L.I.D.s raising lids

My job is so demanding I can't do any work

2012-02-08T09:03:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking the goal is to live an integrated life. Work, faith, family, self, religion all a part of one thing.

I thought I was doing it wrong or I wasn't very good at it because it didn't seem to be working at all.

I then I discovered that it's not necessarily nirvana: this integrated all parts working together thing.

A friend who discovers things at a young age explained to me that things started clicking for him when he consciously segmented his work from his ministry which I think he was referring to as his vocation.

Then I came across a piece in a transcript for an On Being radio show about life in Detroit

A job is similar to slavery in that one is forced to perform actions in return for some sort of compensation for one's labor. Therefore the rewards are extrinsic, and without such extrinsic rewards people cannot be forced into a job they dislike. To tolerate or compensate for these job conditions often times people will engage in excessive consumerism or self-medicate to counteract the boredom that comes from a job or to make themselves feel better.

Work, on the other hand, is defined as activities that one enjoys. To be compensated with money is not important because of the pleasures and satisfaction of work. Therefore the rewards are more intrinsic.

as outlined by Matthew Fox (The Re-Invention of Work)

This seems right for me now. I have to start being realistic about what my job requires and do it with all the passion and intensity I can bring to bear. Numbers, ego, competition, accomplishment, pleasing others, service all will be alive and well here. I'll do my job with conviction that is making a difference in the organization and the world.

But there will need to be time for work to. This is the integrated place. Family, friends, foes, different ideas, the joy of being, failure, will be seen or sought or brought.

It as in most things is probably best to move from the integrated life to the segmented work life and after a while here, it'll be time to go back to the integrated thing again.

2 Things Everyone You Serve in Ministry Will Want in 2012

2012-01-01T17:18:00.000-05:00

They manifest themselves in different ways, but two things that everyone seems to want is to be heard and to be right.

It isn't enough to try something in ministry.

Having an idea and having it heard is important.

How does it fit into the overall mission and ministry of the church? Not as critical.

Of course it's sometimes hard to figure out just what the mission and ministry of the church is.

We sometimes confuse the mission and ministry of the church with right theology or with minimizing risk.

The most important thing might be to make sure the nativity scene is historically accurate or that the right forms are filled out for the trip to the soup kitchen.

Which leads to a third thing people will want in 2012.

To get their way.

The critical job for us will be to figure out if what we are doing is just trying to get our way or fulfilling the mission and ministry of the church.

A good start would be to hear others, and let them know we hear.

We have the rest of the year to figure out what's right and who will get their way.

When is where you put the creche the point?

2011-12-24T06:00:00.003-05:00

An excerpt from the movie script of Charlie Wilson's War between a US Senator and a powerful constituent details a scene in which the ACLU's lawsuit to have a nativity scene removed from the lawn of a fire station. It gives some interesting insight into our modern concept of incarnation.

Larry: Every single year since the world was young, the firehouse in the Nacogdoches

Township has displayed a creche.

Now, the ACLU has filed suit against the township for displaying a religious symbol on public property.

It's Christmas time.

It's a creche.

I could understand if we were in gosh-darn Scarsdale, but this is east Texas, and I want to know who we're offending.

Except two lawyers from the ACLU.

Charlie: That is a terribly interesting and complicated question.

Let me make this suggestion, though.

There's a church about a block and a half from that firehouse, First Baptist Church of Nacogdoches.

They've got a beautiful rolling lawn out there in front.

Larry: No, no. This is a Christian country, Charlie, founded on Christian values.

Sure. We welcome other faiths to worship as they wish, but when you can't put a nativity scene in front of a firehouse at Christmas time in Nacogdoches Township, something's gone terribly wrong.

Charlie: Well, that's not really true, Larry.

You could move that creche over to that church and everything's just fine.

Larry: That's not the point!

Every since the magi came looking for Christ in the palace of Herod, we have been expecting God's presence to be proclaimed in the places of power.

We often still insist that his manifest existence is displayed in court houses, on the public square, at the check out counter, and even on the fire house lawn.

But incarnation is about how we bear God's existence and presence for others.

And not about what icon inhabits the public square.

On the eve of God's coming, we anticipate all the ways and places God's presence will find us in spite of our desire to control where we and others see him.

Or, what do you think is the point?

Kantians, modern consequentialists, and contractualists- living in the tension of right and wrong

2011-11-05T12:04:00.002-04:00

Do you believe you should act according to categorical moral principles that you would desire everyone to follow?

If so, you might be a Kantian.

Do you believe that you should act based on what is likely to happen as being a good outcome or a bad outcome?

You might be a modern consequentialist.

Or do you put more stock in doing things guided by subjective principles of what "we owe each other"?

You could be described as a contractualist.

In her New Yorker Magazine article about philosopher Derek Parfit, Larissa MacFarquhar, using the following scenario to illustrate the difference in ideas of right and wrong:

A murderer asks you where your friend is, so he can kill her.

The Kantian would tell the murderer where the friend is. The consequentialist would not tell because it would mean the possible death of a friend. The contractualist would base his subjective and practical decision based on what he owes his friend vs. what is owed to society on being truthful or deceptive in this instance: lying or betraying a friend.

Parfit was looking for a way to satisfy all three positions with a convergent principle:

An act is wrong just when such acts are disallowed by some principle that is optimific [leading to best results], uniquely universally willable, and not reasonably rejectable.

It may the mother of all answers to moral dilemmas but not too helpful in the world of ministry.

The objective in bring people together around ideas probably shouldn't be an answer that satisfies everyone (let's face it, a Sunday school answer).

The objective should be for the consequentialist to understand why a Kantians is so Kantian and what experiences the contractualists had to make her so very...consequentialist.

Maybe then we can start to understand why we do what we do and have such strong feelings about what's right and what's wrong.

How Often Should Community Outreach Announcements Include a Warning?

2011-09-14T11:57:00.000-04:00

There are no doubt things going on in the church that might not be ideal for children of certain ages. We should protect our youngsters, for example, from committee meetings that don't follow an agenda or that don't include follow up with action items after the meeting.

It seems that most warnings, though, should only be included for inside communication with the church family.

I say that because I just received an invitation to an event at a church in town that includes the warning that the event deals with mature subject matter and strongly recommends children under 9 shouldn't attend.

That seems like a strange place to start a relationship. "Let the little children come to me... unless they are younger than nine and might hear about people they loved are in hell because they made poor choices."

It doesn't seem to ring true.

There are some trainings and some conversations in our churches that children aren't ready for yet and we all understand that.

But it just seems like when we are sending a message to people that we don't know, we should start with something everyone should hear.

God loves you.

Maybe in fact that is a good place to start and to stay.

How making Noah's Ark more plausible doesn't grow your faith

2011-08-17T17:11:00.000-04:00

I heard that a group or two is building a full size ark similar to Noah's.

Based on the dimensions from scripture.

It's massive- 500 feet long complete with cages.

It is said to give an idea of how big the original was.

So that you can see: that yes it's possible. Yes it was big enough and could really hold all those animals and their food.

The builder said that he hoped by doing this he would make the story of Noah's Ark more plausible.

No thanks.

I don't want to have to know that the things my faith tells me are certain.

I don't think a plausible faith is something I'm ready to believe in just yet.

How being a slacker at home can make you a control freak at work

2011-06-18T09:44:00.000-04:00

My wife is the engine that drives our family and our household economy.

She gets things done (as well as works a full time job) as far as house chores, a lot of the yard work, and she is the emotional glue that holds our family dynamic together. I cook the occasional meal, but generate more work than I produce in the order of a messed up kitchen. I mow the grass, but she has recently expressed interest in taking over that chore.

I feel bad about abdicating most home responsibilities to her. (But let's face it, not TOO bad.)

She will occasionally ask me to do some things which I most always try to do and sometimes in a timely manner, but often neglect.

So. I feel really guilty about asking her to help me do anything or ask for a favor in the household economy. If I ask her to go to the store to get stamps to mail the bills that I'm on the verge of paying too late, I feel bad.

A colleague in ministry told me the other day he felt like I was being a control person about something.

It shocked me. I have always prided myself in being a decentralized open source collaborator.

I realized perhaps that I have let my guilt of being a slacker at home makes me unwilling to ask others to do things in ministry (aka volunteer to offer presence and service).

I'm not sure exactly what to do about this, but I think I better go look at my to do list and quit feeling guilty about being a slacker at home.

Or quit being a slacker at home.

Or leave home at home.

Or... live my life authentically.

At home. At work. And in ministry.

The desire to be a hero is killing Adam Smith's invisible hand thing

2011-06-05T19:32:00.001-04:00

Ever see a sitcom where a prediction is made and then the protagonist doesn't believe it is going to happen, and sure enough before 30 minutes is over it happens. Taxi had an episode like this and without thinking about it too much maybe you can think of some more.

God has some things going on. The question is are we supposed to, like, make them happen or do we make sure to stay out of it so they will happen.

If you are a paid staff member of a church or organization that expects things to happen, it sure is easy to make what is supposed to happen (good numbers, right expenditure, proper amount of applause, good comments on the blog, etc.) happen.

Without any regard with what God will have happen... happen.

The pressure is incredible.

Adam Smith wrote or spoke about an invisible hand of self interest basically making the world go 'round.

My understanding of it has to do with something along the lines of God working for all things to work for good.

Are you willing to get out of the way of it?

How good good becomes may be a function of your willingness to be irrelevant.

Or we can spend more time being sufficiently mediocre.

Either way.

The power of "Do you think..." in keeping people from leaving your discussion group

2011-05-11T06:36:00.000-04:00

When considering our faith, that unrealized hope within us, discussion groups can be a pretty cool venue for growth.

We're talking a small (12ish), consistent (the same people every time) group of people that we can meet with regularly and get to know, appreciate, respect, and eventually love because of (or more likely in spite of) their ideas and beliefs which may even clash with our own.

A group like this sticks to questions like "Do you think..." (and understands the answer can be "no" and is OK with that).

Instead of "Don't you think..."

Or even the lethal "Don't you think people..."

A group that can speak about personal experiences and beliefs without its members attempting to make those personal ideas normative for everyone else has a chance of doing some thing.

Do you think we get bogged down by trying to get others to somehow come around to the fact that our ideas and beliefs are really the right ones?

I have found (also good language (I think) for creating a healthy discussion atmosphere) that when we share about our personal experiences and say things like "For me..." less people leave in a huff and talk about never coming back to "that group at the church".

I'm not sure why, in my experience, having a group that:
shares about personal experiences
and how those experiences shape each member's individual faith
and seeing how those individual faiths might shape the community's faith
is so difficult and scarce.

After all, I think:

"Don't you think.." is really code for "Shouldn't you think..."

And (unless you know the person you are speaking to pretty well) "Don't you think people..." is really code for I'm not going to do the work of getting to know you and there will be some people who are not going to like this and probably drop out of this group.

Don't you think?

How fine is the line between commodification and community?

2011-04-26T18:15:00.000-04:00

When you work for a big ole church or organization with lots of resources, all of a sudden you have great tools to make engagement and connection so efficient and frictionless.

You come to realize that people can be involved in your cause without spending much time or trouble at it.

You start to feeling like McDonald's kind of.

You work extra hard to have signage, sign ups, and customer service.

And then you realize no matter how good at that you can be, you're never as good as a memory or somebody else who is actually is good at it.

You also realize that the real problem is that your members or your supporters or your tribe is trying to spend as little time with your organization as possible. Because that's how you are going about it.

You become commodified.

There is only so much time and energy in a day, so you have to figure out how to spend it wisely.

How do you create space for people to spend not less time with you, but more time with you?

And attention?

Who are the people who really enjoy the experiences you are having with them in service to your mission?

What if we spent more time with them and less time worried about making the purpose less painful?

What's holding us back isn't a lack of time and attention.

I'm convinced it's some sort of fear that once we got to that point, the people we invited in would be disappointed.

We gotta stop that.

If you focus on the top of the funnel, you might be digging a hole

2011-04-19T09:33:00.001-04:00

The Funnel Isn't Just a Cake You Get at the Fair

In sales and marketing circles, there is such thing as a funnel.

You know what the funnel is without having to follow the link.

We see the funnel when a ministry team member (the narrow end of bottom of the funnel) says: We obviously need to get more people involved or we have to get the word out there or hey the announcement wasn't in the bulletin. These are ideas directed at the top of the funnel.

The top of the funnel is Attention. This is the advertising end of the funnel.

In between is Interest. This for us would be the Constant Contact clicks or the phone calls or emails we receive from the "for more information, contact ________________" part of the attention piece.

Then the next step is Desire. This is when the person signs up or joins, or makes an appointment to pitch the fundraiser or collection drive.

And then there is Action. This would be when the person buys something in the business funnel, so for us maybe this could be when they show up at the event or when they take on the chair position or in some way "own" the ministry.

So:

Attention

Interest

Desire

Action

This is a top down approach like pouring into a funnel.

The Flip Might Not Be Dead After All

There's been talk of flipping the funnel.

So what we would do is spend a much greater amount of time on the action. We would focus on the ones in the leadership, active ministry phase. We would have the 20% percent who do the 80% over for dinner to our house. We would meet with them for no good reason. Have coffee. Send them handwritten notes. Make sure the bulletin articles got in the bulletin for their sake. To keep them engaged without regard to the attention thing. And then these action groups would create desire in the interested and out of that would come lots of attention.

This is a inside out approach like amplifying your voice through a flipped funnel (which would kind of be a megaphone).

We mostly go top down funnel instead of inside out megaphone.

This is the church. Our stuff is important. Come to it.

Rather than, Hey watcha doing?

Why is that?

What Does Oscar Wilde Know About Ministry?

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde.

There is only one thing worse than not getting anyone involved to the depths of your ministry:
Getting someone involved in the depths of your ministry.

We are afraid of what they will find out.

That really I don't know the answers or I'm really not that interesting or people don't really want to change.

It reminded me recently as I spoke about it of a guy who was given something important that he was to take good care of and that others were multiplying.

And he just dug a hole and buried it.

Not because the guy who gave it to him was a hard man or that he was afraid of losing it and being punished.

He dug a hole and buried it because spending so much time trying to get people who weren't interested in it kept the people who were living it from changing who he already was.

A live faith moves under its own power

2011-04-13T05:56:00.000-04:00

Studies have revealed that children identify something as alive by whether or not it can move on its own.

Children think clouds are alive until it is explained to them that the wind, not the cloud, is moving the cloud.

A car is alive until the child realizes there is such thing as a combustion engine that makes the car move and that a person steers and controls the car.

At some point any child realizes her faith is alive.

And then the world and classmates and family members and teachers and philosophers and preachers and small group leaders and missionaries and the child herself might begin to speak about all the things that actually move the faith.

Church can be the place where people come to fully realize their faith as alive.

Or it can be the place that convinces people that in actuality their faith is simply an inanimate object moved around by religion, selfishness, complacency, and certainty.

When asked if an alive turtle would be just as much alive if it was a robot instead of a turtle, a youngster replies:

"It would be alive enough."

I wonder how often that child goes to our church.

What the Who's Were Thinking After The Grinch Stole Christmas

2011-04-05T08:31:00.000-04:00

When the Who's joined hands and sang together after realizing there wasn't any stuff for Christmas, it reminded me of the importance of understanding the mission- why you are doing whatever.

I get so worried about people coming and doing, I forget the importance of the people who decide not to come and not to do.

Something profound happens when someone makes up her mind not to participate.

It frees her up do to something else that she may come to realize was or was not more important.

If someone decides not to go on the mission trip because of a change of location, it reminds the ones who go why they are going on a mission trip and that it isn't about where you go.

If someone decides not to come back to the group because it makes him uncomfortable to talk with people who believe different things, it causes the ones who come to take another look at their faith.

When we make a circle and hold hands, the reason we will be singing is for the opportunities we share to provide decision making opportunities. Lots of people think we only sing when people and preferably lots of people come to stuff.

If you had a thing that was really important, would you give it to your ministry team?

2011-03-29T16:10:00.001-04:00

Objectively:

If you had a really important message to share, an idea to promote, or a story to spread, would you give it to your ministry team?

There are other options you know.

