NBC News Interview

NBC News interviewed me earlier today, after getting home and taking a shower!

Click Here to View!

We're Home!

 

We are home!  What a trip.  I will update more through the week, but man it's good to be back in America!!

Thanks to everyone who was praying.  I am feeling much better and we are all so glad that we made our flights.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving,

Matt

Pray for Matt

(Sarah here)

I don't have many details, but the team did go to Agra (to see the Taj Mahal).  On the way there, Matt got very sick.  He spent the day in the hospital getting IV fluids and antibiotics.  The word is that he is feeling better, but now they have to travel for the next 24 hours.

Please pray for him that he has complete healing and can rest on the trip home!

Thanks everyone!

The I-Team is Safe!

Hey blog world.  This is Sarah Keller (Matt's wife).

I am writing to let you know that the India team is safe.  We have received texts from them.  They are currently in New Dehli and are leaving at 4 pm on Thursday (EST Time), but will go to the airport earlier than expected.  So, pray for safety over the next 20 hours.

Also, we are so thankful that our team is not in Mumbai, but are very aware that hundreds of lives are being affected by these attacks.  Please pray for those families as well.

The team sent this verse to us:

Psalm 34:4  "I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."

Thank you all for praying.

Tour of Vizag

Yesterday was a great day to hang out together and celebrate all that God has done. We had breakfast and then took a tour of Vizag City.  We climbed to the top of a mountain and got to see the entire city from up there.  We took a cable car down the mountain which was really cool.

We saw the Bay of Bengal which is the Indian Ocean. Unreal.  For lunch we ate at an Indian Buffet which was fun.  There is Cricket on TV everywhere over here.  Which has the same sort of look of Baseball, but is completely different let me tell you!!!

The afternoon was spent shopping for last minute Saree’s and gifts for our friends and family.  Then last night we were in the chapel service for the seminary students.  I got to speak on what I’ve learned about ministry in the last 12 years. It was a great time, and definitely a highlight for me.  I love developing young leaders.

Today we fly to Delhi, a city of 25 million people and will see some of the sights of Delhi before taking the 4 hour trip to Agra, which is where the Taj Mahal is (will be there for Thanksgiving day.)

The plan is to fly out of Delhi at about 2 am in route for Chicago, IL, USA by Friday about 6 am and then be back in Fort Myers by Noon on Friday!  It’s going to be a whirlwind the next few days but we’re enjoying every minute of it!  The team has been truly great.

Keep praying for “Journey Mercy” as they say over here.

Love to all the friends and family who are praying for us,

Matt Keller and the I-Team

Big Day for the I-Team

Monday here in India was a huge day for the team.  We started by going into a nearby village for a medical clinic.  The village has 5,000 people living in 500 homes in a 5 mile radius. None of the 5,000 people have access to health care of any kind. In one 3 hour period, the Christ for India doctors will see and treat over 300 people.  They will also then take the more serious cases back to the hospital on campus for surgeries, or more thorough testing.  What they are doing here is incredible.  I can't believe that we get to be apart of this as a church!!!

Yesterday our women hosted a Ladies Meeting for all of the women on campus and it was powerful. They spoke right to the real issues and shared testimonies of abuse and healing and did a Question and Answer time that I guess was like raw!!!  God moved big time.

Last night we went in 3 different directions. Margarite and I went with Eddie who is a Pastor from Australia in a Rickshaw (which is a glorified go-cart with a top) about 10- minutes away to a church near the beach.  Margarite shared a testimony and I spoke from Psalm 23.  It was a good time.  They had 2 little girls probably 6 and 7 who were their worship leaders.  It was just about too much!  They were so cute and yet so anointed of God.  Amazing to hear them sing in Telegu (the native language) and then "Jesus loves me" in English.  That one almost put me over the edge. I was like, "I gotta go home and see my boys, seriously!!!"  Pastor Eddie said the same thing only for him it was worse because he has 3 girls at home.

