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Posted By Aaron Marcelli on January 30, 2010

The first book I chose to read in 2010 was John Maxwell’s Put Your Dream To The Test.  Of course, I’m all about having dreams, living with goals, making plans, and believing in the passions of your young aspirations rather than just letting them fade away.  That’s why this book title appealed to me.  Just several pages in, I knew I had made a good choice.

Now, it doesn’t take much to get me going these days as far as getting excited about my dream.  Just driving through the city of Chattanooga or someone in a crowd whispering a phrase that rhymes with “church planting” will make me want to run circles or loudly regurgitate all I know about starting a church.  Working through this book served as even additional motivation as well as a honing guide for laying out my dream.

The book was written (or at least I read it) with a very seasoned, mentoring tone.  Each chapter served as a question challenging the reader to gauge the reality, validity, and authenticity of one’s personal dream.  There was an incredible balance of motivating the reader to pursue his dreams, while also strongly urging them to be honest about the possibility of such a dream coming true.  Never was there a section that could be interpreted as belittling a dream or discouraging someone from thinking big.  Maxwell was even careful to say that it is ok if someone cannot clearly articulate their dream but that they should be working on that as the next step.  The importance of involving others was also stressed because anything that is greater than one person requires more than one person.

The book connected with me so deeply where I am right now in the preparation stage of pursuing my dream, I have decided to review the book and write a series of posts that will include book excerpts and my thoughts as I went through the material.  I would love to lead a book study on the volume, but since I’m not, we will do a cyber one on here for several days.  Feel free to follow along!

Category: Book Reviews, Church Planting, Vision | No Comments »
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Posted By Aaron Marcelli on January 28, 2010

When someone asked me why I started this site and blog regularly, I responded by explaining that writing is my current outlet to teach and share the things I am experiencing and learning.  Preaching used to be that for me.  I thoroughly enjoy public speaking and used to have a position where I would sometimes get to speak up to three times a week.  It has been over a year though since I last spoke in a church setting and have since began spending much more time writing.  Both preaching and blogging are popular forms of communication but have many differences.  Allow me to compare.

Preaching

Speaking live allows you to sense your audience and receive feedback from them.  A good communicator takes advantage of those in front of them by monitoring their expressions to help judge when people are connecting, understanding, or confused.

Preaching allows you to use a visual aid.

You are able to say things with a certain tone or expression that may give more meaning to your words when you speak live.

Most people have a longer attention span when it comes to watching and hearing over just reading.

Speaking to someone who is at the same place you are causes you to have their attention better than if they are on their computer at home or work where many other things are fighting for their interest.

Blogging

Writing allows you to look at what you have written and even go back and rewrite it if need be to make sure you express yourself clearly.

Written words in books or on websites have the potential to reach more people than you could pack into even the largest room.

Posting short blogs several times a week allows you to address more casual, secondary issues that you may feel need attention but are not necessarily worthy of your forty minute slot on the weekend.

Blogs allow the author to “take you there” with the ability to attach and add links that help the reader experience their point.

Having a blog allows the person with something to say, who struggles with the idea of being in front of people, present their message with confidence.

I enjoy both of these forms of communicating and information sharing.  Studies show that we retain information a lot better if we teach it to others, so find some outlet to be heard.  Take advantage of the many forms of networking that our information age provides.

I would rather be in front of a crowd than a computer any day, but that is not going to keep me from sharing the lessons of my life through whatever means necessary.  Which form of communication do you prefer?

Category: Communication, Writing | No Comments »
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Posted By Aaron Marcelli on January 22, 2010

My fiancé and I started premarital counseling this past week.  One of the things we were asked to do was make a list of all the things we feel are strengths of our relationship.  I really liked the way Katy described us when she was reading her list and said, “We agree on most things and when we don’t we enjoy each other’s thoughts.”  Good stuff babe!

Could somebody go to this page, scroll down to the “Group Illusion,” and please explain it to me?!?  I have wasted so much time at work the past few days staring at my screen, trying to figure out where the person disappears to.

