3 questions with Phil

Back up to New York State (Troy, NY to be exact) for a visit with Phil Taylor, Executive Pastor of Terra Nova Church. Phil is a family man... husband of straight-shooter (her best trait) Aimee... and loving father of Lily, Eve and baby #3 (who's on the way). Phil is a conservative, normal, Canadian-born (yes there are normal Canadians), pastor's kid ... who is following in his dad's footsteps and finds himself called to this artsy, eclectic, missional church.

Phil candidly describes his role at Terra as organizer/ manager/ preacher/ teacher/ counselor/ shepherd/ systems analyst/ vision implementer. His pet project is Theology at the Taproom, where members meet monthy to discuss Theology at a local bar. In his bio Phil confesses to having 2 life principals which drive him:

(1) Life is about the journey—not the destination. Stagnation is nothing more than the beginning of death.

(2) Life and faith must be lived in the context of community. This is where we learn and love and know and discover and fail and hurt and ultimately, it’s where we will spend eternity.

I've never seen a place like Terra Nova up close, so I'm excited to get onto the questions:

Q: Phil how would you describe Terra Nova?
A: Terra Nova Church is a growing community of historically informed Christ followers intent on discovering fresh ground together. Our goal is to share the ancient truths of Christ in a culturally relevant way through teaching, music, art and media.

Q: In general how do you like to describe the church?
A: As a self replicating network of incarnational access points. Say what? Okay let me explain. Self replicating means that things should grow virally in the church, rather than building a system that constantly requires one-figurehead lead or start every new thing. For example, we tell our New Tribes (small groups) that it is their job to find someone in their group to train up and send out. Every group identifies 1 new leader to develop and send out in 10 months. We as pastors can’t go out and train everyone up… the network needs to be growing it self from the inside.

Incarnational access points means that I incarnate Christ in the place I live Christ. I become an access point to Christ where I do life. The incarnation is Christ being lived out through you. Just like when Jesus took human form.. He incarnated God to humanity in the form of a man so that we could look at Him and touch Him. We are called to live our lives as a sacrifice just as Christ lived as a sacrifice. We are doing what Christ did as he lived on the earth.

We see ourselves as monastics and missionaries. Sunday morning is monastic time. Sunday morning is a time for Christians. It is time for the monastery to come together to be fed, trained and to worship. Sometimes non-Christians are there witnessing out worship. We welcome them as guests and acknowledge them... but we don’t design Sunday with the non-Christian in mind. Then we go out as missionaries. We are the church... we are Christ at the at the local art conference, at the soccer game, etc. We take the church out into our community.

Q: What is the biggest challenge your church leadership is facing in LEADING that type of church?
A: Balancing the wonderfully organic free-for-all with some guidelines for the direction and nature of replication. The great thing about a self-replicating network is that people really latch onto the idea that fulfilling the mission is in their hands. But it is dangerous too because people come up with some really crazy ideas on their own… and they want the Terra Nova stamp of approval on every idea they come up with.

Some things are just too weird and others are not strategically aligned how we feel called to extend our missional footprint. So here are some guidelines we've adopted. We try to affirm individual missional expressions, mobilize corporate mission, and resource strategic mission. By affirming individual mission we are supporting the work of God in the individuals life without dilluting our local impact. By mobilizing and resourcing strategic missions we focus our resources and can really make an impact in a few areas.

Q: What is the biggest challenge your church is facing in BEING that type of church?
A: Raising up network administrators (small group leaders etc.). Training leaders is a challenge. But we don't just want to traing leaders... we want to train leaders who train leaders. One of the big mistakes we made early on was that we didn’t train leaders to train leaders. So we went back and had to re-train. The self-replicating part has been the challenge.

Q: What is this I hear about you having an art gallery.
A: That's right... Terra Nova Gallery is probably our biggest incarnational access point. Our office space is in a pretty hip part of town, so it doubles doubles as an art gallery. We let all sorts of artists put their stuff in there. We have new art ever 30 days. It is also where we have our kids classes and stuff... since we rent a space 100 feet away at Revolution Hall for our Sunday worship.

Here's the cool thing. On the last Friday of every month is Troy Night Out. It is a gallery hop event where hundreds of people who don’t come to our church come in to our gallery. We have wine & cheese and music playing. This gallery is part of who we are... it's part of our DNA. We knew that no in the area was reaching the art crowd and we are the art crowd. So the gallery is just a natural thing for us.

