Lent 3

Today I read the introduction of Tim Keel's Intuitive Leadership. I think one of the hardest part of this lent journal will be not reading ahead. It's a real discipline to refrain from reading books that I am interested in. Instead I need to spen my time reading my books for PESM, which I will be posting a bunch of my reading on here someday.

In teh introduction fo Keel's book he expressed the need in the postmodern world to go "beyond pragmatism." I think this is such a wonderful little package to express the massive shift happening in many churches. At Toccoa Falls, Doug White used to teach us that 'pragmatism is not the panacea.' This means that just becuase something works, does not mean it should be done. For a long time churches, especially evangelical churches have used pragmatism to justify practices that are harmful to the gospel. This is recognizable when people say, "Whatever it takes to get them in the door, right?" My answer is no. It's not alright to do whatever it takes to get them in the door. It's not.

That, I believe it one of the fundamental struggles for people engaging in ministry in a postmodern world. It's not about models and programs that work for me. Instead I would like to see what the real live gospel looks like lived in the context that I find myself in.

RCA Church Conference

Lent 2

Today I will post on the acknowledgements. Like I said, these are small bites. The thing that I noticed right away in the introduction is that the leadership of the church is comprised of men and women, including husband and wife sets. There seems to be an influx of emerging church wives who possess the spiritual gift of leadership and want to exercise it. In the past it has been assumed, by and large, that the pastor's wife would take a supportive role, like playing in the band or leading the hcildren's ministry - and these have been productive models of church leadership. It is at least interesting to note that many young men who are becoming pastors are attracted to women who possess leadership gifts and want to partner with them in overall leadership of ministry.

I know that's true for me :)

Lent 1

Tim Keel's book, Intuitive Leaderhip is subtitled, Embracing a paradigm of narrative, metaphor and chaos. This subtitle is why I picked up the book. One of the things my Strentgh Finder test (which our staff did) talked about was my intuitive skill at knowing what the right things to do are. For some reason I am often able to discern what the right actions are, but I struggle at explaining my reasoning to others because it is almost an intuitive knowledge to me. It's like trying to explain to someone why they should jump when there is a loud noise. there's no reason, it's just the right thing to do!

To that end, today I will simply provide some quotes that resonate with the past journey I have been on. I figure I am a couple years into this thing and don't share some of the same frustrations as very young leaders, but I recognize it from my own journey. Also, Alan Roxburgh wrote the introduction, so it's quite inspirational for people who love Jesus' girlfriend the way I do (Jesus marries the church at the end of everything...that means we are his girlfriend right now...wrap your head around that...)

>p.10 "He has a strong sense of vocation...called into leadership...but feels stuck and frustrated. His sense is that something is not right...but he doesn't have the language to give words to his experience...He wants to discover friends and mentors with whom he can partner in this confusing time of transition."

>p.11 "There is little permission given to leaders to attend to the narratives going on inside themselves."

p.14 "Let's see how these narratives and metaphors shaping your life might provide all kinds of clues for the risky ways in which God is calling you to embrace the chaos of our time with hope and expectation."

Lent Blog

This year I am going to blog through my growth of lent. In our high school community called Driven (even though Marko says don't be Driven anymore...lol) we begin lent every year with an observation of Ash Wednesday. The students remark to me that they really like doing things that are tactile (not in those words) because it really helps them understand and experience truth, instead of just being taught about it. Each year on Ash Wednesday the seniors apply the ashes to all the other students and leaders while saying a blessing over them. It is such a powerful thing to see ninth grade students kneeling before a senior while they are receive the ashes. Perhaps even moreso when watching the adult leaders submit themselves to the seniors. For me, it's a beautiful picture of the kingdom of God, where no one is better than anyone else, we simply play the parts of God's story that he lets us.


So this year for lent I am going to be reading through a new book I bought with a Christmas gift card, Intuitive Leadership by Tim Keel. Tim is the founding pastor of Jacob's Well, an emerging church in Kansas City. Each day I am going to blog an interaction with what I read, or some other thoughts that are inspired by the little pieces (5-6) pages that I read.

Happy Lenting.

Leadership Tip

From Sam Chand on a Leadership Network podcast.

Your vision statement should be able to fit on a tee shirt. It should also be designed so that others can understand it.

And - about 10% of the church is there to bring you grief, pain and increase your prayer life. They are joy suckers. A key leadersh ip question is 'how many of these people can you handle?' (If you can handle 2,000 of them, then you can lead a 20,000 person church.)

