Tory Farina

I'm Back...

Things I learned through my time of Withdrawal...

•  Wayne Cordero saved my life and ministry... After reading his book “Leading on Empty” I am convinced I was headed for a breaking point at some point down the line in my life and ministry. I have and will continue to make changes necessary to leave a Lasting Legacy.
• I have more time than I thought. Cutting out extra stuff helped me realize how much time I waste.
•  My relationship with the Lord is the Source of Everything else. Yet often It gets shelved somewhere between car maintenance and shower cleaning. It does not occupy the space in my heart and mind that it should if it is the source of everything. (As a pastor this is a sad revelation.) So I am evaluating the changes that must be made to transform this unacceptable situation.
• Christian music is good but not a lot of it is GREAT!
• Facebook / Twitter are far more useful tools than they get credit for. I was shocked at how many people I felt disconnected from.
• I get grumpy when I fast Food.
•  Maintaining a Blog is exhausting. I need to figure out how to be a smarter blogger. I think I might use more video. Would you watch my short clips?
• Changing patterns takes a tremendous amount of intentionality. You cannot say... I want to change, I need to change or even I must change without making a plan and actually putting the plan into action.
•  Push email on my iphone is stupid. I cannot and will not be a slave to my email... especially when I delete most of it. My email will serve me and not the other way around.
• This will be a yearly event. I will also add into my life’s schedule times of getting out of town for times of withdrawals.
• I need a Sabbatical... Not this year but in the next few years as we round the corner to seven or ten years it is Vital the Elizabeth and I get a Sabbatical in order to gain freshness and longevity at High Point.
•  We are entering into a season of High Points Story that is really exciting. I feel encouraged, Fired Up and energized by what I feel the Lord is brewing in my heart.
•   Isolation is a Scary place to be... Withdrawal is a Non Negotiable place to visit!
•   The WELL of your Soul is what you serve others with... If it’s shallow, contaminated, or not built to last you’re in trouble. If it is Deep and Living water it will refresh people for Years to come.
• Jesus took breaks from the demands of Life and ministry often... I am still chewing on this and am incredibly challenged by it!

I have lots more to say but will leave it at this and work out more the next fe days and weeks. I just wanted to let you know I am back and FIRED UP!

Monthly Mentoring...

Tory Farina- St. Paul          Matt Keller- Fort Meyers    Barry Rice- Orlando          Wayne Hanson- CastleRock

I look forward to this hour every month when I get to ask questions, bounce ideas and hear whats happening in the kingdom of God with these guys. They sharpen me and challenge me.

Peer mentoring is best done with a lead moderator like Matt... He is several steps ahead of the other guys and can address higher level issues. Be mentored from above, the same level and mentor someone below you and you will not get stuck in a rut.

Who do you monthly get mentored by?

Overnight success often is 20yrs in the making...

I heard this quote a while back I think it was on a video feed from a catalyst conference or something. But the person said, "Most overnight successes are 20 years in the making." I didn't understand that a few years ago. I thought that people, organizations, ministries were just blessed by God or hard work or where at the right place at the right time and then bam! they were huge, organized, influential or wow worthy in an instance. While that does happen, it is not the normative chain of events. I now see that that The journey is long and tough but the results for those who stand the test of time are exciting.

When we started the church the Lord laid on my heart a vision the size of a city. He challenged my and spoke to me things that were so big they boggled my mind. I just assumed, (wrongly, mind you), that I was ready to handle the exciting things that he put in my heart. It will be three years in and this is what I have found:

• Things have moved a lot slower than I thought
• I was not as ready to handle the great things God laid on my heart
• The work he wanted to do in me was deeper than the work that can be seen on the outside right now... but that is critical for long term success
• God called my to a marathon and not a sprint
• It takes time for others to see what you see... It takes time to see what others see... It takes time for those two realities to morph into an action plan
• God gives you dreams and visions and heart felt plans so that he can show you what the Summit looks like... It is the journey up the mountain that makes the Summit sweet not necessarily the Summit itself... the picture alone drives you on when you feel no where nearthe summit
• The current Temperature of things is not a great indicator of the future reality... trends should be evaluated on if the lows are staying low or if they are increasing... Rather than if the highs are getting higher... Volatility is not the goal.
• God calls men and women to do great things not organizations... The man or woman God chooses must be continually shaped along the journey to handle what God wants to use them for...
• 3 years is not a long time
• More/Big is not necessarily better it just is more/big... Significant is the goal

So as we start membership and 40 people take a step towards the Summit that I hold in my heart I am excited because we are so much better than we have ever been and their is a lot of potential left for us. We are passionately working on making something significant and powerful and we are planning for the journey. It is an exciting time because I feel stronger and as a leader I feel ready to take the next several steps towards where God is taking us.

3 years are down 17 are left and then we can be considered an overnight success and people will stand back and think it was easy and given to us and think it exploded overnight and think we are something special. We will know the truth... we were faithful and didn't skip steps and we were patient and we were willing.

I don't know where you are at... but I do know that perspective will help you through it. May the Lord bless you and may you let Him prepare you as He sees fit. And enjoy the journey.

Next Level Church Visit 2

Elizabeth and I were invited to an all access event with 12 other church planters at our same level. We were told "fly down and the rest is on us. We want to see your churches expand and grow to the next level so come and see what we do. Take what you like and no question is off limits."

It has been amazing! Our minds are buzzing and by the time you read this we will have gotten up at 4:30 am taken a ton of pictures of "set up and tear down" and now will be gathering more info from other church planters.
Here are a couple pictures from tonight on the beautiful powder sugar sand...