You could get the important politician that your uncle knows to talk about it and write some letters.

You could start up a non-profit and put people on the board who could really get things done.

The clout of the head guy at the church is important.
If you could win her over to make an announcement and hold up your thing and talk about it, that would really get things going. And of course, the piece de resistance: talking about it in the sermon. (Poignant.)

You could do a whole social media thing and get some viral buzz with You Tube uploads, facebook groups and pages, and take a look at google ad pages.

But asking a ministry team to take it on.

Even your ministry team?

It would be slow and maybe nobody would really get it and maybe it wouldn't even fit into the plan.

So unless it was just a nice little idea and not that important to you, neither one of us would give it to your ministry team.

Unless ministry was important to you.

So your ministry leader thinks he's a chicken: How badly do you need the eggs?

2011-03-21T06:50:00.000-04:00

A man walks into a psychiatrist's office and says his brother has gone crazy.

"He thinks he is a chicken," the man tells the psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist asks the man if he has told his brother that he is not a chicken.

"I would," replies the man, "but we need the eggs."

There is a chance that you colleague, ministry lay leader, program participant, and even your self is, well, crazy.

Deluded.

Personality disordered.

Misguided theologically.

Selfish.

Passive agressive.

And so now what?

Can you really have that honest conversation and get everything out there on the table and find a place of wholeness and healing?

How badly do you need the eggs.

In any given situation, that is a determination you have to make.

And only you can make it.

You can get lots of input and feed back and suggestions.

But if the hours upon hours of devoted time put in working on planning the event (even though it's completely for reasons contradictory to why you are involved) are necessary to the success of the ministry, are you going to call a chicken a chicken?

What do you think you are?

Long term relationships develop from singular encounters

2011-03-14T07:36:00.000-04:00

If your goal is to develop relationships through the mission and ministry of your organization, you might get caught up in evaluating your efforts based on how many people involved "stay in touch" in the years following the event.

That's probably OK, but we shouldn't discount the long term nature of relationships that can develop after one and only one encounter.

Someone that you meet may have an impact on your life and your faith if you are attuned to other people and their stories. If you are ready and willing to take these experiences to heart, you may develop a mystical long term relationship without exchanging an email address or finding them on facebook.

It would be no doubt really cool to have the mission team get together for a meal and have a conference call with the group that they worked with in Costa Rica several months after the trip.

The youth group that looks forward to the annual trip to Appalachia because they will get to see the progress of their peer group working through the growing local church in its own ministry outreach is a great outcome.

But it may serve as well to go in hoping for an encounter between two people who haven't seen each other before and won't probably see each other again. If these two people or two groups of people share something about how they live or why they believe something that they believe, that may be enough.

"How do you overcome tragedy. How do you live in tragedy? This is how I do it. Maybe you'll remember this the next time you experience tragedy."

Maybe once that happens, everything else will fall into place.

Long term relationships can happen in a singular instant.

Cop out?

The success of your group might be spelled ism

2011-03-07T06:26:00.000-05:00

What makes a ministry team or a small group worth being a member of is its purpose. The reason the group exists is what will attract new members and retain the existing ones through the travails of mediocrity and the mundane.

And that mission or purpose or reason for existence might be defined by what the members believe.

My belief is what attracts me to you. The group's collective beliefs are what define it and keep it going.

Whether or not I decide to join or give up my time to be a part of the project has to do with what I believe and how well I see that fitting into the overall purpose of the group.

The best groups I have been a part of are the ones that allow me to articulate what I believe and hold those ideas up to the beliefs of others. We can then begin to understand and eventually trust and and in the rarest of occasions love one another for who we are and what we individually believe and why.

On the other hand, the most life sucking self defeating groups are the ones comprised of people who seem bent on making sure that everybody believes pretty much what the other members of the group believe.

Believism is the idea that what I believe is so important and correct that you and anybody else who comes into my sphere should believe it too.

The group gets together to reaffirm that what it believes is right and that people who don't believe what it and its members believe are wrong.

There doesn't seem to be much trust or understanding on display at these group meetings.

Another casualty of adding ism to what you and your group believe is love.

But that's just me. Not everyone has to believe that.

Wiki leaks- Fake mythical king touches only gold, but people still more concerned about wikileaks

2011-02-28T07:00:00.007-05:00

King Midas was granted a wish that everything he touched would turn to gold.

Once he touched a river, his food, his beloved daughter and a few other things, he realized somethings are better off untouched. Or some things are more valuable than gold.

King Sadim, Midas' little known twin brother, had a slightly different approach.

He only touched golden things.

He only spoke to the share holders about the good things that his workers were producing.

He only shared about the selflessness of his leadership in such a way that emphasized the importance of it.

When others put in hours of agonizing over just the right approach for the presentation to the assembled masses, he diffused the significance of the moment by making an off hand joke.

He got to the right answer that was best for him without ever allowing for much discussion.

In the end Midas, learned that giving up gold makes one richer.

I suppose the twist for Sadim might be that in touching only gold he never got to feel faith.

In giving up his power to touch only gold, what do you suppose a Sadim might gain?

What you might have to give up if you want to be a faith based ministry

2011-02-21T08:17:00.000-05:00

When you consider being in the faith development business, it's important to consider what faith is.

It's not certainty. It's not being sure as a default.

It seems to be more about surrender and letting go.

But is your value proposition more about certainty?

Surety about what happens if you believe the right stuff and discount the wrong ideas will probably get lots of traction.

But how in the world did a mustard seed become the mascot of our ministry?

What could a mustard seed be certain about?

It seems to do OK once it's in the sand without drawing any lines in it.

Even Jesus' Gospel Had Gooey On It

2011-02-14T06:00:00.001-05:00

Computer operating systems have user interfaces (UI) unique to each manufacturer that at the same time make the OS easier to use, but also limited. This UI is known, I have learned, in some circles as gooey.

I asked a salesman about a certain smartphone the other day and whether or not it was "pure google" or if the manufacturer had gooey on top of it.

Even the pure google phones have their own internal phone address book and other UI considerations. Even they have gooey on it.

It helped me to understand a basic tenet about religion and the Gospel we are often feel compelled to boil things down to from time to time.

We as manufacturers of the Gospel have our own unique user interfaces we overlay our understanding of the basic message of God's relationship to and desires for us.

Let's face it our Gospel has gooey on it.

When we consider the most pure Gospel of them all, there are some user interface limitations.

Jesus was subject to the culture in which he lived. He was limited by the understanding and belief systems of the time into which he was born.

He wouldn't (according to my gooey) have had it any other way.

To be fully human is to be in some way or another constrained.

And so, maybe our lives would be somewhat more connected and our OS more bug and crash free if we embraced one another's gooey instead of trying to seek out pure Gospel or boil it all down to something.

Jesus had his gooey.

We all have our gooey.

I believe the faithful communities of discipleship embrace gooey rather than attempt to eliminate, ignore, or tolerate it.

Even I have gooey on my Gospel.

Why should I expect anything different from you?

Insularity- the silent killer of ministry

2011-02-07T06:21:00.002-05:00

At the conclusion of a recent program we asked for some feedback from participants.

"The presenter seemed a little insular at times. She should probably watch that," caught my attention.

I had noticed the same quality in the presenter, but I wasn't sure what to call it.

As I read the feedback comment, I also wasn't sure what insular meant.

Insular- ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas, or peoples outside one's own experience : a stubbornly insular farming people.

The comment then took on new meaning because I came to understand exactly what the participant had hit upon with his feedback.

All through the planning of the program, the presenter seemed incapable of implementing any ideas about the program other than her own.

The general thought was that the program was about "us" and how we could get more people who weren't "us" to be "us".

And that unspoken yet prevalent theme was what was in danger of killing the program if we "didn't watch it."

It gave me pause for the insular nature of my own ministry.

We would all seem to be at risk of insularity to one degree or another. We are after all, "us".

Maybe there is an insularity test that would show whether or not I am at dangerous levels of insularity.

Maybe question one would be:

Given a choice, when was the last time you successfully implemented an idea that wasn't your own?

Hummm. I'll have to think about that one.

Victim of eliminationism? Will it drag you down or make you better?

2011-01-31T06:25:00.001-05:00

Ask your ego.

When I was in college, I worked for a company that was owned by a brilliant keeper of power.

He was a self made millionaire type with an eighth grade education.

He learned somewhere along the way to keep power, you had to marginalize others to the extent necessary while still keeping them productive.

He, I think, suffered from hystrionic personality disorder, among other things, and when I say suffered: I mean suffered. Most of the people who worked with him suffered because of it.

The guy that I worked for in the company told me about the scenario. It was my first beginnings of understanding wisdom.

He told me at first, it made him really mad to be left out of things.

He knew that not only was he being left out of things, that it was intentional and that he was made to know it.

At first it made him mad. He was supposed to be in the loop.

But then he started to work with this strategy of his boss.

He realized that all things being equal, he was one of the only people in the world who could endure being intentionally left out of decisions, ideas, and discussions that he was a prime stake holder in by the person who should be the first to include him.

He explained it as his value proposition.

He didn't worry about his power stake and if or how it was affected by being left out of stuff.

He redoubled his efforts at engaging and caring for his customers.

It made all the difference.

What ever the picadillos of your head person: look at them as opportunities for value proposition development and not sources of frustration.

Keep you enemies close and the head of the organization (or at least her ideas and objectives) closer.

You always come through- this time won't be any different

2011-01-24T06:15:00.000-05:00

What I was trying to tell you is that I've seen you in so many situations where you faced a challenging situation,

And even though there were a few set backs and a good amount of give and take: as time went by you (your desire and your heart) prevailed more than you were vanquished.

I just don't think overall--and we may have to zoom out a ways to see it-- this time will be any different.

Who knows what distractions came along and how you might have reacted differently?

Why does it seem to come so easily to others sometimes?

I read recently that people see groups that they aren't a part of to be much more homogeneous than they really are.

People who seem successful probably have the same fears, anxiety, and self doubt about their thing as you.

What they have been able to do is work harder.

I think Terry Bradshaw's dad told him that there will be people who are better athletes and smarter quarterbacks, but there aren't people who will work harder.

It isn't a question of "Can you do it?"

It's a questions of "Will you put in the work to do it?"

The bad news?

It's really a hard question.

The good news?

You get to answer it.

I'm with you.

I'm answering the same question.

Doing your job well might be getting in the way of your work

2011-01-13T06:35:00.001-05:00

A member of our church told me with some concern that there was a large amount of water pouring out of our air conditioner cooling tower. It was Sunday morning and folks were arriving for service and there was water pouring out all over the parking lot.

I knew from previous experience that the air conditioner tower did this from time to time. When I told the maintenance team about it, I learned that air conditioner towers need to do this from time to time. I could tell it was a complex dynamic. There was a reservoir that normally the water goes into, but sometimes it gets full or a valve gets stuck or something so the water pours out.

So essentially my response when somebody tells me that water is pouring out of the air conditioner tower is: "Move along. Nothing to see here. That's just what air conditioner towers do."

I think everything is OK and it's normal for water to pour out. I'm sure everything is fine with our air conditioner tower. Probably. Not the point anyway.

People expect you as a leader in discipleship to be able to explain things. Complex things of faith and interpersonal relationships and air conditioner towers are opportunities not to just assuage concerns and allay fears: they are opportunities to establish and affirm trust and to connect with people.

I often get caught up in assuaging and allaying and don't do nearly enough connecting. I want to have the answers. The right answers. I want to anticipate what can happen (especially what can go wrong) and be there to take care of things. I want to do my job well.

I can, in fact, gather and distribute proper knowledge and correct information so well that I fail to do the real work of ministry.

We need to understand things and we need to be able to explain things and make things accessible. Always of course without falling to that greatest of all temptations in such scenarios...the dreaded dumbing done effect.

The limiting factor isn't information. You can google why water pours out of cooling towers and understand the dynamics easily enough if you spend the time to do so.

The bottleneck is realizing that just because you understand something doesn't mean that someone else is going to.

That's assuming we can somehow bust down the barrier of thinking that people ask about water pouring out of air conditioner towers because they want to bring a problem to your attention.

People ask about water pouring out of the air conditioner towers or what your budget is for global missions or why God seems to be so angry sometimes but what they are really asking you for is for you to "hear my story and understand me".

And that is really, really complex.

Why does such a large amount of desire pour out of us sometimes?

How a cell phone cover kiosk operator can inspire ministry

2011-01-06T06:00:00.001-05:00

My wife needed a cell phone cover and we headed to the mall "because they have the best selection at those kiosk things."

There was one particular kiosk that we visited because the young lady working there connected with Kim the last time she visited.

Kim came from work where she wears scrubs. It was the end of the day and the kiosk operator as she helped Kim find a suitable cell phone cover seemed desperate, tired, fried. The kiosk operator began to ask Kim about where she worked and how she got the necessary education and how one becomes somebody who does what Kim does.

On our visit together, we visited the same young lady and the same kiosk. She was very helpful and seemed in better spirits and didn't seem so desperate to do something, anything different that what she was doing.

I identified with the plight of the kiosk operator. I too have periods of time where I find myself tired, desperate, fried in my efforts at professional church work.

I was thinking about how the kiosk operator could without having to go to school or wear scrubs maybe find more happiness and purpose.

What I pondered if she began thinking of herself not as a kiosk operator, but someone who helps others "find the right thing".

I would imagine lots of people bug her about where is this and where is that. Maybe she could print up little maps of the mall (with her contact info and website link on it of course) and help them find what they are looking for. Where do you think they will come the next time they do need a cell phone cover?

Are there different cell phone covers that work better in certain situations? When is squishy right and when is hard right. She probably always knows this, but when I ask which is better, she says, "hard". Maybe she could ask me what is my particular situation- do I keep the phone in my pocket mostly, am I blue collar or white collar, etc. and make a specific recommendation based on that.

What is the future of cell phone covers? What might I experiment with to see if people will try? What are other kiosk operators doing? Who else feels burned out and desperate. Maybe she could organize a small group of burned out exhausted kiosk operators who could meet regularly and adopt of cause of being the most helpful, connected network of mall kiosk operators there are.

I have already started to incorporate these ideas as they relate to ministry and church work.

I will see myself as someone who helps others "find the right thing" in their spiritual journey.

But I realize the most important thing the kiosk operator is already doing that I aspire to in ministry: she allowed herself to be venerable to someone she didn't know.

It created such a strong bond in a few moments of interaction with a random customer that her kiosk was the first place that customer wanted to go the next time she needed a cell phone cover.

So it turns out that it wasn't the superior selection that made my wife think of that little kiosk in the middle of that huge mall after all.

That you believe isn't as important as what you believe

2010-12-28T06:56:00.000-05:00

A random sampling of newish holiday movies reminds us that it is really important that you believe.

Polar Express is about a young man on the age of lost innocence when we are at that age when we begin to face some realities about Christmas. At the end of Elf, it is clear that with danger lurking, it's people's willingness to believe that makes it possible for Santa to do his thing.

Even a mere immortal civilian like Peter Pan relies on the believe signified by clapping of the audience to do his thing.

Science isn't exempt.

In a New Yorker article called The Truth Wears Off, Jonah Lehrer describes a phenomena called publication bias and selective reporting that seem to indicate that even in rigorous scientific methods we "still have to choose what to believe."

In the world of religion and learning and applying the ways of our faith, it isn't until we can articulate and make decisions based on what one another of us believe that significant things happen.

What you believe attracts me to you. Why you believe it is important and how you manifest your belief is a big part of the story. But what you believe makes it possible for us to do our thing.

We get tripped up on the right thing to believe. There is anxiety about what's going to happen to us or our organization or our nation or our eternal station in life if we don't believe the right stuff for the right reasons.

So much anxiety in fact:

We often forget to speak about what we believe. And what it has caused us to do.

As we search for peace, justice, and truth: may we take a moment to consider what we believe.

Let's take some time to hear about what other people believe, too.

Santa's journey, Peter Pan's flight, or whether or not Dorothy will get back to Kansas don't depend on it.

But what we can and can't do, together as a community of faith, hang in the balance.

What would the shepherds have been able to share about the story, really?

