Pastor Sonia was dropping some nuggets during our first Plain English LIVE! 👀🔥 One of the things she said that really stuck with me was this: Just because someone has incredible gifts and the church could use those gifts RIGHT NOW doesn’t mean they’re in the season to give them right now. Whew... As leaders, sometimes our need can cause us to rush somebody else’s process. We see the gift. We see the open position and we know they could help us. But good leadership isn’t just recognizing what somebody can do. It’s also being sensitive to what God is doing in them. That’s the difference between using people and developing people. 🎥 Premium Members: Our first Plain English LIVE, “Volunteerism Is Not An Assembly Line,” is now available in the Classroom. Pastor Sonia and I go much deeper into this conversation about developing healthy volunteer cultures. And for everybody in our FREE community, we’ll continue dropping clips, conversations and practical nuggets like this right here. Here’s the question: Have you ever seen someone pushed into leadership because they were gifted before they were actually ready? What happened?

Tonight at 7 PM CT, Sonia and I are hosting our very first Plain English LIVE for our Premium community! And we're starting with a conversation I think a LOT of pastors and leaders need to have: VOLUNTEERISM IS NOT AN ASSEMBLY LINE Here's the question we're wrestling with tonight: Are we actually developing the people God has given us...or are we just finding bodies to fill positions? Because there's a difference. Sometimes in church leadership, we can get so focused on everything that needs to get done that we start looking at people primarily through the lens of what they can do for the organization. We need another usher. We need somebody in kids ministry. We need another worship team member. We need somebody to lead this group. And before long, leadership can start feeling like an assembly line where we're constantly trying to move people into the next open position. But Ephesians 4 doesn't tell leaders to fill positions. It tells us to equip people. And that's a VERY different responsibility. So before we get together tonight, I want to hear from you: What's the difference between USING a volunteer and DEVELOPING a volunteer? And if you've ever served somewhere where you genuinely felt developed as a person instead of simply used to accomplish a task, what did that leader do differently? Drop your thoughts below. 👇🏾 Then Premium Family, meet us back here tonight at 7 PM CT! Bring your experiences. Bring your questions. Bring your disagreements too. 😂 Because this isn't a lecture. We're having a conversation. 🔥 Plain English LIVE Tonight | 7 PM CT Premium Members

One of the things I’ve noticed about marriage is that the longer you’re together, the easier it becomes to notice everything your spouse isn’t doing. The thing they forgot. The thing you’ve asked them to do 37 times. 😂 The habit that gets on your nerves. The area where you wish they would grow. And if you’re not careful, you can become so focused on what’s wrong that you stop noticing everything that’s right. One of the principles we teach in The 5 Laws of Protecting Your Marriage is: "You will always find what you’re looking for." If you constantly look for reasons to be frustrated with your spouse, I promise you’ll find them. You married a human being. 😂 But the opposite is also true, as there are probably things your spouse does every single week that you’ve gotten so accustomed to that you don’t even acknowledge them anymore. So here’s your weekend challenge: Before Sunday night, tell your spouse THREE things you genuinely appreciate about them. Not something generic. Be specific and tell them something they do that makes your life better. Tell them something you admire about who they are. Tell them something they’ve done recently that you noticed but maybe never acknowledged. And here’s the rule: Don’t attach a complaint to it! 😂 No...“I appreciate how hard you work, BUT I wish you were home more.” We’re not doing that. 😂 We need ya'll to just let appreciation be appreciation. Sometimes changing the atmosphere in your marriage doesn’t begin with some huge breakthrough. Sometimes it starts by intentionally looking for something good...and then intentionally saying it out loud. For those of us who are married, let's make a point of making this happen over the course of this weekend!