This post is more personal in nature, but I love to express how thankful I am. So, I suppose this is the digital equivalent of shouting something from a mountaintop. I’m going to release 12 things in two posts of 6 each, so stay tuned!

>>how God has invited me into serving His kingdom – 1.
I love that God has created, called and equipped me to serve His kingdom by serving The Church. The paradigm of doing that with Auxano is an exponential expansion of what God has planted in me. I am thankful for His trust, His invitation, His grace, and His investment in me as a servant in His kingdom.

>>my hottie wife and awesome boys – 2.
I can’t even express how great it is to have such a loving, supportive, innovative wife partnering in ministry and journeying through this life adventure with me. My two boys are a whole dump-truck full of awesome.

I am thankful not only for the opportunity to love and shepherd them. I am thankful for their influence on me. There’s no doubt that I would be a completely different person if I had more regular sleep, fewer back and groin injuries, and less than 6 hours a day playing peek-a-boo.

>>great parents that I appreciate more every year – 3.
I have such a heart of thanks for my parents. Every year it grows. I think the more I reflect, and the more that I deal with the mind-paralyzing intricacies of parenting myself, the more thankful I am for the way that my parents sacrificed and loved me.  I am also mortified at how crappy my attitude was as a kid at times. I just had no perspective, and I’m glad they were wise enough to take that into consideration and treat me with so much grace.

>>great leaders who invest in me – 4.
I’m thrilled to have such high-capacity thought leaders investing in me and my call to serve church leaders. Will Mancini is a brilliant thinker who is changing the landscape of spiritual culture in America by helping pastors find God’s unique identity and vision for their churches. Chris Willard, who modeled great pastoral and organizational leadership to me, is helping churches develop a culture of true generosity that is changing how people understand what it means to follow Christ. Both of these guys have written tremendous books that are leading their field in how to approach vision and a culture of generosity.

>>full-on freedom – 5.
There are a lot of times that I get irritated and concerned about how the United States is evolving as a culture and a country. I enjoy and really truly appreciate the full degree of freedom that I have the privilege to enjoy. I think that the Millennials are probably the last generation that will be born in a time of such amazing freedom, and I’m thankful for it. I’m also thankful for the men and women (present and past) who paid for me to enjoy it.

>>stunning access to information and technology – 6.
I am blown away at the amount of information that I have access to today, even just compared to my younger days.  Being a technology geek, I have been involved in the development of the technology that makes it possible. It is amazing how accessibility of information is changing our communication, our thought processes, the speed of change itself, and ultimately our culture. It’s frightening in some aspects, but I love it deep down. I can’t wait to get me some Project Glass! The singularity is approaching… 🙂

>>What are you thankful for? Let me know in the comments below!