2010-12-21T06:00:00.001-05:00

When you consider your nativity scene and the incarnation story in the second chapter of Luke, what role do the shepherds play?

If your view is an Evangelical one with a capital E, the take away might be that we too, should take a cue from the shepherds and "tell the story." We might take a moment to take stock of how we probably don't do a very good job of "telling the story", and that we need to do better at "telling the story."

The cue I take away is the limited understanding of the story they would have been able to tell.

"Something happened. I didn't really understand it, but it was incredible," is a long way from the 4 spiritual laws and the key to eternal salvation.

As we encourage one another to do a better job of "telling the story", I wonder if we might also remind, at least ourselves, of how little of it we understand.

We might take a moment to express praise and glory to God that he continues to join us in fantastic experiences of his grace.

If you aren't sure where you are going, consider what your driving

2010-12-16T02:00:00.000-05:00

You might be riding an elephant. Let's face it unless you have a few people helping that know what they are doing, you're going where the elephant wants to go. It might look like you are steering, but come on, really. It's an elephant. Ever seen one go on rampage?

Maybe you're at the helm of a cruise ship. There are alot of people on board. Don't expect sudden turns. If you want to change direction, pick a point on the horizon and start change course, try a few degrees at a time.

A sports car might be more your speed. It's fun to make sudden starts and stops. You can really make some dazzling turns and you don't really need to have much vision to do some sporty moves. One thing to consider: you won;t have too many passengers with you.

You might be in a rental car. Let's face it, the senior minister of Hertz or Avis really doesn't care where you are going. That's OK. Just make sure you make your payments and return the car full of gas and without any dents or dings and no one will be the wiser.

Got a hybrid? Doesn't leave as much of a footprint. Seems kind of cool and trendy. Is it built to last though?

Maybe you're just walking or riding a horse or a bike.

Is that because that's what you want or because that's all you can find to drive?

There are advantages to all modes of transportation.

The main take away may be to know what you're driving.

If you don't, you may not even being riding the elephant, but it's probably in the room with you.

Why I now use Google Chrome, and hope to be a Chrome OS beta tester

2010-12-10T02:00:00.002-05:00

There's plenty of wheels around.

I don't know if there is a patent for it anymore, but who would want to invent it again, right?

Well. It would depend on why you want to reinvent the wheel if you want me to join your wheel reinvention movement.

I know that because there are already "enough" web browsers.

Explorer isn't really that cool, but it works. If it doesn't, Firefox can do most anything you need.

If you happen to be a Mac, Safari is fine.

Why renivent the web browser?

Well, if you are talking about Google Chrome, here's why as far as I'm concerned.

Because you are not only going to reinvent the web browser, you are going to reinvent the operating system and how computers work

Because why in the world does it take so long for a computer to boot up and why do you have to have constant updates to programs or programs at all for that matter. And another thing: don't you realize the operating system for a touch screen devices have one kind of functionality and keyboarded devices have another?

Addressing these issues is why Google Chrome is reinventing the wheel or the browser and the operating system.

That's why I'm now using Google Chrome and applied to be a tester for the Operating System as well.

Ultimately the developers at Google believe if you came from outer space and looked at the way we use computers and operating systems, you would think: why are they doing it that way. It would work so much better if they...

How can we benefit from this way of thinking? If say God came to Earth and saw the way we were doing ministry would he say: why are they doing it that way. It would work so much better if they...

I hope soon, once we get the word out that we want to reinvent the ministry wheel, we will have people use our browser and sign up to test our operating system.

Are you more theological than a sixth grader? Advent and waiting for not waiting

2010-12-07T02:00:00.001-05:00

Start with ketchup and a group of sixth graders. Talk about whether or not ketchup these days doesn't taste as good as it did when you had to wait for it and you'll discover some ideas about how technology has changed the taste of ketchup.

You'll hear about how the tomatoes might be crushed now versus back then. Theories about regulations about trans-fat and "how now stuff has to be healthy", which means not-as-good-tasting could come into play. And then talk over the squeeze bottle and the upside down bottle.

With some patience, you can get to how stuff you have to wait for tastes better.

If the conversation turns to a rich young ruler and what you have to do to inherit eternal life, the thinking among 6th graders runs more along conservative lines. You have to die before eternal life can begin. Literally. The thought that eternal life can take place here in this age is pretty much already over for 6th graders who are even marginally religiously active.

Where do they learn this stuff?

In the words of the PSA about marijuana use among children:

Maybe they learned it from watching us.

The Season of Advent is among other things characterized by the strange concept of waiting and anticipation of the greatest gift of all.

And the greatest gift of all is among other things characterized by the strange concept of not having to wait for eternal life and living eternally.

I'm not sure which one is more revolutionary, but it seems maybe we can get to the latter through the former.

We might have to start with 5th graders, though. We may have already lost the 6th graders.

When ministry is messy, think meshy

2010-12-03T02:00:00.002-05:00

Ministry is either growing or it's dying. Staying the same isn't an option. If during this season of evaluation, you feel like your ministry is about the same as it's been, it's not. It's dying. One way to consider vitalizing story telling, idea sharing, and space creation is to look to the mesh for ministry.

The Mesh by Lisa Gansky characterizes a mesh business or organization as one that typically:

· offers something (products, services, raw materials, experiences) that can be shared within a community
· utilizes web and mobile data networks at a high level to track activity and gather feedback
· focuses on value (short term and long term) of deliverables and the sustainability of goods, including their recovery
· transmits offerings, news, and recommendations largely through word of mouth, augmented by social network

So then:

If you neglect to get the announcement about the yard sale in the bulletin, but don't have to grovel to the lead volunteer because "now nobody's going to come", you might be meshy.

If you form a small accountability group of folks looking for a job or career and you rely on the Catholic church across town to provide the nuts and bolts job ministry components, you might be meshy.

If the golf tournament, the wednesday night class on social principles of your faith, and the phone call from the annoying social justice fanatic all work to develop a few core relationships that move toward an inner city community development movement, you might be meshy.

Ultimately whether or not you are meshy or want to be meshy may be a simple of matter of "Do you want to live?"

or

"Do you want to stay the same?"

Given the choice: choose life.

What ministry wants

2010-11-30T02:00:00.035-05:00

A new smartphone's ads claim that the phone is designed in such a way that you can easily check it for updates to your various social media channels and quickly get back to being a good father or husband or friend.

The idea seems to be that if only we have the right hardware, we will be able to spend more time doing what's really important.

But the thing is, we check our phones and spend more time on more devices because we like being connected to...other stuff.

So, a really good phone doesn't get us back to life quicker. A really good phone gives us more ways to be distracted.

Kevin Kelly posits what technology wants his recent book

Technology sometimes wants us to want. Or at least the marketers of technology seem to want us to want something else.

Jerry Seinfeld once said about a basic bit of technology, the remote control: you don't use it to see what's on TV, you use it to see what else is on TV.

Smartphones mostly don't give you time to take part in life, they give you a chance to check out what else. Anything else. Other than being present.

So...

What does ministry want?

For people to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves without having to make real relationships?

For people to feel better about themselves without really having to change their lives?

To be blessed?

To belong?

To matter?

To grow closer to God and the person God created them to be?

Technology sometimes seems a little disingenuous.

So...

What about ministry?

Find yourself in a conversation about religion this Thanksgiving? Employ the On Being Strategy

2010-11-25T02:00:00.002-05:00

Against our better judgment we often slip into conversations about religion with our family and loved ones during Thanksgiving and other family gatherings.

This mine field may be more successfully negotiated with a minimum of slammed doors, early departures, and gut wrenching apologies by considering some advice from one of the best in the business in facilitating conversations about religion.

Krista Tippett is the host of a radio program on Being. The program was formerly known as Speaking of Faith.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Ms. Tippett describes a couple of pointers she has found to keep the dialog edifying.

"On my radio show, which covers issues of faith and moral imagination, I encourage my guests to follow a couple of ground rules: No abstractions about God, and speak in the first person, not on behalf of your group or tradition (or God). This makes statements of belief much more hospitable, easier to hear. A listener might disagree with your opinion on ultimate questions but can't disagree with your experience of them. There is a profound difference between hearing someone say "this is the truth" and hearing her say "this is my truth."

Ms. Tippett brings me each and every week to at least on epiphany of "Wow, I never thought of it that way," with this mode of idea exchange.

So much of what I find frustrating about what people with other religious, political, or any type of view, really isn't so much their...wrongness. What is frustrating is my inability to find out more about what they are saying about their beliefs and how they arrived at that point.

One question I hope to ask at least once this Thanksgiving during the small talk of family interactions is one that Ms. Tippett often asks to bring the talk on her program back to the center of discussion: "What do you mean when you say that?"

I believe this approach will cut down on how much (misguidedly) I project on what I hear people saying about their ideas of how "God works" while allowing me to better understand what they are actually trying to say.

Whether or not it's grounded in fact or not: that's the whole point of what I have always understood Thanksgiving to be about.

People understanding other people's ideas.

No matter how different they may appear.

Soup recipe makes ministry possible

2010-11-22T02:00:00.001-05:00

The story of stone soup has a few variations. Some play toward a slant of trickery or selfishness where others find it to be about inspiration and encouragement.

Since we about ministry we'll choose the appropriate variation to work with.

(That is the appropriate variation in terms of ministry...right?)

A fire, a cauldron, water and a stone don't make soup, but where there are hungry people: it can cause soup to happen.

Someone who is hungry and has some cabbage will soon have cabbage soup if somebody else just gets the process going.

Hot water with a stone isn't the goal. Nutritional, filling food isn't really even the goal. A shared meal is the goal.

We often rush to provide the food. We often feel irrelevant or ineffective unless we provide the fire, the water, the stone, the ingredients, the bowls, the paper goods and the understanding of why we are providing the food. The value of the meal is then determined by how many people came to eat.

So metaphor breakdown:

What is our fire, pot, water and cauldron and what is our meal?

For a habitat for humanity build for example:
The house is really a stone.

The bulletin article is just some water.

The sponsorship fee is a fire.

The abilities of the congregation is a pot.

Your job description as director of missions is some flint.

What is the shared meal?

"Wow, I never knew I liked this sense of connection. I guess I've never had it prepared this way before."

"Man, you gotta try this. I helped make it."

Seeing is believing: decide what to see and believe

2010-11-17T02:00:00.001-05:00

Close your eyes and think to yourself "green arrows pointing to the right" three times.

Now look at this image:

Now repeat the process, but this time when you close your eyes think: "yellow arrows to the left".

Now look at the image again:

Now consider this story:

There was a landowner who sowed a field with grain. His enemy came along and sowed weeds in among his field.

Now close you eyes and think about the good parts of you nature. The times you came through.

Now look at that field of weeds and grain growing together. What do you see.

Close your eyes again and think about the times you have let yourself and those who count on you down. The parts of yourself that you wish weren't so...wrong.

Look at that same field. What do you see now?

The quirky thing about "missions" is that it tends to interest us in people because of what's wrong with them instead of the good things about them. We sometimes focus our interest in others based on what they don't have instead of what they do have.

We do the same thing with ourselves and to one another.

We forget the treasure is in there, in us, and in them.

What we see sometimes depends on what we close our eyes and imagine to be.

Now close your eyes...

If your ministry was a circus act, which one would it be?

2010-11-15T02:00:00.024-05:00

A plate spinner keeps lots up things up in the air. The more things you can keep going, the more impressed people will be. The downside? Things don't really get interested until something is about to fall. And you have to keep raising the stakes. Poles on chins, etc. People don't have much to say about you until something hits the floor and shatters.

The tightrope walker can be a breathtaking performer. Standing up to the status quo or challenging the boundaries of ministry can be exhilarating. And if you do it without the CEO's knowledge or without permission, you're like, working without a net. Even more dramatic. Concerns? You mostly work alone or at best with just a couple of other talented performers. If you are a true dare devil like Karl Wallenda, at some point, the wind will get you.

The lion tamer seems to always be pitted against the rage of the angry. Man against beast. It seems like there is always another lion. Another rager to tame.

Clowns are always fun. Nobody takes you too seriously. It's fun to make people laugh. And then they can get on back to their lives. Nothing too serious. You wear a lot of costumes and funny shoes. At the end of the day, nothing really changes.

The barker is a role we have to play at one time or another. Step right up folks, never gets old. There is always the hope of another big show of the next great thing as if it's about to happen for the first time.

The circus is a nice diversion. There's always a lot going on and people usually take home a couple nice souvenirs.

Authentic relationship maker isn't a circus act. What if it was? I can't think of a more death defying, center-ring act to be a part of. You would be the talk of the town.

The greatest show on earth.

What God responds is up to us

2010-11-13T02:00:00.001-05:00

A youth gives a devotion in which she says, "God responds to hunger, not need, because if he responded to need there wouldn't be any."

It seemed to make lots of sense to me. That things would be how God wants them. If God didn't want them this way, they wouldn't be.

Free will. I got it. It's definitely in the mix.

There is a tension between our desires and our circumstances.

We have to as the serenity prayer indicates discern between what we can change and what we accept.

A friend was worked up about a potentially damaging situation faced by a church denomination in it's dealings with a tenant of one of it's properties. She wanted to work through the system to bring about an equitable resolution. After lots of efforts and prayers and some tears, CNN did the story. My friend after it was all said and done mused, "I guess that was exactly what was supposed to happen. Perfect." What will come of it now is what I find myself wondering.

We probably imagine that if just a few more people had of known about a ministry opportunity or an event, they would have really benefited.

What about the one person who was there that was really moved or challenged by the activity and wants now to take another step?

Are we paying attention? What will come of it now?

Maybe how things are--hunger or need--is exactly how they are supposed to be.

How we respond might be God's only choice.

A three fold test from The Office for honoring dignity and sustainability

2010-11-11T02:00:00.001-05:00

In last week's episode of The Office, Michael and Andy find themselves joining up with a church youth group on their mission trip to Mexico. Inspired by the group's joie de vivre, they spontaneously decide to head out for a three month mission.

Forty-five minutes in, Michael starts to have his doubts about the idea. After verifying with Andy exactly what it is they are "building down there"--is it a hospital, a school for Mexicans, a gymnasium--Michael has a few questions:

1. Why aren't they building it themselves?

2. (Upon hearing that they don't know how) Do we know how?

3. (After sharing that Michael, himself, doesn't know how) Do you know how?

This line of questioning might provide insight into why we do what we do when it comes to missions and mission trips. What exactly can they do and what can't they do? What are we actually qualified to do and what are we not capable of doing? What are the roles and expectations of our group and their community?

We can just as easy find ourselves a labor and funding source as a paternalistic dignity dashers if we don't do some critical thinking about why we do what we do and how the people we seek to engage understand our motivations.

A visit to a women's prison points up the fact that though some of the inmates might have considered themselves good mothers at some point, most of them don't know how to know that.
They need to be reminded that God created them to be good mothers and that is what he still has for them to be. There are precious few of us who know that well enough to proclaim it to them. But maybe, just maybe one of us knows that and is willing to help them to know it.

Few people come to a seminar on addiction and recovery out of curiosity. Most in attendance know something is wrong and what they end up hearing at your addiction recovery session is that the addicted can't recover until they give in. To the disease. To their inability to control it. To their ability to battle it. They don't know how and not too many people do, but you find someone who does. And the recovery begins.

That group of people in Peru has forgotten or maybe never knew health because they have never had clean water. There are simple ways to purify the water. But they don't know how to do it. You don't know how to do it either, but somebody organizes the training up to Kentucky and a group of you learn how to do it and then go down to Peru and help the people who have the well to understand it. And then people learn about being healthy because they have clean water. And now that they know it...

Ultimately, few of us know about how to build meaningful relationships that don't come to us naturally (family, friends, coworkers, etc.). They don't how, I don't how. Do you?

And, anyway, those few of us that do: we need each other to do it.

And unfortunately that's what Michael and Andy may have never learned.

They got off the bus too soon.

