• Do I have a vision problem?

    visionless: it is my claim that this is the most attractive but most insidious yeast undermining religious communities. Vision has a devious way of focusing our attention outside of ourselves to some lofty external goal, rather than keeping ourselves committed to love and service in the community, then as a result beyond the immediate community by the outpouring of the overflow. Jesus’ vision, if it could be said he had any vision at all, was to die… to hand himself over to the authorities, etc. Any other vision than the vision to be willing to die is one that decides who can play and who cannot for the longevity of the vision and it’s crafters. It defines the shape and nature of the community and the people within it, often with violence against the natural goodness and innate spirituality of its people. It is vision that eventually and inevitably changes an institution into stone.

    source

    Lately, I’ve been chewing on David Hayward’s work on becoming visionless. (His book on the subject)

    In so many ways this concept deeply resonates with my experience. And in so many ways it deeply offends my experience.

    On the one hand, my own words would argue that if you don’t have a clearly defined vision for yourself you’ll be paralyzed by your inability to say no to good/bad things that come your way. Vision permits lazer-like focus.

    On the other hand, I’m haunted by the reality that often times I’m saying no to things that are close to me, forsaking the organic opportunity for one cultivated in alignment with my vision.

    In my mind vision allows me to filter. That’s why David’s words are annoying me so much. Who am I to try to put a filter on what God puts right before me? Who am I to forsake the organic for the cultivated? 

    Question: What would your life look like if you were to reorientate yourself around Hayward’s words above. (Put aside your ability to disagree with him, just imagine what your life would be like if this were true and it became a guide. How would yourlife change?)

  • OK, let’s keep it a little less real

    A few thoughts:

    • I’m guessing this didn’t go on his eHarmony profile?
    • There is some legitimate skill involved here. Riding a unicycle while playing the bagpipes in a Vader costume? Skillz.
    • YouTube was made for these types of skills. I’m just not sure what it says about our society.
    • There’s a geek in all of us.
    • We have a couple slots for art & talents at The Summit. I wonder if we can book him?

  • The Hopeful Lean

    He leaned across the table and told me a secret in a hushed tone. “This neighbor loving neighbors thing. It really works. It’s incredible!”

    He then went on and talked about all the things that are going on in his neighborhood.

    Over the past months I’ve had several conversations that essentially went the same way. I hang out with a former youth worker, a person like me, who left full-time ministry on some sort of a quest to find their first love, ministry. And that position they take when they lean across the table? I call that position HOPE. 

    With excited hushed tones they start talking about what happened when they gave up the podium.

    • They stopped talking and started listening.
    • They stopped looking for their next illustration and started noticing what was going on.
    • And they got involved. And it lead to more cool things. And now Good News is on fire on their block.

    This life reorientation is disorienting at first. It causes them to lose their balance and go through a period of questioning, often times slipping into a period of depression.

    And what they find in that dark place of self-reflection is that they live in a neighborhood. There are people, often just like them, living next door. And this newfound disequilibrium causes them to be open to something they never were before… listening to what God wants them to do… regardless of if their church is behind it or not.

    That was funny to write. That people who have spent decades working at churches started to listen to what God wanted of them only after leaving their church work. And I’m sure that some may take offense at that. All I mean is that these folks feel free to listen to God’s voice in a different way, not through the filter of leadership, but with a more simple posture, “Lord, what will you have for me to do?”

    And almost universally the answer to that question involves simply reorienting their life around serving the needs of their block. It’s not a program and it’s not a paycheck. But it’s the ministry they always wanted.

    It Was There All Along

    It’s kind of funny having these conversations. Each of them is unique. With each person finding a new kind of ministry that fits their neighborhood differently. Big smiles emerge as they share this secret they’ve discovered: It was there all along. 

    Hope has a flavor to it. It’s having tasted the bitter root of despair, rejected popular fast-food cynicism, and popped out the other side with a big smile on your face. Hope is like taking an overcooked steak and decided to chop it up and put it on a salad. What was once not-quite-right is now the star of the meal.

