Tim Keel's Intuitive Leadership

I'm reading Tim Keel's book, Intuitive Leadership, as part of my transition plan into my role as Life Development pastor. Why? Because I've read a ton of left brained leadership books written by the likes of Maxwell, Stanley, Collins, etc. I feel it is time for me to broaden my understanding of different kinds of leadership models. I'm hoping that Keel can help me with this attempt. I'm not deep into the book yet, but so far I find that it is mostly a defense of the emergent church movement. I hope he goes beyond that.

One interesting fact is that Keel left Denver 6 months after I arrived at Denver Seminary. He doesn't say when he graduated from the seminary but aren't too far apart in our time there. It's possible we were on campus at the same time. I have found that I relate very well to his experiences in seminary and getting started in ministry. Particularly, I can relate to his initial excitement on campus being doused the burden of all the academic requirements of the seminary. Unfortunately, I discovered that the seminary (most seminaries) wanted to live in a world where on the one hand they are as academic as any University program and on the other hand they have special requirements for life in the ministry. The result of this dichotomy was I never felt I could spend as much time thinking about things I wanted to think about or serving in ministries I wanted to serve in. Many of my friends felt similar stresses.

I'll write more on Intuitive Leadership as I get deeper into it.

Tim Keel's Blog

Blogging from my phone

More and more I don't like to bring my laptop home from the church. I just get caught up doing work.

Too often my home computer is busy being used by others. Stef is blogging these day, becauseipause.blogspot.com. Moriah Facebooks. Elie read email, stuff with silly parodies of Harry Potter, or plays games.

Our computer is busy.

Today, I'm testing to see how I can blog from my phone.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Nelson Mandela's one regret

Wife: Nelson Mandela has one regret - CNN.com

As part of the Mandela at 90 series, CNN.com's Robyn Curnow interviewed Machel Mandela, Nelson Mandela's wife. Interestingly, Machel mentioned one regret of the man who had arguably the greatest influence in defeating the South African policy apartheid. Alas, Nelson Mandela may be one of the world's strongest voices in the world when it comes to racial equality.

So what posible regret would this man have? He regrets not having as much "input in the development of his children" as he'd like. In other words, Nelson Mandela, an influencer of world policy, didn't have the influence that he'd like to have in the lives of his children. In Mandela's case, he sacrificed his paternal right in fighting for civil rights, particularly as he was imprisoned for his views about the racist policies of apartheid.

I think this is a good warning for parents. Often parents sacrifice influence over their children in seeking material things or career success. Mandela had a magnificent cause guiding him when he sacrificed his fatherly influence. I'm not sure, will owning another Lexus or making Senior VP of Money Making will seem more important when the typical father reaches his 90s.

How to Pick a President | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

How to Pick a President | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

I whole heartedly agree with this way to pick a president. Forget the issues this election year. Look at the heart of the person you're electing. It's hard to cut that deeply in the lives of these folks since the media just wants to talk about the surface issue and anything that can cause the next controversy. Still, work hard to see the heart avoiding a bias that is formed in party politics. I think that's what Jesus would have us do in light of how he treated those he encountered. Heck, he usually chastised those that held the "right" position on issues of his day (i.e., the Pharisees) and welcomed those that the churchy type people would have announced to be wrong on the issues.

I'm not saying that I know that one candidate is more virtuous than the other. I don't know who I'd pick on that criteria at this point, but I'm watching.

I never heard of Utah Philips....

But it seems he understood the dangers of being a child. I heard part of this quote on NPR today as they gave his eulogy.

You're about to be told one more time that you're America's most valuable natural resource. Have you seen what they do to valuable natural resources? Have you seen them strip mine? Have you seen a clear-cut in a forest? Have you seen a polluted river? Don't ever let them call you a valuable natural resource! They're gonna strip mine your soul! They're gonna clear-cut your best thoughts for the sake of profit, unless you learn to resist, cause the profit system follows the path of least resistance, and following the path of least resistance is what makes the river crooked! Hmph!

YouTube - Rich Mullins - Here In America

YouTube - Rich Mullins - Here In America

I found this link on Facebook today. Yes it is now an old song, but it's still good. As I listened to it I thought that it addresses my patriotism as well as any song I know of. I'll leave at that. Listen to it and let me know if I'm too patriotic or maybe not enough. Anyhow, I'm glad that the holy King of Israel loves me.

Is the Church Pagan?

Is the Pastorate Pagan? | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders

I've not read this book, just the review on Leadership Journal's website. I'm not sure what to make of it. I don't disagree with the fact that so much of what we do in the church was introduced through the pagan world. A lot of it through the union of church and state brought about by Constantine. But what can we or should we do about that? Is it right to continue to practice things introduced through the pagan world? Is it possible to eliminate those practices completely?

Think about it. Easter, which we will celebrate this week, is in fact, a pagan introduction. Of course the resurrection of Christ is purely Christian, but the way we go about this week, even the name Easter were introduced through pagan culture.

Of course, we still continue to adopt pagan practices. One might lift up the rock sound of our music and even the introduction of secular songs into worship services as a modern pagan practice. But, don't be too holy and claim that's why I prefer the hymns. Many of them were rooted in bar songs of their day too.

I think we do need to be careful not to make the church too pagan. I think we could even go back on some of our practices that were begun by mixing paganism with Christian faith. But I'm not sure how and to what extent we can do this.

Southern Baptist leaders go green - I hope many Christian join them

Southern Baptist leaders go green - Climate Change- msnbc.com:

It's good to see that more evangelicals are waking up to the realization that as Christians we should be leading the world on stewardship issues. I'm not saying that we should buy lock stock and barrel the science of global warming. But I will say that it is obvious that humans effect the earth, are using too many resources and need to change our patterns before it is too late. What is too late? I don't know what that will be. Global Warming forecaster, that is the scientist who are describing that increase in fossil fuel consumption has having a negative effect on the climate, seem to indicate that within 20 to 30 years. Some even say we have already past the point of no return.

I'm not willing to accept that argument in its fullest, but I still think that Christians need to take not of serious stewardship issues that are pointed out in the science of global warming and other ecological fields. We cannot deny that our planet is becoming more polluted. Even this morning another story shows that even our pharmaceutical habits are cause water pollution. We have to be more careful with this earth that God has given us watch over.

This is a critically moral issue. God gave us stewardship over this earth. That means that it is His earth, not ours. It means that we have to live on this earth with a realization that billions of other humans live on it too. We must protect this earth as if it and its resources will be used by billions of people over billions of year. We cannot claim that we own certain parts and therefore we have the right to use then as we want. We have to take a look at what is good for a greater number of people. We have to look at what is good for the environment as it relates to the future of this planet that God has us protecting. While the right to be free is a Christian doctrine, that does not mean that all freely conceived ventures go without examination.

Christians as a group are typically pro-life, meaning against abortion. I would hope that we would broaden our understanding of the term pro-life, and become advocates for those who are loosing their lives because of industrial pollution. I would hope that we would take seriously the issues of global warming that may be threatening many lives by causing prolonged drought in place like Africa (or even the western US). Just because the science isn't clear to us right now, doesn't mean that we shouldn't be listening to those scientist, and if we are more serious, raising up people, Christian men and women, to be leaders in the environmental fields to study climate change, water pollution or what ever else may effect this globe that God has charged us with the obligation of protecting.

Because I Pause

My wife is blogging now. Check out her stuff at Because I Pause. She's just getting started but has some good stuff.

