Category Archives: Leadership

2008, Discipleship, Ethos, Experience, Faith in Action, Giving Thanks, Leadership, Life, Ministry, My Life, My Wife Rules, Theology

Proverbs 6:1-5

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This is the year that we get out of debt.

Over 7 years of marriage we’ve managed to keep our heads above water but we have accumulated a little bit of debt. We used our credit cards to travel to see family, we moved, we bought a few pieces of furniture, and we bought a few stupid items.

After taking a step back and looking at our finances we concluded that something had to change or we would run the risk of getting into terrible financial trouble. It doesn’t matter that our level of debt was just under the national average. We were failing in our call to be good stewards of our money and so we decided to do something about it.

Today my wife told me that our credit cards have been completely paid off!!!

In just three months, we paid off a (ahem) crapload of money on those plastic traps. We went and did our taxes, found out that we didn’t owe anything, and then used the money we had set aside for taxes to completely pay those puppies off. We are done!!! No more plastic!

The next step is to pay down our car notes. That’s right, we have two of them and owe money on both. It’s ok though. We shouldn’t have bought my car when we did. I had a truck that was paid off but I was tired of driving that big boy around and I wanted a smaller car. Lesson learned. The plan is to have both of our cars paid off by the time 2009 rolls around.

Big PROPS to my wife because she does our finances.

Thanks babe for doing the hard work and for giving me a generous allowance each week. 🙂 I love you babe!

Ethos, Film & Theology, Leadership, Ministry, Popular Culture, Preaching, Remarkable, Sermons, Stories

What is Vision?

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Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18 KJVS)

I began thinking about this verse and I remembered a scene at the beginning of one of my favorite movies, Seven Samurai.

Kurosawa’s 1954 classic film begins with a gang of bandits tearing through the Japanese’s countryside. They come to a stop at the top of the a hill overlooking a small, poor, insignificant village. They are about to attack the defenseless hamlet when their leader reminds them that they attacked this village last season. He tells them that they should come back when the barley harvest is in so that they could really wreak some havoc. They agree and they ride off vowing to return and destroy everything. An older man from the village had been hiding on the hill and he overhears the bandits plans and he rushes down the hill to warn the people.

The very next scene show the entire village weeping and wailing and sitting in the dirt in the center of the village. Some are crying out they they wished that they could die right now. Doom and gloom is all around. Most have given up every ounce of hope.

One young man stands up and proclaims passionately that the villagers must fight the bandits. Most of the older men shout him down telling him that his idea is ludicrous. The older men agree that the course of action must be decided by the leader of the village. Every villager stands up and marches to the old mill where the oldest and wisest man living among them resides. The old man will tell them what they must do.

After much deliberation and thought the old man agrees that they must fight these bandits off. He tells them that they must hire samurai to help protect the people. Many of the men argue with the old man’s words saying that they could never afford to hire samurai. They ask him incredulously, “What Samurai would work for barley and rice?”

The old man responds to their doubt by saying, “We will look for hungry samurai.”

That’s vision.

Without his vision, the people would perish. The old man knew that his people were in trouble. He knew their fears and he knew their limitations. They needed help and they needed a different perspective. The old man exhibited vision to see beyond excuses.

Effective vision is most often the most practical. The people were focused on what prohibited them from surviving. The old man focused on what they had and what would help them survive.

Quit whining and crying about your situation and what you think is keeping you and your people from success.

Go find you some hungry samurai and protect your village.

Discipleship, Ethos, Faith in Action, Leadership, Ministry, Preaching

Sermon Prep

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My follow-up posts on the Paradoxes of Leading from the Second Chair have been put on hold (surprise, surprise) while I prep for my sermon this week.

I am preaching on the importance of Leadership Vision. It is a topic that really gets my heart going.

Proverbs 29:18 says that where there is no vision (khaw-ZONE), the people perish (KJV).

I love how the Message interprets this verse:

If people can’t see what God is doing,
they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what he reveals,
they are most blessed.

It is this message that I want to get across this week.

