Leadership Priorities in Ministry

Ephesians 4:11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

I have been thinking a lot about my Job lately. I work in a great environment, but one where you sorta have to hold yourself accountable to growing and improving. As a middle school pastor I am a massive list of responsibilities.
The main ones are as follows:
1. Listen and Discern God's voice and movement.
2. Run Programs & Special Events,
3. Manage Staffing,
4. Train and equip Volunteers
5. Provide Direction for ministry
6. Budgeting and Planning
7. Counseling (students, parents, etc.)
8. Provide Content and teaching,
9. Research and understand Adolescence and culture.

...In addition to my own area that I manage I also have some larger organization responsibilities that include weddings, Being on call 1 day a month and a few weekends a year, and weekly meetings.

What I think is unique about the pastoral position is the way that it requires such a diverse skill set. The job requires you that you both manage well, and that you create great content (sermons, curriculum, devotional material, training tools, etc.). I find that it is not easy to do both well, so I tried to prioritize my responsibilities in order to see how I was really doing.

Ministry Priorities as I see them.
1. Manage Staff
2. Equip and Shepherd Leaders
3. Identify and Disciple Student Leaders
4. Everything Else.... (all of the other responsibilities these three priorities do not cover.)

Confession Time:
As I have been evaluating my ministry I found that I tend to focus 90% of my time and energy on the "everything else" category, mostly getting ready to teach on tuesdays and providing the curriculum for sundays.

My problem is that we I get too busy I tend to use my staff, leaders, and student leaders as tools to accomplish everything else... when really as the point leader they should be the main focus of my creative energy and leadership skills.

The World of Open Source Sharing...

I have talked quite a bit about open source here. Larry Lessig talks a lot about read only culture, such as old CD's and read write culture... where people are a participant in the culture... they read... but they also have a function where they can add to the culture... and the conversation...

This video talks a lot about this.



(I found this on Michael's Blog...)

New Music from Brandon Grissom

If you are into original worship music, check out Brandon Grissom's new EP! It should be dropping into a record store near you (if you happen to live in Chicago)... or itunes... today.


Learn more about it here:

Book Review: Who Stole My Church

My Boss Scott recommended this book to me. It is written by Gordon MacDonald, and is written narrative style. Narrative style is where the truth of the book is conveyed through the story of real or fictional people. Their experiences teach the lesson.

My leadership GURU, Patrick Lencioni, also writes in this style.... and to be honest, it is my favorite style to read.

so what is "Who Stole my Church" all about?

Has your Church been Hijacked?
Millions of people in their fifties, sixties, and seventies feel their churches have been hijacked by church-growth movements characterized by loud praise bands, constant PowerPoint presentations, and cavernous megachurches devoid of any personal touch. They are bewildered by the changes, and are dropping out after thirty, forty, or fifty years in a congregation. It’s a crisis!

In this fictional story, pastor and author Gordon MacDonald uses topical examples and all-too-familiar characters to reassure readers that it is possible to embrace change, and to demonstrate how that change can actually be a positive influence in their church. The church, he says, has always been in a state of change; it has been changing for the last two thousand years. It is time to embrace that change and use it further the Kingdom of God

Having lived through a few tough church situations, all I could think about while I read this book was how timely it it. I "knew" every character in the book because I had run into them, usually on the other side of a disagreement about how church should be done.

The book tries to paint a picture of how a dialogue could be opened between the generations to create a road to the future that we could all travel together...

Having seen this process fail, I struggled to not be cynical with the books attempt to realistically paint this story. That said, I think that Gordon is right that this is exactly the only way we can move forward together....

The book is great, read it if you get the chance...

Book Review: The Shack

I just finished reading The Shack, by William Paul Young. It is a very unique book that is causing many to revisit their framework for theology, relationship and grief.

Here is the jacket description:

Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever.

This book is so good that I don't want to share anything that will spoil the story.

There are two things I will say about it though.

1. I am a huge fan of this style of theological dialogue. The book has a gripping story that is used to explore theology in a way that causes many cliches and platitudes to fall away. In creating a narrative context within which to explore these themes, we are saved from the normal theological babel that only a few understand. It also forces the theology to answer the real questions people are asking and not just state some empty philosophy about God.

