Steven Furtick's Blog, page 91

Elevation Creative Couch, Episode 1

Being the author, designer and creator of the heavens and earth, it’s very clear that we serve a creative God. And we are created in God’s image, which means we are also creative. Whether you are a songwriter, accountant, stay-at-home mom, or anything in between, God has placed creativity inside you. Recently, Pastor Steven sat down with a few of the creatives at Elevation Church (Lead Video Producer Jared Hogan and Worship Leader Chris Brown) as well as Grammy award-winning worship leader Israel Houghton to discuss creativity in the church and in our daily lives.

Why God Lets Your Dreams Die

You prayed. You hoped. You gave. You tried. And it failed. Scripture never tells us the Christian life will be the easiest road or the most clean-cut story. But what kind of God plants something in your heart, only to let it die? What’s the point in that? And what does that say about God? In part 3 of our series GREATER, Pastor Steven teaches us about the true character of God when it seems like we’ve wasted our faith.

From the Archive: Think Big, Start Small

A couple of years ago I read Malcolm Gladwell’s classic, The Tipping Point, and came across something that sociologists call “the broken window theory.”

It has been one of the most powerful and helpful tools for helping me understand why so many Christians get stuck and live the sad existence of miserable mediocrity and comfortable complacency. And for how to get out of it.

“The broken window theory” says that if want to reduce crime in a neighborhood, one of the first and most effective things you can do is to fix the broken windows. Literally. If there’s a section of town that’s run down and violent crime, murders, and drug deals are on the upswing, sociologists have proven that by just fixing the broken windows on that block, those bigger issues are affected and crime is diminished.

That seems preposterous to me. You’ve got this big problem and you’re going to go waste your time doing something as simple as fixing a broken window? That’s like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as it heads toward the iceberg isn’t it?

But it works. Apparently it has to do with sending a signal that anarchy is no longer the rule of the day and that crime is no longer the status quo.

So what is at the heart of the “broken window theory?” If you boil it down, you essentially have two parts: 1) A big goal: reduce crime. 2) A small start: fix windows. But it’s the small start that makes the big goal possible.

From my experience, this is very true to form as far as what I’ve seen in people’s lives that don’t seem to have any traction and aren’t going anywhere. The problem isn’t just that they don’t think big enough. It’s also that they don’t start small enough. As a result, they usually give up quickly, because their initial steps are too difficult. Or they never get started at all, because their initial steps are too daunting.

A big dream without a small start is nothing but a daydream. God initiates the biggest changes in our lives through the little things.

You can’t have Apostle Paul’s walk with God overnight. Big dream.

But you can start praying two minutes a day starting tomorrow. Small start.

You can’t entirely mend a broken relationship overnight. Big dream.

But you can have a conversation and open the door, write the letter, make the call, say I’m sorry. Small start.

If your kid is far from God, you can’t bring him back overnight. Big dream.

But you could start praying for him every day. Small start.

Don’t get me wrong, I want you to keep believing, praying, and dreaming big. God does too – it’s in His very nature. But I also want you to see those big prayers and dreams realized. And that happens when you start small.

What small start can you initiate today that will get you on the path to accomplishing your big dream tomorrow?

This blog post was originally posted on October 4, 2011

Why You Can’t Back Down

Is it possible that we dream too small? Have our goals become less than impressive? When did we become tired Christians, operating from a place of less faith and power than the world? In this clip from Get Back, Pastor Steven inspires us to leave lukewarm living behind as we move the Gospel forward for the next generation.

Behind the Song: I Have Decided

For their upcoming album, Elevation Worship used the 12 different chapters of Pastor Steven’s new book Greater as the source for the themes for 12 new worship songs. Many of the concepts and teachings from Greater originated first as sermons Pastor Steven preached in our church, so it seemed both fitting and cohesive to write worship music that drew from the same inspiration. The following clip is a behind-the-scenes look at one of those songs – “I Have Decided” that we showed in our weekend worship experience.

Click here to buy music and download chord charts from Elevation Worship.

Where You Should Want It All To End

We are always on the move. At every point in our lives, we are advancing toward God’s calling or walking away from it. Sometimes we take incredible leaps of faith or simply consistent steps of obedience. Other times we hesitate to claim God’s promises or ignore His prompting altogether. In this clip from the sermon series, Where are They Now? Pastor Steven challenges us to live in such a way that leaves us in land God promised.

The Relationship Between Faith And Works

As Christians, our faith is far more than just rolling the dice with our prayers, hoping and wishing for God to do greater things in our lives. Having faith requires participation too. We see this over and over again throughout the Bible. The people God uses to accomplish greater things not only want God to move in their lives, but are also willing to work through their faith. And in this clip from part two of our series GREATER, Pastor Steven helps us redefine what an active faith in God really looks like.

From the Archive: The Compound Effect

While reading I recently encountered an idea called the principle of compound effect. The basic concept is that small but consistent habits and incremental changes add up to pay big dividends over time.

For example, putting a dollar a day into a mutual fund might not seem like a big investment. But over time, the accumulated deposits and their interest will add up to something exponentially greater than the initial investment itself.

From my experience, this principle isn’t just limited to the realm of finances or business practices. It applies to every area of life. Your work ethic. Your relationships. Your personal development. Even your walk with God.

Most people tend to take the approach of trying to make large, periodic investments in order to initiate growth in these areas. And usually because they have fallen behind. You get behind on your work, so you wake up every morning at four for a week to get caught up. Your marriage is struggling, so you go to a conference. You feel distant from God, so you rededicate your life.

Sometimes it’s necessary to do these things. But rather than having to periodically overhaul your life to make up for deficiencies, adopting the smallest daily habits might be the best path towards excellence and long-term sustainable growth. Anyone can put in a lot of work for a short amount of time to get their game back up to par. But the people who do this usually slip afterwards because they did not learn to do the small things that could have kept them up to par and moving forward the whole time.

I’ve recently challenged my staff to begin improving their areas of responsibility by just one percent every day. To be one percent better in their communication. Their efficiency. Their performance. And to then in turn challenge the people they lead to do the same.

One percent is manageable, identifiable, and attainable. And it’s a daily increase and deposit that over time will take our church to an exponentially greater level than the work we’re putting in to get there. And without us ever losing a step and having to make up ground.

In your own life, imagine what would happen if you committed to improving yourself by one percent a day every day for the next year. If you committed to improving your parenting abilities. Or the way you love and honor your spouse. Or your eating habits. Or your spiritual disciplines.

Nothing would be drastically different initially. But a year from now you would discover that you would be a completely new person.

And that’s because it’s often the smallest things done consistently that have the greatest potential to change everything.

Originally posted August 12, 2010

When You’re Tired of Trying to Impress God

So often as Christians, we live our lives as if we are auditioning for God’s love. We put on smiles, rehearse our lines, and spend our time waiting on God’s callback. We crave His affirmation and we’re crushed when we feel like we don’t measure up. In this clip from Living a Better Story, Pastor Steven gives us a unique challenge that can break this pattern in our lives and set us free to live as God intended.

Elevation Creative: God Is Greater

Through the use of video, motion graphics, dance, & live production, “God Is Greater” was the combined effort of our entire creative team. The goal of the piece was to creatively represent the Holy Spirit being greater within us than anything we could ever do ourselves. The piece set the stage for our worship experience as we discovered how to live a greater life in Christ for His glory.