Posts Tagged leadership

Sail Away

This morning, my family had a brief time of worship together. We’re trying out homeschooling our four kids this year, and we’ve been trying to kick off each weekday with worship. It’s a simple thing: we light a candle, my daughter opens the Word and reads a verse she finds there, I read a longer selection from the Word (we’re going through the Gospel of Mark right now), and then we have a short discussion. We finish by going around and giving everyone a chance to share a final thought, then say the Lord’s Prayer together. It’s very much a “small group” experience.

Anyway, this morning, we read a very short story about Jesus, and I found it particularly intriguing:

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side. (Mark 8:11-13)

I love that!

A boat sailing away in sunset

First of all, Jesus was in the middle of a tour of the land in which he was going around casting out demons, curing deafness, and had only one paragraph previously fed thousands of people with just a handful of food, and not for the first time!

But the Pharisees wanted a “sign”.

And the Lord’s reaction? Wow. We all smiled at that, and laughed a little in sympathy. What a powerfully human reaction: he “sighed deeply in his spirit”. Of course he did!

But it was his next move that really grabbed my interest the most.

Did he argue with them? Nope. He said, “A sign? Sorry, can’t help you.” And that’s it! He didn’t point out all the signs he’d already provided, he didn’t explain to them what was wrong with their question, he didn’t call them out for what they were really doing or point out that they didn’t want a sign. I think I would have. Would you? He basically said they couldn’t have any signs, which I understand as him saying, “If you haven’t seen any ‘signs’ so far, then you’re not ever going to.” That’s powerful. But not overpowering.

Did he give them a sign? Well, technically, he had many times, and would many times again. He spent years doing miraculous things that could be taken as “signs”. But people were always able to interpret his actions in different ways. At one point, some theorized that he could cast out demons because he was somehow allied with them. But I think he could have given them a sign they would have to see. That they couldn’t ignore, or explain away, or deny. He could have opened a doorway to hell and taken them on a tour, then taken them up to heaven and shown them around. But he didn’t. He could have called down fire right there and then, but he didn’t. He could have reached into their minds and taken away their freedom of thought, reached into their hearts and forced them to want to worship him. But he didn’t.

Instead, he got in a boat and sailed away.

Sailed away!

I bet many there interpreted that as a sign of weakness. But that was powerful. When you know you’re right and good, and the people you’re with don’t want to hear that, go spend time with someone else!

Now, Jesus sometimes engaged people like this in debate. Sometimes he preached to them. But sometimes he just walked away. (Or in this case, sailed away.)

So what does this tell us? FIrst, it says something about the nature of God. Namely, that he isn’t going to force or trick or argue or debate anyone into doing anything. He wants more than anything else for us to love him. And love can only be given freely. It’s part of the definition. So if we don’t choose to follow, to worship, to believe, to obey, to love, then that’s that. He won’t force the issue. The sentence my daughter found to read at the beginning of this morning’s gathering relates to this idea:

Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:1-2)

He is always reaching out to us, but we do things that throw up barriers between us and him. If we don’t want those barriers removed, then he’s not going to force his way through to us. Instead, he patiently waits.

So what does this say about our own lives? One of my sons pointed out that it’s a reminder to be more aware of the signs the Lord has given that are all around us all the time. His brother connected it to this really cool video:

(Quick aside: I highly recommend you, right now, go and subscribe to that guy’s YouTube channel. Go on. I’ll wait.)

Now, what I personally was drawn to this morning was the idea that, sometimes, the best thing to do when confronted with conflict, hate, obtuseness, temptation, is to just sail away. Cross over to the other side. Go spend time with different people, different ideas, different affections.

And that’s just skimming the surface. This four-sentence vignette from the life of Jesus has tons more depth to it that I’m not even beginning to mention here. What is that boat a symbol of? Why is it significant that it was Pharisees he sailed away from and not Sadducees, or lawyers, or tax collectors, or the demon-possessed? What’s the significance of the fact that he crossed water, rather than just walked away down a road?

But I’ll leave exploring that to you.

For me, for this moment, I’m taking away from this the following idea.

Sometimes, it is best to be like water: flow where gravity takes you, passing over and around the barriers, ever moving forward. And maybe in passing you will eventually wear down some rough edges. But don’t worry about that. Just change direction when you have to, and move on.

