Hiring and Firing OR Keeping Crazy, Donkey and Dufus Off of Your Team

When you first start, it’s just you. But eventuallyy, you need a team.

1. Turnover is bad for business.
Proper hiring creates a good team, and a good team lowers turnover. You are trying to get thoroughbreds in the stable. You want rockstars in the company. A good team lowers turnover. Turnover is expensive in lost productivity and in morale within the team. When the good people leave, everybody wonders, “What is wrong?”

We began measuring two types of exits: life change (had a baby, move, etc) or turnover. We source the reason for the exit.

Team members leave or are let go most often because they should never have been hired in the first place. Do a better job hiring. Take more time when filling positions. Most people are doing the business and are inconvenienced by interviewing people. We get in a hurry and hire the wrong people.

Every single person is in marketing. They affect our reputation. Even the leaf blower is in marketing. It takes 60-90 days and 9 interviews to get hire by the Dave Ramsey organization. We don’t want crazy, donkey or dufus in our organization. A proper hire performs better, is less likely to cause problems, and will be more likely to stay.

2. Components to a good hire.
When posting a position, give enough information for candidates to rule you out without wasting your time. Word your posting in such a way as to attract the personality and character traits you want.

The EntreLeader’s 12 steps to a proper hire:

• Pray. “God, please send the person you want. Keep your crazy children away.”
• Advertise and get referrals. Good people run with good people.
• 30-minute interview. The first one should be a drive by. It should be quickly. Listen 20 minutes and talk 10.
• Resume and references. Useless. Resume will give you background and education.
• Personality test. Run the DISC. Not a deal maker or breaker. Puts people in 4 different styles. It’s got to fit the job. It has to fit the team. You look at the strengths and weaknesses of the chemistry. Kindness requires clarity. You have to see how this person will fit with the leader.
• Do you like them? Talent is not enough. Interpersonal skills trump talent every single time.
• Do they light up when they talk about the position? You want somebody that light’s up!
• Personal budget and mission statement. Can they pay their bills on what you pay? I love my people. It is my job to serve them by making sure they can pay their bills on what they make.
• Compensation calculations, benefits and policy review.
• Key Results Area (KRA). Have a job descriptions. Write down 3 things that describe what winning looks like. Give details about that. If they are not winning, then they know they are not staying around.
• Spousal Interview. Go to dinner with the spouses. Wives tend to have a crazy antenna. Try to find crazy and avoid it.
• 90-day probation for the company and the person. You don’t want to keep people that don’t fit. You won’t know until they get there.

The EntreLeader is looking for a team member with a combination of opportunistic motivation and philosophical motivation. They see the train is going somewhere and they see they higher calling. (Where there is no margin there is no ministry.) Never sell a J-O-B. You don’t want people that just collect checks. Always have an opportunities available; sell “work that matters.” Set short initial interviews that are no longer than 30 minutes. If the candidate is preoccupied by benefits and compensation, you will never be able to do enough to keep them happy.

3. When team members fail.
Team members eventually have to perform or they have to leave. We pour into people. Our policy is to treat people how we want to be treated. This answers a lot of questions. When I address things, I am kind, but I am very clear. I do not sugar coat things.

Start by identifying the root cause: leadership failure, personal problem, incompetence.

4. When the failure is caused by leadership.
Good news: Leadership failure is a variable that’s easily fixed. The problem is YOU - fix it.
- Do they know their job? Write down what the person needs to be doing. KRA.
- Did you hire someone who didn’t fit the position?
- Were their KRA’s clear?
- Were you there to train?
- Were they given the tools to win?
- Were conflicts left unresolved? Some people shut down when there is drama.

5.When the failure is caused by a personal problem:
People matter. Do unto others.

The first action step is to quantify the extent of the personal problem. It may be a small problem. It may be a big problem. You have the power to do the right thing. The reason why a lot of employees aren’t loyal to companies is because companies are not loyal to their employees. If you treat you team like family they will act like family. Do you need to pay for them to get some professional help?

Incremental progress on the problem must be seen so an expectation of future performance be there. Otherwise, they have to work somewhere else.

6. When the failure is caused by incompetence:
Make all errors here on the side of giving too much grace, which is what you want. Sanctioned incompetence demoralizes. The Entreleader must take action to correct the problem.
Repairable incompetence is caused by lack of skills. We can help fix that. There can be behavior modification, training, and mentoring.
Non-repairable incompetence includes moral failure, lack of integrity and laziness.

7. The root cause is determined…now what?
If the business already has debt, develop a three-to-five-year strategy to eliminate it by allocating a percentage of monthly profits to debt reduction.
When an EntreLeader operates his business using these financial principles, it greatly insulates them from risk and increases the probability of success.

The EntreLeader allocates a percentage of profits to:
- Debt reduction (if you have debt)
- Retained earnings for emergencies or opportunities

Tags: dave ramsey, leadership, hiring and firing

Bulletproof Principles for Money, Debt and Funding Your Future

In this session Dave applied FPU principles to the business. They are solid, great reminders. Here are some of the principles:

1. Do the Accounting.
Be diligent to know the state of your flocks and herds. People that don’t do accounting and can’t figure out why they can’t win are going to fail.

The EntreLeader has separate checking accounts for personal and business and never uses the wrong one.

You have to separate your business from your personal.

