Here they are…the top ten most visited posts that I wrote in 2009:
9 - New Years Resolutions are a Complete Waste
8 - Design a Logo. Win $250. Serve God.
7 - Vision Twitch
5 - My Buddy Elijah and my Failure
4 – Sam and Esther
2 – Update on Amber
1 – We are moving
In 6th grade, I started writing out my life goals list. Each year, I make adjustments and go for it.
I am big on goal setting. I just refuse to drift through life. Most people spend more time planning their summer vacation than they do planning their life out. I think that’s a tragedy.
These are not resolutions. Resolutions stink. These are GOALS. This list isn’t all of my 2010 goals, it doesn’t include all of the details, and they are not in any order. I did pretty good knocking out most of my 2009 goals. Here is the 2010 list:
Bring it on 2010!!!
I will be posting my personal goals for 2010 soon.
Today, I’ll share some thoughts on how worthless New Year’s resolutions are.
Each year I spend a week or so setting some personal goals for the year. Here are the steps I take to set and acheive my goals:
STEP ONE – PRAY: Include God in your goal setting. Pray about what you want to do this year and before you put any of it down on paper ask God to convict you of any un-pure or selfish motives.
STEP TWO – KNOW THAT RESOLUTIONS REEK: I never make resolutions. For the most part, the resolutions that I see people make are more like wishes. Wishing won’t get you anywhere.
STEP THREE – BE SPECIFIC: Goals are different. They are concrete, attainable, and specific. For example, every new year tons of people say, “My new years resolution is to lose weight.” AWESOME! But, if we could focus a little more and say exactly how much weight we want to lose, a date we want to lose it by, and what the benefits to losing it will be, we are more likely to be successful to reach our goals.
STEP FOUR – PLAN: Another important step we miss when making New Year’s resolutions is a plan. If you want to meet a goal, you have to have a plan. Write out a few action steps for each goal and as you are in the process of achieving your goals, make the necessary changes in your strategy. If part of your plan isn’t working, change the plan.
STEP FIVE – DIVIDE AND CONQUER: To often we divide our energies between too many directions. We make a long list of habits to break and changes to make…and we defeat ourselves before we ever start the new year. Narrow your list of goals down to the few that are most important to you and concentrate your energies on those. When you’ve achieved success with those, then you can begin work on other areas. When I set personal goals, I also prioritize the goal list…this helps me divide and conquer!
STEP SIX– REST STOPS: Reward yourself along the way. Some goals are incredibly hard to reach. That means, it is important to take those rest stops along the way. Rewards inspire us to success and keep us laser focused.
If we all set some New Year’s Goals each year rather than being wishful and making those ridiculous resolutions that reek, I am convinced that we would be more successful at actually reaching them.
Here is part two. Part one is here.
2005 – In 2005 I learned that youth ministry was NOT what God had called me to despite all the people telling me that to be a pastor you had to do youth ministry first. Why did I ever listen to that bologna?
Early in 2005 we moved to be on staff at The Connection Church in Kyle, TX. At the time TCC was a brand new church plant just months into starting. Cole Phillips hired me on as basically the pastor of everything I could possibly do. I had to raise my own salary to go on staff and learned a lot about fundraising, leadership and vision casting through that experience. Again, I had no idea, but God was prepping me to launch Revolution Church.
2006 - Up until this year, everything I did was about being a leader and leadership. I had basically been repeatedly “baptized by fire” into leadership opportunities but never had truly learned to follow. Through 2006, God moved in crazy ways by teaching me what it meant to be a follower. It seemed like every time I prayed God answered “follow your pastor Zak” (which was Cole Phillips at the time.) I can’t remember ever growing so much in my relationship with Christ during any other time in my life.
2007 – My son, Couper Jay White was born on March 31st, 2007. He was born six weeks early and we spent his first week in the hospital. Couper’s birth made the idea that God gave His ONLY Son COME TO LIFE for me. God taught me about the urgency of the Gospel message and showed me that I MUST depend on Him. Again, prep for Revolution Church.
2008 – Talk about a LONG year. God started jacking with me about my life mission at the start of 2008. I reached one of my life-goals by running my first full marathon which gave me some confidence that maybe I actually could do this crazy thing that I felt like God was calling me to do. I also felt like God was moving me out of that season that began in 2006 where I was learning to follow, back into a full on leadership role.
2009 – Over the first few months of 2009, I prayed 100 hours about planting a church after being challenged to do so by Bil Cornelius. I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life. To keep a long story short, Revolution Church was birthed!
To conclude this series of posts, I believe that looking back helps us move forward. I am big on goal setting; I can’t help it. I just refuse to drift through life. Most people spend more time planning their summer vacation than they do planning their life out. I think that’s a tragedy.
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