Ishana and Millie went with Johnson Titus to hear an evangelist preach.  He preached in Hindi and it was translated into Telegu.  And of course, they don't speak either of those languages.  They got to eat in the pastor's home and there was no silverware. So they were eating with their hands, just like the India people do.

Mark, Jim, Nicole, and Sally preached on the street in a village near the national highway and across from a boys school that just co-incidently lost power so all these teenage boys came across the street to see and hear what was going on because they were without power.  There were close to 300 people standing around listening Mark and our team preach the gospel. At the end, Mark said that several of those Hindu boys raised their hands to accept Christ!!!  How awesome is that!

We all got to bed late last night and are looking forward to our tour of Vizag city today and finishing up with a little shopping after that.  Tomorrow we fly back to Delhi and on Thursday will be at the Taj Mahal. I'm pumped about that.  Thanks for praying for us, I wish everyone at NLC could see and hear what we're experiencing, it's truly life changing,

See you Sunday in South Fort Myers High School, which is about 8,000 miles from where I am right now.  Unreal.

Matt and the I-Team

What a Sunday!

How do I even start to describe what we experienced in our church today?  First, we were about 45 minutes late because the “Chief Minister” which is like the Governor of the state was passing through in a motorcade which consisted of several SUV’s 2 Motor coaches and several thousand men on motorcycles.  There were police everywhere which is the first time we’ve seen police in the city this week, and to be real honest with you, it was the first time I felt unsafe.

 

The campus here is an absolute haven of God’s presence and the peace of the Lord is all over this place.  Anyway, so by the time we arrived at “the drop of f point” we (Matt, Nicole, and Ishana) jumped out of the bus and Johnson said to us, “Go with this man” and the next thing I know we are walking through like the smallest little “alleys” I have ever seen.  They were amazingly clean, at least what I can remember of them.

 

I was seriously lacking peace at the moment.  We end up in this 15’ by 30’ building where you can hear the sound of Indian Worship Music coming from within.  I had to duck to make it through the 5 foot high door and when I lifted my hands, I could basically touch the ceiling.  There were 30 adults and 20 kids in this building all sitting on the floor.  They had us sit up front in the only chairs in the place to honor us.

 

As I sat down I was overwhelmed.  The children were so amazing worshipping so intently.  It was overwhelmingly powerful.  I was about as far outside of my comfort zone as I can remember, and yet, the spirit of God was all over that place.

 

They took communion which was really cool and I completely improvised my message.  I was going to preach on David and Goliath but instead I spoke out of Psalm 4 which their pastor read in Telegu (their language) earlier in the service.  I just sensed God saying to me, “Matt, will you get over your fear, settle down and trust me?”  So I yielded to the Lord and God said, “Just preach through Psalm 4, their pastor knows best what they need to hear today.  So I did.  And it was one of the most anointed, incredible messages I’ve given in quite a while!

 

At the end, we prayed for everyone in the room which was really cool.  I prayed for the pastor’s baby that was born with Crossed Eyes and I couldn’t help but look at him and see my son Will, 8 years ago - who was also born with crossed eyes.  All I could hear in that moment was Will’s eye surgeon say to us 2 years ago, “There is no reason, in this day and age, that any child should have to live with crossed eyes.”  And yet, there I was starring at a child that, without a miracle will live with crossed eyes for the rest of his life.  It makes me want to weep just thinking about it.  I am believing for that baby’s complete healing.

 

This afternoon, I got to spend some time with 9 girls who are enrolled in the Christ For India program for girls.  It’s a 1 year program where they learn to use MS Office, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.  The ramifications for these girls is that they can now get a better job and consequently move up in their caste system which will give them a better life forever!!!  What an incredible, beautiful group of girls.  I can’t wait for you to see the video of them.  They are just delightful.

 

Pastor Mark, Jim, and Millie traveled 4 hours to the church that Mark’s church in Estero, FL paid to have built last year.  They were dedicating the building!  Sally and Marguerite got to spend the morning having church with 200 children who live on campus!  They both spoke and said it was incredible!  At the end, Sally said there were several children weeping and crying and when she talked to the House Mother, she said it’s a miracle because these children have been attending the school but come from Hindu families.  So this was the day that they were converting from Hinduism to Christianity!!!  That’s truly miraculous!

