to those who volunteer or work for us. The program may change but how we feel about the person can be stable. Interestingly, employees who have confidence in their company’s financial future are nine times more likely to be engaged in their jobs.

Hope
Other words used to respond to this category were direction, faith, and guidance. As we lead people we have to remember the strong need they have to hope for the future.

I am the first to admit I read too many books. However, when I combine this information with Seth Godin’s excellent book, tribes, I am seeing a theme emerge. As leaders of paid staff and thousands of volunteers ask yourself how you are working to instill these things in the lives of the people who follow you. Have an awesome week!