Month: May 2007

I’m struggling with something.

Labels used to be so useful to me. I could categorize people based on what I knew of them. That allowed me to know what they stood for, what I liked/disliked about them, and most importantly… it provided me the benefit of a standard response to "that label."

Here’s the thing: As the world has gotten smaller, people now have many more labels that apply to them and at the same time, a label’s meaning has changed.

In my mind, things that used to seem terrible I can tolerate now. And things I used to like drive me insane. The problem with labeling people is that it isn’t fair since people aren’t static labels… they are fluid. People change their minds all the time.

Moreover, I hate getting labeled and this has forced me to intentionally stop labeling and categorizing people. (Which in effect, devalued their person hood as they ceased being a person and I just saw them as a being to be labeled.)


Being in a "public job" has led to me getting a lot of labels. Some examples: In some circles,  I am a crazy conservative. In others, a wacky liberal. In some I am brilliant and in others I’m "just a youth pastor." In some circles I’m labeled a cynic who hates everything while in others I’m labeled as having the gift of encouragement. In some circles I’m wildly creative while in others I’m labeled as only having bad ideas. To some people, I am loving and to others I don’t notice them. To some I’m labeled as polite, while in others I’m labeled conceited. Am I schizophrenic or a chronic hypocrite?

Nah, I don’t think so. I think it just proves my point about labeling. I’m a human being. As I think of my life I see myself being all of those things. As Mike Yaconelli was fond of saying, "We’re all really messy."

I’m a mess. I fight the labels in my own life, and I’m starting to hate myself for labeling people. I’ll label myself… "I’m a messed up guy… a good kid, with a lot of problems." I need Jesus as much today as any other day.

This one will flat out make you think. As someone who didn’t grow up around church… I really struggle with the major delineation between men and women in the evangelical church as a whole. So, since it made me think… here you go.

It’s no secret that the world we live in is more connected and smaller than ever. Everyday I discover more ministry related websites that are helping serve and connect ministry professionals. That is extremely exciting for me as ministry professionals often feel isolated and unconnected.

At the same time, sites get bigger and more interactive as they fight for market share… for lack of a better term. Here’s an interesting corollary that I’m thinking about:

A website has to be BIG in order to feel small. See, in order for people to really connect and find true community, there has to be a lot of people to chose from… making the community big, with a small feel.

As YMX closes in on 1000 members we realize how tiny the site is in comparison to the dead and dying Myspace or the new giant, Facebook. But yet… something happens at a medium site like YMX that is missing at Facebook and is definitely not found at the myriad of tiny start-ups. (Of course, we know that one day a start-up will think of a better  way to do what we are doing and eat us for lunch.)

Here’s where I am at so sip some coffee before you read this… if small is the new big and big is the new small… what are people looking for? How do I make YMX appear to people… big or small?

Not sure what I’m talking about as far as big sites feeling small? Check out CNN.com or ABCnews.com and start noticing how much you… the small guy… can interact with these media giants.