Book Review: Extraordinary Leaders in Extraordinary Times

Hello friends!

 

We're back after a great Tech Free Monday Sabbath (TFMS), and we're offering up a book review. I actually finished the book a while ago, but seeing as this book was authored by my professor, I figured I would get a better handle on the book after the class was over. Usually, I struggle with professors who use their own books as a text book for a course they're teaching. It sometimes comes off as shameless self promotion, which I don't really want to deal with in a class I'm paying for. But that wasn't the case with Extraordinary Leaders in Extraordinary Times.

For one thing, this book is based largely on research in the field of New Church Development (NCDs for those of us in the biz...) and not based on the authors' opinions. The basic question was this: If there are NCDs that are effective and NCDs that flop, are there specific attributes of the leadership of those church plants that are consistent across the board? Is there one type of church planter who will be successful? 

 

The short answer after the class is no. While you can discover a few traits that will more frequently lead to success, like being a "Catalytic innovator", many of the church planters we met with during the class failed to contain all or even some of the tier one attributes from Extraordinary Leaders. At the end of the day, if God calls you to plant a church, God has called you to plant a church.

 

That said, if you are feeling that call on your life, this book is a MUST HAVE resource. It, combined with several other books on pastoral skill sets, can enlighten the attributes that you are strongest at, and also give you something to work towards on your weakest attributes. For instance, I think I'm a pretty strong Catalytic Innovator, in that I love few things more than staring at a blank whiteboard and making a new program or dream come to life through brainstorming, visioning, and discussing things with co-workers and friends. However, my desire to share my faith in one on one situations has been less than stellar. So after reading Extraordinary Leaders I have tried to spend some time hanging out with lost people. 

 

Also, it's worth mentioning that though these skill sets are specifically found in NCD pastors, those who lead existing churches probably have a good bit to learn from Extraordinary Leaders. The data from focus groups in particular helped to color in some views that I share, and challenge a few of my thoughts on church development. But even as a youth leader, there were practical tips and ideas that we can bring to Veritas right from the pages of this book. 

 

If there were any critiques of the book, they would be that it's based on surveys and research, and so at certain points read a little like a statistics manual. But when compared to how much like a statistics manual it could read, it's an extremely well written book. Also with the use of focus group data across several authors, occasionally you will find quotes re-used several times, making the book feel a bit repetitive. 

 

All that said, this book is required reading for anyone considering planting a church. It will surely live on my shelf and come out occasionally during times of prayer for discernment about where to go after seminary. But we get to go farther than the usual book review on this one. This book was followed up with one of the most innovative, creative, and inspiring classes I've ever had, and so tomorrow we'll be reviewing the class itself. You don't want to miss that!

Building towards Sabbath part two: Technology Saturday

Good morning bloggers!

 

As I left you in the last part of this series, I had come to the sudden realization that I had not taken a real Sabbath in a while. It is indeed a spiritual discipline, in that it's extremely easy to fall out of if you're not careful. The feeling that comes from falling out of the Sabbath practice is subtle, creeping up on you until one day you're cursing your phone out while driving down RT 28 in the middle of the day like a lunatic. 

 

So what is a Sabbath? Take a moment to reflect on this definition from Exodus:

 

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

 

So really, at the heart of things, this is about not doing any work. That would be hard enough, right? It leads to some pretty serious discussions about what is work. Our brothers and sisters in the Orthodox Jewish tradition believe that even something as simple as turning on a light switch would qualify as work. That's not as really silly as it sounds though. Is a game of dodgeball work? It is to a youth pastor! Work can be defined in lots of different ways by lots of different people. I think at the end of the day, it's a heart issue for each person. 

 

What helps to solidify things is a sneaky little phrase in this passage, one that is too easy to look over. The seventh day is a sabbath TO the Lord your God. It's as if God knows (because he does) that the things we do as work actually wind up separating us from Him. God wants just one day out of our week where our primary focus is on Him, and our relationship with him. He wants us to stop producing things. He wants us to stop placing our value or hope in the things that we DO. He wants (I believe) to speak into us our worth and value, and he needs our undivided attention to do it. 

 

So if you were going to start a Sabbath-keeping practice, what would you do? What kinds of things would you stop doing because they get in the way of your relationship with God? What kinds of things would you have to START doing to enhance your relationship with God? If you find God in nature, would it be beneficial to have a day each week where you spent the majority of it outside? If you find God with people, would it be beneficial to have a day where you invited your closest friends over for a meal? 

 

For me, I realize that while I have a deep and profound love of technology like my Macbook, iPhone, iPad (ok, maybe just Apple Tech) that these things do little to nothing to enhance my relationship with God. I understand I could use them for that, and wouldn't discourage anyone who would want to go down that road on their Sabbath. But my technology devices remind me of work. The texts, e-mails, tweets, Facebook messages, all point in the direction of work sometimes, which can make Sabbath hard. I combine that with the fact that as an introvert, I connect with God best when I can sit on my porch for a while, reading, studying scripture, praying, and thinking in silence. So a new Sabbath for me looks like a Monday where I shut the phone off, leave the laptop at work, keep the TV at bay, and spend time in study and prayer. I would deeply encourage each of you to figure out what activities keep you from God and which activities enhance your relationship with God, and set aside (the definition of Holy by the way) a day to the Lord.

