Tory Farina

What a week... part1

Ill try and recap things as they happened starting with Sunday and then moving through today.

Sunday- It was another great week. We saw people respond to the message of

Stop... when the fires of live start to rage.

Drop... to your knee and get below the smoke of the situation.

Roll... Let things roll of your back and leave them in Gods hands.

It was another good attendance day. I am encouraged because whenever you do a mailer you are unsure of the results but I feel like this has been our best turn out from the mailer and our best season of keeping those who are visiting. It has been a lot of fun.

Don't miss this week. There are still some spots open for the blood drive.

Monday... I spent the morning with E and O. They are my favorite people to spend a morning with. We made some chicken tortilla bean soup. It is so good and good for you as well. I love my wife's cooking.

Then I hit a plane for Springfield Missouri. I tell you this is the strangest place to have the National Headquarters for the Assemblies of God which is the credentialing organization that our Pastoral team is connected with. I got in around 7:30 and met up with some of my blogging friends. Paul Stewart, Mark Batterson, Brad Leach, Jeff Leake and George P.Wood. We went to a little dive called Mexican Villa that was Marks trip down memory lane. He told us stories and had to take a picture or two. I on the other hand left my camera in my bag in the car.

Paul my best friend who is going to Des Moines as there small group pastor and I spent and hour or two being friends and talking life with one another. We have both been walking through some stressful days.

It is always good to step away from life for a few hours this trip was less than 48 hours but it was a gauntlet, But I came home much more relaxed.

Ill tell you more in a few... I have an uncle in law speaking at North Central University today and Have to go support the team.

Loosing the brain

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20789371/site/newsweek/

This is an article that talks about the discipline of fasting to help our bodies get closer to God. It says that medical when we fast the lack of sugar and fat to the brain can make our brain a little looser and allow it to interact with God in a new and fresh way. I often need to get my brain loose. I hear God easier when I am not standing in the way.

Fasting and Prayer Wednesday

I was a freshman in college and was asked to come down to Florida for a national prayer and fasting event. I was flattered to attend and was going to be praying with my dad at the event. There in the back room of the event I meet a man who challenged me to be a person who doesn't just pray but to be a person of prayer and fast. The difference is that one is an event... the other is a lifestyle. Bill Bright was the man who challenged me. Here are some of his thoughts on prayer and fasting.

http://www.billbright.com/howtofast/

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

I am at the office with some great worship music playing. My heart is crying out to God... I am in prayer for the amazing things that god wants to do...

• In my life- I am so in need of you God. Teach me to be a better father, lover, boss, friend and worshiper. I submit my life again to you God. Help me to make decisions not in self perseverance mode but in Your Kingdom first mode. Show me how I can be more submitted to you. Take away anything that distracts from my being close to you. I love you deeply. I thank you that you have given me so many blessings. It is always baffling that I get to do what I love, in a town I love, with the people I love.  Thank you God for your amazing Providence. Thank you for your spirit. Give me wisdom, as I need it more today than I ever have.
• In my family- God thank you for the blessing of this little Girl. Give Elizabeth and I the abilities to lead her into a better future. Your will be done in our family. Show us how to spend our resources well. How to manage what you give and provide. May your presence always be found in our family. Build us strong in your presence and compassionate towards those who do not know you. God give me wisdom to challenge my family into the family that you have created us to be.
• In my Church- God Pour your spirit on this church. May we be your hands and feet in the community. May you be made famous because we are so passionate about what you do. Build our volunteers and help them to see and be passionate about the vision of High Point and building your kingdom. May we be the most welcoming place in the Twin Cities. Heal the sick... Raise the spiritually dead... Break the chains of sickness, addiction and demonic interference. May we as a church "Live our Potential" in and for you. Help this mailer to reach people who are prepared to reserve it. Bring in visitors. Help our connection groups to be the best they can be where we develop our faith together and sharpen one another. Keep us focused on you.
• In my community- I am praying for four people in my neighborhood who I want God to become known in there life... And that they would come to church on the Sunday when I invite them. Raise the level of your presence and fame in this community. Holy Spirit have your way in our lives and in our homes. Break the strong holds in this city that keep us distracted from you. Open up an opening and interest to your presence.