Take it from an expert

It may look glamorous, but it will get you no where.

‘Lay off the dope,’ Keith Richards advises - Music- msnbc.com

Irony and faith

I think that faith is ironic. Without irony, there is no mature faith. We can't prove faith, yet faith is the strongest of motivators. God created a Law that separates people from himself, but through faith consequences for the violations of Law are null. As Jesus is God who became flesh, the religious of Jesus' day were his worst enemy. I dare say the religious of today are often the worst enemy of faith and legalism set a wall that drives so many away from the God of grace.

I propose that real, solid, growing faith is riddled with irony. Conversely, black and white faith, is stagnant or dead. If things are black and white in your life, then perhaps, your faith has gotten stuck in the mud. I know this happens to me. But it happens in times of weakness. Ironically, when I a weakest, is when I feel the strongest. When I don't feel that I have anything left to give, that is when God is most able to work on my faith and work through my ministry.

No Second Turns

I was just watching the kindergardeners in my church play games during our club night. The didn't quite get the goal of the very simple relay race. One line of boys continued to take turn after turn even though they were only supposed to go once then sit down. It took a while, but one boy noticed the other teams were "winning" because they actually finished the race. He began to shout to his teammates, "No second turns guys. No second turns or we'll loose."

They didn't care. They wanted second turns. It was more important to them that they get to go again that for their team to win.

As a adult that doesn't make sense. We want to win. But in reality there are many things that we take "turns" beyond what we need or should even when it hurts the bigger body. We drive a bigger car than we need because we can, and we don't think about the effects on gas prices, the environment or the socio-economics of the middle east. We own bigger house. We demand more from our government or our spouse. We do these, because, to us, we don't see that we are causing our team to loose. We only know that we want more for ourselves.

I sure the kindergarteners will learn how to run relays. I hope that more adults learn how to live for the bigger community.

Conflicting thoughts?

I'm working on two potentially conflicting thoughts that I think both could be valuable guides to the way I approach my ministry and my life. The first comes from my father several years back. "It's better to be a big fish in a small pond than to be an ordinary fish in the ocean." The second comes from a discussion with a friend. It is the mantra of the advertising firm Wieden + Kennedy, "Fail Harder."

The world needs better fathers, and more mentors

The Belmont Foundation, a group dedicated to a ministry to children of single parent households, quote these stats in today's blog.

• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. (U.S. D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census)
• 75% of adolescents patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes. (Rainbows for all God’s Children)
• 70% of juveniles in state operated insitutions[sic] have no fathers. (U.S. Dept. of Justice, Special Report)
• 85% of youth in prison had no fathers at home. (Fulton Co. Georgia jail population, Texas Dept. of Correction)
• 90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes. (U.S. D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census)
• 71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes (National Principal Association Report on the State of High Schools)

It is clear to me that Belmont's call for more mentors is appropriate. Just as appropriate is the need for better parents, especially fathers. The church needs to focus more attention on the issue of uncommitted fathers.

Confessions of a CF Husband

Every so often, I run across a blog that is worth mentioning. Here is one by Nathan Lawrenson. Certainly, this family could use your prayer, but I think we can all use this story as motivation to give our lives over to God completely. Brian Weber, Grace Point's youth pastor speaks on that in his January 20 message.

The Hidden Spring

In his book Simply Christian, NT Write tells a parable of a spring of water. In the parable, the towns people love the spring in the begging but later realize that open exposure to the spring creates difficulties. Some times the spring isn't as clear as others; sometimes it is tainted by people; some times it causes floods or dries up. As a result, the spring is capped, the water is captured and then piped to its users. This is good in a way. The water is kept pure and quantities are always appropriate for needs. But over time, the pressure beneath the cap becomes so great that the water bursts out. It is such a violent eruption that the water, carrying great amounts of debris, flood homes and businesses of the town. The mucky mess that it makes is great and disturbing to those who wanted it capped in the first place.

The spring in this parable is spirituality, and the story describes how we (the western world) got to where we are today. Once, spirituality was organic. Organic things are not pure, but they are honest. In attempt to purify spirituality, western society institutionalized it. It seemed pure, but it was also isolated. It was separated from "real life". We are now in a trend of spirituality bursting forth, and to those how will only accept the purest of spiritual things, it is an ugly trend.

The bursting out of spirituality is leading people to being more spiritual but less religious. People are looking again for an organic form of looking for God (or whatever). Many have been lead down paths away from the True God to all kinds of substitutes. It isn't a pretty sight for the week of heart.

For those people who are displease with this trend, I would remind them, that the real cause of this is not that bad people are over taking a good institution. Rather, the cause is that spirituality was never meant to be institutionalized. The result is that after years and years of religion becoming less meaningful to everyday life, people need to have something with meaning. The antidote isn't for the church to recap the stream. It is for the church to continue to preach what is pure. What is pure is the Gospel of Jesus and the Grace of God. What is pure is that faith matters in all aspects of our live and that we should be pursuing God even when we are doing the more mundane tasks. What is pure is that when we institutionalize our religious experience we run the risk of drying up the land.

Our goal as Christians is to be spiritual in the world. To withdraw and hope that the world will come to us is naive, at best. The door of our churches need to be left open and the wall of our doctrine brought down to a place that we do not restrict true seekers from finding Christ in our midst. We cannot fear that the muddiness of spirituality will destroy the mission of God's Kingdom. God's truth will prevail. What we need to do is get ourselves out of His way.

The Law of Talion, Karma and Grace

I've been reading a book called Jesus Without Religion by Rick James. (Not the Rick James that you're familiar with.) James has a fresh new was of looking at the ministry of Christ.

In the second chapter, James has an interesting quote by rock star Bono. While I'm not convinced that Bono is a prophet, he does bring some good insight to the Christian faith. The quote is taken from an interview that Bono gave to Christianity Today magazine in 2005.

You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff. (CT. 8/8/2005)

Think about his way of looking at religion. It is interesting that he doesn't reject the truth of other faiths, rather he point out that Grace, as the core of Christianity, trumps all other truths. Karma is seen as a great enemy to western Christians. It isn't the enemy; it is conquered by Grace. Likewise, the Law of Talon was discussed as a viable law in the Old Testament, but Christ puts it to bed in the New.

Which of us should not be humbled by this Grace? Which of us is less a sinner than Bono? I'd say no one has that claim, but in Jesus those sins are powerless.

Bush: I would run as 'agent of change'

MSNBC reports that Bush says he would run as an agent of change if he were running today. My question is, didn't he? At least, it is interesting that he ran as the one who could unite people across the isles. I think his slogan was, "I'm a uniter not a divider." I wish we could look back and see that he accomplished this in any way. I hope some of the current candidate making the same sorts of claims are more successful.

Iowa caucuses show people want a person with heart

I watched a lot of coverage from the Iowa caucuses last night. Like most people I was surprised by the outcomes. But I think I have a little different twist on maybe why Obama and Huckabee won their races.



Most commentators are crediting these victories on a desire for change calling Huckabee and Obama the two most outside candidates. Others credit Huckabee's victory on his connection with evangelicals. While both of those are true to some extent, I think that there is a greater reason for their victories. The reason that these guys won is that both of them can speak in a way that engages the heart. Obama's speech was motivational. Huckabee's speech was personal. Obama's has been likened to Martin Luther King Jr. in his power and direction. I would say that Huckabee's is much like listening to Max Lucado.