Phil good luck with baby #3 on the way.... eh. And thanks for sharing from some of the lessons you've learned.

3 questions with Kurt

Let's head down the Atlantic into the dirty south to Asheville, NC... where Kurt Hannah is the Lead Pastor of the 2 year old community called Missio Dei Church.

I first met Kurt nearly 10 years ago when he was still wet behind his spiritual ears. Since then he's married a beautiful women... got a bible college degree... finished seminary... had 3 kids... and started a church. Not a bad decade if you ask me. His passion for the gospel and heart for his city are unmistakable... so take it away Kurt.

Q: Kurt what would you say the church is like?
A: A community. I take this from the idea that God is developing a people called from and into their culture to live in such a way that they celebrate God's kingdom values already present, but challenge the values that are opposed to God's loving rule. Augustine spoke in terms of the City of God, which I like, but (and I hope this isn't a false humility) I realize that we're not the only church trying to live out the good news of God's kingdom in our town. Our city is made up of several communities which express the beauty and diversity of God's kingdom in various ways. As various Christian communities work together toward the building up of the Kingdom of God, we get a better picture of the City of God.

Q: What is the biggest challenge your church leadership is facing in LEADING that type of church?
A: The biggest challenge is getting everyone on the same page in terms of expectations. Ministries fail more often over conflicting values rather than conflicting visions. We can passionately agree that our people must live in the tension of embracing the culture while at the same time challenging sinful aspects of the culture. Sometimes the reality of the tension proves to be too much. Expectations for intimacy among people in the community are challenged and stretched when folks that don't believe the gospel are brought in and things can sour quickly.

Q: What is the biggest challenge your church is facing in BEING that type of church?
A: The biggest challenge the church is facing is definitely in the realm of balancing maintenance (the taking care of us) and mission (the taking care of those around us). Most congregations at some point have so succumb to caring for their own that they cannot relate to those around them, or they become so consumed with taking care of those around them that they neglect their own. Sunday morning worship expression often becomes the battleground for this tight rope walk. People want to feel comfortable to bring their unbelieving friends and relatives, while at the same time, having their own faith nourished.

Kurt I've got a BONUS QUESTION for you. I recently noticed your church's Lent Blog. Many Evangelical traditions have largely dismissed or avoided celebrating the Lent season. Why have you chosen to (re) introduce this season to your church?
A: As one of our core values states, "we value a connection to the community of faith around the world and throughout history because this is and has been God's primary way of revealing himself." This was a new thought to me several years back. I was listening to a sermon by Tim Keller that made me whince. He said, "God gave us a community before He gave us a book." That seemed strange coming out of the mouth of a guy as theologically conservative as Tim Keller, but the more I reflected on it, the more convinced I was of its truth. Our faith is not our own, we didn't come up with it and we certainly are not the sum total of the Christian faith. We share in a rich tradition of liturgies that point to Jesus. Lent is a season that allows us to remember and celebrate the suffering of Jesus as a community in ways that we don't always notice. So as a community, we fast together, we pray together, we "suffer" together and together we reflect the need for, desire for, satisfaction in, and glory of King Jesus.

Thanks Kurt... we'll pray for Missio Dei and Asheville.

3 questions with Leon

Next let's give the mic to Leon Hayduchok. One key decision in Leon's life was to attend Bucknell Universty... where his strongest accomplishment was meeting his lovely wife Anne-Marie. He is now the proud father of 3 lovely daughters.

He is the Teaching Pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Utica, NY (which history affectionately remembers as part of the burned-over district)... where he has served for 7 years. His control of the English language is formed by the schyzophrenic culmination of his Ukranian roots and his childhood Trenton up-bringing... and includes such winsome phrases as "go pound sand" and "that's bush league". But on to the questons:

Q: Leon what would you say the church is like?
A: A halfway house between the trees of Genesis 3 and Revelation 21-22. Life between the trees is full of broken relationships, false hopes, and feeble gods. The church is a place to honestly grapple with the trials of life so that we can faithfully continue the journey towards Revelation 22.