Our church has begun a Thursday night service to serve as a third service because of overflowing crowds on Sundays.  I got to stand around before the service last night and talk with some of the volunteers.  It was really good to hear both old and young men showing excitement about this new, unique service our church is doing to reach our community.  I heard several stories by these guys where they talked about being convicted about not being involved enough or sacrificing enough within the church.  It was exciting for me to see some guys from different generations working together and showing pride in getting to be a part of what their church is doing.

Category: Churches, My Life / Personal, Relationships / Love | No Comments »
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Posted By Aaron Marcelli on January 15, 2010

A couple months ago Perry Noble posted on his blog a list of ways to kill the vision of your church. Number nine was simply “Vote!” Just reading that struck a nerve and made me want to write about it. Actually I’m surprised I have gone this long without blogging on congregational voting before as I believe there is nothing more irresponsible or unspiritual that many of our American churches do as a practice.

Even when I was a part of the kind of churches that vote I was baffled by the idea. It actually makes me angry when I think about the service in which I was voted on in joining a church staff. I had gone through extensive interviews with the pastor, the staff, the deacons, the youth I would be working with, the parents of the youth I would be working with, the search committee, the Wednesday night dinner committee, the party planning committee, and anyone else who wanted to throw a right wing theological question my way. I had also worked at the church in an interim capacity for several months, so they knew me quite well by this time. In a Sunday service the chair of the church committee read a recommendation for me to join the staff as well as some of the stories from my already existing ministry there. The pastor then spoke highly of me and said how God had given him peace that I was to be a part of the church staff. I then shared my testimony and told about my desire for ministry and to serve at such a great church. And then…………they took a vote. I cannot believe this actually happened! Literally hundreds of people I had never met or who would never be affected by my ministry area were able to reject or approve my joining the staff there. When a church conducts business in such a manor it’s pretty much saying, “we know this is the will of God, He has told us what to do, but because we want you to like us and we know that you want to feel important in the church, it’s up to you”.

Voting on the will of God may be the reason God is unable to speak in many churches. Doing so sure shows we have little gratitude or respect for when God speaks. I remember even asking my pastor at that church why we vote on the will of God. His response was a look of powerlessness and a shrug of the shoulders followed by something about people would get upset if the church didn’t let them vote on everything.

We tie the hands of God when we put His words through the filtering of approval by every non-committed Christian who sits on a pew and claims a church membership. Churches should be willing to provided account as far as financial records and other areas of stewardship to the involved, giving members who request to see such data. But to take every decision that has been intently thought about, prayed through, and agonized over by the equipped leadership of the church who are paid to do and lead ministry and then vote on it by the person who just showed up on Sunday is ridiculous!

While at a clergy retreat held by denominational leaders, one speaker was addressing the situation of pastors fresh out of seminary who get plugged into smaller, family type churches. He said that when such pastors fail to recognize (meaning accept) that culture and try to do more outreach or not approve his decisions through the “heritage” church members, they are being foolish. Those where the actual words he used! So getting to the point where you hear from the Almighty and then want to take Him at His word and act in faith is foolish!

Yes there must be accountability and trusted leadership, but the day churches start seeking the applause of their congregation in pursuing their God-given vision, a cap is put on the potential of that church and a precedence is set as to who is the head of that body.

Category: Church Life / Denominations, Ministry | 1 Comment »
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Posted By Aaron Marcelli on January 12, 2010

I have mentioned on this site before that I am someone who sees meaning and a message behind everything.  Those who know me well are aware that I can become emotional over about anything.  Now, I don’t blog to be a media critic or give music or tv reviews, but when something touches me, I want to talk about it.  When there is music that moves me, an image that connects with who I am or who I want to be, or a story or character that I can see myself in, I can’t help but be drawn in.  I have found all of those things to be part of the reason I find myself engrossed in TNT’s new series Men of A Certain Age.

The weekly hour long show stars and is produced by Ray Romano, who I already adored, and is the ongoing story of three men in their forties as they deal with real life issues.  The writing is impressive and smart as each of the three featured characters has a very unique and clearly conveyed personality and lifestyle, allowing almost any guy who watches the show to latch on to one of them.  One man is going through a separation and fighting to stay involved in the lives of his kids while dealing with a gambling addiction.  Another man is trying to continue in the lifestyle of a swinging bachelor while going back and forth on whether he feels contentment with his life.  The third man has an incredible, supportive wife and a great family but is consistently distracted from enjoying them because of a job he hates, the rejection he feels from his father, and stressful situations emotionally and financially.