At least 25% of monthly net profit should be set aside in a separate tax savings account to cover the cash needed for quarterly estimates to the IRS. Book keeping leads to cash flow problems and they get behind with the IRS. That is the #1 problem for failure in small business.

2. Budgeting.
The EntreLeader knows that, to win in business, you must plan money on paper, on purpose, before the month begins; it’s called a budget. You have to project ahead of time.

Don’t build a tower without first coating the cost.

3. Act Your Wage.
Rationalizing the purchase of expensive luxuries in the name of “business” is a common mistake of small business owners.

The EntreLeader never uses his/her business as a rationalization to buy something not needed to make a profit.
EntreLeaders don’t fall for the tax deduction myth of purchasing something that is not needed purely for the tax write-off.
The borrower is always slave to the lender. Even in business! Cash flow problems are created when you lease everything and finance everything.
Borrowed money drastically increases risk. Borrowed money also magnifies our mistakes. We are going to mess up. Borrowed money hurts or even destroys cash flow.

4. Mythology.
Myth: Borrowed money is needed to start or expand a business.
Truth: Starting or expanding more gradually and with cash lowers risk and minimizes mistakes. When you trip and fall, you won’t break your neck.

Myth: A line of credit is need to cover cash flow fluctuations. Plan for it! Predict it and prepare for it!
Truth: Cash flow fluctuations can be predicted with good forecasting and budgeting. Plus, having cash saved in the business causes the EntreLeader to cover their own needs.

Myth: A credit card is needed for online/phone purchases and for travel.
Truth: A debit card will do everything a credit card will do, except create 18% debt.

Myth: A credit card will help me keep my expenses categorized.
Truth: A EntreLeader uses an accounting system, so a debit card does the same thing.

Myth: Large equipment or real estate purchases require a business to use debt. (A lot of businesses run debt free and grow at the speed of cash.))
Truth: The EntreLeader does four things to avoid risk and mistakes on large purchases:

• Pays cash.
• Rents. (What’s my back-hoe? What’s the thing I think I HAVE to buy, but could really live without? You are not in the back-hoe business. What business are you in?)
• Outsource. (There’s a guy with a back-hoe that will work for cheap.
• Often buys used. (Buy a used back-hoe.)

5. Savings Make the World Go ‘Round
Wise people save money.
Having cash saved is vital for the EntreLeader to survive and prosper. Saving in business is called retained earnings. (Emergencies, opportunities, etc.) It is really hard to stay out of debt in business and it’s really hard to save money. This helps you be prepared for cash-flow fluctuation.

Retained earnings can be used for:

• Emergencies
• Invest back into the business
• Capitalizing on Opportunities

A good rule of thumb is to retain 50% of your annual expenses in a money market type account.
Each month, a percentage of profits should be set aside for growing retained earnings consistently as business grows.

6. Be Generous
Be generous is the hallmark of people who live successful lives and who operate businesses with soul.
Be generous with your products and services to the community and to your team.
The does not specifically say to give or tithe on business income.
However, the Bible does say to tight and give from personal income, which includes profits from business.
The tax implications are the same, and there is more privacy and anonymity when giving the majority of cash gifts from personal funds.

7. Applying the Principles
If the business already has debt, develop a three-to-five-year strategy to eliminate it by allocating a percentage of monthly profits to debt reduction.
When an EntreLeader operates his business using these financial principles, it greatly insulates them from risk and increases the probability of success.

The EntreLeader allocates a percentage of profits to:
- Debt reduction (if you have debt)
- Retained earnings for emergencies or opportunities

Tags: dave ramsey, leadership

Living Your Dreams, Visions, Mission Statements and Goals

This session was taught by another member of Dave’s teaching team, Chris Hogan. Chris did a great job. You can read more about Chris by clicking here. You can also visit his site here: http://www.chrishogan360.com/

People often check out. Goals have to be one of things we are doing. You have to set them and aim for them.

Illustration: As a freshman football player, I had to set goals for the year. By verbalizing and putting my goals out there, I had put myself on the line.

In business, I have done the same thing. We have to focus on setting real goals and find someone we can verbalize them to. Put it down on paper and tell somebody so that you have accountability.

Goals are a lot like skeet shooting. Its about airing ahead of where you want to go and fire in that direction.

Start with a Dream, End With a Goal

Dreams

”Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or idea.” -- Earl Nightingale
The success we have is moving toward the goal that we set. We have a level we want to attain. We have to focus on that. Too often we want to get the goal, but forget there are steps to get there. It doesn’t happen overnight. Give yourself a break.
Have a realistic goal and ease off of yourself. You may be the only person that believes in yourself.

Dreams are wishes that seldom happen. They are just in your head.

Life does not hand you your dreams; you have to make them happen. At the end of day, you have to make it happen! If you don’t really want it to happen, do say it!
Dreams are essential to winning, but they must come out of the clouds and be more tangible and touchable. You have to have the mindset that your product is necessary.

Vision

A more tangible, touchable dream is a vision.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” -- Proverbs 29:18
People have to be able to know what direction we are going. They have to be lead. They need us to share our heart and soul with the people on our team. We have to be vulnerable. We need people with the head, heart and habits of winning on our team.

Mission Statements

A mission statement is like an out-of-bounds marker. It defines what you are not. We have to have focus.
A great mission statement keeps you track. Send out your mission statement and ask them, “Does this describe me?”

