• The harvest is coming!



    Yellow tomatoes, originally uploaded by mclanea.

    Yesterday Paul and I were doing our daily look through the garden. He leaned in and yelled, “Daddy, check this out! We’ve got lots of tomatoes!”

    In just a couple of weeks all of our summer garden plants will mature and start producing produce. We can’t wait!

  • Church Leaders Love Status Quo

    Yesterday, a friend of mine sent me a link to a blog post by John Ortberg, a very successful author and pastor in the Bay Area of California.

    The blog post is titled, “Stop Trying to Change the World” and is aimed at people like me and you.

    Ultimately, we’re not the ones in the world-changing business. Our claims otherwise imply that history and humanity can be controlled and managed through human efforts. And–partly because of the law of unintended consequences–those attempts always end up doing more harm than good.

    Only God can change the world.
    Christianity is not first and foremost about creating values or establishing justice or championing righteous.
    It is about the greatest good:
    God Himself.

    Now, I understand that the blog title was written as a bait & switch to draw people like me into a discussion as his rhetoric quickly comes down from the bold title. And I understand that there’s a good chance Dr. Ortberg didn’t even really write the blog post since he likely has people to do that for him.

    But my thought for John Ortberg is pretty simple. I can see why you’d be against people in the church changing anything that might rock the boat. You’ve got it pretty good.

    Isn’t he breaking the rich-white-guy rule? Aren’t rich white men, based on his zip code he’s probably in the top 5% of earners in the United States, who live in comfortable suburbs full of gated communities supposed to either be all about social justice or just not talk about it at all?

    Speaking out against change… seems kind of out-of-place for a guy who writes books called “If You Want to Walk on Water You Have to Get Out of the Boat.”

    I don’t know which passage of Scripture leads Mr. Ortberg to say, “He says that because of the way power is widely viewed in our day, talk about ‘redeeming the culture’ or ‘transforming the world’ is largely understood as implying conquest, take-over, or domination. It means ‘our side will defeat your side by coercing everyone to do what we want.” The way I see church history, it’s precisely this tactic of seeking justice and serving the local community that lead to the rapid spread of Christianity! As the church cared for widows, orphans, lepers, and stood up for the oppressed, the church became an unstoppable force in culture because armies could destroy a community or people but the love that lived within and gave freedom both physically and in people’s hearts was unstoppable! Within 400 years of Christ, the emperor of Rome gave his heart to Jesus!

    Ortberg paraphrases the Jews in Babylonian exile as an example of God’s people being blessed for not changing the world. He neglects to mention why the Jews were in exile in the first place!

    The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and spared neither young man nor young woman, old man or aged. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar. He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there. 2 Chronicles 36:15-19

    And why did God hand them over the Nebuchadnezzar? Let’s see what those prophets, aka the Book of Jeremiah, whom God’s people mocked, had to say:

    • “I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.” Jeremiah 2:7
    • “I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?” Jeremiah 2:21
    • “Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!” Jeremiah 4:18
    • “This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:23-24
    • “You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” Jeremiah 12:1

    I could go on. But anyone can read Jeremiah and see that the Jews weren’t exiled to Babylon to be some kind of faithful presence among the Babylonians. The Jews were taken into exile because they sinned against God, making a mockery of the law, and suffered a 400+ year timeout!

    I’m positive I am reading Mr. Orberg’s words incorrectly. Certainly, no pastor and Christian leader really thinks that the church is not supposed to be an agent of change within its own community?

    Certainly, we are not called to maintain a status quo when thousands of people in our country are sold as sexual slaves, millions oppressed by banks in debt they can never get out of, our economy completely dependent on illegal immigrants for our way of life while not granting those individuals basic civil rights the majority enjoys, and churches who gleefully oppress and belittle the people they are called to reach.

    Certainly the church is called to help our country, a nation full of no-fault divorce, more than half the kids living in single-parent homes, crumbling schools systems, a prison system over-flowing, drug-addiction, porn-addiction, on and on… right?

    Are we?

    Or maybe I’m just immature and idealistic.

  • What you know and how you motivate others

    If you think I made this up, here’s the Wikipedia page about this philosophy. Now you know about it, it’s a known known to you.

    Here’s the original clip. Like they say on NBC, now you know. And G.I. Joe says it best, knowing is half the battle.

  • Barack Takes Leno to School

    Whatever side of the aisle you hang out on, this was pretty funny. Love that our president doesn’t take himself too seriously.

  • 5 Things I Love about Mailchimp

    I’ve been a Mailchimp customer since July 2007. And unlike most web apps, my love for them is growing over time! I joined them because I loved their user interface and fun loving attitude.

    Here are 5 quick things I love about Mailchimp.