America, if Iowa is a measure, may just need a spokesperson. After 8 years of George W. Bush and his blunders and not much better with Clinton's 8 years before him, I think America is looking for a leader that can connect with the people emotionally. After all, isn't that why Reagan was so successful?

I don't know that these Iowa result will mean anything in the end, but I'm convince that Iowan where attracted to the two candidates with the most heart in their public speaking. I hope their speeches are true indicators of their character. Because this year, my main goal is to look past the issues and try to vote based on the character of the candidates.

I Am Legend

Stefanie and I went to a movie on New Year's Eve. Yea, I know that's not real social of us, but we were without children, and since their plans had been so fluid, we didn't make any other plans. Anyhow, we saw I Am Legend starring Will Smith. I was a good movie, not one that I'd see again. I don't usually like thriller type movies. Still this thriller seemed to have more to say that most. I think there were two things that I took out of it.

First, Will Smith is a better actor than the Fresh Prince. He's come a long way and, other than a lone German Shepherd, he carried the whole movie.

The second thing I took from the film was actually something I had been thinking about earlier this week. That is that it is difficult to know if a good event or intent will bring about a good result in the end.

This film opens with a news interview of a scientist who just discovered a 100% cure for cancer. It seemed like a great victory. Unfortunately, they later realize that the virus used to cure cancer, mutated into one that nearly wipes out humankind.

The moral...When event happen, good or bad, don't put too much stock in the momentary feelings. Ultimately there is only one thing that you can count on always being good. That is God.

Growing up with Child-like faith

I had the wonderful opportunity to teach the message in the Sunday services at Grace Point this week. I'd invite you to listen to it. It was a great service all together as we involved children on the worship team and in other aspects of the service. I think you'll find my philosophy of ministry (or at least parenting) clearly stated in the message.

An interesting movie that is expected out in 2008

I'm a fan of Don Miller's writing and would recommend his book Blue Like Jazz. Now he has announce that they are about ready to start filming a movie based on the themes of that book. It will be interesting to see how well they pull that off. Blue Like Jazz is a collection of essays written in a post-modern mindset. There are a bunch of interesting vignettes and personal stories in the book, but it isn't a cohesive story at all. Miller explains that the movie will try to maintain the same theme as the book, but is in no way a retelling of the book.

False Maturity

I'm creating a message for Grace Point that I will be giving on December 30 as part of a family worship service. The theme that I'm working on is Maintaining a child-like faith while growing in maturity. This theme has caused me to consider what real Christian maturity must look like. As a result, I've been digging through the scriptures (focusing on the Book of Matthew) looking at false examples of maturity. That is, people who thought that they and their actions epitomized mature faith, but who Jesus specifically rebuked for missing the mark.

I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to use this yet, but here is a table of my discovery so far.

“Religious” claim	Passage	Problem
We lean on our fathers’ faith	Matthew 3:7	God can raise up followers from nothing, no need for heritage
Righteousness will earn credit toward the Kingdom	Matthew 5:19	Righteousness alone is not enough
Keep the right company	Matthew 9:11	Jesus’ gift is for the sinner not the righteous
To follow rules perfectly	Matthew 12:1-13	They forget to show love to others
Demand to see signs	Matthew 12:38	Miss the most obvious signs written in the scriptures
Hold rigidly to traditions	Matthew 15:1	Traditions often substitute for what God really wants
Debate the finest points of the law	Matthew 19:3	They miss the bigger points of God’s Grace
Use the law as a test of spirituality	Matthew 22:34	They miss that the goal of the Law is to help people to be close to God

Unfortunately, I think that too many Christians today struggle with these same problems of false maturity.

While most evangelicals wouldn't lean on the faith of their fathers as the Pharisees did in 3:7, we do tend to uphold time as a measure of Christian maturity. "Oh, he's been a Christian for years. He'll be a good leader." Over time many will grow in maturity, but as a measure alone there are many who find a comfort zone and never grow, or grow very little in many years. Further, we will elevate people who come from a "good Christian family" equating their upbringing to the development of their faith.

Again few evangelicals will assume that works will create a door to heaven, but we aren't above looking at works for a measure of value in our churches. "That family gives more money to the church than anyone else. Should they have more say on this issue?" We often also focus on the surface response of people. In my work I know many children who have excellent behavior when their parents are around, but take mom and dad out of the picture and you can see some clear spiritual flaws. Unfortunately, too many evangelical leaders focus on discipline in teaching parents to raise their children. This discipline often leads to a surface/works-based religiosity.

On the issue of company (i.e., friends), I'd suggest many evangelicals are stuck using this false measure of maturity. "I'm just glad that most of my daughter's friends are church girls." To assure that church people keep the right company, we make sure that most of our evenings and weekends are spent in church event or at least with other Christians. We even take our families to Christian camps in the summer because we need to make sure that everyone that we hang around is Christian. Not always, but too often, Christians choose to homeschool or send their children to Christian schools because they are afraid that their children might make friends with non-Christians.

Of course rules play an important role in the contemporary Christian sense of religion. Yes God does set some clear standards in His Law, but some of these rules are strange too like, "he can't be a Christian; He's not even Republican." I've heard this one a most recently of a presidential candidate with a strong testimony. Or how about, "That person isn't growing in his faith since she's not bringing her Bible with her to church on Sunday." How many other rules have we developed that are not a part of God's Law which when summarized is simply to love God and love others.

Tradition is an issue that often divides evangelical churches, particularly when it comes to music or "worship" styles. Unfortunately, I still hear people on both sides of the music isle upholding traditions that have little to do with commands that Christ taught. Most of these traditions have to do with methods that we use for worshiping or discipling. My main pet peeve is that we equate the hour plus that we meet in a large auditorium (aka. The Sanctuary) as our time of worship for the week. More precisely, we equate the time that we are singing as our worship time. And in regards to discipleship, it amazes me when I hear that a church would evaluate the level of discipleship going on in a church based on the number of people that show up for a Sunday school class that is often fact based and seldom challenges its members to reach out in service to others.

Doctrine is important, but I wonder if evangelicals haven't been led to believe that main issues are important that really aren't. The doctrine of the timing of Jesus return comes to mind as an issue that is made important beyond the scope of the Scriptures. An other issue might be exactly how and how long it took God to create the world (sorry, the universe) also comes to mind.

Finally, evangelical will use the law as a test of spirituality. "He doesn't drink; he must be spiritual." "She said a dirty word; she must not be." The problem here is that our measuring sticks may have appropriate roots, but we make the branches of them the measure, not the firmly planted roots. I mean, for example, while drinking in excess can be a sign of a spiritual problem, we are incline to label anyone whose had a drink in the last (you determine the time) as an unspiritual person.

It seems to me that the Christian church in the U.S. is struggling as much with understanding real maturity as the Pharisees of Jesus' day. I would hope that after 2000 years of being the church, we would be better at applying the words of Jesus to our community and our lives.

A Balance Perspective on the Golden Compass

Few have not heard the controvery that surrounds the movie The Golden Compass. Here is a well written piece found on Walt Mueller's the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding website. I suggest all parents would do well to check the CPYU site on occation or subscibe to Walt's e-newsletter. I've included the quote from cultural analyst John Seel below, but be sure to read the whole letter by Walt Mueller. I've empasised with green text some key points.