Career Coach Dan Miller says a mission statement should include:

• You or your company’s skills and abilities.
• You or your company’s personality traits.
• You or your company’s values, dreams and passions.

Passion is a key ingredient that can overcome other weaknesses. Don’t forget why you started. Fish for the positive reasons.

Goals

Mission statements that are ready to go to work is call a goal.
For your goals to have a long-term positive impact, they must include: Career, Financial, Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Family, Social, Career. You have to be making progress in each of these areas. If not, you will be unbalanced.

Goals are bite-sized vision. If you are going to accomplish the vision, you need to break it down into bite-sized goals to achieve it.
Goals convert vision into energy. At the end of the day, we have to pull the trigger on something. Get it done.

Goals that work must:

• Be specific.
• Be measurable. Am I making progress? Am I on target? If not, you have to change something. Put a date and a month on it. Calendar books read, money saved, etc.
• Have a time limit. No escape clauses. We need a year of change.
• Be yours. You have to have person buy in.
• Be in writing.

Break everything down into small parts and time frames.
Don’t ask your team to set goals when you have none.

Leading with Goals

For your team to have goals, you must have goals. Don’t go back to doing the same old thing without goals.
Shared goals on a team create communication and unity. You have to spend time together. Unity doesn’t mean sameness. It means we are driving in a direction. You don’t have to like everybody. You have to get along.
Goals on a team are shared when the team develops the goals together. What can we do together this quarter? This year? Get individual buy in.
Individual team members can’t have goals dictated to them; instead, help the team develop their goals.
Management by objective is when team members set individual and team goals within general guidelines.
General guidelines should include several micro-goals that create the result that everyone agrees is needed.
We can spend time doing ridiculous things to avoid facing the things outside of our comfort zone.
Let’s not seek comfort, let’s seek being effective.
They are your goals, but to be walking closely with God, you should be in on His plan. he knows your future and what is best for you.

Establishing Priorities

We can spend time doing ridiculous thing to avoid facing the things outside of our comfort zone.

1. Quadrant of Necessity. (Important/Urgent)
2. Quadrant of Leadership. (Important/Not Urgent)
3. Quadrant of Deception. (Not Important/Urgent)
4. Quadrant of Default/Waste. (Not Important/Not Urgent)

This area can be deceptive, but its important.

Tags: dave ramsey, leadership, chris hogan

This session really served as an introduction to the day. Dave did a great job explaining that his faith shapes how he does business. Here are a few of the thoughts from this session:

How it all started: There were about 10 people reporting to Dave and he couldn’t get anything done. He began to realize that he needed to train people

It is important for people to be able to complete your sentences.

It must be predictable, duplicatable and scalable.

LEADER

What makes a great leader? (Crow-sourced answers.)

• Integrity
• Vision
• Inspiring
• Decisive
• Passion
• Servant
• Charismatic
• Fearless
• Educator
• Mentor
• Challenging
• Organized
• Role-Model
• Knowledge
• Humble

This better be you! This is not a game! You have to be this! If not, get out of the way!

If you want to hire somebody to be a leader, they better have a lot of these.

You need to have these qualities. Serving does not mean subservient. You serve people by doing the right thing.

We have to work on these qualities when “nobody is looking.” In the dark, who are you? Who are you really?

You can’t read a textbook and read the theories and magically become a leader.

The way you know you are leading is when people are following. You are driving them like cattle. You are not herding cats. Anybody can be a boss.

ENTREPRENEUR

One Word Character Qualities (Crowd-sourced answers.)

• Creative
• Risk-taker
• Determined
• Courageous
• Energetic
• Followthrough
• Persevere
• Open-minded
• Motivated
• Giver
• Forethought
• Focused
• Resourceful
• Driver

This is what you are looking for. Do hire too many of them. It’s like trying to nail jello to a tree. It’s like herding cats. These people are not “yes” people. You have to have people like this or else you have all “yes” people. So you need a balance.

DEFINITIONS

Leader: A person who rules, guilds or inspires others.

Entrepreneur: A person who organizes, operates and assumes risk for a venture.

EntreLeadership: The process of leading the cause a venture to grow and prosper.

This is the kind of person I was trying to duplicate inside of my organization. I wanted someone who served, but served passionately. I wanted a maverick who had integrity. I wanted a risk-taker who was not a gambler:

• Passionately serving
• Mavericks who have integrity
• Disciplined risk-takers
• Courageous while humble
• Motivated visionaries
• Driven while loyal
• Influential learners

Words have the power to change beliefs.

LEADERSHIP BASICS

Organizations are never limited by their opportunity; they are limited by their leader. This economy has shown we have a leadership issue. There are people starting businesses and prospering. It rises and falls on leadership. It’s how you look at things.

(Clip from Braveheart) “Men don’t follow title, they follow courage.”

If you will just lead, step out there, you will look up and be amazed by the warrior poets that decide to walk with you. There is a mindset shift that has to happen.

Your workforces problem is their leader. You hired them. You trained them. You are the leader.

An employee is someone who shows up late and leaves early and steals while they are there.

I didn’t want employees, I wanted team members. They really are part of the team. I may be the QB but I need somebody to guard my blind side. You have to understand that your organization will never outgrow you!

Your education, character, capacity, ability and vision are limiting your organization. The good news is these are all growable!

We are all vessels. We have these things inside of us that we need to get out of us and then grow our capacity.

