* Slacker

I am a procrastinator - most of you know this. Those who do not have clearly been hallucinating. I have gone quite a long time without posting and I truly kept meaning to, not because you are desperate for my words, but because I do find them entertaining myself, and as most of you also know 'it is all about me' anyway :)! I have had some great ideas for posts - at least in my opinion, and I would like to get to them, but not today... However I will be making a list of those things I want to talk about so I can remember them for when I get around to it. I am not sure it will get to 10 but you never know.

• I am reading a book by Heschel that is lovely and I want to share some quotes. It is occasionally mentally thick and I feel like I am wading up stream trying to read it, then other times the sun breaks through the clouds and it is just awesome. (Two completely different metaphors, but that is the quality of my writing today)
• I finished some other books in the faith based genre that I would also like to comment on, even if Judah has already commented. As the one who actually read the book I feel I am allowed my own thoughts :)
• My best friend metaphorically challenged me to read more Pulitzer prize winning books than her and this has inspired some other reading. I am mentally preparing myself to lose since she is the English major and has a greater tolerance for literature than myself - at least this is what I am telling myself so I won't wallow in despair when I can't keep up.
• My son has led us down a fun medical road in the last few months, but I can breathe easier now with the last mailed test result - normal MRI, no pathology, just childhood epilepsy- an unexpected praise.
• I am on the yearbook committee AGAIN - and my deadlines are looming - blgh.
• I am not in Ghana this year and planning a more normal spring break with my kids, off to grandmas!
• A trip to Disney should get some comments, but fell in the middle of David's tests and I never got around to that either.
• My daughter got her first stitches and we spent a lovely evening in the ER.
• We are still thinking of selling our house and it has raised some interesting questions about what to buy next if that happens, bigger or smaller?
• I am not sure of a tenth, but it was just SO CLOSE I couldn't help myself..... :)

I will leave you with this overheard dialogue from this afternoon...

My daughter prances into my son's room, where he is having a battle and asks-

Are you the King?

No.

Are you the knight?

No.

What are you?

I am not going to tell you.

Are you the (pause for struggle to find another word) ................... guard?

No.

What are you?

I am not going to tell you.

Are you the (insert longer pause to find another word)................. fighter?

No.

What are you?

I am NOT going to TELL you.

Are you the 'I'm not gonna tell you'?

NO!

Alright had that been the end it would have been funny enough to me. Her struggle to find boyish words and his irritation and finally her resort to early sarcasm was hilarious, but apparently the moment was so moving as to inspire song because then she broke into an impromptu solo...

He's not the king, he's not the prince, he's not the guard, he's not the fighterrrrrrrrrrrrr. He's not going to TELLLLLLLLLLLL!

I can only imagine her twirling around his battle for a bit with her song then losing interest because she left shortly after. I am glad that I did not watch the interchange because it was funnier in my head.

How can I not blog those jewels daily? I am such a slacker.

What Could be

Recently Michelle finished a book by Frank Viola. I’ll be honest: I probably agree with about half of what he writes about. He comes across very emphatic about a lot of his beliefs. This bluntness rubs me the wrong way. It’s almost like, “if you don’t believe what I believe then you are wrong.” Kind of like how I am at times. Oh, wait a minute…. I am sure he is a decent guy, and if I knew him personally, would probably think completely differently. It’s really hard to get your views down on paper and then have them come out exactly how you expect them to. I should know: I am constantly pulling my foot out of my mouth…. I am almost certain that I am going to get a talking to from my ministry buddies after they read this blog.

Anyway, back to the stuff I actually agree with that Viola wrote in the book that Michelle was reading. He made a comment that he believed that ministry leaders (pastors, preachers, children’s ministry leaders, college ministers, etc.) should NOT be paid full-time by their local congregation. He made some very impressive arguments some of which included: 1) where is the book chapter and verse in the bible for full time staff? 2) Think of the money that could be directed to missions, benevolence, etc. 3) tends to stifle the Holy Spirit in other members because they (the members) subconsciously look to the “leader of the church” (full paid staff) for guidance, along with a few more.

However, this blog is about a specific reason for not having full paid staff. You see, Michelle and I have been running into a particular issue for years now. It didn’t matter what church we attended, because I am almost certain that it is universal. What I am talking about is the concept of “what could be”. I have heard numerous conversations about “what the church could be”, if we _____________, and we (members) do tend to look toward the full time staff to fill in the blank. Unfortunately, full time ministers tend to NOT be as blunt about the direction, focus, vision, whatever you want to call it, with their ministry and/or congregation. Full time ministers, in general, can feel they need to make sure everyone is happy, for the sake of their job. They know what needs to be done. They are fully aware of the personalities and dynamics within their own congregation. They understand how the Holy Spirit works in their particular congregation. Unfortunately, they can be resistant, because if an idea is too “out there”, then they could very well lose their job. This is an unfortunate situation.

I am almost certain that in every congregation Michelle and I have been a part of, there was at least one minister that was an “out of the box” thinker around the coffee table, but could revert to safer waters when they spoke in public. And seriously, do you blame them?! If one’s job was HIGHLY dependent on what you said on a weekly basis, do you blame them?