One senses a tipping point, assertive atheism has found its voice. Several years ago Dartmouth University professor Walter Sinnot-Armstrong wrote an article in their alumni magazine entitled, "Can You Believe It?" in which he called for atheists to breakout of their self-imposed silence and to take up the mantle of "evangelistic" atheism. He wrote, "Outside the classes, most atheists feel little to be gained by broadcasting their beliefs. Theists won't listen, and atheists don't need to listen. This defeatist attitude means that evangelicals get away with spouting harmful nonsense." Many have risen to his challenge. The bookstores and magazines are filled with anti-God and anti-religion diatribes.

It was only a matter of time before imaginative literature aimed at children took up this theme. The film, The Golden Compass, opened in December and is based on the first book in Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials. In an interview in the Washington Post, Pullman candidly remarked, "I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.” Pullman has also been outspoken about his desire to undercut The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

The most powerful aspect of culture is the way it shapes our moral imagination. As Einstein observed, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Books and films such as The Golden Compass are opportunities for important discussions with our children about truth and the nature of reality. We need not be defensive or udgmental. God's truth will prevail. All that is at risk is casual Christianity and unreflective belief. Assertive atheism can be a good thing, if it encourages us to become serious seekers of truth. Many will simply use such films to justify their rebellious attitudes toward authority. That shouldn’t surprise us. More important than blaming atheists for what they think and write is to acknowledge the failure of Christian believers to provide a thoughtful, winsome, and life-affirming alternative in our culture. This is the challenge of our time.

It is the proper role of the Follower of Christ to do good, not to fear and to protest. Let these words be your guide and your comfort.

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.
--1 Peter 3:13-18 (NIV)

Rember also, that media will not bring about the end of Christ's mission and the Gospel will continue to be spread.

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
--Matthew 16:18 (NIV)

Grace Point Staff prayer day reflection

I know it has been a while since I last posted, and this isn't the most meaningful of posts. Still I want to keep to my practice of posting my reflections of the staff quarterly prayer day.

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My time today was spent in reflection on the state of my soul. It was about repentance for the sins that dominate my life. I have many and my heart is burdened by them all. Still there are some sins that dominate my ministry making it less effective than it should be.

First, I admit that I struggle with the same sin as the Church of Ephesus in Rev. 2:1-7. They were guilty of giving up the burning passion of their first love, Jesus. N. T. Wright demonstrates in Simply Christian that worship, when true, is much like one reacts to a rock star. I remember having that passion toward God and his word once, but it is diminished now.

My next sin is that of judgmentalism. Looking at my brother, I am inclined to see his sin before my own. His vision is clouded by that tiny little speck I'm sure. Don't bother me with the log that I'm dealing with.

My last sin, connected to my second, is hypocrisy. I believe in several noble missions that I challenge others to support but do nothing about them personally. I must make my life mission congruent with my actions. Most note worthy is the issues of poverty and aides.

I am sorry for my sins and pray the God will help me to overcome them.

What are you living for?

I haven't posted since this summer. Things have been busy. I've had ideas to post, but, because things are so busy, I have forgotten them before I could get them in the blog. Anyhow, Julie (a friend from church) told me on Sunday that she was reading my blog over the summer and I needed to post more. So, when I had an idea this morning, I was convicted to post it.

As I've said, I've been busy lately. Busy with a lot of church stuff much of which is short-term as our church runs without a permanent lead pastor. I've also been read and staying up way too late watching the Colorado Rockies breeze their way through the playoffs. Everyone is busy around me all the time. I'm not going to say that my busyness is more righteous than everyone else, but there are a lot of people doing a lot of things that don't seem too important to me.

This morning I was driving to the church when I caught the Peter Gabriel song Solisbury Hill. I love the song, but admit I have no idea what Gabriel was writing about. Some suggest that it is about faith in Jesus. I doubt that. I'm just not sure that he has that kind of testimony. Still, Peter Gabriel isn't a prophet and the song is not scripture so I'm going to pretend that Gabriel is giving his testimony in this song. If he is, it's awesome.

My favorite part comes right at the end. Throughout the song the line "grab your things, I've come to take you home" is repeated, but at the end it changes noticeably. I think that it is meaningful how it changes. Throughout the song there is an excitement about going home, but the excitement isn't so great that the character want to forget the things that might be left behind. It's kind of like you're waiting for a bus that finally arrives so you stop, pick your things up and get on the bus. There is relief in the arrival of the bus, but your things still matter.

In the last line of Solsbury Hill, Gabriel sings, "Hey, I said, you can keep my things, they've come to take me home." WOW! I can only imagine that this is how I'll feel when Christ comes to take me home. All my stuff that I didn't want to forget will now become meaningless. I'll I want to do is go home.

I've been reading a lot lately too. I've just finish two Don Miller books, Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God Knows What. I've greatly enjoyed Miller's perspective, and when I heard that last line of Solsbury Hill, my mind was draw to a chapter in Blue Like Jazz, the one where Miller introduces Andrew the Protester. Andrew the Protester has a philosophy that it isn't what you'll die for that matters; rather it is what you will live for. In other words, dieing is easy. Not really, but it is easy to say you'll die for something when nothing is threatening you. It is hard to really turn your life around and live for something. No one is going to do that unless they actually believe in the cause or the person or whatever.

I've been busy lately. Busy like everyone else in my community. Most of them are busy trying to get ahead in life, or to help their children get ahead. I don't believe in that. I believe in something else. What do I believe in? I'd like to say I believe in God and serving Him and all that, but I think I need to stop and reflect on the things I've been busy doing, then I'll know what I really believe in.

Summary of September 2007 prayer day

This is an interesting time in our church and in my life. We have a great amount of change going on with the exit of our long time pastor, Dave Ridder. What does God want me to do during this time? It seems that I have so little control over the path that the church will take and over the direction of my own ministry.

After contemplating this question in prayer, I've discovered once again that God's plan for me isn't real complicated. No, in fact, it is just as simple as always. God wants me "to live justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly" (Micah 6:8) with Him.

I need to let God be in charge!

I can see through this that thee are 3 main mistakes that the religious make in their religiosity. First, they seek information instead of obedience (walk humbly).

Next, the religious substitute symbols for actions of faith (live justly). Often this is a substitution of my tradition in place of an action that someone else my require. It is law over grace.

Finally, the religious will seek routine instead of empathy (love mercy). Rather that taking the time and energy to feel and reveal true empathy the religious person will categorize situations a try to meet all needs will a ceremony rather than by actually reaching out to the hurting person. This is truly an act of laziness, as well as an response to our inability to meet all the needs before us. When the later is true we demonstrate a lack of either faith that God can work or a lack of humility that God is capable without me.

For parents...

In case you're worried about what's going to become of the younger generation, it's going to grow up and start worrying about the younger generation.
- Roger Allen

Briefs: Key points of sabbatical trip conversations

Prairie Lake Church executive pastor, Chris Rygh: Growth will require unity of staff and leadership and mobilizing volunteers. With out volunteer leadership, a church cannot afford to support growth.

Latigo Ranch owner and former missionary to Waordoni tribe in Ecuador, Jim Yost: Children today are laking purpose. They are impatient to have all the stuff and experience of the older generation, but haven't an understanding of what they want to achieve. Alway do what you are called to do, and love doing it. Reward will come as a secondary consequence in it on time and is better if not the objective of one's activity.

Don and Heather Stone, former senior pastor and wife at Sonrise Baptist Church in West Valley City, Utah: The real test of a parent's success is how children (adult children) respond to adversity. If they can maintain joy in extreme suffering they will succeed.