John Maxwell calls this “The Leadership Lid.” The lid is me. We have to take that lid off and raise it.

Video clip from Benjamin Zander: “My job, to awaken possibility in other people. How do you know? Look at their eyes? If their eyes are shining, then you known you are. If they are not, ask ‘Who am I being that their eyes are not shining?’

Success is about how many shining eyes I have around me.’

Leading by fear and/or anger is not leading. Your message should pull your team together, not apart.

The Bible says the anointing drops from the beard. Our natural strengths and weaknesses will run through the organization.

The quirky brilliance of the founder can take you only so far. When you step out of the room, the organization drops. That’s not scalable or duplicatable. It will only take you so far.

You must have power but rarely use it. Position power does not make you a leader, simply a boss. A lot of people have only been bosses and never been led.

Persuasional leadership is much more effective than positional in the long run. It takes more time. To be a true leader, you must have a servant mentality. To be a true leader, you must have a servant mentality.

PASSION

You cannot lead without passion. This not necessarily high “I” or high “D”. It’s the EntreLeader’s job to insert passion into the organization.

Hire passion over education and talent every time.

Tags: dave ramsey, leadership

Louie Giglio spoke at the final session on Thursday morning.

The Talk

• We started the week with Luke 7:16-17 from the Message interpretation.
• They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful—and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, “God is back, looking to the needs of his people!” The news of Jesus spread all through the country.
• I think that has come true this week! That has come to pass!
• “The news of Jesus spread all through the country.”
• How Great is our God was trending #1 around the world on Twitter on Monday night. You were talking to the whole world! You had a chance to talk to the whole world! It might have just been a few characters, but you were saying it to the world.
• My prayer is that the one thing that trends because of these days is Jesus. He becomes the name that spreads throughout the country as a result of these days.
• Ephesians 6:19-20. There are two huge prayers in Ephesians. Paul asks for prayers. His hands are in chains as he’s writing. He’s a prisoner for the gospel. He has been arrested for his faith. With a chained arm he says, “Pray for me.” He doesn’t ask to be released. He prays that he would receive words from God so that he could adequately speak of the holy mystery of which he is a holy ambassador. He asked that he would speak fearlessly.
• “and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel…”
• That’s what I want to move up to the top of our prayer list. So that the name of Jesus was spread throughout the whole country and the nations of the world.

• I’m not against education. But you are in system that sets you up for a “not-yet-there” status. You are always looking forward to the next phase/stage. Everybody is asking, “What are you going to do? What are you going to be? What are you going to major in?” It sets us up for at not yet realized future opportunity. Like something will happen one day, but not yet. That system drives you along.
• That’s not how Jesus operates. Jesus comes on the scene and he interrupts the funeral in Luke 7. The proclamation of freedom starts the day he interrupts your funeral. That’s the day your mission begins. Not “when…when….when…” Not when you get in High School. Not when you get in College. Not when you get married. Not when you get a job. You mission begins the day Jesus interrupts your funeral! That’s the day you begin proclaiming the power of Jesus. Go and do that with everything you’ve got right now!
• That doesn’t mean that your folder doesn’t unfold. It just means that you don’t have to wait to fully participate in the plans of God. They are right now.
• Do you ask God to put words in your mouth that you will fearlessly make known this thing that is blowing up inside of you?

• There are some hurdles that keep some people from fearlessly proclaiming:

• • Hurdle # 1: Brokenness.
• • You can call it a lot of other names: Adversity. Trials. Hardship. Been through the Grinder. We think, “Look at all the mess. Look at my life.”
• • Louie told a story about being in The Dome several weeks for the conference, reminding him of a touch time in his life.

• • • Louie’s dad created the CFA logo in the 60’s for $75.
• • • When Louie was in The Dome, they had just pained the CFA bowl logo on the field.
• • • In 1995 Louie’s dad became completely disabled.
• • • As the only son, Louie left 10 years of ministry behind in Texas to move home to help take care of his dad. Then in April of that year, his dad died.
• • • Now there’s no ministry and no dad and we’re in no man’s land. We asked, “What happened?”
• • • Within weeks of that moment, God gave a vision for not just a campus but for campus’. The vision was birthed for Passion.
• • • “15 years later I walk into a dome and walk by a logo that my dad created and I’m reminded the sorrow that broke open this moment.”

• • Recap of the panel from Wednesday.

• • • One of the panelist is 22 years old and a coordinator for a region of the world. You don’t have to wait until some future day to serve. You start when God touches you.
• • • The bow of brokenness launches the arrows healing!
• • • Your brokenness doesn’t disqualify you from being used by God to start a party. In the Luke passage, he uses a dead guy.

• • Hurdle # 2: I don’t know what to do.

• • • What you are supposed to do is to pray, “Give me the words to proclaim God.” The goal is not for everyone to sit on the 4 stools on a causal side. Where are you at? Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it for his glory!
• • • Ask, “Give me words to fearlessly proclaim the mysteries of God!”
• • • Pursue your passion and your calling. I don’t care what you do, go and do it in the name of Jesus!
• • • God’s will for your life is right now, wherever you are to fearlessly proclaim the gospel. It’s in real time!

• • • • God wants to use artists, bankers, hospital administrators and even Nascar.