The wisdom of going gnostic, purpose driven, gideon, and the experience dialog

2010-11-10T06:03:00.000-05:00

The "down", broken position

When I first tried to get some soap from this soap dispenser (left), I thought it was broken. I pushed down on the top and nothing happened. There was plenty of soap in there, but for some reason the pump wouldn't work. I was about to chalk it up to not working and of course fill out the requisite work order to replace the soap dispenser in men's room 047 when I perchance tinkered with the pump. When I pulled up on it, I came to realize it wasn't broken, it was just in the down position (right).

The "up", working position

When I pushed down on it after pulling it up, soap came out. It then remained in the down "broken position". I thought about it for just a second and pulled the pump up and left the soap dispenser in the "up", working position. For now, I haven't put in the work order to replace or repair the soap dispenser, but I am making sure that I leave the soap dispenser in the working position every time I use it. I'm interested in the social experiment to see if other people are able to solve the riddle of "what works when it's left in the up position, but is broken when it is left down?"

Is it better to leave it in the down position? This works to reward the people who take the time to investigate the situation and learn that it works when you pull up on the soap dispenser. This approach increases my value as soap dispenser knowledge holder. Or is it better to leave it up so it works for the next guy, but then he won't know about the soap dispenser code and will likely leave the soap dispenser in the broken position for the guy who comes along after him? I guess I should really just put in the work order. But that sure takes a lot of the fun out of it.

So, OK, enough with the soap dispenser. At times as faith sojourners, we know the secret to how something works and hang on to it maybe for self serving reasons (perhaps some of our Gnostic friends qualify?). At times we do our absolute best to make sure everything works to its absolute efficiency and we put in lots of work orders for the facility staff (maybe the Purpose Driven Church route?). What about if we just hang a copy of the soap dispensers owner's manual over the top of it (my uninformed understanding of the way of the Gideons?). At other times we try to share our knowledge in the most effective way so that others can get satisfactory results.

Maybe if I really played this out, I'd hang a sign on the soap dispenser that reads:

I have found that the best way to get soap out is to make sure the pump is pulled up before you push down on it. Let me know how it works for you forrestcate@mariettafumc.org.

But sometimes I tend to overanalyze things.

Maybe it's just a broken soap dispenser.

What three little brown birds taught me about All Saints Sunday

2010-11-07T02:00:00.004-05:00

Lots of churches will recognize All Saints Sunday today. For me, the day has always been one of those things you did because you always did it: no understanding required.

You have to make sure you know of all the members of your church that have passed away in the past year so that you can recognize them during worship. There's usually some fact checking involved. Were they still on the role? They were a family member, but not actually church members. Etc.

If you are asked to stand up when the name is read, what constitutes "knowing them"? I mean, I know the name. I certainly saw them in church from time to time. Did I know them that well?

There is All Saints Day and then there is All Saints Sunday. There is a Catholic tie in with the saints part. They have Saints. Do we have saints? Is it just the official Saints? Is someone officially a saint when they pass away. Wouldn't there be some sort of saint background check before you can go throwing around that term, saint? I mean, heaven forbid: what if they weren't really a Christian?

As sometimes will happen, Creation was able to explain to me better than Wikipedia or the about 7,860,000 results from the Google search could probably explain it.

It seems there were three little brown birds. I overheard the screeching of one little brown bird in the general direction of another little brown bird. It was pretty intense. The screeching promptly drove the screech-ee flying away from the screecher.

Instantaneously, it seemed, another little brown bird appeared on the scene. It began to sing its song.

The screecher had hardly stopped screeching when it picked right back up again.

The one little brown bird singing into the screeching and the one little brown bird screeching into the singing.

This went on for some time. It got real intense. And after what seemed like a really long time, the one little brown bird stopped screeching and the other one stopped singing and the two of them (probably just my imagination here) flew off. Together.

Wow, I thought: that's it. All Saints Sunday is about the people in our lives that sing into the screeching. The ones who patiently sing, sing, sing. Until we give up our screeching and fly off with them.

But then again, maybe the lesson is that All Saints Sunday is about the singers, the screechers, and the ones that fly off alone and afraid.

I'm sure thankful for the singers: don't get me wrong. But I also realize that the screechers and the fainthearted flyers are part of the "plan" too. God created them all. And going out on a limb here: God needs them all.

So to the singers who have sung into my screeching: God bless you in your rest.

For the screechers and the ones who flew away from my screeching: God bless you in your rest.

Surely this day is for all of you saints.

In honor of the all the saints that have lived their lives before me: I hope to spend more time today singing into the screeching than I do screeching into the singing.

But you never know, it's still early.

If you're not as happy as a citizen of the third world, shop at ALDI

2010-11-06T02:00:00.005-04:00

If you've ever been on a mission trip to a community within a culture of poverty or talked to people who have, you might of heard something along the lines of, "They have nothing, but they are so happy." And then, "They are so clean, though."

This could be true or it could just be that they just seem happy when the gringos come to play. Maybe they aren't so full of joy during the day to day grind of the survival/exist existence.

But if they are so happy in spite of their miserable material condition, it might have to do with their limited choices.

If you can't quite follow the logic, try shopping at the grocery store ALDI.

A few things you might pick up on:
*They have most everything you need, just not so many choices.
*There's for the most part just one brand of the item you are looking for, and it's a brand you probably don't find in other stores, so you don't have to worry that some other store has it cheaper.
*You don't have to worry about feeling bad that the products you buy there don't fulfill your expectations, because if they don't it's not like it's your fault. It was the only choice you had!
*The products you buy at ALDI work just fine. If they don't make you happy, it's pretty clear it's not because of the product's lack of value. Shopping at ALDI forces you to confront what is really making you unhappy.
*You also learn that shopping carts have value, but they don't have to cost you anything. You have to pay a quarter to get one, but as long as you bring it back to where it goes, you'll get your quarter back.
*You have to buy shopping bags, so you plan ahead and bring in reusable bags or you use old boxes to haul your groceries. Where you quarters go affects your behavior.

In alot of ways shopping at ALDI is a return to simpler times. The days when there was less choice and more...happiness. (Or so it goes in our those were the good old days memories.)

I suppose we can fall into the same trap of offering more stuff and causing more unhappiness. That wild game dinner you are planning for the men's group: Is that an ALDI offering or a Wal-mart super store inventory item?

Chasing after another worship style or a new fitness program or new way of attracting community members without a clear understanding that really the one brand of church commodity we carry is meaningful relationships is likely to leave us all a little more less happy.

Maybe what our ministries and programs need from time to time is a trip to ALDI and some time spent in a culture of poverty.

You can learn more about the paradox of choice from this video of Barry Schwartz at a 2005 TEDTalk:

Imagine if you will: Fletcher Reede (from the movie Liar, Liar) answering questions from prospective ministry team members

2010-11-05T02:00:00.006-04:00

Fletcher Reede is the character played by Jim Carrey in the 1997 movie. His son's birthday wish leads to his inability to lie. Fletcher Reede is an attorney and he finds this 24 hour sentence to the truth and nothing but the truth a most inconvenient one. A sample of dialog between the truthful lawyer and the judge in a case he is trying:

Fletcher: Your honor, I object!
Judge: Why?
Fletcher: Because it's devastating to my case!
Judge: Overruled.
Fletcher: Good call!

In order to create a more perfect ministry team, board, committee, or task force: let's pretend an invitation from the church has gone out to a church member to participate in a leadership role.

You get a call from the perspective team member, but due to some cosmic mixup, the call is transferred to Fletcher Reed instead of you:

Prospective Leader in Discipleship (PLID): I wanted to know when and where the ministry team meets?
Fletcher: When and where can you be?

PLID: What does the team do?
Fletcher: Rubber stamp decisions made by the staff, stay "informed" on what is already happening, try to determine how much of each meeting could be replaced by an email.

PLID: Do I have to attend the meetings and participate regularly?
Fletcher: Why should you be different from anybody else?

PLID: What should I do if I start to feel as if I am "not doing anything" as a team member?
Fletcher: Schedule a meeting with the ministry team chair. Talk about what your expectations were when you agreed to take the position as Leader In Discipleship. Explain how you feel like what you are actually doing or not doing is in contrast to these expectations. Work with the ministry team chair and staff leader for your team to develop an informal plan for how you will help the ministry team move in the direction that you feel will best serve the overall organization and your discipleship growth.
PLID:...really?
Fletcher: Naw. Just quit coming to meetings and responding to emails.

PLID: I want to talk to the senior minister and make sure I understand how this group fits in with the overall vision of our faith community.
Fletcher: OK, well, once she fills you in on that, will you call me back and let me know?

PLID: What do you think is the most important thing I'll learn from this experience?
Fletcher: The reason it took Moses 40 years to move people 40 miles.

OK, OK, so Fletcher would be exaggerating the situation...right?

Does this tip more toward cynicism or transparency?

We know that the church with its ministry teams, committees, beauracray, and yes cynicism and lack of transparency is after all about all we have in our desire to know and grow in our love and grace of God.

The reason, after all, it took 40 years for Moses to go so few miles is because he had to take all those people with him.

And as a LID, we are expected to do the same.

Without spoiling the movie: because of all the hijinks and awkwardness of total transparency, Fletcher Reede discovers meaning.

And so the most important question that any PLID could ask Fletcher Reede:

PLID: If I do this, will it help me discover meaning by the time it's over?
Fletcher:

Netflix is afflicted by the same thing you struggle with***

2010-11-04T02:00:00.033-04:00

A study of online DVD rental habits shows that what we should watch (documentaries, educational, "high brow" shows) sits in our queue for longer periods of time than what we want to watch (action films, "fun" shows). Let's call this form of procrastination transformation dread.

I came across the study in the thoroughly fascinating blog called You Are Not So Smart. (Side note: this blog has the best tagline of all time: "A Celebration of Self Delusion".)

I'm not sure why this concept is so encouraging to me:
Misery loves company? It's not just little ole me that is frustrated by people who don't know what's good for them!
There is a way to actually prove this type of stuff? Basically I told you so. See, these people can actually measure this stuff. That's why people fall all over themselves getting their seller number for the consignment sale, but let me try to hold a 32 week Bible study and see how many people will line up for a number for that.
It gives me an alibi? Let's be honest. I can coast on stuff and say- "Yeah, but what about that online dvd rental study? They won't put my excellent program in their queue anyway."
It explains why I never watched Mississippi Burning? I know this is an important movie, but I could never bring myself to rent and watch it. Now I feel less guilty.

But wait. There's more.

The study also indicates that the more comfortable people get with the online rental system, the more they begin to understand this bias within themselves.

And you know what happens?

The length of time Netflix users hold should films in comparison to want films decreases.

People learn to curb the influence of want over should.

And then, they start watching stuff that will...change them (maybe?)...more often.

So the question for us maybe: Does our ministry have a system that people can learn and grow to understand, trust, and eventually be transformed by?

If not, we may continue to be afflicted and struggle.

While Netflix will keep growing in it's ability to transform people through great stories and ideas.

***Thesis is based upon the fact that the purpose of Netflix is to create opportunities for people to view and be transformed by great stories through the media of movies and tv shows. If this is not the purpose of Netflix, they probably are not afflicted by transformation dread. Come to think of it: if your purpose is not to create opportunities for people to experience and be transformed by the various mission and ministry opportunities you and your team offer maybe you aren't struggling...or afflicted either.

Read the post from You Are Not So Smart Here

What might happen if you're the first instead of the only

2010-11-03T02:00:00.002-04:00

B.F. Goodrich is the first street tire, apparently, to pull a 1G turn.

I have no idea what that means or why it's important when considering a tire purchase.

I guess the people who know the value of a tire that can pull a 1G turn are the people B.F. Goodrich is trying to appeal to.

I do know that by claiming to be the first at this, B.F. Goodrich earned my respect, admiration, and curiosity.

Because they are telling me they are innovators and not monopolizers.

I would normally buy tires based on price and maybe how long they are supposed to last.

But all things being equal, I'd rather buy a tire from an innovative company.

There is a buzz that being first creates. Something new has happened.

First tends to encourage others to try.

Only seems to say: you missed out again.

By claiming to be the first, B.F. Goodrich is clearly letting us know that this thing is so important that others will be striving to achieve this standard as well. That's how important it is. Don't you want to join them?

The next thing you know, B.F. Goodrich will probably be figuring out ways to help other organizations (maybe not Firestone, but..) and collaborative entities put this idea to good use in other fields of endeavor. Then, they will really win me over and make me want to seek out their product and maybe even pay a little more for it.

The point is, we can fall into the trap of exclusive patent holder or we can be catalytic agents for positive life change.

We can go through our faith journey as gnostic brokers of salvation and information-is-power-ladder-climbers along the halls of religious goods and services purveyor-ship.

But probably we won't spark the imagination, creative force, and faith community loyalty that B.F. Goodrich has allowed me to discover.

To paraphrase the little poem from Edwin Markham:

Only drew a circle that shut me out...; First drew a circle that took us in.

Attempts

2010-11-02T02:00:00.005-04:00

Brett Favre, quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, reached a significant milestone on Sunday.

You might not have heard about it. It happend during the game, but it wasn't like game was stopped to commenmorate the event or anything.

There was hardly a mention of it, really.

Favre is now on record as attempting 10,000 passes.

It wasn't widely covered today in the recap of the games.

How many times you attempt passes doesn't really seem too significant in the NFL.

Attempts might be more important for us.

It's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get up that matters.

But of course the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

You got to know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em.

Etc.

Maybe sometimes it's not so much the hope of the elusive championship or the roar of the crowd that lures you out of retirement or drives you to suit it up one more time.

Maybe it's just the chance to attempt again.

How will the next try lead you to something different?

One of my favorite scenes in a sports movie is the closing one of 8 Men Out.

There is a mysterious outfielder on a small time minor league team.

Long after the humiliation of the Black Sox scandal.

Is that him out there?

Is that Shoeless Joe?

Far from the limelight and the thrill of the World Series:

Is that him?

Attempting again?

Is there anyway to prove the inherent value in the attempts?

Here's to trying.

Spreading ideas, sharing stories, and lucky charms

2010-11-01T02:00:00.001-04:00

Mondays are typically thick with scrambling to get bulletin articles and e-mail blurbs to the appropriate bulletin and e-mail editors.

'long about Wednesday, it's important to make sure the Wednesday night announcements are in order for announcing.

By Friday you have to make sure your nominations for "most important pulpit announcements" make it to the senior pastor, so hopefully, oh hopefully she'll pick one or two of your things to mention before service starts--during announcement time. (If you are really lucky, you'll get a chance to have your lay leader make the announcement. Of course the holy grail is having the senior minister work your thing into the sermon. Poignant, and it always gets a comment or two!)

There's good communications. Scheduling, target audience identification, graphics, vison, mission and messaging. And now with social media... Due diligence is called for.

But there is also the concept Hugh Macleod posts about around his object-idea idea.

The talisman.

How many annoucements are talismans (talismen?).

People can sometimes be quite obsessive (and possessive) about them.

Like if only we could have gotten that annoucement in there sooner or if only the senior minister had of pushed the toy drive more or if only the pancake supper had better posters, it would have really taken off.

We have to respect that many of the announcements for our events are for the benefit of the people who know about the event already. It's more about affirming the event organizers than it is about getting the word out.

People like their favorite pair of jeans, the "usual" order at the diner, and their bulletin announcement for their event.

Unless there is some pretty intense tribe building, social object-ing, or effective selling attached to it; that bulletin announcement your are struggling to get more space for isn't much different than a rabbit's foot.

When it comes to getting the word out about an event or a campaign that nobody cares about:

Good Luck!

A man of great faith

2010-10-31T02:00:00.002-04:00

Linus is a man of great faith.

But in the span of a few minutes:

What he believed in brought grief to those who cared about him.

He assigned a seemingly arbitrary set of rules to that which held his faith

When he thought what he had faith in seemed to become certainty, he couldn't believe it.

He held on believing in the spite of conflicting realities.

He suffered and was uncomfortable because of his desire to see his faith realized.

He believed, one may think, for the wrong reasons--for a pay off that was born in his selfishness.

In the end. Those around him rescued him from the dangers of his faith and returned him to comfortable circumstances.

...but no doubt he woke up the next morning a changed man. And maybe his faith was more important than the certainty of his belief.

A man of great faith.