Denver Seminary professor, Larry Lindquist: In staff changes to be to rushed or too locked into a particular structure. Serve the church with honest vigilance, but the current change isn't forever and may open new doors to the Lord's leading.

Mission Hills Church executive pastor, Byron Johns: The relationship between the senior and executive pastors are the key to their working relationship. Build trust in all things. The role of the x-pastor is to ask the who, what, when, and why questions every step of planning.

Memory of the past

While hanging with the family, we rediscovered this poem that my brother wrote in high school.

Ode to a Smushed Frog on the Highway
By Mike Johnson

Oh little frog hit by a truck
Went hopping one day, and forgot to duck
The truck's bumper hit his head
He suffers no more because now he is dead.

One wild ride, one joyful child

What's the difference between a fairy tale and a rancher's story? One starts off "Once upon a time" the other "I swear this is true." -Jim Yost


I swear this is true. My daughters and I headed out on a all day ride with 3 wranglers and 3 other riders. About 40 minutes into the ride as we passed Red Dirt Reservoir, the lead wrangler jumped us up to a lope, when we heard some yelling from the back of the line. Stopping my horse I turned around to hear Moriah ask, "who is it, Dad? Who is it? Is it Elie?"

My heart dropped when I realized it was Elie. Worse yet, I realized that fact at the moment that I saw her tumbled to the ground and lied in a heap. I turned my horse and broke the line to get down to her. It took a while as Alonso wasn't exactly the kind of horse that one would take to a fire, but I made it and dismounted reaching Elie a few seconds after the trailing wrangler reached her. Konnie was already checking Elie out and to my joy she was alert and able to move her body parts. Her complaint was that her wrists hurt. She also had an obvious scrape on the face as she had obviously landed on her head as well.

After checking her over real well we realized that Elie wasn't going to have the strength to hold the reins to return to the ranch, much less complete the remaining 5 hours of riding, so the wranglers radioed the ranch for a truck to pick her up. They could make the pick up about 1/4 mile from our location we would only have to walk her to that point. Though woozy, Elie was able to make the walk and her head seemed to clear a little along the way.

Needless to say, I cut my ride short and returned to ranch. There I found Elie patched up, and doing well, but beat up, with tow sore wrists and extremely sleepy. She and I made the 20 drive down the Kremmling to visit the 4 bed emergency room. X-rays confirmed two slightly fractured wrists and the doctor acknowledged a minor concussion. No major treatment would be necessary, but Elie's riding for the week would be over.

Ironically, we choose the ranch vacation because Elie loves horses so much. So it would seem that this would be the end of our vacation fun. However, I am often amazed at how God works in a child and how mature my daughters are becoming. Instead of complaining, Elie put her injuries aside and found ways to enjoy the ranch in other ways. Yes, she was sad to miss out on the rides, but she found her way into the hearts of the ranch staff. She spent one day working in the ranch kitchen while the rest of us learned to round up cattle. Some might think, "how can KP be a positive experience?", still Elie made it really special. When I asked her later was her favorite part of the ranch experience was, she proclaimed the day in the kitchen.

Every good thing requires risk. The experience of riding a horse in the mountain certainly has risk. By it's very nature, risk means something can go wrong. When that happens, people can react in different ways: swear never to face the risk again, complain and wonder why it happened to them, or pick up what they have and make the best of the situation. This may be a minor event compared to other things that may have happened, but, still, I'm pleased that Elie took the highest road possible.

Ranchers for a week

The Johnson family is about as suburban as we would like to admit, but that is why dude ranches exist. Last week we spent about the best week of vacation anyone could have while suffering two broken bones and a concussion.

The ranch, www.latigotrails.com, is an incredible ranch with great scenery, wonderful staff and enjoyable horses. Prior to our week, Elie and Moriah were the most experience riders in the family having both taken riding lessons for a period of time. I have participated on on overnight men's trip, but didn't know much about riding a horse. Stef hadn't had much experience on a horse, but, all in all, we found that our lack of experience didn't keep the Johnsons from enjoying the ranch experience. The wranglers where great teachers and the other activities and food made the week a wonderfully restful vacation for all of us.

Beyond the typical rides, learning to throw a lasso and crack a whip, and the extremely tasty food, my favorite part of Latigo Ranch was the people. I was alway cheered by the kitchen staff and their smiling faces. I enjoyed chatting with the cowboy type wranglers who led the trail rides. But the most memorable individuals where the owners, Jim and Kathie Yost and Randy and Lisa George. Particularly, I spent a good amount of time talking with Jim Yost, who, with Kathie, lived 10 years as a missionary in Ecuador. Jim Yost was the first man to spend a night in a Waorani tribe village. The Waorani Indian were a violent tribe that were made known to Americans through the story of Jim and Elizabeth Elliot and the movie The End of the Spear.

Jim, now a full-time rancher and part-time anthropologist, looks every bit the part of a cowboy. He told stories like a cowboy, with a straight face and dry humor. His understanding of people was amazing and I'm hoping to use much of a conversation that he had with Stef and I in development of my Successful Parenting seminars that I'm working on.

While Jim is a cowboy, he's also a very loving and sensitive man. This was evident as we experienced some of the harder events that a dude ranch may produce. I'll write more about the experience in my next entry, but, briefly, I'll say that Elie was thrown from her horse and suffered two broken arms and a minor concussion. Elie is in good shape now, and recovering, but the event disturbed Jim visibly. Elie's fall was scary, but the reaction of Jim and the response of his staff helped our family to continue to enjoy the week, even calling it the best vacation of our lives.

two thirds of a road trip, part 1 PA to IA

The Johnson family has been on a road trip through the mid-west and west for about 21 days. This is the first chance that I've had to sit and type up something about the trip so I'll give a quick run down of everything that we've experienced.

First, two long non-eventful days of travel from home to Stef home town of Waterloo IA have taught us two things. First, our girls now that they are 12 and 14 are much better travelers than they used to be and Little House on the Prairie First Season DVDs can be good entertainment for the car ride. The second thing we learned was, when in Ohio, $20 extra dollars spent on a hotel room, just might have been a better deal than staying the the Fleebag Inn. When we invested the extra $'s in a Nebraska hotel, we discovered the difference.

Our stay in Waterloo brought great opportunities to chance to catch up with Stef's father and brother. We enjoyed our time, but the girls had few opportunities to hang out with anyone their age. But I had a great time helping my father-in-law work on his 1949 Olds.

Review of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck

What was the difference between Michael Jordan and John McEnroe? Why do some people see only failure in themselves and others while other people can see only potential? Why are even positive labels in schools an ultimate hindrance for the individuals who receive them? Dr. Carol S. Dweck of Stanford University says that both positive and negative labels come from the same mindset as held by those who see failure in all and people like John McEnroe, who become caught up in the reasons that others are holding them back. Dwecks research is outlined in her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (Random House, New York: 2006).

Dr. Dweck has discovered two mindsets that affect the success of individuals, one for the better and one for the worse. The open mindset reward effort over achievement. It recognized each individual, whether it be on the sports field, in the family or in academic study based on their own personal goals and how hard they work at conquering those goals. The open mindset goals would be effort based, not based on meeting standards or receive accolades.

The closed mindset, on the other hand, creates standards for all people to meet, such as test scores or trophy counts. Those who quickly achieve those standards are labeled smart or athletic or well behaved. Those who struggle to meet standards are label academically challenged, or nonathletic or a behavioral problem.

