Sharing our humanness

Larry Richards said, "To communicate the reality of God we must share our humanness...that inadequacy of ours which made us need Him."

For the next two weeks I am hoping and praying that I will be able to communicate the reality of God by sharing my humanness not only to our team, but to the Polish students we encounter as we serve them at English Camp.

SCAMPER

Next time I am having a brainstorming session I am going to SCAMPER!

• Substitute: Is there anything you can substitute that will make your idea better?
• Combine: What things can you combine to make the original idea better and more relevant?
• Adapt: Is there anything you can adapt from another idea to improve it?
• Magnify/Modify: Will your idea be better if you expand it or modify it any way?
• Put To Other Uses: Is there a better use for your idea than originally intended?
• Eliminate: What can you eliminate that is not serving any purpose and make your idea better.
• Rearrange/ Reverse: Could your idea improve if you rearrange any of the ideas concepts and details.

Illusion of leadership

In Leading With A Limp, Dr. Dan Allender suggests that most of us want an illusion of a leader. He suggests that this what we're really looking for,

"...a leader must be physically attractive, fluent public speakers with a firm command of their audience, well-educated, open, sincere, humble, salt-of-the-earth people able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, leaders who never forget their humble beginning or the values and convictions of those they represent. We expect a leader to make tough decisions - to fire his close friend if necessary or to send troops into harm's way - yet we want him to tear up over a sad story and be sentimental on Mother's Day."

Allender's conclusion, which has caused me long moments of thought and contemplation about myself, what I expect out of leaders I follow, and what our spiritual community at Southern Gables expects out of our new Transitional Senior Pastor and the next Lead Pastor,

"What we want is an illusion and we know it. We prefer the illusion because we have a deep need to be buffered from reality."

Press the "awkward" button

I read this post by Seth Godin two years ago and read through it again today. I am convinced that if you're a leader you must make awkward not only a part of your vocabulary, but a value you embrace.

Awkward. Seth suggests it’s his new favorite word. I agree, especially when you look at it through the lens of leadership. Seth states, "It's awkward to create a product that changes the status quo. It's awkward to demonstrate your amazing insights when it might threaten those that are looking for stability instead.”

Change creates awkward moments. Leading creates awkward moments. Silence creates awkward moments. Disagreements create awkward moments. Confrontation creates awkward moments. Passion creates awkward moments. Meetings create awkward moments. Challenging someones thinking creates awkward moments. Therefore, leaders must commit to searching for the awkward. Why? Seth suggests,

“The reason we need to be in search of awkward is that awkward is the barrier between us and excellence, between where we are and the remarkable. If it were easy, everyone would have done it already, and it wouldn't be worth the effort.”

There is no easy button to press when it comes to leading. Press the awkward button.

Student of change

"Become a student of change. It is the only thing that will remain constant." - Anthony J. D'Angelo

Today we start a new era at Southern Gables Church - our new TSP is in the house! TSP stands for Transitional Senior Pastor. Dr. Mark Platt comes to us with a TON of experience. I am excited to navigate the new waters ahead of us here at SGC.

D'Angelo's quote resonated with me this morning and has challenged me to start becoming a student of change. I am excited for what this change will bring in my own personal life and ministry!

How kids learn

I pulled this article out again this morning from CNN and it was a good reminder that kids have a primary way that they learn. It’s nothing new to all of us, but it’s a good reminder for us as we spend time with our kids and students this summer. The author suggests that kids learn in at least three ways:

Learning by listening
Learning by seeing
Learning with your body

What is your kid's primary learning style? Should the ways kids learn change the way we teach? What needs to change?

The Social Media Tee

This made me LOL!

Wildness lies in wait

"The real trouble with this world of ours is not
that it is an unreasonable world, nor
even that it is a reasonable one.
The commonest kind of trouble is that it is
nearly reasonable, but not quite.
Life is not an illogicality, yet
it is a trap for logicians.
It looks just a little more mathematical
and regular than it is; its'
exactitude is obvious; but
its' inexactitude is hidden;
its' wildness lies in wait."

- GK Chesterton

This quote captured my heart on Monday as I was flying to Kansas City reading Leading in a Culture of Change by Michael Fullan.

With every change "wildness lies in wait." As we change our student ministry by releasing the class of 2009 and gaining the class of 2013...wildness lies in wait.

