Monthly Archives: February 2008

Incomparable… what we get from God

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Reading in Ephesians this a.m. I came across a word that raised my eyebrows, “Incomparable.”

Oh, by the way, this is a journal entry for me so if you don’t like the use of the word “I” or confession, I encourage you to go to your happy place where everything is beautiful and all the saints sing Kumbaya around a perfect little campfire. ;-)

OK, back to it…

St. Paul uses this word three times in Ephesians. Here are the references:

  • 1:17 – St. Paul is praying that we would come to know God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe.”
  • 2:7 – He is teaching that God has graciously saved us from our destructive way of life and the consequences of it (both temporal and eternal) and given us a new life, “in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
  • 3:19 – St. Paul prays that we may, “know this love [of God] that surpasses knowledge– that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (“Surpasses” is the same Greek word that is translated “incomparable” in the other two verses.)

As I encounter these words I am humbled, frustrated, and excited.

  • I am humbled that God has power, grace, and love for me that are incomparable by any measure. On my best days I’m pretty good. Far too often though, I’m a jerk who needs some pretty strong correction from my Heavenly Father. And yet in spite of how I view myself, or how others view me, my Father has LOADS of power, love and grace to give me.
  • I am frustrated that I’m so distracted and busy that I regularly pass by these extraordinary offerings from my Father. What the heck am I thinking? While I don’t say these exact words, my lifestyle far too often says to God, “I’m sorry. I can’t accept your gifts of immeasurable power, grace, and love because I have a book to read, an e-mail to send, and a strategy to develop. I’ll get around to getting this gift at some other point.” That’s like (excuse the lame metaphor) passing up a filet mignon for a booger. What am I doing!?! GRRRRR…
  • I’m excited because I know that God has invested so much in me, the child of His love, that He’s not going to pull His amazing gifts off the table any time soon (check out this verse!)! It’s not to late! I can still receive! I am repenting of my ridiculous oversight and and humbly coming to my loving, gracious Father with my hands out.

I realize that too often I live in the world of the antonym. My common experience with God is “mediocre” and “ordinary.”

My Father has invited me to live in the realm of the extraordinary… the incomparable… the unrivaled experience!

My friend, JR Lee, says that he wants to live in the realm of the unexplainable… I think that’s what God wants for him, me, and all who believe in Him.

Julie Miller is an all star

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A big part of starting a brand new church is raising funds!

Every month I write an update and send it out to our Connection Partners.

Our Connection Partners are those people that receive the monthly update. Many of these partners are supporting us either through prayer and/or finances! Our salary this year is being underwritten by these generous, visionary partners!

OK, enough of that…

The point of this post is to celebrate an incredible lady!

Every month after I write the letter, Julie Miller takes over! She cuts, folds, stuffs, stamps, and sends the letters! I am so grateful for Julie!

Today Julie was joined by another all-star… Vinnie!

I celebrate these guys and consider them to be an integral part of this process!

Leadership Lessons from Tony Dungy (part 5)

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  • If you want loyalty from your team, be loyal to them. Stick by your teammates when the chips are down.
  • Don’t be scared to defy the experts. Maybe someday they’ll look to you as the trend setter.
  • When you’ve made your hire, don’t second guess yourself by wondering how things would have been if you would have picked someone else. Either teach them or fire them.
  • “There’s no time during the game to look back; the play clock is running.”
  • Sometimes we just mess up. “Just because a decision is deliberate doesn’t mean hindsight won’t make it clearer. And walking closely with the Lord, trusting Jesus, and looking to the Bible for guidance doesn’t guarantee that we’ll always make the right decision.” When we mess up, we don’t whine or wonder what would be if we had done it differently; we simply learn and move on.

Some waddup

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Life in bullet points. Ahhhh… it’s great to be simple!

  • It snowed today!

  • I was able to spend some time with JR Lee and Todd Lollis the lead pastor and executive pastor from Freedom Church. I’ve learned a lot from these guys and always count it an honor to spend time with them! We talked about systems in the church while we sat in a freezing cold office… it’s a long story! :-)
  • Next Wednesday I’ll be heading out for a missions trip to Las Vegas. We’ll be serving Grace Point Church, pastored by Devin Hudson, and helping in the community. I’m looking forward to that!
  • I’m handling my e-mail differently because I downloaded and read “The Low Information Diet: How To Eliminate E-Mail Overload and Triple Productivity in 24 Hours.” You can have it too by clicking here.
  • Rindy and I are doing a lot of work on our systems! You can check out the progress on the Walls Down Blog.
  • Did I mention that it snowed here today?
  • Sherri had a birthday last weekend and for the second year in a row I surprised the socks off of her! I arranged with one of her best friends to secretly fly down here and spend the weekend with her! Her husband and I provided childcare and Sherri and Jess enjoyed each others company for the whole day on Saturday! Rock on with your bad self Mr. Paul Peterson!

Don’t leave the wounded

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Last night I talked with a friend of mine who used to be in ministry.

I have several friends who used to be in ministry.

There was a time in my life when I was close to joining the ranks of those who used to be in ministry.

Why is “used to be in ministry” becoming such a common descriptor?

Ministry as a vocation is a complex profession. Most ministers are expected to be:

  • Theologians - they are expected to be “experts” in the things of God
  • Leaders - they are expected to cast “vision” for the church, to set the course, to have a plan, etc.
  • Managers - they are expected to manage staffs, volunteers, etc.
  • Care-givers – they are the ones called on to do funerals, comfort the sick, pray for the suffering, etc.
  • Counselors - they are asked what to do when marriages are falling apart, addictions have become public, etc.
  • Administrators - they create and send out the board meeting agendas, lead the meetings, handle the “business” of the church, etc.
  • Financial planners & CFR’s (Chief Fund Raisers) – they are the ones everyone looks at when the church encounters financial hard times
  • Model husbands/wives – they are the ones that everyone expects to have it together. After all, if you’re going to teach on it… shouldn’t you be doing it?
  • Model parents – see the note above…
  • Etc.