The most unforgettable person you ever met

2010-10-30T02:00:00.001-04:00

In the 1970s a reporter named Charles Salter wrote a column for the Atlanta Journal called "Georgia Rambler." He'd get into his car, head out to some small town within driving distance of Atlanta and visit with folks of the community at the barber shop or cafe and basically ask one question: "Who is the most unforgettable person you have met in this town?"

Mr. Salter developed a column that he wrote for years around this concept. The question always led to a story.

How would that play out for you and me?

Who is the most unforgettable person your ever met in this...ministry?

Are they still involved?

Did they challenge you?

Did you gravitate toward them?

Did you count down the years, months, hours until they rotated off the board or the committee because they were so unforgettable that they drove you crazy?

I am trying to learn or appreciate the importance of being able to serve in ministry with the most unforgettable people of the world.

You and I can work and enjoy and "get some ministry" out of the people we like and are like us. The people who show up and get the job done and don't ask questions and don't cause no trouble. We get what we always have gotten and we'll keep getting what we've always gotten and it'll be mostly forgotten.

But the unforgettable people. Are we willing to take part in the unique, crazed, maniac, heart-stopping, hair pulling ministry God has stored up for us and the world through these people?

That is where the wisdom lies, and the 10,000 hours come into play. It's the music and the mastercraftmanship we signed up for when we started.

I'm afraid if Charles Salter wandered into my little ministry hamlet and asked his question of me, I would say, "Well I kind of remember this person one time..."

The story he would take back home would be woefully short.

There is something about you...

2010-10-29T02:00:00.001-04:00

"It must be hard to be a man, too," she says. "Mr. Draper, I don't know what it is you really believe in. But I do know what it feels like to be out of place. To be disconnected. To see the whole world laid out in front of you the way other people live it. There is something about you that tells me you know it too."

She is a character on the TV show Mad Men. She is not the prototypical woman for the period (I think the show is set in the fifties.)

She is pretty hardcore but in a informal meeting with Don Draper, she comes to appreciate her "unique" struggles aren't really unique.

And coming to that realization seems to sell her on a business relationship with Sterling Cooper.

Un-unique struggles lead to unique connections.

I've often heard if we are going to connect, it'll be through our similarities or "common ground". We won't likely build a relationship on our differences.

Somehow being able to see that the person sitting across from the table, though so very different, struggles with the same things we do often leads to a connection.

It leads to a willingness to do business together.

What brings us together isn't our differences.

But it isn't our shared strengths or our alike-ness. Necessarily.

It's our common struggles.

And not just our common struggles.

Our ability to identify the struggle in another as the struggle within us.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Or is likely to become so.

The delusion that drives you

2010-10-28T09:02:00.001-04:00

Natalie Jeremijendo's is that new technologies are an opportunity for social transformation.

A delusion that drives you.

She currently runs, among other things, an environmental health clinic. People come in with concerns about environmental health and leave with prescriptions for things they can do to improve the health of the environment.

Her delusion has led to such strange behavior as taking tadpoles for walks, talking to fish, and planting plants in front of fire hydrants. But because of it; advancements in cancer treatment, ozone depletion, and less need for superfund clean ups seem doable.

I don't know her personality type or her experiential history or much about her at all. But it seems like this idea of embracing her idea/calling/live's work as delusion really works for her.

I must be cut from the same cloth, because I think it's great.

I don't know what delusion drives you. Maybe it's real important for you to know and for others to know that your idea/calling/life's work is unneurotic-aly right. In fact, maybe that is what drives you.

Maybe it's that once every nation confesses our Christianity as the right belief, Jesus will come back to Earth.

It could be that unless you believe like I believe you are going to spend etenity in agony instead of in heaven in paradise (with me).

Sometimes I think its our (mere) prescence that changes things. Not so much what we know or what we believe or how much we can do. Just our presence. With each other. So I do my best to connect people.

It's the delusion that drives me.

I don't know what if anything it has led to. Probably not so much a treatment for cancer. There'll still need to be massive superfund clean up sites in spite of the people I attempt to connect and connect with.

But I don't know.

I mean, then again, it's still driving.

Something to sell

2010-10-27T16:07:00.000-04:00

It makes it eaiser if you have something to sell.

I have always shied away from the fact that I had something to sell or an idea to convince you of or a position to persuade you toward.

And I don't think I've really been doing anyone any favors.

Adam Neal works with the United Methodist Church as a missions specialist.

I recently had a chance to talk with him about the Global Ministry of the United Methodist Church.

I knew that he wanted us to do something: to sponsor a project or to support a missionary partner or to covenant. He was selling us on the importance of partnership with a GBGM missionary partner.

I gained an appreciation for that when I realized as we talked, some of the ideas and desires our church has for missions became apparent.

Some of them lined up with what Adam was "selling." Some didn't.

But because he had a desire (he wanted us to do something) some things became apparent.

Some things became possible.

Adam wasn't selling us missionary partners.

He was providing opportunities that we seek to find and fulfill.

And that made a huge difference.

I want to try to figure out how I and my organization can help you get to where you find God moving you.

Parts of it may help and fit. Parts of it won't.

But until I get a chance to let you take it for a test drive, I'll probably never find out which is which.

And you won't either.

Try it free for 30 days.

Whether you decide it's for you or not. Whether I make the sale or not: something will happen.

show your strength

2010-10-26T16:59:00.000-04:00

people show their strength in a variety of ways.

some might never fail to show up for a meeting you call 2 minutes late. every time. two minutes. late.

some might not respond to an email asking for input. until you call them and then ask them in person. it's not that they don't have time or overlook it. it's just how they show their strength.

some people don't offer any discussion during discussion time.

and some don't reply to you when you give a answer.

they just let it hover above the group.

they seem strong.

other people make sure that people are empowered to take the limelight and lead the group or the effort with their full and visible support.

some people show their strength by giving it away.

or at least sharing it for a while.

Don't know or don't care

2010-10-23T11:38:00.000-04:00

A New Yorker Magazine cartoon that stuck with me was one depicting a presentation with a flip chart with a scrawled pie chart proclaming 60% of the people don't know the math and 40% of the people won't do the math.

Or something to that effect.

Which raises a question about the 80/20 rule we sometimes talk about around the church and other organizations.

Is the 80% the 80% because they don't know about the events or because they don't care about the events.

And is it OK to talk about people not caring about an event you put on?

Not that they are apathetic, don't know what's good for them, and if they would only participate we could transform their lives type don't care.

Like, you know, just not interested in that right now. Or: that just isn't something they are interested in or appeals to their particular intelligence of learning or they just aren't "ready for that yet" type don't care.

Is there a certain due diligence of making sure they have opportunities to know about the event before you have to say: "We need some new events," or "We have to spend more time gettting people connected to communities of people they care about", or "The people who want to know about something will find out about it"?

Maybe, just maybe, we need to spend more time cultivating authentic realationships with a few of the people who we know care about something. (But for your own safety: keep the trains running on time).

That, though, will take some time.

Maybe even an eternity.

We should probably grab a Snickers Bar.

A Plow and the church staff

2010-10-21T08:25:00.000-04:00

Positive feedback propels you and your ideas forward. It is affirming. It feels good. We all crave positive feedback.

Not so fast my friend. It's important not to disregard negative feedback. Don't just embrace it. Don't simply grit your teeth and get through it: "They just don't understand. They have been around here long enough. The last supervisor/boss/CEO let us do it that way."

Nay: seek it out. Attach yourself to it and go to work against it. (Not against it like futile resistance--against it, but rather like generating positive results in tension with it.)

A friend who is old enough to remember watching a farmer plow a field with a horse (mule maybe?). Compares the process to plowing with a horse or mule.

The horse provides positive feedback. As long as you keep the horse feed and healthy it'll pull all day in what ever direction you want it to go.

The plow, on the other hand, seems to hold things back. It's a pain and literally a "stick in the mud."

But without it; no ground gets broken, no crops get planted, and no food gets eaten.

The person on the board or the team who never seems to like your ideas is really helping you break ground and produce crops.

And if you ever hear a member of your organization complain that if you ever want to kill an idea, give it to the staff just tell him:

"Hey, haven't you ever seen a farmer plow with a horse?"

How can I help you?

2010-10-19T07:38:00.000-04:00

No, I mean really.

This isn't just for customer service people or the guy behind the counter.

Like, I'm trying to figure out expectations and what it is that I can do to help you in your efforts in ministry to God and the world. So why did you call me?

I'm pretty bad about just jumping in there everytime you say you want to do this that and/or the other. Because, I guess, I basically figure that's my job. Or maybe it just that people often seem so uninterested in ministry that I jump at a warm body that says they want to do something. Anything.

I often don't ask "How can I help you?" because it, to me, comes across as: "Sorry, that's not my station", or "I'm on break", or "I'll tell me supervisor", or "I don't know, I just work here" type of a thing.

And if I ever do, it's not like "How can I help you?" (emphasis on I- what can I specifically, uniquely do?)

I'll just come out and see what you want to show me without any real desire to help or without any capability to help or provide what you need. It'll take lots of time, effort and energy away from the things I think are really important, but oh well: I tried.

I fee like if you want something, I better drop everything and come help. Otherwise it might come across as "Failure to plan on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on my part". And that seems so...cold and unministryish.

But ultimately, you might not realize my strengths, abilities, and connections really don't match up at all to the task you wish to tackle.

Then again, that could easily come across as "I don't care."

...maybe I don't.

Is that OK?

Are we still good?

If so: maybe now I can help you.

On connection, caring, and being terrified

2010-10-18T07:29:00.000-04:00

I was reminded recently of one of the key components of groups of people who make significant change through movements and causes.

In his article comparing old school movements to causes and movements based on social media such as Facebook and Twitter, Malcolm Gladwell traces the roots of sit in's to four college buddies.

While not necessarily talented, gifted, or skilled at civil rights organization or leadership, the four guys cared deeply about the cause of equality.

And they cared deeply about each other.

As we prepare our ministry teams for the coming year, select committee chairs, seek out volunteers for the Sunday school teachers, or organize the team to go to Costa Rica, one of the most important characteristic to look for is a willingness to connect with and get to know others.

In reading Gladwell's take on the four young men who participated in the first sit in at Woolworth's, another collective characteristic attributed to them jumps out at me:

The four students who first sat down at the lunch counter were terrified. “I suppose if anyone had come up behind me and yelled ‘Boo,’ I think I would have fallen off my seat,” one of them said later.

In consideration for a leadership team: are we willing to write into the volunteer job description: "Must become connected to cause, be willing to care for others, and be terrified from time to time"?

If not, can we really expect things to change?

The devil made me do it...or my lack of cortisol did

2010-10-16T09:27:00.001-04:00

Ever heard the theory that Satan goes after ministers or people in authority in the church with, like, a special fury?

"Being in a position of power also may make people feel that they can do no wrong. In recent experiments, Dana Carney, a psychologist at Columbia University's business school, has found that acquiring power makes people more comfortable committing acts they might otherwise be reluctant to commit, like lying or cheating. As people rise to a position of power, she has shown, their bodies generate more testosterone, a hormone associated with aggression and risk-taking, and less cortisol, a chemical that the body generates in response to stress.

'Having power changes you physiologically, reducing your body's internal feedback that tells you which actions are good or bad,' says Prof. Carney. 'Power temporarily intoxicates you.'"
-from the Wall Street Journal

So if something can be scientifically explained does that detract from the spiritualness of the truth? Does it somehow validate it?

Are you more likely to be on your guard from an attack from Satan or from being hormonal?

Is it, in fact, helpful to think that Satan is somehow more interested in your downfall than in the downfall of a member of congress?

Whatever gets you through the night.

Or maybe:

Whatever keeps you from ruining your life and the lives around you.

Lost camels

2010-10-15T12:41:00.000-04:00

Henri Dunant found the Red Cross in the 19th century on three principles: impartiality, neutrality, and independence. Dunant sold the idea to potential donors around the idea that not only was the mission of the Red Cross "the Christian thing to do", but that it was an economic boon to countries going to war because the work of the Red Cross in its mission to rescue, feed, bathe, and bandage the survivors of war, it reduced the cost to the governement.

In his survey of books concerning humanitarian efforts in a recent New Yorker magazine, Philip Gourevitch pits this idea of humanitarian aid (savings to the cause of the need for the aid in the first place) against the vision of humanitarian aid of Florence Nightingale. Part of Nightingale's mission was not only tending to the agony of human suffering brought on by the political ambitions of the governments involved, but being realistic about what was causing the agony in the first place.

Gourevitch quotes Sadako Ogata who worked with the U.N. refugee agency as saying "There are no humanitarian solutions to humaitarian problems."

Solutions must include a political component as well as a humanitarian one.

So, do spiritual problems have spiritual solutions?

It seems difficult to engage in solving someone's eternal dilemma without being realistic about the political, emotional, financial, economic, organizational dilemmas that dilemmas that we all face simultaneously.

In declaring the impartiality, independence, and neutrality of the solution we offer do we actually embue suffering rather than honestly alleviate it?

A man tries hard to help you find your lost camels.

He works more tirelessly than even you.

But in truth he does not want to find them, ever.

-Ali Dhux

***Please read the disclaimer

2010-10-14T09:23:00.000-04:00

If the email blast we send was a web page, would anybody ever read it?

If the bulletin was a blog, how many comments would it have?

If the Sunday school announcement was a facebook status, how many people would tag it?

We probably have a command and control system that is characterized by a top down hierarchy.

This is good because it is one component to a healthy system, organization, body, etc.

The rest of it is most likely a system described by Steven Johnson his book Emergence (p. 77) which "learns from the ground level, a system where macrointelligence and adaptability derive from local knowledge..."

This part of the equation would be decentralized groups of people seeking out the information and connections they need to grow in their ministry and place in God's Mission.

Some of the characteristics to consider when interested in moving toward this component of organization:

More is different: There needs to be something called "critical mass". This is real tricky because this is what leads to getting stuck on the numbers. An event cannot be judged only by how many people come, but the reality is if you have 235 kids on the role and only 10 of them show up for the retreat- you are not going be have a faithful community. The retreat can still be awesome, but sheer numbers do figure into the equation. More people, more interactions, more growth.

Ignorance is useful: Not everybody who comes to the event or joins the community needs to know the mission, vision, and purpose statement and what the metrics are. In fact the less the participants know themselves about the overall complexity of what you are doing the better. Some people just want a job to do and be done with it. This is OK. Remember the mainframe top down structure with the mandates and the core values is already in place.

Encourage random encounters: This is where we sometimes work against ourselves. The missions person should be in dialog with the director of children. You as director of missions shouldn't be the point person or go between for missions laity and children's staff or even laity. Encourage (or at least try not to dissuade) such encounters in the name of chain of command protocol or "keeping things clean".

Look for patterns in the signs: OK this is where we can really unleash some of our pent up have to be relevant, need to have an impact and something to report at the staff meeting that we did: find out what's going on. Don't worry about dictating the course all the time. Try to understand the prevailing winds and the patterns. Go Thomas Jefferson: figure out where people walk the most before you pour the sidewalks.

Pay attention to your neighbors: Not only be kind to everyone you meet because they carry a heavy burden, have as much Martin Buber I and Thou action as you can cram into a day. (Please observe Sabbath if you really get into this). The object is to stumble across one another. Don't worry so much about the activity calendar so sterile. Mix it up when you can.

***The views expressed here are not necessarily those of status quo. Please consult your doctor and seek medical help for decentralized thoughts that last for more than 4 hours. Lack of invasive emails and unwarranted Sunday school solicitations may result in actually developing real relationships. Do not operate pulpit support while seeking genuine life transformation. Brochure racks may show some signs of emptiness. Failure to have your name to appear in, like, every other bulletin announcement as the contact may empower someone who really cares about the ministry.

How to (or not to) find a good ministry team member

2010-10-13T07:16:00.000-04:00

What's the purpose of a ministry team?

Labor pool, but that's really a guild

Rubber stamp, but that's really a puppet regime

Accountability group, but that really should have the word anonymous after it

Ministry legislators, but that's really a board

Staff booster club, but that's really a staff booster club

Empowered leadership team, but that's hard to control

Group of agenda holders, but that's just a group of agenda holders

An opportunity to get people involved, but that's really a member assimilation program

At any time a ministry team might take on characteristics of any and all these groups.

