AnthonyMilas.net

Just wanted to give all of you an idea on where I have been. Presently I am at Sr. High camp with our amazing church kids. I was a student pastor for 7 years (a long time ago) and although i don;t have the horses to keep up with the teens any longer I sure do love being around them. This is a special group of students with us at camp this year and as I watch them I see amazing God potential in each of them. Without a doubt these students are going to do great things that will bring God glory. I will return to regular blogging on August 3rd. Until then I invite you to check out our church at www.gsbc.net or on facebook at GRANITE UNITED!

GUEST BLOGGER: Court Holloway, United Staff Being a Pastor @ Granite is a privilege... actually an honor. Being so young and having very little experience prior to being @ Granite, there has been a learning curve. Anyone on our leadership team, you know what I am saying! Here is the deal. There comes a point when you finally execute on something, you just exclaim "It's about FREAKING time" and realize it wasn't nearly as TOUGH as you thought it would be, it had a much BIGGER pay off than you expected, and it ultimately pointed more people to JESUS than you imagined. Those "It's About FREAKING Time" moments stick with you, especially when you realize the confusion or conflict your lack of execution caused. So how do we kill off these "It's About FREAKING Time" situations? Here are some thoughts: 1.) Make a habit of ASKING GOD to mold your HEART and ATTITUDE to be receptive. 2.) Listen to your BOSS/Pastor/Leader the FIRST TIME. (He...

I have learned that there is a differences in the MINDSETS of successful leaders as opposed to leaders who accept the status quo. Successful leaders realize that that LIFE IS SHORT, ETERNITY IS LONG and the STAKES ARE WAY TO HIGH TO PLAY GAMES WHEN IT COMES TO ETERNITY. I have also learned that the successful leaders MINDSET is VISION DRIVEN/FUTURE LOOKING. Moses one of God's amazing leaders in the Bible embraced this particular MINDSET and it led him in becoming one of God's choice leaders. If you know much about Moses' story you would realize that physically speaking Moses walked away from a life of fame and riches to follow the DREAM GOD HAD BURNED IN HIS HEART. The world would say that Moses sacrificed EVERYTHING for NOTHING. But when Moses turned his back on the pleasures and wealth of the world, he told us that he had SACRIFICED NOTHING FOR EVERYTHING! As leaders I want to encourage us to keep our eyes fixed and focused on what matters most, ETERNITY, and GOD...

As a leader it is important to remember that the archenemy of FAITH is FEAR. Over and over again in the Gospels you see Jesus getting in the disciples faces asking them why they were so FEARFUL and where was their FAITH! I pray as leaders that we understand that God cannot and will not operate in and through us when we live in a state of FEAR. As a matter of fact the Bible says that FEAR PARALYZES II Samuel 4:1. I meet so many leaders who COULD OF, SHOULD OF, but DIDN'T and the common denominator was that they allowed FEAR to control and dictate how big they allowed God to be in their lives and ministries. As MINISTRY LEADERS our focus should always remain on the Lord and not on man. And if our focus and FAITH is on and in the Lord then we can do ministry in confidence because the Bible says, Jeremiah 10:6, " L ord , there is no one like you! For you are great, and your name is full of power." NLT The reason there are so many dead churches is because their leader...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, LEADERSHIP MATTERS . As leaders we are called to meet people WHERE THEY ARE and then take them to where GOD WANTS THEM TO BE . As leaders we are not called to please everyone, but we are called to please THE ONE who gave His life. When we do ministry for an audience of one we can be confident that although not everyone will want to join the team, God will bless! It's His promise. The truth is many churches fail because of WEAK and APOLOGETIC LEADERS . God has called us to live above both those. Yes, we are called to walk humbly before the Lord, but we are also called to get out in front of people and LEAD them on God's behalf. We must guard against being full of pride but we need to walk in confidence before people. How does a leader gain that confidence? When the leader HEARS FROM GOD ! When we hear from God then we do not have to back down from leading but we do need to figure out how to take people along with u...

It's been said not to SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF , but I have found that in ministry its the SMALL STUFF, THE LITTLE THINGS that matter. People love it when we remember their names, take an interest in their kids, and to remember a birthday is like hitting a walk off homerun in Fenway Park! In the day of CHURCH COMMUNITY BUILDER , FACEBOOK , MYSPACE , and TWITTER we can be more connected and should be more connected to people than ever. And to do the LITTLE THINGS takes very LITTLE TIME , but makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE . In my previous post I talked about how ministry is all about people, and that we should make people are priority, well remember this its the little things that let people know we are PAYING ATTENTION, AND THAT THEY MATTER TO US . Bottom line its the big things people expect us to catch, but little things well thats taking ministry to a HOLE NUTHA LEVEL .

MINISTRY is all about PEOPLE . I know that seems like it should go without saying, but trust me if we're not careful to keep the main thing the main thing, then a lot of other things will force themselves before people. What kind of things you ask? Things like... TRADITIONS - Sure we have pushed back from being OLD SCHOOL, but we need to guard against clinging to NEW TRADITIONS. We must always be willing to challenge what we are doing with what we should be doing. CREATIVITY - Don't get me wrong, although I am not a CREATIVE GENIUS (sorry Ed Young I really want to be) I do love creativity. But if we are not careful we will lose what God has called us to communicate trying to be overly creative. I believe the true result of CREATIVITY is when we have nailed the truth God has called us to unpack. MINISTRY MEETINGS - Leadership development is absolutely crucial to a churches success. However if we spend all out time talking ministry strategies, then we will actually nev...

Purity for Politicians... ...and purity for pastors, priests, poets and all people. By now you've probably heard the sad and disappointing news of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's affair. It's a story that is sure to be in the headlines for the next several days. But after the hype of the news channels and tabloids, newspapers and magazines, the reality is that a marriage, and a family, hangs in the balance. And this story has caused me to think about my own marriage and the marriages of the people I meet every day. Over the years, Lisa and I have been asked countless questions by thousands of people about our marriage. But one of the most important questions we've been asked is how we keep our marriage pure. So years ago I wrote out: The 10 Commandments of Purity 1. I shall have no other human relationship before Lisa, including our children. 2. I shall remember our date night and keep it holy. 3. I shall honor Lisa on annivers...

This post was too good not to share, it is stolen without permission from Perry Noble. Sorry Perry I will buy you a steak dinner should we ever get to hang out! Will I Preach Jesus? In Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus is very clear to His disciples the purpose of preaching and leading is to proclaim His name…and that if anyone denies His name that He will deny them- pretty serious stuff. I remember a time several years ago where I nearly lost my focus. I would find a cool video idea or a cool song idea or a sermon prop idea and try my best to revolve the sermon around a concept rather than scripture. I actually thought I could give really great lessons in morality and not preach Jesus because His name seemed to constantly offend people—then God rocked my world, slapped my face, got my attention and helped me to understand that Jesus, and ONLY Jesus, is the game changer. “Cool and cute” will impress people….but Christ will CHANGE them! I could teach people get out of debt, have great sex with ...