Eric Geiger - a Husband, Father, Author, Vice-President of LifeWay Church Resources

In June a book on discipleship I have been honored to co-author with Philip Nation and Michael Kelley will be released. The book is built on what the Scripture teaches us about discipleship but it is informed greatly by a massive LifeWay Research project designed to discover how people in churches mature in their faith.  

One of the simple discoveries in the research is the importance of a believer investing time in the Bible. I know this to be true personally, and the research strongly shows that growing believers continually encounter the grace of God through His Word.  

Most likely you have multiple Bibles in your house; big ones, little ones, camouflage ones, men’s ones, women’s ones, ones for leaders or fisherman, etc. Growing believers move from having a Bible in their house to planting the Bible deeply in their hearts (Psalm 119:11).  

So today, I am giving away 5 copies of Reading God's Story. It is a daily, chronological Bible that helps the reader understand the grand narrative of Scripture.  

To enter, simply comment below and let us know how your life has been impacted by Scripture. I'll pick five winners at the end of the day.

My friend and uber blogger Tony Morgan asked me to answer some questions for leaders who read his blog. I am posting here as well...

Tony: One thing leaders should consider stopping?

Something good that is stealing energy and resources from the best...

For church leaders, this may be a program that yields little fruit or a meeting that is always on the calendar but never results in any life-giving ministry decisions. A lot of leaders stress better time management to their teams, but if teams are devoting energy to ineffective ministries or programs, then time management only makes the waste more efficient. And who wants more efficient waste? More efficient waste never changed the world.

For this reason, a "stop doing" list is actually more important than a "start" list because only when you stop doing something will you have liberated energy and resources for what matters more. As Von Goethe said, "Things that matter the most must never be at the mercy of things that matter the least."

Some may argue that all the waste has already been eliminated, that everyone is operating at full capacity on what matters most. But such an argument is actually a confession that additional capacity has not been developed. The person has just admitted he or she has stopped growing as a leader or stopped growing the people he or she serves. The truth is that when we grow our teams and ourselves, there is new margin because organizational capacity has been raised. In the same way, business process consultants articulate that whenever a process is improved, new waste is created through greater productivity. The art of leadership is focusing the newly created energy on what produces the most value, which leads to Tony's second question:

Tony: One thing leaders should consider starting?

Placing more resources and energy on what is the most fruitful...

Richard Koch in his book The 80/20 Principle builds the case that 20 percent of what we do accounts for 80 percent of the impact. According to him, if 80/20 thinking had not been in place when a strategy was designed, then the strategy would be deeply flawed. Once you have decided what needs to be stopped, take the energy and resources and reallocate them toward what is most fruitful. In most churches, the less fruitful ministries continually rob resources and energy from the most fruitful. Imagine the impact on the church and the community if the focus was less divided.

For a church leader, this may mean stopping a meeting so you have more time to develop leaders. It may mean eliminating a redundant program so that financial resources and the energy of volunteers can be focused in one direction for greater impact.

Last weekend when I preached at Christ Fellowship, I was so encouraged to see the video below during the announcements. My heart was warmed because it was a small and practical picture of a passage that helped shape our local mission strategy.  

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It's the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it's taller than the vegetables and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches. (Matt. 13:31-32) 

Jesus told His disciples that His kingdom would have a small start, just as a mustard seed starts small. From a human perspective, His arrival on this earth was a minor and unnoticed event to the vast majority of humanity (stable in Bethlehem rather than palace in Rome coupled with unlearned ordinary disciples). But His kingdom did not and will not stay small. What Jesus declared would happen is being fulfilled. His kingdom is now a large plant, a growing tree. But the parable does not end with a growing kingdom… 

Jesus also told His disciples that “the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.” That phrase took the disciples back to several Old Testament passages describing earthly kingdoms that were so powerful and fruitful that even people outside of those kingdoms benefited. The disciples knew the story of the Assyrian kingdom, a kingdom that at one time was so strong that other nations were impacted and influenced by the Assyrians—a kingdom where “all the birds of the sky nested in its branches” (Ezek. 31:6). 

The disciples also knew the story of the Babylonian kingdom. In Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a tree that was strong enough and large enough for people scattered throughout the world to see. Tons of fruit hung on the tree, enough for everyone to eat, and “the birds of the air lived in its branches” (Dan. 4:12). Nebuchadnezzar asked Daniel to interpret his dream. Daniel told the king of Babylon, “You are that tree.” Daniel was essentially telling Nebuchadnezzar, “Your kingdom, the Babylonian kingdom, is so fruitful, so influential, that others are impacted by your influence. Nations are finding comfort, security, and food in the tree that is your kingdom.”

The vision Jesus articulated to His disciples was that the kingdom of God will be such an influential and powerful movement in the culture that those outside the kingdom of God will benefit from its influence. People will rest and receive shelter in its branches. For this reason, the community in which a church resides should benefit from her presence.  

We desire Miami to benefit from our church’s existence. Because Christ tangibly served us, we want to tangibly serve our community. Because of the incarnation, we are motivated to step into the culture around us with the good news of Jesus.  

Also funny in the video is how uncomfortable CF pastors are in suits.