Eric Offstage

2 of my Favorite Quotes

Today, I was thinking about two of my favorite quotes that guide me in my preaching.  One is from creative genius Pastor Ed Young Jr. and another is from a very old dead dude.  Both are incredibly helpful to me as a pastor. 

Ed Young Jr, says pastors need to  "Speak the truth and shame the devil."

Or I am called of God, not to tell people what they want to hear, but to tell people the truth, and point them towards Jesus and expose the lies of the enemy.  I have to shame the devil.

If pastors are afraid to do this, who will? The real answer is no one!! 

See there is no other place in the world besides the church where people will hear the truth about life, God, sex, money and hundreds of other topics.  If a pastor refuses to speak the truth and shame the devil people will continue to wander aimlessly and helplessly, bound in all their sin, guilt and hurts. 

Only in speaking the truth even if it bothers some people, will the lost get found and people given hope help and freedom. 

Here is the other quote along the same lines that guides my preaching:

James Stewart in his book Heralds of God says:

If you are wise, you will not in your preaching mask or minimize the overwhelming, absolute nature of Christ’s demand.  Men are ready for a Leader who will unhesitatingly claim the last ounce of His followers’ courage and fidelity. 

Field-Marshal Wavell has told, in his notable lectures entitled Generals and Generalship, the story of how Napoleon, when an artillery officer at the siege of Toulon, built a battery in such an exposed position that he was told he would never find men to man it.  But Napoleon had a sure instinct for what was required.  He put up a placard – “The battery of men without fear”: and it was always manned. 

This is no time to be offering a reduced, milk-and-water religion.  Far too often the world has been presented with a mild and undemanding half-Christianity.  The Gospel has been emasculated long enough.  Preach Christ today in the total challenge of His high, imperious claim.  Some will be scared, and some offended: but some, and they the most worth winning, will kneel in homage at His feet.

BOO-YAH!  That is a killer thought.  I must preach the great ideals and high demands of Jesus and hold people to them and as I do, we will watch people rise to the challenge and give their all to Him.

Only is preaching total complete 100% committment to Christ do we get Jesus follower who are willing to charge hell with a bucket of water and really change the world. 

Now I am getting pumped.  Can't wait till I get to point people to Jesus agian next weekend.  See you there.  I promise I will tell the truth and shame the devil.

 

Something for Crossing Leaders

What I am about to write is not original.  I read a great article on leadership recently and it was so good I want to paraphrase it for you. 

Basically is said this:  "The price of nice is regression toward the mean.”  In other words, the cost of being nice for the sake of being nice is a regression toward the status quo, toward mediocrity, toward vanilla.

Leaders are not called to niceness. Leaders are called to stir the pot and blow stuff up.  Leaders are called to challenge the norms and to ruffle feathers. Leaders engage in hard conversations in the context of genuine concern.  (Real concern being the key.)

Nancy Beach (one of the teaching pastors at Willow Creek) recently wrote, “I have discovered a new definition for church work: a series of difficult conversations.”

Holy Cow!! Did she ever nail that.  That is my whole job and the job of most of our staff. 

We have a series of difficult conversations with people pushing, pleading, prodding, poking and any other P word you can think of to get people to commit, serve, love, and follow Jesus so together we can change the world. 

What we do is just a "series of difficult conversations" and if we wimp out; if we turn a blind eye to what we know needs to be done, no one grows, or changes or is moved to conquer the world for Christ. 

Leaders are not called to niceness.  
Leaders are called to LEAD!!

NUMBERS ARE A BIG FLIPPING DEAL

Every once in a while someone will look at me and say, "All the Crossing cares about are numbers."  And I lean right into that and say, "No, what we care most about most is JESUS AND THEN NUMBERS!!"

See ,I believe with all my heart that numbers are a big flipping deal to Jesus.  I don't know if you have ever noticed this but it seems like the gospels and the book of Acts are always talking about crowds and numbers. 

Check it out.  Here are the references to large crowds and Jesus.   

