Learning & Leading

I've been enjoying some great reading lately.

Bill Hybels' book, Axiom, is one I've been thumbing through in bits and pieces.  It's short chapters make for quick reading followed by good reflection.  Today I stumbled across this blog where each of the chapters was summarized.  Nice.  

I've also just finished Seth Godin's book, Tribes.  Loved it.  I don't know much about Godin but I also enjoyed his book, The Dip.

Sarah's brother put a great read in my hands recently, Jayber Crow, by the Kentuckian Wendell Berry.  It was a great novel...especially for those who love Kentucky.  Which, fortunately, I do.

Another book for this list is one I've been plugging along in before nodding off to sleep at night.  It's certainly interesting and is providing me some insights on how I write.  We picked it up on Amazon not long ago because we were intrigued by the title, Writing to Learn.  

Now, to the final book.  I'm enjoying and encouraging others to enjoy/pursue reading through the Bible this year.  I picked up a One Year Bible to keep me on track.  So far so good--although I admit some days I have to read 2-3 days of readings in order to get caught up.  (And wow, that's a big picture isn't it?  I couldn't get it resized.)

Will we look like Obama?

Today we will witness an incredible shift in our nation. Shifting from what has been to what might be. Sarah and I plan to watch the inauguration with our kids at lunch. We will explain what's happening and pray together for our new president as well as our former president.

Speaking of Obama. Have you noticed how look-a-like logos are floating around all over the place?

Here's Pepsi's latest:

Here's Chrysler's latest:

Here's the latest look for Pirates (found this on a t-shirt)

What if Jesus had a logo?

Maybe I should have one too?!

We will have new leadership in less than 90 minutes from the time I'm writing these words.
We don't all have to look like Obama but we all have been called to pray for our leaders.
Jesus said, Love God, Love your Neighbors, Pray for your Enemies, and Forgive each other. That's the way I want to look.

Happy New "You"

I shared at our Christmas Eve service last month the joys of raising our kids and the excitement that filled our house leading up to Christmas.  Along the journey to Christmas our girl, Kate, learned some Christmas carols; Away in the Manger and We Wish you a Merry Christmas.  The latter provided great substance for my Christmas Eve message.

In her 2 year old vocabulary she doesn't always get words out of her mouth just as they ought to be.  With great gusto she would sing We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy new YOU.

I love the opportunity of a new YOU we have--not just at the beginning of 2009--but always as we live under the saturation of God's grace through Jesus Christ.  

Merry Christmas (belated) and a Happy New YOU!

Month in Review

My last post was on 11/5...whoa, it's been a while.

I tend to read other people's blogs rather than write on my own.

I also frequent Facebook more often than not.  (Although I don't write much there either.  It's just more fun to read what other people feel the need to write about.)

So the past month.  I'll be brief.

In rewind:

-We've all been sick this past week.  I'm on my second day out of the office with whatever this junk is.

-Sarah is almost 30.  She turned 29 on Wednesday.  Of those years, I've been in her life for 11 of them.  Wild!

-Thanksgiving with Sarah's family had a new twist--we hosted it at our house.  Man, it takes a lot of work and a lot of cash to feed people over a long weekend.  It was great not having to travel though.

-Speaking of money, Sarah's brother spent some of his own on the new macbook and sold us his old powerbook G4.  So we're treading into the mac world.  (Tomorrow I'm hoping to take it to a mac genius in hopes of them helping me undo some things I unknowingly did.)

-William is completely engrossed in football.  He plays it, he dreams it, he watches it.  He knows most, if not all, the team logos.  And perhaps his favorite, he loves to say "Sunday Night Football Night in America" just like Al Roker says on the Today Show every Friday.

-Kate moved into her big girl bed.  No more crib!  She is such a star.  Obviously she was ready because she was starting to crawl in and out of her crib and when we did move her into a bed she didn't fuss or anything.  Just pulled the blankets up and went to sleep.

-Catalyst One Day:  I spent a day of incredible learning at a conference called "Catalyst One Day".  Craig Groeschel and Andy Stanley were the presenters and it was awesome.  Well worth the 4:30 AM wake-up, 500 mile round trip drive, and 8 hours of conference.

-Christmas stuff is is full swing at church and in our home.  We're looking forward to a great Christmas.  Jesus is amazing.  I'm glad  he is my Lord.

