Biff answers a couple of questions

So I haven’t seen Back to the Future in years. But this makes me like Biff a little more …

Leaders always set the tone

In the context of churches/church planting, people always talk about how the church will mirror the pastor. The interests of the pastor become the interests of the church. The weaknesses of the pastor often become the weaknesses of the church. A pastor who cares deeply about missions? The church will be extremely missional. Deep teaching? You’ll be known for it. You get the idea.

It’s really the same, though, for any field. I can’t help but wonder what ways I am consciously and unconsciously setting the tone and building the culture for the folks I lead. One of my goals is to be aware of what culture and expectations I’m modeling and creating.

Michael Hyatt had a great post recently where he talked about this as the law of replication. In it he said:

“Unconsciously, your people will mimic you. This means:

• If you are late to meetings, your people will be late to meetings.
• If you don’t take notes in meetings, your people won’t take notes in meetings.
• If you are angry and defensive when you get negative feedback, your people will be angry and defensive when they get negative feedback.

Conversely:

• If you are humble and grateful, your people will be humble and grateful.
• If you are warm and engaging, your people will be warm and engaging.
• If you are even-tempered and unflinching under fire, your people will be even-tempered and unflinching under fire.

Ghandi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” I would add, “Be the change you want to see in your organization.” If you don’t like the culture of your department, division, or company, start by changing yourself. Set a new standard. Let your word become flesh. This is the most powerful thing you can do to change your world. … You will replicate yourself.”

Let’s be honest…

Conan looks like a GIANT next to Stephen Cobert.

That’s all…

It’s amazing what you can do…

… with $10 and a little creativity.

[ht Guy Kawasaki]

Leadership is mobilization

“Leadership, particularly that of a pastor, is really not tied to one’s ability to do great things but to mobilize people, in the context of community, to do more than they could have done alone–more than they ever could have dreamed possible.” – Bob Roberts

Eat this, not that

If you’re trying to lose a few pounds or eat in a way that’s a little more healthy, the best way to do it isn’t to stop eating junk. It’s to choose better options when you’re hungry. Sick of loading up on sweets and refined carbs? Find fruit and whole grain snacks you actually like. More and more diets are catching on. We can make significant changes by choosing the better options.

Sometimes, I think we need a good dose of “do this, not that” in our lives. It isn’t always about stopping the bad stuff so much as finding the things we’re meant to be doing and focus our attention there. Watch too much TV? What’s the more meaningful/fulfilling thing you could be doing? I’m sure we all have meaningful things we actually enjoy. When we choose to focus on them instead of mindlessly choosing the easy alternative, we see results like never before.

A little TV, surfing the internet, or whatever mindless pursuit you love never hurt anyone. But for me, it’s a matter of choosing to spend time hanging out with Grete over plopping in front of the TV or doing some class reading instead of clicking from link to link online.

It may be easier to pick up that carton of double chocolate chunk ice cream from the fridge, but honestly, I’ll enjoy that nice piece of fruit just as much and feel a lot better afterwards.

Embrace Action – just the words

Last Sunday I had the chance to speak at Oasis. We looked at the story in John of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet and talked about how God has called us to embrace action – to follow him in serving others even when it’s uncomfortable. I won’t include the whole thing here, but here’s a great wordle of the talk. Maybe you’ll be able to pull some of the points from it .

Gmail – now with video

Gmail has video chat now – built into its chat feature. So cool…

In case you’re wondering…

The new iPhone comes out on July 11. My birthday is July 11. Just thought you should know.

(Ok, so actually, I’m stuck in a contract with Verizon right now, so there will be no new iPhoning until at least November…)

How do you handle time?

I was listening to one of the Catalyst podcasts while working out this morning and heard a brief interview with relationship guru Les Parrott, who writes books with his wife Leslie (I love it when marriages give people “cute” name combos). He mentioned a quick assessment that will tell how you handle time. It basically boils down to whether you’re future or present oriented and whether you’re structured or unstructured.

So Grete and I popped on over to the site and took the free assessment. It took maybe 3 minutes. Tops. I found out – no surprise – that I’m future-oriented and maybe just a little unstructured.

The Dreamer: The results of your assessment reveal that you approach time as a Dreamer. This means you tend to relate to time more subjectively than objectively. In comparison to other people, this makes you more unscheduled than scheduled. You’re not nearly as “up tight” about staying on task and you’re rarely accused of being regimented.

