05.17.13
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My Family

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This is my family.  Well part of it.  The other patriarch is behind the camera taking this awesome picture.  That’s Emersyn in my arms.  We call her E a lot, but that’s just because we say Emersyn so much your mouth gets tired.  The hobbled one, that’s Isaiah.  He’s a bit accident prone lately.  Back in November he broke his arm and got 12 stitches in his forehead. Here he has a broken leg.  We took a family day on Mother’s Day to Big South Fork and had a great time until E’s head met a rock.  See…accident prone.  But she’s fine.  

I just wanted to take a second and show you my family I love so much.  Myself, Denira and our two kids appreciate all of you that read this blog, follow us on Twitter (@bobbywilliams & @denira) or other networks.  If we can serve you in any way, always feel free to send us an email through the site.  

05.16.13
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How I Use Evernote To Prepare Sermons

I use Evernote.  A lot.

Evernote is a cross-platform application I use on my laptop, iPad and iPhone to collect ideas, write down thoughts/notes, and keep everything organized.

One of the things I use Evernote most for, is to collect ideas, thoughts, notes and sermon illustrations.  By setting up a folder in Evernote for these things, no matter where I am, I have a place to put these thoughts quickly, so I can go back and process them later.  Here’s how I do it….

SET UP SPECIFIC FOLDERS

I have these folders set up in my Evernote pertaining to preaching:

  • SERMON SERIES IDEAS- Pretty obvious what this one is.  Any time an idea for a series comes into mind, I put it here.  Twice a year I sit down and think and pray through where the Lord wants to take our church and what series to do.  I will reference this folder during that time.  I’ve used a lot of ideas here, but there are others that are still sitting and soaking. 
  • SERMON ILLUSTRATIONS- Any time that I run across a blog post, an article I’ve read online, or anything that I want to use a possible illustration, I put it here.  Be sure tag it well, that way when you are searching for the perfect illustration or information, you can find it easily.  Something I am just starting to do is put excerpts from books here.  If you read paper books this is a little time consuming, but worth it to use things you’ve read.  I’m starting to read a lot more books digitally using iBooks and Kindle just because it’s easier to send my highlighted content to Evernote.  When I use one of these illustrations, date it so you don’t over use it.  Let it rest a year or more before using it again.
  • QUOTES- One of the best places to find quotes is on Twitter.  I will favorite a quote then send it to my Evernote email address.  I will also file other quotes I run across here.   I have also started to put dates beside quotes I use in messages so I don’t over use them, like with the illustrations.
  • MESSAGES- My rough draft and notes for each week’s message is filed in Evernote.  I will take an entire series, and create a sub-folder for each week of the series.  As I run across notes, bible verses, commentaries, video links etc, I file these in that week’s specific message sub-folder.  After I compile my notes, I also do my rough draft of that message in these folders so it’s searchable after I do my final edit, which is done in Google Drive.

That’s how I use Evernote to pull together weekly messages that I preach.  No matter what messages or speeches you are doing, Evernote is a powerful tool that will make pulling together info for talks, much easier.

Check out Michael Hyatt’s blog, as he posts a lot about Evernote as well as Ron Edmonson’s blog and get his E-book Evernote For Pastors.  Also, Michael Lukaszewski’s blog for using Evernote for a lot of other purposes besides just speaking.

05.15.13
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Victory Has Made You Weak (Free Resources)

I love Batman: The Dark Night Rises.  It has to be in my top 5 favorite movies of all time.  Not only is it a great movie to watch and be entertained, it also has a few lines in it that are very powerful. 

In the scene where Batman and Bane face off (the first time), Batman gets his tail kicked.  As Bane is whipping Batman around, he says “Victory has made you weak.”  That’s so powerful.  If you’ll remember, Batman entered that scene puffed up, over confident and unaware of what he was about to face.  He had beaten everything and everyone he’d faced up to this point.  And this time, because of his over-confidence, he got his teeth kicked in. 

Sometimes in church world, victory without examination and evaluation can make us weak.  This isn’t about over examination; this is about understanding.  Knowing why something worked is just as powerful as knowing why something did not work.  

