Category: hmm… thoughts

Yesterday I had a great conversation with Brian Eberly and his team about KidsTown. They are going through the same process that we went through last summer in re-visioning ministry to children at their church.

It was an awesome conversation, but I left it with one prevailing thought:

Holy Discontent + Faithfulness to the Word of God = People thinking you are nuts

I think our staff is a bunch of raving lunatics! We’re a group of lay people and paid staff who are crazy enough to think that we can play a role in changing a community for Jesus Christ. But instead of us being the agent of change we hope to best position ourselves in a place where grace and mercy and forgiveness of sins can flow through what we are doing… therefore being a conduit between lost people and a holy God.

What is "holy discontent?" I think Bill Hybels used this phrase but don’t quote me on that. It’s merely the action of being stirred by God to say that what we’re doing isn’t good enough.

What is "faithfulness to the Word of God?" Seems like a no-brainer but a lot of people are discontent with what is happening in their lives and in their churches but don’t seek God to find the answers. As our staff stays in God’s Word we are pushed to more and more bold attempts to reach a dead and dying world with the love of Jesus. This isn’t a judgment, but I think most churches are more concerned about keeping the people they have happy than they are being faithful to what God is stirring in their hearts. You hear pastors say it with phrases like "You move a church one inch at a time" or "This is just a trend." Um… what if God is telling you to move a mile in a minute or to chase a cultural trend? I think a lot of people aren’t willing to make moves that God has laid on their hearts and revealed to them in the Bible simply because they want to stay faithful to what is getting them paid.

What is "People thinking we are nuts?" Heck, I think we’re nuts too! Demonstrating faith is often doing something that makes no logical sense. Faith itself is a "crazy" concept. It makes no logical sense to put 100% of my faith and trust in an unseen God. But it does take faith. And when you put your faith and trust in that unseen God… doing crazy things for Him seems less and less crazy.

Here’s a fact about my walk with Christ, maybe it’s true for some of you. "If people in your life don’t think you are crazy… If they think you are completely logical, you’re probably not demonstrating faith."

Abraham moving was crazy.
Moses going to Pharaoh was crazy
Esther talking to the king was nuts
David confronting the kings was raving mad
Peter putting down his nets to fish for men was insane
Peter going to Cornelius’s house made no sense at all, it was a waste of time
On and on through the Bible we see people taking great steps of faith… steps that made no logical sense and got them labeled as "crazy" by the people around them.

How are you demonstrating a faith that is crazy?

Realization = the process of making something a reality.

In my context, my goal at Romeo has always been the same. Kristen and I moved 2150 miles from Northern California to the suburbs of Detroit to help lead a church into being "dumb enough to think they can change the world." In other words, despite the fact that studies show our area is headed into the abyss, the message of Jesus Christ will penetrate so deeply into our community that it will actually change the DNA of the community. It takes a brave people to venture into that goal. But they assured me they had it in them and we came east 2150 miles.

Over the past 24 months this has really taken shape. It started first as our staff jelled together. We are a very diverse group of people who always love one another but aren’t afraid to bump heads. As our working relationship became cohesive, that started to spread as the church really grabs hold of a crazy vision… we all want to deeply impact this community for life change. And now we are all agreeing on the methods we chose to use to reach those goals.

Over the past week or two I’ve started to pick up on some language cues that have changed as we think and talk about our mission in Romeo. Here is how the language has changed as people, from the staff to the newest attender, talk about our mission.

My guess is that this is the language of goal realization for a lot of organizations and teams as they set high marks and try to move forward. Let’s learn from Romeo.