• Matthew 4:25  Large crowds...  followed him.
• Matthew 8:1  large crowds followed him.
• Matthew 13:2  large crowds gathered around him
• Matthew 15:30  Great crowds came to him
• Matthew 19:2  Large crowds followed him,
• Luke 11:29 As the crowds increased,
• Luke 14:25  Large crowds were traveling with Jesus,

Jesus obviously knew how to draw a large crowd and keep their attention.  I vow as the pastor of The Crossing I will do anything short of sin to draw a crowd and present Christ.  I am committed to offending Christians to reach seeking people.  I will do whatever it takes to see our crowds increase so that I can tell them about my Savior.   

Now check out all the references to numbers in the Gospels and the book of Acts:
Matthew 14:21  The number of those who ate was about five thousand men
Matthew 15:38-39  The number of those who ate was four thousand
Mark 6:44  The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
Mark 8:9  About four thousand men were present
Luke 9:14  (About five thousand men were there.)
John 6:10-11 the men sat down, about five thousand of them.
Acts 2:41 three thousand were added to their number that day.
Acts 2:47  the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 4:4  the number of men grew to about five thousand.
Acts 5:14  more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.
Acts 6:1  In those days when the number of disciples was increasing,
Acts 6:7  The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly
Acts 11:21  a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
Acts 11:24  and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
Acts 14:1-2  here they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.
Acts 14:21  They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples.
Acts 17:4  as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.

Why all the numbers talk in the Gospels and the book of Acts?
BECAUSE SOMEONE COUNTED!! 
See, numbers were a big deal to Jesus and his disciples.  THEY COUNTED who came and who chose to follow Jesus! 

And why did they count?
Because EVERY NUMBER REPRESENTS A LIFE! 
Every number represents a soul that is being influenced for the kingdom of heaven. 

So, yes, numbers are a big flipping deal.
Would it somehow be more spiritual to have less numbers?  Of course not.  Fewer people does not equal greater spirituality it just means LESS INFLUENCE!  The more people, the more influence. 

Someday we will know the number of people in hell. 
Someday when the world ends the reality is the number of people in hell will be totaled; and it is up to you and me (if you love Jesus) to make that number as small as possible. 

Our mission on earth is to depopulate hell.  SO THAT MEANS NUMBERS ARE A BIG FLIPPING DEAL.

So...
WHO HAVE YOU INVITED TO CHURCH THIS WEEK?
Who have you told that God is for them and not against them?
The number of people in hell only goes down if the number of people we influence goes up. 

See you in church this weekend with a friend. 

 

People R Eggs. Leaders must remember this.

Eggs have potential.  Given the right environment, eventually an egg will hatch and become a full grown adult.  In the wrong environment eggs get crushed, damaged or scrambled.

People are like eggs.  In the right environment they will succeed and thrive, but in the wrong environment they will get crushed damaged or scrambled as well.

I have four thoughts on leadership that come from this concept.  (Though I am warning you this a work in progress, and I might change these over the course of time.)

1.  It is a leader's job to look for eggs; not mature adults. 
Basically, it is a leader's job to find people with potential--not just search for a dream team.
Too many leaders want dream team people to just come work with them rather than raising up average people of potential to work alongside them.

Many times organizations never grow because we are waiting for the perfect people.  I don't want perfect people; I want willing people with potential. 

I don't have time to wait for a dream team.  I have a mission to accomplish.  I spend my days looking for eggs; people with tons of potential who just need to be cared for and taught how to fly.  I would rather have 5 eggs that listen and learn how to fly than 5 dream team guys that think they know better. 

Every one of our staff members (including me) was an egg that some leader took pity on and trained to fly.  If it were not for Dave Reno at Grace Fellowship Church and Ed Young at Fellowship Church and Rick Warren at Saddleback Church, I would still be an egg.  These guys taught me I had potential and that I could fly, and I learned a ton from them. 

That is what good leaders do.  They do the hard work of looking for eggs not perfect dream team people. 

2.  It is a leader's job to train their eggs to hatch and fly. 
Leadership is not giving someone a job and then hoping they succeed.  Leadership is training people of potential to succeed. 

Too many people in leadership hand their followers a task and hope they get it accomplished rather than doing the hard work of teaching them how to do the task so they succeed and thrive.

It is a leader's job to train his people to fly.  If he doesn't train them he will get scrambled eggs.  

3.   It is a leader's job not to allow people to remain eggs. 
We have churches all across America where people spend their lives as eggs and they never hatch or fly.  They have all this potential and all these gifts, but instead of using them they just sit on their butts and get coddled and do nothing!! 

