AaronDunn.org

A short snippet of Christian Corn-hole. I love this game.

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 16:09:16 -0700

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

A short snippet of Christian Corn-hole. I love this game.

We had a wonderful time in Pegram Tennessee on the 4th of July....

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 15:56:45 -0700

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We had a wonderful time in Pegram Tennessee on the 4th of July. This is us chilling on the bleachers as we waited for the Egg Toss to start. The girls all placed! It was a fun day. I Quote the infamous Kramer “Any town USA Jerry”. It was quite quaint.

We are in Nashville and it is 3am

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:14:43 -0700

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We are in Nashville and it is 3am

It's three in the a.m.

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:13:22 -0700

I am in Nashville and it is 3am. I am looking forward to a fun week of vacation with my brother and sister. It is also great to be with my 3 girls. I have missed them very much.

It is going to be fun!

Pastor Tommy Barnett Comeback Sermon Download

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:24:50 -0700

What an amazing weekend. Pastor Tommy Barnett was back in the saddle again. He had been absent from the pulpit for about 4 months. He has been in recovery mode after an open heart surgery that took place on Valentine’s Day of this year. Little by little I have seen him come into the office and then begin to support His son Pastor Luke from the front row during Sunday services. But it wasn’t until last weekend that Pastor Tommy Barnett stood front and center and began to minister to the people at Phoenix First from the front. His message was unbelievable!

Amazing, he spoke on his “2^nd conversion” experience he recently had. He said it rocked his world. Pasto Tommy not only told of his real life happenings he challenged us all to be ready for our own “2^nd conversions” that can take place in our lives. It cam e with a warning though. He cautioned us to be ready because it would rock our world!

Here is the link if you want to download it. It is only five dollars and it is worth every cent.

http://tommybarnett.org/products-page/specials/everyone-needs-their-world-rocked/

ENJOY!

Five Steps to Discovering Your Ministry

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 10:00:00 -0700

Romans 12:1-8

¹ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Serve God with Spiritual Gifts

³ For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. ⁴ For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, ⁵ so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ⁶ Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; ⁷ or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; ⁸ he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Step 1: Dedicate your Body (vs 1)

Step 2: Eliminate Competing Distractions (vs 2)

Step 3: Evaluate Your Strengths (vs 3)

Step 4: Cooperate with others (vs 5)

Step 5: Activate your gift (vs 6-8)

10 Biblical Truths about Your Ministry

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 09:00:06 -0700

1. You were created to minister

EPH 2:10 ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

2. You are saved for ministry

2 Tim 1:9 ⁹ He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

3. You are called into ministry

Gal 1:15 ¹⁵ But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased

4. You are gifted for ministry

1 Peter 4:10 ¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

5. You are authorized for ministry

2 Cor 5:20 ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

6. You are commanded to minister

Matthew 20:28 ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

7. You are to be prepared for ministry

Eph 4:11-12 ¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

8. Know that the body of Christ needs your ministry

1 Cor 12:27 ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

9. You are accountable for your ministry

Romans 14:12 ¹² So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

10. You are rewarded for your ministry

Matthew 25:23 ²³ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

Ministry is Determined by Design

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:10:11 -0700

Did you know your ministry is determined by your design? It is! When you understand what God mad you to be you will come into an understanding of what God made you to do. I have heard some people in churches before complain to me saying that they are frustrated at their church. When I have heard this I always ask what area they are involved in and the overwhelmingly majority of the time people reveal that they are hardly involved. My answer? You are frustrated because you need an outlet. You need to be serving.

What is ministry? It can be defined as using what God has given you to serve Him and the needs of others. So who do you minster to? There are three different ministry points in life and they are as follows: God, Believers, and Unbelievers. You can find ministry to all of them and be very fulfilled as a Christ Follower.

We minster in three areas of need as well.

Physical (Matt. 25:35-36, 40)

Emotional (1 Thes 5:14)

Spiritual (Col. 1:28, 29)

So what is the purpose of ministry? The purpose is to build up his body and not your body. Don’t get all messed up trying to build you r ministry credentials as your main focus. Spend your life making Jesus famous and not yourself. Spend your life serving. Serving is ministry.

Thoughts Given By Me about My Grandmother at Her Memorial Service

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:17:00 -0700

A lot is being said today about my Grandmother, Mary Velma Williams. I asked myself, “What insight can I share from a grandchild’s point of view?” I’ll start with a story.

