I'm Soooooooooo There

Catalyst, here I come!!!!

http://tinyurl.com/3vkaqv

If anyone else is going, zip me a comment and let me know.

Inspiration in times of Desperation

Quote to get you thru the week:

"When we're at the end of our rope and resources,

we've just arrived at the beginning of God"

-tweet by lensweet @ twitter.com

Things have been hopping this week!  Just a quick update:

- I'm trying to crank out a few sermons and found this website got my creative juices flowing.  Check it out:

http://mrdoob.com/lab/pv3d/dof/07/

[zip your mouse around the page...it's pretty cool!]

- Finished up Head First by Tony Buzan: I really liked the layout and the ideas the book generated for all areas of life.  Man, I am smarter than I think (and smarter than what people say ;)

- Connecting with people outside my church: I'm having lots of conversations with people about our church and how we might make a difference in their lives, especially in these uncertain economic times.  How do we solve it?

Weekend Excitement

It's going to be a great weekend!

• Clarissa lost her first tooth: tooth fairy should be very happy!  (pictures to come...)

• Parties parties parties: Southeran Fried Festival Friday night, corn maze Saturday and a picnic injects some must-needed fun time

• No sermon to prepare for Sunday: our District President Ken Lampe is coming in to preach and officially recognize a couple of guys who completed the deacon training.  But I used my time wisely this past week to prep sermons for the month of October.  It's a great feeling to be ahead of the game!
  

Hope you have a great weekend!

LA Train Wreck

My dad has worked for a train company for as long as I can remember.  At a very early age, he instilled in me a love for trains.  Because he is resonsible for routing trains to achieve maximum productivity, he gave me an appreciation to find ways to help people make sense out of life.

When I heard about the accident, I was heart-broken and I wondered what happened.  Below is a report which re-enacted the accident:

LA Train Wreck

Humans make huge mistakes and somehow, somewhere, God is in the middle of it.

My prayers are with the families affected by this disaster.

Running on Empty

I never thought I'd face this, but my gas gauge is close to 'E'. I stopped by the gas station by my church and they're out of gas.  I drove a little further down and that gas station was empty.  I went down the whole main stretch of Columbia and all the gas stations were out of gas.  This didn't help turn the red warning light off on my fuel gauge.

It caused me to change my behavior. Instead of zipping down the road at 70 mph (just kidding, it's more like 80 mph) I slowed to 40 to conserve gas. I coasted up to a red light instead of gunning it and stopping 18 inches from the white line. In short, I took my time.

Sometimes in life when we feel like we are going full throttle, we need to change our behavior. We need to slow down, refocus and remind ourselves what's really important in life. We get hung up on the little to-do lists that we forget about people and what really matters.

Slow down.

Billy Chia

I can't wait for this weekend.  A good buddy of mine from college, Billy Chia, is the Worship Arts Pastor at Chase Valley Community Church in Hunstville, AL.

GOD

This is a total God-thing.  I don't know if Billy remembers this, but we had a common mentor in college named Dan Flynn (that's a whole nother post!).  I re-connected with Billy through Facebook.  We got to talking and found out that we're practically neighbors.  What's even awesomer (yes I typed that...I couldn't help myself) is that we both have a passion to lead churches to connect Christ with those who are searching.

RISK

Billy is taking a bit of a risk and I admire him for that.  He's bring his team into a church they've never been to before (I hope they find it ok!) and leading worship in front of a congregation they've never met before.  In addition to all this, Billy raised up a 2nd team so that he didn't leave his church in a lurch.  Whatta guy.  In the end, I hope that he finds that it's worth the risk and that his team grows in this experience.

I am taking a bit of a risk too.  This is a chance for my church to see how other churches lead worship.  I believe it is good to be exposed to other ways of worshiping.  We Lutherans certainly don't have the corner market on one "right way" to worship.

ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

I invited Billy and his team for 3 reasons:

1. I wanted to expose my church to another way of worshiping.

2. I wanted to expose my praise team to how another team leads worship, and more importantly, to learn from them.

3. To help the congregation appreciate that our contemporary team is a total God thing. Most churches would kill (ok, maybe not "kill", but certainly "would like to have") an in-house contemporary team.  God has lifted up a drummer, bass, guitars, vocals, and keyboard talent all within our church.  It's great to see how God is working.