As we pick and choose who would be best on our ministry team:

Who is a one cause wonder and who wants to help us all live better lives?

Who thinks the church should really take on this cause and who wants to live out this cause?

Who likes hanging out with "like minded people" and who's ready to subordinate their interest for the greater interest of the organization?

Who has expressed interest?

Who is already active to some degree in the ministry?

Who wants to change the world and who is delusional?

The process probably starts with determining if I am able to identify myself as the person I am looking for.

If I'm not, who's going to help me be that person?

They might be a good ministry team member. Or not.

White towels and dead chimps

2010-10-11T06:59:00.000-04:00

In boxing, the "corner" throws in the white towel when they feel like their boxer is taking too much punishment even though to people who don't know him, he seems to be gamely fighting on. The referee is willing to let the match go on, but the people who know the fighter best can tell he's done and nothing good is going to happen if he keeps trying to win.

I saw a documentary one time about a group (troop?) of chimps. A baby chimp died, but the mother kept carrying the carcass around for weeks. The other chimps who seemed to realize that the baby was dead didn't intervene. They let her "work it out" for herself.

So: when to employ the white towel strategy? When to employ the dead chimp strategy?

Anybody who takes on leadership of a ministry will no doubt encounter some brutal beatings and some still born events and activities.

It might be up to us to let the leader come to terms with the fact that the ministry of the community development isn't relevant and they are just taking on unnecessary punishment or hauling a stinking carcass around.

As difficult as it is to ignite or inspire someone into acting out their call and discover their vocation:

maybe the hardest thing to do is to pick up the white towel or to watch as they carry around something that is dead.

Protecting a vulnerable fighter.

Letting a loving parent carry a dead baby.

Tension.

The importance of knowing your Relational Model Theory

2010-10-06T07:07:00.000-04:00

Relational Models Theory is an idea of Alan Fiske that proposes that all people interact with one another through essentially one of four models:

Communal Sharing (CS) is a relationship in which people treat some dyad or group as equivalent and undifferentiated with respect to the social domain in question. Examples are people using a commons (CS with respect to utilization of the particular resource), people intensely in love (CS with respect to their social selves), people who "ask not for whom the bell tolls, for it tolls for thee" (CS with respect to shared suffering and common well-being), or people who kill any member of an enemy group indiscriminately in retaliation for an attack (CS with respect to collective responsibility).

In Authority Ranking (AR) people have asymmetric positions in a linear hierarchy in which subordinates defer, respect, and (perhaps) obey, while superiors take precedence and take pastoral responsibility for subordinates. Examples are military hierarchies (AR in decisions, control, and many other matters), ancestor worship (AR in offerings of filial piety and expectations of protection and enforcement of norms), monotheistic religious moralities (AR for the definition of right and wrong by commandments or will of God), social status systems such as class or ethnic rankings (AR with respect to social value of identities), and rankings such as sports team standings (AR with respect to prestige). AR relationships are based on perceptions of legitimate asymmetries, not coercive power; they are not inherently exploitative (although they may involve power or cause harm).

In Equality Matching (EM) relationships people keep track of the balance or difference among participants and know what would be required to restore balance. Common manifestations are turn-taking, one-person one-vote elections, equal share distributions, and vengeance based on an-eye-for-an-eye, a-tooth-for-a-tooth. Examples include sports and games (EM with respect to the rules, procedures, equipment and terrain), baby-sitting coops (EM with respect to the exchange of child care), and restitution in-kind (EM with respect to righting a wrong).

Market Pricing (MP) relationships are oriented to socially meaningful ratios or rates such as prices, wages, interest, rents, tithes, or cost-benefit analyses. Money need not be the medium, and MP relationships need not be selfish, competitive, maximizing, or materialistic—any of the four models may exhibit any of these features. MP relationships are not necessarily individualistic; a family may be the CS or AR unit running a business that operates in an MP mode with respect to other enterprises. Examples are property that can be bought, sold, or treated as investment capital (land or objects as MP), marriages organized contractually or implicitly in terms of costs and benefits to the partners, prostitution (sex as MP), bureaucratic cost-effectiveness standards (resource allocation as MP), utilitarian judgments about the greatest good for the greatest number, or standards of equity in judging entitlements in proportion to contributions (two forms of morality as MP), considerations of "spending time" efficiently, and estimates of expected kill ratios (aggression as MP).

I have been working under the misconception that one of these will work for me all of the time (subconciously). And so the task has been to get everybody to buy into which mode I decide works best.

The lesson of this theory might be to try to recognize which system is in play for which person or group of people you are interacting with. It's possible that you might be in multiple modes with the same person depending on the circumstance.

You can devote as much time and energy as you wish trying to get yourself and/or others to employ which ever mode you want.

But the real work may come in understanding what's going on in your relationships and moving closer to connections and engagements because of them.

Or even better: in spite of them.

Your on switch

2010-10-05T07:10:00.000-04:00

I have a friend who is always willing to come and speak to most any group most any time. As long as the subject matter has remotely to do with theology or maybe leadership and group dynamics, he's in.

He requires very little prep or much info on the specific topic.

Just tell me when and where and flip my on switch, and I'm good to go.

I always appreciated that when I needed a "piece" on theology or leadership which he could always provide.

But I also kind of resented that because it seemed kind of rote and maybe not necessarily heartfelt.

I remember hearing Tony Campolo for the first time speak at a couple of events at a church and feeling that he too had an on switch that somebody flipped. He did his schtick and was on his way.

It felt a bit inauthentic. A little icky.

I've come to think that not only is the on switch a ok thing: it's kind of important to have your "go to" talk that you can share about at a moment's notice.

Your personal core values of ministry, where they came from, and why you believe them, and where they are going.

Hopefully once you develop your on switch "ministry take", you'll be able to rattle it off with little or no notice.

But the next time you hear mine: I hope it'll be a little different and maybe even slightly contradictory to what you heard the last time.

Otherwise it's just a schtick.

And that's not funny.

Wondering about wonders and wonder

2010-10-04T10:51:00.001-04:00

G.K Chesterson wrote over 70 books and his faith journey included stints as a Unitarian, Angelican, and a Roman Catholic.

For me, his philosophy that "Every human transaction, therefore, whether social or economic, is an opportunity either to dignify or to exploit our fellow man." is best summed up by a quote variously attributed to him as something like ""The world will never starve for want of wonders; only for want of wonder."

Let's say it's time to evaluate the ministry.

Given this thesis: does it work for you or against you?

So, the habitat build has lost it's interest for people. It's become rote and all they really want is our money. We need a more compelling story. Like Extreme Home Makeover.

The missions program has lost it's appeal. We need a live satellite phone hook up with our missionary partners during worship (both services).

Our worship has become liturgy by numbers. We need some compelling solos or a quartet. Or a little girl to sing.

The first hurdle is to understand wonder- a collective lump in the throat of the community as well as wonders- I think we can get the lead guitarist from the church across town (I've heard he's not happy there.)

But: we can't just bring in more wonder.

One person's wonder is another persons wonders. We need a dialog.

Like always.

And maybe this time it could be tell me about the last time you experienced wonder during worship, missions, etc.? And maybe: were there any wonders involved?

Would it help to admit that we are hungry for both?

Failure to Launch

2010-10-03T06:49:00.000-04:00

Isn't just a pretty bad movie. (The talking squirrel was the nail in the coffin.)

I was glad I made an appointment for my visit to the Apple Store the other day.

When I got arrived, there was a ton of people gathered waiting for help.

I keep up fairly well with the goings on of product releases of Apple and I was pretty sure nothing major was really in the works.

I asked the salesman what was up and why there were so many people there on this particular day.

"I don't know," he said, "we launch a lot of stuff. It's hard to tell sometimes what the crowd is about."

Upon further review, I think the crowd that day had to do with the i-phone and some of the antenna problems.

But point made.

Launching stuff has to do with involvement and learning about what we do that works and doesn't work. Call it kissing a lot of frogs or breaking a lot of eggs. How we engage people or not has to do with launching stuff. Lot's of stuff.

If you decide this is the strategy you'll employ to engage the most tribes in your care, there is probably one thing you'll have to do.

Let go.

Of having to have everything go the way you want.

Without sacrificing a common what and why you are doing it.

But then again if you don't go the launching stuff route:

It's easy to get to everyone who comes your way for ministry.

And nobody will have to worry about whether or not they set a time to see you.

Dancers, actors, and pop inspiration

2010-09-30T10:09:00.000-04:00

I'm glad Margaret Cho didn't get voted off Dancing With the Stars this week. Not that I think she's that great of a dancer or anything, but I can see that she is on a journey that I'm real jealous of seeing as how the story of it is being told via a cheesy reality show.

After her much improved routine this week, Cho spoke about how tough it was after tanking on week 1:

"People would not look at me, because I had like this weird, 'loser energy.' Like, after they would talk to me, they would use hand sanitizer. It was like they were trying to get the loser off.... It's actually amazing to discover, you know, this whole thing -- that I'm actually a dancer.''

That's pretty close to what it's all about for me. The discovery that I'm actually...anything. Anything different that what I only thought I was.

During week one, Cho kind of hammed it up. She did what she was comfortable with- comedy- and that got in the way of the dancing. On week two she let go of the comedy. And she embraced her dancer-ness.

This is inspiring particularly because one of the judges apparently told her that even though it was hard to see (because she was hiding behind her comedy) it was vaguely apparent that she was a dancer.

Who knows what it takes to discover that we are actually...leaders of discipleship. Agents of change. Catalyst of transformation.

Our armour is often comedy, status quo, numbers, or affirmation.

Nobody wants to go to battle unprotected.

But Margaret Cho did and it made all the difference.

I heard Shia LaBeouf say that he doesn't recognize talent as a category.

Everyone is lucky or fortunate or just dedicated and hard working. (I think Malcolm Gladwell is on to this also).

So everyone is actually a dancer or an actor or a basketball player or a boxer or a director of positive life change or a child of God.

Do you suppose we, unlike talent, we make any difference to who discovers who they are and how good they become at being themselves?

Popular You

2010-09-29T06:59:00.000-04:00

The magazine Popular Science can be traced back to 1872. It started out as a way to disseminate scientific knowledge to the educated layman. In other manifestations, it was more of a scholarly journal. In 1915, the magazine reinvented itself most dramatically according to Wikipedia:

The old version was a scholarly journal that had eight to ten articles in a 100 page issue. There would be ten to twenty photographs or illustrations. The new version had hundreds of short, easy to read articles with hundreds of illustrations. Editors wrote for "the home craftsman and hobbyist who wanted to know something about the world of science." The circulation doubled in the first year.

Do suppose that somewhere, a scholarly reader or a more serious science lover threw a fit? Maybe they burned their Popular Science and World Advance magazines?

Popular Science had sold out. Maybe even science had sold out.

Because it sought to provide access to the commoner or to the greater population.

Do we do that?

Do we pathologically protect our worship, music, mission, education, etc?

Because it's our life work, it's important that "everybody can't do it or doesn't get it."

I'm not saying dumb down your next outreach event or to rush out a get a lead guitarist for your orchestra.

I'm just saying what's your motivation for keeping the bar so high?

(As always: when I write your, I mean my and when I say you, I mean me.)

Your faithfulness to your calling or to your selfishness?

If you have lots of dense type and obscure ideas in your ministry, maybe it's time to increase the size of the font, add more pictures, and put more, to-the-point articles in each edition.

terrible tenderness

2010-09-27T09:24:00.000-04:00

Quaker missionary, educator, speaker and writer Thomas R. Kelly describes a seeming paradox of terrible tenderness in his book A Testament of Devotion (p. 81). He describes the experience in relation to God's experience of the fallen sparrow. (God's concern of in contrast to the world's worth of a creature of His creation, etc.)

Kelly poses the question to the reader: "Have you experienced this concern for the sparrow's fall?"

He continues that this is not just Jesus' experience. As if to say, we have some responsibility here too.

And my inference is that we (God's people) have always had this responsibility to take an active interest in understanding the value and being concerned about creation and creatures in contrast to worldly value.

Back to terrible tenderness:

According to Kelly,

There is a sense in which, in this terrible tenderness, we become one with God and bear in our quivering souls the sins and the burdens, the benightedness and the tragedy of the creatures of the whole world, and suffer in their suffering, and die in their death.

So, who's up for that?

I visited a church recently where the pastor seemed to make lots out of a prophecy in Haggai or Zechariah that something they were "foretelling" would come to pass in the life of Jesus.

I used to take a lot of comfort in those types of interpretations because the message seemed to be: "See: We are right!"

Now, I think that there wasn't so much foretelling going on as forthtelling--this is how things are, this is how the nature of God and his relationship to his people is.

And in the light of forthtelling, there is immense comfort. This is how it is. This is how God rolls.

But there is also an unanswered question in there. "Do I have the courage to be a part of this suffering in the suffering of others and dying in their deaths?". Kelly's terrible tenderness.

But it decidedly doesn't any longer have much of anything, if at all, to do with: "See: We are right!"

More or less?

2010-09-26T08:11:00.001-04:00

If you speak about the hundreds (thousands?) of ways that God manifests his presence intrinsically and inherently (and often unexplainably), you'll usually find someone who needs a more explainable god.

Talk about how things just seem to somehow "work" in natural systems such as organization of ant colonies and termite mounds and birds of the air and lilies of the field and you will see a reenactment of how religion came to be established.

We need a god that aspires to the same level of complexity, rationality, and essentially functionality as we have.

It's natural and important.

But there is more and that is where we sometimes lose heart.

We can't back away from the simple fact that there is more.

Explore more.

S'more. It's not just a campfire snack.

"in the beginning God created heaven and the earth..."

And then: more.

Etc.

Leverage

2010-09-24T16:32:00.000-04:00

The group that you think is all about changing the community's homeless situation doesn't really think about changing the community's homeless situation that much.

Chances are they really are most interested in supporting the homeless shelter.

Upon further review:

They are not that terribly passionate about the homeless shelter, either.

Turns out one of the most beloved members of the group really cared a lot about the homeless shelter.

Because he helped start it--back when it really stood for something.

Before it became a organization bent of supporting itself and its staff.

Or because his brother spent years in the street before people understood mental illness and homelessness.

So really what the group cares about is their relationships to the guys who cares about the homeless shelter because he cared at one time about changing the community's homeless situation.

You might want to know that.

Particularly if you are all about leveraging groups' passions to accomplish stuff.

You can really only leverage the relationships between people.

And you can't really leverage relationships very long.

I'm going to try letting relationships leverage me.

Care to join me?

Knowing when to encourage

2010-09-22T09:21:00.000-04:00

I watched a tentative driver attempting to back up and turn around on a narrow gravel driveway. There was one small tree to be negotiated, but it wasn't really even in play.

Some distance down the drive a security guard, with a clear view of how wide open the turn around area was, began to yell and motion to the very slow moving driver that, you know, hey- you got it come on back. No problems. Why are you going so slowly? Her lack of pace seemed to affect him.

Well the yell and the arm waving of the security guard shut down the driver.

She could only surmise that she was doing something wrong: maybe she thought she wasn't allowed to back up on the grass or maybe she thought there was something in the way she couldn't see.

It took far more time for the security guard to walk down the driveway and for the driver to realize he was just encouraging her and for her then to regain her composure and confidence to start backing up again.

Sometimes the best encouragement we can offer is to let people proceed at their own pace on a path that will ultimately lead to their success.

a pile of termites

2010-09-21T15:42:00.000-04:00

Several years ago, I heard a story on NPR that stuck with me about termite mounds. It seems that when one of these massive structures seen on the African Plains or at Disney's Animal Kingdom gets knocked over, the termites build it back.

So there is no committee meeting. No termite gets elected president of the rebuild. Nobody organizes the termites into teams. No sign ups, no directives, edicts, or org charts.

The termites just "know what to do."

It turns out there is a name for this type of behavior in animals and nature. It's called emergence.

I'm not sure why the story idea first resonated with me.

I guess on the gut connection to God level it just affirms that God works that way with me sometimes.

It isn't about how organized, how well I know God, how large my faith or strong my belief that dictates, controls, or limits God's love.