I find myself feeling their pain and longing for a meaningful life every time I watch the show.  Routinely the scenes follow the men’s individual stories and trials while intermission clips have the three at a diner table discussing life and challenging, supporting, and picking on one another.  Though my life situation is not the same as any of these men’s, I strongly sense an attachment to some of their personality struggles and am pulled in to their problems because in a very un-media like way, they have true, believable struggles that I could see one day being struggles for myself.  Perhaps it is watching these three men go through their midlife crisis that is speaking to me, causing me to evaluate myself now so I never have to have one of my own.  Perhaps I am jealous of their bond, hoping no matter how messed up my life gets in the future I will have solid friends to sit across the table from and pour myself out to.  Maybe I have been hooked by just another show with descent scripting.  Maybe I’m just bored and this show just happened to be on.

Either way, it has moved me and whether the message it is sending is the one I’m actually receiving or not, I feel like the result has been meaningful thinking about myself.  And so, I thought I would share it with you.

Category: Emotion Issues, Entertainment | 2 Comments »
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Posted By Aaron Marcelli on January 9, 2010

It was probably during my last years of high school that I came to appreciate people who encouraged me. Having been home schooled for ten years, I enrolled in a private school for my junior and senior years. I began to value real friendships, get involved in sports and extra-curricular events, and also about that time I became more vocal about pursuing ministry. I received immense support and encouragement from my Christian school teachers. I was obsessed with psychology at the time and made it a point to hang around a lot of people with sanguine temperaments because even though I did not enjoy the mood swings or share in the spontaneous actions, I noticed they were very complementary and flattering.

I then made it through college with a good bit of a support group from which I received affirmation through letters, money, or just good solid conversations. I was then immersed in encouragement when I was hired onto a church staff. It was not until much later I learned the sad truth that my case was not the norm with ministers but during my two years on staff I was showered with love, support, free food, positive words, and the like. Anytime I was given a Sunday night to preach, there was a line after the service telling me how great it was. Never did I leave a youth event without a note on my car complimenting my effort. I was able to keep an encouragement drawer in my office desk of all the notes, cards, pictures, gift cards receipts, etc. that had been given me. I took all of this for granted and like most things, did not miss it until it was gone. Sure, when I was let go from the church I got bombarded with phone calls and emails and was invited to several family dinners, but those slowly faded and I had to learn to pick my own self up and go.

I am still lucky though. I have people tell me how much they appreciate what I do or say, and I never take that lightly. I even had someone text me because they thought it had been too long since I had last blogged and they told me how much they enjoy reading what I write. I still get hugs from people I used to work with when we see each others at Wal-Mart. I have a high school class mate who always tells me how much talent and potential he thinks I have. And several weeks ago I was just walking a hallway in the hospital and ran into a man from the church I used to serve at. Never had this man been under my ministry or related to anyone who was, but he had always made an intentional effort to get to me, shake my hand, and speak words of power into me. He stopped me there in the hospital and picked up as though he had never quit, feeding me with power and truth. Even though we had never really sat down together and had not even been in contact in some time, he shared how he continues to pray for me and that he believes with all his heart that God has told him how huge the things are He wants to do through me.

I fought back tears in the middle of a busy hallway as I thought to myself, I needed to hear this. It is a gift from God to have people who encourage me and lift me up.

A professor in college told me the guest who encourages will always be invited back. I wish everyone could experience having people in their lives who speak into them. There is a power that comes in knowing others love you and support you. And for me to know that, those people had to make a move. They could have just thought nice things about me or prayed for me but never let me know. No, rather they came to me and let me know what to them was probably simple thoughts but served as amazing encouragement to me.

We need to recognize and appreciate those who are encouraging us. Without knowing it, they are causing us to feel empowered and calling for us to reach higher. Know who is encouraging you and keep them close!