1. "Want to" This was the step where we talked about what we wanted to do. You heard it everywhere, "If we do this, we want to _____."
2. "Should" This was a step where all of us started to deal with the Biblical rationalization for our goal. It wasn’t that we wanted to do it anymore, it’s that the people started to see how God’s Word compelled us to act. People would say, "We should do ____ because it will help us accomplish our goal."
3. "Can" Once our team hit a few home runs (metaphorically of course) and our plan started to play out as good or better than we had hoped, I started to hear people say… "Hey, we really can _______ if we all just work together."
4. "Will" This is where Romeo is at right now. I heard it at the fair from every volunteer who helped me at the booth. I even heard it from other church people from our community when I talked to them about what we were doing here. They say things like, "If you keep ______ then you will reach your goal." This step is absolutely infectious as your goal is now within site. This goes back to one of the very first chapters the leadership team listened to from Andy Stanley and Reggie Joiner… everyone loves to play for the winning team. With a couple of big "wins" behind us, people are very excited as they see that the plan God laid on our hearts so long ago can actually be a reality if we just keep going.
5. "Are" This is where I want to go. This is when we are stupid enough to change this community for Jesus Christ. I hear the phrase "We are reaching _____ with ____." But those are merely shadows of what is to come if we just see the plan all the way through.

What is so powerful about this is that it’s not a gimmick, it’s not a "thing I learned from a book," it is a thing that is happening right in front of me. This is an organic thing that has happened. We never sat down and said… "How can we manipulate people to talk like this?" This is much more simple than that as it’s simply how people’s language patterns change as they realize that the goals set are attainable. In reality, it’s the exact same language that the golf team used when they realized how good they were. And the converse is the same when they realized that using the wrong language ("We are the reigning champions, we are going to win by just showing up.") led to the complacency on not accomplishing the goals. (Losing a championship they were talented enough to walk all over.)

Question: For those who are leading a comeback process in their organization (job, team, small group, youth group, church, whatever you lead) how does language that is coming from the people you lead change?  

Things at church have been going quite well. That’s pastor talk for "New people are coming and the ones who are here seem to be happy and growing." In the ebbs and flows of ministry there are times when new people come and other times when people leave. At both times… there is a lot of self-examination and examination of what is going well or isn’t going well.

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If you read my notes from yesterday you may think… Adam, you are wasting your time going to this conference.

If all I were getting was their content, I’d agree. But here’s the thing about conferences. (I have 2-3 more to go to this fall as well.) When I am listening to a great innovator or a great teacher or a great marketer talk about his thing… it actually spurs on my ideas.

An interesting thing happens to me when I sit and listen. I generally grab a legal pad and start coming up with some of the most clear, concise, and effective ideas I will ever get. It’s an amazing thing as a speaker is doing his/her thing and it triggers this thought that I furiously write down.

At NYWC during a message I came up with our identity formation thing I call "Light Force 101."

At the Summit 2006, MainStreet was born. As were several things that made Light Force tick last school year.

At NYWC 02, my "pop quiz" review was born.

The Acts message series of 2006-2007 was born at Founder’s Week 2005.

On and on. Right now I have so many projects swirling around for the ministry of Romeo that I need this time to get clarity. So there is the very practical "good stuff" of a conference in that I get encouragement and can network and recharge… but these conferences are also a major innovation time for me as well.

It’s time spent that pays massive dividends for me.

Tomorrow I’ll join a few thousand folks at the local satellite of Willow Creek’s Leadership Summit. Last year’s was quite good. I am really looking forward to getting challenged to think and act like a better leader. I am also looking forward to blogging my thoughts.

Download TheBattleisOn.pdf (136.5K)

We just got back from our Light Force trip (more on that later) and I thought I would quickly post this. Sunday morning went exceedingly well. It was one of those things, like MainStreet last week, where God showed up and the Holy Spirit did something while I was just being me… as inadequate as always. At least, that’s my theory.

This afternoon I was doing a little reflecting and I realized that Kristen and I have been in full-time ministry for just over 5 years. Meaning, for the past 5 years our only income has come from being employed by a local church. (I had paid roles prior to that, just not my sole income source.)

This picture is from my first VBS in Romeo in 2003… right after we got here. I’m still that sexy.

