Deanna Doss Shrodes

I was flipping through the channels one day and stopped to watch a TV show of a chapel service at a major Christian university, reportedly the largest of it's kind in the USA, with over 70,000 students.  The speaker that day was a professor that for the purpose of this post we'll call, "Professor Pinhead".  A major point in Professor Pinhead's sermon was the influence of bloggers.  Specifically he was upset about "young up and coming pastors" ...successful church planters within the denomination who were blogging and had gained a huge following.  He realized a lot of students were following these bloggers, many of whom had sat in the same chapel seats just a few years before, also from this same denominational background.  The students were soaking in the insights, creative ideas and wisdom of these bloggers on a constant basis.  Professor Pinhead was not happy.

His complaint was that the students were following these bloggers instead of "tried and…

Dr. Caroline Leaf, in her book, Who Switched Off My Brain, writes that there are only two types of emotions—love and fear,  and every emotion is based in one or the other.   Psychology indicates this but more important, the Bible backs it up.  I John 4:18 NIV says: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

Love is a fear antidote.

Recently I have been thinking about this as it concerns leadership.  I've come to the conclusion that as leaders we either operate in love or fear.  People follow us, or don't follow us based on love or fear.  

Fear is a terrible way to run an organization, a ministry, a family or pretty much anything else because FEAR IS NOT OF GOD.

Sometimes people are loyal to us out of love, other times they are simply worried about what will happen if they aren't.

Sometimes people follow us because they know we love them -- we lead with love…

We do this song at Celebration and it's the church favorite right now.  It really speaks well to what's going on in the church.  I wish I had a video of us doing this at CC and how the congregation responds to it.  It's rather amazing. 

I'm expecting phenomenal things today!  Each week we've been going to new levels. Tonight we're having another newcomer's night because even though we just did one last month, we've already got a slew of new people.  ::excitement::

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

We're had a few severe hurricanes since we've lived here in Florida.  Thankfully nothing has devastated Tampa though I can't say the same for some close friends in neighboring cities and after that storm we helped in their clean up and restoration process.   One hurricane  kept us indoors for two days without coming out, about 3 years after we moved here.  What it ended up being was a really bad storm and lots of tree limbs down and signs knocked over but fortunately for us nothing tragic.  We use it as a time to spend some quality time together.

For those of you who are northeast, riding out Hurricane Irene, here are 3 things to consider:

1)  Do everything NOW that you can do while you still have power!! (Cook, laundry, vacuum, etc.) Charge your cell phones and computers now if they aren't already charged.

2)  Light some candles whether you need to or not.  Not only will this prepare you in case you lose power but you'll remember how nice it is to light candles …

"How do you do it all?"  This is a question I'm often asked, and I've written about it here on the blog before.

Today I thought I'd share five points to quick start your productivity.

1)  Give yourself deadlines for things.

I'm on more deadlines imposed by myself than by others.  I keep them unless prohibited by waiting on others for things I can't control.

2)  Tell people about your deadlines.

I share with my close friends about my deadlines.  They ask me about some of them and it keeps me on track.  Nothin' like a little accountability!

3)  Make an initiative list every week.

My list is done by Thursdays for the following week.  The list includes everything I have to do for the entire week.  I find great joy in checking off things when they are done.  I keep mine on my Outlook but you can do this on paper or the computer or however is best for you.


4)  Divide your initiatives by the number of days you're going to work.

I keep Friday as my sacred day…

I have about 50 pairs of underwear in my drawer but I only actually wear the same 15 pairs, wash them and go through the same 15 again.  I have no idea why I have these other 35 perfectly good underwear in my drawer that just sit there.  I just can't bring myself to get rid of them.


I read someone's facebook wall all the time that I am not a friend with, have no mutual friends with, have never met and more than likely never will.  I happened on their page one day and am kinda fascinated with watching their facebook life from afar.  If they change the privacy setting of their wall it's really gonna devastate me.  


The Fugitive is one of my favorite movies.  No matter how many times I watch it I get really nervous and pray to God that Richard escapes even though I already know he is going to escape.

What strange things do you do?   (Keep it clean, please!)

I receive between 100-300 emails DAILY.  Between writing, working full time at the church as co-pastor, career coaching, and traveling/speaking not to mention family and friendships, this is probably not an abnormal amount. People who know my schedule often ask me about things having to do with time management.  Today I'm sharing 5 things I do to stay sane on the days my box is closer to 300 than 100 :

1)  Delete first thing every morning.

When I open my inbox each day I delete unnecessary mail and customarily for me this includes all forwards.  I just don't have time for them.  If I receive e-mails from lists I never signed up to be on and don't want to be on, I take a moment to unsubscribe, knowing it will save me time on other mornings to not have to keep deleting that piece of mail.  (I do not delete myself from all lists - if friends have put me on certain valuable things as a courtesy, I stay on them.)  Upon occasion I do get questioned by people who say things like, …