Life between the trees is full of conflict. We constantly fight for control or attempt to align align ourselves with those in control. The role of the church is NOT to be a place where we create or exert control. It should be a place where we are honest and come clean…. and rather than pretending to be better than we are… it should be a place to come out of hiding and taking off the mask… relinquishing our obsession with control.

I believe that the essence of sin is my declaring independence from God and a desire to be in control of my life. And we even present the gospel in a way which plays to people's desire for control. If you respond to the gospel out of a desire to take control of your future instead of relinquishing control of it then you’re placing your faith in a false gospel.

(At this point Leon is really jacked up... I've definitely hit a nerve here... so I give him a minute to breathe before moving on to the next question. To hear more on these thoughts listen to Leon's series "Between the Trees" from July-August 2007)

Q: What is the biggest challenge your church leadership is facing in LEADING that type of church?
A: Exhaustion. It's painful and tiring leading people towards greater understanding that our hope is not in the things of this world. It is tiring because,we are in a culture where we’ve done a pretty good job of mitigating the curse (of Genesis 3). Life is pretty comfortable. It is hard to lead people to believe that this world & it's patterns will pass way. Our churches have assumed the systems of the world and it is hard to lead people to something better... when people are just looking for relief from pain & comfort in this world.

Q: What is the biggest challenge your church is facing in BEING that type of church?
A: Not getting sucked into the ways of the world... running from place to place with no extra time and resources. Our time is in demand these days… Just making it through the normal grind of life can consume us. Distracting us from a maintaining a proper perspective… that our worth & our value is not in any of this stuff we are spending most of our time doing… our worth needs to be in experiencing our trust relationship with God.

Something big recently happened to our church. We moved into the city. Why... because we were too comfortable in the suburbs and felt a calling to the city. It maximized discontinuity. Making a significant shift drew a line in the sand… saying are you in or are you out. The city is eclectic…. artsy… it's the hub of society. People who have needs have no cars. People who have needs live in the city. The widowed & the orpaned are largely in the city.

Once we moved, the challenge has become understanding how different the worldview is here in the city. We want to learn this so that we can know how to love & serve this city.

Leon thanks for thoughts and your passion. We will certainly pray for Cornerstone as you move into the city and serve it and love it.

3 Questions with Josh

Well I'm putting Josh Perry in the Budweiser Hot Seat first... to set the bar real high. I know Josh first of all as a dedicated family man. He puts his wife Sarah and 3 kids (Daniel, Jack & Alli Kate) at the top of his priority list. He is also winsome, funny, edgy, biblical and a darn good leader.

He is the lead pastor of Crew Community Church which is all of 2-3 years old. Crew is in the shadows of Marshall University in Huntington, WV and was started in Josh's living room from nothing more than a dream. Crew's Mission... Pursuing Christ with Passion... Presenting Christ with Purpose. Now on to the questions:

Q: Josh what would you say the church is like?
A: A city. Thank you Augustine (City of God). Thank you Erwin McManus and Mark Driscoll most recently. We are a community of people, a city, that sit under a king who has jurisdiction over every aspect of our life. Sex, marriage, money, career, diet, health, moral choices, environmental concerns. Everything.

We are also citizens of another city Huntington. Who we are also loyal to and has some jurisdiction in our life. We fully engage both cities. In Huntington we promote its welfare while remaining loyal to the King and promoting his agenda. It's both/and. And while living this kingdom life we demonstrate to Huntington that our city is good for Huntington by demonstrating that our city is different and better.

We don't do some things in our city that other city, Huntington, does. We don't have sex with our girlfriends. We don't divorce our husbands. Our wives choose motherhood over career. Our husbands take jobs that give them time with their family rather than the highest paying jobs. We study and work hard with integrity and take the grade that brings rather than cheat. We don't kill babies; we take in pregnant women who are in crisis to live with us. We vacation in 3rd world countries to serve them. Just a few examples of how our city is different than the big city.

Q: What is the biggest challenge your church leadership is facing in LEADING that type of church?
A: Teaching this to our church. This is a foreign concept to many of us. Including mature believers. We're innovative in our methods and so this will attract believers to our church who are from more performance based churches that see the church as a business. That's not us. We attract dechurched folks back to church that grew up in a church around here where church is family. That doesn't define us either. There is a business and family aspect to our community. But that would not be our defining trait. So it's constant vision casting, instructing, keeping on message.