• • • • • Story about Nascar.
• • • • • I was watching Daytona 500, the largest outdoor tank top convention. The winner turned 20 the day before he won. Everybody thought a veteran would win. But the 20 year old won the grandaddy of them all. At the end he said, “I just want to give glory to Jesus.”
• • • • • Some were skeptical and said, “Of course, you give glory to Jesus when you win.”
• • • • • Later, Trevor B. got limes disease and was knocked out of the championship series. He wrote the skeptic and said, “I have limes disease and I love Jesus.”
• • • • • His girlfriend is on her way to India because her passion is to work with women on the streets there.
• • • • • You don’t have to have a hurdle in front of you. What are you good at? Do that. As you do that, move up to your prayer list, “Give me the words to fearlessly proclaim the name of Jesus.”
• • • • • In this room is a 22 year old leading a charge in Europe.
• • • • • In this room is a 20 year old who won the biggest race of the year.
• • • • • What are you waiting on? Are you waiting on the system to tell you it's ok to do something? Are you waiting for the brokenness to go away? Are you waiting for grad school to get over? Are you waiting for some stage?
• • • • • All that has to happen is for your to walk out of here and pray, “God give me the words to say.”
• • • • • Do you know how you get your fear to go away? Your fear of the past? Your fear of unemployment? Your fear of _____? The way you minimize fear is by maximizing one fear: I don’t want to live an insignificant life. “I have chained my heart to the unchainable Jesus. I have joined forces with Jesus. The only thing I’m afraid of is living an insignificant life!”
• • • • • Paul was not afraid of being a prisoner of Rome, he was already a prisoner of Jesus.

• • • Closing Story.

• • • • 5 Years ago, a girl left Passion 2007. She came inwardly focused and left with a heart for the world.
• • • • She signed a lease with a God-hating, partying girl.
• • • • In 14 days, from the 7th of January to the 21st of January, the partying girl went from “oh no” to “So, tonight, on the couch in my living room…I asked Jesus to come and forgive me and give me life. I am now a christian.”
• • • • Why did that happen? Because that girl that left Passion did not allow the hurdle of what their friends think get in the way. You don’t know what they are really thinking. You don’t know that they may just be 14 days from giving their hearts to the Lord.
• • • • Some people just need one person who is fearless!
• • • • “Boldly” doesn’t always mean “Loudly!” Bold is not about volume. It is about confidence.
• • • • If I love you well and walk with you well and tell you about my Jesus and I keep moving up to the top of my prayer list, “Give me the words to say…” I will not give up. It’s not going to be easy. It’s not going to be fun. They crucified Jesus and he hung there.
• • • • What are you waiting on?

About Louie

Louie is the Visionary Architect and Director of the Passion Movement, which includes the collegiate gatherings of Passion Conferences, Atlanta based Passion City Church and EMI CMG label partner sixstepsrecords. Connecting with students across the globe, Louie longs to see a generation living for the fame of Jesus. Louie lives in Atlanta with his wife, Shelley.

Tags: passion 2012, live blog, louie giglio, #passion2012, Thursday

John Piper spoke on the final night of Passion 2012, following Lecrae.

The Talk

• I want God to look great and glorious by the way that I eat and drink. Paul wanted all bodies to make Christ look magnificent. Jesus wanted us to live lives that makes God look glorious.
• Colossians 1:16
• It is clear that God and Jesus intends for your life to bring him glory. He means for whatever you do to make him look great. All human beings are created to put God’s infinite value on display. That is why you exist.
• I want that to happen in your life for all the decades that you are alive.
• Here’s the main point: Seeing and savoring the supremacy of Jesus Christ frees you from the slavery of sin for the sacrifices of love.
• Faith in Jesus Christ frees you from the slavery of sin for the sacrifices of love.
• Seeing and savoring Jesus, being satisfied in all that God is for us in Jesus and trusting Jesus are equivalent realities. These are the same thing in the Bible.
• When you see and savor the supremacy of Jesus, when you are satisfied in Jesus, you make much of Jesus. You treasure Jesus. But that is invisible. Nobody can see your soul, but God. God loves to see that in your soul. But God did not come into this world to be glorified INVISIBLY.
• When you savor Jesus, you outwardly are set free from the slavery of sin, which people can see! The root of your salvation glorifies God privately and the fruit of your salvation glorifies God publicly!

• Step 1: Why are seeing and savoring and being satisfied and trusting equivalent?

• • People still resist saving faith. People still haven’t waved the white flag of surrender to Jesus.
• • What is this saving faith?

• • • John 6:35 - Saving faith is not a decision. It is a soul coming to trust Jesus.
• • • John - Receiving Jesus and believing in Jesus are the same. You receive him for all that he is. He is your savior, you friend, sustainer.
• • • Hebrews 11:6 - Faith is a very child-like, dependent response to glory.

• • This means that coming to faith in Jesus requires a resurrection from the dead. You don’t by nature see and savor God. You are dead. In order to come to him and see him as valuable and precious is a gift. Blind people don’t decide to see. Jesus says, “See!” Then they see. Sickened people don’t decide to savor what is sickening them. That is why some of you are not saved because you cannot decide to save yourself.
• • Conversion is a gift of seeing. You don’t see him as beautiful. So what them happens to freedom?
• • The truth is we are locked down on sin. We inherited our corruption from Adam and Eve.

• • • • Romans 6:17 Paul is thanking God.
• • • • There are only two kinds of people in the world: slaves to sin and slaves to righteousness.
• • • • Freedom is being so in love with Christ that you do whatever you want to do and it accords with his will.
• • • • There will be no struggle in heaven to obey. We will be the freest people in the world.