Leadership Vision isn’t about crazy dreams or overly creative ideas birthed by high and lofty positional leaders.

Leadership Vision is for all people who humbly and reverently seek to make sure that their vision is God’s vision.

It is the ability to see what God is doing and the desire to attend to his revelation. If you can’t or are unwilling to see what God is up too then I would suggest that you are in the way.

We will be specifically looking at Nehemiah, the cupbearer of the king. He wasn’t an important official. He wasn’t a member of the royal family. He was a humble servant. His vision was to see that God was glorified through his life and the lives of those he led. His eyes and heart were opened to God’s vision for living and he let God lead him to do great and wonderful things that brought glory, not to Nehemiah, but to God.

Leadership Vision is never about YOU. It is about bringing glory to Almighty God.

I’ll post updates about the sermon throughout the week. Until then, have a great day and keep seeking out God’s vision.

Book Review, Discipleship, Ethos, Experience, Leadership, Ministry, Youth Ministry

Great Freedom and a Greater Responsibility

I’ve been reading Leading From the Second Chair by Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson this week. What a great resource this is! I only wish I had read it a few years ago so that I could have implemented some of its perspective in my first ministry position after college.

According to Bonem and Patterson, a Second-Chair Leader is a person in a subordinate role whose influence with others adds value throughout the organization(2). Basically it is someone who is a leader but is not the “lead leader.” Success for the Second Chair leader is found through influence and building strong relationships.

There is a great amount of freedom in that and I feel a great sense pride knowing that God has allowed me to gain influence and build strong relationships in every single working opportunity I’ve had. From working at a restaurant to campus security to my current position as a youth minister, being in the second chair (or third or eighth) has allowed me to serve in the most pure form of leadership there is: leading/serving without formal authority.

Have I always embraced this truth? Unfortunately not. I have complained and I have missed or refused many opportunities to look at the big picture. The reality is, thankfully, that God has used/is now using/will use my experiences in the second chair as a “transformational season” in my life. That is an awesome truth that I will and must embrace!

Bonem and Patterson go on discuss the three paradoxes of Second Chair Leadership: subordinate-leader, deep-wide, and contentment-dreaming. In discussing these paradoxes I realized how incredibly privileged I am to be in a second chair role. There is freedom but as the number two (or three or eight) I have a even greater responsibility not just to my particular ministry but to everyone that I come in contact with. I’ll unpack these paradoxes tomorrow.

Until then, Are you in the second chair leadership position where you lead? If so, have you ever looked at this position as an opportunity for growth and strength?

What would it take for you to begin gaining influence and building stronger relationships across your entire organization from your current second chair position today?

Discipleship, Ethos, Leadership, Life, Ministry, Preaching

Man Time

I’m headed off on our Men’s Retreat this afternoon.

It will be a nice change of pace to be on a retreat with adults rather than teens. It will also be nice to go on a retreat that I haven’t scheduled or planned. I’m the AV guy and I do have a presentation on Teen Mentoring but it should be a relaxing 2 days.

I’m taking a few books with me. I’ll start Nancy Ortberg’s Looking for God and (hopefully) I’ll knock out a good chunk of Neal Gabler’s 912 page biography of Walt Disney.

I have been trying to get to the bio of Uncle Walt for some time but other books have gotten in the way. On March 30, I’m preaching on The Vision of a Leader and I can’t think of anyone in the modern age with more vision that Walt Disney. Of course, Walt surrounded himself with other visionaries and experts. Men “on the ground” like Ub Iwerks and those men and women of the creative team known as The Imagineers have helped carry out Walt’s vision and have even managed to take his vision further than he ever imagined.

I am convinced that you, personally, can have a vision for something but ultimately vision is a team sport. I once heard that as iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens the other. Sounds like whoever said that knew what they were talking about.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Book Review, Ethos, Leadership, The Word, Theology, Wrestling With Scripture

The Real Political Alternative

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From Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw:

Our president is not organizing another political party, nope… not even running with Nader on the Green ticket.