Who do the labels hurt? According to Dr. Dweck, labels hurt everyone. Those who are labeled unable are hurt as well as those who are told that they are specially gifted to meet the standard. Why? The "unables" are hurt because they are in a sense told, they will never match up to the "ables". The "ables" are hurt because they will identify themselves according to the things that they are supposed to do well. Once they fail at those things one of two reactions will result. The first reaction is self-defeating. They will have to redefine themselves. When they were once good at the activity, they will now have to admit they are not good. The second reaction is more defensive. Rather than admitting their own failure, they will blame others for their poor showing.

Dweck identifies the bigger problem with the second group. Once a child is placed in a special group they tend to develop an attitude that everything should come naturally. They stop working as had a development which set them up for eventual failure. The failure is very difficult to take because it is tied to their identity.

As a result, Dweck argues against the creation of such programs as gifted and talented classes or special sports leagues because they are used to rate natural ability rather than extraordinary effort. Likewise, she advocates against harsh punishments for failure of meeting standards, including some behavioral standards.

From a Christian point of view I can see many benefits in teaching an open mindset. Still I see some portions of this work that Christians would tend to object to. First, Dweck's anti-corporal punishment bent has long been a beef of many Christians after all doesn't the Bible say "spare the rod and spoil the child?" There is a point that Dweck can push this issue too far, still as a children's pastor I have see that too often punishment, in general, and more particularly corporal punishment are dealt too quickly to specific groups of people. To often parents want to see their children all living to a standard of behavior thus punishing any behavior that doesn't meet that standard. To offend I see parents labeling their own children as behavior problems and miss the growth moment and value that these children bring to the world, the family and the church. While I don't advocate never applying corporal punishment, some parents result to it too quickly and for the wrong issues.

Many Christians may also balk at the idea of eliminating the gifted types of programs. I don't know of any Biblical reason for this, but many conservative Christians demand that we stratify children, assume that stratification is based on hard work, and fear that unifying the children in academic and athletic programs is a slide to socialism. I don't thing this is the case. Unfortunately, most academic, artistic and athletic programs base their grouping, not on individual effort, but on early signs of "ability". We create these programs way too early in the lives of the children and measure things that are not consistent with how much work an individual will be willing to put into developing. I've seen children as early as 6 years old be placed on special athletic teams because they are a head taller than others. This isn't the exception unfortunately. This is the truth behind how these decisions are made.

I don't think that Dweck takes personal bent out of development decisions all together, and we do need to consider how each child is specially designed. Eventually, children who are good in math need a math program that can help them develop, but not at the expense of those who are more or less average. Eventually, children will need different athletic fields to address their sports development, but not based on early detection of "natural abilities" (often read physical development). Rather, children who want to play baseball day-in and day-out should have a field so they aren't bored or frustrated with those that show up once a week just for fun.

Moreover, I think Christians can find some usual guidance in this book, particularly with regard to spiritual development. The closed mindset is going to look at a specific quality that a child has to determine their value. Too often, in the church, we do this by rating how well a child is behaved while the adults teach or pray, how many verses they can memorize, or how many friends they bring to our church programs. This ignores that some may sit quietly through the prayer time while their minds drift off, while others wiggle and squirm as the try to process the value of prayer. We rejoice when Johnny finished all his verse memorization long before the rest, but need to investigate what value Johnny received from those verses. Or we get frustrated when Sally fails to recite any verses word perfect, but miss the attempt that she makes.

In general, we need to look at the whole person in spiritual development, not the surface. We need to move beyond labeling children as good or bad and work to make all of them better.

Another thing to keep in mind is that spiritual development is often affected by the athletic, artistic and academic labels we give children. These labels will often make children feel that they are good without considering their spiritual growth. More organically, often receiving the honors to be in these special programs or on special teams restricts them for the time they need to work on spiritual matters. Moreover, it creates a pressure for all families to work harder to make sure that their children receive these honors, at the expense of spirituality.

One last interesting side point that I gained from Dweck's book has little to do with the text. The point comes in the title of two sections. One is titled, "Parents (and Teachers): Messages About Success and Failure;" the next is titled, "Teachers (and Parents): What Makes a Great Teacher (or Parent)?" These tell of Dweck's wise view of parents. That is, their role is to teach their children well. The Bible makes it clear that the parent is the primary teach of a child. If parents rely on the the teachers to do the job the child will not be properly prepared. When parents take seriously their role as teacher and learn about how to to the tasks involved, children will have the best resources they need for achieving all the God as in store for them.

Review of Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert

Happiness is an elusive thing. Not that it is difficult to find happiness, but it is difficult to define and pin point what brings happiness. Daniel Gilbert in Stumbling on Happiness (Vintage Books, 2005) make as case that, as the title indicates, it is very difficult to predict what will bring happiness into the life of an individual. Even when something has brought happiness to a person in the past, a later attempt at finding the joy may not come with the same results.

Happiness is dependent on many factors. Every person will find differing amounts of pleasure in different stimuli. Ever stimulus will have a different affect on a given individual depending on other factors. One might remember an event as more or less pleasurable long after the event has passed than when they were experiencing the event.

In the end, Gilbert proposes that there is only one marginal way to predict what will bring happiness. He proposes that when options arise, an individual can look to others who are currently more advanced in experiencing event and see to what level they feel they are happy. This he admits is a marginal predictor of personal happiness, but best option available.

I chose to read this book because of an interesting interview I had heard with Gilbert. I'm not sure that the book lived up to my expectation; It didn't bring to me the happiness that I predicted. Actually, my disappointment is less about happiness and more about utility. I'm not sure what to do with all the data that he provides in Stumbling. I'm not sure that his conclusion bring any great value to me or to those that I would love to teach on this subject. Really, his main point is that you don't know what will make you happy, until you are happy, is difficult to do anything with.

Further, as I set out to do this project, I was less concerned with what would make people happy for a moment, but with what kind of life long choices cause people to reflect back and say, "I've lived a joy-filled life." If you trust Gilbert, nobody can really do that without misrepresenting there own experiences.

However, maybe that is the point that I can take away from this book. If we seek temporary happiness, we may ore may not be happy in the longterm. We need to look beyond the products and activities that promise to make us happy, and choose to look forward to the greater things in life as God is our guide to true joyfulness.

Update on Sabbatical

I have promised regular updates on my sabbatical, but I have been slow to add any articles. I part, that's because I don't want to write anything without fully thinking it through. In part, I have felt that part of my sabbatical is to rest the mind, and with all I'm doing and reading, my mind hasn't felt ready to write. I will change this trend though over the next couple weeks. I start this week by writing reports on two books that I've read: Mindset by Dr. Carol S. Dweck and Stumbling on Happiness by Dr. Daniel Gilbert. In brief, Mindset has proven to be a good read, while not always taking a position that I will always agree with. On the other hand, Stumbling on to Happiness was less than helpful for me and takes an odd position on to what happiness is and how to find it in one's life (as the title implies).

Over the last couple weeks, I've been working on other projects too. This week, I will finish up a long lacrosse season as coach of the 3rd out of 3 teams. I've enjoyed the girls, grades 7 and 8, but struggled with drawing a full team which has created an odd team dynamic. I have been working on and hope to finish editing a video project which is part of my sixth grade daughters graduation from elementary school. Also, I've been a part of several meeting around the realignment of the staff at Grace Point. Some of these meeting are directly related to a project that I desired to tackle during this time, but some have been the kind that pull me out of the sabbatical mode and back into church work. Later I'll share why they have been important enough to do that.