That is not leadership. 
Leaders refuse to allow people with potential (and all people have potential) to just sit there and remain eggs.

Leadership means encouraging, pushing, many times even forcing people to get off their butts and fly.  Sometimes I have had to crack some eggs to get them to thrive, but it is worth it. 

Leaders that are unwilling to push people to fly are not leaders; they are overprotective control freaks who like to keep people naive and immature so they can continue to control and lead.

Real leaders understand it is not ok for people to remain eggs.  We all have potential and we all need to live up to it.   
 
4.  If an egg won't follow leadership -  it is rotten.  Throw it out. 
Some people just refuse to grow, no matter what you do or don't do.  These type of people are rotten.  ("By their fruit you will know them." Matthew 7:16) 

These guys are bad eggs, and they will stink up the place.
They need to be sat down and told very directly, "to get the Hell out of them and grow up and change or get the Hell out of this church.  But you can't stay a egg."   

That is the bottom line.  Sometimes the only way to really deal with someone who refuses to grow and change and be used of God is to kick them out.  Now I know that sounds harsh but it is a leader's job to make the hard calls like that.  We can't let bad eggs stay around.  They will stink up the place and keep the entire church from reaching its potential. 

People are eggs.   
-  We look for potential; not dream teams.
-  We train; we don't just let people wing it.
-  We refuse to allow people to remain eggs.
-  We throw out bad eggs so they don't stink up the place and keep us from our potential. 

That is egg leadership. 

Hotel California Churches

You all know the Eagles' tune "Hotel California".  (It's one of my all time favorite songs.)  There is a line that goes like this:  "you can check in any time you like, but you can never leave." 

Some people believe that is how a church should be.  Once you attend a church, you should never leave. 

But I have to tell you:  THAT IS REALLY CREEPY! 

The song "Hotel California" was a song about a creepy, evil hotel that you could never check out from.  Churches that want people to come but never leave are creepy, evil, and weird as well. Churches should never be so insecure that they manipulate or beg people to stay at their church.  That is weird and shows a lack of emotional maturity. 

People should leave your church regularly.  At The Crossing, we consistently encourage people who can't get on board with the mission and vision of The Crossing, to go some where else and serve Jesus. 

Church people who think that the church of Jesus should be like the Hotel California, have an incorrect view of leadership and of the church.

Leadership:
If a church has a vision and is actively pursuing that vision, people will leave.  Vision makes people choose to get on board or get off the bus. If people aren't leaving your church, you aren't leading. 

The Church:
The church is the body of Christ. 
Tell me how healthy a body is that doesn't have a properly working back door?  Not very healthy!  If your body's back door isn't working you are going to be in pain, quick!!  You need to take some Ex-Lax or eat some fiber or something, but you want your back door working.  Otherwise, you're messed up internally.

The same is true for Christ's body, the church.  if you back door isn't working, people who don't get your vision will stay and stink up the place.  And the end result is an unhealthy church that doesn't reach anybody.   

Crossing people:  I want you to know that if you don't agree with the mission and vision, there are plenty of other great churches in the area you can commit to and serve at.  We will never be the Hotel California of churches. 

We respect ourselves enough not to be bothered by people coming and going; and we respect you enough to let you make a choice. 

You can check in anytime you like, and you can always leave. 

 

The Best Quotes and Learning from the Exponential Church Conference

As Kelly mentioned in the last post, Chris (our new Zimmerman campus pastor), Dave (our media arts pastor), Eric (the pastor of the new church we just planted in Uptown called the Exchange) and I were in Florida at the Exponential Church Conference this week, learning from some of the best church minds in the world. 

This conference is mainly for church planters.  (There were thousands of new churches represented at this gathering.) and for those of you that are interested I wanted to share with you some of my favorite quotes, pieces of information and things that God spoke to me about during this 4 day gathering. 

Erwin McManus:

The most self centered narcissistic statement of faith ever is:  "Jesus died so that I could go to heaven and I could have a good life."

NO!  JESUS died a heroic self-sacrificial death so that we would live heroic self-sacrificial lives for the good of all humanity.

Alan Hirsch:

The church does not have a mission; the mission has a church. 