As we say "goodbye" to our beloved senior pastor Jerry Nelson and "hello" to our new interim pastor Dr. Mark Platt...wildness lies in wait.

As I continue to walk more closely to Jesus following him, fishing and feeding...wildness lies in wait.

Here's to a lifetime of finding hidden inexactitudes!

The wrong addiction in leadership

"As long as we continue to live as if we are what we do, what we have, and what other people think about us, we will remain filled with judgments, opinions, evaluations, and condemnations. We will remain addicted to putting people and things in their 'right' place." - Henri Nouwen

This Monday morning I am so grateful that I have been surrounded by men who weren't addicted to putting me in the "right" place: Fritz Dale, Jerry Nelson, Michael Murphy, Jim Means, and Jim Kimbriel. I want to live out the opposite of Nouwen's quote, that which all of them have given to me as a model to follow. I don't want to live out what Nouwen portrays as the wrong addiction in leadership. I want to live out the opposite as a husband, father, friend, follow, leader and shepherd in my community.

Lead with your ear open to heaven

The longer I get the privilege to lead I am becoming more convinced that I need to lead with my ear open to heaven. Is it my way or God’s way in our student ministry? Am I listening to the promptings and whispers of the Holy Spirit? Out of our study in the book of John I learned that Jesus had a lot to say about the Holy Spirit, a person I've rarely open my ear to. He lays out an impressive description that should have my attention.

He is the Counselor – 14:17
He is with you forever – 14:17
He is the Spirit of Truth – 14:17
He dwells within you and lives with you – Jn. 14:17
He will teach you all things (Jn. 14:26).
He will bring into remembrance the words of Jesus (Jn. 14:26).
He will lovingly convict you of sin (Jn. 16:7).
He will convince you of the truth (Jn. 16:8).
He will testify that you are free of condemnation (Jn. 16:8).
He will guide you into all truth, speaking from what He hears from the Father and Son (Jn. 16:13).
He will always seek to glorify CHRIST (Jn. 16:14).
His name is Counselor, Spirit of Truth, Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:17;Jn. 14:15, 26, 16:7).

I think we need to stop opening our ears first towards and event, conferences, books, or curriculum that will ignite a passion in our students and open our hears to hear about all that Jesus has provided for us in the person and work of the Holy Spirit. If we spent the summer reflecting on these truths from John we might hear something different for what the fall might bring for us personally and our ministries.

Doing the "being" of the vision

“Am I doing the ‘being’ of the vision of my student ministry?” To many student ministry leaders are committed to their vision, if they even have one, as managers of it, rather than making a personal commitment to live it out.

Five things, among several others, to consider this summer as you reflect on whether or not you, as the leader, are doing the "being" of your vision to reach students.

1. Who's 1st place? You or God?
2. Are students being matured as a result of what we are doing (Col. 1:27-28)?
3. Asking/giving God’s blessing on students we come in contact with.
4. Being effective in my organization of things – organization doesn’t become the focus, but the effectiveness of the organization.
5. Reaching out to students who aren't connected in our group and in our community.

What else needs to be added to the list? Deleted?

When seniors graduate

Today I am thinking about 2 Timothy 1:7 – “God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power!” It has led me to wonder whether or not the class of 2009, who has been a part of our spiritual community for four years, is leaving our group with a spirit of timidity or a spirit of power. I pray it's the latter. I pray that they saw a spirit of power in the lives of their leaders and the church they attended.

Trust in the Life of David

This morning I sat down with a great cup of coffee and reflected on these verses from the Life of David. WOW! I want my kids to see that I am trusting in the Lord and not my own ability. I want the students who gather in our community to see that I am trusting in the Lord and not my own strength. I am dreaming this morning of what changes I need to make in my life and my ministry to show that I am trusting more in the Lord than my own ability.