 

Incidentally, this presents a problem for the olde J-Blog. Monday is the first day of writing, and writing is a big part of what keeps me sane. You'll note that I've had more posts in August this year than I have in any month in the last three years. But if my laptop is turned off, I can't very well write for the J-Blog. What to do, what to do?

 

And so we're introducing Tech Saturday. I'm going to move the whole J-Blog's week back a day, so there will be no posts on Mondays. But then, on Saturday, since I'll be turning off my tech on Monday, we'll spend a little bit of time on the intersection of Technology with our four big areas (Youth Min, Worship, Seminary, and Book Reviews). I'll work through products, apps, websites, and other things related to the techy world. I think it will be fun! If you have any ideas for a Tech Saturday post, please let me know!

 

As for me, it's time for a Sabbath. See you next week J-Bloggers!

A humbling question!

Greetings friends,

 

As I've mentioned before, I'm in an intensive class this week (it turned out to be a one week class instead of two) on church planting at the seminary. I think on Saturday you can look forward to a post about this class, as it has been one of the most unique and innovative classes I've ever been a part of. But more on that later.

 

Part of the class is that we are to pair up with someone as a prayer partner and spend some time each day praying for each other and for the class. My prayer partner Judy and I meet every morning before class, and start our day out with the exact same question:

 

"How can I pray for you today?"

 

On the surface, particularly to those of us who are in ministry, this can seem like such a meaningless statement. We might throw it out there the same way many people answer "Fine and you?" to the question "How are you?" without thinking. It's built into the job, it's part of the lexicon, it's an afterthought, it's not much to worry about or get excited over. But being on the receiving end of that question for the last few days, it's really been a humbling, inspiring, and encouraging experience for me. Perhaps it's the weight of the question itself, or perhaps it's even that the asker in this case isn't asking it in an afterthought kind of way. Judy is legitimately asking to step inside my world, and join me in praying to God. What an honor!

 

When a phrase is staring to lose its significance for me, one of the things I try to do is to move it to places you wouldn't usually expect it. We anticipate hearing the pastor ask "How can I pray for you?" in a church building, especially on Sunday. We expect it at certain points in a conversation. We expect it in all kinds of places. What if we started using it outside of where it was expected? What if we started asking people how we can pray for them at work? What if we started asking them out to lunch or coffee, just to see how best we could pray for them? Are you asking your students, whom we all spend a great deal of time entertaining and teaching, how you can best remember them in your prayers? Are you then remembering to pray for them? Weekly? Daily? 

 

Prayer is a powerful agent. Prayer is the connection point between God and us. To have someone offer to pray for you is humbling. It leaves me at time speechless, because it's one thing to think that God would have time for my needs and worries (a whole other discussion) and it's another thing to think that another person would have that kind of time. So take an opportunity today to step into someone's life, and offer up some prayers in their direction. You might just make their day!

The Best Student: Worship

Hello friends! This week marks for several students (including this author) the return to classes. In my case, I'm in a two week long intensive class which will leave me very little time to blog. And so I've set up these auto-entries to explore what it looks like to bring your A game to your work in the classroom. This week is all about being the best student!

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

 

It has been said, correctly I believe, that most preachers only have six sermons that they preach. Six topics, all arranged in a different way, presented each week. I've thought about this long and hard when it comes to my preaching, and of course it's true. I really only have about six topics that I feel are in my wheelhouse. One of them is the concept of worship, and allowing worship to happen everywhere we are. Can you worship in the supermarket as well as you worship in your church building? Can you worship as well in the office as you do in your local chapel? And, more to our point here today, can you worship as hard while you're doing your school work as you do when you're singing your favorite hymn? 

 

The suggestion sounds absurd at first. School work as an act of worship? School work is often an excruciatingly painful experience, that students literally sing nasty songs about at the beginning and end of each and every school year. How could this be seen as an act of worship? How could this be something you praise God for allowing to be a part of your life. 

 

You realize that somewhere, somehow, along the line, participating in your studies is in fact doing what God created you to do. If you subscribe to the idea that God has a plan for your life (and I surely do) then God obviously planned for you to learn what you are learning, and to study is to exercise that call on your life. Perhaps it's difficult, but perhaps it's difficult in the same way that lifting weights is difficult to an aspiring athlete. Yes, it's not the most fun in the world. But it provides an opportunity for growth and excellence later down the line. You are learning in school to gather skills and talents, and ultimately use them in whatever vocation God is calling you towards.

 

A few ideas to keep you worship focused when you're studying:

 

1. Start every study session with prayer and scripture. Each morning, I read through the Presbyterian Church's daily lectionary. I read the morning Psalm at that point, but I save the evening Psalm for my daily study time. Whether I'm reading, or writing a paper, or any other kind of school work, I want to spend a bit of time in scripture and in prayer. Set up a little worship service for yourself right at your desk. (Incidentally, it's pretty cool to be able to go to a school where we begin each class with prayer. If you don't, gather together with a few Christian friends before each class and pray that your time of learning would also be a time of worship.)