Category: Emotion Issues, My Life / Personal | No Comments »
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Posted By Aaron Marcelli on December 29, 2009

I’m not sure what your view is on New Year’s resolutions, but I used to be all about them. Starting probably when I was in high school, I would always use the last days of December to plan how I was going to use the following year to become the best person ever and accomplish more than was humanly possible. Yearly my outlandish goals to read the Bible through, read x amount of books, and get everyone I knew saved would lead to disappointment and little, if any, actually progress. I struggled with unrealistic goals and once February roles around and you realize it’s not going to happen you tend to give up all together.

Last year though I found an approach that works much better. Rather than try to change the world (or even yourself) in just 365 days, why not create a list of things (some small, some larger) that could be done over the course of a year. I ended up jotting down 50 of them about a year ago – about one per week. I then posted them and marked them off as I did them. Using this system allowed me in 2009 to……

Get my APR lowered

Fix my cracked car window

Read a book in a day

Go to a concert

Get a date

Give money to a stranger

Take a vacation other than to see family

Run a half mile without slowing

Watch all the seasons of “The Office”

Go to lunch with my pastor

Unfortunately, there were still a few things I had planned to do but did not. Such as:

Update my GPS

Get an article printed in a magazine

Start writing on my second book

Go through all my class notes from college

Move to a new house/apartment

I still feel this way of setting goals helped me accomplish a lot. Some of the things I put on my list were small things I had just been putting off. Some of them were bigger and required a lot of work. On some the timing just wasn’t right and on others I was over-achieved (example: I wanted to get a date and now I’m getting married in a couple months).

Maybe this system would work for you if you find yourself using the New Year to set goals and you struggle like I used to in keeping the commitments.

And in case you’re interested, here are some of the things I have on tap for 2010:

Go to a driving range

Pay off the debt I have to myself

Get to my desired weight

Go to a live stand up club

Be a vegetarian for a month (something I also did last year)

Whitewater rafting

Finish church planter training

Raise enough support to quit my day job my the end of the year

Visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Find a regular volunteering position in Chattanooga

Finish the magazine article about my book

Go through and file all my class notes from college

Category: My Life / Personal | 1 Comment »
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Posted By Aaron Marcelli on December 25, 2009

For those of you who may be new to my blog or have not had a chance to read every post of mine, I have decided to do a year end compilation. 

Since I began blogging last spring, I have posted my thoughts on entertainment, politics, spirituality, my own personal life, and more.  Looking back, some of these posts were great fun to write, bring back good memories, or come as a result of great growth in my life.  I have looked over all my entries from the year and listed my favorite ten (in no particular order) below:

• During the summer I visited a church in South Carolina to hear their pastor but ended up writing about how one of the worship songs spoke to me.

• I experienced the importance of living and working with vision as a result of a gym working out and wrote about it here.

• This post reveals my epiphany this year that I am growing up.

• I wrote a two part series on some of the things I have learned about prayer.  You can review part one and
• part two here.

• What would I give for the ministry dream that’s in my heart?  God asked me that question in a public restroom and I wrote about it in the fall.

• I originally launched this blog to promote a book I wrote as a result of some events that went on in my life which effected my work and ministry.  I wrote about those events in The Story and The Story…Continued.

• The Have vs. Say principle changed my life, so I wrote about it of course.

• I got several comments and a lot of feedback from this post on looking back over my former ministry.

• I took a breathtaking vacation to beautiful Montana early in the year and smiled the entire time I wrote this recap of the trip.

Category: Writing | No Comments »
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Posted By Aaron Marcelli on December 19, 2009

It recently occurred to me that it has been quite a while since I last spoke about my church planting journey on this site. Giving over to the idea and committing to church planting took quite a while, which is very interesting considering it is something I have had a burden to do for a long time.

A lot is happening, inside of me anyway. The more I think, pray, read, or talk about church planting the more passionate and excited I get. I also get more scared. It makes me nervous to think about starting from scratch, stepping out on faith, and the hard work of building relationships with those who have distorted views or trust issues when it comes to God and the church.

In February we will begin church planter training. I have been going through several ministry, leadership, and personality evaluations in preparation for the five months of planting courses we will be taking through West Ridge Church in Dallas. Along with that I am reestablishing some relationships in trying to build an initial core team that would serve as staff during the launching period.