Safe travels to Billy and his team.  God's going to do some awesome things.

I'm Bald...Hilarious

Yesterday I had chapel with the preschool students that attend our preschool ministry.  I was reading to them "The House that Jack Built".  In the story, it introduces a character called the Priest. The picture they saw was of a priest with a bald head.

Since they didn't know me, I was explaining to them what a pastor does.  I asked the kids, "Why is the priest in the book my favorite characters?"

One little girl named Emma replied,

"Because he's bald like you."

Touche Emma. Thanks for the laugh.

Words that Work

"It's not what you say, it's what people hear."

This book by Frank Luntz is profound and practical for anyone wanting to communicate a message to people.  Dr. Luntz has the reputation of the "hottest pollster in America" and performs numerous focus groups and polling in order to discover the most effective language for leaders to use if they want to connect their ideas to their audience. Luntz's assumption is that words are not the end; people are the end and the words we use are the tools to reach people. If you want to connect with people, you need to speak their language. It sounds like a "no-brainer" but how many times have you tried to impose and force your thoughts and opinions down someone else's throat without considering how they are hearing your words?

Luntz outlines 10 rules that aid in successful communication that are based on Orson Wells' essay "Politics and the English Language":

1. Use small words

2. Use small sentences

3. You need Credibility

4. You need Consistency

5. Offer something new (which includes offering a new twist on an old idea)

6. Sound and Texture matter

7. Inspire!

8. Visualize

9. Ask a question

10. Provide context

Put another way, speak with simplicity, brevity, credibility, consistency, novelty, alliteration, aspiration, visualization, questioning, and context.

Dr. Luntz provides many examples and case studies to prove out his point. He cites day-to-day examples of how to communicate with the hostess at a packed restaurant to high-profile examples of recalling a California governor in 2003 and impeaching Bill Clinton.

One of the limitations of the book is that it doesn't dive into visual images that work (or don't work) in communication. We live in an age of visual images all around us and it would be helpful to see which images work to communicate a point.

This is a great book for leaders of any kind (including Pastors) who craft language and speak to people day in and day out.  Even though this book focuses on the political and social realm, you can make applications to the religious realm quite easily. If you pastor a rural America church and you use the big, theological, higher education words like "the non-reciprocity of the two natures of Christ" to describe Christ, you won't communicate the idea very well.  But it would be different if you said, "Christ is 100% man and 100% God."  Which sounds easier to hear?

Some quotes that are really good:

"the act of speaking is not a conquest, it's a surrender."

"numbers with the smallest denominators and applied per individual are therefore almost always the most effective."

"Lose imagination and you lose an essential component of words that work."

Crazy Love

"We go to church, sing songs and try not to cuss...is that all there is to being a Christian?"

I heard Francis Chan for the first time at the 2007 Catalyst Leadership conference and I was mesmorized by his teaching.  When I saw that he released a book this year, I had to pick it up.  It didn't disappoint.

Crazy Love is a book that goes back to the basics of what it means to be a Christian and what the Christian church needs to be all about.  The book is very conversational and challenges the reader to live a radical life that loves God.  Truly living isn't about following rules, it's about loving a God who has no end to His love.

To get a taste of Francis Chan, check out the book link 

Some quotes I took away from the book:

"Are we in love with God or just His stuff?"

"When you are truly in love, you will go to great lengths to be with the one you love."  Now apply that to God.

"Christians are like manure: spread them out and they help everything grow better, but keep them in one big pile and they stink horribly."

+ Krister Stendahl +

One of my friends shared with me a professor they had at Harvard Divinity School named Krister Stendahl.  He died on April 15, 2008 and was at one time Dean of Harvard Divinity School.  My friend shared with me an article that reprinted his convocation address of September 1984 after serving Harvard for 30 years.  After this speech, he left Harvard to become the Bishop of Stockholm in his native land of Sweden.  Two quotes inspire me:

"Joy is closer to God than seriousness.  Why? Because when I am serious I tend to be self-centered, but when I am joyful I tend to forget myself..."