 

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What Makes a Good Leader for the Emerging Generations?

The Christian research organization, LifeWay, recently did a large study of Americans born in the 1980’s. All sorts of interesting findings there. Thom Rainer just shared some from the study that relate to leadership.

In short, a good leader for a member of the “Millennial” generation (born between 1980 and 1999) is a mentor, has a humble approach, matches their words with their actions, and is real. Those are my words to interpret their findings. Read more over at ThomRainer.com: “What Millennials Want in Leaders“.

All of this is in line with what I’ve been thinking and saying and trying to live. This is why “I” language is a good thing, and dogmatic grammar is a deal breaker. This is why authenticity trumps the false appearance of confidence. This is why listening is so key. In fact, this is why I have grown uncomfortable with the term “preaching” to describe what I am trying to do when I share a message about the application of truth to real life. I know many of you have suggested I get over this hangup, but there is a pretty powerful connotation to the word “preach” that really runs totally against both the grain of the coming generations and my own personal understanding of my role in the world.

This is why I try to remember to say, “I don’t know” when I don’t know, and “I think” when I think I do, and “What do you think?” when I’m done, whatever my answer is. Now, I’m not always good at it. I’m a pretty powerfully opinionated person who tends to feel certain and to sometimes act even more certain than I feel. And being an entrepreneurial leader of what is, frankly, a high-risk attempt to start something special from scratch, I feel a constant pressure to exude confidence, no matter how much doubt I may feel at times.

But here’s the good news (for me, anyway!): I am learning that if I put my trust in my Lord, then there is no contradiction between having self-doubt while also having total confidence in my creator and savior.

So here’s what I’ve been saying to anyone who will listen (and a surprisingly high number of people seem to find hearing this difficult): I have no idea what’s going to happen, or if my specific plans are going to come out the way I envision them, but I am completely confident that if we get people together and keep service to the Lord and to our neighbors at the center of our thinking, that He will make something wonderful come out of our efforts, one way or another. My personal ego has some very specific ideas of what the Lord ought to do with our efforts, but I know my God is wiser than me, and thinks bigger than I ever could, and sees the long-term big picture, and so I’m ready to find out what it is He will make of all our plans and efforts.

Emerson said:

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.

True. I like more, though, what Irish martyr Padraic Pearse said in his poem, “The Fool”:

Since the wise men have not spoken, I speak that am only a fool;
A fool that hath loved his folly,
Yea, more than the wise men their books or their counting houses or their quiet homes,
Or their fame in men’s mouths;
A fool that in all his days hath done never a prudent thing,
Never hath counted the cost, nor recked if another reaped
The fruit of his mighty sowing, content to scatter the seed;
A fool that is unrepentant, and that soon at the end of all
Shall laugh in his lonely heart as the ripe ears fall to the reaping-hooks
And the poor are filled that were empty,
Tho’ he go hungry.
I have squandered the splendid years that the Lord God gave to my youth
In attempting impossible things, deeming them alone worth the toil.

Was it folly or grace? Not men shall judge me, but God.
I have squandered the splendid years:
Lord, if I had the years I would squander them over again,
Aye, fling them from me !
For this I have heard in my heart, that a man shall scatter, not hoard,
Shall do the deed of to-day, nor take thought of to-morrow’s teen,
Shall not bargain or huxter with God ; or was it a jest of Christ’s
And is this my sin before men, to have taken Him at His word?
The lawyers have sat in council, the men with the keen, long faces,
And said, `This man is a fool,’ and others have said, `He blasphemeth;’
And the wise have pitied the fool that hath striven to give a life
In the world of time and space among the bulks of actual things,
To a dream that was dreamed in the heart, and that only the heart could hold.

O wise men, riddle me this: what if the dream come true?
What if the dream come true? and if millions unborn shall dwell
In the house that I shaped in my heart, the noble house of my thought?
Lord, I have staked my soul, I have staked the lives of my kin
On the truth of Thy dreadful word. Do not remember my failures,
But remember this my faith
And so I speak.
Yea, ere my hot youth pass, I speak to my people and say:
Ye shall be foolish as I; ye shall scatter, not save;
Ye shall venture your all, lest ye lose what is more than all;
Ye shall call for a miracle, taking Christ at His word.
And for this I will answer, O people, answer here and hereafter,
O people that I have loved, shall we not answer together?