I am continuing to read and work a lot on my own personal leadership and seeking to learn and grow in the areas of responsibility, decision making, vision casting, and administration. I am also trying to establish some connections with people who have experience and could offer help in church planting, relationship building, and fund raising. Yes, fund raising is in my future and though that is not my personality, I’m almost looking forward to it.

And finally, I am making sure I continue to spend consistent time with God, pouring out my heart, dealing with my fears and insecurities, and seeking strength and direction from Him. I am extremely encouraged by the growth I’m seeing in myself as a result of these times. First of all, I am becoming more patient in seeking His timing. I had posted earlier about how I was approaching all of this in a way that caused me to not need faith. But now I am making myself rely on Him more in the area of timing, trusting that He will tell me when. Also, I have recently noticed of myself that when I get overwhelmed or receive new information or ideas about church planting I am now turning right to God in prayer rather than to immediately lay out a plan or make a list like I had been doing before.

All of this is very exciting for me and I’m especially thankful for the ways I have been able to grow and be challenged through all that is happening. I’m finding out that the further into this I get, the more unable I feel. And it seems like at the times I’m feeling most unable and humble, I then sense that I’m useable by God

Category: Church Planting, Prayer | No Comments »
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Posted By Aaron Marcelli on December 17, 2009

A few days ago I watched Barbara Walter’s end of the year special where she lists the year’s ten most fascinating people. I was honestly pretty board with the list as it included no actors, few entertainers, and only one sports athlete. I really did not care that much to hear interviews with Jenny Sanford, Kate Gosselin, Sarah Palin, or the Jackson kids. I did however appreciate hearing from Tyler Perry, Lady Gaga, and Brett Farve. The list also included Adam Lambert and Michelle Obama, both of whom had compelling things to say. What I would like to write about here though is sparked from a quote on the show from Glenn Beck.

Now, I would consider Beck more of an entertainer than an expert on anything, but in his interview he came off as calm and almost level headed. He said, “I stand up for what I believe. When it’s hard to say the things I say, I say them because I believe them and if that makes me enemy number one in America then we’re lost aren’t we?”

Again I’m going to fall to the temptation to be political on this blog but it’s because my heart jumped when I heard the above words from Beck. Being totally honest, we all would have to say that our country as a whole has become very closed minded and intolerant of others. Not only do we contend with the opposition for trying to win others to their side, but we have come so far that we are not content with them having their own beliefs within their own homes. I remember growing up that music was a very hot button issue in my church and school. It was constantly argued about and most would get very upset and defensive, taking the discussions so personally as though to attack someone’s music was to attack that person themselves. That’s what I feel we have in our country today.

We are unable to detach people from the issues and cannot get past their party, belief, or religion to be willing to still sit down with them. Many criticized President Obama for traveling to meet with leaders across the world in his first days as president. Many slurred him for meeting with people who were of extremist religions or had possible terrorist ties. He was only sitting down and talking with them for goodness sake!

In reading about the health care bills being proposed in congress I was saddened as I read the republicans were celebrating voting a certain bill down and lumping all liberals as trying to destroy our system. Then some democrats attacked back and labeled all conservatives as stubborn and unwilling to compromise. Both parties were trying to make it sound like a win for their side. I got mad as I read how each party was apparently working harder to save face than solve the problem. I think it is a very bad thing that our party, religion, region, or the kind of people we hang out with are supposed to pretty much predict how we vote. What happened to every man is our brother first?

When dealing with racism we say you should see a person first and not a color. Well that has to work in every area. You should see a person first, not that that they’re liberal, Hindu, pro-life, homosexual, female, or poor. The attitude used to be that it’s ok that you’re republican, gay, Buddhist, whatever, as long as you don’t try to impose that on me. Well now it seems that it’s not even ok with me that you’re that way.

So being honest, I don’t care for Glenn Beck or much of what he has to say. But if what he said to Barbara Walters is his philosophy, then I whole heartedly agree with him! I mean, isn’t that what freedom is all about, the ability to choose? Because if simply giving your opinion and saying what you believe (whatever that is) causes you to be viewed as an enemy, then perhaps freedom is fleeting.

Category: Entertainment, Politics | 3 Comments »
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