Q: What is the biggest challenge your church is facing in BEING that type of church?
A: Walking the line of being a part of both cities without syncretizing or being separatistic. We don't want to overstep the line and become too much like Huntington so that we lose our message because we're not distinctive. At other times in trying to hold our distinction we could become unnecessarily separated from our city and therefore lose our impact.

Thanks for your keen answers Josh and we'll be praying for the Crew. Hey... now that Rich Rodriguez has gone to the team up North... does Marshall have a chance in this years "Friends of Coal Bowl"?

3 questions... Kick-off

I'm kicking off a week long series called "3 Questions" where I will pose three questions about the church to a different pastor each day, then share their answers with you.

Each guy is different. They are in a different part of the country. They are in a different cultural context. They have different roles in their church. They have different likes and different opinions... but each has a strong opinion about the church.

Each guy is similar. Every one is seminary trained and is quite comfortable reflecting on and critiquing their own tradition. Every one is a local church practioner... meaning they are hands on in the ministry of the local church. Every one is in there 30's... and in my opinion represent the next generation of church leaders.

Every day you'll be introduced to a new young church leader and some of their ideas. So I'm excited to hear what they have to say and possibly to introduce you to the future of the church. Oh and to give you a head start... here are the 3 questions:

1. The church is like a _____. Explain.
2. What is the biggest challenge your church leadership is facing in leading that type of church?
3. What is the biggest challenge your church is facing in being that type of church?

Who checks your calendar?

I learned a lesson from the world's richest man today. You see... I recently took an IT sales job to support my family. So at the job I'm perusing CIO Magazine and stumble upon this article... Why CEOs Don't Get More Value from Their "Human Capital" (a.k.a. People). Here are the first two paragraphs.

"At Microsoft's CEO Summit this May, Bill Gates took a few moments to talk about time management. He noted that, somehow, his calendar seemed to be filled with commitments that—upon reflection—only seemed like a good idea at the time. In retrospect, he had been foolish to make them.

Things changed for the better, he said, when he began sharing his calendar with his colleague—and now Microsoft Chief Executive Officer—Steve Ballmer. "Steve would ask me why I would want to schedule that and I would look at his calendar to review what he was spending time on," Gates recalled. This peer review, he observed, made both of them more efficient, more effective and more collaborative time managers."

How amazing is that? Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, has realized that he might not even be the best at managing his own time. So he invites a trusted friend to challenge his calendar. How much better might we manage our time and resources if a trusted friend, a mentor, our wives or even a mentoree had the freedom to review our calendars?

The Elephant in the Church

It's been quite enlightening following the blog brainstorm over at Mark Batterson's blog about his upcoming series... The Elephant in the Church. The comments are pouring in with things that people always think but never say about the church. Check it out!

The Crew in Review

Well I just landed back in Columbus after a great weekend in Huntington, WV. You might be saying... what... how is that possible? Well let me explain. The reason is... I had great company. I spent my time with the people of Crew Community Church.

Marshall University currently keeps Huntington on the map. It has its own story of redemption that is currently being told on the silver screen. If you haven't seen We are Marshall yet. Buy the DVD when it comes out. I took a few pics... so let me break down for you, why I enjoyed my time with the Crew.



















The leadership: Crew publicly launched in September 2006. At the epicenter is Josh Perry (lead pastor), his lovely wife Sarah and three kiddoes (Daniel, Jack and Allie). Josh and Sarah are an infectiously joyful and loving couple. They are the type of people that you like being with... that you want to join up with... and that you trust. They love one another. They love their kids. They love the people at Crew. And they love the city of Huntington. They were great hosts and really made us feel like part of the family.



















The people: The church is really the people. They own no building. They have no offices. They are a gathering of people who are following Christ, or considering Christ and are connected to one another.

The people are friendly and welcoming. They love to eat and laugh and live the good life that God offers through Christ. Some are new believers. Some come because their old church sent them out to serve. Others are coming back to church after being burned by church.

We had the chance to attend their BBQ and Baptism on Sunday night. Three people were baptized. One of the elders even baptized his own brother and his sister-in-law. It was a celebration... Crew style.



















The space: The Crew does not have a building. They out grew the living room that they started in and the classroom at Marshall that they moved to... and now meet for Sunday worship at the Renaissance Theater. It is right off the edge of the Marshall campus and is just blocks from the heart of Huntington.