    1. Easter Eggs. Today was the perfect example. The picture above is their login screen. I wasn’t expecting it and it made me giggle. There’s also some funny stuff built into the site that will keep you laughing. I use Mailchimp several hours per week… it never gets old.
    2. Geo-location emails. Lemme tell you. As a guy who manages some big email lists I adore this new feature. If I’m doing a meet-up or an event, I can very easily send to users within 50, 100, 0r 150 miles. No more zip code segmentation!
    3. Easy autoresponders and mail merge tags. One of the reasons why people hate getting email marketing is that it feels so canned and impersonal. Mailchimp makes personalization and follow-up, even in an automated way, super simple. So I can set-up autoresponders to go to people who just signed up for my mailing list, have an upcoming birthday, or even haven’t opened emails recently. Love. Love. LOVE IT!
    4. Templates galore. When I first started using Mailchimp I was impressed that they had 30-40 templates to chose from. This is now basically infinite. They have tons of free stuff to use as well as the ability to easily import custom designs… or even turn ANY webpage into an email template. The chimp that came up with that needs an extra banana.
    5. Customer service. I’m a royal pain-in-the-neck customer. I’m always pushing the envelop and trying to use their service to its fullest. These folks are amazing. They take it all in stride. They bend over backwards to help. And they have a philosophy of educating their customer as opposed to just fixing stuff for you. For a bunch of chimps, they are really friendly. When we were doing NYWC in Atlanta last fall they were even polite enough to open up their offices to let me walk around and be a fan for a while.

    I didn’t even mention the price. If you have a list under 500 subscribers, they are free. Even for bigger lists (like my Youth Specialties stuff) they are super cost-effective.

    And since I am on a roll. There are some incredible power-user features. They seamlessly integrate with Google docs, Eventbrite, Salesforce, Highrise… and a few other things I haven’t even explored yet.

  • Some McLane Creative Jives

    There’s a lot going on with the funkier side of my life. That is, the fun projects I take on to fill my waking moments and force me to learn new skillz about all things design, social media, and WordPress.

    Here’s the last three:

    San Diego Spiritual Directors Association | WordPress theme

    markoestreicher.com | WordPress theme w/custom landing page which we’ll continue to morph

    Youth Ministry Advance Team: Haiti | Social media strategy & branding

    What’s next? I have a couple more smallish projects that will wrap-up by the end of May. Beyond that? I’m open. I’ve learned that although there are way more people looking for WordPress design, social media strategy, and other design stuff… I need to be picky. If I’m not energized by a project than I just have no enthusiasm to do it. Since this is what I’m doing as a hobby– I’m not tempted to do projects I don’t give a hoot about.

    In general, McLane Creative (it’s not just me, I’ve got friends who I sub-contract with) can handle 2-3 projects per month. Any more than that and it stops being fun.

    If you’re looking for someone to do a WordPress theme or do some general web design or talk social media strategy, head over to my contact page and we can chat.

    Just a note: I love helping people fix their broken WordPress blogs. If you regularly bust your blog and want my occasional help, I’m happy to put you on an annual retainer. (aka My kids college fund)

  • 5 Spiritual Lessons Learned from Gardening

    More than pretty and tasty. These plants are teaching us.

    We are new gardeners. Our insane 2010 goal of either growing or buying 25% of our families food from a local farmers market has pushed us into a crash course in agriculture.

    In March and April we planted our second season of vegetables as well as double the amount of property dedicated to veggies. It’s out-of-control in a very fun way!

    Along the way we’ve been learning some valuable lessons. Interestingly, these lessons have fantastic spiritual significance as well.

    Here are 5 spiritual lessons we’ve learned from gardening:

    1. What you water grows. This is especially true in San Diego’s arid climate. Now that the rains have stopped, if I don’t add a plant to my irrigation system, it might as well not exist. The same is true in my walk with Christ. Areas of my life which I pay attention to… grow. Areas of my life which I don’t water… die.
    2. Weed regularly. Weeds are deceptive. You won’t notice them starting, but before you know it they are choking out your veggies, stealing water and nutrients from your plants, and reproducing. The rule in the garden is simple: If you see a weed, pick it! You shouldn’t wait for “weeding day” because by than it’ll be a lot more work and the weeds may have reproduced. The same is true in my walk with Jesus. I have to weed out sin before it becomes habit. Confession and repentance can’t be saved for Sunday.
    3. Sharing the harvest is fun. Being new to gardening and desperate not to fail, we’ve planted way too much of some things. This has lead to some massive harvests! Rather than just let that food rot, we’ve taken great pleasure in sharing our tangerines, lettuce, carrots, and other stuff with our friends and neighbors. The same is true of my time with Jesus. Now that I’ve raised my own food I get the gist of what it means to both give my first fruits to God. (First fruits aren’t always the most choice harvests, but they are the most anticipated!) Likewise, sharing the harvest of stuff God is doing in my life brings others the same type of joy that they experience when I hand them a bag of fruit.
    4. Plant in the right season. Kristen and I have a desire to plant stuff that we want to eat. While that makes sense, and San Diego is particularly forgiving since we have year-round pleasant weather, there is a big difference between something we plant that is in-season vs. something we’ve planted that was actually out-of-season. While both grow– one grows correctly while the others growth is retarded by its circumstances. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve planted an idea at the wrong time. My walk with Jesus is a constant battle between my desire to do stuff now versus waiting for the right time.
    5. Space is required for growth. We’ve been learning this the hard way. It’s hard to imagine how much room a vegetable is going to need when you grow it from seed or buy a seedling that is in a 5 inch pot. We have one tomato plant right now that was so tiny I wasn’t sure it would take off. But it has since grown into a massive bush over 5 feet tall that is choking out its neighbors! The same is true in my life with Christ. When I give people enough room (or make enough room for myself) to grow… people fill it up. When I constrict or confine growth is choked out.