I have a lot of thoughts about what that means. First, I recognize that I’m way above the average length of a pastoral career. There seem to be two types of ministry folks… those who wash out quickly (2 years or under) and those who last a lifetime (15 years and up) My hope has always been to be in that latter category. Second, God’s people take care of their staff the best they know how. Leaving the corporate world and entering full time ministry was the biggest leap of faith Kristen and I had ever encountered. And our first experience landed us flat on our face 2000+ miles from home. But even in the disaster of "Horrorville" we were blessed by people who helped us greatly. (People who watched Megan, gave us food, clothing, vacations, fixed our car, and helped us out in many tangible ways.) Likewise, the people of Romeo have been faithful and loving to Kristen and I for more than 4 years. The first 1-2 years of being in ministry I was just humbled by the honor that a church would pay us to do something I love. And I can’t lie… 5 years later I’m still surprised that God would want me to do this and pay me enough to care for my family, too.

Lastly, I am living proof that God qualfies whom He wants. I never want to be shy in telling people that getting into ministry was hard work. (Most ministry people I know are extremely hard workers.) I did work hard to "get qualified" educationally. Kristen and I married at 21 and spent several years preparing to go into "paid ministry" and it wasn’t easy. My last couple years of Bible school were dreadful as I worked from 4 am til noon and then took afternoon and evening classes, plus had an internship, plus volunteered in other areas of the church. But I didn’t earn being in full time ministry any more than I am qualified to do it. (Well, I"m biblically qualified… that’s another qualification) There have been dozens of gut checks and temptations to get out of it. I’ve come to realize that I am in ministry not because I want to, or because I set out to, but because it’s God’ choice.

That said, it’s been 5 years. I hope this is just the beginning. But I am also aware that since it was God’s choice to put me in ministry, it’s not really my choice as to how long I’m in ministry, is it? My job is just like anyone else’s. I’m called to do the best I can with where God has me right now. My future is in the same hands as my present.

Not my will, but Yours.

p.s. Yeah, that’s Mike D. as an 8th grader. He’s a senior this year and about 6-4. Yikes!

One of the things I appreciate about people is their ability to enjoy a good laugh. I’ve noticed that people who want to be friends with me like to laugh. And people who are very serious… they tend to tolerate me but never want to really be my friend.

With that in mind, check out why I like the people over at Gospel Communications so much. (Click here and scroll down to the bottom, check out my name/title/company) They get it, and it just makes it super funny. I can’t wait to see that on my name tag in September.

It’s another one of those moments when a 14 year old looks at me, giggles, and tells me to grow up.

I caught this over at ChurchRelevance.com. If you don’t like change… don’t watch this video. It’s a fascinating look at the rate our culture is changing. The question isn’t "Do you like change?" It is "Since your way of living today will be extinct in 5-10 years, how will you begin adapting today?" Be honest and think about how much your life has changed over the last 10 years… then watch this video and realize it’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Yesterday I felt off my game. I got asked several hundred (thousands?) questions about MainStreet by our leaders who put the event together and half they time they were asking me a question and I was wondering to myself, "Why are you asking me?" Then I had to remind myself… They are asking me because I am in charge of the event!

Why is it so hard to find routine in the summer? Is it that no one else has a routine? (Students are fully lost at this point, most of them have no way to keep track of time or days it seems) Is it that you do so many things (trips, events, planning, swimming, beach, BBQ, visiting) that are different from the rest of the year that you fall out of your habits?

It is good to get "out of routine" too. When you are out of your normal routines you get variety and you often get a new perspective on the things in your routine.

It’s the intersection of "not in routine" and "in routine" that is pretty rough. Everything is going to be fine. MainStreet is going to be just as cool as ever… hopefully cooler. But getting back in the routine of doing it is a little rough.

My strategy for getting back in routines

• Suck it up cream puff and get back in your routine.
• Uh, suck it up?
• How about just sucking it up and getting your stuff done?

So far, this strategy seems to be working just fine.