Jesus is forming a new kind of people, a different kind of party, whose peculiar politics are embodied in who we are. The church is a people called out of the world to embody a social alternative that the world cannot know on its own terms. We are not simply asking the government to be what God has commissioned the church to be.

After all, even the best government can’t legislate love. We can build hundreds of affordable housing (a good thing by the way) and people still might not have homes. We can provide universal health care and keep folks breathing longer (another nice move), but people can be breathing and still not truly be alive. We can create laws to enforce good behavior, but no law has ever changed a human heart or reconciled a broken relationship. The church is not simply suggesting political alternatives. The church is embodying one.

I didn’t agree with everything in this book. The author’s painted with a very large brush (they admit that right up front) and some of their theological conclusions (read: oversimplifications) made me scratch my head.

At times the book even made me angry. I was angry at the authors, politicians, the man, the left, the right, the system, and most of all, at myself. I wrestled all day long with Jesus for President yesterday as I wrestled with my decision to involve myself in the political process.

One thing is for sure: If Jesus did run for President he would lose in the most devastating landslide in the history of democracy. The way of Jesus stands in stark contrast to the agendas of the Republicans and the Democrats. His Kingdom is not of this world.

All of this did make me think yesterday, if none of these candidates look like Jesus, talk like Jesus, walk like Jesus, or live like Jesus then who do I vote for?

Leadership, Politics, Questions

So…

I registered to vote today. My faith in the process is being re-ignited.

I’m still not certain that I will vote come November but I sure do like the tone coming from the two men who won the Iowa caucus last night. Maybe they should cross lines and run with one another! (not likely I know)

Both candidates speeches reminded me of Kennedy’s “New Frontier” speech. Say what you will about the outcome of his presidency, Kennedy’s passion in this speech for a better tomorrow is exactly what I want to hear from a candidate. I don’t want to hear about the other guy’s policies suck. I want hear about making a real difference in the lives of people within the borders of this country and how we can provide servant leadership to those outside our borders.

Something like this:

Today our concern must be with that future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do.

Abroad, the balance of power is shifting. There are new and more terrible weapons–new and uncertain nations–new pressures of population and deprivation. One-third of the world, it has been said, may be free–but one-third is the victim of cruel repression–and the other one- third is rocked by the pangs of poverty, hunger and envy. More energy is released by the awakening of these new nations than by the fission of the atom itself.

The world has been close to war before–but now man, who has survived all previous threats to his existence, has taken into his mortal hands the power to exterminate the entire species some seven times over.

Here at home, the changing face of the future is equally revolutionary. The New Deal and the Fair Deal were bold measures for their generations–but this is a new generation.

A technological revolution on the farm has led to an output explosion–but we have not yet learned to harness that explosion usefully, while protecting our farmers’ right to full parity income.

An urban population explosion has overcrowded our schools, cluttered up our suburbs, and increased the squalor of our slums.

A peaceful revolution for human rights–demanding an end to racial discrimination in all parts of our community life–has strained at the leashes imposed by timid executive leadership.

A medical revolution has extended the life of our elder citizens without providing the dignity and security those later years deserve. And a revolution of automation finds machines replacing men in the mines and mills of America, without replacing their incomes or their training or their needs to pay the family doctor, grocer and landlord.

There has also been a change–a slippage–in our intellectual and moral strength. Seven lean years of drouth and famine have withered a field of ideas. Blight has descended on our regulatory agencies–and a dry rot, beginning in Washington, is seeping into every corner of America–in the payola mentality, the expense account way of life, the confusion between what is legal and what is right. Too many Americans have lost their way, their will and their sense of historic purpose.

It is a time, in short, for a new generation of leadership–new men to cope with new problems and new opportunities.

All over the world, particularly in the newer nations, young men are coming to power–men who are not bound by the traditions of the past–men who are not blinded by the old fears and hates and rivalries–young men who can cast off the old slogans and delusions and suspicions.

But the New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises–it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride, not to their pocketbook–it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security.

