"This doctrine is my daily Support"

"This doctrine is my daily Support. I should utterly sink under a Sense of my impending Tryals, was I not firmly persuaded Christ had chosen me from before the Foundation of the World, and therefore will suffer nothing to pluck me finally out of his almighty Hands."

--George Whitfield, in a written reply to John Wesley's rejection of unconditional election, 1740)

Existentialist Firefighter Delays Three Deaths

From the Onion:

In an ultimately futile act some have described as courageous and others have called a mere postponing of the inevitable, existentialist firefighter James Farber delayed three deaths Monday.

"I'm no hero," Farber said after rescuing the family from a house fire on the 2500 block of West Thacker Street, and prolonging for the time being their slow march toward oblivion. "Like any other man, I am thrown into this world, alone and terrified, to play a meaningless role in an empty life. In my case, that role happens to involve charging through towering blazes to pull helpless individuals from a sea of flames before they suffocate or are burnt alive."

…

According to department officials, Farber, a 13-year veteran of Ladder Company 8, climbed through a kitchen window and, despite carrying with him a heavy burden of alienation, managed to see all three members of the family to safety.

"He came out the front door with a body slung over each shoulder, and seconds later there was this big fireball and beams started falling and the whole thing caved in," neighbor Judy Neal said. "When it was all over, he just sort of stood there emotionless and silent, as if nothing had happened at all."

"I think I even saw him shrug," she added.

Read the rest.

LeaderLines: Your Part in the Transformational Church Project

You’ve heard that commercial promising that “15 minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.”

Well, 15 minutes could help us become a more effective church, too!

I’m asking you to take 15 minutes to complete a survey. This is part of the “Transformational Church Project,” an effort designed to help churches make a biblical impact in their world.

If you’re a member at Hillcrest, watch the mail: You’ll receive your copy of the survey next week. You have an option to complete the survey online, or you can complete the printed survey you get in the mail and return it to the church.

It is vital that church leaders like you do your part! Based on our church size, this survey process requires that a minimum of 86 active adult members to participate. The ideal number is 240. So, you can see how important your 15 minutes is to the process. It will be hard to reach this number of participants without you!

The deadline to complete the survey is Monday, June 21.

Please answer every question. Surveys with unanswered questions will not count toward the survey goal.

I hope I can count on your fifteen minutes! If you want to learn more about LifeWay’s Transformational Church Project, click here to read an article and click here to read an overview.

_________________________________

Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Lost: What It All Meant

I consider this the definitive commentary on Lost. David Letterman from Monday night: “It turned out that the end—you all know the end—it turned that everybody was dead and the last six years has just been a TV show.”

Winning Ways: Six Things to Look for in the Lord’s Supper

Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot just by watching.”

Smart man.

What should you observe in the observance of the Lord’s Supper? According to 1 Corinthians 11, there are six things that deserve our attention.

First, look around. In verses 17-22, Paul says that, because of the Corinthian believers’ insensitivity to each other, “it is not the Lord’s Supper that you eat.” Let’s make sure we never deserve that reprimand ourselves. Instead, we should take time during the Lord’s Supper to think about the health of our church relationships. Are we growing closer together or further apart?

Second, look up. Paul wrote, “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it” (verses 23-24). The Lord’s Supper is a chance to look up to God in praise. A communion service should be solemn but not somber!

Third, look back. Jesus told them to eat of the bread and drink from the cup “in remembrance of me” (verses 23-25). So, look back to the crucifixion and remember what it cost the Lord of Life to bring you to himself.

Fourth, look outward. In verse 26, the Apostle wrote that we “proclaim the Lord’s death” every time we participate in the Lord’s Supper. Remarkable: we serve as God’s witnesses simply by the devotion we give to this ordinance.

Fifth, look forward. In verse 26, he continues to say that by participating in the Supper we proclaim the Lord’s death “until he comes back.” The Lord’s Supper is a time to think about Christ’s promised return. “I tell you,” Jesus said upon establishing the Supper, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom” (Matthew 26:29).

Sixth, look within. In verses 27-28, Paul says to “examine yourself” before taking part in communion. Since the Lord’s Supper commemorates Christ’s death for our sin, we should confess to God those besetting sins which required his precious sacrifice.

This Sunday, you have a chance to make these six observations as we take part in the Lord’s Supper. Join us at 10 a.m.

_______________________________

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday May 25

8 Days a Week: 8 Things to Do (and Not Do) When You Can’t Sleep

 

Grandma earns college degree at age 94 in California

 

They’re called cell phone “halfalogues”—and you should stop them if you’re sitting near me in a coffee shop!

 

One message--God is Love: The LA Times writes about Leonard Knight, 78-year-old painter and proprietor of “Salvation Mountain,” introduced to a wider audience in 2007 when he played himself in Sean Penn's movie "Into the Wild."

 

My Little Pony: Could a Mini Horse Be Bred Small Enough to Fit in Your Palm?

 

The bad news keeps piling up against TV for toddlers…

 

Posts at Get Anchored since last Tuesday:

Neighboring Faiths Interviews Are Online

Lost: “I See Dead People”

“What I find is that Lost occupies that level of conversation”

“Someone is WRONG on the internet”

LeaderLines: Leading Change--Shape the Path

Winning Ways: Who Will Your Deacon Candidate Be?