Merry Christmas to you and yours...I may not make it back before then.  :)

Image makes a Difference

Our son, William, has surprised us with his name dropping over the past few weeks. He overhears the news (and his parents) talking about the election and has picked up on the names that are out there. He has been a staunch supporter of Barack Obama--not because of what he has heard/not heard in our house--but simply because he think Obama looks like Tiger Woods. Yesterday we told him we were voting for John McCain and today, following us telling him that Obama won the Presidential Election, he proudly proclaimed that he was "right" and we were "wrong".

Image makes a Difference...even 4 year olds have this one figured out!

So you know what we did at lunch today? As a family we prayed for Obama and Biden (you should hear Kate try to say Barack Obama). We asked God to protect them and bless them--and we meant it.

Away!

Sarah and I are having a 24 getaway. We are in Indiana and able to leave our kids with Sarah's folks overnight. This is the view we had last night of the lake where we are stayed (I did not snap the pic but found it online).

For us to get away took a lot of work--in fact, it took a lot of mature conversation between the two of us. It was hard work to accomplish it. We have enjoyed waking up this morning without children calling our names, watching an entire news show without switching channels to watch Curious George, sitting on the couch for the past 2 hours, and our biggest discussion this morning is whether or not we should peel ourselves from our couches and eat some breakfast. Ahh.

Big thanks to my wife for getting us here.
Big thanks to our family for watching the kiddos.
Big thanks to my assistant pastor, Josh, for leading worship & preaching yesterday.
Big thanks to professional mileage reimbursements from the past month that gave some extra cash to get down here.

Star (five) Bucks

Dave Ramsey says he has a friend who calls Starbucks, FiveBucks, because everytime you go there it's going to cost you $5.

Well push that total up to $10 now.

Just moments ago I sauntered into the local Starbucks for a little study time and access to the internet outside of the noise and interference of the church office.

As I waited for my grande cafe mocha and tastey M&M cookie I inquired about the use of internet access. "It's free, right?" I said. The answer was something to this affect, "If you purchase a Starbucks card, even just putting $5 on it you'll be able to register at starbucks.com and get all sorts of free newsletters and offers [junk] sent to you via email. It's a really cool thing. All you have to do to keep your account activated is buy a starbucks coffee once a month using your card and it'll keep your account active."

WHAT?!

Starbucks went from Fivebucks to Tenbucks.

I did it. I joined. But at least I can post on my blog now. Now that's $5 well spent...or not.

Sound Advice

I recieved this videoblog this morning and found it to be timely and solid. Kevin Eikenberry writes good stuff; simple and practical.

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Call to Prayer

In case you haven't already sensed it, now is the time for prayer; prayer for discernment and action. How will Jesus followers be able to respond to the financial implosion we are witnessing? How will God's people participate in the upcoming election, and shape the next era of our country? How will we creatively and honestly express the good news?

I'm struck with how people in my congregration repeatedly "go without". Embarrassingly, our congregation does not have an action plan in place to assist those with needs. It bothers me greatly. We give and we give well, at times and when we hear about it, but I want to be more intentional. Pray that our church would be able to pull together and respond appropriately and generously.

Thanks.

Dollars and Sex

I live in Michigan, where the financial cruch that the rest of the nation is now feeling has been felt for the past 2 years. More than that, I live 80 miles from Detroit and 45 from Flint--two cities incredibly affected financially. It has affected our small town for some time now.

We have great people we know who are struggling financially. Some people in our church are losing their homes. Others are coming to our church for some finacial assitance. It has been a cause of real concern for me and we have only been able to make small dents along the way. I pray we can do more.

With all the layers of issues wrapped in the financial crisis I don't pretend to know too much about it and I don't pretend to know how to fix it. But I would like to make one observation. I wonder if anyone else has made the observation that the only man who is given any network airtime is that guy from Mad Money? Other than him, NBC and ABC (from what I've observed) has a female-only staff of Financial Consultants/Reporters. Nothing against women but I wonder what the driving force is behind this. Has anyone else made this observation? They seem to give sound advice and accurate reporting but where are the boys?

Hey, thanks!

So if you stop by my blog with any sort of regularity, thanks. I've been away from it for several weeks. Since the beginning of August loads of good things have taken place:

1) the Olympics were fun to watch...in fact William will see Matt Lauer on TV and ask if we're watching the Olympics.