2. I loved how the author wove so many awesome insights about God together into one narrative. Each insight on its own would be cool, but together they start to reframe our previous conceptions of things and allow us to look at God and life very differently. Since our whole life and all our experience have created the current system through which each person views God, often new thoughts cannot be fully explored because they do not fit into our existing system. This book temporarily allows us to leave our system, as created by so much personal pain and guilt, and to step into an alternate system, briefly, which allows fresh thought.

I would highly recommend that you read this book. If you do, let me know what you think.

One other thought:
I have a feeling that some will call this book dangerous.

Keep in mind that many people call anything that produces new thoughts dangerous. However, if God really is a mystery that is beyond us, then it only makes sense that there is always so much to learn. In this light, even the most biblically astute theologian on his best day, doesn't know far more about God than he does know...

When living in such educated ignorance, massive grace is needed.

Caleb and Alair: Helping the orphans in Uganda

My good friend Caleb and Alair are headed to Uganda very soon.

They are going to be working with the many orphans created by aids, and the war in northern Uganda (which has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today.) For the past 21 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government have been waging a war that has left nearly two million innocent civilians caught in the middle. The Ugandan government has failed to protect its citizens from this rebel militia that has murdered mothers and buried the young, leaving an entire generation of youth that has never known peace.


If you have a few minutes, click over to their sight and take a look at what they are going to be doing over there...

Movie Review: Trade

Last night I watched the movie Trade Here is the basic plot idea...

When 13-year-old Adriana is kidnapped by sex traffickers in Mexico City, her 17-year-old brother, Jorge, sets off on a desperate mission to save her.
Trapped by an underground network of international thugs who earn millions exploiting their human cargo, Adriana's only friend throughout her ordeal is Veronica, a young Polish woman captured by the same criminal gang. As Jorge dodges overwhelming obstacles to track the girl's abductors, he meets Ray, a Texas cop whose own family loss leads him to become an ally.

I bought it a while ago and put off watching it because I thought it would be emotionally draining. It was very hard, but more hopeful than I had anticipated.

The movie does a great job of using a gripping story to draw the viewer into a very real world wide epidemic. As you follow the plight of a few kidnapped women as they are moved to "market," the story also diverts long enough to look at how this can happen in today's world. These diversions are quick and powerful...

A woman looks out her window and sees a little girl kidnapped, but does nothing...

A police officer in mexico allows them to cross the border in exchange for "use" of one of the girls..

One of the kidnappers kneels and prays to mary for forgiveness as he leads 4 young girls across the border to be sold...

The american police capture the man and 4 young women crossing the border, but will not believe the girls stories, but instead just dump them back across the border and leave them in captivity to the man...

The impression is given that the woman running the whole ring was herself "bought" at some point...

When a young mexican boy tries to get help from the authorities, but they do not believe his story and think he is simply another illegal immigrant...

The movie weaves all of this into a system that ends up allowing people to traffic children and women...

The ugly truth in it though is that it is based on reality to some degree... according to the website,

The State Department estimates that as many as 800,000 people are trafficked over international frontiers each year, largely for sexual exploitation. Eighty percent are female and over fifty percent are minors...

The truth is that the United States has become a large-scale importer of sex slaves... estimates that at least 10,000 people a year are smuggled or duped into this country by sex traffickers.

Makes you wonder...

Wall-E movie trailer...

.... I am super excited to see this movie!!!

How many messages do I really have?

I was recently reading another youth pastors blog, and he quoted Mark Howerton:

"the majority of pastors really only have 6 messages. they just find different verses, metaphors or props to explain the 6 in new ways."

I wonder if I really even have that many... I sorta think I have one message that I just keep saying in new ways...

That is probably something I should think about more...

Is God really a Male?

My friend Marko has recently posted about his views on the dangers of using only masculine pronouns when speaking of God.

I am not sure why this topic has made me think so much, but it certainly has.

Here are a few highlights

i did some reading, and talked to a bunch of women about how — for some of them — male pronoun use for god, no matter how much we might try to admit that god doesn’t have a human gender like we do, is a struggle for them. i understand that, no matter now much we try, it’s impossible for us to fully separate our understanding of god from our experience in life, and that metaphors and history both speak loudly into our psyches, worship, theology and practice.

i have searched for images that work for me, but haven’t really found one yet. part of this is that i’ve lived a life with a humanized father image. and while the images of god in scripture — male and female — include lots of non-human images (rocks, hens, eagles, wind, water, light, bread, lamb), the only scriptural metaphors i have to work with that are decidedly feminine are non-human. there are also a ton of human metaphors for god in scripture (best friend, guide, potter, servant, judge) — which don’t have to be male, i’ve spent a lifetime thinking of them as male. even the feminine “sophia” — the scriptural word for wisdom, often associated with the holy spirit — has all kinds of hurdles for me at an experience level.

i love the father metaphor, and think it is totally scriptural - obviously so. i have no intention of moving away from or discarding that wonderful metaphor. and i will still talk about the trinity in terms of father, son and holy spirit. that said, i think we have a tendancy - i know i have - to worship the metaphor, rather than worshipping through the metaphor. this is a major portion of my shift — i want to know god better and deeper, and don’t want to be limited by charicatures of my own making or my culture’s making.