 

We’re off tonight, and then we’re going to do a medical camp in the village tomorrow where we will see and treat several hundred people in a few hours time with the doctors who are on staff at the hospital here!!!

 

On Tuesday we are taking the tour of the city of Visaghapatnam  (vi-shag-a-put-num) it will be our first glimpse of the Bay of Bengal and we’ll do some shopping.  The ladies all had custom Saree’s made at a tailor shop in town and Mark and I had some custom pants and shirts done!  Nice Indian Hospitality!

 

Thanks for praying for us, hope your weekend was well.

 

I miss NLC worship too.  I listened to some of the worship songs we’re doing at church right now on my iPod this morning and actually said out loud, “I wish I could be at NLC to hear Arianne lead this song.”  What a great church we have you guys.  I really miss being at NLC today.  But I got to preach in a church smaller than my garage and it was just as incredible!  He’s truly a HUGE and AMAZING God!!!

 

I love you all,

 

Pastor Matt

India Trip Update - 9:00 am - Friday morning India time (10 1/2 hours different)

Yesterday was quite a day!!!  We were all up and around and watched the fog clear from the rooftop of our building and then had breakfast at the Titus home.  There a couple of other teams here at the same time. One from Australia and One from Wales, England.  They are great people.

We were introduced in the opening session of the Pastors Conference and then were able to spread out across the campus to see more of what's going on...

Here are some highlights:

Matt, Mark, Ishana and Nicole spent about 5 hours shooting video for our promotional videos, which I think is going to be incredible!!!

Jim K. got to ride the bus home with the school children and said that he was a "rock star."

Sally, Millie and Margarite toured the hospital and met the doctors, etc.  Their response was, "It's not the US that's for sure!"

I spoke last night in the main session of the conference with an interpreter into Telegu the local language.  The interpreter is a young pastor who is a really cool guy pastoring "The City Church" right here in Vizag.  He's a world changer.  I can't wait to tell his story...

Today is going to be a huge day in the school with the children.  Mark is speaking tonight in the conference.  And our ladies are working to organize an Ad-Hoc Woman's Conference for all the ladies on conference just to tell their stories and pray for them and encourage them which is incredible.

We've got alot of filming to do today and it's going to be crazy, but all in all the team is encouraged and still slightly overwhelmed at all that God is doing here.

We love all of you,

Pray for us,

Matt Keller and the I-Team

Wednesday 11:15 am – India Time

So we’re here, and the last 36 hours or whatever have all been a blur and overwhelming and exciting and chaotic and stressful and cool all at the same time. It’s surreal being on this campus for the first time.  The emotion I am feeling is almost overwhelming because I know the pain I feel when I think about starting a work like this from nothing but a dream.

It’s so easy to come and see how big and amazing and beautiful everything is now and forget what it once was.  Nothing.  Nothing but a dream. A dream in 1 man’s heart to leave the comfort’s of America and come to a place of 1 billion souls who are living without Christ.  I can relate to that pain because in a different way, I lived it too.

Somehow in some small way Dr. Titus’s story and my story are linked.  But that’s not the only story that exists in this place.  There are close to a thousand stories and I can’t wait to begin hearing so many of them…

Matt

Random Team Thoughts

• Mark Goodman is a Missions Trip Rock Star.  He is so stinkin’ called to missions it’s not even funny.


• Millie Martinez is like my mother-in-law on a missions trip.  I don’t think I would want to go to a foreign country without her.  (She’s also a nurse…)


• Margarite Demos has rock star qualities when it comes to oils and spices and cool stuff that is healthy.


• Jim Kittlestevd has a hard last name to spell but is kind of like a Big Brother and bodyguard all in one.


• Nicole Kittlestevd brings “cool, calm and collected” to NLC Missions.  Nothing phases that girl.


• Sally Sims is about the most even-keeled missions team member I’ve ever seen.  She is also this vast, deep well of that exudes Godly strength.