• Step 2: The supremacy of Jesus Christ. Jesus is supreme over all things. Here are just some of the ways:

• • The supremacy of his knowledge.
• • The supremacy of his wisdom.
• • The supremacy of his authority.
• • The supremacy of his providence.
• • The supremacy of his power.
• • The supremacy of his purity.
• • The supremacy of his justice.
• • The supremacy of his servant obedience.
• • The supremacy of his meekness.
• • The supremacy of his wrath.
• • The supremacy of his faith.
• • The supremacy of his love.
• • The supremacy of his inexhaustible gladness.
• • The supremacy of his severity, invincibility, simplicity, complexity, depth, etc.
• • He is supreme in every adorable way.
• • There is not a square inch on earth Jesus Christ doesn’t say, “Mine!”
• • Oh that God would grant you to see and savor the supremacy of Jesus!

• Step 3: Freeing us from sin. 2 Corinthians 3:18

• • Little hearts give little lusts big power.
• • Big hearts give little lusts little power.
• • The more you fall in love with Jesus, the move you will be progressively freed from the bondage of sin.

• • • You will begin to see sin as the suicide that it is.

• Step 4: To the sacrifices of love.

• • Hebrews 10:4 - Will we now risk our lives for the sake of others?
• • When you are satisfied in Jesus, you make sacrifices now.

• Isaiah 26:8 - You name and your supreme renown our the desire of our soul.

About John

John Piper is Pastor for Preaching and Vision at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN. He has served as pastor at Bethlehem since 1980. John is author of more than 40 books that have been resourcing and challenging the church, along with his teaching for over 30 years. John and his wife, Noel, have four sons, one daughter, and an increasing number of grandchildren. Website: http://www.desiringgod.org/

Tags: passion 2012, live blog, john piper, #passion2012, Wednesday

Francis Chan spoke during the Tuesday evening session of Passion 2012 and focused on taking the word of God literally and seriously. Below are a few of the thoughts from his message. I did my best to capture the essence of his point. What was your reaction? I’d love to hear below.

The Talk

• I want to beg you to read this book (the Bible) for yourself! Go home and read it and ask, “What does it say?” You get so many messages all day long, you need the Word of God. You have to be consumed by the Word. “What would Jesus have done?” Let that be your thinking. Let that be your mind.
• The greatest thing that could happen would be for you to leave here convinced of this book. What is in it really happened.
• People will lie to you, even people who sit in church services. They will tell you what you want to hear and how to become like them. Unless you are in the Bible reading it for yourself, you will not know how to tell who is lying to you.

• • Story about Jehovah Witness conversation.
• • God listens to me, how do you explain this?
• • “I am a human being just like you who read the Bible. I read it, read it, read it!”

• • • When you want to know the truth and come to the Bible with a clean heart, God will speak to you. You don’t have to listen to somebody else.

• How do you know if I tell you the truth? How do you know if any of the other speakers on the platform tell the truth? Do you know the Bible well enough to tell?
• 1 Kings 13:15 and following - This is a crazy story. A prophet was tricked. He was lied to. He had already heard from the Lord. And yet he doesn’t follow through with what God said and a lion eats him.
• There is a deception.
• 1 Kings 22. The king is asking the prophets what God has said. All the prophets say the same thing and he asks if there is anybody else. One guy stands up and tells the truth and says the other 400 are lying.
• Do we have the courage to do that? To stand out and point out the lies? Can you do that?
• The Bible says to examine their doctrine and examine their lives. Does that person remind you of Jesus? Look at what their life is producing.
• 2 Timothy 4:1-4 - Paul charges Timothy to preach the word, even when people turn away to find somebody saying something they want to hear.
• In our day, you can find a book that gives you the OK to live however you want to. You can find some verse and twist it to make it support whatever life you want to live. Why? We fight for whatever we desire.
• (Instead of trying to justify our lives, how about we just believe the Bible?)
• I believe the Bible simply and literally.
• I’m sure there were some people in Noah’s day that thought that there wasn’t going to be any literal flood. They thought, “Well of course, our lives are flooding…”
• We try to beautify everything and make it cute. Like the ark was cute! I doubt your parents painted people drowning when they painted Noah’s ark on your wall when you were a kid! Yet that’s what literally happened.
• (Instead of explaining it away, take it literally.)
• I think about passages like, “When you give a feast invite the poor….” The question is not, “What does that mean in the greek?” I think it means, “When you have a feast invite the poor.” It is plain and clear.
• That is literal. It is not in your heart. It is literal.
• Illustration: We took this literally and planned to do this. I got giddy. I began to think, “God, is this the way you feel about me?” That’s what God does. He just shows his grace. He get’s giddy, excited about inviting us to the feast.
• Here’s the word of God. Let’s just do what it says.
• Do you take the Word of God literally?
• Do you believe God commanded you to go and make disciples? Do you think, “I’m going to go and make disciples?”
• The solution to human trafficking is making disciples.
• Some of the people you go to school with will become the victims of human trafficking and some of them will become the culprits of human trafficking.
• 1 Samuel 13. The Philistines are coming to fight with Israel. The nation of Israel starts hiding.
• in 1 Samuel 14, Jonathan says, “Let’s go!” He heads to where the Philistines are. Jonathan and his armor bearer kill some of the enemy and a roar rises up. Saul hears and joins in the battle. One guy stood up while others were hiding.
• We need some people who take the Word of God seriously.
• I believe there are Jonathan’s in the room. While other people are hiding, there are some who want to do something. If God can raise people from the dead, he can do anything today!
• “God, we want to see you! We want to see you do something great in our lifetime!”