I think that I agree with many of Mark's points, but I am still thinking about all of it...

I certainly think many of men have looked up to heaven and seen God smiling back to them in a magnified version of their own image. Then they turned away from the mirror and looked back at the world and told everyone that God was just like them...

this has certainly caused many people who weren't like these men to miss out on the true image of God...

Many conservatives will view this issue as a liberal agenda to feminize God... But I think Mark has a very valid point... certainly God is not male or female in a human sense.

I am really interested to gather some of your perspectives on this...

A Stroke of Genius

I found this totally fascinating presentation on ted.com...

watch it and tell me what you think?

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.

Family

Emily and I were in Hayward Wisconsin at the end of February with my family.

Both of my brothers were there with their familes as well...

It is so amazing to see their kids...

They are such little amazing people who are this awesome and weird combination of their parents.


So from a family of 3 boys so far has come 4 girls...

We shall see what september brings...

Orbiting the Giant Hairball #4: The Chickens...

Gordon tells a awesome story about two boys who pretend to be sick to get out of attending Church. They soon get board, and come up with a little game. First they draw a line with chalk in front of their house. Then, they go and grab a chicken from the chicken coop and push its beak down to the line... after about a minute the chicken is released... but it will not remove its beak from the line... it is paralyzed.

Well... they repeat this process for the rest of the 70 chickens in the coop... and the boys are so delighted with their efforts that they fail to notice their parents returning, with the preacher following.... obviously they get into great trouble....

But here is the real point:

The same thing that happened to those chickens can happen to you. When you join an organization, you are, without fail, taken by the back of the neck and pushed down and down until your beak is on the line --not a chalk line, but a company line. And the company line says things like:

"This is our history.
This is our philosophy.
These are our policies.
These are our procedures.
This is simply the way we are."

If you are not careful you will be hypnotized by the line. And what a pity if this happens. (MacKenzie pg. 51-53)

This is maybe the point where this book went from cute, to a little profound in my eyes. I have experienced the equivalent of the "Chicken moment" in nearly every social, vocational, educational, and religious organization I have ever been a part of.

Usually I get in trouble because I find the moment a great time to share why the line is misplaced, and then waste a lot of time trying to negotiate about moving the line, or changing the lines.

I just have never been good at staying in the lines...

MacKenzie goes on to say:

"There has never been anyone quite like you, and there never will be. Consequently, you can contribute something to the endeavor that nobody else can. There is a power in your uniqueness-- an inexplicable, unmeasurable power... a MAGIC"

That sounds almost like this

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
~Ephesians 2:10

This chapters most excellent point is simple... don't allow yourself to be hypnotized by the company LINE. It will rob both them and you of your best creative and innovative ideas.... ideas that come from your unique background, perspective, and personality.

(The Chickens which I borrowed from google images were not harmed in the writing of this post.)

Orbiting the Giant Hairball #3 THE GIANT HAIRBALL

HOW do you Orbit Hairballs?

Gordon assumes that all organizations have certain forces, that pull people into the bureaucracy, or hairball, of the company. Once you are in this tangled mess, it is quite difficult to continue to be innovative, creative, and even sane. His recommendation is to orbit it, instead of either entering the tangle, or spinning off into space.

"to find orbit around a corporate Hairball is to find a place of balance where you can benefit from the physical, intellectual, and philosophical resources of the organization without becoming entombed in the bureaucracy of the institution." pg. 33

This feels true for artists and creatives. Most of their ability to continue to be creative and think differently, would be lost if they were "entombed in the bureaucracy of the institution."

This made me wonder a few things:
1. How does this play out in different types of organizations?