• God is a missionary God, and He is on a mission to heroically save the world. 
• It is our job to join Him on this mission and see what God is already doing in people's lives.  He is already on the move!  God has a mission and that mission has a church.  Will you join him?  

• The Church has mostly become a riskless, safe compound, apart from danger. 
• The church needs to be a place where we experience great risk and trauma together in order to accomplish great things. 

• Therefore the primary task of church leaders is to disturb people's equilibrium.  Force them to face out and go to war together to change the world.   

Craig Groeshel:

There are 3 lines of commitment to Christ:

• Line # 1:  I believe enough for my own benefit

• Line # 2:  I believe enough to contribute comfortably

• Line # 3:  I believe enough to give my life to it.

Most American church people live at line one and line two, but is that real faith? 

Everywhere in Scripture Jesus talks about faith He talks about 3^rd line faith and He has no patience for first or second line faith.

Our goal as a church is to push people to cross the third line and give their entire life to Christ. 

You can be a blue ocean church or a red ocean church.

Red ocean churches: 

The place where the ocean is red is where the fish are swarming to feed on the fresh meat.

Red ocean churches are all together feeding on the same fresh meat.  They all look alike.  They compete over the same people with the same things that every other church in town is doing.  Soccer mom worship, comtemporary services, and safe, predicatable talks that don't disturb anyone.    

Blue ocean churches: 

Go where no one else will go, and do what no one else is doing, to reach people no one else is reaching.

Their services point people to Jesus, thier worship is unique and powerful, their talks are direct, pointed, and not sugar-coated.

• Revolutionaries break all the rules to accomplish great things.

• We will do anything short of sin to depopulate hell (even make mistakes and fail).  

2 Final Truths:

-  We almost always overestimate what God wants to do with us in the short run.

-  We always undersestimate what God wants to do with us in the long run.

 

OK now I gotta go write my talk for this weekend.  See you tomorrow!

   

Taking Risks and Learning From Our Mistakes.

As a leader I absolutely believe we must take huge risks to reach people.  We must be willing to do things that no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.  I believe that with all my heart.

However, sometimes because we aren't perfect we make mistakes in our attempts to reach people and we take it too far.  Sometimes what seems like a great idea at the time to reach people far from God, ends up not being such a great idea. 

For example: 
This past week I authorized some of the guys at church to make a video of me and some of the more risque' things I have said in a worship service.  I had them put them all together in one big long clip, all completely out of context, and when run together it was really, really funny.

If you were in the services where I said that stuff it will really make you laugh, and you know what my point was in context.  We then released this video on You Tube in hopes of some viral publicity.  It worked perfectly.  Within two days, hundreds of people had watched it and were talking about it all over the net.   

I even know of a few people who don't know Christ that are coming for the first time on Easter weekend because of this video. 

On the other hand, some people that I know and respect saw this video and it deeply offended them.  One guy who I really respect called me and said that out of context that video made me as a pastor look foolish and made our church look less than respectable.  Ouch!  I am still wincing.   

After listening to what he had to say, and watching the video again, I agreed with him.  I looked insane, and if this was someone's first exposure to our church it might actually scare them away from
The Crossing rather than encourage them to attend. 

So after a quick discussion with our key staff members and a prayer, we pulled the video. 

Our goal with everything we do is to make Jesus look good, and point someone to Him, and with this video, in hindsight, maybe we muddied the waters.  

I am writing about this today, because I want everyone to know that I own all the responsibility for every mistake our church makes, and I try to learn from them.   When I feel like a critic has some validity to their statements, I listen, own up to my junk and change.

On the other hand, I also want our church to know, I will continue to take big risks all the time, and I guarantee in the future if you are around our church long enough I will do something that will offend you, frustrate you, or embarrass you, in my attempt to reach people. 

It is just part of the nature of taking risks to de-populate hell.  We try things, we are unapologetic about trying things, and sometimes what feels like a good idea at the time turns out to be not as good as we thought.   

But that won't keep us from taking huge risks.  Because we must be willing to do things that no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching. 

The Value of Strategically Ignoring Some Ideas

I am sure I won't say this as well as I would like, but here goes anyway.  I read Mark 9 yesterday for part of my time with God.  It is the story of Jesus going up on the mountain with Peter James and John and being transformed in all his glory.  Really interesting story. 