“When I am most afraid, I put my trust in you, in God whose word I praise, in God I put my trust, fearing nothing; what can men do to me?” - Psalm 56:3-4

“My trust in God never wavers” - Psalm 26:1

“He rescued me, since he loves me” - Psalm 18:19

“But I for my part rely on your love, O Lord” - Psalm 13:5

“Put your trust in Yahweh, be strong, let your heart be bold, put your trust in Yahweh” - Psalm 27:14

“Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust” - Psalm 40:4

“I mean to thank you constantly for doing what you did, and put my trust in your name, that is so full of kindness, in the presence of those who love you” - Psalm 52:9

“I, for my part, like an olive tree growing in the house of God, put my trust in God’s love for ever and ever” - Psalm 52:8

Prayer of Trust

“Abba, into your hands I entrust my body, mind, and spirit and this entire day – morning, afternoon, evening, and night. Whatever you want of me, I want of me, falling into you and trusting in you in the midst of my life. Into your heart I trust my heart, feeble, distracted, insecure, uncertain. Abba, unto you I abandon myself in Jesus our Lord. Amen.” - Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning, pgs. 11-12

Worship - self-conscious vs. God-conscious

"As soon as we come to worship looking for and expecting an experience, we have violated the most basic principle of (worship). We easily become religious aesthetes capable of judging the entertainment value of a church service while remaining unaware of the reality it can open us to. Unfortunately for us, when our worship becomes self-conscious rather than God-conscious, it points not to God’s reality but (only to) our own." (Mark Horst as quoted in Anderson p76)

As I look back over the year that was in our student ministry I am wrestling with whether or not our adoration times with students led them to be more self-conscious or God-conscious. Where did we see the reality of God during our gatherings?

Teaching with passion

Seth Godin has an interesting post on teaching that I have revisited this weekend.

“If you teach--teach anything--I think you need to start by acknowledging that there’s a need to sell your ideas emotionally. So you need to use whatever tools are available to you--an evocative PowerPoint image, say, or a truly impassioned speech.”

“If it’s worth teaching, it’s worth teaching well. If it’s worth investing the time of 30 or 230 or 3330 people, then it’s worth investing the effort to actually figure out how to get the message across.”

How much time should youth pastor's spend preparing to teach a message from God's Word? How much time should a small group leader spend in preparation? 5, 10, 15 hours?

Quotes & Exodus 20:16

Exodus 20:16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."

1700 years ago St. Augustine wrote, “The tongue inflicts greater wounds than the sword.”

“There is nothing more contrary to (the opposite of) God than a lie.” (Watson, The Ten Commandmetns, 170) Puritan, Thomas Watson wrote that in the 17th Century.I believe that statement captures why the 9th Commandment is so important.

“Politeness is an air cushion, there’s nothing inside, but it absorbs life’s bumps.” (Jochem Douma, 332)

One man wrote, “We indulge in this by making ourselves the people who are always right, making ourselves the people who always do good; we are the people, we say, who are always having injustices done to us, but who never do injustices to other people! For all lies are not just things which crop up occasionally and pass through us without affecting us; they are an expression of what we are, and as such they mold our lives, quite literally making us into a lie!”(M.E. Andrews, “Falsehood and Truth” in Interpretation, 17 (1963), 436)

Thomas Watson wrote, “He who tells it [a lie] carries the devil in his tongue and he who hears it carries the devil in his ear.” (Watson, 169)

“There is nothing more contrary to God than a lie.”

Better I should steal my neighbor’s possessions than steal his reputation for he is made in the image of God.

Exodus 20:16, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”

The Word of God & The Lord's Supper

The preaching of the Word and the Supper are identifying marks of the church. We preach the word because it is living and active and God uses the Word to change people’s lives (Hebrews 4:12). We celebrate the Lord’s Supper when we “eat His body” and “drink His blood” and in doing so we are physically and materially confirming that we are placing our faith in the promises of His Word. The Supper allows us to take hold of the promises of God with our bodies. The Supper incarnates the spoken and written Word we’ve poured over and points us to the original incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.

Four meetings we need to have

I am a big Patrick Lencioni fan! Here's a good summary of his book, Death By Meeting. He suggests that there are four different kinds of meetings we need to have:

1. Daily Check-In
2. Weekly Tactical
3. Monthly Strategic
4. Quarterly Off-Site Review

Sanctification

Q. 35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. - Westminster Shorter Catechism

Our students are wrestling this week with the doctrine of sanctification in Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians in 5:23-24, "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it."

I like what Charles Colson has to say about sanctification in his book Loving God, "Christianity is not just a high-sounding ritual which we perform on Sundays. Christianity is abiding by Biblical standards of personal holiness and in turn seeking to bring holiness into the society in which we live."

Give me 100 youth pastors

John Wesley, "Give me 100 preachers [youth pastors]who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; they alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the Kingdom of Heaven on earth."

How would our student ministries change, both in programming and personnel if your top two priorities were to fear sin and desire God above everything else?