 

2. Focus on where God is leading you through your studies. Again, maybe it's a little bit easier for me knowing that I'm pursuing a calling to ministry, but if what I mentioned above is true then God is calling you somewhere, and your studies are the road that takes you there. It's easy in the middle of the journey to forget where exactly it is you're going. A dear friend of mine gave me a pastor's stole for when I graduate, and I have it hanging next to my desk. Every time I sit down to read something I don't want to read, I try my best to remember where I'm going, and where this thing is leading me. 

 

Just some thoughts. Thanks for hanging in there on this series! More to come tomorrow! 

The Best Student: Organization

Hello friends! This week marks for several students (including this author) the return to classes. In my case, I'm in a two week long intensive class which will leave me very little time to blog. And so I've set up these auto-entries to explore what it looks like to bring your A game to your work in the classroom. This week is all about being the best student!

 

I can think of at least 30 people just off the top of my head who are more qualified than I am to write this post. I'm married to one of them! But all the same, as I've said a few times already in this series, my expertise comes from well cultivated failures. 

 

For example, my desk both in my office and here at home are perpetually cluttered. If you are willing to apply the label of creative to yourself, chances are you are intimately familiar with this idea. Throughout history some of the worlds most creative people have been the messiest. Something about the creative person doesn't want to be held together with the walls of traditional organization. We feel oppressed, which ultimately leads us to holding signs of protest outside some important historical landmark, which of course we do to avoid having to clean. 

 

My youth pastor told us an analogy once. Imagine you had a pet goldfish in front of you. His name is Bob. Bob swims along quite happily in his two gallon bowl, with the colorful pebbles on the floor and the plastic scuba diver you threw in for good measure. And yet as you stare at Bob, you realize that Bob is really quite confined. After all, two gallons is not a whole lot of water! And it seems that from time to time as Bob is swimming, he forgets that there is glass there holding him back and he smashes his face up against the wall. Finally having enough, you reach in and grab Bob from his fish-bowl prison and set him out on the table. "There," you say, "Now he's free to go wherever he'd like." 

 

Bob will only flop around for a few moments in this new freedom before he dies of suffocation. For Bob you see, the boundaries are what keep him alive. Without the bowl to contain the water, Bob doesn't stand a chance. For as much as creative people want to throw off the oppressive boundaries of organization, it's really what keeps us alive. 

 

There's no need to go overboard. You probably don't need complex filing systems or rolodexes for contacts or even fancy database software. But you need enough organization to know which way is up. You need enough to keep track of things. 

 

Like I said, I write from a place of failure. I've screwed this up enough that I think I've got a pretty good handle on how to do it right now (finally after all these years.) And so what follows are a few tips I've come up with over the years for keeping organized while at the seminary. Use them at your peril:

 

1. Get in the cloud. If I write a reminder to myself on a sticky note, that sucker will be lost within 20 minutes never to be seen or heard from again. And so thankfully, computer technology has advanced in such a way that notes are with you wherever you go. Welcome to the cloud! I use a free program called Evernote. The notes you take on your laptop can be with you on your smartphone or tablet, or even in a pinch you can access them in the computer lab through their website. You can also search through notes, which has become increasingly handy as you get closer and closer to exam time. 

 

2. Be Consistent. When I was in high school, I changed the format of the notes I was taking just about every class. Sometimes I would take notes in an outline. Sometimes I would take them as a stream of consciousness. Sometimes I would doodle my notes. I've found that actually all three of those methods can be affective, just not at the same time! When you sit down for a class, and get a feel for what kind of teacher your professor is, pick a particular format for your notes and stick with it. It will make finding what you're looking for at exam time a little bit easier. 

 

3. Reminders in predictable places. I have a calendar on my computer and phone that I set up with all of my exams and project due dates. It dings a few days out from when something is approaching code red level danger. But I also make sure to have a heading at the top of each page of my class notes for Assignments as well as Handouts. This is so I can go back later and see exactly where in the timeline of a class particular handouts or outlines showed up in my binder. 

 

These are just a few examples of what I do to keep myself organized. Ultimately you need to find what works best for you and stick with it. If you have any suggestions, the comments section is all yours!

 

Next: We wrap up our series with Worship.

The Best Student: Creativity

Hello friends! This week marks for several students (including this author) the return to classes. In my case, I'm in a two week long intensive class which will leave me very little time to blog. And so I've set up these auto-entries to explore what it looks like to bring your A game to your work in the classroom. This week is all about being the best student!

 

Last spring, my good friend Justin Bowers held a conference for creative people. It was amazing! Artists of all varieties were present, including musicians, photographers, filmmakers, painters, writers, chefs, dancers, and many more. And while it was amazing to spend time in the hot tub each night (gotta love a retreat house that comes with a hot tub), it was fun for me to see how creative people interact with each other. It was fun to see how people could feed off each others energy. It was fun to learn from other people about how they approached their craft. It was fun to watch how they approached things other than their crafts! 

 

In my opinion, creative people make the world go round, and not just because I feel like I am one! I think that people who approach even the most mundane things with an eye towards creativity, with an eye towards making something that no one else has made. I love people who can start with a blank piece of nothing and end up with a work of art. 