• Ishana is a great and fun asset to the I-Team.  I’m so glad she’s on this trip. (and she keeps picking up the check for our meals!  Thanks to Richard her husband… again)

Random Travel Thoughts

• 14 hours in the upright position isn’t fun.


• When they say “recline” they don’t define it like I do.


• The smog in New Delhi is borderline suffocating.  I seriously thought it was raining when I looked out the Airport window.


• I didn’t know you could make planes that big.  9 seats across.


• People who ride 1st class on an International flight both suck and are the smartest people ever.  Seriously.


• The Radisson at the Delhi Airport has a kickin’ Curry Chicken at 1:30 in the morning.


• Checking into a Domestic flight in India is the craziest, broken system ever!  Seriously, if Mark Goodman had not have been here I wouldn’t have made it.


• Men in turbans with machine guns in foreign airports are scary.


• I had the best hour of sleep I can remember laying with my body straddling the armrest of an airport waiting room bench.  I woke up and it felt like I had been in a coma.


• Sleeping on an airplane sucks.  Wait I think I already kind of said that, but it’s worth saying twice.

Start of Day 2 on Campus

9:30 am India Time (10 1/2 hours ahead of USA)

We had breakfast at the Titus home today.  There are 2 other teams here at the same time which is really cool. One from Wales, England and one from Sydney, Australia.  The accents are incredible!

Also, there is a pastor from St. Louis, MO who is here named Rick.  He's a great guy with a great heart for the ministry here.  We got our first glance at the Indian Sunrise from the top of the building where we are staying.  It's incredible, simply incredible.

Mark and I are going to spend the day shooting videos and interviewing pastors and seminary students for our videos that we are doing to promote the ministry. sp; I'm so excited.  We already got incredible B-Roll footage from the rooftops.

The rest of the gang are anxious to begin serving across the campus.  There is so much to do here and see and experience.  There are over 150 pastors from all over India arriving today.  Some of them have traveled for up to a week by "Cattle Car" on trains to be here at the conference for 3 days.  Jameson said they left when we left from the USA and are just now arriving.  It takes 3 days by train to get here from Delhi, which is where we flew through on our way in.

What commitment these pastors have to serve the Lord and be apart of the ministry of what God is doing here.  Wow.

I'm scheduled to speak tonight to the pastors and seminary students which will total about 300 in all.  It's incredible to see what God is doing here.

Thanks for following along, I'll try and upload some pictures at some point, but the internet is really bad over here.

Love to all,
Pastor Matt and the I-Team

Thoughts from India

Day 1 on Campus:

The voice of God gets really loud in the quiet of this campus.  How can a place with so many people and so much noise be this quiet?  The peace of God is all over this place and it is all over me as well…

Matt

Landed and Doing Well

Hey everyone!  This is not Matt (it is actually Sarah)!

I wanted to let you know that I spoke with Matt briefly this morning.  He asked me to let you all know that he is doing well.  His words were "Well, I found out that a 14 hour flight is a long flight."

They are in Vizag at the "Christ for India" Campus now.  Matt said the whole team is doing very well and they made all of their connections and did not have any problems.  They are 10 1/2 hours ahead of us.  So, I'm writing at 8:30 in the morning on Wednesday and it is 7 pm there.  Matt will be speaking tonight at the Chapel, so you can be in prayer since his sleep has been very little.  They are all hoping to sleep well tonight and finally get on the new time!

Thanks for keeping him in prayer.  He thinks that he will be able to update his blog sometime tomorrow when they go into town.  Have a great Wednesday!

India Trip - First Meal Together - Chicago Airport

So this is the view inside the terminal at O'hare Airport in Chicago, IL. It's beginning to look alot like Christmas.

We shared our first meal as a team at a very "Mission Friendly" restaurant called, "Macaroni Grille." It was great.

By the way, special thanks to Ishana's "Hard workin' husband" for picking up the check!

Next stop... New Delhi, India.