When we learn about other religious traditions or engage in comparing religions, Stendahl presented the following 3 actions that we should take:

1. Don't compare your best to their worst.  Compare your worst to their best.

2. Talk to the adherents of the religion, not to the enemies.

3. Approach the religion with "holy envy".  What characteristic do you like or admire about that religion and how might you incorporate that in your religious life?

Trying to Be a Responsible Citizen

Last night, I was driving home from church when I received a call on my cell phone. Normally, I talk on my cell phone while I drive. But I heard this voice in the back of my head to turn off the road, stop and take the call. I decided to listen and be a responsible citizen and I pulled off into a driveway so that I didn't kill anyone on the road.

For those of you who haven't driven Campbellsville Pike, it is a narrow road that is twisty and hilly. This road is really fun to go fast on, which also makes it extremely dangerous. The phone call I took required my full attention so I knew I needed to stop driving and focus on the call.

The driveway I pulled off into was a wide drive, not like your typical driveway for a house. The driveway could easily fit 3 cars across. The cool thing about the experience was that I had at least 4 cars approach me, roll down their windows and ask if everything was ok. I answered everytime: "Thanks, I'm fine. I'm just taking a call on my cell so I don't get into an accident." I thought to myself, "Wow, there are some awesome people in the world that care." It gave me hope.

Except for the last car. While I was finishing up my phone call, another car came along, rolled down the window and said, "You're in my way; get out of the middle of the road."

Go figure.

Prayer at City Hall

Last week, I had the opportunity to give the invocation at our local Columbia TN city hall meeting. The mayor was there along with the city lawyer, city manager and various representatives. My theme verse was Philippians 4.4 "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say: Rejoice!"

I offered a prayer that our city leaders would find joy in their duties and that the constituants they serve would find joy in their elected leaders. Here's what was striking to me: immediately following the invocation, the city couldn't pass the agenda from the previous meeting because a council member felt attacked! There was unresolved tension and disagreement from the previous meeting that carried over.

Here I was talking about having joy and the council was trying to hammer through hurt feelings and going on with the rest of business.

It makes me think about the church and how we can be a place of resolution and hope so that people can experience joy in their service to others. Even for our city leaders.

If you don't already, be sure you're praying for your city leaders and ask God to show you how you might help them see the joy in their duties.

Little Reminders: Kroger MINUS card

I went to Kroger over the weekend and had to do a lot of multi-tasking while in the checkout line: unloading the grocery cart, talking to Natalie making sure she was ok, getting out my wallet to get the debit card and of course remembering to be pleasant and give a 'hi' to the checkout lady, swiping the card, signing the balance and making sure we didn't leave a sackful of groceries behind. It's high pressure!

I looked at the receipt and something was wrong. I did the math and I had paid way too much for the items I got. It took me a while but I finally figured out that she didn't scan my Kroger plus card. I brought it to her attention and she quickly refunded me the $6 I saved and I went home to tell my wife.

My wife informs me that Kroger doesn't ask for your plus card anymore. I was shocked! Why wouldn't they ask for the card? Well, they don't want to be a nuisance and pest for those who don't have a card. I can sort of relate. I get peeved at the sales pitches to open a credit card balance while I'm at a store. But I never get upset if they ask me for a plus card if I don't have one (eg. FoodLion) because it's about feeling special.

I really appreciate someone helping me out and reminding me about an offer that saves me money. That's awesome! When I forget, it takes more time and energy to fix the problem than it would to have just asked up front in the first place.

I don't know. Maybe I'm making a bigger deal out of this than I need to. Maybe I should just suck it up, add "take out plus card" to my checkout routine and be done with it. But I sure miss that little reminder.

Since I'm in the church world, it makes me think about all the little reminders that we forget to tell guests and returning guests to our churches: how do you "sign in"? Where do you go for church? Where is the Bible study class? Did anyone say "hello" and "good morning" to them? What's the offering all about? What's that stale wafer and shot of wine all about? Where do you sit? We shouldn't assume that our guests know everything about how to 'do' church...we need to walk them through it. They certainly are multi-tasking before they even walk through the doors! Little reminders help them to feel a part of the experience and relieves their anxiety.