 

Maybe it doesn't feel like it at first, but school (of all kinds!) is a great place to express creativity. In any number of disciplines, whether writing a paper or taking a test or giving a presentation or even doing (gulp) math homework, you have an opportunity to make something where there was previously nothing. You have an opportunity to create. Perhaps I'm alone in getting goosebumps when that thought washes over me, but I don't think so. I think creating is something primal. I think it goes back to our creation, to being made in the image of God. At that point in the story, really the only thing God has shown himself to be about is creating. God loves speaking a fresh word into chaos, and having something beautiful appear. Each time it happens, he can't help but repeat the refrain. "It is good."

 

This is why the idea of plagiarism is so ugly to most of us. The idea of taking something that someone else created and claiming it as your own is a cop out. It's lame. It's boring. Sure it's stealing, and there's a lot of punishment that can (and will) come from that. But from that primal place, it's like saying to God that you don't want to be like him. You don't want to create something new on your own. You'd much rather take the easy way out. 

 

This is why I obsess over papers. Writing is one of my chosen art forms, and I don't ever want to do poorly on an assignment because of poor writing. All of the papers I wrote last year, I took a picture of the outline before I started writing, and a picture afterwards. Because it's just so fulfilling to start with nothing and to end with a (and I hope I'm not over stating this) work of art. It speaks deeply to me. It speaks deeply to the soul. 

 

Perhaps you don't see it that way. Maybe for you school is just that thing you do, drifting from class to class and finishing up busy work. God knows there are teachers and professors out there who only ever assign us busy work, and I think we'll all agree that they are the pits! But take some time this year to be creative. Allow yourself to go down paths you might not otherwise go. Allow yourself to make something out of nothing. Allow yourself some freedom and flexibility to bring art into your academics. Let yourself proudly wear the label of a creative. 

 

Next time: Organization

The Best Student: Rhythm

Hello friends! This week marks for several students (including this author) the return to classes. In my case, I'm in a two week long intensive class which will leave me very little time to blog. And so I've set up these auto-entries to explore what it looks like to bring your A game to your work in the classroom. This week is all about being the best student!

The video you see above is an example of the work of who I believe to be one of (if not the) greatest drummer of all time. When I was growing up and learning how to play the drums, Carter Beaufort is who I looked to as a hero. I would spend hours in the basement with CDs (remember those) blasting through my sound system while I tried to mimic what Carter was capable on the drums. Mimic was the best I could hope for in that situation. The man is blessed with talent that few possess. 

And yet for all the complex and impressive the drum solo above is, Carter Beaufort and I would both admit to the same thing. Underneath all the flash and hype and lights and speed and sound, lies a basic element. Simple rhythms are pieced together in rapid succession to create the work of art you see above. Again, don't get me wrong, this is impressive. I could spend years breaking down this one solo and never be able to play it exactly as it is presented here. But beneath it all is the blueprint of rhythm. 

I don't know about you, but when I'm focused in on being a student, I find I do the best when I get to be in a sort of rhythm about the disciplines of school. I do best when I study at particular times, in particular places, with particular surroundings. I do best when I get myself into a schedule, a repeating of days events in an ordered and disciplined way. I do best when my notes are all arranged them same way from class to class, so that it's easier to find what I'm looking for when I need it. In other words, I find myself a rhythm. 

I can only write about this (and most of the other topics you'll surely discover these next two weeks) because I know what it's like to operate on the outside of rhythm in an academic setting. I know what it's like to haphazardly fall through a study schedule. I know what it's like to let the pressing needs of important things in my life drown out the constant needs of my studies. I know what it's like to be disorganized, to not be able to find where I put that stupid note to save my soul! I know what it's like to live on the outside of rhythm academically. It is not pretty. 

As we're gearing up for another year at school, what is your rhythm? What are the building blocks for your academic success? Perhaps finding your rhythm means sitting down with a calendar, and defining when study hours are going to be and keeping them as if they're an appointment with a good friend. Perhaps finding your rhythm means cleaning out a study space in your world, a place that is reserved for learning and learning alone. It can even be as simple as a wardrobe. When I am closing in on finals, I only ever wear my National Youth Workers Convention hoodie from a few years back. I don't know why, but that hoodie only shows up when I'm deep in studies. Go figure. 

We have countless tools and technologies that can help us find our rhythm. But from one techno geek to another, please remember that these tools can help us find our rhythm, but they are not our rhythm in and of themselves. A metronome is a drummers best friend. But no one would ever start a drum solo by turning on the metronome and walking off the stage. You need to use the tool properly. 

And we also need to remember that in this particular post, we're talking about the means and not the ends. Finding rhythm for the sake of finding rhythm doesn't make you a talented student. Carter Beaufort could have come out and played all the rudiments (building blocks of rhythm for percussionists) he knows and it still would not have been a very interesting solo. No, rhythm is merely step one. Step two is finding your creativity...

The Best Student: Presence

Hello friends! This week marks for several students (including this author) the return to classes. In my case, I'm in a two week long intensive class which will leave me very little time to blog. And so I've set up these auto-entries to explore what it looks like to bring your A game to your work in the classroom. This week is all about being the best student!

 

When I was in college, I set a world record. Not the kind that I (or my parents for that matter) would be very proud of. When it came to my major classes, I was there like clockwork. Anything dealing with religion or education, my rear was in the seat each and every day. If the class was outside my major however, I was never there. I had discovered that no one was going to get mad at me or say anything if I didn't show up, and so I often didn't. As a not too surprising result, I would do very well in my major classes, and my grades in my other classes left much to be desired. 