The event went great, but WHY did it go great?  

That staff member is doing a great job.  But what are they doing to do a great job?

There’s been an increase in attendance.  But why?  What are you doing? 

If you don’t know why and how then a church or organization can get puffed up thinking they can just do anything or throw anything out there and because their name is on it, it will succeed.  This is dangerous, prideful, and sinful.  

If something you’re doing has worked or is working, understand why and how.  And never forget the power of the Holy Spirit in what you’re doing.  It’s probably more about the favor of God than anything else.  

Do you have an evaluation system?  Do you evaluate things that work as much as the things that didn’t work? 

Here is a SERMON EVALUATION FORM and SERMON SERIES DEBRIEF EVALUATION form you can customize and use, FREE

**Sermon evaluation form courteous of PREACHING ROCKET**

05.14.13
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How To Make Your Sermon Better This Sunday

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If we’re all honest, we would say we could all use help at getting to be a better communicator.  The best communicators I know, will take something that is naturally complex, and make it simple.  As pastors, that should be part of what we do each Sunday; take the complex and make it simple.

Don’t be fooled; simple doesn’t mean easy and simple doesn’t mean shallow.  Simple means clear and understandable.  If your messages are not clear and they’re not understandable, you’re missing the point.

If you’re like me, and you want to make your messages each week “simple”, then I highly encourage you to sign up for and watch this FREE PREACHING EVENT on Thursday May 16th called Preach Better Sermons.  It’s being replayed JUST FOR YOU.

Learn from guys like Steven Furtick, Andy Stanley, Mark Driscoll, Jon Acuff, Donald Miller, Pete Wilson and other world-renown preachers and communicators.  It’s from 4pm – 8pm and well worth the time you’ll invest in it.  And it’s FREE.  

Ask yourself (seriously right now) “do I want to be a better communicator?”  If your answer is YES (and it should be) then GET SIGNED UP TODAY FOR THIS FREE EVENT.

05.13.13
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My Takeaways From the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast

Friday I had the opportunity to attend the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast broadcast at Faith Promise Church in Knoxville.  The live event was in Atlanta.  I went into the day not knowing what to expect since I had never been.  But now having been, I can say that this will be on the list to attend next year with our team.  It was one of the best events I’ve attended in awhile not just because of the content (which was top-notch) but also because of the format.  I really liked the speakers broke into sessions and one after the other with not a lot of music or junk in between.

Besides the great leadership takeaways from the event, the other thing I paid close attention to was how each communicator presented their talk.  I learned a little from that as well and will share that later this week.

HUGE thanks to The Legacy Centere (@knoxleadercast) for the ticket this year.  So blessed to be able to go!

I wanted to give one takeaway from each speaker, but because it was so good, I think I will give one to two takeaways from each one.  However, I took way more than that. *These may not be exact quotes: just what I got out of it*

ANDY STANLEY

  • Complexity is the enemy of clarity. Growth creates complexity that requires clarity
  • Constantly ask; what am I doing? Why are we doing it?  Where do I fit in?

DAVID ALLEN

  • “I need more time” is a bad excuse.  We all have 24 hours. What we need is space to think- margin- room to think- room to get simple
  • Pay attention to what has your attention

HALLERIN HILL *Hal spoke live at the Knoxville location*

  • Leaders believe. That’s the first thing.  Without belief, there is no second thing
  • Leaders believe in possibility (why) purpose (what) people (who) path (how)

DR. HENRY CLOUD

  • Create necessary endings: Gotta cut good to get to great
  • If everything is important, nothing is important

JOHN MAXWELL

  • Add value to people everyday.  This is how you lead.  People will follow you if you add value to them
  • Our problem is we are trying to find a leader to solve our problems.  No.  Be the leader to solve the problem

JACK WELCH

  • Big doesn’t have to be complicated
  • Good leaders have a generosity gene: give it away.
  • Over deliver every time- just enough doesn’t make it great (ok I had to add 3- it was too good)

**I also really enjoyed Condoleeza Rice, Rorke Denver and Sonya Richards-Rice**