  • Facilitating Independence

    Strong opinion warning.

    I’m not a fan of adult children living at home. It’s one thing if you’re on break from school and you’re a temporary visitor. It’s another thing when you’re able bodied. I’d even argue that the best thing for 18 year olds staying local for community college would be to kick them out of the house.

    Trust me. They won’t die of exposure.

    My opinion is that coddling teenagers leads to dependency. From a sociological perspective, I hypothesize adult coddling of teenagers and young adults has lead to an elongation of adolescence. (Some say it ends at 26? Crazy.) Likewise, raising a child from an early age with the goal that they will become happy, healthy, and independent young adults will prepare them for the swift kick that comes after high school graduation.

    Enter Lisa.

    I was Lisa’s youth pastor when she was in high school. She’s the eldest child from a great family. She worked hard in high school, was faithful to God, her parents, and a dedicated student. She’d be the first to tell you that she wasn’t perfect in high school. But something in Lisa’s character kept me investing in her. When she was a sophomore she and a few others started showing up for a 6 am Bible study. I thought they’d come for 2-3 weeks… and to my amazement we kept it going for almost 2 years! After high school she headed off to Grace College where she’ll earn a degree in just a few weeks with an emphasis on criminal justice and adolescence psychology.

    Last November, I was on a flight using the wifi late at night when we struck up a conversation on Facebook chat. Inevitably, I asked the question: “So what do you want to do when you grow up? What’s next?”

    She had some ideas but expressed some frustration. She really wanted to go back home to Michigan but feared that she’d either not find a decent job at all or be forced to give up her dream of working with teenagers. Let’s face it– Michigan is a tough place to be a recent college grad.

    I was afraid for her. My fear was that she’d move home, not find a decent job, end up in  something like minimum wage… unhappy and stuck in a cycle of paying off student loans by doing jobs that she wasn’t passionate about– and living at home.

    I offered a potential solution we both agreed to pray about it.

    What if you moved in with us, watched our kids during their summer break, and spent the summer chasing some of those social justice dreams by volunteering with San Diego-based non-profits?

    Lo and behold after a month or so of praying about it we all agreed it’d be worth a shot.

    Starting in June Lisa is coming to live with us. She has the first 6 weeks of time with us to volunteer for some non-profits. (We’re basically paying her to be a volunteer!) Than the second half of the time her concentration will shift to watching our kids when school ends July 15th.

    We pray it’s a win-win. She gains some experience and exposure to what God is doing in the social justice community in San Diego. And our kids have a sweet nanny.

    The hope, naive as it may be, that this will be a “halfway house” type of experience. We hope that through this experience that she’ll be able to find a permanent job, land a place to stay, and move on at the end of the summer to the next phase in her life. (Probably grad school being in the not-too-far distance.)

    Independence is possible. We just need to facilitate it as opposed to fostering dependency.

    This is how we’re helping a societal problem. How are you?

  • Why Christianity Works

    On my trip up the West Coast we’ve been meeting with youth workers in a variety of settings and a wide variety of types of youth ministries. And in those conversations we talk about what’s going on in their ministry, what they are teaching, what’s working, and what isn’t.

    Now, youth workers love people. And they don’t just want to talk about themselves– so invariably they in turn ask me the same types of questions.

    Here is one thing that has stimulated our high schoolers thoughts lately. This video actually covers the last month of our teaching in just 3 minutes.

    A funny sidenote. As I’ve talked about before, our high school ministry is working hard to not just talk about Good News but to literally be good news to the students in our ministry. All of our core kids have limited church background. And every week God reveals a new way we need to be good news in order for the gospel to be Good News in their lives.

    So, last week we taught the third portion of this video– that Jesus came to make a way to restore our hearts as well as the world around us.

    In our small group time I gave an example from my own life about what it would look like if the Gospel penetrated into the way I think about being a dad compared to the way that I was brought up. A few of my students were really tracking with that because there is something within them that wants to be better fathers to their future kids than they’ve experienced.

    As one of my kids got it, he blurted out “It’s good that God sent Jesus so we could be part of making things better. If he had just left us in that other mess, that’d be bulls**t.”

    I kind of laughed when he said it. As a churchified person I was a little uncomfortable with how he put it. But I was also appreciative that God had just illuminated a deep truth about Himself in this young mans heart. I looked at him with a big grin… “I think that’s good, too. God’s no bullsh**ter. That’s why we call it Good News.”

  • Some pics from my trip

    Here are a few iPhone pictures from my trip to the Pacific Northwest.