 

I'm older and wiser now, and hopefully you are too. Hopefully if you're in school you realize that not attending your classes is a fairly ridiculous idea. But what if showing up for class is about more than simply walking in the door? What if presence is more than simply filling a chair? 

 

I can't tell you how many nights last year during seminary that I walked into class after a long day, well beyond tired. I would be in the chair, and I would even take notes, but I wasn't there mentally. I wasn't present. Or perhaps I did have plenty of energy, and I was on top of my game. But speaking of games, the Penguins were on that night, and my eyes were glued to my score center updates! I wasn't present. 

 

Presence is very important when it comes to being a good student. In our multi-tasking culture, we have likely all mastered what it looks like to float through an activity while our minds are somewhere else. We might look pretty engaged, but in the end we're as far away from the topic as we could get. Our minds are back home, or in our beds, or in our troubles, or in our joys. 

 

For me, if I'm going to continue as a seminary student, then I need to give it my all. This means going to class well rested. This means setting the distractions aside (at least as best as possible). This means being present. Anything less is actually a lack of respect. It's disrespectful to the professor who has been planning this material for you. It's disrespectful to your classmates, who are trying their best to learn without disruption. And truthfully, it's disrespectful of yourself. You deserve better!

 

And it doesn't hurt to actually go to classes every once in a while!

Next time: Rhythm 

Book Review: Working the Angles by Eugene Peterson

Greetings again friends,

Two blog posts on a Friday? You guys are lucky! 

Seminary kicks back into full gear for me again here in two weeks, and because this first class is a two week intensive, I need to read like the dickens before it gets here. 1,200 pages worth to be exact. Not being the fastest reader in the world, I had to get cracking. 

So I just finished up the first of the books on my list, Working the Angles by Euguene Peterson. Most people when I mention his name roll their eyes slightly, with visions of The Message dancing in their heads. True, that's not my absolute favorite translation of the scriptures. But when it comes to writing about what it takes to be a pastor and lead a community of people in the ways of Jesus, Peterson is second to none. 

In Working the Angles, Peterson notes that many of us pastors have become adept at faking it. We've figured out that if we preach the same 6 sermons with slightly different funny illustrations, show up at the occasional board meeting to open with prayer, and make our rounds at the hospitals for visitation, then we've earned our paycheck. For Peterson, being a pastor is not (and sounds like has never been) about earning a paycheck. Being a pastor is not about faking it. Being a pastor is about faithfully leading a community of believers. 

Three areas in the pastors life seem to be deeply missing according to Peterson, and they make up the three sections of this book. The first is prayer. Who among us hasn't wanted to elevate the prayer life of their congregation (or in most of our cases, youth group)? But if our prayer life is simply opening up meetings and gatherings with a few short words, then haven't we taught our flock to pray the same way? Peterson reminds us that prayer is essentially spending time in the presence of God, and so few of us actually carve out enough time in our busy schedules to pray properly. If by the end of the first section you aren't equal parts encouraged and challenged, you haven't been paying attention to this book!

The second area we need to spend more attention is in the habit of scripture reading. In this section, Peterson sounds a lot like the conversations I have with my self in my own head, only he's way more articulate. Too many have reduced the Bible to a book containing facts. We tear apart the facts and tidbits of Greek and Hebrew with our modern exegetical studies, all the while sucking the life directly out of the living and active word. We have to wrestle with the book. We have to listen to what God has to say to us, not just reading the words off the page. We need to engage the scriptures contemplatively today. 

The last area is in that of Spiritual Direction. Some of us have seemingly confused Spiritual Direction with Christian Counseling. They're not the same. The act of Spiritual Direction is a lot like having a guide on a wilderness trip. Someone who has been there before, and is willing to walk along with you as you go. Too often, I am at least convicted that my spiritual direction is more about my having an idea to fix a person's problem, rather than just letting them speak and share with me. 

Like I said, Working the Angles is both encouraging and challenging. It helped me to celebrate where I am, and desire to get to where I want to be. I highly recommend it for anyone working in any level of ministry. 

Have a great weekend!

Godspeed,

J

Photo Friday: Swing

Hello everybody!

Welcome to a second (record breaking!) episode of Photo Friday, wherein I end the week with a photo that summarizes what's been going on here at the J-Blog. Let's dive in shall we? 

This week, in so many ways, it is all about getting back into the swing of things. Tuesday was the first official day in the office in almost three weeks. It was the first time we gathered in Jim's office for our staff bible study, the first time we had staff meeting, the first creative lunch after staff meeting. It was good to get back, but it was difficult to get into the swing of things. We definitely had to re-find our rhythm. 

This week is also my first time back at the Bridge in a while. I feel like I'm going to have to re-introduce myself to the congregation! But again, this was the first week I had to put together a set list, to really think about what songs would line up well with the sermon and would be singable by those who are in the congregation. There was a considerable amount of rust to shake off. 

I also began reading again for Seminary. A glance at the syllabus for the class I'm taking in August (that I'm really glad I read through!) informs me that I should read 1,200 pages of material before arriving on the first day of class. And so, summer break is over, and I've been diving back into reading. But not just reading as in letting my eyes see the words on the page and semi-absorbing what they said. This is back to seminary reading, back to trying to do everything I can to retain the information in question so that I can call it back whenever I need it. 