I remember the summer of 1979. I was just 9 years old. My brother and I were playing at her house. It was the late afternoon and she was doing here daily house cleaning. We were running around playing superheroes. Our playtime boiled down to me and my younger brother Jeremy finding inanimate objects and claiming they gave us power. We would place our hands on tables, chairs, or anything else we could get our hands on and make a high pitch noise in order to demonstrate it was transmitting some sort of super power into our bodies. It was a fun morning to play superhero.

We gathered this imaginary power throughout the house and apparently Grandma had had enough. Without breaking her stride in cleaning she stated to us in her southern accent, “you boys better quit getting all this power from my stuff and start getting real power from this.” Just then she pointed to the huge Family Bible that sat on her coffee table. I would love to say we took her advice immediately but we had another thought. I quickly ran over to the large Bible and placed my hand on it and made my high pitch noise to indicate I was getting power from that Bible. Grandma was not amused and shooed us out of the house and scolded us for not taking her seriously. I can’t help but to think she had a chuckle to herself after we were gone.

But on a serious note it was Grandma Williams who made the legit challenge to me and her Grandchildren to get “real” power from reading the Word of God and living a life of total surrender to God. She lived her life as a wonderful example of faith and total trust in God. She lived in the power that only comes from God Himself.

This is what I remember about my grandmother….. Jesus was never far from her thoughts. But being around her, she never made you feel like this way of thinking was foolish or forced. I never once felt as if she was pushing her way of thinking on me. In fact, she inspired me to think this way for myself. Keeping Jesus in the forefront of my mind was appealing to me because I saw how happy and powerful she seemed to be. She lived this by example and never shoved it down my throat. She simply approached me as here grandchild and assumed I would feel the same way about Jesus as she did. As a result I did feel the same way. In fact I still do.

This is the legacy she leaves, a bright legacy of spreading and living out Christ-likeness here on earth. How did she do it? Paul said in 2 Cor. 4:16 “Thou our outer self is heading for decay our inner self is being renewed daily”. You see her life was a display of this Biblical truth. It was dedicated to showing others the love of Christ. Her body got weak as all of ours do but here light got stronger and stronger.

My last conversation with her she told me she was fine with whatever God had in store for her life and if she remained here on earth she felt there would be a ministry work for here to continue being done. That work was to minster to others by showing them the powerful life that only comes through Jesus. Even in here weakened state she was willing and able to minster to others.

She is now gone but she has left behind a bright and burning light. That light is her legacy. Now we bask in the afterglow of her legacy and we will continue to do so for generations to come.

Friends Who Pray Together

Tue, 31 May 2011 13:18:25 -0700

Studies show that religion and happiness are linked. But faithful church attendance may not be enough: I read of about a larger survey taken recently. It found that those most likely to rate their life satisfaction as a perfect 10 went to services weekly and saw close friends there. Church regulars without pals in the pews didn’t see the boost. They were less satisfied than infrequent attendees with friends, says study head Chaeyoon Lim, Ph.D. , of University of Wisconsin-Madison. So go to services, and by all means but don’t skip small group!

Small Groups is where life happens at Phoenix First. Every Wednesday Night at 7pm.

http://www.phoenixfirst.org/connect/ministry/fusion

Leadership Alignment

Wed, 11 May 2011 14:33:14 -0700

As a leader it is important to align yourself with your church. Leadership alignment will instill a shared set of values, goals and core leadership behaviors. Let’s take some time and discuss key areas of leadership alignment and how to be an effective leader.

What does a healthy member of the Phoenix First Family look like?

1. Member of a Small Group following the weekly FUSION service

2. Attends a weekend Encounter service

3. Giver through tithes and offering

4. Serving in a ministry of Phoenix First

START - REACH – BELONG

APEX- You can jump in any time. 9am Sunday in the Café.

Volunteer at an Encounter Service – SAT 5pm, Sun 9am or 10:45am

Small Group – Following the FUSION service. More info at canopy or the HUB

The “FIVE E’s” of Phoenix First Assembly

1. Exaltation - Philippians 2:8-10

2. Evangelism – Mark 16:15

3. Edification -2 Peter 3:18

4. Employment – Romans 12:6-8

5. Extend – Philippians 4:11-19

Leadership Listens

Thu, 05 May 2011 12:41:00 -0700

Leadership, especially when trying to influence people to live a Christ centered life and change their behavior, will take listening, building relationships, and one-on-one contact. I cannot stress enough the importance of listening to people. If you are going to be a solid leader you must become a good listener.

