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!

1st sled...

We went to Menards and got O her 1st sled... She (I) is so excited about it.

Talking Tips...

On Sunday I get the profound privilege of taking words on a page and connect it with people in their everyday life. Helping people see that the Word of God is truly alive and worth our time and attention. I have learned a lot in the last four years of speaking week in week out at High Point. Here are a few of those lessons.

• Change it up... This week I preached narrative. A few weeks ago it was topically. Some weeks it is expository. I will use a great book I read once to preach out of in January and this summer am thinking about preaching through an entire book of the New Testament verse by verse. WHY? People learn in different ways. I get bored with one "style" and have to experiment and test myself. Preaching styles change over the years and If I am locked into 1 "style" then I am in big trouble because then I will not be able to make the cultural shift.
• Find your own Voice... In the beginning I used a lot of other pastors series notes to help me with my talks. I found that I had a hard time breaking out of their ideas, way of talking, grammar and phraseology. I still use peoples material to help me with ideas and content but now it is more of a complement rather than a crutch for my messages. I had to ask the question what makes me unique and note worthy as a communicator. Not in a haughty self serving kind of way, rather in a self discovery kind of way. I am funny it is a trait that I need to get more comfortable and refined in but I have to recognize it as a tool in my tool box in order to truly capitalize on it. I am a good story teller. If I am not telling stories in my talks then I am not going to be communicating at my best. This is huge and took me a long time to get comfortable with my gifts, talents and abilities but has helped me really go to the next level in my speaking.
• Practice makes perfect if you have it in you... Some people just don't have it in them and no matter how much they practice they will never be an amazing public speaker. Others just need time on "stage" to work out the kinks. Help you learn how to handle distractions, low and high crowds, bad material, too much material. The more I have been upfront the more comfortable I have become with myself. All good communication comes from the security of the speaker! When you are secure and confident people relax and trust you.
• Let it all hang out... Almost every week I feel exposed. A little embarrassed. It stems from  me letting it all out and being vulnerable with the people. I shout, cry, laugh, tease, sweat, and share truthfully out of my experience. But it makes it AUTHENTIC and I think that is a powerful element to good communication. I on purpose run along the edge of a cliff and people can feel the tension/ excitement as I do it and when I finish we all (myself included) breath a sigh of relief as we reflect on what just happened. I did this this last Sunday as I created the dramatic tension of a woman sobbing at Jesus feet. I put myself in her shoes and at one point commented about her lost innocence at a young age. Their is no way of knowing if she was actually abused at a young age but I felt the Spirit prompting me to say it in that moment and man it made me feel vulnerable as It splashed into the air and settled into peoples minds. I felt the tension in the air and knew that Because I let it out God was ministering to people.
• Let the Holy Spirit have room... I started scripting my messages so tightly that in the moment if I needed/wanted/ felt lead to add anything on the spot for specific people in the room It would get lost in the mass of material I had brought. Now I have less than 1 page of notes and those are mostly bullet points that lead me in a direction and then I let the Holy Spirit prompt me to say the meat on the bones. It feels a little strange at first to get up their without having it 100% figured out yet but I preach less and feel the quality has gone up significantly. I will often search my heart and mind for a message for that moment in that service. 1st service I felt I needed to emphasis the work of the Holy Spirit to draw people to Jesus. 2nd service I didn't feel it the same way but I found out later that someone 1st service needed to hear that.  
• Learn from the best... I learned how to preach from the TV show E.R. My dad and I would watch the show all growing up and he would say, "Son watch what they are doing... notice the tension... they have you laughing in one moment and the next moment someone is dying." I read books, listen to story tellers and preachers and listen to where do they pause, laugh, cry and why do they do it that way. It all helps me when I am preaching to communicate the message of the passage I am teaching to come alive. Jesus told amazing stories and It is my mandate to fallow his lead. 
• Prep... Prep a ton personally... prep a little corporately. I used to spend 40 or more hours a week on my talk. Based on mu gifts and abilities that was overkill!!! Now I am prepping about 8-10 hours a week. I can say more in 25 minutes than a person can do all week so it is not the quantity of prep that matters it is the quality of the message I am communicating. I have found that when I prepped more for a message I substituted my corporate study for my personal enrichment. Then i had all this amazing insight that was to deep or not fully baked for Sunday Consumption. Now I am prepping more for me. Letting the Holy Spirit work a thought or idea or word through me. I am able to let my mind have space to hear from God. I think my speaking has gotten better because of it. I know my depth as a person/pastor has grown.

I take my role as lead communicator very very seriously. I love what I get to do and really enjoy seeing people come alive as I they respond to the living word of God every week.

U2...

I am a huge fan of people stretching the envelope, breaking boundaries and shaping culture. U2 partnered with YouTube and put on a free live streamed concert. The implications  are huge! we are moving away from network driven TV and more and more to user generated content. This is an example of our future and what an exciting future it is!!!!

I also love to see people lead/move a crowed of people. The stadium was jammed!!! And four people kept the entire crowed on the edge of their seats. STAGE PRESENCE WAS AMAZING! The lights and picture and sounds was amazing to watch. But all in all it was still just four people engaging and moving the crowed.

Take a look and watch a truly amazing performance... 

(move the time line to 148: to watch Bono lead the crowed into worship...)

Friends...

