Three Things to Do MORE of in Life

1.   LAUGH MORE –

The Bible says, “Laughter is medicine for the soul…” Think about it, my friends. When was the last time you actually tried improving your HEALTH by laughing more? I’d like to see you take time each day to lighten up and LAUGH more. Laugh at yourself and WITH others. We could change the atmosphere and energy of every home in America just by laughing more! Find ways to worry less and laugh more, and you’ll see your health improve.

2.   REST MORE –

I’ll be the first to say, “I’M HORRIBLE at RESTING!” However, I believe in the value and long-term health benefits of taking time to rest. In some European Countries, they take an entire month off to rest. Many others have what is known as a fiesta on a daily basis. I believe that we should rest on purpose by taking a day off each week and blocking off “DO NOTHING” time each day to rest our mind and body.

3.   EAT MORE –

Yes, I know these are times when people need to actually eat less and start focusing on losing weight. However, I think we should actually EAT MORE greens, salads, white meat, fish, fruits, and healthy foods. I know that I caught you here. Please make it a priority to eat more of the right foods and less of the foods with sugar, sodium, grease, and red meats. Let’s eat more foods that make us feel better and give us more energy. 

September 30th Blog - By Matt Maddix

Three Months Left –

There are 3 months left until 2011 will be behind us. I’d like to challenge you right now take it out with a bang and do it right. Take some time off right now and think about all of those New Year’s Day Resolutions that you set for yourself. If you have fallen short, why don’t you spend the next 3 months working toward all of those resolutions on a consistent basis?

There are 13 Paydays until Christmas –

Think about it: you actually don’t have to procrastinate this year. You can get a quick jump start, save a little bit of money each week for the next 13 weeks, and be ready to go Christmas shopping with a little bit of money in your pocket and without stress or worry. If you’ll make your list of people that you want to buy a gift for now and then determine your budget, you’ll know how much you need to save each week so you’ll not have to go in debt with a bunch of credit cards. PAY now and PLAY later!

Caleb Maddix Motivations for Kids –

My little boy Caleb is going to be turning 10 in two months, and I’m already panicking about how fast he is growing up. I’m seeing such a mature young boy, and it’s making me so happy. Caleb has developed quite a confidence and passion to inspire others, and that has led him to form – Caleb Maddix Motivations! He actually has his own website and has posted some of his videos at calebmaddix.com. Please pass website to every parent and child you know, and they will be inspired. Caleb writes his own notes for his videos all by himself. I’m a very proud father! 

"My Time with Little Caleb"

My time with Caleb is sacred to me. Many times when I travel, people will ask me to stay over for a day and "hang out;" my answer is always the same: "I'd really enjoy that, but I need to get home to that little boy." I'm very intentional about my role as a father in his life and refuse to allow anything or anyone in my life to sidetrack me from my responsibility of being a daddy. Caleb will be 18 years old in 3,042 days! Yes, I do keep a good count of how many days until he turns 18 ;) I'm not going to attend his 18th Birthday party and be full of regrets. I fully plan on being very intentional about my decisions and actions to ensure that my relationship with that little boy is regret-free. Take into consideration that I split my time with him 50/50 with his mother, and I also travel on a weekly basis. Even with that schedule, I've got my travel schedule arranged to make sure that I am rarely ever away from him longer than 3 nights straight.


His mom dropped him off at 5:30 yesterday, and I turned off my cell phone- and kept it off-for over 20 hours so I could give him my full energy and attention. It's not always easy to do this because I have a very busy schedule - I operate three major ministries and businesses that require about 12 hours a day from me. However, I'll get up at 4:00 am and work until wee hours of the morning if I have to so that I can spend that extra quality time with him. :) I am not perfect and have lots of improvements to make as a daddy, but I've made up my mind that he is going to know by my actions that he is the top priority in my life. It's easy to "talk" about priorities, but it’s much more challenging to live them on a day-to-day basis. I wish every preacher would take an honest evaluation of a statement we often make but rarely live: my priorities are (1) God, (2) Family, and (3) Church ;) Remember, my friends, to prioritize your life in such a way that you will have QUALITY time with your kids. You'll never get those moments, days, years, or memories back. They are only our kids once, and they grow up faster than you can imagine. God bless you!

My Weekend in Southern California

I enjoyed my weekend in Southern California. I landed on Saturday, and the first place that I went was IN and OUT! By far the best hamburger in America! I stayed at the Marriot in Anaheim next to Disneyland. The hotel was so nice, and I really enjoyed staying there. I was on the 17th floor and had a balcony room that overlooked the city of Anaheim. What a gorgeous view! I posted on my Facebook, "If everyone treated you with this kind of Hospitality and First Class Service, I'd want to travel more often!" It was refreshing to be with the Hodgson’s. They are down to earth, authentic people that have a passion for Revival and Soul Winning.