The phrase "getting back into the swing of things" has been thrown around a lot this week. Swings are a pretty good image to carry around with us sometimes. You have to go backwards first before  you can go forward on a swing. Sometimes people assume that the only way to go is forward in our society, keep moving, keep producing, keep busy, keep going. But a swing reminds us that you sometimes have to take a step back in order to take a step forward. You have to go on a quick vacation every now and again before you can come to work full of energy and creativity and passion. Or perhaps it reminds us that a step backwards won't be forever. Perhaps making tough decisions in your financial world will lead to a much brighter future. Perhaps tearing down a statue feels wrong at the moment, but removing the culture of hero worship is a big step forward in the long haul. 

Jesus seemed to think in these terms. Whoever is last among you shall be first in the Kingdom of God. Whoever wants to be greatest must become a servant. Greater love has none than this: whoever lays down his life for his friends. Sometimes backwards is ok. 

And so this weekend, be ok with a step backwards. Take a moment to breathe, to relax, and to stop producing. If you really get into the swing of things, taking a step backwards will propel you further than you could possibly go on your own. 

Godspeed,

J

Recovery Part Two: The day of silence

Hello friends,

The day of jubilee was amazing. What followed, however, was downright refreshing. I had been saying that I would enjoy spending time after this first year in Seminary reading whatever I felt like, whatever I wanted, whatever I felt would be helpful/inspirational to my own spiritual growth and to my ministry.

Now, this is actually earth shattering personal growth. If you look at the top of the blog here, where I post the four categories that get the most attention, you will notice that book reviews are in dead last. I don't typically choose to read. I actually hate reading most days. But all the same, after this first year, with well over 3,000 pages of material that professors were requiring me to read, I wanted to read a few thousand of my own.

And so Saturday, I accomplished only two things. I read almost an entire book (book review tomorrow if I can get my act together!) and I bathed myself.

That was it.

It was glorious!

Sometimes you have to just put the breaks on. The danger of course (if you're anything like me) is that once the breaks go on, they never come off. But this feels different. I feel ready to go next term in seminary where I'll be taking two classes a term instead of just one. But before you can jump into that, you have to leave some room for regeneration and recovery. And that's exactly what I did.

It turns out that God was the same way. He made the idea of a Sabbath a law. You have to rest. You can't work all the time. It's not good for you. You need to take a brake. And yet, at least in our culture, we have the easiest time in the world ignoring the voice of the Shepherd, even if he's leading us to still waters. We want to be productive. We want to have meaning in our lives. And we feel that our self-worth comes from all that we do. It doesn't. Our self worth comes from his love in us.

So if you haven't done so in a while, take a day of silence. Take a day where absolutely NOTHING gets accomplished, other than your own spiritual/emotional fulfillment. I promise, the to-do lists will still be there when you get done. Turn off the TV. Turn off the phone. Don't even think about looking at e-mail. Just relax. And while you do, thank God that he not only allows all of this, he commands it of you!

Godspeed,

Jason

Back at it!

Hello friends and readers!

I have been on a bit of a break from Seminary for a few weeks now, and as such I thought I'd use it as a time to step away from the blog as well. I've been doing a lot of writing lately, and I thought it would be for the best to take a bit of a breather.

However, now that I am back, I find myself deep in the throws of writing again. One week in to the new term, and already I have a paper to start writing. I've been slowly collecting books to work on. I bet you can't guess what my topic is for this one:

 

I actually think it's going to be a really neat paper. It's about Lincoln as a theologian, rather than just as a president. But like I said, there's a lot of reading that's going to have to go into this one, so I've got my work cut out for me.

My last paper was A material, which also left me with an A in the class. I'm extremely pumped about that, but this time I want to do even better. Not that there are better grades out there, but my writing is something I've always taken pride in, and I'd like this paper to be my best yet. I'm working on little things, and collecting tips from all over the place (like Don Miller's blog).

And plus, how could you not write a good paper about this guy?

Coming up later this week, we've got posts about both youth ministry and worship brewing around in my head. You don't want to miss it!

Godspeed,

 

Jason

The First Paper Part Four: Submission

Hello friends,

It is finished. All the writing, all the editing, all the polishing, all the self loathing, it is all done.

On Sunday, a whole day early, I pushed the "send" button on an e-mail that represented 3 months of hard work. It represented a lot of learning too, pushing my mind and my theology to places they hadn't been to before. It was a good term.

And yet, I felt my finger hover on the mouse button for a few seconds before making the click happen. Was the paper up to my best standard? Were there places where I could go back and make it better? I had a few extra hours, but I had long ago decided the paper was where it needed to be, but I could fix it if I needed to. What to do?

"click."

And with that, the end of the term was here. With that, none of what was going through my head mattered. I was ready to move on to the next thing, and maybe even a little bit more, I was ready to have a three week break. Come what may, it's done and over. And it feels really, really good.

Thanks for following along on this one.

Godspeed,

J

The First Paper Part Three: Cutting Room

Hello bloggers!