Neighboring Faiths Interviews Are Online

The “Neighboring Faiths” Interviews are now online. (If you’re new to the “Neighboring Faiths” project, here’s an introduction and here are posts about it).

Each interview is about 75 minutes, and you can watch a video recording or listen to an audio-only recording.

Click here to find the links to the audio and video recordings.

Once you’ve clicked to our church’s website to find the links to the recordings, scroll down to the bottom and find the “Share This” button. Use it to share the church website page with your friends!

Lost: “I See Dead People”

Of all the shoutouts the Lost creators have made to their favorite influences, who woulda thought their biggest influence would have been M. Night Shyamalan?

The series finale of Lost revealed that all the characters we’ve followed for the last six years were ghosts unwilling to acknowledge that fact and move on.

In other words, the Sixth Season was The Sixth Sense.

Not to complain. The Sixth Sense is the one flick Shyamalan has done that’s worked for me, and the Lost creators did a great job applying the plot device from that film to their series finale.

It was fitting for Jack to be the last of the cast to “let go” and accept the truth, as he did in the exchange with the ghost of his father:

Jack: You died.

Christian: Yes, I did.

Jack: Then how are you here right now.

Christian: How are you here?

Jack: (realization comes to him) I died too.

As Jack slowly came to peace with this truth, the story—and Jack’s eye—closed as it opened six seasons ago. (With Vincent by his side. *sniff*)

Turns out the Lost island was a kind of Purgatory, as many fans have insisted through the seasons. Ben Linus, for example, doesn’t go into the church with the other ghosts because, as he explains to Locke, he “still has some things to work out” so he’ll “be here a while.” But his sincere apology and Locke’s offer of forgiveness matter to him “far more than I can say.”

As the ghosts gained insight into their experience, we saw them working to help their friends come to terms with the truth as well. (A nice touch to bring back Season One’s original cast members, Boone and Shannon, for that work.)

Of course, some ghosts were “not ready yet,” as Daniel Faraday/Widmore’s mother said of her son. (Or was it his mother who was not ready to let him go? Hmm…) But, as Hurley said to Boone after Sayid finally got it: “It takes as long as it takes.”

Fans will probably spend the next few days deciding whether The Sixth Sense plot device makes sense of all they’ve shared with the characters:

• The polar bears—and those dang polar bear cages…
• The Dharma Initiative…
• Mr. Eko’s Virgin Mary smuggling scheme…
• The whole thing with Michael and Walt and the Others…
• The island traveling through time…
• And—most important to me—the whole Jacob/Man-in-Black mythology…

What was it all for? In the end, it “doesn’t matter,” as Desmond tried to tell Jack while he was still unwilling to let it all go. “This is a place you all made together,” Christian tells his son, “To remember. And to let go.” In other words, the Island was all about moving on.

Moving on where, as Jack asks in the closing minutes? “Let’s go find out,” said Christian Shepherd, standing with his son next to his coffin—their coffin…our coffin—in a room stuffed with religious imagery from Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism.

Some will take this to mean that the Lost creators are implying that all these religious traditions are basically saying the same thing about our mortality. If so, that would be an unsatisfactory conclusion.

But I took it to mean that all these religious traditions are basically addressing the same concerns—which is, of course, true. How they tell the living to prepare for death—now that’s where we differ. And I’m taking my guidance from One who’s entered into death and has conquered it for me.

So, the show was about moving on, then, but moving on together. “Live together or die alone” has been the show’s recurring theme. In the end, the show was also about dying together—or, to be more precise, processing that reality together.

Kudos.

Song of the Week: Willie Nelson’s “Amazing Grace”

Season Finale tonight…

“What I find is that Lost occupies that level of conversation”

ET’s Jeff Jensen, in an interview with CT, says the themes in Lost can begin spiritual conversation:

I grew up in a Christian culture. My primary mandate as a Christian is to evangelize and convert people to Christianity. What I find in my life is when I talk to people who are not religious at all, the conversation can't begin with, "Meet my friend Jesus." These are people who don't believe in God. They don't believe in supernatural possibilities. They don't believe in universal values, ideas like redemption, or good or evil as concepts that are real. These are good, decent, thoughtful, intelligent people. There's something about the way they were raised, the culture we live in, and the world in these times; these things are so deconstructed and have been so poorly modeled that they can't even believe in these larger ideas. We can't even begin to put a face on them like Jesus. We have to talk about these ideas and whether you could believe them. What I find is that Lost occupies that level of conversation. Do you even believe in things like redemption? What is redemption, really? Do you believe in something like good; do you believe in something like evil? Do you believe that these objective values actually even exist? Do you believe that all you are is just stuff? Are you supernatural and natural? Is there spirit in the world or are you a spiritual creature?

“Someone is WRONG on the internet”

LeaderLines: Leading Change--Shape the Path

If you’re leading, you’re leading change. Your leadership may involve changing the behavior of your teen or changing the performance of your staff. Your leadership may involve changing your own habits or changing the habits of your volunteers at church.