Check back over the next few days. I promise those two book reports and I'm hoping to do some reflective writing as well.

A different definition of success

"Success is not no violence." [emphasis added]
George W Bush
May 2, 2007

What does the Bible say about success? Part 1

2 Timothy 1 gives an outline of Paul's success formula. There are three parts to it:

1. Courageous enthusiasm (v. 1-7)
2. Shameless suffering (v. 8-12)
3. Spiritual loyalty (v. 13-18)

Paul was admonishing Timothy to be enthusiastic about the Gospel even when it meant facing persecution. If Christians are to be successful in their own lives, the Gospel must be core to the message of their lives and must go before their own pride.

Paul suffered greatly in his life and in his ministry. Suffering included being locked in chain, torture, loss of rights, and--worst of all--abandonment from people he called friends. It really seems to me that the abandonment hurt Paul the most. He longed throughout this letter for his friend Timothy to hurry to be by his side. While this suffering was difficult for Paul, it was through suffering that Paul found success in his ministry. Paul wore suffering for the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a badge of honor.

Enthusiasm and suffering were not, in themselves, guarantees of success. Paul added one more key principle that connect the first two. That is spiritual loyalty. It does no good to be a flash in the pan with enthusiasm. If is needless suffering if one only gives in to the things of this world in the end. One must through all things maintain a solid sense of loyalty to the message of the Gospel and to following the ministry that the Spirit lay before each person. It is in this that Christians find success.

Notice that Paul is hurt most by those that abandoned him for the things of this world. In chapter 4, he mentions by name Demus, who left him for nothing more that to pursue the "things of this world." How often to we as American parents encourage our children to put the things of this world ahead of spiritual matters?

About a year ago, I probed a bunch of church leaders about this. I asked two questions: "Have you ever told your children that they could not go to a church function because their school work was not done?" and "Have you ever told your children to put off doing schoolwork because your children needed to focus on a spiritual issue?" To the first question, nearly ever person in the room raised their hands. Nobody raised their hand on the second question. Now in reality, there are some things that are based on a time-table and must be done in a certain sequence. Homework is often this sort of thing, while going to youth group offers much greater flexibility.

Still the answer to the second question bothers me more. There are certain spiritual windows that open only for a short while. I wonder how many Christian parents really take advantage of those windows. It seems to me that we are so afraid of loosing the worldly advantages that come with good grades, or we fear the trouble that we will receive when confronted by a teacher who has not spiritual concern for our children. In short, we teach our children to abandon spiritual things, for the advantages of worldly things.

Enthusiasm, suffering and loyalty must go together in teaching our children. We can't teach them to be enthusiastic alone and expect that they will be loyal to the Lord in the end. If we want our children to succeed, we must teach them to be so loyal to their faith that suffering will most definitely be a part of their lives. After all, good grade in school, may gain them admittance to an excellent University for four years; however, loyalty to God has eternal implications. Moreover, if their gpa falls from a 3.8 to a 3.1, there will still be many good Universities willing to continue the academic training of your child. However, there is only one Eternity worthy of pursuit. That is the eternity with God that comes through faith and loyalty to Him.

Sabbatical Introduction

As of the first of May, I'm starting a sabbatical from my normal duties as a Pastor of Children and Family Ministries at Grace Point. During the months of May, June and July, I won't be running a children's ministry. Rather I'll be doing special projects on two different issues: one family related and one on church staff structure.

For the family ministry project, I'll be read and researching on the question of "What should parents do to help their children succeed in life?" Of course, I'll be looking at this from several angles. First, I'll be studying the scriptures to see how God views success. Next, I'll review literature to discover what works and what doesn't work regarding raising spiritually, academically and financially successful children. This information will be analyzed against the theology of success to create a guide for parents who want the most for their children.

Also, I'll be reporting in on a family trip I'm taking in June and July. The trip will include 5000 miles of driving across about 2/3rds of the country. We are visiting friend, family and many beautiful locations. A week at a ranch in Colorado is among the exciting things that we have to look forward to.

I'm going to use this space to publish weekly findings on both projects. Please feel free to check back regularly. I hope all the information is helpful to you and your family plus some fun reflections on a long trip.

Warren Buffett on success

In a recent CNBC report on Billionaire Warren Buffet, the interviewer asked Buffet, "What advice would you give someone to help them know when they have succeeded?"

Buffet replied: "When you have people around you that you love."

The reporter wasn't satisfied with this answer and dug in deeper obviously looking for a quantitative means of defining success. She said, "Uh, this is a CNBC audience. Help them to understand success."

Buffet thought only for a second and said, "Doing what you love and doing it well. I've never found someone how was doing that that didn't consider himself a success."

If the 2nd riches man in the world can discover that success has not quantitative measure, should not we all begin living toward goals of success that are based on people, fulfillment and spirituality.

Snow Crevasse

As I lie in bed tonight, I had a memory of my college days when a bunch of guys got together to go skiing. Crested Butte had offered a free day for Western State students so it was the perfect opportunity for those of us who were neither good skiers nor interested in pushing the edge of the envelop.

Not being a skier, I had borrowed some equipment for the day. In addition to my rented skis and polls, I had a pair of goggle that didn't quite work right. I made them work for the better part of the day, but on one rather long run, I can remember them fogging up a bit. Perhaps I had a little snow on the inside of them. I don't remember exactly what the issue was, but the bottom half of each lens had fogged over. But since the group was moving, I chose to wait to clean them off. That was a mistake.

On this particular run there were 4 or 5 of us skiing together. I was skiing toward the front of the pack just behind one of my friends. Through my half fogged glasses, I saw him pull to the side of the groomed slope and stop, I assumed to wait for the others. This would be a good opportunity for me to clean my lenses, so I made a broad turn to stop next to him. And I would have too, but I didn't notice that he stopped as a point right next to a 10 drop into a crevasse, and the crevasse wasn't perfectly parallel to the ski run. I jotted out a bit, and I fell straight in; down ten feet into many multiple feet of soft powder.

Of course, the landing was soft and I wasn't the least bit hurt. But I was stuck. After step I made into the snow pulled powder down on top of me. Every time I reached up, the powder collapsed and I end up in the same spot, on the bottom of the stream bed.

Since I was 19 and a college student, and my friends were all in the same situation, this memory is a good one. I can remember laughing hysterically as I worked to make it out of the hole. I can remember my friends (now all 4 or 5 of them) looking down on me and getting the biggest kick out of my situation. In a way it was a blast. Although slightly embarrassed, I didn't mind their cracks and laughter, because it was a funny situation. Still, as I stood at the bottom, there was a growing urgency in my mind about getting out of this pit. I was stuck, and nothing I could do was working.

It took a few minutes, I can't really say how long, but the guys up top eventually made a chain and worked together to get me out. I can tell you, I was never more happy to be the point of so many jokes.

Why was I thinking of this story? Because in many ways, I feel like I'm at the bottom of that crevasse again. I'm having a good time and the people I'm with are enjoying the situation. I'm not saying people are laughing at me, but they are enjoying benefit from my predicament none the less. I'm not in physical peril, not stuck physically, and not here because of clumsy skiing, but I am beginning to wonder if I'm not stuck because of poor vision.

