“Dad when I get bigger and bigger I am going to drink coffee too.”

One the funniest things about being a dad is the way that my kids try to copy me, repeat what I say, and really aspire to be like me.

It is fun, makes me feel loved, and also gives me a huge dose of humility as I realize what I show them is really important.

Everything I do, especially the things I do every day, are showing my son what it means to be a man.

He wants to drink coffee because his dad drinks coffee…every day.

This hilarious and sobering fact makes me immediately think about two things:

1. That I want to show him I read my bible and pray every day, not just drink coffee!
2. That young leaders who follow me also look at what I do regularly as a sign to what they should be doing too.

I have never told my son that he should drink coffee when he gets bigger. He just sees me doing it and infers that when you are a “big guy” you drink coffee.

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photo courtesy of @ The News Tribune

By Beau Crosetto

I know this sounds ludicrous that I would mention the two names in the same sentence, but there is one main thing here that I want to draw our attention to.

If you know me I bleed blue and green and just absolutely love the Seahawks and now Pete Carroll. People close to me know he is probably the #1 guy I want to meet in this world because I am fascinated with the way he goes about building a culture and team. He is dogmatic in his approach to building a program. And one clear-cut part of that approach is what catches my eye!

Some of you can’t stand Pete Carroll but don’t write this article off because of that!

He and Jesus have a one thing in common.

*I don’t know anything about Pete’s spiritual beliefs. I am simply using him as a leadership example and not in any way saying he is a Christian leader.*

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By Beau Crosetto

A lot of time we, as leaders, don’t do what we need to do because we don’t like doing it.

I think this is a growing trend today especially with all the “focus on your strengths” material that is circulating our country.

But my father-in-law (Steve) and I had a great discussion today about doing things that you don’t want to do so you can go to the next level in your leadership and organization.

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By Beau Crosetto

When some of us were at Urbana we got together for our first ever A.P.E gathering and we had a great time sharing, praying and encouraging each other about all things apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic.

[Make sure to subscribe to our A.P.E. Newsletter so you don’t miss the next one! Here is the last letter I sent out with some apprentice resources not found on the blog.]

One of the things that was prayed out was an image of a fan spinning but the light was out.

The interpretation on this image was that the temptation for us as catalytic leaders is to lead and be busy, essentially spinning around, but not be fueled by the constant light of Jesus.

We appear active and “on” but there is no light!

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I wanted to write this post and highlight a new feature that has been up for a few months

Blog Series!

You can find the tab on the very top of the blog and inside the page is organized content according to different series we are doing.

One of the great benefits of a blog that has many writers is the opportunity to do series like this and organize thoughts and posts around certain topics.

Let me highlight a couple of my favorites for you.

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It has been an amazing time at Urbana! Over 16,000 delegates have gathered and God has been inspiring us to reach this world! Here are two of my favorite things that have happened so far!

David Platt Brings Conviction

This was one of the best talks I have heard in a long time. One that I want to go back to and listen to again. It was so convicting and it really helped me re-callibrate with Jesus. He preaches out of an often avoided text in Luke and he really called the American Church out for its low risk, high comfortability ways. (Platt starts at 53:50)

[tentblogger-youtube FJDQhsF8sS4]

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Let’s Meet Up @ Urbana!!!

Urbana is kicking off tomorrow and many of us are really excited about it. It is the largest Missions Conference held in North America and we are expecting 18,000 people to show up! It is going to be an awesome time getting re-calibrated to the heart of God for the world.

While we are there we might as well have a meet up!

For those of us that love talking about apostolic, prophetic, and evangelistic things this could be a great time to get together and process what God is doing in our midst and how we can move forward with him.

Plus, if you are a reader or regular contributor to this blog, this could be a fun time for us like minded people to just kick back and have some fun together. Make the 18,000 person conference a little smaller.

Three Reason you should make the effort

1. It’s the first Release the A.P.E. gathering ever!
2. Many of us have never met each other
3. You can have a space to talk with like minded people!

A friend has kindly opened up his suite to us in Ramada Inn, so lets meet there Friday at 10:30pm-12:00am. I don’t know the room yet so Tweet Me or FB message me Thursday or Friday. Or you can sign up to be on our email list and i will email you and update!

I know it is late, but it’s Urbana! Feel free to come and hang as much or little as you wish. It will be casual!

When: Friday December 28th

Time: 10:30pm – 12:00am

Where: Ramada Inn (Room # TBA)

Ramada St Louis

*remember to tweet me or FB message me for room # or you can check back here and I will update once at the conference!)

If you are not going to Urbana, you can follow the conference live here.

[this is part of the series “A.P.E. in the Movies” read the other post here]

Tonight I saw the premiere of “Les Miserables” and it was fantastic. I had never seen the musical or read the book so I was anxious to see it.

Here are two things about A.P.E. leadership that I walked away from the movie with and a song for you to listen to at the end.

A.P.E. Leaders are Called to Be Revolutionaries

The movie is cast in the time of the Revolutionary France and you actually get to see the beginning of a revolution come about in the movie. The Revolution starts with a small band of men and women who decide to step out and catalyze the revolt! Men and women full of courage, conviction and vision of what could be!

They built a barricade and stood strong…even giving their life to see freedom come. This small band of people in the movie were truly catalysts for this revolution.

I couldn’t help but think about A.P.E leaders as revolutionaries in God’s Kingdom and the fight we daily fight to push back the Kingdom of Satan. It is Apostolic leaders who take new ground, Prophetic leaders who call for change and Evangelists who win people to the cause and grow the revolution. A.P.E.s are the catalysts. And our job is to take stands at different times so change can happen!

And when I watched the men and woman sing the song, “Do You Hear The People Sing?” in the movie, I couldn’t help but think of A.P.E. Leaders singing this song with a slight lyric change. It really moved me.

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