If you've been following along this week, we've been tracking the progress of a young seminary student and the writing of his first paper in a very long time. Previously on Lost, err...The First Paper, we saw that our hero had escaped the clutches of the self-loathing period of writing a paper, and had experience his lightbulb moment. However, the lightbulb led to an unintended consequence: The 5 page paper was 6 pages long.

Our hero took some time off from the paper, to clear his head and try to focus on this morning, when he would have to decide what would stay and what would go in the paper. During the self-loathing period, this would have been easy. Just cut all of it. But now, now that the writer has formed an emotional attachment to the writing he's done, he hardly wants to leave any of it behind.

And so, sitting at the Caribou Coffee in my old neighborhood, I meticulously scanned the paper for pieces to remove. Does this argument make sense? Does this do a good enough job of coloring in the arguments I'm trying to make, or would a shorter quote do better? I spent a half an hour on the first pass, felt really good about what had been removed, and then glanced down with excitement to see that I still had 6 pages. Well, maybe closer to 5.75. But still, too much to turn in. And so I went back again. And then went back again. And then a fourth time. Finally, the paper weighed in at 5 pages.

These are the moments when you appreciate starting the paper as early as you did, because now I have sent to paper to my editor (read: Sarah) to look at the grammar and spelling and punctuation. But my eyes are off the paper for at least another 24 hours. A clear head is best when writing a paper like this, and when you're up against a deadline you don't have the luxury to take this kind of time with the writing process. I still have the original, unabridged version of the paper on my desktop, just in case I left something all too critical on the cutting room floor. But at the moment, I'm feeling really good about this guy.

More to come tomorrow!

Godspeed,

J

The First Paper Part Two: Lightbulbs

Good morning friends!

After my last post, I think some people thought I was spiraling toward depression over this paper! In truth, that's what it felt like! The paper was being written, and words were finding their way onto the page, but it felt a bit like running on a treadmill. Work was getting done, but it wasn't going anywhere.

For as much as I can't stand the "Self-Loathing" stage of writing a paper, it is absolutely worth it for the stage that comes next. Sitting on my living room floor last night after Veritas, I started thumbing through the insanely large book that I almost read for this paper (and am mercifully thankful that I changed my mind!) Jesus and the Victory of God by N.T. Wright. Wright is someone my professor told me I should contrast Johnson with, and so I started just thumbing through the book, and hoping to stumble across something I could use as Wright's opinion of Johnson.

Did you know, books these days come with a device known as an index? And, when authors reference another person and/or their work, they tend to list every occurrence of these references right there in the back? Lo and behold, I was now sitting on Wright's DIRECT opinion of Johnson, rather than having to find a quote that would theoretically work, I had the direct quote in my hands. Not only that, but Wright's quote led me to another book that I just so happened to have on my shelf, and that book led me to another. But the end of 15 minutes worth of work, I had about 3,000 pages worth of material at my feet. But more important than that, I had direction. The light bulb went off, and I was off to the races. As of this blog post, the paper stands at 6 pages long, meaning I have too much information. This will come back to haunt me tomorrow when I enter the editing phase, but for the moment it makes me want to do a dance right here in the lobby of Starbucks!

Not to over theologize my own paper writing experience, but I wonder how often in life we don't take for granted the dark times in the light of the "lightbulb" moments? Yesterday, I was convinced that this paper was going to be the worst thing I've ever written. Today, I'm actually quite proud of the little bugger! It's important during the dark times in our lives to recognize that light is coming. It might take a while, but we live with hope, because hope does not disappoint us.

And in the meantime, it doesn't hurt to dance when the lightbulb comes on!

Godspeed,

J

The First Paper Part One: The Loathing Stage

Hello again bloggers!

There's a lot going on in my world these days, and so I'm pumped to be sharing a bit more on the blog. If you find that I'm getting annoying, feel free to waste away the hours on YouTube.

I love the clip above! When I sit down to write, I almost always feel like that's how I start things out. The outside persona might seem calm and collected, but if you look closely enough you can see the rage boiling just beneath the surface as I pound my fist against the desk in frustration. This, as many of my writer friends will tell you, is the self loathing stage of the process.

I am hard at work on my first paper back at Seminary. It's the last assignment due in my New Testament intro course, and I really, truly want to knock it out of the park. Not just for the grade, but because writing has always been one of my strengths, and I want to make sure that it remains one of my strengths. In other words, there's pride on the line here.

It's not a horribly difficult paper to write, only a 5 page book review. The book in question is The Real Jesus by Luke Timothy Johnson, which sets out to explore whether the historical-critical method of study is the best way to approach the "real" Jesus, or whether there's a better alternative. I just finished the book yesterday, and so am now ready to write the paper.

I'm four pages in, and I'm trying a new approach as I go. Like the terror threat level, after I write each paragraph I am assigning it a color. Red means that I am most likely going to re-write all of this section. Orange means it's not quite red, but it needs some touching up. Yellow is pretty good writing, it just needs grammatical changes and editing. Green is ready to turn in to the professor. With four days left to write, I'm seeing a lot of red, a tiny bit of orange, an even tinier bit of yellow, and absolutely no green. The threat level is high.