I spoke on Saturday night at 7:30 to their Youth. Mark and Kim Hodgson are one of the top 5 best Youth Pastors that I've ever meet. They are the real deal and doing a great job with Pyro Youth Ministries. God filled 19 teenagers with the Holy Ghost on Sunday. It was powerful, and we baptized 3 in Jesus name. After church, I wanted to go - you guessed right - IN and OUT! Twice in one day for this ole Health Nut was a shock for people to see on my FB and TWITTER, but it was well worth it. You truly haven't had a real good quality hamburger until you've been to IN and OUT.

Sunday I met their leaders at 9:00 am for some training on "How to Pray People Through to the Holy Ghost!" They were doing a push for Sunday 200 and worked very hard to see over 200 guests come to church. There were 311 in church total, and God filled 26 of them with the Holy Ghost. We baptized 7 more in Jesus name! It was fun to preach under the Tent, and I felt right at home. Well, I stayed around for about an hour just talking with people, asking questions, and connecting. They have a really good church. Guess where I wanted to eat lunch? IN and OUT! However, they wouldn't let me do it three times straight and felt I deserved something "better" ;) HA! We went to another one of my favorite Southern Califronia places, The Claim Jumper. I like to try to new places when I am on the road and will rarely eat something that I can get back home. I ordered a good ole fashion Filet Migon and Baked Potato! :) Came back to my room and even though I was SO tired, I didn't want to nap because the weather was to nice, and it was my last day in So Cal. Sleep is overrated anyways ;) I took a nice walk around the Anaheim and then took a little cat nap on the green grass under some beautiful Palm Trees. It was so relaxing and peaceful.

I wanted to stay on that grass for hours, but instead I met with their Youth Staff at a cool coffee shop at 6:00 pm just so I could connect and hang with them. That's another thing I love to do when I travel: I LOVE to visit new Coffee Shops and hang out. The one they took me to (Looked really cool) was PACKED; therefore, we took our meeting to Starbucks. We had a great time. I ordered a Large Ice Green Tea UNSWEET but crashed and drank a small White Chocolate Mocha Frap. I only drank half of the Frap because it was too much sugar for me ;) I talked with them for a few hours, and we just did some good Q & A and really focused on how they can reach more young people. I'd love to share more about what we talked about but my plane is about to land and this Flight attendant is looking at me to shut down 

Guess where we ate after our meeting? You got it - IN and OUT baby! I didn't want it to end; I savored every bite I could and enjoyed the moment. All knowing full well that I'd be juicing like crazy and back to my healthy ways today :)

Matt Maddix

Soul Winners Boot Camp Update

Boot Camp Chicago –

We are excited about conducting a Soul Winners’ Boot Camp for home missionaries Anthony & Layna Lacascio in the city of Chicago. This couple has the passion and ability to build a strong Apostolic revival church! We will be doing this Boot Camp for them completely free of charge. Due to building situations beyond our control, this Boot Camp has been rescheduled for April 2012. Please continue to pray for Boot Camp Chicago.

Boot Camp Focus for 2011

God has blessed us, and we’ve learned a lot of valuable lessons over the past 5 years. We’ve completed 51 Boot Camps and have trained over 15,000 people. One of the things we are doing differently is placing an extreme focus on teaching and training the Soul Winner to become fully balanced in their Soul Winning. Balanced soul winners have a passion for (1) Personal Soul Winning, (2) Guest Follow-Up, (3) Home Bible Studies, and (4) Discipleship. We provide training for each of these aspects of a soul winners’ balance life!
We also work very hard to give the host church of a Soul Winners’ Boot Camp sustainable growth by working with the Pastor and Outreach Director throughout the year. We conduct a monthly conference call for the Outreach Directors of our host churches to provide them with continuous training and motivation. We also give each Outreach Director of our Host Churches a Soul Winners’ Coaching Package consisting of 6 Personal Coaching sessions with me personally that will help them set up a very organized and effective Outreach, Follow-Up and Discipleship Ministry.

Upcoming Boot Camps for 2011 –

June 24-25 - New Brunswick, Canada
July 22-24 - Ashland, Kentucky
August 19-21 - Detroit, Michigan
September 2-4 - Seattle, Washington
September 9-11 - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
September 16-18 - Steele, Missouri
October 12-16 - Louisville, Kentucky (General Conference)
October 21-23 - Mantua, New Jersey
November 4-6 - Daingerfield, Texas

I hope that you will pray everyday for God’s blessing to be upon each of these cities and host churches. I’m asking each of you to consider attending at least one of these Soul Winners’ Boot Camps.