The Renaissance is the old Huntington High School and has the nostalgic feel of the classic high school auditorium.... complete with balcony. There is plenty of room for growth in this space... with the freedom to pick up and move the gathering somewhere else as the Lord leads.



















The vision: The first word that I think of when I think of Crew is... grace. It is truly a place where a wide variety of people can feel at home and accepted. The typical rules and external expectations of church just don't hold water at the crew. The focus is on the heart... and that is grace.

The church has embraced a God-sized vision... to make the name of Jesus famous in Huntington by helping to rebuild the city. They want to rebuild individuals by introducing them to Christ... but they also want to literally lift the hope of the city. Huntington needs hope... and the Crew has hope in Jesus. They have a Nehemiah-type of vision to restore and redeem their city... to bless their city... and to give the credit to Jesus.

Thank you Perry's and people of the Crew... I'm following your story and praying for your progress.

Thanks Jen!!!!

I just had to give a shout out to Jennifer Burkitt. She used to be the preschool director at the church on which I was formerly a staff member. I say "used to" for two reasons... because I am no longer on staff and she is no longer on staff.

She told me that my last day was her last day as well. I want to honor her for investing her life in caring for our two boys and hundreds of others over the past 2 1/2 years. I know how much of her heart and her time that she poured into and prayed into each and every volunteer and kid that was involved in her ministry. She has a unique servants heart.

What she didn't know is that she was getting into what I think is the #1 burnout position in any church... preschool ministry. In my 5 years of ministry experience I have seen 3 out of 4 preschool ministry people burnout. Most often they don't burnout on Jesus... just on ministry.

Each story is similar. They start the ministry with great energy and passion and the dream of impacting kids and parents for Christ. But they often give too much... too often... and slowly get worn down. They are easy to take for granted and rarely get the recognition they deserve. They give until they are empty... yet don't have opportunities to step back and be filled.

They regularly don't have enough... not enough volunteers... not enough classrooms... and not enough resources to solve their own problems. After awhile they lose their joy and don't enjoy church. So they have to step away to reconnect with God and reconnect with church.

I mean seriously... when was the last time you wrote a thank you note to your preschool director or gave them a gift certificate for dinner-and-a-movie with their spouse. It doesn't happen. Out-of-sight = out-of-mind

So what can churches do to reverse the trend in preschool ministry director burnout:
1. Thank your preschool leaders profusely (publicly, privately, personally).
2. Listen to their needs, concerns, desires & dreams... and do something to improve their situation.
3. Give them breaks. If that means saying no to a childcare need to let them enjoy an adult activity, it is a small price to pay for increasing ministry longevity.

And I must end where I began. Thank you Jen Burkitt for caring and praying for our two boys over the last 2 1/2 years. Your heart for the Lord and love for ministry is genuine. God is not done with you yet. You have not quit. You have made a difference.

Leadership & Trust...

Leadership comes from trust,
trust comes from character.

-Mark Driscoll
Mars Hill Church, Seattle

So leaders... it seems that trust is crucial element of leadership...

Are you trustworthy?
Do people really trust you?
What do your people trust you with?
What do people never trust you with?
How do you build trust?
How do you destroy trust?

I've heard it said that most people quit their leader before they quit their job. Maybe it is because they don't trust their leader... or don't feel trusted by their leader? Thoughts...

iChurch Inspiration

Over the weekend I did some iChurch... that is... I was fed from my iPod while I drove my boys home from the lake. Here's a snippet:

(loose Burkle translation)... If you don't have a sense of calling to love your city and see your city transformed... you should move. Each city needs to have a people who are the proof of God in that city (Acts 1:8).
-Erwin McManus
Mosaic, Los Angeles

What would happen if instead of caring about getting more people into our church, we cared about getting more of our church into our city.
-Craig Groeschel
Lifechurch.tv, Edmond, OK

Other thought provoking questions by Craig Groeschel:
1. Who is God calling you to reach, that no one else is reaching?
2. What is God calling you to do that has not been tried before?
3. What new thing is God calling you to create that will be hated today and embraced tomorrow?

Here I am Lord... send me.

Who Leads the Leaders????