2. What are some good warning lights to tell if the orbit is too close or too far?

3. If everybody tried to orbit, rather than enter in, would it still work? Or... is this something that really only a handful of people are able to do in an organization? (or do not creatives even need orbit... maybe they like the tangle)

4. What if you get motion sickness?

Art: a pursuit of beauty... or uniqueness?

Yesterday I was talking at lunch with a friend about art, creativity and innovation.

One thing that came up was how art has gotten all weird. Charlie talks about this on his blog, where he shares this recent quote:

“Actually, beauty hasn’t been a prominent factor in art for the past 30 years.”

(see quote in Newsweek artice “A Room with a Hue” )

Personally, I think that art has suffered because of how good our technology for preserving it is. Since the renaissance, and even before, we have continually advanced in preservation of art so that less and less is lost. Since Art students are told to have bold unique visions, one generations ART, would be a stomach turning cliche is recreated a single generation later...

so the pursuit of Beauty is not CLICHE and what matters in being UNIQUE... only I don't like stuff that is Uniquely ugly...

Rather than each generation having to attempt to capture beauty… we still have the last 10 generations attempts…

so in order to be new… we push into new frontiers…. like smearing blood and fecal mater on canvas….

It certainly is not beautiful, even if it is art so to speak…

Our insane desire to be different is killing our pursuit of beauty…

one wonders what a person who is pursuing beauty is, if they are not an artist?

John Piper on the Prosperity Gospel

My friend Nick posted this on his blog. And I wanted to share because it really made me pause and think...

What do you think about it?

Question: Pink or Blue?

Just a quick update on the life of Brandon & Emily.

Emily is pregnant.


So yeah... way cool.

The due date is Sept 14th, so we are already well along. We would appreciate your prayers for the baby's development and for us as we seek to adjust our life commitments to match our new phase of life.

We are really excited about raising children in the Elmbrook Church Community!

I think it is going to be really cool to watch this all happen in the midst of hundreds of crazy middle school students and awesome adult leaders.

Orbiting the Giant Hairball #2 The OUTLINE of the Book.

Hey, since I am not going to deal with each consistently, I thought I would post the outline. I have places the chapters I will be commenting on in Italics.

If you have questions about another one, let me know.

Chapter One WHERE HAVE ALL THE GENIUSES GONE?
Chapter Two THE GIANT HAIRBALL
Chapter Three PINK BUDDHA
Chapter Four PREPARING FOR LIFT-OFF
Chapter Five A CHICKEN'S FATE
Chapter Six THOU SHALT NOT HAVE IT EASY
Chapter Seven WHAT YOU DON'T SEE IS WHAT YOU GET
Chapter Eight NO ACCESS
Chapter Nine FIRST THERE'S GROPE, THEN THERE'S ROTE
Chapter Ten CONTAINERS CONTAIN
Chapter Eleven CAGE DWELLERS
Chapter Twelve INTRODUCING...YOUR BRAIN
Chapter Thirteen ABOUT TEASING
Chapter Fourteen HIGH-TECH PEACHES
Chapter Fifteen MILK CANS ARE NOT ALLOWED
Chapter Sixteen THE POWER OF PARADOX
Chapter Seventeen DEATH MASKS
Chapter Eighteen THE PYRAMID & THE PLUM TREE
Chapter Nineteen ORVILLE WRIGHT
Chapter Twenty BEYOND MEASURE
Chapter Twenty-One A CONFERENCE OF ANGELS
Chapter Twenty-Two DYNAMIC FOLLOWING
Chapter Twenty-Three POOL-HALL DOG
Chapter Twenty-Four PAINT ME A MASTERPIECE

Book Review: Orbiting the Giant Hairball

A while ago someone told me about this book, and I have wanted to read it ever since. I finally finished it, and am going to talk about some of its finer points in a series of Hairball posts.

If you are in any sort of leadership, this book will provide unusual insight into betting beyond strategy and systems so that you can create space for innovation.

Innovation and art require a different sort of measurement than other "products."

The basic premise of the book is that Corporate Organizations are a giant tangled hairball. For the artistic innovator they must learn to not get caught up in the hairball, which will rob them of soul and creativity, nor to spin off into outer space, but to find a perfect orbit where you can function outside of the mess but still add critical value.

Crazy Busy

I have been to busy to cultivate original thoughts lately... This has kept me from blogging very much here.

If you are dying for a fix, check out my student blog: mosaic678.blogspot.com I have written a few hundred posts there as well over the last year.

Otherwise... just sit back and relax. One day soon i will catch a free moment and be inspired again...