Years ago when as I was just starting out in the ministry I was told that when people spoke to me I looked as if I was not interested in them. Knowing that I truly cared about people I was shocked. I asked why they would make that observation about me. They pointed out that I appeared to be “glass eyed” just waiting for others to finish talking so I could speak what was going on in my head. After a bit of self reflection I had no choice but to take this to heart.

I was so wrapped up in what I wanted to see done and what I thought a person should be doing that I was not digesting what they were telling me. I was not listening. I thought people would see my blank stares and just think “he is a busy man with a lot on his plate”. The truth is that a good leader should never be too busy to listen and be attentive to a person’s needs. I began to change my habit.

It took some time but little by little I began giving my undivided attention to the people I found myself leading and/or in conversation with. I am sure they felt more appreciated and important but some other beneficial things happened as well. Because of this I became a leader who listened and I benefited in the following areas:

1. I became more effective in recognizing the needs of people in my life.

2. I deepened my heartfelt passion to serve the people God placed in my life.

3. I made decisions that took myself and my “team” in a unified direction in life

By simply listening to others as you lead you can better influence them in a positive way. One on one time is priceless especially when your ears and heart are open to listen. After you have heard you can speak volumes into a person’s life and that will give them an opportunity to be successful in life and the tasks at hand.

Speaking? Well dont forget Writing and Listening.

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 09:22:29 -0700

There are three main types of communication:

1. Writing

2. Speaking

3. Listening

Most Leaders- It is common for leaders to excel in one or two of the three types of communications. As a small group leader it is important to strive to master all three to some degree. Though it seems like speaking would be the only necessary skill to perfect you cannot discredit listening and writing as valuable tools in leading your small group. The reason Small Group Leaders must be well rounded in all three areas of communications is simple. As a leader you want to connect with your people any way you can but during the limited group time you may not be given an opportunity to form solid relationships with everyone. This is where the skills of listening and writing come in.

Writing! – Take time to email you group and new members. Don’t send a form email but send a heartfelt vision casting email. One that expresses what you feel could be if you all would follow the plan God has for your lives. Use written words to communicate a passion for your group and the people you lead. It is the perfect way to express your heart in a way you may not be able to face to face.

Listening- I am convinced the best way to build a relationship with someone is not to say a bunch of things to them but allow then to say a bunch of things to you. This gives you the opportunity to digest their life story and helps you better understand what makes them tick. Besides, people like to talk about themselves. As a leader you should learn to listen to others and talk about yourself a little less. Less is more and a real leader understands this. Just Listen!

When a leader begins to improve on the writing and listening aspect of communications then the

speaking talents get stronger. Writing and Listening serve to strengthen leaders speaking skills.

be motivated to perfect your writing, listening and speaking techniques. As you do you will see your

leadership techniques improve as well.

3 Cultures to Develop In Order For a Church to Grow

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:17:58 -0700

The other day in Staff Pastor Luke shared some things from his heart. Three things in particular stuck out to me and I would like to share them with you. His chat was titled “3 Cultures for PFA to Grow”.

1. A Culture of Prayer on our Campus

2. A Culture of Change

3. A Culture of Ministry to Young Families

When it comes to the first point about prayer, my first thought was “well we already have a prayer center that is open 24 hours a day”. This is exactly why he brought this up. He challenged us not to fool ourselves into thinking we have a culture a prayer just because we have a ministry and building dedicated to it. In other words we must develop a culture of prayer in all our ministries that seek the direction from the Lord and where He can take the church if we will let Him. In order to do this we have to raise up leaders that pray in our ministries. Are we doing this?

Secondly on the culture of change….. He said and I quote “In order to grow we have to change”. Do I agree? YES! Is it always easy? NO! But the bottom line is “it is not about me” it is about souls! We have to value change! And truthfully I have to say that change seems to be a major value of PFA. Let me challenge you to commit to this value of change. It will make life more enjoyable and relevant in your pursuit of souls.