    Hope has derivatives. It’s contagious. As one neighbor ventures out of the front-door and meets others, others do likewise. Suddenly, hope spreads down the street. A person shares a garden. A guy cut a neighbors grass when they are sick. A block party pops up. And neighbors begin to slow down and enjoy where they live as opposed to just seeing it as a place to store their stuff and relax between activities. Kids start to play outside again. Kids start to be kids again. Crime goes down. On and on and on.

    All because a family on the block decided to reorient their lives.

    The Bible doesn’t lie. Each of us were created in Christ Jesus to do good works. (Ephesians 2:10) And when we lean into that the rewards are everywhere.

  • A lover and a fighter

    A lover and a fighter

    People look at me sideways a lot. As if to say, “You don’t really get it, do you?” 

    Oh no I get it. Inertia and entropy are hard at work in youth ministry. The weight of this is how we do things and the gravitational pull of this impacted me so it’ll work today are powerful. It’s hard to imagine anything else working better. When you are working so hard it’s hard to step back enough to ponder, “Is my strategy even working? Can I change these trends with small changes? Or do I need a reboot?”

    People look at me weird because I’m a lover and a fighter. It’s easy to leave youth ministry and go into another area of the church. This is why so many youth workers plant churches. It’s not that youth ministry is unfulfilling. It’s that inertia is so strong and leaders don’t think they have the power to turn it around. And all the fighting to innovate into something different is just too difficult. I get it, it’s totally understandable.

    But that’s not me. I love this thing enough to fight for it. And I have a feeling a lot of folks who are reading this are the same way.

    So how do we fight our way forward? 

    Here are a few things I’m learning.

    Jerry Maguire and Martin Luther both got fired

    It’s important to remember this fact. Both Jerry Maguire and Martin Luther wrote manifestos and ignited their own pyre. It might have been the only way to make the changes they needed to see. But that doesn’t mean it is the only way for us to lead the change process. I love manifestos. But the reality is that you don’t need to write one because it’ll probably just get you fired! Instead, live a manifesto!

    Too often I talk to folks who can see the problem and think their only option is something radical. Their youth ministry is reaching almost no one. And the weight of those they are reaching is costing them the freedom to reach others. (You have reached the wrong 1% of the population! Let’s call them the easy 1%.) So they think the best way to create something new is to change everything. Trust me, this almost always gets you fired from a church.

    Soft innovation is the process of intentional incremental adjustments to what you are doing that can increase the productivity for the whole operation. You know those safety triggers on lawn mowers? Those things drive me crazy because I have to hold my hands in a weird position to keep the engine running on the mower. And sometimes I want to leave the engine running while I clear away a stick or ball in the grass. For me, a velcro cable tie is a soft innovation which solves this problem. I can wrap that around the safety so that I can let go of the mower and not have to constantly restart the engine. It increased my productivity, decreased my frustration, and is fairly simple and safe.

    In churches, that’s often the best way to lead the change process.

    Lead experiments, don’t change things

    One thing I’ve learned recently is to not call change, change. It seems silly by positioning things as experiments but I’ve found that people are willing to give it a try. Change feels like high commitment. But an experiment feels like it’s OK to fail. It’s low committal and it makes people feel like they are part of the process as subjects as opposed to victims of change.

    So rather than use a phrase like, “We’re going to change some things around here because we’re stuck in a rut.” I’ve learned I get a better response by saying, “I’d like to try a couple of experiments. Let’s try this for a few weeks and see how it goes.” (Which is absolutely true. If it sucks we’re going to kill it!)

    Open the process to everyone

    Here’s the last thing that I’ve learned as a lover and a fighter. It sucks to fight alone. It’s even stupid to think that you can fight alone for very long. (Actually, if you’re completely alone you’re probably wrong in your hypothesis.)

    I’ve learned that once I create an environment of experimentation, soft innovation, and failing fast… it spurs on new ideas from EVERYONE. And if you really want to unleash an energy bomb in your midst, start empowering these ideas that come to you. The phrase, “OK, let’s try it!” has earned me a thousand smiles and helped me discover some really cool stuff I never would have found on my own.

  • Why are YOU here?

    “Next.”

    I walked up to the counter and handed the woman my passport and paperwork. She examined in closely, scanned my passport, and looked over my paperwork.

    30 seconds go by.