God Lead us on in You. Thank you for challenging us in a deeper way. Amen!

I would love to hear your comments about what you prayed about or maybe what God spoke to you when you prayed. Live your Potential!

The Half Mile Hill...

I was running today and on the 3.5 mile route I choose I had to make a decision. Do I run down the half mile hill? Which as you know is a lot easier and more fun. Or do I run up it at the end of my run?

I choose to run up it at the end but half way through I realized that that was not a fun idea. To make matters worse they had just put road gravel down so it was like running on the beach. I felt like David Hasselhoff. I wanted to quite. But turning around only meant I would have to go up the hill again when I was less tired. Stopping would have only given me a break for the moment and walking meant that I would be giving in to the pressure. I ran the whole way up. Slowly, but it was still defined as a run… I looked it up.

I think life is like this. We have half mile hills that we face all the time. If we are pursuing Gods will we will face Half mile hills all the time. I am talking about Noah this week. 120 years he spent building the ARK. That was a long time filled with a lot of stopping or quitting moments. He kept going. Why.

It says in the passage regarding Noah that he walked with God. When I am running with James “the machine” Zwiefel, he tells me that I am not tired yet. I argue with him between gasps of air but he usually wins and I keep running. By coach knows that I can do a lot more than I feel I am able.

The first time we ran 3 miles I was tricked into it. It was actually 3.8 and when we finished I realized that 3 was no big deal. So what in your life looks like a half mile hill? What feels as impossible as 3 miles did? God your coach wants to walk you through it. He wants to see you victorious on the other side.

One final thought: For every up hill there is always a down hill!

Maybe it is time...

I love the way Erwin McManus says it in his book Unstoppable Force: “The center of God’s will is not a safe place but the most dangerous place in the world.” Then he makes a great distinction: “To live outside of God’s will puts us in danger; to live in his will makes us dangerous.”

Maybe it is time… to do something that scares you to death but if you don't do no one else will.

I am tossing around starting a web page that would be a dialog of the future of the AG. Who will lead and who will step up to vote and make a difference? If we as a young generation showed and voted we could have fresh leadership overnight. What Power we have as young leaders. But will we show? (I say that and feel guilty because i am about to have a baby then and my wife is needing me to stay home and take care of her.) But others will be there and could if they wanted to make a difference. So pray with me about this.

If nothing else at least it would be a place to rally who knows what could come out of it? The ideas exchanged the people reached and encouraged because we collaborated. I am working on the details so any help you can give let me know.

My Undisciplined Life

I have been thinking a lot about what it costs to serve the Lord. I started running for our connection group about a week and a half ago. I do it because I feel like God told me that I am holding myself back from what God wants in my life. So I am running and as I run I sense the lord’s favor on me. It is an amazing thing to worship the Lord with the pounding of my feet on the pavement. But He asks a lot of us.

I have been thinking about other things in my life and wondering if I could give those to the Lord. I am about to have a child soon. What if my wife were to die in child birth; could I give her to God and be alone? This child is she mine or am I just a custodian of her for the Lord? I ask these questions and test my answers. I have had to work through some of them because sometimes I realize I am selfish and not fully surrendered. I don’t want to live that way.

My life is not my own. I have willingly surrendered it to the Lord. The small pleasures I indulge in are ultimately up to the Lord weather he wants me to continue. My time, my appetite and my everything it is the Lords. My new vehicle, how could I hold on to something that is on the slow slope to a trash heap?

But why do we live like it is all ours and God can have the leftovers? Why do people make such poor decisions with there time, energy and life? Why don’t more people live there lives abandoned to the will of the father? There is security and joy and fulfillment like none other when our lives are offered over to the cause of Christ.

Everything is different from that perspective. If I am living for the lord than what door will not be opened? What resource will I lack? Nothing will keep me from Gods best except me. If I stop being surrendered then I mess with Gods best. So I understand Paul’s daily beating of himself in order to stay surrendered to the Lord. For me I am reminded of it when my feet slap in there rhythmic cadence the cement beneath my shoes.

God, this is for you!