And that third point about young families being a culture focus of ours is great! I understand that every lost soul should be focused on as it is our job to “Preach the gospel to all of creation”. I get that! I really do! At the same time you look some statistics and the data shows %80 of people who know Christ came to him before the age of 18. Not that we should only go after that age group but we should have a culture of heavy concentration to reach as many of that age with the message of Christ as possible. Pastor Luke said this… “We must pour out our best resources into the area that are most likely to touch the most lives”. I agree. reach them all but make it a priority to reach the young families in order to better reach the world!

There may not be anything profound in my writing today but the three points Pastor Luke Barnett has made are rich with vision. I challenge you to grab the vision and run with it if you attend Phoenix First Assembly. If you attend another house of worship then I challenge you to reach out to your Pastor and see where He desires to lead you and your church. Remember what the Bible says “The Harvest is plenty but the labors are few”.

7 Leadership Tips

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:04:50 -0700

On the surface, the difference between a step and a stumble seems obvious.

But in life, plotting long and hard to climb into a leadership role often is indistinguishable from inadvertently falling into one. The fact is, whether you take a deliberate step toward an objective or immediately trip on a shoelace, you may end up in the same spot. Put another way, many people who have a laser focus on getting to the top make it there no faster than those who have a leadership opportunity thrust upon them.

Yet knowing the difference between thoughtful leadership and the kind that happens seemingly by accident is critical—not only in your ability to grow and develop as a leader, but to establish a pattern of success that’s deliberate, not miraculous.

Herr are seven right attributes that separate genuine leadership from leadership that’s more a matter of chance:

1. Real leadership means leading yourself. Passing out orders is as easy as passing out invite cards. But a prudent leader also knows how to lead himself or herself—not merely to provide a genuine example to others, but to become a working element of the overall machinery of your group. “It’s important that leaders have the ability to focus and motivate themselves as they motivate others”.

2. Don’t be a monarch. Be careful not set up a throne room in the process. Accidental leaders often inadvertently establish a system of guidance that’s unnecessarily restrictive. Guide people, but don’t implement more parameters than are absolutely necessary.

3. Be open to new ways of doing things. One potential land mine of a prosperous small group is to repeat anything that proves successful. It’s hard to argue against that, but an inadvertent leader will put far too much stock in sticking with what always works. By contrast, thoughtful leadership acknowledges success but also recognizes there are always ways to do things better.

4. Establish a genuine sense of commitment. I don’t have much to expound on this. It is simple. Decide to stay committed.

5. Finish the job. Many people yak about their complete game, but how many actually finish what they say they’re going to start? A thoughtless leader who never genuinely finishes anything loses the confidence of clients and customers. That lack of follow-through isn’t going to be lost on his or her people, either.

6. Show genuine appreciation. Thoughtless leaders must have forearms like Popeye’s, what with all the back-slapping they do. That’s fine, but good performance requires a more substantive response. Leaders with an eye to the future hand out praise but augment it with real rewards: promotions, thankfulness, cards of appreciation, and other tangible tokens of love. That motivates your people, not only to apply themselves with enthusiasm but to stick around your group or church longer than they might otherwise.

7. Know that leadership skills come from learning, too. Far too may people believe leadership skills stem from some sort of wondrous epiphany or other such flash of insight. Sure, great ideas can come to any of us, but being a bona fide leader also means study. Read books on effective leadership, and pick the brains of other leaders to see what works for them. It can be a long education, but one with rewards that multiply with the more knowledge you have under your belt.

This is not a JOKE even though it is funny

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:17:40 -0700

This is not a JOKE even though it is funny:

Take a look and then post a video on you facebook page. I think this is hilarious!

the Table Project is so cool.

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 14:22:27 -0700

the Table Project is so cool. :

http://tableproject.org/

Look at this video then join my gourp on the table project if you go to Phoenix First.

Aaron Dunn

WOW.... Watch out what you eat. But man do I love the breakfast!

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 08:47:00 -0700

WOW.... Watch out what you eat. But man do I love the breakfast!:

This is a wakeup call.

2 times in a lifetime! OUCH!

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:52:06 -0700

2 times in a lifetime! OUCH!:

This is heart breaking when you realize that this not only happened to Leon Lett once but 2 times. WOW! Bummer for him. DON’T GO CHASING THEM THERE WATERFALLS!

YO YO Amazing!

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:00:00 -0700

YO YO Amazing!:

This is so funny. look at this site but also click the links in Kevin’s corner and see him in the news. So So Funny!