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The Loudest Voice

tony — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:41:11 +0000

In any given situation, someone is the loudest voice in the room. Sometimes the loudest voice is the also the wisest voice. Sometimes the loudest voice is the most experienced voice. Sometimes the loudest voice is the most spiritually mature voice. Sometimes the loudest voice is the angriest voice. And sometimes the loudest voice is just that–the loudest voice.

Isn’t it interesting how our outlook, our decisions and how we approach life are shaped by the loudest voice in the room? Of course, depending on the character and heart of the individual, sometimes the loudest voice has the potential to rally people to a greater good. In other situations, the loudest voice has the potential to generate the greatest harm. One unifies. The other creates division. Unfortunately, it’s sometimes difficult to distinguish the two, because they’re both vocal.

Here are some quick observations about the loudest voices in different relational dynamics:

When the loudest voice is a critic, it’s easy to begin making decisions that compromise God’s calling.
When the loudest voice is our kids, we sometimes sacrifice their future by giving them an inflated view of their place in this world.
When the loudest voice is someone other than our spouse but they’re the opposite sex, it will very likely lead to an affair.
When the loudest voice is someone older and more experienced than us, there’s often great wisdom but it may also come with a hesitancy to take new ground.
When the loudest voice is a friend, sometimes their desire to protect us prevents them from delivering the truth we need to hear.
When the loudest voice is our voice, we can easily find ourselves at a place where we are crippled by pride or fear.

Counsel from others is a good thing. We need to foster relationships where good counsel flows. However, good counsel is typically confirmed through multiple voices. More important, good counsel is never contrary to the voice of God.

That brings me to this final thought. The voice of God never contradicts Scripture. God never tells us to do something that is different than what he’s already expressed through his Word. Though I know God uses prayer, promptings, circumstances, other people, etc. to get our attention and to point us in a new direction, he never tells us to move down a path that’s different from the plan he’s communicated previously through the Bible. Unfortunately, we all probably know of examples where someone ended up making poor choices and facing the consequences because “God told them to do it.”

That, of course, begs the question: Is the voice of God the loudest voice in the room? We need mentors. We need elders. We need critics. We need the conversation. At the end of the day, though, we need God’s wisdom. If we pray for that and discipline our lives to regularly engage his Word, he will give us that.

Pause for a moment. Listen. Who is the loudest voice in the room?

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Most Popular Posts of February 2010

tony — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:36:50 +0000

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

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. (And, no, they don’t pay me to say that.)

God is Good

tony — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:20:12 +0000

I had the opportunity to meet and hire Zac at NewSpring a couple of years ago. Here’s Zac’s story. I hope it challenges you to consider where you are in your relationship with Jesus.

Thank You TonyMorganLive.com Sponsors!

tony — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:30:09 +0000

Here are the folks that are making things happen at TonyMorganLive.com this month:

The Change Group – offers a web-based system that allows churches to outsource all aspects of day-to-day financial management

Church Volunteer Central — provides church leaders the tools and resources to invite, train, motivate, and retain great volunteers

Clover – provides websites for growing churches and ministries

Collision Media – a creative design studio that provides web design and other media related services for churches and businesses

FaithSearch Partners — an executive search firm focused on faith-based hospitals, healthcare systems and ministries

Rockbridge Seminary – 100% online program for earning your seminary degree without leaving your current ministry assignment

Vicky Beeching – the newest EP from Vicky Beeching and Integrity Music

The Whiteboard Sessions – 1 day, 7 influential leaders, 30 minutes each on May 21 in Virginia Beach

If you’re interested, we still have advertising spots available for your organization. Email me for more details. I’d love to have you join our team!