Boot Camp Bullet Points –

1. There is NO CHARGE to attend Soul Winners’ Boot Camp
2. All sessions and events are casual dress
3. Website – swbootcampfire.com
4. Every Boot Camp starts on Friday and ends on Saturday night
5. There will be over 8 Practical Teaching Sessions at each BC
6. We will conduct 2 BC FREE OF CHARGE for Home Missionaries
7. Boot Camp will have Merchandise and Products available
8. Boot Camp Office Number – 727-289-5001
9. To Schedule a Boot Camp – Click “Host a Boot Camp” on website
10. We do take up Spirit-Led Offerings at Boot Camp to support cost

Thank you for your continual prayers and support for Boot Camp America. We believe God is going to help us motivate and train millions of Soul Winners across the world.

Matt Maddix
mattmaddix.com

"How to Have a REALLY Good Conversation"

Picked up Caleb from Baseball Camp today and asked him the typical, "How did it go bubba?" Of course his answer was, "Awesome! I had fun, Dad!" I've learned through the years to be a really good conversationalist, and you bet that I'm going to be really good at having quality conversations with my son Caleb. I'd like to share a few key things about my talk with him today.

Too many people ask boring questions, and that is why some people are hard to connect with. I think every husband and wife will want to thank me after this, because I do believe that using what I'm going to share will help immensely in marriage. It will work in all relationships: ministry, business, soul winning, sales, friendships, or in any setting where communication and connection are necessary. Rather than asking the typical boring questions, learn to ask interesting questions that will generate interesting conversation and help you connect, learn more about the other person, and show them that you are truly interested in what they are saying. Here are the questions that I used on Caleb today that led to an hour long conversation and made him feel like 10 million dollars because his Daddy showed extreme interest in his thoughts and feelings.

1. How was baseball camp today?
2. Tell me one thing Coach said that you liked?
3. Tell me one thing you learned?
4. Who were the 3 most positive kids out there today?
5. How did it make you feel to get Camper of the day?
6. Why do you think you got picked?
7. Who were the 3 most negative kids or who had the worst attitude?
8. Did you have enough to drink?
9. How did you like the lunch I packed?
10. You'd rather have Pizza?
11. What did most of the other kids eat?
12. What kind of pizza?
13. What position did you play?
14. Name the 3 best players out there?
15. You think you were the best? LOL ;)
16. On a scale of 1-10 how would you grade the over all camp?
17. What made you give it a 9?
18. It wasn't long enough? LOL ;)
19. So was the girl that picked on you as you walked by pretty?
20. Did you get her name?

That conversation led to so many other things, and it got him into the flow. He was talking my ear off after that! You need to be stop being so dull with your family and friends when you are talking to them. You don't even want to get my started with the 100's of "Would You Rather" questions that I have made up. You ask anyone that knows me, and they'll tell you that I'm the “master question asker.” It's also the reason why I am able to truly connect so well with people. However, you must also be a really good listener. Not one time in that hour conversation did I check my phone, text, email, or Facebook. The key to really showing someone that you are listening is to, (1) Make really good eye contact, (2) Be alert to key things they say that could lead to other questions, and (3) Repeat back to them what they shared with you. Ok, go!

"How to SNAP Out of It"

Have you ever just felt down? Wanted to just lie around and do nothing? Perhaps experienced a relationship loss or a change on the job? You’re probably dealing with the blues and feeling extremely down about things that are happening or have just happened in your life. I recently needed to “snap out of it!” I’ve said that before, and I’ve had others say it to me; however, I just didn’t know how to do it. What do you do when you find yourself in a situation where you need to snap out of it?

1. Make a List –

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a huge list maker and always make lists about my life and situations. I usually fight depression the most after I drop Caleb off at his mom’s house. I come back home to a quiet and lonely environment. Caleb brings SO much life when he is around that I fight a serious case of depression when I have to be away from him for a few days. The other night was one of those nights that I just needed to “snap out of it,” so I made a long list of all the reasons why “I should NOT be depressed!” The more I typed, the better I felt. I came up with over 65 reasons that I should never again be depressed.

2. Put It Into Perspective –

Again it all boils down to the power of your mind and learning how to guard your thoughts. If I let my mind go, I would fall into a depression that I would never come out of; however, when I make my list, I usually am very focused on the positive and about all those that truly have it a whole lot worse than I do. Anytime I do this, it has a way of helping me “Snap Out of It!”

3. Get Up, Get Moving and Have Fun –

Sometimes you just need to turn on every light in the house, blast some really upbeat loud music, give thanks to God, go for run, a walk or just DO something. Motion affects emotion! I’ve learned that when I need to “snap out of it,” it’s time to get moving and go have a blast and laugh until my gut hurts!