First Light! Welcome To We Meet Every Wednesday at 6:30 AM. Join Us Afterward, Upstairs in the Café.

Speaker Schedule: Jan 3 – Mike Caudwell Jan 10 – Walt Tomme

If you would like to send a note to our brother, James Powers who is incarcerated his address in prison is: James Powers Register # 34837-016 FCI Butner Medium 1 Federal Correctional Institution, satellite campus P.O. Box 1000 Butner, N.C. 27509

Outreach Pastor at McLean Bible Church Today’s Speaker: mike Caudwell Outreach Pastor at McLean Bible Church

“Happiness” mike Caudwell

SOME NEW YEAR’S THOUGHTS Mike Cauldwell Outreach Pastor McLean Bible Church

Good to Great, by Jim Collins Overview Good to Great, by Jim Collins Level 5 Leaders and Their Characteristics Blue Zones of Happiness, by Dan Buettner Power 9 of Happiness Questions

- Over 3 million copies sold Good to Great Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t, by Jim Collins - Over 3 million copies sold -  It’s principles are used to guide some of the most successful organizations

Good to Great Identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least 15 years What is Great? – Generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times over the 15 years. Compared these Great companies with other companies that failed to make the leap.

The foundation of the Great organizations is the Level 5 Leader Good to Great Collins’ team assumed that the Great organizations all had flashy, charismatic CEOs The foundation of the Great organizations is the Level 5 Leader All had Level 5 Leaders

Level 5 Leader’s Characteristics: Good to Great Level 5 Leader’s Characteristics: Quiet Humble Modest Reserved Shy Gracious Mild-mannered Understated

Do the characteristics of Level 5 Leaders sound familiar to you? God’s Word Do the characteristics of Level 5 Leaders sound familiar to you? Galatians 5:22-23 “22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

7and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. God’s Word 2 Peter 1:5-7 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

https://youtu.be/wZErD8blgw4

Harvard University Research Study Studied two groups of men for over 75 years. One was a group of Harvard students and the other was a group of men from inner city Boston. Started with over 700 men and are now working with around 70 who are over 90 years old. Can you guess what the researchers said was the single biggest predictor of longevity and happiness?

Blue Zones of Happiness by Dan Buettner - Outcome of 35 years of research on well-being - Studied “blue zones” of longevity and applied lessons learned to happiness and well-being

Power 9 of Happiness Love Someone                      Inner Circle Engage                                  Learn Likability Move Naturally                      Look Forward Sleep Seven Plus                Shape Surroundings Right Community

Love Someone Commit to someone compatible with you who shares your interests and values and whose company you enjoy. Research shows that you’re more happy if you’re married or in a committed relationship. Ephesians 5:33, NIV “However each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect the husband.”

Inner Circle Create a circle of at least three friends with whom you can have meaningful conversations, who you can call on a bad day for help, and who are generally happy. Proverbs 18:24, NIV “One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Engage Get out of your house. Volunteer. If you are religious, show up regularly for services. Ephesians 6:7, NIV “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people …”

Learn Likability Cultivate generosity and empathy, be interested and interesting, learn social skills. Proverbs 22:9, NIV “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.”

Move Naturally Daily dose of physical activity. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “ 19Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”

Look Forward Focus on meaningful things, set goals, and monitor progress. 2 Peter 3:13-14, NIV “13But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. 14So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”

Sleep Seven Plus Establish routines that promote at least seven and a half hours of sleep nightly. Psalm 3:5, NIV “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.”

Shape Surroundings Set up your home, workplace, finances, social network, and inner life to favor happiness. Galatians 6:3-4, NIV “3If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else,”

` Right Community Of all the things people can do to try to increase their happiness, the most effective and lasting one is to choose to live in a community that supports well-being. 1 Corinthians 12:12, NIV “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.”

Do you think that life is “long and easy” or “short and difficult?” Questions What do you think it means to “Set up your home, workplace, finances, social network, and inner life to favor happiness?” Which of the Power 9 of Happiness do you exhibit? Which do you struggle with? Do you think that life is “long and easy” or “short and difficult?” Can you name at least three “Inner Circle” friends? If not, how can you cultivate them?