About Francis

Francis is the best-selling author of Crazy Love, Forgotten God and Erasing Hell (releasing July 2011). He is also the founding pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA, and Eternity Bible College. Francis lives in Northern California with his wife, Lisa, and their children. Website: http://www.francischan.org/

Tags: passion 2012, live blog, Francis Chan, #passion2012, Tuesday

The Talk

Luke 8:40-55, focusing on 43-48

This year Louie emailed me and told me what God impressed on his heart what he thought the Lord wanted me to speak on today. When I looked at the passage, it completely resonated with me. It is an awkward passage, but a powerful story.

Read vv. 40-55.

• The people were pressing around Jesus. Similar to the way we were pressing together during worship. It’s the word used for “crushing grapes”. These people were stepping over each other.
• Verses 43-48 is an interruption in scripture. It is in the middle of another story. It is a holy interruption. This interruption is in the synoptic gospels yet you rarely hear anybody teach about it. It’s about a woman with an issue of blood.
• For the little girl, her life is flying by. For the woman, her life is dragging by.
• For us, we live our lives sandwiched between a greater narrative and a great need. Just as this woman’s story was sandwiched in another story, ours is too. I was staggered by the statistic: 27 million in slavery. We are surrounded by a great need, yet here we are.
• This story is an interruption in the middle of a story that seems to be the priority and takes care of a need that only seems to be important to the woman.
• Many people live as though God has finite resources or ability to focus on needs. We live as though God can only meet a limited number of needs and cannot not meet ours. This is not true! He is not some commodity that runs out.
• Verse 47 - The woman could not go unnoticed. You cannot go unnoticed from God. Even in this crowd, you cannot God unnoticed. There is something freeing about knowing that you are not hidden before God. He knows where you are sitting.
• The woman’s infirmity makes us extremely uncomfortable. It’s not a passage that you are comfortable talking about. By looking at it, it forces us to enter into some small measure of discomfort. It is meant to be awkward.
• For most of us, the greatest need for healing is intensely private. It is probably so personal and private that we don’t want to talk about it.
• We are as sick as our secrets. We like to hide the thing that needs healing: weakness, crime, addiction. It’s that area that we need healing.
• We are afraid of what it will do to us socially. People might think we’re lame. This woman’s fear was physically, socially, and spiritual.
• This woman was considered defiled. According to Numbers 19:22, she was unclean and anything she touched was unclean. She was defiled and made other things defiled.
• This world’s system has sexually abused all of us. We are verbally abused by this world system. We are called to be a clean people in a unclean world.
• Isaiah said, “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips…”
• Mark 5:26 adds an important detail to this story. The woman says, “If I could just touch the hem of his garment, I could be made well.” This woman was willing to risk grabbing ahold of Jesus and making him unclean by touching him.
• You cannot be unclean enough to mess Jesus up! You cannot make a mess of him. Jesus is clean enough for us all!
• Our need for healing and wholeness is deep down within us. She just wanted to reach out.
• v. 44 - She came up behind him and touch the fringe of his garment. Look at Numbers 15:37. On the hem of each garment was to be a tassel to be a reminder to live holy unto the Lord.
• Jesus would have been wearing this garment, representing ritual purity. She reaches through the crowd to grab for a tassel.
• Jesus made himself easy to grab. She grabbed the part of him that said, “I am clean.”
• Instead of her making him unclean, she made him clean!
• He came not just to be reachable but to be touchable.
• God already knows what kind of person you are. Do you have faith to reach out and touch him?
• Hebrews 10:19-23. Let us draw near!
• As long as you feel unclean, you will not let him do what he what he wants to do this week.
• Would you receive the depth of cleansing God has for you today and not forget it?
• Would you allow the cross to cleanse you again?
• v. 46 - We can’t understand or explain how Jesus knew somebody had touched him. When you can explain something, you can master it. You can’t master Jesus.
• Jesus knew someone had touched him. When you receive the healing from him, he feels it too!
• v. 47 - For her to say that she had been healed, she had to say that she was unclean. There is a humility inherit in the gospel.
• Jesus tells her that it is her faith that made her well. Her faith drove her.
• Come before him full of faith! God can and will work in your life to affect you and your whole sphere of influence. Reach out to him and have the faith to grab on to him.
• Even though Jesus felt the power go out, he still had the power to go and raise the dead. You cannot consume him, but he can consume you!

About Beth

Beth is an incredible storyteller and a passionate teacher of the Word of God. She has written numerous books and Bible studies that have encouraged many, particularly women, to love and live on Scripture. Beth is the Founder of Living Proof Ministries based in Houston, TX where she lives with her husband Keith. Website: http://www.lproof.org/

Tags: passion 2012, live blog, beth moore, #passion2012, Tuesday, message notes

Intro to the Week

We believe that worship doesn’t just happen when we sing songs. It also happens when we join the heart of God. This week we are going to join with God’s heart for those that are the last and the least.

The last and the least of these are the 27 million people on planet earth that are currently in slavery. We believe that God’s heart hates slavery.