India Trip - Day 1 - Leaving Fort Myers, FL for Chicago then on to Delhi, India

Hey everyone,

So this is the official site of the Next Level Church India Trip 2008. Below is a picture of the 8 of us in the Fort Myers Airport. It's gonna be an amazing trip!

Here are some specifics of the trip:

Leaving Fort Myers: 11:15 am Monday, November 17th, 2008

Leave Chicago, IL: 7:55 pm Monday Night

Arrive in Delhi, India Tuesday Night around 10 pm India time which is like 10 am Tuesday Morning, US time.

We leave Delhi at 5:55 am and arrive in Vasag, India, Home of the Christ for India Headquarters and Campus at 8 am Wednesday morning, November 19th, 2008, which is like 8 pm Tuesday night US Time.

You can subscribe to this blog to receive every update, it's free and easy, just click the link to the right on this page and follow the directions.

Thanks for tracking with us for the next 12 days.

Matt Keller & the I-Team

A Final Quote on Fear

Seth Godin says on page 44 of his book, "Tribes" that...

"In every organization everyone rises to the level at which they become paralyzed by fear."

Shut up! If you lead an organization like I do, you know how true that is. Fear is the single greatest limiter on our potential in life! I meet so many people who have great potential but who are falling short of it, simply because they have let fear win the battle for their success.

As you head into this weekend, I hope you'll spend sometime having a conversation with a friend or co-worker about where you may have some blind spots of fear in your life. Knowing where they aren't won't eliminate them, but it will help you push through them.

Just a bloggish thought,

Matt

Pray for our NLC Trip to India

On Monday, myself and 7 others leave on a Missions Trip to India. This will mark the first time that I have been to the other side of the world. 2 Things I need you to do for me:

1. Check this blog daily. (Or you can just subscribe by hitting the link to the right) I will be posting updates from our team as close to everyday as I can here at MattKellerOnline.com

2. Pray for us daily. We are going to be teaching in a pastor's conference for 3 days as well as taking day trips into a number of villages to do evangelistic crusades, etc. It's going to be powerful, but we also know we are in a spiritual battle, so please pray for us.

Thanks for tracking with us as we are in India. I know it's going to be a life-changing trip for many...

Matt Keller

3 Thoughts on Fear - Part 2

In Seth Godin's new book, "Tribes" he throws out another great quote on fear.

"The levers are here. The proof is here. The power is here. The only thing holding you back is your own fear!"

That is so true for so many of us today. We have been given everything we need to succeed, the only thing keeping us from achieving our dreams and living the kind of life we want to live is our own fear.

The key to success is not failing, it's getting up. Success goes to the person who gets up one more time then they fall down. You have everything you need to succeed, don't let fear hold you back!

That's a word for somebody,

Matt

3 Thoughts on Fear

I am rereading Seth Godin' new book, "Tribes" for the third time and this time it's really starting to get good. In one portion of the book (he doesn't use chapters) he writes about fear. The stuff is so good I just couldn't resist writing about myself. Seth says on page 42...

"Fear is the #1 reason people don't innovate. In a battle between two ideas, the best idea doesn't necessarily win, the one with the most fearless heretic behind it does."

Each of us have "Good Ideas" everyday. But for most of us, we can't get past our own fears long enough to actually see them come to pass. Until a leader is willing to step out and take a risk, they are by definition NOT LEADING!

When Seth refers to someone as a "heretic" he's of course not talking about the Biblical definition of a heretic, he's talking about someone who is crazy enough to let their passion for an idea propel them to keep pushing them envelope until they start a movement. (Seth calls it a tribe!)

? Got any good ideas that you are afraid to push to the front? ? On a scale of 1 to 10, how much are you allowing "FEAR" to hold you back from leading?

Just a bloggish thought,

Matt

3 More Lessons from the R9 Residency Intensive

#3: Seeing Others Shine is the Greatest Joy! Do you remember how the Apostle Paul said in a few of his writings to his readers: "You are my joy and my crown"? Well, I had the chance to feel that way this week. Barry and Christina Rice, who are church planters from Orlando, FL, came down and taught a couple of sessions for R9 and I was so proud listening to them tell their story! 2 years ago, they were on the brink of giving up and closing down their church. But over the last 2 years, as they have applied so many of the principles we were teaching this week, God has turned that around and they are now a thriving, growing church! I was so proud.

