RECENTLY FROM RUSTY GEORGE
One Less Gift This Year?
"One less gift? What do you mean one less gift, Rusty?" Well gang, it’s almost Christmas! And In the spirit of Leading Simple, can I offer a suggestion to simplify your Christmas? Buy one less gift. Yep, I know, sounds crazy. And who goes without? How about you?...
Join Us for Christmas
Will you join us for Christmas this year? I’ve been writing a special Christmas Eve service message I can’t wait to share. And I’d be honored if you and your family would join me for one of our services. All of our Christmas information can be found here...
One Less Gift This Year?
"One less gift? What do you mean one less gift, Rusty?" Well gang, it’s almost Christmas! And In the spirit of Leading Simple, can I offer a suggestion to simplify your Christmas? Buy one less gift. Yep, I know, sounds crazy. And who goes without? How about you?...
Help Make Leading Simple Even Better
Will you help us make Leading Simple even better? As 2021 comes to an end and we are prepping for our next season of the Leading Simple blogs and podcasts, would you take a moment and give us some feedback? Click this link and answer 6 quick questions. Don’t worry....
7 Things to Do with Your Family This Thanksgiving
Are you looking for things you can do to bring your family together this thanksgiving? I’ll spare you the usual. Eat turkey. Watch football. Decorate for Christmas. Here are 7 different ideas you can try while you have some time with your family. On Friday,...
What to Do When You Live in Someone’s Shadow
No matter who you are or what stage of life you are in, you’ve probably had at least one season of your life where you felt overlooked. “Hi! Good to see you! Where’s your brother?” “Hey, would you tell your sister I said ‘Hi?” “Looking for your roommate!” Or maybe...
3 Reasons NOT to Sponsor a Compassion Child
Got your attention? We are on a quest to help meet the medical, physical, spiritual, and educational needs of 1000 kids from third world countries through Compassion International. You can hear my interview with a former Compassion child by clicking play below. ...
Missing Real Life in 5?
Thank you for all your positive feedback on our 40 episode podcast journey through the Beatitudes. It was so fun to do, and it will return! So what is next? Starting this week, you can access Real Life in 5(ish) on YouTube. This series will be a slightly longer...
3 Soundtracks of Successful People
All of us have a running soundtrack in our heads. It might be fight songs, cry songs or goodbye songs. It might be words of encouragement, words of discouragement. It might be phrases that motivate you. It might be phrases that give you permission to fail. It...
3 Reasons Others See You as the Beast and not the Beauty
So my latest podcast got me thinking about the movie Beauty and the Beast. I had a chance to interview the Academy Award winning animator, Glen Keane and we discussed his work in creating and animating the Beast for Disney’s Oscar nominated film Beauty and the...
Are we Living in the End Times?
The events of the past 2 years have made many wonder… is this the end? Wars, pandemics, social unrest, rebellions, uprisings, hurricanes, earthquakes…it's easy to think the world is about to end. But as a Christian, what are we to assume? Recently I interviewed...
3 Books to Read this Football Season
Football is back! Odds are if you have read this far, then you are excited too! I recently had a chance to interview Hall of Famer and Christian, Bruce Matthews. He had incredible insight into how to follow Jesus through all the highs and lows of not just a...
How to help your student have good mental health this year
By this point, you’ve heard all the usual things to help with your mental health. Eat well. Get good sleep. Have friends. I’ve written and recorded many talks about this. In fact, if you missed it check out ep. 156 of the podcast where I share about some of the...
What I Told My Daughter When Dropping Her Off at College
I knew this day would come... So, years ago when my friend Pastor Ben Cachiaras posted a blog sharing what he told his daughter when he dropped her off at college, I filed it away for when I had to do the same. This past week Lorrie and I left our oldest at...
3 Reasons to Strengthen Your Marriage this Fall
A few years after I became Lead Pastor of Real Life Church, I noticed a heartbreaking trend occur every fall... Seemingly strong and stable couples got divorced. Every pastor knows that spring and summer are the seasons of weddings. So why did fall seem to be the...
Are You Afraid of Becoming Your Parents?