How many close relationships do you have?

I asked my Father n' law and Elizabeth this question after reading this article in "Wired" magazine. And the conversation was very interesting as we talked about what a friend is, what a close friend is and how many we feel we have. I have, as of this afternoon, on twitter Following: 441 Followers: 477, Facebook 796 but how many "bosom buddies" do I have? In the wired article they found the average person had 110 Facebook Friends and by looking at the people in their photos that the average person had 6.6 close intimate friends. I just read in this article that now people have closer to two intimate friends.

I am really curious, How many friends do you have? Bosom Buddy, Pale, BFF or whatever you call your peep. How many are you really "Tight" with?

What would you say...

Over the next few days thousands of Young innovative and creative leaders from around the nation are coming together in Atlanta to talk about leadership and church ministry. I love this stuff. Check it out here...

One day I will go and check it out myself. I have never been but hear good things. 

Can I confess something to you kind of embarrassing but one that has challenged me? don't laugh. Sometimes, when I allow myself to, I wonder what it would be like to share on the maine stage of Catalyst. I know, call me vain, prideful, silly, or just plain nuts but I do not think I am alone in wondering what it would be like. When I stop dreaming about the lights and the sound and the energy in the room I ask myself the question that matters. 

What would I say? What message I would share to thousands of people that would inspire, challenge, transform, empower, shift the dialog, or move people to action. What would I share? What do I have to offer? This is a fun question to ask.  This is a challenging question to ask. If you had 1 message to give what would it be? 

This is a question we all need to be ready to have. This should be our life message. It should be our default message. It should be the thing that we most think about, dream about, wrestle with, It should be the thing that will take our whole life to perfect. What is your life message? 

I'd Say that!

So what is yours? 

Mine... Live Your Potential! 

But, I'll share more later...  

So whats yours? - can you boil it down to fit on a bumper sticker?

Weekly Recap...

I love when Our band reinterprets a song and makes it contemporary and exciting. This Sunday during the offering time The Band played... "The Touch The Feel of Cotton" Song.I asked the 1st service to text in what they thought it was but no one got it.

I am enjoying this series. It is a challenge for me. I feel like each week I am boiling a box of spaghetti as I prepare. I am realizing how much content their is to cover and how little time I have on a Sunday to get it covered. We will defiantly be revisiting these subjects in the new year.

Monday night was fun to be apart of but not so fun to watch. Favre was consistent and Rogers was not. It might have had something to do with his O-line but It just wasn't a great game for my packers. I look forward to next month in Lambeau. 

Elizabeth Update... She is doing a little better with the fluids they have been giving her by IV. This afternoon we are going in to get a picc line put in so that she doesn't have to get an IV every few days. She has small veins and it takes a half a dozen tries sometimes. She also found out yesterday that she needs a root canal... YEAH! She hates dentists, (she had a bad experience as a kid, but haven't we all?) So We keep saying "Put it on my tab" and laughing because that is about all we can do. Keep praying for her she is going through a lot to get this baby here.

I am being challenged lately about how we are training and developing you as the church to "Live Your Potential" lots of thoughts and planning. I am going to be challenging you in the next few months to do somethings you have never been challenged to do! Maybe I have been watching too much "Biggest Loser" but I want to get you into shape spiritually, physically and mentally and help you experience a new level that God has for you! Stay tuned in... And start praying about if you are where God wants you to be? What your next step may be?

We have our 3rd Leadership Lunch this Sunday. I love this time with our Ministry Team Leaders. They do a great Job and deserve to be thanked and developed. I look forward to who God is developing to be our next leaders.

Phil Wickham is coming out with a new album soon http://philwickham.com/.I was sent his 1st album this week. He put it together in High School. It got me excited to find a Youth specialist to help us find and cultivate the next Great Worshiper, Leader, Politician, Teacher, Salesman, Missionary. If we can show our kids their potential at a Young age they will thrive in this life. Scripture calls it shooting arrows! I want to shoot O and the next little one we have as far as I can to make a difference in this world!

Take a minute and listen to this song as you Thank God today for His grace and mercy and Love. Take a minute to allow his presence to wash over you. Take a minute and Thank God for His Grace!

Wild things...

I saw the preview and wanted to cry, heard the sound track and felt the raw emotion again. Now I am so excited to see this. I don't know what about it intrigues me the most, the effects, the music, the story but I cant wait to see it. It may not be any good but I have a feeling I will LOVE! This Kind of movie is my kind of movie. What do you think?

Brian Eno Interview...

I was listening to this on the way to the office this morning and found Brian Eno saying some really interesting things.

• He looks for things that haven't been done before... Novelty = Excitement
• Gospel Music is all about hope. People are transfixed with things about Hope. It is something we all need.
• Don't look for things that made you a hit and try and reproduce that. Look for things that stretch you.
• Imagine what could be the best we can get out of this situation
• the composer is the gardener of the piece.
• Passion is allowing yourself to be taken over... choose to live passionately.

Stuff like this inspires me. To hear an artist talk of creating inspires me to work harder at what I create. It challenges me to fight for new and creative and not just settle for what has been done and what is easy. It challenges me to love the Gospel and the Hope that It brings.

Go live out the hope of the World and Create something that is beautiful!

What is real beauty?

I saw this from DOVE tonight and it was shocking. Take a look!