From the film shown: “Slavery is still happening. What will we do to stop it? … Raise your voice. Do something now.”

That is what we are going to do. We are going to raise our voice in a tangible way by partnering with 6 organizations that will offer rescue or restoration for those in slavery or just out of slavery. Our pledge to those organizations is that we would raise 1 million dollars this week - over the next four days. I believer you have come here to do something pretty special. You can be part of raising your voice for freedom.

This year we are taking “Do something now” out into the plaza. Something is going to happen over the course of 4 days, you will be able to take part in something that is going to make a statement to the city and the world. These organizations have the dream and the team and they just need the resources. You can be part of that.

The Talk

I just have a question tonight, “I there anybody here who feels like there is something inside of you that needs to be brought back to life again?” A lot of talk has been going on about the dome. For us at Passion, we have been thinking about The Dome PLUS The Dorm. I know that all of you don’t live in a dorm, but you know what I mean. Of course being in the Dome is incredible. But if something doesn’t happen in us at the Dome that trickles back to the Dorm, then what was the point? The goal is not a lot of people in a space. The goal is that real change would take place at home, in our city, in our relationships.

Some of you may be asking what all the 268 is about? It stands for Isaiah 26:8. It is our core. Passion started with the thought that a generation would arise that would be about making one name known around the earth. Not our name. Not the name of Passion or a personality, but one name - the name of Jesus.

Is the name of Jesus going to echo? Is it going to reverberate back to the nations? Is it going to echo back to your dorm? Isaiah says, “For your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.” When the news of Jesus spreads throughout the country, then we will know that something has happened.

How does that happen?

Luke 7:11-17

There is a story that could have gone either way. Jesus comes to a town where they are carrying out a dead boy. He sees the mom of the boy and says, “Don’t cry.” This woman was already a widow and now her son was being carried away on a stretcher and he says, “Don’t cry”?

This boy’s body was about to go down into the ground. If Jesus had show up 30 minutes late, he might have missed the stretcher. If he had shown up 1 day later, he might have missed it. But Jesus showed up at just the right time.

God has come to intersect our lives in our funeral march. This conference is happening right now in this moment. Right now Jesus is walking into what is going on with us. Jesus is here at just the right time. He is not too late.

Some of you are in a funeral march being carried out to your death. There are many things that are carrying you away. From some its:

• Relationships. Your relationship is taking your away from the purpose of God. It is killing you.
• Your understanding of God. You’ve misunderstood the reality of a risen Lord and haven’t surrendered to Him. You are not following Him with real faith. Your misunderstanding is leading you to death.
• For some, the stretcher is sin. Up until this point you’ve tried to control it, but the reality is clear - it is leading you out to death.
• The stretcher could be a wound. Something has happened to you and you haven’t let Jesus heal you. That thing is festering and causing bitterness and hate inside of you. You haven’t received his healing and restoration.
• It could be failure.

I don’t know what stretcher you are on but I know many feel like there is a funeral procession going on and you are being carried away.

The enemy has a plan and it is to bury you.

Based on the authority of who Jesus is and what he has come here to do, there aren’t going to be any burials here tonight! Jesus has the willingness and the power to raise the dead!

This story tells us something about Jesus. In this day, Rabbi’s would not have touched a dead body. But when Jesus shows up as a Rabbi and teacher, he walks up and puts his hand on the stretcher. He has no problem walking into a funeral procession and saying, “Stop right there.”

Don’t let the enemy convince you that this is for everybody else except for you. This is for you. Jesus steps up to our death and touches the very thing that is carrying us out to our grave. Jesus says, “I say to you, ‘Get up!”

This text declares the gospel. Jesus raises the dead. The gospel, at its heart, is a resurrection from the dead. (See Ephesians 2:1-9) This story is just a foreshadowing of what he will do on the cross. Jesus was telling the gospel. What the law is powerless to do, God can do. Jesus will step into the funeral, put his hand on the stretcher, speak to the boy and say, “Rise up!” That is the beauty of the gospel. We are convinced that sin made us dead but Christ made us alive. Christ did what we could never do. When we put our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, it births new life in us.

The gospel is not about what you did when you were 10, 11, or 15. It is about who you are trusting. Some people filled out a card as a teen, but they are being carried out to death.

In Ephesians Paul says, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine in you.”

Jesus said to the boy, “Arise.” It could have been translated “rise up.”

It is time to rise up! It is time to know that there is not going to be a funeral here tonight! Jesus is here at the right time. There is a hand that can stop the madness. There is a voice that is calling you back to life again.

At the end of the story, the news of Jesus spreads throughout the country! God had never left, but he had been very quiet. There had been no word for the people for centuries. But when Jesus raised the boy from the dead they said, “God is back! God is here!”

The news of Jesus -- not the boy -- spread throughout the nation.

There is more at stake during these days than your life. God wants to raise up hope in this country. There are no funerals tonight. Rise up!

About Louie

Louie is the Visionary Architect and Director of the Passion Movement, which includes the collegiate gatherings of Passion Conferences, Atlanta based Passion City Church and EMI CMG label partner sixstepsrecords. Connecting with students across the globe, Louie longs to see a generation living for the fame of Jesus. Louie lives in Atlanta with his wife, Shelley. Website: http://www.268generation.com/

Tags: passion 2012, live blog, louie giglio, #passion2012, monday