For all who fear becoming their parents... There are certain phrases that we all grow up hearing that we file away and say “I’ll never say that to my kids”… and then one day, we do. ... “Because I said so” ... “Life isn’t fair” ... “I’ll give you something to cry...
The Best Restaurants to Try When Traveling This Summer
Due to Covid shutting things down last year, experts are saying this summer will be one of the most traveled summers in recent memory! So, if you are stateside and traveling by rental car or family truckster, I thought we should discuss what to eat! After all,...
The 3 Things to Avoid When Speaking in Public
Even though most of us are terrified to stand up and speak in public, the truth is that at some point you have to do it. A presentation at work, a toast, a eulogy, or even a backyard bbq. A recent podcast with speaker and activist Danielle Strickland gave us some...
What to Do When You’re Burnt Out on Volunteering at Church
Let’s face it. There are times you just think… “Do I really have to serve at church AGAIN?” This is the time of year that most churches are beginning to recruit volunteers for the fall ministries launch, and you’ll be inundated with many opportunities to serve at...
A Terrible Story with a Powerful Lesson
I'm about to tell you a horrific story that you’ve probably never heard before… But the lesson it shares can help you. To my knowledge, Dateline never covered this one. And it was never on 20/20. I never even saw a YouTube video about it. But it happened. And as...
Three Steps to Help Calm Your Anxiety
Ever wonder why after you pray for God to give you peace you still pace the floor at night? I sure do. When the Bible says “Cast all your cares on him because he cares for you . . .” doesn’t that imply he’ll take your cares away? So then why do we still stress and...
Who is Forming Your Mind?
If I were to ask you what a follower of Jesus should look like, you’d probably say something along the lines of: “Someone who acts like Jesus.” And so would I. A follower of Jesus should be someone who thinks, acts, and reacts like Jesus would if he were living...
I Wish _____ Would Come to Church…
Who is that for you? A friend? A family member? We all have someone, but let me ask you this... Why is it you find it really easy to talk with strangers about the Netflix show you binged, but you can’t talk to close friends about the church that has changed your...
Coming to a Campus Near You… At the Movies 2021
One of our most popular annual series at Real Life Church is kicking off on Father’s Day weekend: At the Movies 2021! For the past few years we’ve taken a few weeks to use popular movies to serve as our illustrations to Biblical teachings. Just like Jesus used...
10 Books to Read This Summer
Whether on the beach, by the pool, or on a plane, don’t miss the chance to feed your mind a bit this summer with a good book. Here are 10 books that I highly recommend: 10 BOOKS TO READ THIS SUMMER 1 • Winning the War in Your Mind by Craig Groeschell. This is a...
How to Look Like Jesus (besides wearing sandals)
It’s almost summer! In light of us all busting out the flip flops and Birkenstock’s, let’s talk about how we can look like Jesus this summer (whether we are in his footwear or not). I recently came across this blog post by one of my favorite speakers and authors,...
Episode 148: The Real Reason God May Not Be Answering Your Prayers
Leading Simple with Rusty George · 148: The Real Reason God May Not Be Answering Your Prayers We've all faced unanswered prayers... Is God ignoring us? Does he not care? Did we pray the prayer wrong? Is it because we sinned too much? The Bible has a lot to say...
Finding Help for Your Marriage When You Think THEY’RE the Crazy One
Crazy might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you know what I mean... If you’ve ever had these thoughts about your spouse, I'm talking to you: “Why can’t you just think like me?” “Just do it the way I’d do it...” “I’ll tell you my opinion if you want to know the...
3 Things All Pastors Need to Consider Before Regathering
If you are a church leader, odds are you have either moved back into your facility and started regathering in person, or you are about to. And with vaccines on the rise and restrictions being lifted, many churches (even in California) have started to regather...
What Really Happens to Us When We Die?
Over the past 12 months, our world has faced the reality of death in a whole new way. The possibility of an unseen, unknown virus robbing us of our life only added to our already present fears of murder, cancer, and car accidents... And because of this, many of us...
What Every Pastor Wants from Their Congregation Post-Covid
I know, I know… That sounds a little self-serving. But hang with me here. If you are not careful, you’ll view the church like you view your local coffee shop. You used to go every day, then during Covid, you just started making coffee at home. Sure, you missed...