See, I'm in a ministry that in many ways I love. I work with children and I love the children. I'm good with children and they like me back. If I have a problem with this ministry, it is that they job has grown to a point where I can't do it alone, but few will join me as I need them to join me. Some have even gone so far as to say they can't join me because they don't think they can do the job in the same way that I do it.

I'm climbing, but with each step up, the powdery ground collapses and leaves me back where I started. I've added a lot of staff to my programs. Many quality people have joined in that matter, but every year I'm a few short of what the volunteers need to feel they are effective. So, at the end of a term, I have great turnover.

I've added a great program format that could be effective at reaching the children. But, every year, because most of my volunteers were raised in the old style Sunday School, I get pressure to redesign the program to match what they grew up with.

I'm climbing, but I can't reach the top. Because of my personality and popularity with the children, I've noticed more and more that the adults don't take me seriously as a trained and ordained pastor. In 10 years as a pastor, I've average fewer than 1 or 2 people coming to me seeking input on leadership issue. I counsel formally only about 2 people per year. I have baptized a good number of children, but only 3 people older than 12, including a good friend who didn't even think that it might be part of my ministry and desire to baptize him. I've performed 0 funeral and 0 wedding which leaves this 10 year veteran in the ministry with no experience in special services. Of course, I'm not too excited about doing either weddings or funerals, but there is an expectation that pastors do both. Beyond that, I've only lead one service on Sunday morning, but that wasn't even called preaching. It was the "Children's Ministry Focus Sunday" and I was just giving little thoughts for people to think about.

Rather than going on and seeming gloomier than I am. I'll stop. In fact, in general, I'm not gloomy about my ministry. I feel quite happy most days and I think I've help others to feel welcome and joyful on many occasions. My issue isn't gloominess. It is feeling like my situation will ever change. I'm stuck in a hole, digging to climb out, and going nowhere fast. And even though I enjoy my work, I'm beginning to feel a little weary and anxious about what it is going to take for me to get me out of the crevasse.

Sabbatical links

here are some links with interesting things that i should look at as part of my sabbatical research project on creating successful children.

Crossroads Community Church in Cincinnati has some interesting stuff in their November 2006 sermon series, Keeping up with the Jones.

Similar is Rob Bell's series Calling all Peacemakers from Dec. 2006.

Daniel Gilbert is not a Christian author, but I'm interested in his evaluation of happiness as he as delivered in Stumbling on Happiness.

I'm really interested in looking at the idea of contentment. The question is, does someone have to reach a professional position or earn a certain amount of money in order to be content? I will look what the scriptures say about contentment, but I also want to examine the lives of people who have been successful in different ways.

By the way, it may already be evident that I'm beginning with a presupposition that true success equals true joy in life. In other words, if a person is a billionaire but unhappy with his position, he has not succeeded at life. Or if a person is elected president, but begrudingly does the job, she has not succeeded.

I'm hopping to post more as I prepare for the sabbatical from May thru July. I'll certainly post come that time as I plan on using this site to organize my thoughts.

A Good Wife Always Knows Her Place

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This is a very interesting article from Housekeeping Monthly written in 1955. While the distance of time makes this somewhat humorous for today's reader, there are other emotions that come to me after thinking about it for a while.

My first emotion is joy. I'm filled with joy as a husband to know that my relationship with my wife is more than just her working to please me. I'm filled with joy that I have the responsibility and right to seek her better good.

My second emotion is quite different from the first as I also feel sadness about something lost. I'm not sad at all about the lost of June Cleaver wife roll. I am sad that most women are culturally encouraged to not serve their husband. But just as much, I'm sad that the movement away from June Cleaver, men were not challenged more to love their wives and to work to meet their needs.

Unfortunately, the liberation of women was about women have the right to ignore their husband's needs rather than focusing on the need for men to meet the needs of women. Rather than mutuality in marriage, our culture has focused on independence.

It isn't that I don't think there was a move away from the 1955 housekeeper roll in marriage. Certainly that was not marriage as God intended it to be. Although, I do believe that God desires both spouses to find high reward in meeting the need other their partner. Their can only be reward in interdependence and no such reward in independence.

Engineering and the soul

We can engineer many things in this world. We can plan and design our home, office building and structures of many kinds. We can engineer our roadways, bridge great divides between roads and design vehicles to travel on those roads. Some vehicles are huge and can go anywhere on or off the highways. Other vehicles are small and designed to get along on very little fuel. We have developed ways to move people around the world in a matter of hours. Airplanes that people have designed, planned and build can now fly several times the speed of sound.

We have a medical industry that is in the business of engineering health. We can send a camera and clippers into the human body and remove many different ailments. This week, I'll spend thousands of dollars to pay and engineer to perfect my daughter's smile. Other engineers develop medication to wipe out all kinds of illnesses, eradicating many of them so they may never infect another human.

We can engineer so many things, but as our engineers succeed, there is not thing that they cannot redesign. That is the human soul, the spirit of a person.

This as so frustrated so many scientists and engineers that many have concluded that the soul must not exist. If it can be measure, seen or touched with an human hand or man-made instrument, it must be a fantasy. Yet it does exist.

People are trying to engineer it. They have developed a whole field to study and try to manipulate the soul. They call that field psychology. Counseling is a great growing field. But in the end, it proves to be inadequate at engineering they perfect human soul. Most counseling techniques leave their subject with a large dependency on crutches. "Six sessions may not be adequate for you. You will need to continue your counseling indefinitely," says a common psychological school.

We can't engineer the perfect human soul, but there is an engineer that can prefect it. That is the Lord Jesus. Through the work the Holy Spirit our souls will be prefect. Let God mold your soul and it will work. Human attempts may offer some relief to temporal problems, but God alone has the ability to truly fix the soul.

Life as a Children's Pastor

It's a somewhat typical day in the church, except today I have a visiting group of Japanese youth coming to speak to my 1st to 4th grade class. In addition to that change, the child's choir was singing in the service so we held our program up for about 15 minutes waiting for their return.

Just as the children flocked into the room, I saw a mother in the door way trying to get my attention. She had noticed the Kindergarten teacher in some stress and came to solicit my help. Because my children were settling in for a few minutes of music (and I'm not musical), I took the opportunity to check on this teacher's need.

It turns out that she was overwhelmed by the extra students that the children's choir had drawn to her class. I made my way down to the junior high class room to call on a last-minute assistant. No problem. As I introduced the assistant to the teach a child ran into my leg with muffled cries.

I looked down. What do you suppose I saw. A boy who had been in the class for less than 3 minutes had a bucket stuck to his head. Not sure what was up, I grabbed the bucket and gave it a tug. It wasn't budging. He, I'm sure with the help of some companions, had wedged the bucket on good. The job took some patience. and a tight grip on his ears, but the bucket did pop off.

Please pray for Kindergarten teachers. If the children don't drive them crazy, the teachers will surely die laughing at their attempts.

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Attitude

I've just begun coaching a 7th and 8th grade girls lacrosse team. I don't know anything about the sport, but my daughter asked me to volunteer as an assistant. Of course, in reality, that means I volunteered to be the coach.

Not knowing lacrosse is only a minor problem. Most of the girls on the team have an idea what they are doing and my job is to motivate them to do it right. The problem is, it's a junior high girl's team. After two practices of facing every thing from defiant attitudes, lack of desire, comments about the weather, and cliquish behavior, I asked my 12 year old daughter, "Do all junior high girls have an attitude?"

Her response came without hesitation. "Duh!"

The good news is, I can laugh my way through most of that.