2) William celebrated his 4th birthday. He's a star, we love him.

3) We visited my family in SD for a week. It was great seeing family and great to leave the church in the hands of our very capable layleaders.

4) NBWC has hired an assistan pastor! Josh Hilty and his wife, Jamie, will be moving to North Branch on the 17th of this month. It's weird to think that Pastor Tony's former office will no longer be our office storage space, that a living breathing person will occupy it instead. It's going to be good to have Josh here.

5) The brakes on our '96 Subaru Outback (absolutely amazing car) were shot. Out of the blue we had someone give us a check which covered all but $24 of the mechanic's bill. It was an amazing gift not to have to pay the other $300!

6) Kate's vocabulary is exploding. She still enjoys pulling funny faces and now has verbal expressions to go along with them. She is hilarious.

I could go on. Suffice it to say the latter part of this summer has been great.

Thanks for reading.

He thinks I can

I've just returned from the Willow Creek Summit and am once again blown away. I am not an every year Summit attendee. I've been a few times and really should go every year. My mind is on a bit of overload and I'm refecting on all that I heard over that past two days but I do know one thing right now...God thinks I can.

Willow Creek takes some hits for doing certain things and making certain decisions but what I experienced over the past 48 hours was a clear and present impact by the Holy Spirit. The leaders of Willow Creek have pursued Christ's best and tilled a fertile garden for the Spirit of God to reach me--and I appreciate it.

I've found that leadership chips away at your will power and your confidence. It breaks down your resolve and can get you off center. I am so thankful for God reminding me (and some 100,000 other leaders who attended the conference) that HE thinks we can.

He thinks we can innovate. He thinks we can lead. He thinks we can change the world. He thinks we can survive failure. He thinks we can overcome sin. He thinks we can...

As part of the excitement of the Summit, a group of leadership friends joined me at the retreat. It was great to share the experience with my wife and our friends at church. I don't want our church to stay the same. For that matter, I don't want to stay the same. It'll be cool to see where we all go as a result of this.

Now I'm home watching the Olympic opening ceremony. Kinda interesting to come home after a Christ-centered setting to NBC airing an hour+ long religious ceremony. The religions of China were in the fore of all the presentations and network TV seemed to really enjoy it. (It makes me wonder if they would enjoy airing an Olympic ceremony that was laced with Christianity, its symbolism, and its meaning.) Technologically and the people involved in the ceremony were phenomenal! I think they said a 500 ft. LCD screen was used. Crazy. Should be a fun several days of watching.

Makes me think..."Just how are people going to know that God is good?" Gary Hougen of the IJM asked this question at the Summit. Millions of people need to know that God is good and He thinks we can let them know.

Lengthy

When our former pastor resigned I made an inward and outward commitment: we will take my time to hire the next assistant pastor for our church. The prediction was that we would have someone in place by August 1. Isn't August 1 next week? Ya, we're not all that close to bringing that person to minister to/with us. And so we wait and we search.

I've met some great people along the way and have enjoyed some of the process of the search. Some of it I could do without. But we will get there.

Enough?

It's a funny thing, discouragement. It hits at the wierdest times and in the most unexpected ways. For me, as it may be for others, it comes down to the "enoughs" of life.

• Did I do enough?
• How come they didn't give enough?
• The board said "yes", but did they say yes enough?
• Were enough people at church?
• Will there be enough volunteers?
• How will we be effective enough?
• Did I call enough people?
• Do people feel loved enough?
• Did I work hard enough?
• _____________________________? (fill in your own)

And check it out--it's all centered on performance. But does God want my performance or does he simply want me? He wants me to want Him. He wants me to love Him. He wants me to know Him. Seems to me that Jesus was like this with Mary & Martha--one who was doing and one who was being.

Oswald Chambers makes a distinction between active work and spiritual activity in today's (July 10) entry of My Utmost for His Highest. He writes, "Simple active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work can actually be the counterfeit of spiritual activity." Trying to do enough is counterfeit spirituality. (I think this is along the lines of what Thomas Merton calls the "false self".)

In a performance driven society it is difficult not to be performance driven our spiritual lives. It is just as difficult to rightly handle performance in our corporate (church fellowship) lives. But it seems necessary. Sure, we have to guage what's going on spiritually, corporately, etc..., but the questions that center on the "enoughs" are just about enough to take one down and lay them out. Tread carefully.