It just happens.

So. If that's true sometimes the best thing we can do as leaders is not to lead.

To just get out the way.

And let the termites rebuild.

Not always but close

2010-09-19T13:47:00.000-04:00

A friend confidently shared with me that belief always comes first and then faith. It didn't seem right to me. First you have to put your faith in something and then after it doesn't let you down enough, you believe in it. It seems to me.

And things are never always. There is always an exception.

But I guess things come close enough sometimes that you can say it might as well be always.

If that's true then I think being always drives doing where transformation and change are concerned. For me.

Doing is outside in.

Being is inside out.

Doing stuff enough might develop some good habits and in doing that you might experience something that transforms your being.

But things don't seem to get started until the experience happens and then you start doing stuff in response to that.

We spend lots of time planning the stuff we do. And maybe we don't spend quite enough time understanding how or if that stuff informs or transforms who and what we are.

We should do more of that.

Is your ministry a campaign or a movement?

2010-09-19T02:30:00.000-04:00

According to the minds behind the group called Brains on Fire, marketing can lean toward campaigns or movements. Can we say the same thing about ministry?

Consider some of the thoughts about the two from a manifesto on the idea:

Campaigns have a beginning and an end.

Movements go on as long as kindred spirits are involved.

Campaigns are part of the war vocabulary. (target, launch, dominate markets...)

Movements are part of the evangelist vocabulary. (evangelize, passion, love...)

Campaigns are dry and emotionally detached.

Movements are organic and rooted in passion.

Campaigns rely on traditional mediums.

Movements rely on word of mouth, where the people are the medium.

Campaigns are part of the creationist theory—we’re going to create something cool and people will talk about it. Movements are part of the evolutionist theory—whatever we co-create with the fans they can own and run with it, which will evolve over time.

Campaigns are you talking about yourself.

Movements are others talking about you.

Campaigns are an ON/OFF switch.

Movements are a volume dial—and there’s no zero.

Campaigns add to awareness.

Movements add to credibility.

Campaigns are “you vs. us.”

Movements are “let’s do this together.”

So some of the things I ask myself:

If there wasn't a bulletin or pulpit announcement about the event, would anybody come?

If my emails were a blog or a website, would anybody read them?

If I didn't initiate everything, would anything get started with me?

Do I spend more time on production values than ideas?

Campaigns have there place. How often and to what depth they change lives is questionable.

Maybe we need a campaign to start more movements.

Ultimately I would add:

Campaigns can be controlled.

Movements go in directions you didn't anticipate or want.

The flute ministry

2010-09-18T06:26:00.000-04:00

A mission team I served with visited an IDP camp. Living conditions had become increasingly deplorable here over 17 years since the residents had to leave their comfortable homes. The place was caving in. Rodents bit people during the night. Water poured in. Sometimes they had water and electricity, sometimes not. No jobs, little health care, no transportation. No hope.

One of the older ladies implored us to consider the young people with nothing to do and no future. Can we help them find a better life?

I had left for the mission trip with pressure from the home front to come up with a new flute for my daughter. I didn't entirely understand this need because she already has a (best I could tell) perfectly good flute.

So after my experience in the IDP camp, I had an overwhelming desire to do one thing:

I emailed my wife and told her: we have to get that flute for our daughter.

I wish I could explain it.

I wish I had of emailed my wife and said:

That money we were going to use to buy that second flute: we need instead to donate it to these people in this IDP camp who live on less than US$0.50 a day.

But I didn't. In the moment, I concluded the best thing I can do to help the young people is to make sure my daughter had what she needed (as best she understood) to fulfill her hopes and dreams.

I'm not saying it's right, exemplary, or a sign of good character.

I'm just saying, that's what happened.

Do you or someone you love suffer from narcissistic personality disorder?

2010-09-16T15:03:00.000-04:00

According to an article in Wikipedia, five or more of the following symptoms indicate you or your loved one may be at risk for narcissistic personality disorder (NPD)..

- Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)

-Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

-Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).

-Rarely acknowledges mistakes and/or imperfections

-Requires excessive admiration

-Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations

-Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends

-Lacks empathy: is unwilling or unable to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.

-Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her

-Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitude.

Studies show 1% of Americans suffer from NPD.

Personal research indicates rates among members of religious organizations may be slightly higher.

Once someone is diagnosed with NPD, what should you do?

The singer Rihanna offers one possible avenue:

"But you put on quite a show
Really had me going
But now it's time to go
Curtain's finally closing
That was quite a show
Very entertaining
But it's over now
Go on and take a bow

Grab your clothes and get gone"

Tempting.

But the fact is NPD sufferers are often the engines that drive things. We need them around. Sorry.

Confronting them isn't the best option either. They will shut down in humiliation or become enraged or both.

You have to maintain mission statements and goals and objectives and visit and revisit them often.

Open, honest, frequent evaluation.

Oh, and have yourself checked out with someone you trust.

The earlier you can diagnose NPD, the easier is is to cure.

The author would like to thank...

2010-09-15T10:43:00.000-04:00

I took a look at the acknowledgements of the book I'm reading just for fun started counting the number of people the author recognized for helping him write the book. I quit counting at around 175 with still lots more to go.

It got me to thinking about the acknowledgements I would write for any particular ministry endeavor I have authored lately. It wouldn't be that many people.

I probably sacrificed the opportunity to put some names in my acknowledgements because I figured they weren't worth the effort or trouble. Maybe I didn't want to bug them again asking for their help.

Some of them I don't really like working with. Even though they would likely all make the story richer.

But then again. Nobody really reads the acknowledgements anyway do they?

revelation or delusion

2010-09-13T23:58:00.000-04:00

Anthony Storr, in Feet of Clay postulates that problems are solved through revelation and delusion. Ideas, epiphanies lead to solutions. Rewriting history of a society of of oneself is another way to take problems- old and new- off the table. We are the stories we tell. Truthful, factual, or otherwise. The more we tell them, the more true they become, usually solving a number of problems along the way.

Storr makes another interesting point.

Artists and scientists realize solutions via revelation or delusion are temporary. With each solution comes an new opportunity for revelation or story telling.

Religious types, he says see solutions as being final.

Religion embraces man's tendency to have control over his condition.

Sometimes you might see my revelation as a delusion.

Maybe your delusion is occasionally a revelation for me.

Our best bet is for problem solving then is to see both of these conditions (and other combinations of you and me and our revelations and delusions) as temporary rather than permanent conditions.

Otherwise, the only way for us to go is to completely write each other off for good.

And that, of course, doesn't solve anything.

Two priests and a pastor walk into a seminar...

2010-09-13T00:50:00.000-04:00

At a seminar on the great streams of Christian Faith, the Orthodox priest spoke of the practical and personal experience of truth in the life of the individual and the church, communion with God as complete freedom and full humanity, and salvation as reestablishing man's connection with God. Afterwards everyone gave him a rousing round of applause and said, "If that works for you, that's great."

The Catholic priest spoke of the special authority of the pope, the ability of saints to intercede on behalf of believers, the concept of Purgatory as a place of afterlife purification before entering Heaven, and the doctrine of transubstantiation. He completed his words to a round of applause and people said, "If that works for you, that's great."

The Evangelical Protestant Pastor went and he spoke of justification by grace alone through faith, the priesthood of all believers, and the supremacy of Holy Scripture in matters of faith and order. He too received a heartfelt round of applause and people again said, "If that works for you, then that's great."

"No, the pastor said. It's not a of question if it works for me. It's the true word of the living God! If you don't believe it, you are all damned to hell."

And the people all said. "If that works for you, that's great."

This story is told by Simon Blackburn, in the book Being Good. (He tells it as a seminar on religion with Buddhist, Hindu, and Catholic speakers, but it works for most anything.

Often in religion as well as countless other life issues, it isn't enough that our thoughts, ideas, desires, dreams and understandings exist. It is really important that others embrace our truth and believe it, takes it on, and wins others over to our way of thinking. It's why people plead with you to (and chastise you if you don't) forward e-mails, pass out religious tracts on the street, start a different church (one that's right all the time), don't speak to beloved family members for decades, fly planes into buildings, attempt to exterminate entire races of people, and don't wish their child well in their new relationship.

And if that works for you...

Pick you superpower

2010-09-11T23:53:00.000-04:00

Flight or invisibility?

Informal polls indicate if you're female: invisibility. Male: flight. Introvert: invisibility. Extrovert: flight. etc.

Having decided- what would you do with it?

Villains aside, why does everybody with a superpower automatically gravitate to crime prevention?

What about super lawyers, doctors, geologists, and landscapers? Would you consider just doing what you do but somehow take advantage of a shorter commute (flight) or get more work done because people don't interrupt you while you are at your desk (invisibility)?

I joked with my wife that my new glasses make me look like Clark Kent.

When I told her I was feeling homesick while on a mission trip, she consoled me by telling me now that I looked like Clark Kent I had to spend some time making the world a better place.

I guess whatever we are doing and whatever power (or look) we have: we can in some way be dedicated to fighting crime.

Or making the world a better place.

With or without the leotard.

The perfect spaghetti sauce

2010-09-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

A friend asked me what the perfect mission trip looks like.

A fumbled through some ideas but basically said, there isn't a perfect mission trip.

What's perfect for me isn't perfect for you.

My answer was later validated by a youtube video of Malcolm Gladwell talking about human diversity and the perfect spaghetti sauce.

It seems on more than one occasion, though attempts to discover the perfect food or drink item, it becomes apparent that there is no perfect food or drink item. You can come closer to making people happy by offering the perfect food items.

Another interesting note. People don't know what they want or like until they try it.

For mission trips: people don't know what they want. They think it should be about saving souls or giving people stuff they don't have, maybe. Cause we have it. And they should have it. And they should have it like we have it.

And so we start there.

And we try offering people ways to understand what is missing in their lives (this includes the people going on the trip as well) and how they can fill these voids.

Can a mission trip be about increasing the quality of life for a specific community of people?

Or can it be about righting a wrong? Helping victims of war get an education or job training or small business development training for instance.

Maybe at the end of the day people will change the way they see the world or their relationship to God and to each other and ultimately change the way they see themselves.

Who knew 1/3 of the people liked chunky Ragu? People who make spaghetti sauce just always thought the perfect spaghetti sauce was thin.

And who knew what people prefer on mission trips is to make a difference in the lives of people and to be a part of finding out that the world can be a better place.

We always thought it was about making people more like us.

Porn

2010-09-10T13:27:00.000-04:00

Porn isn't just about naked people.

In the case of sex porn, alot of it has to do with the idea that you can have the pleasure without the pain.

There is leadership porn. If you follow this ten step program you can obtain life transformation in your people without the frequent honest and difficult conversations and the willingness to receive critical feedback and then change how you do things to be a better person and help the organization and it's people realize their promise.

There is missions porn. Supporting local agencies or global partners and reading the newsletters and finding about all the wonderful transformation taking place without you having to take on anyone's suffering or having to hold a child while they die or having to clean up someone's vomit after they promised you they weren't drinking any more.

Spiritual porn might involve lots of flowery language about how when you turn yourself over completely and wholly to god, you will find the place that he has been calling you to without having to really be present to a conversation with someone about how all the muslims are trying to kill us.

My favorite is recycling porn. Doing something to feel better about yourself without really having to change your life.

It can be addictive.

It can destroy lives.

Impoverished ministry

2010-09-08T08:59:00.000-04:00

In her book Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo, suggests that the over one trillion dollars worth of aid pumped into Africa over the past decade has not only failed to increase economic growth for most countries on that continent, but has in fact been a part of reducing economic output.

The consideration is important because it is economic growth that ultimately reduces poverty.

Moho looks at the critical thinking behind the Marshal Plan credited with helping European nations recover from World War Ii.

The idea: The process of economic growth is based on a nation developing sufficient savings to enable investment. Investment stimulates growth which positions the country for poverty reduction through developing an effective work force and sustainable markets.

The problem with aid of the magnitude what has been sent to Africa is that it attempted to short circuit this process by artificially creating savings that weren't really savings.

So budgeting aside: is our ministry team impoverished?

Are people going hungry? Are we failing to develop and invest in people's ideas?

Are we seeking to alleviate this poverty of passionate involvement with our own version of a ministry Marshal Plan?

Savings is gained by sacrifice.

Maybe we have to give up something to put social capital in the bank. What areas are artificial attempts to "do good stuff"?

Unless you write it down, chances are you'll blow your budget and your savings and investment portfolio will never be realized.

Where can we best spend our time and energy to catalyze positive life change?

Who will be with us as we save, invest, and stimulate growth for our ministry?

So what is the currency of ministry and how do you plan to develop it?

Once you have it, how do you spend (devote yourself to engage with) it?

Hopefully we won't have to squander the equivalent of a trillion dollars worth of agonizing meetings, purposeless programs, hours of planning, inboxes full of emails, and chasing after pulpit support and bulletin articles to realize what we're doing worked in post WW II Europe but doesn't seem to spark to much interest or imagination out there today.

You are what you love

2010-09-07T22:34:00.000-04:00

The movie Adaptation looks for a while like it is going to be a movie in which people don't really change. The protagonist doesn't really want anything that bad. There really isn't a negative turn. No plot twist. Maybe it's saving grace will be that it breaks the mold. And then there is a turning point where things change. Sidebar: it was cool that the movie said: we're not going there. And then it goes there big time. Cool.

This is a big deal for me. How many times do we determine value based on how well people like our thing?

How often are we motivated to engage mission and ministry because of them and what they don't have instead of who we are.

I'm not saying relevance doesn't matter.

But unless we do what we do because of who we are: is it really ever going to be relevant?

Really?

I'm looking to own my love. I think it's important now.

If you don't like it, it is ok.

That's your business, not mine.

but then

2010-09-07T15:05:00.000-04:00

It's easy enough to think that we get people to come out, give money, participate, and enoy the experience.

But it's really about supporting the leaders of your ministry in their attempts to take part in God's mission.

We can fall into the trap of thinking that a mission trip is about seeing how efficient we can accomplish as fast as possible.

We remember though, its about finding community memebers who share the same purpose as you so you can work year 'round for positive life change.

You can even get discouraged.

But then we...
And someone reminds you that...
So you...

Preaching from the inside

2010-09-06T08:33:00.000-04:00

We watched a Rob Bell video in our 6th grade Sunday School class yesterday. The series is called Nooma. This particular one was called Sunday and it involved a talk from a restaurant or diner about the church and what makes it relevant and irrelevant sometimes. During the discussion afterward, one of us shared about how it was weird to have preaching from a restaurant booth.

When asked how one knows if somebody is preaching, the response was "When somebody talks to you about God."

It pointed up among other things that for the most part (at least in the 6th grade) we think what we hear about God comes from preaching- from somebody else telling us about God.

We often (even years hence 6th grade) might think that what we hear about mission and ministry comes from somebody else telling us about it too.

Maybe we are the appointed ones to do the telling.

So we should hone our craft and study our discipline.

But we should also remind ourselves that just like the best preaching (allows us to learn about God from inside our selves) maybe the best bits about mission and ministry allow connections with and among people from the inside.

The quality of ministry shouldn't be contingent on how much we know about it or how well we can tell people about it.

Whether the message comes from a pulpit, a conference table, e-mail, blog, website or bulletin (or a restaurant booth) it should only be limited by it's authenticity and our vulnerability (to be wrong, to be changed, to say "We'll miss you", to say: "It was a gift", to realize true strength lies in gentleness, to think- that's a deal breaker for me, etc.).

At least, that's what's coming from inside me.

Rules and Principles

2010-09-05T22:54:00.000-04:00

A rule might be considered the way something has to be. A principle might be considered a proven or reliable way of how something is

Some organizations are about the rules and deciding who belongs and who doesn't based on how well they follow the rules.
Other organizations seem more intent on figuring out the best principles and building community among the people who subscribe to them.

Some people make decisions about who they will work for, date, do business with, befriend or worship with based on how well they understand and articulate the rules. And seem to follow them. Other people share experiences about their encounters with the principles as they understand them and seek to understand the principles better and learn about new principles.

I'm more inspired by organizations that explore principles. Rules have their place. I'm more attracted to people who share principles. And don't let rules get in the way.