You are also more oriented toward the future than the present. In other words, you love what is about to happen. You have a vision for it. You derive energy from it. And like a visitor from the future you can tell others (especially your spouse) about the excitement that is just around the bend. No matter that the vision may not be realistic, you want to try it on and simply imagine. You love what could be.

It says more, but I won’t bore you. I know you’re much more interested in how you handle time. So go take the assessment for yourself.

It’s an interesting way to look at how people relate and how they handle expectations and events. They take a different approach than the standard personality profile. It was interesting for Grete and I to compare how we view things.

Now, I guess I’ll now have to go read the book to see what this all really means for how we relate.

Thursday linkage: house churches, justice, and wufoo

A few things around the web that caught my attention …

+ TIME Magazine writes about the spread of the house church movement.

+ churchrelevance.com summarizes a podcast with Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission. This guy’s involved in some powerful stuff. From the summary: “We can point [hurting people] to God through the way we live because the way we live – what it is we believe – is going to be manifested by the way we actually act.” Just another example of how the Christian life involves both proclamation and action.

+ And finally, a resource I’ve been loving. If you ever need to do a survey or have a sign up form (I use it for our small group ministry), check out wufoo.com. It’s an easy way to set up online forms. You get a few free ones (with a max of 10 fields), but they have pay options as well. Here’s an example of one I’ve been using. Just don’t fill it out unless you’re ready to lead a small group in Southern California!

For the record …

In my last post, I said about 30 days. It’s been 36, so I’m not that far off.

But, I’m back! It’s amazing how time away from something can help you refocus.

So here’s the deal. I was actually planning to come back with an announcement of changes to this blog. They haven’t happened yet. Crazy things like life, work and school got in the way! Instead, I’ll give you a sneak peek and get your advice.

I’m considering starting a new blog. I’ll keep this one to post the random things that only my mother and friends would care about. The new one will focus in on the stuff of ministry – with a few guiding points. Here are a few of them.

• Communicate the diversity of the kingdom. Can I share with you a little pet peeve of mine? Blogging has helped us connect across the globe like never before. There are ideas and resources available everywhere. But it seems that the more information is available, the more we tend to focus on our own niche. God is at work in every area from the mega church to the house church – from the traditional church to the emerging church. I obviously have preferences within those, but we can learn from every part. We’re on the same team, headed in the same direction. Even though life sometimes feels too busy and crowded to think beyond the one way we’re doing things right now, there’s a benefit that comes from listening to differing voices.
• Emphasize what’s been done. A lot of people love sharing ideas for what “should” be. I want to share what’s happening. In other people’s ministries and lives. In mine. Sure, ideas will still be out there (hey, I’m full of ‘em!), but the focus will be what God has done and is doing in the lives and ministry of people.
• Be real. In the midst of all of this, I still have some core convictions. The church must be missional, relevant, creative, and authentic. We need to be active in the community and in the world. Being an attractive place to outsiders is important. It’s also important to be in all parts of our cities – to redeem every part of God’s creation.

So that’s where I am right now. The biggest holdup is that I can’t think of a dang name for the new blog. I have a huge list, but nothing has clicked.

What do you think? Should I keep the blog as one? Or divide out the two? What would you call it?

It’s time for a break …

… or if you want to get really spiritual, we’ll call it a Sabbath.

Starting today, I’m going to take about 30 days off from blogging (and probably reading blogs). There’s no one reason. It’s just a healthy thing to do every once in a while.

So, just when things were starting to pick up around here, it’s going to slow down for a while.

Oh, and there will probably be some changes with this blog to announce then as well. I’ll see you in March!

Two great links

• David Wilson tells a great story about knowledge of verses real allegiance to, passion for, and love of God.
• I’m glad Craig at lifechurch.tv said this. It’s something I was thinking, but he’s actually on these lists, so he has the credibility to say it.

NorthWood and that "missional" word

Christianity Today recently posted an interview with Bob Roberts, pastor of NorthWood Church. It’s worth reading.

NorthWood is the church Grete and I were a part of before moving out to California. I worked with their global impact team. In a “church world” where there’s a lot of talk about different worship styles and what ways are best, a lot of what NorthWood’s doing is so refreshing. Now, they aren’t perfect – Bob would be the first to admit that – but it’s exciting to see how God is using them locally and around the world.

In a time when everyone wants to be “missional,” they’re one of the few mega-churches I’ve seen who are going and serving the world in real ways. This interview shares a piece of that vision.