But it will come. The hardest part about the loathing stage is realizing that there is in fact good writing underneath all this crap that is currently occupying my computer screen, and that with time and patience I can chisel away at it and bring it to life. Friday and Saturday are do or die days, and so I will only allow panic if I am still in the self loathing stage then. But knowing that I have a meeting with my professor in 30 minutes where I will show her where I am so far, I have a feeling the self loathing phase is going to stick around a bit longer...

More on this to come. Thanks for following along!

Godspeed,

J

Youth Pastor

Hello friends,

Last night was our weekly youth ministry meeting, known around the world (seriously) as Veritas. I'm climbing my way up to being here at Westminster/Veritas for 5 years, and last night I was struck by something that I think we need to recover in Youth Ministry.

My denomination doesn't bestow upon me the title of Pastor just yet, that's something that comes with ordination and an painfully long seminary degree. And while I'm super respectful of that process (sometimes), I'm going to have to go ahead and steal the title a little bit early. Not because it's a ego thing, actually it's quite the opposite.

The word pastor has its origins in shepherding. A pastor was someone who had a flock, and someone who took care of the flock. We borrow this word because of passages like John 21:15-19, the idea being that Jesus has left us to care for his flock. And so that youth group you have isn't just a rambunctious group of kids that you have to keep entertained for a few hours once a week. They're the flock that God has given you, and they're the flock that you have to take care of.

Each "sheep" has their own story, their own needs, their own desires, their own hurts. Each "sheep" has its own needs in terms of pastoral care, and a truly good youth pastor will take the time to minister to each kid as if they were one of the flock.

I get it, not everybody is in this gig for the long haul. Not everybody is going to stick with it for life. Some of us are using youth ministry as a means to get some church experience under our belts before we move on and become "real pastors." That's fine, I get that it takes a special (feel free to interpret "special" in any way you see fit!) kind of person to do this as a career. But at the end of the day, the students God has placed in your ministry are still your flock, and God has asked you to care for them.

A program will never care for sheep. A flashy preaching style will never care for the flock. A christian hipster with TOMS shoes (more on this later) won't feed the sheep. Only someone who recognizes that the flock needs the life-giving nourishment of Jesus Christ and is willing to do what it takes to lead them there can care for the flock.

So today, go ahead, even if your denomination doesn't support what I'm about to say, call yourself a youth pastor. But know that it comes with a lot of weight and responsibility!

Godspeed,

J

Building our own Jesus

Hello again friends,

Most of my work at the Seminary these past few weeks has centered around the so called quest for the historical Jesus. Summerizing hundreds of years of scholarly work in two seconds for you, it is an attempt to find the "real" Jesus, divorced from the agenda and theology of the Gospels, and focusing only on provable historical facts. If I'm more than honest, it's about as exciting as watching the grass grow.

You see, as I pour over the countless scholars who have submitted their own idea of what Jesus must have looked like, I realize that the "Jesus'" they're all coming up with look incredibly like the scholars studying them. If you are a liberal, non-violent scholar, you tend to build a liberal, non-violent Jesus. If you are a conservative evangelical scholar, you tend to build a conservative evangelical Jesus. Where it turns truly comical is when these scholars lose their creations upon each other, noting how absurd it is that the other side could ever craft something like that.

I hope that as I work with the students at Veritas, I'm not presenting myself dressed up like Jesus. I hope that I'm letting Jesus have his way with my entire life, including the part of my life that defines who Jesus is to me. I hope I am less concerned with the answers of who the "real" Jesus is, and more concerned with the questions the REAL Jesus is asking of me (Have you fed my sheep today Jason?) God created us in His image, and it is our job to find ourselves in his vast expanse, rather than placing him into our world...

...however tempting that might be.

Godspeed,

Jason

Hitting the books

Hello friends,

Now that the dust has been shaken off from the trip to Haiti (actually, not true, there's still a ton of dust on all my shoes from the trip) it's time to get back into work. Today being my day off, I'm trying to get caught up on work for school.

I left school for the trip with a 98% in the class, and I'm trying with all my might to hold on to that score. I've probably mentioned on the blog a few thousand times that I'm not a very academic minded person, and so doing well in school is a brand new thing for me. And so I'm trying to strike this balance in my brain that I'm absolutely struggling to find: how good is good enough?

I have limited time during the days, working full time, being a full time husband, training for upcoming summer cycling events, and trying to keep a band together and practicing, so school has to find it's place in that scheme of things. However, I'm not paying $1000 a class to sit around and do poorly, so I'm certainly going to give absolutely everything I have.

Does anyone else out there feel caught in the tension between the two? I'd love to hear some thoughts, if only to know that I'm not crazy and all by myself!

Godspeed,

Jason

Not motivated at all...

Hello friends!

I am sitting at Starbucks, coffee in hand, seminary text books spread across the largest table I could get a hold of in the crowded coffee shop, and I simply cannot find the motivation to get any work done at all.

I have a quiz the very instant I get back to class on Tuesday night, and my professor has provided me with a study guide (for which, I am forever grateful if you're reading this Dr. Humphry!) but I am just struggling to keep going on the task at hand. I have logged an overwhelming number of hours already today on Facebook. I take frequent breaks to try to get my Pandora station to play exactly as I please. I have stared out the window longingly at the bright sunny day.

What do you do when motivation escapes you? What sort of things do you do to get things going again?

Please, comment soon. My grades may depend on it.

Godspeed,

J