I LOVE Gods Word

It is so refreshing each night as E and I get ready for bed and read Gods word together. I love it and appreciate that it is truth. With so many thoughts floating around these days and so little concrete truths it is comforting to know that this word is worth placing your faith in.

Thank you God for giving us something written down to ponder over. I am using a one year bible to help me chart my reading this year. It is great because it keeps me reading things that I might skip over and I am amazed how God places the passages at the right time in my life.

Evangalism ideas...

I am inspired by this guy! High Point Church is always trying to think outside of the box or in this case the milk carton in an effort to change this city for Christ. Seth Godin has got the market corned on hustling a product. I want to spend my life hustling Jesus. I think the dividends are far more valuable. Here is his story...

Purple Cow Redux

Roger Anderson wrote in with some questions about the original Purple Cow promotional strategy. Since it's been so long, I thought I'd quickly recount it here, because there are some useful lessons for all products.

I self-published the book in paperback. I did this because few publishers were interested in a short book on the topic, and were dubious about the future of the web as a promotional tool.

I printed 10,000 copies of the book. I also contacted International Paper to have them print me 10,000 milk cartons. This turned out to be more difficult than I imagined. They print almost all the milk cartons in the United States and weren't particularly motivated by a $2,300 order. I paid in advance, though, and submitted all my materials on time.

The night before the print job went to press, the phone rang. It was my sales rep, informing me that they, "weren't going to be able to print my job." Uh oh. The problem? Someone high up had read some of the copy on the carton and didn't like it.

"I didn't realize that International Paper was in the censorship business," I said. He replied that they weren't censoring the carton, merely refusing to print it.

The offending paragraph: "If this were actually milk, it would be pasteurized and homogenized. Pasteurized involves heating it up to kill any new organisms inside, while homogenization involves mixing it to make it all the same. If this sounds like your organization, perhaps you need this book." They also didn't like the line, "Please don't drink from the carton!"

Instead of calling the ACLU, I just deleted the paragraph and knew I'd have a story for the ages.

Then, Fast Company was kind enough to run an excerpt from the book in the magazine. This is an important part of the story, because this is where the permission marketing part kicks in. Fast Company's 100,000 loyal readers had already given me permission to talk to them. They were listening. If I were doing this today, I'd use my blog, just like you could use yours...

At the end of the article, it said something like, "If you want a copy of Seth's new book for free, send $5 to cover shipping and handling and if there's any left, he'll send you one."

Meanwhile, I had found an Epsom salt packaging facility in New Jersey to turn the printed cartons into folded cartons and to stuff the books inside. (Don't try this at home! The factory was a godsend and very hard to find.)

If you sent in your money, we made a mailing label, slapped it on the carton, put on a stamp and mailed it to you. No other packaging.

So the carton arrived, and already the mailman is talking about it. The folks in the next cube notice it. Many people opened the carton from the bottom and left the carton on their desk. It led to conversations. Which was the point.

THEN, the last step: On the side of the carton, it gave a web address where you could buy more. But since we sold the first 5,000 in just a week or two, the website only offered one option: if you wanted more, you had to buy a dozen for $60. Why a dozen? So you'd give them away. More conversation.

At the end of the process, I had moved 10,000 books to just the right people, created 10,000 conversations (or more) and broken even. I didn't need anyone's permission (except maybe International Paper) and got exactly one great break (Fast Company, now replaced by blogs).

[My publisher wants me to mention that they were then insightful enough to buy the hardcover rights and that so far they've sold (if I count Taiwan) more than a quarter of a million copies.]

I think this process scales (not the milk carton part, the remarkable part) and works for things other than books. There are two steps that are difficult but not impossible. First, build an audience that wants to hear from you. Second, create something they want to talk about and make it easy for them to do so.

Roger Anderson wrote in with some questions about the original Purple Cow promotional strategy. Since it's been so long, I thought I'd quickly recount it here, because there are some useful lessons for all products.

I self-published the book in paperback. I did this because few publishers were interested in a short book on the topic, and were dubious about the future of the web as a promotional tool.

I printed 10,000 copies of the book. I also contacted International Paper to have them print me 10,000 milk cartons. This turned out to be more difficult than I imagined. They print almost all the milk cartons in the United States and weren't particularly motivated by a $2,300 order. I paid in advance, though, and submitted all my materials on time.

