NLC's Day of Prayer and Fasting - January

Hey everybody,

Thanks for praying today!  Here's how you can pray specifically today & all month...

1.  Pray for NLC's Future Facility. We're excited to be getting closer on what NLC's future home could look like. In fact, we're going to be making some big announcements on Sunday, February 7th!!! Pray for God's continued favor as we plan and prepare through the month of January.

2.  Pray for our NLC Staff. Pray for protection over staff families and marriages as we enter into a new season of growth, opportunity and influence as a church. Pray for wisdom in leadership decisions.

3.  Pray for "Our Communities" downtown. Palmetto Courts, Sabal Palms and Southward Village. Pray for single moms and children specifically to be lifted! We're making a difference one family at a time! Pray for our 3rd Saturday Serve Day, January 16th!

4.  Pray for our Missionaries. Specifically for Luke Walter's daughter, Katie who was in a horrible car accidentin November and continues to be in recovery. It's a miracle that she's alive!!! Pray for Luke and Sandi and their other children that the peace of God would surround them!

• Also for Christ for India; Jameson, Johnson and Mary Titus.


• Kelly and Kathy Johnson in Kenya, Africa as they train pastors and plant churches.


• Mark & Stephanie Pyles in the Dominican Republic as they plant "Next Generation" Churches in Santiago.

5.  The People of NLC. For provision and jobs. For promotions and miracles.  Pray for marriages to be strong & kids to be wise. Pray for favor with neighbors and family they are trying to serve with the love of Christ.

6.  Pray for Health in the New Year for the People of NLC. This Sunday, January 10th, we're launching our Healthy Life 2010 Series. Pray that hearts will be open to the messages on moving toward greater health in the areas of our spiritual life, our relationships, our finances, and our physical bodies as well.

Thanks again for Fasting and Praying today.  For more info on fasting go to:  www.NextLevelChurch.com/fasting

Pastor Matt

Dealing with "The Pride Inside"

I’ve been doing a lot studying on “The Insecure Leader” for a book I’m hoping to write in the future, and I would love your feedback on the particular issue of “Pride.” Let me set it up…

One of the three great issues leaders (& particularly male leaders) struggle with is Pride. If that’s one of the top 3, then, it’s obviously a HUGE deal for a whole lot of us, if not all of us on some level.

So, since the Bible says in Proverbs that, “Pride comes before a fall,” then this issue is a Paramount one we must deal with in order to lead successfully in our lives, our families, our ministries and our careers.

Here are a couple of pieces of clarity I uncovered recently, weigh in and help me process this:

1.  Pride creates a False Sense of Invincibility in the heart of a Leader.

When we allow Pride to fog our vision as a leader, we begin to make decisions with a belief that says, “I can’t lose.” What a dangerous place to be, especially when you think that there are people involved; namely, those who work for us, follow us and are watching us.

Sooner or later a pride-filled leader will take one step too far because of this Invincibility thinking and will ultimately end up “falling” as the Bible says.

2.  Pride creates a False Sense of Foundation.

A second danger of pride in the life of a leader is the illusion of a strong foundation when in reality the foundation of our organization may be unhealthy or weak. Pride causes us to believe the foundation is more solid than it actually is in reality.

The end result is a leader who builds a structure too tall for the foundation to hold and eventually the building caves in on itself.

3.  Pride is one of the hardest things to see in the mirror.

Perhaps the greatest revelation about pride I’ve seen lately is that it’s one of the hardest things to see in the mirror of a leader’s life, which makes it one of the most dangerous vices of all! Pride is a self-insulator. In other words, pride has a self-protecting mechanism built right in to itself, so that if and when someone tries to point it out, it will instantly pushback and not allow any sort of idea in.

So what do we do about Pride in our Lives?

Secure leaders proactively invite accountability into the reality of their leadership. They invite those closest to them to be on constant lookout for prideful things that may emerge in the vocabulary or actions of a leader. If we don’t invite that type of accountability, those around us who are most able to see prideful areas in us will not feel comfortable to draw our attention to them, thus perpetuating pride’s ugly existence in our life.

If we’re going to be Secure Leaders, then we must deal proactively with Pride in our lives.

Matt Keller