But I tell you the New Frontier is here, whether we seek it or not. Beyond that frontier are the uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. It would be easier to shrink back from that frontier, to look to the safe mediocrity of the past, to be lulled by good intentions and high rhetoric–and those who prefer that course should not cast their votes for me, regardless of party.

But I believe the times demand new invention, innovation, imagination, decision. I am asking each of you to be pioneers on that New Frontier. My call is to the young in heart, regardless of age–to all who respond to the Scriptural call: “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.”

That is the question of the New Frontier. That is the choice our nation must make–a choice that lies not merely between two men or two parties, but between the public interest and private comfort–between national greatness and national decline–between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of “normalcy”–between determined dedication and creeping mediocrity.

All mankind waits upon our decision. A whole world looks to see what we will do. We cannot fail their trust, we cannot fail to try.

Can you believe that this speech was delivered nearly 50 years ago?!?! To everything turn, turn, turn.

I’ll be listening for a speech like that, but more imporantly I’ll be looking for the will to follow through. The canidate that shows me that will get my vote.

The New Frontier

2008, Discipleship, Ethos, Leadership, RTM

2008: The Year of Trying

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In his book, If Only, psychologist Dr. Neil Roese makes a distinction between two different types of regret: regrets of action and regrets of inaction. A regret of action is doing something you wish you hadn’t done. A regret of inaction is NOT doing something that you wish you had done. In theological terms, action regrets are the result of sins of commission while inaction regrets are the result of sins of omission.

I think the church has fixated on sins of commission long enough. They may be easier to quantify, but the greatest regrets at the end of our lives won’t be the things we did wrong. Our greatest regrets will be not having done the right things- things we could have, should have, and would have done.

Action regrets taste bad, but inaction regrets leave a bitter after taste that lasts a lifetime. they haunt us because they leave us asking ‘what if?’. — Mark Batterson, Chase the Lion

I am so excited about the new year.

I understand that today is really no different than yesterday. There is nothing magical about January 1st. No pixie dust fell from the sky last night and I only saw one unicorn in the wee small hours of the new year so it isn’t really that special.

However, we all live by the calendar and the first day of the new year just lends itself to the feeling of a fresh start. I have been ruminating over the passage from Batterson for quite sometime. Back in October a few friends of mine and I caught a glimpse of a coming movement. A movement that desires to see God’s people throwing off all that hinders them and becoming a force that once again changes the world.

I feel like 2008 is the begining of something spectacular. The movement begins in the heart of individuals as the seek to glorify God in all that they do. Day by day I am trying to connect to this desire a little more than the day before. I invite you to join me.

The road ahead might be frought with dangers: apathy, criticism, and rejection. The key there is “might be”. I’m no longer interested in being afraid of what dangers there “might be.” Are you?

2008: The Year of Trying

________________________________________

You Might Die Trying
Dave Matthews Band

To change the world
Start with one step
However small
The first step is hardest of all

Once you get your gait
You will walk in tall
You said you never did
‘Cause you might die trying

If you close your eyes
‘Cause the house is on fire.
And think you couldn’t move,
Until the fire dies
The things you never did
Oh, cause you might die trying
‘Cause you might die trying
You’d be as good as dead
Cause you might die trying
Cause you might die trying

If you give, you, you begin to live
If you give, you begin to live
You begin, you get the world
If you give, you begin to give
You get the world, you get the world
If you give, you begin to live

Awesomenessness, Church Planting, Discipleship, Ethos, Leadership, Ministry, Resources

Filter Conference Call: Mark Batterson

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I had a great opportunity to participate in a leadership conference call with Pastor Mark Batterson this morning. Batterson is the pastor of National Community Church and the author of In the Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. The way NCC is “doing church” has really captured my imagination. NCC’s vision is to meet in movie theatres along the Metro lines in our nation’s capital. The only physical structure they use to meet in is a coffee house near Union Station. Ebeneezer’s serve great coffee and allows the church and culture to “intersect” on a daily basis.