Blog Readership Survey Results

tony — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:28:03 +0000

Several weeks ago, I invited you to participate in the my blog readership survey. 392 people responded. Based on the responses, here’s what I know about you:

You’re a dude. 84% of the readers are male. That explains all the grunting and belching associated with my site.
You’re younger than me. 42% of the readers are ages 25 to 34. My peers, ages 35 to 44, came in second place at 26%.
You live in the U.S. Only 7% of the readers live outside the U.S. And, you likely live in one of these top five states: Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, North Carolina or Florida.
You make a decent salary. Almost half of you make between $50,000 and $100,000 per year. Nearly 15% of you make more than that.
You attend a church. Only 3% of you are unchurched. Which makes sense, since my writing focuses on church leaders.
You don’t attend a megachurch. 42% of the audience attends a church with an average attendance of 500 people or less. Only 27% of you attend a “megachurch” with more than 2,000 people in attendance.
You either attend a non-denominational or Baptist church. Those two categories make up more than two-thirds of the readers.
You are on paid staff at a church. In fact, almost 60% of you get paid to be in ministry. If you are on staff, you’re likely in one of these top four roles: Senior/Lead Pastor, Student Ministry, Executive/Campus/Associate Pastor and Worship/Media/Tech Arts.
You are smart. At least you are smart enough to be educated. 39% of you have a bachelor’s degree and 35% of you have a graduate degree of some sort.
You like to read about leadership and ministry strategy. Your next favorite topics are communications/marketing and social media/Web strategy.
You most likely found my site because someone invited you. Either you followed a link from another site or a friend specifically recommended it.

If you’re into the numbers, you can check out the full report broken down into part one and part two.

Does anything surprise you about the results given the typical writing and the conversation on this site?

Celebrating My Sponsors

tony — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:44:58 +0000

Here are the folks that are making things happen at TonyMorganLive.com this month:

Letters to God – the main sponsor offers an opportunity for pastors and church leaders to get a VIP screening of the film Letters to God

Carlos Whittaker — check out his new EP from Integrity Music that releases January 26

The Change Group – offers a web-based system that allows churches to outsource all aspects of day-to-day financial management

Church Volunteer Central — provides church leaders the tools and resources to invite, train, motivate, and retain great volunteers

Clover – provides websites for growing churches and ministries

Collision Media – a creative design studio that provides web design and other media related services for churches and businesses

FaithSearch Partners — an executive search firm focused on faith-based hospitals, healthcare systems and ministries

Rockbridge Seminary – 100% online program for earning your seminary degree without leaving your current ministry assignment

SecureGive — increases ministry donations with online and on-site giving kiosks

SiteOrganic — website solution that delivers “the organic blend” of design, content management tools, and personal service

If you’re interested, we still have advertising spots available for your organization. Email me for more details. I’d love to have you join our team!

Keeping Big Brother Happy

tony — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:19:25 +0000

I just added a disclosure statement to my site to comply with the new Federal Trade Commission guidelines. I know you will rest easier tonight knowing that the world is a safer place because of my full disclosure. Here’s the statement…

Disclosure Statement

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by the TonyMorganLive.com team. (That’s me!) The primary goal is to provide free resources and generate conversations that equip and encourage church leaders. Since I work part-time at my church, it’s also a means of financially supporting my family. By reading this blog, you are feeding my family and putting my kids through school. (My four kids appreciate that!)

With that in mind, this blog accepts several forms of cash advertising and sponsorship. We will and do accept and keep free products, services, travel, event tickets, and other forms of compensation from companies and organizations. (As my wife will attest, half my wardrobe is “freeware.”)

This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post will be clearly identified as paid or sponsored content. (And, we’re always looking for advertising partners…especially if they brush their teeth and smile.)

We’re compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though we receive compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely our own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. (That’s a nice way of saying we tell the truth, but sometimes they lie.)

I would like to disclose the following existing relationships. These are companies, organizations or individuals that may have a significant impact on the content of this blog. I’m employed by or consult with: West Ridge Church, Tony Morgan Live, LLC and Faith Search Partners. (I’m also Italian, so it’s hard to say what other “connections” I may have.)

For questions about this blog, please contact me by email. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” (…because everything is better when the government gets involved.)

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Top 9 of 2009

tony — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:52:02 +0000

I went back and reviewed the traffic stats on all the posts from this past 12 months. Through the magic of Google Analytics, I know exactly what topics grabbed everyone’s attention in 2009. With the results officially tabulated, I’m going to reveal the top nine posts of 2009…beginning tomorrow.

If you had to guess, what posts do you think made the top nine?

TonyMorganLive.com » Other Stuff

The Loudest Voice

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Celebrating My Sponsors

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Disclosure Statement

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