#4: Advancement starts with knowing the right questions to ask. As I mentioned yesterday the R9 church planters have great visions, but they don't know what they don't know. One of the greatest lessons we can learn is how to position ourselves in learning opportunities where we can uncover what it is we didn't know we didn't know. (Hope that made sense.)

Over the past 6 1/2 years, our journey at NLC has been one of trial and error trying to figure out the "Best Practices" for of how to do church in the coming generations. I get so excited know that there is now a program in place where pastors and church planters can learn from our mistakes and experiences.

#5: Potential + The Right Training = Proper Expectations & Proper Expectations + God = True Success!

The #1 reason church plants fail in the US today is because of unrealistic and unmet expectations. I believe the R9 residency will give church planters proper expectations and the result will be so many Life-Giving churches planted and raised up in the years ahead.

If you are interested in information on attending an R9 Residency, leave a comment here and we'll get in touch with you.

Matt Keller

The Premiere of the R9 Residency Program!

Over the last week, Next Level Church hosted 4 church planters for the 1st ever, R9 Church Planter's Residency Intensive. Each of the Church Planters are in the pre-launch phase of their churches. In fact, they are all launching on the same day: February 8th, 2009. The R9 was designed around 1 primary theory: Church Planters don't know the questions to ask before they launch. Therefore, we set out creating 9 Distinct Modules to Answer all of the questions that church planters don't know to ask... yet.

I have to tell you, the response was outstanding! Each day you could see new light bulbs coming on in their faces. Not to mention the, "I would have never thought of that..." on each break.

I am firmly convinced that the R9 has the potential to change the success rate of church planting not only for the ARC, but in general as well.

Today and tomorrow, I want to share a few things I Learned from the R9 Residents.

#1: Everyone has something to give. I firmly believe that no matter what stage of leadership or church growth you find yourself in, you have something to give to someone else. I challenged the Residents all week long that the best way to learn is to teach (that's the sub-title of this blog by the way). And I think they got it. Don't just read an article, rip it out and give it to someone. Don't just read a book, buy an extra one for someone else, or give it away when you finished reading it. Don't just listen to a CD, pass it on. May we create a movement of Never Learning Alone!

#2: We have Learned a lot. In pouring into these church planters for a week, I was reminded of how much God has taught us in this church planting process. We have been teaching these concepts for a few years now, but they were all scattered. R9 allowed me to see it all in one place.

How I Give Encouragement - Part 5

5. Give Encouragement Constantly.

Encouragement must be a constant in our leadership. We can never take our foot off the gas pedal when it comes to encouragement! It's one of the most important things we do as leaders everyday. People gravitate toward encouragers. Have you ever noticed that?

If you can find ways to keep genuinely encouraging the people around you, you'll never not have a crowd. People want to be encouraged. Plain and Simple.

When we master the art of encouragement, we master the art of leadership.

Have a great weekend,

Matt

The Up the Middle Church is Coming Soon!

The release of my new book, The Up the Middle Church, is coming soon! I should have the final proof in my hands within a week! I am so pumped! We are also working on all of the other stuff that goes with it, website, additional resources, promotional materials, etc.

Pray for the release of the book that God will get it into the right hands of so many pastors, leaders and churches that need the encouragement, so desperately!

Thanks, Matt

How I Give Encouragement - Part 4

4. Give Encouragement Hope-Fully.

If there is one thing people lack in their lives, it's hope. Every not only needs hope, but would love to have more hope. When we encouragement someone else, we deposit hope into their heart. Hope that they can be better than they are today. Hope that someone else in the universe actually thinks they have great value. And hope that their life is making a difference in the world around them.

We must work hard to connect our encouragement to vision. Both the big vision of our organization or company or family, but also to the specific vision of the person we're talking to. Encouragement connected to vision gives people hope that what they dream about can actually come true.