Pastors are in constant pain. We play with pain, like a football player. There is a high cost to be where we are at and to do what we do. This is often overlooked for people looking from the outside. This is why healthy pastoring is so important.

Also - these are really important questions, but it doesn't matter to joe visitor to your church on a Sunday. Which makes them hard to spend time on.

Angry Politics

Perhaps the most dangerous thing about this election season is anger. People do nutty things when they are angry. I would like CNN to keep track of Americans' anger and see how it relates to their support of different candidates.

Also, does the anger come from hope, love or fear?

These are the questions that matter, much more than who wins or loses.

Tasty...

52%

Sorry friends...

Giants Win

What a great day - good Sunday School, good church (great volunteers), really awesome party. And the super bowl was super entertaining - the half time show even didn't suck as much as i thought it would.

We had about 10 high schoolers over to watch the game. Coolest thing - absolutely no clicks - second coolest thing - no programs, no agenda - just a bunch of kids who wouldn't normally be able to hang out together chillin - enjoying pretty much everything (only 2 of us actually watched the whole game - lol) and having a great time.

Church Architecture

Since I can't spell the title word I know I'm going to get a bunch of hits from people who can't spell either. So, welcome. I just thought I'd post this picture.

You can see more at Cool Hunter.

Chickified Church Dudes

wiggles?

it's quarter after one in the morning and khobi and i are up. She's mad cuz i won't play wiggles from youtube on the computer and i'm mad because she isn't asleep.

so, this one's for khobi....

Holy Rule 9 - How Many Psalms are to be said at the Night Office

This rule is a detailed list of how the night office is to happen. It is wildly detailed and gives a structured routine to the monks' lives before they go to sleep. It's kind of like how we give our kids a routine before bed. Except for our kids it's a lot of cuddling, for monks it's psalms, hymns and lessons.

And in case your wondering...the answer is 14.

jonny depp

LJ saw the commercial for the Pirates of the Caribean online game and so we downloaded it, created our own pirate and played it.

IT IS THE WORST GAME EVER. totally stupid.

This confirms my previous evaluation of the POTC franchise.

Conversations

I love youth ministry simply for the conversations. On any given week I get to have a whole bunch of conversations with all sorts of young people where the topics range from families to christianity to calling to sports to music to friends to youtube to whatever. In college our definition of youth ministry happens when an adult enters the world of a teen an applies the gospel to their young life. It is an awesome priviledge to be allowed to apply some gospel to today's generation of youth who are so open to whatever Jesus has for them. They are stunningly remarkable.

Judgmentalism Rehab

My name is james and i am a recovering judgmentalist. It is interesting to me to see myself recovering from being judgemental. I hug more. I lke old people more. I am more patient of things. Yet at the same time I am more sure of myself and have grown significntly through this. A couple observations follow. First, it is interesting when God lets u suffer and how we react to it. If u can manage to get past the hurt and grow healthily then ur in the good. If u alow the initial hurt to continue and let it ruin u it will. U have to remember that the devil hates u but that doesnt mean u have to hate urself. Secondly, when recoverng from judgmentalism one must be careful not to become judgmental of others who are judgmental. One must remember that I was once them and just because I am no longer, does not mean I have the right to judge. In the past tis was called secondary separationism - if u gogle that u will see how ugly that is. Finally, growing totally sucks. It is dirty, messy, difficult and hard. Anyone who wants an easy no-hurt version of Christianity is going to have a boring life. If you want examples of this go to any church - its pandemic. Thats truth.
with apologies for the syntax because i wrote this on my Q.

Old but Sweet

Back in October I attended a long lecture with Leonard Sweet up at George Fox Seminary. He covered a few topics and it was, at least in part, in promotion of his book, the Gospel According to Starbucks. His book does not mention the gospel being overpriced, but does make some other comparisons. I have blogged through this book, you can read about it by clicking on the link in the topics section. Meanwhile, I'm gonna file away my notes and I wanted to put them here for organizationality sake. Reminder: Theres are my notes on what Len Sweet discussed, not necessairly what he said!