But 2 verses struck me that I had never really noticed before. 
Mark 9:5-6  5 Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters-one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

Here is what is going on:

• Peter out of fear, and not understanding this awesome event, told Jesus that they should build shelters for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses. 
• Peter just didn't get it, and in his lack of understanding, he tried to get Jesus off mission with  irrelevant, waste-of-time ideas. 

And I love Jesus' response ---  He ignores him.  He doesn't rebuke him, agree with him, or even discuss it with him.  He just strategically ignores him.  It isn't even worth his time to engage the idea.   
Hear this really clearly:
That is exactly how leaders many times need to deal with people who don't get the mission of a church but have ideas of their own for the church.  Leaders must strategically ignore these people.  If they don't ignore them and they listen, they will be pulled off mission; and a church will no longer be effective.    

Now don't get me wrong, these people are not bad, they have good hearts and good intentions  (like Peter did) but they just don't understand the mission, and so they offer up ideas that actually hurt our chances of success rather than help us.  These ideas must be strategically ignored.  If we engage them or try to please the people who suggest them, we will drift off mission and into people pleasing. 

OUR MISSION IS TOO IMPORTANT TO WASTE TIME ON IDEAS THAT ARE IRRELEVANT! 
Our goal is to make Elk River the hardest place on earth to go to hell from.  Every idea must be filtered through that criteria 

Let me give you some examples:
People come to the staff all the time who love our church and tell us we should do parenting seminars, or Awana, or vacation Bible school, or home schooling or prayer meetings or this ministry or that ministry.  And these are all very good, wonderful ideas from well-intentioned people that are wonderful for other churches.  But they are not right for us, and they pull us off mission. 

Our focus at the Crossing is always the weekend!!  (It is about the weekend, stupid!)  That is all we do.  It is our mission to put on an amazing, God-honoring worship experience every weekend that will thrill believers and and move seekers to Jesus.  That is always our priority. 

We only have so much time and so much energy, and many times doing all those good wonderful extra activities takes us away from our primary task.  So we say no to them, because we need to stay on mission.  And when people come to us try to add to our mission with other good things, they should be strategically ignored.

Good ideas are often the enemy of great accomplishments.  Our church can not do everything, but we can do a few things exceptionally well. 

Ignore the good intentioned ideas of some people so you can stay on mission and be about what Jesus has called you to do.          

7 Non - Negotiables Of Leadership from Perry Noble

Pastor Perry Noble just published a list of the top seven qualities of a spiritual leader and I thought they were fantastic, so they are posted below.  Enjoy.

#1 - Passion
I'm not talking about false excitement over an event that you would not attend if you were not on the payroll at the church!

But rather raw, unfiltered, emotional and unapologetic passion...a white hot fire inside that consumes, controls and configures us into who Jesus has called us to be and what He's called us to do!

Be warned-passionate people make for easy targets because no one has to guess what they stand for! However, passion, if handled correctly, can be one of the best friends a leader can have.

#2 - A Desire to Please God
One of the first verses I ever memorized was Galatians 1:10. I remember reading it and feeling like it literally jumped off the page...and something inside of me kept screaming, "You are going to need this verse for yourself if you are going to be truly successful in ministry."

A true leader in church would understand that God is our Leader...and in a passionate pursuit to please Him you and I will often disappoint people.

We can't please committee's and Christ-a choice must be made.

#3 - Wisdom
James 1:5 has been a verse that I have also had to cling to as a leader! What a promise!

God has called us to wisdom...so...as leaders I feel that we need to be doing as much as possible to learn...that means going to conferences, reading books...and not being afraid to meet with and learn from people who "aren't like us!"

What are you personally doing right now to grow and develop yourself as a leader? To add to your wisdom?

I am in the process of connecting with other church leaders...in the past several weeks I've been involved in numerous learning environments with people who know SO MUCH MORE than me...and God has used each experience to shape me in an awesome way.

If all we tell our people is what we know...and we lead out of our limited knowledge, never seeking wisdom from others or God-then we will raise up some very shallow people.

#4 - Courage
I don't think the tag "leader" should be put on anyone who hasn't had to make tough decisions on a consistent basis.