So I'm listening to the recent edition of the Catalyst podcast... in which Mr. Leadership Guru... John Maxwell is being interviewed. And it comes up that he has been strongly influenced to write his most recent book.... Talent Is Never Enough by a certain local football coach.

...how firm thy friendship O-hi-o!

A silly song about creativity

Have I said in a while how much I have thoroughly enjoyed the silly little book by Gordon MacKenzie, Orbiting the Giant Hairball? Now along with reading it you can sing it...



Now I love the Church more than Creativity. But...
Can a church be creative?
Can a church orbit the giant hairball?

Are you willing to take chances?
Are you letting yourself fail?

This post was inspired by my own creative-mentor (although we've never met), Kevin Carroll.

Church Reorg...

When you visit the Mars Hill Church website the image on your left is what you will see. This 12 year old, 6000 member, emerging Church in Seattle is going through a corporate reorg (they are taking the gates of hell with a squirt gun... cute picture, huh). Watching from afar... I've been quite impressed at how open & public they are with their challenges and their changes.

Upon reading this 6 page letter from the elders this is what stood out to me:

(1) Plant more campuses: They currently have 3 campuses and desire to start more sites... not as just "additional services"... but more like church plants, yet still connected to mama church. While requiring more training and sending, they consider this approach as more sustainable for the body and the leaders over the long haul.

(2) Distributed Leadership: They are very open about their need to give each campus more authority and autonomy to flesh out the mission and vision of the church in their local context. This will require more communication and trust and distribution of power.

(3) More Preachers:Their main teaching Pastor, Mark Driscoll, will now be out of the pulpit for 3 full months a year. Not only is the move to save the man (Mark) from burnout... but to allow others to express their preaching gift to the benefit of the church.

(4) Open about conflict: It is pretty clear that one of their pastors/elders had a rough time with this change... so they share the story. Go to the top of page 5 and read the paragraph about Lief Moi.

It is pretty clear that leadership requires difficult decision making... even with the help of the Holy Spirit... and here is one church that is letting their people inside the situation as much as possible.

More Free Lunch

I'm just sharing the love....

Five sessions from the 2007 Buzz Conference... with thoughts on leading the church in the 21st century from Mark Batterson (host pastor), Craig Groeschel and Tim Stevens.

Five Sessions from the Gospel Coalition... a fellowship of evangelical churches deeply committed to renewing our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reforming our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures... You get straight up exquisite theological teaching from D.A. Carson, John Piper, Tim Keller and Crawford Loritts.

Play & Pray

Here's some wisdom from Mark Batterson... as they head off to their annual staff Pray & Play Retreat.

"It's very difficult to minister together if you're not building relationships together.... Part of doing ministry is doing life together."

Good Stuff Mark...

The Waves of Leadership

(Here is my third of 3 posts on Denny. One was I Got the Blues. Two was Saying Goodbye.)

Motorboats… especially ski-boats are known for their power by the wake they create… that is by the waves they leave behind. A slow boat makes few waves.

And I think that leadership in one sense can be measured the same way…. by the waves a leader leaves behind. In that sense… you won’t know really feel the impact of the leader until they aren’t there. Whether it is the mood they leave after the big staff meeting or the hole they leave behind when they move on to pursue their next challenge.

So I’ve been reflecting on the waves that Denny has left behind as God has released him to pursue his next challenge. These lessons… are the lasting Denny-isms… the waves that will keep me afloat as I strive to be a better leader.

So here are five leadership lessons that I’ve learned from Denny:

1. Make time for people: He didn’t preach it… he just did it. He always made time for people. If you needed 2 minutes… he gave you 5. He was always interruptible… and that communicated that he cared and you mattered. Good leaders make time for people.

2. It is OK to laugh: He loved to laugh… and often confessed that when stressed he went out of his way to laugh. That is why he spent time learning bad jokes and dropping obscure puns into tense conversations… to lighten the mood. We laughed in staff meetings… we laughed in the office… and we laughed in church. Not that church is a laughing matter… but that it is OK to laugh in church.

3. Together is better: Doing church is more fun together. Working on projects is more fun together. Living life is healthier… more enjoyable… more sustainable… together. Denny didn’t just tell others that they need others… he needed others. It was quite strange (at first) when he would tell me that he needed my friendship. But you know… he was just putting into words what I (also) felt in my heart. Even leaders realize together is better.

