I see the stories. You can’t convince me otherwise. People are experiencing a new life in Christ because of the Web.

Can people respond to the Gospel message online? Yes. Can people grow in their faith online? Yes. Can people experience community online? Yes. Push back all you want. I’m seeing it happen.

Here’s the beginning of one story of life change. It all started because he watched our services online.

We still don’t know what our ministry is ultimately going to look like on the Web. I don’t know that we’ll ever figure it out completely because the Web is constantly evolving. Stories like this, though, remind me that God can reach people in many different ways.

It took about four years, but today is the day. It’s the first time I’ve had over 4,000 subscribers to my blog! Just wanted to say thank you for committing to the ongoing conversation about leadership, ministry and life. It’s been fun having you along for the ride.

For those of you who aren’t subscribers yet, I’m about ready to save you a lot of time. How? Let me introduce you to Google Reader. I use it to track updates on close to 100 different websites each day. I get to choose what sites I subscribe to, and Google Reader lets me know whenever any of those sites has new content. No more surfing from site to site. All the content comes automatically to me.

Ever wondered what this orange icon with the white radio wave-like symbol was all about? That’s an indication that the site you are visiting has an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed available. If you have signed up to use Google Reader, you can just click on that button anywhere on the Web and you’ll have the opportunity to subscribe to the content. It’s simple…really simple.

Now, are you ready to give it a test-drive? Let me give you two easy steps to get started.

1. Register for a Google Reader account.

2. Come back to my site and click the “subscribe by RSS” link.

That’s it. Now you know why they call it “really simple syndication.” Here’s the best part, you can also subscribe to other websites using your same Google Reader account. Let me recommend these RSS feeds:

• Perry Noble, my boss
• Brad Cooper, the student ministry pastor in Anderson
• Nick Charalambous, our web campus pastor
• Scott Hodge, my friend who pastor’s a church in Chicago
• Penelope Trunk, another friend who writes about career topics

Well, you get the picture. You can subscribe to just about anything you’d like to know about using Google Reader and RSS feeds. The best part? It’s all FREE! I just saved you time and money.

For you RSS veterans, what’s your favorite feed aggregator? And, more importantly, what’s your favorite feed?

Here you go. This is U2′s newest album, No Line On the Horizon, and you get to listen to it free thanks to lala.com.

If you want to purchase the album, I recommend you get it on Amazon where it’s only $3.99 today.

In case you missed them, here are the posts that generated the most traffic last month in order of popularity:

1. The New Traditional Church
2. Outcomes or Execution?
3. Listen to the Fray’s Newest Album
4. The Way Weddings Would be if People were Honest
5. It Takes 12 Months
6. Are we married to the mission or the methods?
7. Hurt
8. Maximum Growth Potential?
9. Try. Fail. Learn. Adjust.
10. Feel the Squeeze

This top ten list is brought to you with the help of Google Analytics. It’s the easy, free way to track stats for your website.

When your boss says you have to read a book and then he buys it for you, you know it’s probably something that you should read. (I’m not that smart but I’m smart enough to know that.) With that, I just wrapped up Creating Magic by Lee Cockerell, the former executive vice president of operations for Walt Disney World Resort. The book contains principles that are taught at the Disney Institute. The book is broken down into sections based on ten leadership strategies used at Disney. Here are some of the highlights from my reading:

• “If your company’s competitive advantage is based on products and services alone, you are at risk. But if it’s based upon products, services, and quality service, then you’ll have a competitive advantage that’s very difficult to match.”
• “If you want your employees to deliver excellent service, you’d better provide them with excellent leadership.”
• “Good leaders are humble enough to admit what they don’t know, and great leaders are constantly looking for new information.”
• “Great leaders always focus on others, not on themselves. They hire the right people, train them, trust them, respect them, listen to them, and make sure to be there for them when needed.”
• “The days of the vertical chain of command as a way of doing business are over.”
• “If you want to lose great people quickly, look over their shoulders all the time and make all their decision for them.”
• “If you give people responsibility without als giving them the necessary authority to carry out hose responsibilities, you are setting them up for failure.”
• “One typical symptom of a flawed organizational design is too much time spent in meetings.”
• “The ability to lead is something to look for in everyone you consider hiring, no matter what the position is.”
• “Hire people who are smarter and more talented than you.”
• “If someone is not performing well, you owe it to everyone on the team, as well as the company as a whole, to change the lineup as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
• “I got coffee for employees rather than ask them to get it for me.”
• “Make every adjustment with the attitude that it’s reversible, that not only can you change it again, but you eventually will have to.”
• “People who read for pleasure tend to be more successful because their reading makes them more creative.”
• “Many people talk about having a business life and a personal life, but in reality you have only one life, and the best leaders are passionate about everything in it.”

These are the only challenging statesment for the book. There are many more. Some only apply to business leaders, but there’s a lot of great content for ministry leaders as well.

We survived a South Carolina snow storm to get the services in this weekend. Here are some of the highlights from Perry’s message:

• “The biggest mistake you can make about me is to assume I care about being politically correct.”
• “Are you willing to do in your marriage whatever it takes to make it right?”
• “Listen quickly because we have a lot to do.”
• “Before Adam had a wife, he had a job.”
• Men: “Are you ready for the responsibility of leading your family spiritually and providing for your family financially?”
• Women: “Are you the wind beneath his wings or a pain in the butt?”
• Women: “God did not call you to be a doormat.”
• “You never hear someone say ‘Buddha Damn.’”
• “Can you believe people watch fishing shows on television? Uh oh…I just offended a redneck.”
• “Chicks dig musicians.”
• “This is not a series about marriage. This is a series about putting Jesus first.”

Next week, Perry starts a new series called “Where’s my bailout?”