Just a bloggish thought,

Matt

Follow me on Twitter

Hey everyone if you haven't grabbed ahold of this whole Twitter thing, it's pretty stinkin' fun! It's a great way to keep up with people in your life.

The best way I can describe it is like, "Insta-blogging!" It happens in real time, so you can literally get text messages to your phone from other "tweets" (People who are twittering) about where they are and what they're doing in real time! It's a great way to keep up with friends, colleagues and mentors.

You can follow me by signing up and then searching for me. My twitter id is: @matthewkeller. If you blogging, you'll love twittering.

Matt

How I Give Encouragement - Part 3

3. Make Encouragement about Them, not you!

Something within us human beings has this natural drift toward selfishness. Often times, encouragement can subconsciously be the same way! Without even knowing it, we can make encouragement about us, not the person we're trying to encourage.

I mentioned a leader in my teenage years who was great at doing this. This person would give out compliments in an attempt to get others to compliment them. After a while, everyone in the room caught on to it and it actually backfired! Suddenly people were calling them out and ripping on this person. Which only made them more insecure. It was ugly.

Question of the Day: ? Why are you giving encouragement, really? Is it to genuinely encourage others, or to gain compliments from others?

Just a bloggish thought,

Matt

Today is Election Day! Go Vote!

Just a quick reminder to everyone in the blogosphere to go and vote! No excuses. This is OUR country! We have a right that several billion other people on the planet would die to have. Use it! Even if you have to wait in line! (Your poor planning doesn't make up for not using your freedom!)

Remember, if you don't vote today, then you cannot say ANYTHING about ANYTHING for the next 4 years! It's like American Idol, You can't comment in the morning, if you don't call in tonight!!!

Nothing you do today will be more important than that.

Matt Keller

How I Give Encouragement - Part 2

2. Make Encouragement Personal.

When it comes to encouraging those around us, the more personal we can make our encouragement, the better. General encouragement is fine, especially if there really is nothing else positive to say, but whenever possible, we must focus on Specific, Personal Encouragement.

The more specific a compliment is, the more power it holds for the individual. Whenever I speak, I always have people give me comments & compliments. (There's a big difference, by the way.) If someone says, "Matt, that was a great message." That's a nice enough comment, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily a compliment.

However, if someone says, "Matt, when you said _______, it really touched my heart! I have been living that right now, and God really used that statement to touch me." Now that's a compliment! Do you see the difference? The more specific our encouragement is, the more power our words hold.

Challenge: The next time you get ready to give someone a compliment, think of how you can make it more personal.

Just a bloggish thought,

matt

How I Give Encouragement

One of the most important things a leader does is give encouragement. Encouragement is to leadership, what Oxygen is to the soul. The people we lead cannot survive without it. Something within every human being makes us desperate for encouragement. Things die when there is no encouragement. When a married couple stops encouraging one another, their relationship begins to die. When teammates stop encouraging each other, the team begins to die. When leaders in organizations stop encouraging the people they lead, the organization begins to die.

So this week we're going to zero in on how I give encouragement... (I hope it encourages you! Get it?!?)
1. Give Encouragement Sincerely.

Nobody likes a fake. And the young generation emerging around us can see an imposter coming a mile away. When it comes to encouragement, we can't fake it.
People need our Sincere Encouragement.

When I was young in the faith, during my teenage years, I had a leader in my life who was the worst at this. Whenever we would be in a public setting somewhere, this person would begin throwing out untrue compliments to me. He would be praising things I HADN'T done! It was embarrassing because I couldn't correct them and I couldn't call this person on them.

This shaped my leadership in a profound way as a teenager because I learned I never wanted to do that to anyone else! I didn't like the way it made me feel, & I didn't want anyone else to have to feel that way either. I could see that what they really wanted was for someone to compliment them.

? How are you at encouraging? ? On a scale of 1 to 10, How would the people around you rate you in the realm of encouragement? ? Do you give encouragement sincerely?

Just a bloggish thought,

matt