Finally, on the topic of self-doubt, go check out what Seth Godin said about “the lizard“. Or, for a shorter version, read this, taken from his latest post, “A post-industrial A to Z digital battledore“:

L is for Lizard Brain: This is a huge impediment to getting what you want, finding your calling and satisfying your customers. The lizard brain is near your brain stem, including your amygdala. It’s the part of your brain responsible for anger, revenge, fear, anxiety and reproduction. It’s the original brain, the one that wild animals possess. Steve Pressfield has named the voice of the lizard: it’s the resistance. The resistance rationalizes, hides and sabotages your best work.

But I’m rambling pretty far, here. Tell me: what do you look for in a leader? And what kind of leader do you aspire to be? And how do you balance self-doubt with confidence?

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Initial Leadership Team

Founding Pastor: Rev. Glenn “Mac” Frazier – experienced entrepreneur and preacher. (See bio elsewhere.) Provides vision, leadership, and executive management. Duties:

  • Congregational leadership.
  • Preaching.
  • Teaching.
  • Executive management of staff.
  • Board chair.
  • Volunteer recruiting and management.
  • Program development.
  • Outreach and marketing.

Worship/Music Leader:

Ethan Daum – talented musician and dedicated church member, currently working in Stuart Hall. Current studies show that successful church plants are started by two full-time staff, assisted by one or two volunteers in leadership positions. The failure rate of church planters is significantly reduced when they have a full time partner to rely on. In addition, the culture of Austin is deeply rooted in music—the city’s claim of being “Live Music Capital of the World” is not hard to justify. One of the early challenges for New Way Church will be to build and maintain excellence in its worship services as quickly as possible. In this town, sub-par music is unacceptable.

Ethan is not only a talented musician and budding composer with a successful history of collaborating on worship services with Mac Frazier (e.g. the 2009 Academy Charter Day Sunday service at the Asplundh Field House), but he has a proven track reccord of successfully recruiting and leading a wide variety of young adult musicians in worship settings.

Duties will include:

  • Leading worship music.
  • Leading and managing musicians.
  • Directing technical aspects of worship gatherings.
  • Co-developing worship programs with founding pastor.
  • Writing original worship music.
  • Recruiting volunteers.
  • Outreach.
  • Assisting founding pastor as appropriate.

Teen Program Leader: Ethan Daum (see above). Ethan will be doing double-duty as both Worship & Music Leader and Teen Leader. Ethan is a half generation younger than Mac, and so extends the demographic outreach of the leadership team. He has worked with teens at both the ANC Secondary School and at the Laurel church camps.

Duties as Teen Program Leader include:

  • Developing teen programs.
  • Directing the overall teen ministry.
  • Recruiting volunteers.
  • Co-developing and sometimes leading service projects.
  • Outreach.
  • Advising the founding pastor.

Volunteer Children’s Program Leader: Heather McQueen Jackson, experienced educator, life-time New Church member, and Austin resident. Duties:

  • Develop children’s programs, including Sunday morning.
  • Liason with General Church Office of Education.
  • Recruit and manage volunteers.
  • Advise founding pastor.

Volunteer Community Leader: Still under consideration.Duties:

  • Direct worship service environment systems (signage, greeters, welcome table, communication cards, etc.).
  • Direct assimilation and followup systems (followup emails, newcomer gifts).
  • Co-manage small group programs with founding pastor.
  • Recruit and manage volunteers.
  • Outreach.
  • Advise founding pastor.

Part-time paid administrative assistant: Duties:

  • Office management tasks.
  • Administrative assistance to founding pastor.
  • Support for Worship/Teen/Children/Community program leaders.
  • Miscellaneous outreach and marketing tasks.

[This is from the Launch Plan for New Way Church in Austin, TX. Yesterday: Target Demographics. Next: Advisory Board.]


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Church Planting Seminar: Day One

Yesterday: vision, leadership, focus (church growth = local congregation growth), and being part of a Movement. What will today bring?

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