I've heard that Christianity doesn't really make a very good religion (set of rules). It seems to set up better as a spiritual way (collection of principles).

But maybe collection of principles isn't grandiose enough to keep our attention.

A set of rules, though. That can get plenty grandiose.

The wisdom of the crowd

2010-09-04T16:56:00.000-04:00

Can you draw upon the wisdom of the crowd while hedging your bets against an undesired outcome?

First you have to realize their is a wisdom to the crowd. There is an example that involves how a crowd figured to within a pound the weight of an ox..

If you subscribe to the wisdom of the crowd thing, (termites, ants, bees, google, groups guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar, you end up with a group that is more powerful than the best of it's individuals.

The fact that we often try to stack the deck or load up the bus with specific people we like, trust, or want to be around seems to be something to hold in tension with this wisdom of the crowd thing.

But I don't think you van have the cake of crowd wisdom and the control of eating it too.

The question is: do we want to know the weight of the ox?

Or do we really just want to be the one closest to the right answer?

Ready or not

2010-09-03T11:14:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure if I'm stuck or if I need to get unstuck. I know I don't feel like I have very much to say to anybody. It seems a lot of the stuff I'm doing, I'm doing out of routine and I do with an overpowering feeling of rote.

I guess this is where everybody says you have to hang in there and stay the course. You have to take walks along routes you normally drive and see things you wouldn't otherwise. Make it a point to use the air dryer and rub rub rub your hands patiently dry. Sit down across from the person that's hard to talk to and look them in the eye but not even in the eye. Face them in the face more like it and...engage and embrace and don't worry about another verb that begins in e.

Think about Parker Palmer and his bouts of depression when the only thing anyone ever did that was helpful was to come over and rub his feet and not say anything. Believe that wherever you are: that is the place to be.

A therapist I know says the litmus test of whether or not he can help someone is the question: how are you doing.

A I'm fine says: "Not ready."

A I don't know if I'm going to make it says: "Let's get started."

So. You ready to get started?

I think I am.

Developing leaders without training wheels

2010-09-02T22:12:00.000-04:00

I confided to a friend that I wasn't sure when to lean in and when to give space to a developing leader under the care of my leadership. He gave me that look that people give you sometimes when you ask for something that they know you already have.
"Did you teach your kids how to ride a bike?"
He asked me.
"Yes"
"Well, then. You already know."
Sometimes you let go when you should hold on and they fall and skin their knee.
Sometimes you hold on when they are ready for you to let go and they miss their chance to take it on their own.
It's like that.
I never had too much angst about that with my kids.
I guess because I loved them and I never doubted their love for me. Even when they skinned their knee because of me.
I wonder if that works for developing leaders.

All you need is love? Really?

2010-08-09T20:47:00.001-04:00

Love has been coming up a lot lately. Malcolm Gladwell says love, along with 10,000 hours of practice is what makes a genius a genius: not some rare gift.

Sasha Dichter says love is at the core of our ability to connect, persuade, and motivate folks to do stuff.

But love can be tricky. It seems to have something to do with the type of love we're talking about. In Evangelical Theology: An Introduction, Karl Barth differentiates between Eros and Agape.

He writes love as Eros is "the primordially powerful desire, urge, impulse, and endeavor by which a created being seeks his own self-assertion, satisfaction, realization, and fulfillment in his relation to something else."

Agape also involves the "total seeking of another", however, in Agape, "the one who loves never understands the origin of this search, but as an entirely new freedom for the other one, a freedom which was simply bestowed on him and consequently was originally alien to him." It causes us to strive for each other.

It seems like lots of people seek ministry in an Eros type of love. What can this do for me. Which is cool. We can work with that.

But people seeking ministry out of a sense of Agape type of love seem more rare. Better maybe? Or not?

Maybe just more rare.

"I'm not sure why I'm doing this. As best I can tell, it's what God wants of me."

Seems to simple or pointless or...small, or something.

Trust, design, mission, and a killer

2010-07-31T06:30:00.000-04:00

Lots of ministry team meetings I've been to involve a good deal of consternation about how to get more people involved.

Frustration about not enough pulpit support and people not knowing about what we are doing are usually way up on the unwritten agenda.

There is much angst about people not seeming to care.

It is very rare that we talk about who our top volunteers are. When are their birthdays and anniversaries and when should we send them flowers to commemorate the endless hours they put in on the play production or the mission trip?

What about conversations about the design of our ministry: How does this thing actually work? Are there new considerations we should think and talk about that might serve the needs of our volunteers?

What if we spent more time in discovery of the passions and desires of our volunteers?

Do you understand why I am involved with this ministry? Can I trust you enough say that I go to Costa Rica because I love the slow pace of life, the food, and because the church people we work with are so earnest about their faith? Can we have a cup of coffee and talk about why (really, really why) you are so crazy about handing out school supplies without ever mentioning what we need to do to get other people more interested in it?

Maybe if we did that, more people would become interested in it.

Trust is understanding.

Design is how it works.

Mission is why you do it.

Frustration, unless it motivates us toward trust, design, and mission will kill.

Is it missiony enough?

2010-07-29T00:37:00.000-04:00

Do you consider that God's mission seems to be about reconciliation and seems to move from brokenness toward wholeness? If you do, you might find mission trips are becoming more about developing long term relationships that empower transformation of a community from within and through the vision and desire of community leadership.

This way of mission leads to lots of meetings with local church and community leaders and a lot of planning in support of projects designed and implemented by locals. Which doesn't leave much for "us" to "do".

So what does a mission trip look like in light of this?

It is a concern because there is value to people pursuing altruistic ideals of reaching the world and spreading the word and serving others.

So it might be OK to sprinkle in a few painting and building projects along with some bible school while working as a catalyst for change through community building partners.

We were painting a wall in a community (which really didn't seem to be too interested in having it's wall painted) recently when I asked one of our younger team members if he felt like this was "mission work" enough for him.

No, he said, look at all these people (the ones who didn't care about having the wall painted): we don't know any of them.

I'm guessing the future of missions is about spending enough time with a group of people to get to know them.

For the sake of getting to know them.

And then figuring out what it is you want to do together.

From what I can tell the future may thankfully already be here.

You can't always want what you get

2010-07-26T23:27:00.000-04:00

I always thought the body of Christ concept had to deal with being happy with your station. You might be a middle toe, but you should be the best middle toe possible and don't regret the fact that you aren't an eye.

I'm starting to think it has more to do with overcoming your doubts and fears so you you can be the middle toe. It has also helped to consider there might not be one calling that comes to you and when you discern that calling, that's what you do. In the same way what you want isn't always your deepest desire (or most likely isn't).

It's not once a middle toe always a middle toe. It's being open to discovering your part for now and being on the look out for the next part you'll play. It's finding the simplicity on the other side of complexity. But that isn't a one time process either.

Service comes in seasons and seasons change.

Considering what part we play in service to God's mission most likely hasn't come to us because it's not what we really want.

So just get and keep moving. And pretty soon a fresh wind will blow.

Story and theory

2010-07-25T10:21:00.000-04:00

In the sense that part of leading in ministry suggests one takes on some role as theologian, one of the great lessons of the creation story might be that we need a story. The fact that we need a story points to the possibility we were not created out of necessity. A theory would be what we crave if indeed we were created out of necessity or random act.

This way of thinking, courtesy of Stanley Hauerwas in Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir (p. 157) may compel us to work not out of a desire to teach people how to best live, but rather out of a desire to share about how things are. One way seems more about "my experiences and understandings are normative (and maybe in some cases they are me)- they should be yours to" and the other more about "me too" or even, "not for me."

One seems harder.

Both, I guess, are necessary.

Being currency

2010-07-19T22:01:00.001-04:00

A friend shared with me on a recent mission trip of his desire to be currency more than bring currency.
If I can get past my desire to be relevant and to be impact-ful, I might come to realize that I don't do as much as what happens because of me.
Most of the good stuff I am hoping to achieve isn't going to happen within the walls of my ministry.
The most I can hope for is that things will happen because my ministry.
Most likely what we are trying to achieve will lead to something happening that we didn't expect.
As soon as we try to make that into a program, it loses it's potential to create the relationship or the transformation or the lump in the throat or the tingling.
So we have to plan and be strategic and move ahead so that what we aren't expecting to happen can happen.
And then we can take stock of all the things that happen because of our planning and strategy that we never planned for.

Life and unplanned landings

2010-07-10T11:00:00.000-04:00

It seems there is a toxic lake caused by open pit copper mining in Butte Montana. It is one of the largest lakes in the country, but for all intents and purposes: dead.

The water is red, green, brown and even black in many places.

One day a group of snow geese, aware of the lake's toxic nature, made an emergency landing in its poison water.

The next day, all the geese were dead.

It was sad, but had to be chalked up to the cost of doing open pit copper mining. Kind of an environmental version of living in a fallen world caused by our sinfulness.

Some time later an interesting discovery was made by scientists studying the lake.

Life.

A colony of microorganism was found living on a bit of organic matter in the lake.

And these microorganisms were feeding on the toxins in the lake. They were eliminating the deadly contaminants.

And even more interesting: The microorganisms are unique to one known environment.

The digestive system of geese.

The kind of geese that landed and died in the lake that day.

The first thing I thought of when I heard this story was:

Atonement.

Taking on the toxic nature of a system or of a person or group of people so that something in my nature can change it and bring life to it.

That's atonement I can understand. (The good news.)

That's atonement I am called to be a part of (The bad news- realistically for me) and to act out in the world as opposed to just watching from a distance as Jesus takes on the sins of the world in a cosmic act of sacrifice for all humanity. (The good news)

In relationship focused ministry, it seems the people skilled at relationships- the ones that have something within them that can change and even bring life are at relationship capacity. There's just no way to add any more authentic relationships.

The people so desperate for relationships seem incapable of engaging in them.

Most often it seems it's in the random, unplanned landings on the lakes of brokenness and emptiness that life and change come.

It's hard to build a program around that.

Maybe it starts with a couple of people willing to care for each other and to find ways to create life and change toxic situations a little at a time.

And then proceed to die together.

Old ways new again

2010-07-08T15:52:00.000-04:00

5 Ways the book Hope for the World, edited by Walter Bruggemann, gave me permission to think about things the way I've always kind of thought they were. But didn't seem to be able to express.

1. That God is at least as interested in what happens in this life that we already have as he is in a future life yet to come. Christianity, when considered as a religion, often seems to be more about what happens in some other life, not this one.

Our mission as Christ's disciple community, wherever we are located, is nothing more or less than to participate actively in this divine labor of faithful love. That is to say…
Christian Mission Is Not First Christian Mission but God's Mission (Missio Dei)
p. 17

We share a certain criticism of a missionary endeavor in this world that is essentially an expression of otherworldliness. Otherworldly mission cannot but deny the biblical connection between the Creator and creation, because it sequentially divorces the future of creation from the future of its Creator. In the "otherworldly" way, "hope," the necessary precondition to any yearning for "future," is destroyed already in the here and now.
p. 69

2. We need to spend more time sharing with one another in our own faith community about our faith. We should talk more and more honestly about why we do the things we do and think the ways and feel the ways we do about our faith, calling, understanding of God. This might inspire or motivate us then to go out into the world and live out our faith rather than just trying to tell them our story.

Perhaps for the foreseeable future, therefore, the rule, especially in the once-mainline churches of former Christendom, ought to be: In the church tell the story, in the world live the story.
p. 19

3. Frustration: In order to qualify as mission, the event or outcome of the event has to rise to some threshold or a good seal of mission approval that someone or group establishes somewhat arbitrarily, but generally involves conversion more so than transformation.

When the scientist works with conscience to find a cure for cancer, we see God's mission as hope in action. When people call for the forgiveness of debt of 'third world countries', we see God's mission as hope in action…When an investor in North America conducts business as if the children in Africa are his or her own, we see God's mission as hope in action…When communities opt for reconciliation instead of civil war, we see God's mission as hope in action…When Walter Brueggemann writes about the painful issues of the land, Africans see God's mission as hope in action…I know you want to stop me here, saying, "But these things are already happening." I answer, "Precisely my argument as well!"
p.80

4. There has got to be more to the Gospel than we hear about. "What the Gospel says" seems to be used as justification for me getting my way about how to do things and why.

Whatever has the prospect of becoming "gospel" must address the reality of the negating condition lying at the heart of the situation concerned. Gospel is good news because as it engages, challenges, resolves, or ameliorates the bad news actually present in the sphere of missiological concern. A gospel spoke to the human anxiety of "guilt and condemnation" when the dominant anxiety of its context is more nearly "meaninglessness and despair" (Tillich) would not be gospel; indeed, it would probably function repressively to distract the attention of its hearers away from their existential anxiety.
p. 83

5. Often on mission trips we visit poor communities and diverse belief systems and are impressed by how much alike we are in the songs we sing or in how we all have our trials and tribulations, etc. or we say how different we are and how much better "their faith is because they don't have anything, but they are so much happier than we are." Our differences are differences and there are of course similarities among us. I'm not sure we honor either of them as we might.

When dealing with plurality, it is important to avoid two pitfalls. One is an overemphasis on similarity; the other is an overemphasis on difference. The discovery of similarity forges points of connectedness, but it can also do harm if it fails to recognize the uniqueness of each individual subject. Historian of religion Wendy Doniger calls it the problem of "all cats being gray in the night."
p.109

How to save a life

2010-07-08T06:58:00.000-04:00

A recent segment of the radio show Radio Lab explored a story from Michigan about efforts there to help recover population of a type of bird called a warbler. Part of the plan was to create stands of young trees which is the preferred habit for the birds. One of the methods employed was to selectively burn woodland areas creating space for young saplings to grow. It seems that one of these selective burns was conducted during a windy day. The I'll advised decision led to the fire burning beyond it's prescribed limits. A wildlife specialist working on the project was killed.

In interviews with individuals close to the story, one thing that came up more than others was how bringing back the birds or the lives of the birds wasn't worth the life of the man killed. People had turned the story into a matter of was it worth the cost.

It didn't seem to make sense to me: this line of reasoning. There wasn't anyone playing cosmic chess that resulted in the life of the worker being sacrificed for the lives of the birds. The young man was doing what he (i assume loved doing). He may of even been willing to offer his live to the cause he cared so much about it.

But there was such anger in the voices of the people interviewed for the radio show.

I somehow got some clarity into atonement that I hadn't had before:

Christ came into our midst out of love. That love made him vulnerable to forces in the world that ultimately cost him his life.

Out of that come theological ideas that I can't really understand and that do little to draw me closer to God.

But I understand the venturing into something you love and believe in and care about so much that before you realize it, it's cost you your life.

I not sure at what point I would find my life endangered because of my desire to take on the shortcomings of others so they may better understand God's love for us.

I spend most of my time trying to avoid them.

Don't just trust- be trust

2010-07-04T18:46:00.000-04:00

The frog and the scorpion (or words to this effect) wanted to get across the river.

The scorpion asked the frog for a ride across.

No way, said the frog. We'll get half way across and you'll sting me and I'll drown.

Why would I do that? Asked the scorpion. I would die too.

The frog relents and takes out across the river with the scorpion on board.

Halfway across, the scorpion stings the frog which causes the frog to become paralyzed.

Just before the frog sinks below the water to his death, he asks the scorpion: Why? Now we're both going to die.

It's just my nature says the scorpion, according to the tale.

I always thought the frogs error was that he trusted the scorpion.

But after rethinking my definition of trust, I think now maybe his mistake was that he didn't trust the scorpion.

He didn't trust the scorpion to do what scorpions do.

He knew the scorpions nature, but disregarded it.

Thinking someone will do something differently just because it is convenient to my hoped for outcome isn't noble I don't supposed.

It's a waste of social capital.

To trust a scorpion is to not put them in a position to fail.

There is a time to think positive and give someone a chance to prove you wrong about them.

Just not when they are on your back in the middle of the river.

That's when I have to trust them.

(To know what they are most likely to do and plan accordingly).

NOTE: I am grateful to Keith Jennings in that I don't think I am saying exactly what I am trying to say here, but- it doesn't really matter.