>> Power is moving from center to sides (margins) (well curve) (Jesus ->)
>> Wireless - boundaryless - electricity - wireless video projection
>> Genetic Engineering
>> Robotic Engineering - 50 million robots by 2025. Current leader in applications of new technologies is the posrn industry. Implications...
>> Information Techology Egineering
>> Nano Engineering
>> Future - 1. size does matter. do little large. 2. Well cure replaces the bell curve. 3. Epic Rules = Missional/Incarnational/RElational vs. Attractional/Propositional/Colonial. These can be metaphored at operating systems.
>>1st communal, here's the progression - eat freely [sin] kosher [jesus] freedom
>> Church service name: feedback
>> Masters of media have the hardest time changing. The church is the master of print publications. Implications...
>> eternatech - invent a chip to give memories after death.
>> organizing learning and our checkpoints
>>for my book, Dirty Holiness = wesley and women; with X I can do all things, with X I can do no thing. I wrote to myself that I should email this to Len Sweet
>> "daniel Pink" on well curves and bell curves; "general" motors is over
>> Opposite things are not contradictory
>> Slow Life with "lee Gyu" - no desire to speed so no brakes are needed.
>> Well curve fits a phenomenal explanation of the trinity
>> weak is the new strong; we should have spiritual weakness inventories; moses
>> "balance" in life is stupid
>> Challenge of Islam - new communism in the sense of the attraction element to the disenfranchised
>> Size does matter. Laws of simplicity; minimalism and reductionism; tall building in Dubai
>> Why hasn't Wal-Mart built churches? They do everything else.
>> "wild wild east" - globalization - tribalism (except not with domination in mind)
>> Languages of the future = english, spanish, mandarin
>> life goal: developing a walkable lifestyle in an urban context
>> the 2 car family has become the 2 home family.
>> Asthetics is replacing apologetics.
>> Question: Where did shepherds go/stand/walk in relation to the herd?
>> Ugly America - a lament for a dying culture
>> 3 most hated nations = Iran, Israel, U.S.
>> APPETITE
>> So the county's dying...who cares? The gospel will continue just fine. Why can't the USA see their effective improvement fo the whole world. This is a capatalistic/boomer effect. Communists would see this better.
>> beauty, truth, goodness (a holiness that permeates everything) - 3 transidentals fo being
>> grey goo

Widget

I've added a new widget down on the side column. It's kinda like an airport terminal except it reports who comes here and where they go. It's fun for everybody!!

Bennett, Intentional Disciplemaking

So, I was required to read Bennett's Intentioal Disciplemaking for this year's mentoring course at PESM. It was okay, kind of a holiness adaptation of Coleman's Master Plan, which I suggest you memorize.

I'm not going to give any quotes except this one:

"Spiritual generations are God's strategy for reaching the world. Any plan that ignores the natural process of parenting through successive generations is doomed to fail because it cirumvents God's design for maturity. Furthermore, failure to pass on the truths of the faith to another generation is a mark of immaturity in the church." (29)

As a pastor to young people I could not agree more. If the church is not willing to pass the faith on to younger generations it anathematizes itself. This, I believe, will be the mark of the boomer generation on the western church. Boomers are the first generation of Christians who have thought it was their right to have the kind of church that they desired. For me, this isn't a blame issue as much as it is a heart issue. The boomers, who usually don't listen to those younger than themselves, need to hear the prophetic calling of the young. The young people in America today are desperately searching for God - and can't find enough Christian adults to help them find Him.

Mike King has also blogged on this, after a recent research study showed

"that most Christian adults strongly agree that their own faith development was shaped by adults in their lives during their youth. And yet, less than half of this same group believes that they have a responsibility to nurture the emerging generation of Christian young people."

How can this be? How can the current adult generation allow themselves to fade into history letting themselves be known as the generation who thought passing on the faith was important - BUT DIDN'T DO IT!

Right next to my door I have a two-page article called "That Sucking Sound you Hear" by Tim Elmore. I frequently use materials from Tim's organization, Growing Leaders, to train young people. I reccommend you read it in order to understand why we are in the hole that we are in, and Tim's suggested ways out. I keep the article next to my door so that every time I leave my office I remember the current task of church leaders and I remember to fight to stop the sucking.

The emerging generation is rocking about 4% adhereance to evangelical Christianity. I don't blame them for even a second. Instead I get them excited about the opportunity to ignite a revival among their generation - the generation that isn't getting this whole faith just handed to them. God loves to use generations to fulfill his mission; thankfully, He doesn't depend on them.

Organic Leadership

Over the last two weeks there has been no music at Kainos. A couple that is involved with our band were away as one of them was "enjoying" some surgery - so we thought it would be a good time to not sing. An organic congregation, I believe, behaves in this way. Instead of going out and getting some other people to fill holes, we decided the holes can stay empty if no one wants to fill them. We also went a few weeks with no childcare. It's seriously great.

Also, last week I was away for schooling and Jason preached. I'm really thankful for that. And the kids particpated in sharing and one of the 1st (2nd?) graders lead a prayer time.

To me, this is what orgainc is. I love the Kainos folks for their willingness to explore. I can't wait to see what's around the corner.