Cross Pollination

I love the job of bees. Their god given task, contrary to popular belief, is not to make honey. It is to pollinate the plants of the world. They take pollen from one flower to another and it makes the gene pool of plants stronger and more resilient to strain.

Often in life we get stuck. We listen to the same voices. We read the same material by the same authors. We listen to the same station (Oldies). We even get locked into the same hair do. Often it is based on when we felt the best about ourselves or for my dad based on the lack of hair.

I met with a church planter just a few minutes ago who is planting in Rosemount. Talking through what he is doing I was able to give him some advice and hear some things from him that challenge my thinking… I try and meet with church planters who are not where we are a couple times a month. I want to share what we did to help them. But I am also looking for opportunity to connect with those who are a few steps from me a couple times a month. It breeds a healthy exchange of ideas that encourages growth. It is amazing to me how often we can hear the same thing a hundred times but on the 101st time we hear it In a new context from a new voice and BAMB! It makes sense.

I am headed to an event in Forte Myers soon where 12 other church planters in our similar size church from around the nation are coming together to idea exchange at a church campus that is a few steps ahead of us. The idea is that as we cross pollinate the larger more experienced church can steer us and challenge us to see things we have missed or are not seeing.

I am very excited about all of this. It means that High Point is not going to get stuck in yesteryears hair style or leadership style and or miss the new thing that God wants to do I us.

How are you cross pollinating in your life? Who are you meeting with personally and professionally that challenges you to reach higher? If you don’t have someone don’t miss out on the benefit that can come from a life in deep community.

Live Your Potential!

Coaching Call

Every week Elizabeth and I sit for one hour on the hone with a coach. We talk about life and work and family, but most of all he helps us gather strength, Hope and understand ourselves better. We have been meeting with him for the better part of this year and I can honestly say it has been the best thing for us.

I am in the process of working on my reaching to make it clearer and more effective while taking me less time to produce. We are talking out what it will take for us to become a church that reaches hundreds of people and beyond. We are also talking through how we are hard wired and how to make sure that we are taking that into account as we staff, grow and hire. We talk about our interaction with you and our interaction with te community. He helps us understand how to counsel people who are going through difficult times.

It is my favorite hour of the week and I am so glade that w found this person for our life. He feels called to support pastors. He used to be one and then God directed him into the support role for other pastors. He is one of the only relationships we have that we do not have to give anything to. Sometimes we voluntarily do but we don't have to meet his emotional, spiritual or physical needs. I can say anything to him and n ot have to worry if the idea is half backed and what are the consequences to that. E and I can bounce off the model we have in our heart of having a co leadership run church. He gets it, loves us and sees Gods greatest potential in us even when we have a hard time seeing it.

In a lot of ways he is more like a pastor to me. Everyone needs a coach/pastor/spiritual adviser/mentor. Do you? If not I encourage you to get one. It has changed my life.

Prayer call

Tomorrow the pastoral team of High Point gathers for our annual vision retreat. I am excited. We are hashing through some big things. I feel like it is the kind of stuff that when done puts wind in our sails for a long time to come. We are asking God to show up and guide our time together. Please Pray for us, we need it. 

See you Sunday for Week #3 of "The Dirty Dozen"

Whats your Excuse?

God has been hitting me over the head lately. I feel like I have personally been making excuses for things that don't nee to be excused. It is easy to come up with an excuse and say things like... (these are mine but I am sure yours are similar)

• If we had a building things would be different.
• If we had more money then we could do more and people would bust down the door.
• If I were more organized and a perfectionist then I could get more done.
• If I had a mac life would be less frustrating... (Waite... I do... and it is ;)
• If my team could be full time we would put the enemy to flight big time.
• If I had a million dolor's... (that would make a great song)

The truth is that more doesn't always mean better. God has called each and everyone of us to a certain task. For me I feel like it is to reach this city with the message of Jesus. To create a movement that will see this city transformed to Christ. I feel called to something that is bigger than I am and bigger than I probably will ever accomplish. But God wants me to succeed as much as I do and God has all the resource I need when I need it.

The truth is that I probably am not ready for what I want right now. I feel like I am a 12 year old wanting to drive... I know it is a weird analogy but God is teaching me to be content in the place I am because he is working deeply in me.

Here are things I have done recently to grow into the man, leader, husband and friend.

• E and I are meeting with a "Life Coach"- life changing!
• I am working on being more accountable in life to a few people
• I am listening to more people and reading there blogs... this put things into perspective
• I am talking about it more with E and as a family we are praying through things
• I have started reading again... a baby can knock the book out of your hand but now O is bigger
• I am learning how to enjoy the journey
• I am realizing that the most creative is when you have little to no resource. Big Money does not always equal big results.
• I am slowing down. Or at least taking breathers.

how do you know?

Making decisions is an art form... there are no two decision makers that are the same. Some take longer to come to a point of decision and some come to a decision almost instantaneous.

I take a little longer... I like to bounce my ideas or my plan off a few people let them kick it around and then use that to help discern how I feel about it and what God is saying.

E takes about  half a second. She is a master at knowing yes or no. Right or wrong. She knows definitively what she thinks about that.

I think that is what makes us work so well. I gather the background and she hits it from the front and together we have covered all the angles.

I think we make good decisions. Compare our decision making to 99% of the world out there and we are well above average. So how do we do it? What things do we ask ourselves and do we FIGHT through in order to feel confident in our decision?

This has taken time for us and is not perfected yet but Sunday I want to share with you some quick questions to ask to help uncover Gods best in your situation. I think it will really be helpful.

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.