    60 seconds go by. She is still clicking on things on her computer. Tension builds.

    “Tell me why you coming to Canada.”

    “I’m speaking at an event.” She types that into her computer.

    “OK… what type of event.” 

    “It’s a retreat for Lutheran church leaders. I’m just here for a couple of days.” 

    “OK… but why are YOU here? Why did they invite YOU to speak?” 

    This went back and forth for about 5 minutes. She would type on her computer and occasionally ask a vague question. I stood there waiting for her to give me my passport back.

    I’ve visited about 30 countries and gone through tons of passport checks. I know that the longer you stand there the worse it is. The first stage is standing at the counter answering questions. Then, if they aren’t satisfied with your answers, they take you and your passport into a side room and ask more questions. And if that doesn’t go well you officially get detained. Time is not your friend. You want this process to go quickly and on this night it wasn’t going quickly.

    In the back of my mind I was trying to figure out why this wasn’t going well. After all, I’m an American and I’m going to Canada for 3 days to speak at a small gathering of Lutheran youth workers. Our countries are friendly. Lots of people travel back and forth for a wide variety of reasons each day. But the longer I stand there the more introspective I get. I’m wondering if my newly renewed passport has an error. I’m kicking myself for checking the “business” box on my declaration. I’m wondering if I have an unpaid parking ticket or something. And I’m wondering if her computer told her that my dad was recently deported from Canada when he made a wrong turn and illegally entered Ontario on his way to a coffee shop. Why DID this group invite me to speak? Yeah, what made ME an expert on those topics? Why didn’t they bring a Canadian to do this?

    Finally, I put on my smile and asked her, “What haven’t I told you that you need to know?”

    She smiled, (always a good sign) and said “I’m trying to figure out if you need a work permit. Is this event open to the public?”

    I described the event to her, that is was just for denominational pastors and wasn’t open to the general public, and 30 seconds later she handed my passport back to me and loudly said, “Next.”

    Why are YOU here?

    Her emphasis has stuck with me. It’s a great question. And a question we all need to wrestle with, no matter what God has called you to do.

    Why are YOU here? Why you? Why not someone else?

    He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

    Ephesians 2:10 The Message

  • Dad’s and Technology

    Yup, we’ve all had a moment like this with our parents.

    How’s your German this morning? 

  • The reasonable middle

    It’s been my experience that really, really wealthy people are a bit nutty. Most people know that even if they’ve never met really, really wealthy people. So we collectively and instinctively know there’s money in the extremes. 

    And it’s these extremes you see people appealing to these days. Appealing to the extremes is always a sign of desperation!

    The vast majority of the population lives in the reasonable middle. Resonate with the middle of the market and you’re as golden as Wal*Mart or as profitable as Apple or as popular as Adele. That’s the middle 70% of the market… the fat part of the bell curve.

    But businesses and political leaders know that they can make a quick buck by appealing to an extreme, where someone with deep pockets will fund them. The logic is that even if their political position or business isn’t good enough to make it with the general population… if you go far enough to one of the crazy extrmemes some billionaire will fund you.

    Dollar Per Person

    It’s a dollar-per-person game. If you appeal to the middle 70% you can get $20 or $30 per person. But if you appeal to a nutty billionaire you can increase that to $5 million per person.

    Oooo….

    That’s why some Christian organizations can be so extreme and survive with so little support. And that’s why a couple of the Republican candidates are still in the race. They aren’t good enough to appeal to the middle, where actual viability is. But if they move far enough to the extremes where a sugar daddy will fund them.

    Unfortunately for the extremes… the middle always wins in the long run. Getting popular always moves you to the middle. Why? Because that’s what most of us are.

    The reasonable middle. 

  • Open Journalism

    So this is how The Guardian, a U.K.-based news entity, would like to see themselves. They are the hero allowing justice to flow through the free and open exchange of information. In their vision The Guardian isn’t necessarily a news agency but rather a conduit by which emerging facts and opinions flow. In their vision, as a conduit for new media, people get the information they need to revolt against the government.

    It’s a very slick commercial. And it’s not a bad vision for a news agency.

    But does anyone really believe that this is who the big players in the news work? 