Someday I hope to plant a church and I have learned a great deal from NCC and Batterson’s candidness. They are always open for questioning and are just as willing to speak about “missed opportunities” as they are about big wins. Mark’s blog is a daily stop for me on the interwebs. Mark is open and honest about leadership, family life, church direction, and vision casting. I enjoy hearing about what he is up to and I have enjoyed hearing about the victories that his church has been blessed with. Thanks Mark!!!

The conference call was put together by Catalyst Filter, a great leadership resource that I became a part of at this year’s Catalyst Conference. The call lasted about an hour and Mark talked about everything from balancing personal time with work to staff development. I even got to ask a question.

Here are my notes from the call:

Creativity and Innovation

    One idea that drives Creativity: “There are ways of doing church that no one has thought of yet.” There is no “order of worship” in scripture.

    Creativity is a byproduct of planning. NCC has a weekly “big idea” meeting where the leaders discuss what they want to happen each week in services, small groups, etc.

    Creativity and innovation are hard wired into the DNA leaders and churches

Annual Retreat

    Leadership attends two retreats a year.

    Summer- “Play & Pray Retreat”- name says it all. The team plays and then they pray.
    December- Planning Retreat– 48 hrs. spent dreaming, thinking, setting goals

Service Planning Process– What happens on Saturday and Sunday

    Batterson plans out his sermon series one year in advance. He admitted that really about 70% of that plan is carried out. Again, goes back to creativity being a byproduct of planning.

    Try and speak to what is practical in the lives of people

    One goal of ministry is to lead people into becoming self-motivated disciples

20somethings– largest demo of NCC is single 20somethings

    Proximity- if the goal is to reach 20somethings, be/go where they are

    Meet needs- Students have needs and wants. Offer students pizza, homes to meet in, relationships with members

    Speak to them- if the goal is to reach 20somethings, speak to/with them. Sermon series that address their unique phase of life (I believe most churches fail this point)

Engaging Culture

    The byproduct of ignorance is irrelevance.

    1) Engage culture by creating culture- NCC built a coffeehouse rather than a building. This breaks down walls within culture, allows for relationships to be built within culture

    2) Sermon series that engage culture
    Use music and movies. Most people today get their theology from music and movies. Movies reach out for truth but miss the mark in pointing to Truth- Jesus. We should step in and connect culture with Ultimate Truth. Movies and music give us permission to speak to tough subjects (Think “Hotel Rwanda.” I was able to use this film in a powerful way to speak on racism and equality in a way that I would have been unable to do through a typical Bible study)

Moving from Traditional to Contemporary

    “Someone told me that it takes an oil tanker 14 miles to preform a U-turn in the ocean. Don’t know if that’s accurate but it is a great picture of how slow and difficult change can be.”

    1) Make moves toward change that are practical in execution

    2) Sometimes the change is too great for an establishment. When that happens, you can always plant and hardwire into the DNA of the church plant a desire for innovation and avoidance of stagnation. Sometimes it takes a step of faith.

Balancing Personal life with Church work– Mark has a wife and three kids

    Work

    YOU control your calendar

    Mark gets up at 5:30am and makes time to write, think, pray, go through spiritual disciplines before the day “officially” starts

    Meeting days- schedules 2 days specifically for meetings

    Focus days- 2 days to study, focus, read, dream

    Family
    Make family a priority. Mark is specifically doing 2 things this year to show his family they are the priority of his life

    1) Mark intentionally used every single vacation day for he and his family

    2) Father/Son Meetings– Mark and his 12 year old son agreed to a covenant that this year (as his son turns 13) that they will complete a spiritual challenge, an intellectual challenge, and a physical challenge. The point is to intentionally grow closer together and intentionally honor God during their time together (I plan on doing something like this if we have kids)

Learning

    Leaders are readers

    Stay curious

    Stay humble- 1Cor 8:2- “The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.”

    When reading, cross-pollinate. Choose books and resources from a wide spectrum of disciplines

    Keep learning

So there are the highlights. I hope that you too can benefit from the conversation. The call ended up being the best hour of my work week. So good!

I’ll be out of pocket most of the weekend. This might be my last post until Monday. If so, have a great weekend everyone.