And they are expected to do this consistently, under the pressure of everyone watching and far too often on a beggar’s income.

They receive far more criticism than praise.

Their vision is often subjected to the whims of a board member who has the leverage of money or influence based on tenure.

They are talked about and to but, not often enough, with.

Their families are subjected to criticism and the cold shoulder of church members who are at odds with the pastor.

They, too often, do not have job security (i.e. the bishop can move them or the congregation can vote them out).

They are too often underpaid, overworked, under-appreciated, and constantly overwhelmed with the greatness of their calling, and way to commonly called on to do this… alone.

So one can understand why the phrase “used to be in ministry” is a common descriptor among clergy types.

Here’s what’s tearing my heart apart…

There are too many “used to be in ministry” types that are wounded with no one to care for them.

They hurt and yet smile.

They have all the answers and yet none of those answers seems to quell the pain of betrayal and the guilt they feel as they walk away from ministry.

They are too often:

  • a “good riddance” to the people they pastored
  • forgotten by their denominational leaders
  • “prayed” for and used as illustrations by their fellow clergy members
  • almost irrelevant in this world as they stumble about trying to find a place to fit in… discontent because they were carved out for ministry but to wounded to press on

As I talked with my friend last night I asked him how he felt about the church (at large) over these last few years.

He said that in the three years since he’s left ministry I was the only person who has followed up with him. He’s not the only person saying this.

Why do we do this to our soldiers? Why do we leave them?

Please, if you know someone who “used to be in ministry” do this:

  • Call them and let them know you’re thinking about them
  • Take them out for lunch and ask how they’re doing
  • Send them a card
  • Send them an e-mail
  • Give them a hug
  • Tell them of some way they have positively impacted you

Please do something! We’ve let our wounded lay for to long.

It’s time to go back and pick up the hurting and care for those who “used to be in ministry.”

Leadership Lessons from Tony Dungy (part 4)

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  • Figure out what to do and then do what you do.
  • “Thank God both as a gracious loser and as a grateful winner.”
  • Do what we do. Whatever it takes. No excuses, no explanations.
  • “If you tell people what needs to be done, they will do it – if they believe you and your motives for telling them.”
  • Pay attention to every area of your life. Slacking in one area will negatively impact the whole you. “Champions know it’s all important.”

Leadership Lessons from Tony Dungy (part 3)

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  • “The best way to achieve success [...] is by attention to detail and a commitment to the fundamentals – doing the ordinary things better than anyone else.”
  • “Whatever it takes. No excuses. No explanations.”
  • There will always be adversity. You either adjust or you crumble. Leaders adjust and help their team do the same.
  • Put your team in tough situations and you’ll quickly discover their character.
  • Doing well “under the circumstances” doesn’t cut it. “We couldn’t let circumstances matter. If things got unusually tough, for whatever reason, we still had to function and get the job done.” The fact that Tony led his team to a Super Bowl championship just weeks after his son committed suicide proves that he lives this way.

Working on Systems

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Today I’m listening to and taking a lot of notes from Nelson Searcy’s teaching on systems.

Systems, the “how we do it” part of an organization, are such a critical part of any organization, but particularly to the church!

We are pouring a TON of energy and time into developing the systems of Walls Down Church!

A few resources we’ve found helpful are:

How are we working on our systems?

We have developed a blog called “The Walls Down Way” in which we are working through our systems.

This is NOT rocket science and neither does it require genius! It simply requires that you put pen to paper and write out your plan… and then work it.

I’m linking to this blog so that you can see what it looks like to begin developing systems. As you will see, our systems are all still in the construction phase with plenty of editing left to be done.

You may agree or disagree with what you see… that is not important. What is important is that each system is being thought through and written down.

And with no further delay… the link to our systems blog.

Leadership Lessons from Tony Dungy (part 2)

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More leadership nuggets from Tony Dungy…

  • Treat your staff as if they will be senior leaders someday. Let them learn, under the safety of your leadership, things that someday they will have to be/do as a senior leader.
  • “There are certain bridges that are not worth crossing, no matter what others think. Loyalty and relationships are more important.”
  • Learn how to balance short term success and long term stability by paying attention to vision and details.
  • “If you’re going to be a good teacher, you can’t just teach the A students. A good teacher is one who helps everyone earn an A.” Dr. Wil Dungy (Tony’s dad)
  • When building a team, take your time. Go after people you want, not just people who are available. Don’t let time pressure force you to make a bad choice.

Leadership Lessons from Tony Dungy (part 1)

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I typically don’t enjoy reading autobiographies and biographies, but because I’m confident that they add value and perspective to the other reading that I’m doing I’m committed to working through them.

Crazy enough, I’m actually beginning to enjoy sitting at the feet of great people as they tell me their stories!

Recently I wrapped up Tony Dungy’s book Quiet Strength and found a TON of great insight and inspiration packed in this book.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting some of my favorite take-aways from his book! (You can buy it here)

Here we go…

  • Complaining only wastes time. When life is tough or unfair spend your time figuring out how to get through it successfully.
  • “Blanket rules don’t always fit every individual. I need to treat everybody fairly, but fair doesn’t always mean equal.”
  • Hard work may take you further than natural skills. “The truth is that most people have a better chance to be uncommon by effort than by natural gifts. Anyone could give that effort in his or her chosen endeavor, but the typical person doesn’t, choosing to do only enough to get by.”
  • Don’t make your team guess about the tough stuff. Be clear and timely with information that will have a negative impact on the team.
  • Don’t make promises that unanticipated events will make you break.