  • The Problem with the Cause of the Week

    “Oh, I’m so going to use that with my students.”

    This week it was the Kony 2012 video. (And the backlash) Next week it’ll be something else because our cycle of interest is now about 96 hours.

    As the video went viral all of my youth ministry groups on Facebook were littered with questions from youth pastors asking, “How can we best use this video for our youth group?”

    I think that we are too fast to want to use everything as a resource or teachable moment.

    In fact, I think we often hide behind our role as a leader to become plastic. We don’t allow things to impact us because we look at everything from a lens of, “How can I use this?”

    And that’s a very cheap way to engage our life on earth. It denies our own human experience to go from one thing we can promote to another. And we get excited about getting people excited about stuff more than we get excited about getting ourselves to really understand stuff.

    I don’t know all that is behind this leadership instinct to rush to resource instead of allowing ourselves to be impacted. But, for me, I think it’s built around my insecurity. I want to be seen as compassionate to child slavery [or whatever the cause of the week is] more than I actually want to personally do something about it. I am quick to give a few dollars but slow to understand how my daily actions may be funding child slavery.

    No more distractions

    Perhaps the bigger thing, speaking purely for myself, is that I know I need to walk away from the cause of the week sometimes because it becomes a distraction from my cause of every week.

    I cannot escape these priorities in my life.

    1. My own relationship with Jesus is more important than the cause of the week.
    2. Jesus has called me to invest in my family. 
    3. Jesus has called me to love my neighbors as myself. Not a metaphorical neighbor, the people who live on my block.
    4. Jesus has called me to dig in at my church. 
    5. Jesus has called me to my work. 

    In light of this, the cause of the week really isn’t all that important.

    Investing in my relationship with Jesus is more important than leading a discussion about Kony 2012. Having a great conversation with my kids is more important than telling them about Kony 2012. Leaning on the fence and listening to my neighbor is more important than telling them about Kony 2012. Leaning in and engaging with my small group is more important than plugging Kony 2012. Working hard and pushing through my work is more important than caring about Kony 2012.

    See, I don’t think the cause of the week is bad. Not at all. But I do think things like this are a big distraction, for me, from my priorities. And if things like that do impact me, I need to allow them to really and truly matter to me before I think about involving other people.

  • Overcome by Evil

    There’s a whole lot of saber rattling going on these days. Why? Because fear sells better than sex right now. 

    • The stock market is up 80%+ since March 2009.There’s a whole lot of money being made while the media scares you with news of recession.
    • Crime is at historic lows. But there’s a whole lot of money made selling you things you don’t need like home alarm systems and guns. Gun sales are through the roof because the NRA scares people into thinking Obama is going to make handguns illegal.
    • An entire segment of our economy is built around the 401k. A primary method people get you to invest in your 401k? Fear. Fear that you won’t have the lifestyle “you deserve” and fear that Social Security will go bankrupt. Tell me what would happen to a president who ended social security. Yeah, it’s not going to happen. Ever.

    On and on. Much of our society and huge parts of our economy exist because their marketing keeps you fearful so you spend. It’s a distinctly American thing.

    Economic theory says that once you start paying into something, even if it is a factual lie, you believe it because your money is there. (Want to see this in action? Listen to an IT professional try to tell you why a PC laptop is better than a MacBook. They really believe it and it’s completely ludicrous.)

    The church isn’t far behind. We have learned that if we can scare parents that they will stick around. (And the church is infatuated with marketing right now. How many times has Seth Godin spoken at Catalyst now?)

    • Want to raise money? Scare parents by telling them that without ____ their children won’t follow Jesus.
    • Want to plant a church? Cite a bunch of stats about the churches decline. They’ll never ask about your strategy, just give you money.

    You get the idea. We are trying to grow our churches with marketing schemes… and it’s not working, in case you haven’t noticed. 

    Here’s the thing: Creating a culture of fear in your ministry is not good news. It’s fools gold. It might draw some people but you’re drawing the wrong people. This is a major reason you can’t do anything in your church– you’ve drawn a crowd of scared people.

    Last time I checked we weren’t asked to lead people into a life of making decisions based on fear. That’s the opposite of what Paul teaches…

    Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

    – Romans 12:21