I once heard Andy Stanley say that a leader isn't necessarily the first person to see an opportunity, but rather the first person to act on what they see.

So true! There are lots and lots of people who see what is wrong with the world, church, etc...however, very few are actually willing to do anything about it.

Leaders step up and make the hard calls...even when it's unpopular.

On a side note-courage is NOT the absence of fear! There have been so many situations in my leadership journey here at NewSpring that have just about caused me to pee my pants!

However, courage is KNOWING what God has called you to...and then DOING it...not knowing the outcome...but KNOWING who is in control of the outcome!

#5 - Humility
This is a tough one because...well...one cannot actually brag that they are humble!

Too many times in the past I know that this was a quality that was NOT in me! I wanted the credit for all of "my ideas!" If something went right and I was involved-I wanted people to know about it. If an element of service programming went well and it was my idea...I took the credit.

And then one day I had a conversation with John Maxwell that ROCKED MY WORLD...he said to me,

"Perry, you are where you are for two reasons. The first is the favor of God. The second is the giftedness of God. And Perry, please understand that God didn't owe you either of these. You are where you are because of Him!"

DANG! When it comes right down to it...I don't have good ideas-God gives them to me. I don't have the ability to think or act...OR LEAD...unless HE leads me!

John 15:5 is SO true...and I have no right to boast in anything that I feel like I accomplish!

If a leader doesn't care who gets the credit...but is obsessed with God getting the glory-awesome things can happen!

#6 - Honesty
One of the things the corporate world has seen lately is a lack of integrity...and the lie that "this is my life and how I live it doesn't really impact anyone else" has been exposed over and over and over again!

As leaders-we've got to be honest with...

* OURSELVES - how are you doing? Really? Can you keep up the pace you have right now? What changes need to be made?
* OTHERS - is everyone around you doing a good job? Is there a tough conversation that needs to be had-but you won't because you are afraid of the outcome?
* GOD - Is life and ministry REALLY "all about Him?"

#7 - Simplicity
I once heard Ed Young say, "If you want to impress me as a leader-don't tell me what you're doing, tell me what you're NOT doing!"

DANG!

I think a leader who is worth his (or her) salt will admit that they are not good at everything...and as a result they will stop trying to be.

Reality is that everyone of us only do a few things well...and our leadership will be maximized when we focus on what God has gifted us and called us to be rather than what everyone else in the church expects us to be!

I can't do everything...but I can do something...and the something that I can do...I will do!!!

What is on your plate that you KNOW you aren't good at? You hate it? Go ahead and admit it because everyone around you already knows it and are probably praying that you will stop it anyway!

54 New "What If's" for 2009. A WHOLE NUTHA LEVEL

Can I just say the Crossing has a great, great staff?  We have some of the smartest, hard-working passionate, focused people on the planet working at this church. 

Yesterday our whole team met from 9 - 3 and came up with a huge new "What if" list for The Crossing--and everyone there was brilliant. 

For those of you that don't know what a "what if list" is, here is the low down:
Many times organizations/ churches don't grow or develop because no one ever says, "What if we did..."  We are too busy maintaining the status quo to try anything new or change for the better. 

So 2 -3 times per year our staff gets together and says WHAT IF...  And our goal is to change and grow and make the Crossing better. 

Then after we create a huge list, we go through each item one by one and discuss them.  We throw out the ones that are lousy, and then we prioritize the rest of the list and assign a staff person to champion each item and a deadline to get it done. 

Then we run off in lots of new directions and make it all happen as best we can. 

Yesterday our team met, and first we looked at last February's list.  HOLY COW!!  Almost everything on the list has been accomplished.  Our church is so much different because of last years list.  Then we came up with a new "what if" list for the Crossing.  We ended up with 54 new changes!!   

That is so cool!  This church is going to change AGAIN for the better in some awesome ways this year as well.

Remember, the church is a body.  You are either growing or dying all the time.  There is never a time when you are just neutral--hanging out.  If you are just maintaining the status quo, you are waiting to die. 

So once again we're going to a WHOLE NUTHA LEVEL.

Just a thought:
What if...  You created a what if list for yourself and then did the things on your list as well?  You would not be the same by the end of 2009.  Just a thought.  What if's lead to a whole nutha level.