4. Break some rules: Especially in church. The rules that don’t really mean much… like the order of things… who says what… and when… and how they say it. This keeps you from getting in a rut… and from being too predictable… or boring. Catch people off guard… not because you don’t take what you do seriously… just the opposite… because what you are doing is SO IMPORTANT…that you are willing to try fresh things to drive the point home.

5. You are not there yet: That is you haven’t arrived. You don’t have all the answers. Keep asking questions… because you don’t have the answers. Be a learner. Be a reader. Be an experimenter. Denny always asked questions and he was always reading a new book. Even after 31 years in the ministry… he didn’t have all the answers.

Thanks for the lessons... Denny.

I got the Blues

The mailman brought the official news yesterday…. Denny… my friend… mentor… partner… encourager…. cheerleader… dreamer… fellow pastor… is leaving our church. And while I’m inspired that he is chasing daylight in response to God’s call… I’ve got the blues today…. because I will miss him. So I hit play on my Keb’ Mo playlist today… and now I’ll reflect on what I’ll miss about Denny.

His wisdom: I have spent hundreds of hours one-on-one with him over the past three years peppering him with questions about church, life, ministry, fathering, husbanding… everything. He has given me sage, biblical advice learned through 31 years of ministry and 54 years of life. He always answered his cell phone, and his door was always open.

His presence: He was always present in the moment. He was always interested in what I wanted to talk about and really cared for me. I remember when he visited us in the hospital after Griffin was born. He walked in the room as Griffin was turning blue from choking on milk. The nurse rushed in and cleared Griffin’s throat and whisked him away. Denny sensed our panic… and in response he comforted us, hugged us and prayed with us. After he left, my non-Christian father-in-law (who had witnessed the entire event) commented, “When I think of what Jesus would be like today… I think he would be just like Denny.” I agree.

His questions: Denny was fun because he seemed to have more questions about Church than he had answers. Not that he didn’t have answers… but he wasn’t afraid of questioning things about church. He invited questions and was willing to question how we do church, how we don’t do church, what makes us tick and what should make us tick. His questions led him to be open to new ideas and new answers. He constantly read new books and had some new insight.

His vision: Denny was a dreamer. I tend to think he is a bit like Gordon MacKenzie in “Orbiting the Giant Hairball”. It was like church weighed him down from freely flying as he dreamed. He dreamed about what the church could be…. could try… should try… And he invited others to dream with him. And sometimes he allowed your dreams to take center-stage…. His dream didn’t always have to win. His vision allowed him to think and re-think church with a great degree of hope and risk and willingness to try new things.

His support: He really cared about what I was doing and he wanted me to succeed. He helped me rename my ministry and he showed up to my big events. He prepped me before them and called afterwards to debrief. He lifted my spirits when they were down and put the small things into a bigger perspective. His support more than once filled up my cup.

God puts lots of twists and turns in our life. I thank God that he allowed me to have the joy of working under and along side a man like Denny for the past 3 years. I will dreadfully miss his daily presence in our office but I hope that our relationship will continue on… wherever our futures take us.

Excellent Meetings

If I'm talking staff/team/business meetings does the phrase "excellent meeting" seem like an oxymoron? Depending on your experience or your situation it might.

So today I found myself watching a video journal of recent staff meeting at Fellowship Church. And they may be lying through their teeth about how good their staff is (we are all liars to a degree)... but here is their regular team meeting agenda:

*What is...
*Delegation...
*What if...
*Investigation...

What secrets to excellent team meetings have you found? I'm all ears...

Pastors NEED Vacation

Not long after I posted earlier today on Taking a Day Off, I watched Ed Young's Monday Morning Pastors confessional. He appears really tired. Not only does he seem have the typical Monday weariness but he appears to have been running too - hard too long.

He repeatedly asks "How can you build a marriage when...." and then he fills in the blank with all the things that pastors pour themselves out doing... studying... teaching... fund-raising... I can only imagine that his wife has looked him in the face on more than one occasion and said... "When are we going to have our time?" It is not that a pastor's wife does not support her husband... but part of her calling is keep him grounded.

I think in his early Monday Morning weariness we get a honest look at the roller coaster that our pastors ride. So don't only make sure that you get your break... but make sure that those who care for your soul get their break.