It absolutely amazes me how many conversations I have had about “vision casting”, “what the church should be”, “where the focus of our money and time should be”, and a host of many others. I would be a part of these conversations, get really excited thinking that our church leadership was going to give a clear and concise direction on ministries, funding, growth opportunities, outreach, how accountability was going to work, etc. only to be gravely disappointed to hear yet another budgetary summary coupled with why we are not meeting budget, yet again. Or maybe it would be an anticipated sermon about the “direction of the church” and how members were going to be empowered, only to be met with a mundane, scripted discussion of how the church body just “needs to get out there” and show Jesus.

For centuries, mankind has followed great leaders who were able to vision cast their beliefs in a way that created followers. More often than not, these leaders were not afraid of the opinions of their followers. It amazes the amount of talent that is in church leadership these days. God is good, all the time! All around the country, there are men and women in leadership roles that are gifted by God to direct local congregations to spread the Good News in the unique ways that their particular congregation is designed for. But, we need leaders who are not afraid of the status quo. We need leaders who understand what changes need to be made in order to reach believers in the 21^st century. We need leaders who are able to express their passion for a ministry in a way that makes others beg to follow them. We need leaders filled with the Holy Spirit and can see that we are filled with the Holy Spirit as well. In my opinion, the MAIN way of doing these things, is to remove the barrier that so many ministers stand behind. Free them from their salaries, stop paying them full time, and start helping them get part time to full time jobs so that they can be released from thinking they have to say and do things to please everyone in a congregation. With that freedom, I truly believe we would see a growth in the church like what we see in the book of Acts. We need leaders, but more importantly, we need leaders who are not afraid to step on toes, hold people accountable, and blaze a trail with the Holy Spirit.

Giving talks

I recently did a talk on “Defining Moments”. This was done as part of our Men’s Gathering Series at Farragut Church of Christ. After the weekend, I asked the men for a critique, and what they got out of the weekend. Below, is a collection of thoughts from them.

- Obviously you are sincere about your faith and you attempt to walk it each day – that is the most important element that gives you credibility.
- I liked the props and your use of them in the “backpack” session. Many of us could identify with your points. I also liked the personal examples and self-effacing approach.
- I prefer a limited use of PowerPoint presentations and, when possible, use images on them instead of words.
- I had trouble connecting all of the sessions with the theme. It may have been obvious to others, but it would have helped me if you had consistently reminded us of the theme of the gathering and how each talk addressed the theme (you may have done this and I missed it due to my state of mind)
- I would have preferred shorter lectures and more discussion. To illustrate, I liked your golf ball lesson. It seemed to take on even greater richness when people made observations about what they saw (like the observation about how the turbulent water became calm once God’s Spirit completely filled the voids in our life – Wow). Someone else observed how the sand changed in quality (color) as God’s Spirit filled the voids.
- I don’t know if was possible in this setting to circle the seats and create a discussion “pit.” There probably was not space for that, but that is also my preference.
- You quickly engaged the audience by putting up the Twitter visuals. They were funny and entertaining.
- The hiking and camping equipment and personal story drove home the points using objects you pulled from the back pack.
- You shared a part of you that others never knew; this helped give credence to your story making it more applicable to our lives as well.
- The audio/visuals kept the audience focused up front.

- What I got out of the lesson:
a. God has a plan for me, for you, and all men at the gathering.
b. My plans are immaterial to God’s plan.
c. God’s plan will prevail no matter how much interference I run.
d. There are definitely going to be some setbacks in my life.
e. Our relationships with friends and family will get us through the rough spots.
f. I have marker stones in my life, and how I view those stones determines the future course of my life.
- What I liked:
a. You allowed the audience to speak up during the presentation.
b. You made it fun!
c. There was lots of true laughter and fellowship (not the kind of “forced” laughs that most presentations elicit).
d. You hit on some tough topics that all men in the room could relate to.
e. You were well prepared, which meant that if questions or comments came up, you could respond to them, then return right back to where you were without appearing to be lost or confused.

- Don’t read your power point slides.
- Put less on your power point slides.

My (Judah's) take away
- Remember the Holy Spirit is in charge.
- Use humor
- Provide time for comment, and talk in a way that lets the audience know they can ask questions/provide comments during the presentation.
- Use different styles of teaching. For example, the first talk was more lecture, but it had humor, power point, and props. In short, I pulled out all the stops! Also, we had a talk right after lunch on Saturday. This period is a good time for naps, so to keep everyone awake I had some guys stand up and act out a passage in the bible. This seemed to really keep people in engaged.
- Its important to continually emphasize what the series is about. This is where I dropped the ball. The discussion was around Defining Moments in a Man’s Life, and we used the concept of “memory stones” from different passages of the bible to help reinforce this thought. I did this at the beginning of the first talk, but only highlighted it afterwards. Different men mentioned the concept as well, but we didn’t do a good job of tying the two together.
- Remember the Holy Spirit is in charge.