The night before the print job went to press, the phone rang. It was my sales rep, informing me that they, "weren't going to be able to print my job." Uh oh. The problem? Someone high up had read some of the copy on the carton and didn't like it.

"I didn't realize that International Paper was in the censorship business," I said. He replied that they weren't censoring the carton, merely refusing to print it.

The offending paragraph: "If this were actually milk, it would be pasteurized and homogenized. Pasteurized involves heating it up to kill any new organisms inside, while homogenization involves mixing it to make it all the same. If this sounds like your organization, perhaps you need this book." They also didn't like the line, "Please don't drink from the carton!"

Instead of calling the ACLU, I just deleted the paragraph and knew I'd have a story for the ages.

Then, Fast Company was kind enough to run an excerpt from the book in the magazine. This is an important part of the story, because this is where the permission marketing part kicks in. Fast Company's 100,000 loyal readers had already given me permission to talk to them. They were listening. If I were doing this today, I'd use my blog, just like you could use yours...

At the end of the article, it said something like, "If you want a copy of Seth's new book for free, send $5 to cover shipping and handling and if there's any left, he'll send you one."

Meanwhile, I had found an Epsom salt packaging facility in New Jersey to turn the printed cartons into folded cartons and to stuff the books inside. (Don't try this at home! The factory was a godsend and very hard to find.)

If you sent in your money, we made a mailing label, slapped it on the carton, put on a stamp and mailed it to you. No other packaging.

So the carton arrived, and already the mailman is talking about it. The folks in the next cube notice it. Many people opened the carton from the bottom and left the carton on their desk. It led to conversations. Which was the point.

THEN, the last step: On the side of the carton, it gave a web address where you could buy more. But since we sold the first 5,000 in just a week or two, the website only offered one option: if you wanted more, you had to buy a dozen for $60. Why a dozen? So you'd give them away. More conversation.

At the end of the process, I had moved 10,000 books to just the right people, created 10,000 conversations (or more) and broken even. I didn't need anyone's permission (except maybe International Paper) and got exactly one great break (Fast Company, now replaced by blogs).

[My publisher wants me to mention that they were then insightful enough to buy the hardcover rights and that so far they've sold (if I count Taiwan) more than a quarter of a million copies.]

I think this process scales (not the milk carton part, the remarkable part) and works for things other than books. There are two steps that are difficult but not impossible. First, build an audience that wants to hear from you. Second, create something they want to talk about and make it easy for them to do so.

2 things that hit me...

I was moved by two things this weekend… the first was a wedding I did on Friday. I am amazed at weddings. It is an amazing time to share Christ. The reality is that the marriage act is a symbolic representation of how God wants us to be connected to him. We are the bride of Christ scripture says. So there sat a hundred or more people many who had no church experience or background I was able to share Christ with them. I was prepared in that I had the message prepared and I had the ceremony down. I was however not prepared for the spiritual significance that this event carried. I made a vow to God on Friday night. I will pray as hard for a wedding as I do for a Sunday service.

The second was Sunday. We did our first ever year in review. It was a great insight into the church. I don’t have any final hard numbers yet but just looking through them I found that we had a number of people mark that they prior to

High Point

had little or no church attendance. But now they are regularly attending. That is a powerful statement to realize. We are accomplishing one of our goals. To reach people who are not inspired by Christ and church and see them connect to a life giving community. Thank you God for letting me be apart of that awesome victory.

Gifts

Yesterday I received a check inn the mail from a church in Blaine, Minnesota.

Generous people amaze me. I got a call from Pastor Steve Finton last month asking if we had any special needs. I told him a few needs that we had that didn’t fit into the normal budgeted expenses. (I have a nice long Prayer list of those) He let me know that a check would be in the mail to help with those.  It came!

I pray that I would be a generous person. As the church grows and resources grow I want to be a Person who uses what God blesses us with to bless others. I think that is the goal, right? To spread what God gives to others.

Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Steve is officially my Hero for the Day! Here is a link to there church. http://www.lifechurchblaine.com/