How can we lead change? In their new book, Switch, Chip Heath and Dan Heath write that successful changes require the leader to focus on three things at once: the mind, the heart, and the situation. Imagine your organization, your teens, or your own life like an elephant ride. Your job is to--

Direct the Rider

Motivate the Elephant

Shape the Path

I’m taking 3 weeks of LeaderLines to unpack the Heath brothers’ advice on accomplishing these three things. First, we examined how to “Direct the Rider,” and then last week we looked at how to “Motivate the Elephant.” If the “Rider” represents the rational side of a person, the “Elephant” represents the feelings. While the Rider needs to know why and how to make the change, the Elephant has to feel that it’s capable of conquering the change.

This week, we’ll look at the need to “Shape the Path.” This is a reference to the real-life context in which you’re hoping to see change. In other words, look for ways to make it easier for people to make the behavioral changes. When change doesn’t happen, we want to blame the character of the people. In church work, we might say, “The parents just don’t have the commitment to my children’s program to get their kids here,” or “My leaders won’t do follow-up calls on visitors because they just don’t have the passion for outreach.”

But the Heath brothers say, “What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. And no matter what your role is, you’ve got some control over the situation.”

There are three ways to shape the path.

First, tweak the environment. If you’re trying to lose weight, reaching for a prepackaged “100 calorie” snack pack might be better than hoping you’ll have the self-control to stop after one handful from the big chip bag. That’s an illustration of tweaking the environment. So is laying out your workout clothes before bed so its just a tiny bit easier to exercise when the alarm goes off—a trick I’ve learned. And if I’m finding it hard to write a sermon, I sometimes relocate my notebook computer to a coffee shop where I’m not distracted by all the other things on my desk waiting for attention. These are all ways to let an environmental change lead to a behavioral change.

Since this is a newsletter for church leaders, let me share a church-specific illustration of tweaking the environment. If you lead a Sunday School class or Common Ground group, each week make sure there’s one empty chair in the circle. Put a sign on it if you want to make it obvious: “The Empty Chair.” Every week, ask the group for the name of at least one person they hope to see sitting in that chair, and then pray for that someone. In doing so, you’re creating an environment for growth instead of allowing people to settle into the “Us-Four-And-No-More” mentality.

Second, build habits. Habits allow us to operate on auto-pilot. Do you remember the old days when offering envelopes had check-boxes where you could report whether you brought your Bible, whether you brought a friend, and whether you had read your Bible daily the previous week? That simple accountability tool helped a lot of children develop some simple discipleship habits. Is there a weekly checklist like that which you could ask your workers or your program participants to fill out?

Third, rally the herd. “When you’re leading an Elephant on an unfamiliar path, chances are it’s going to follow the herd,” the Heath brothers write. In church work, one thing I’ve learned is to look for the influencers in a group and make sure they get advance notice of the change you feel needs to take place. If you spring a new plan on the group at once, and if the influencers react negatively, you’ve lost the rest of the group. It’s time-consuming to calendar in enough lead time to visit with the influencers, but garnering their support ahead of time can create the positive contagion that can spread throughout the organization.

Here’s the conclusion to this three-week look at what it takes to be a leader who leads change:

When change works, it tends to follow a pattern. The people who change have clear direction, ample motivation, and a supportive environment. In other words, when change works, it’s because the Rider, the Elephant, and the Path are all aligned in support of the switch.

Leaders of any organization are tempted to blame their people when much-needed change fails to happen. But I’ve noticed that there’s an added liability in church leadership: we can “sanctify” our blame-casting. What I mean is, we can complain that our people lack long-term vision, or commitment, or spiritual maturity, or willingness to let God work.

Of course, all of this may be true. But here’s the thing: That’s exactly why leadership is necessary! Leadership is different than management. People do indeed lack long-term vision, and commitment, and spiritual maturity, and willingness to let God work. It would be so easy to simply mobilize the already-visionary, the already-committed, the already-mature, and the already-willing. But God has called you to be a leader, not a manager. And leaders lead people and organizations to change.

________________________

Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Winning Ways: Who Will Your Deacon Candidate Be?

The deacon body is requesting nominations from our congregation for additional deacons. As you consider names to submit, you should review the biblical qualifications for deacons as found in 1 Timothy 3:8-13. Examine three areas of your candidate:

His Character: Deacons must be self-controlled and mature, especially in 3 areas: drink (“not addicted to much wine”), money (“not fond of sordid gain”), and speech (“not double-tongued”).

His Commitments: A candidate can be single, but if he’s married, he must be a “one-woman man”—that’s one way you could translate verse 12. He’s committed to seeing his own marriage flourish and he’s not flirtatious or suggestive in his interactions with other women. In regard to their families, “deacons must be…good managers of their children and their own households.”

His Convictions: Candidates must be strong in their hold on the truth, embracing “the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience” (verse 9).

When people look over this list for the first time they say, “Well, that counts me out!” It is a tall order, isn’t it! But remember, God isn’t looking for perfection. Frankly, those who think they always consistently meet these qualifications are naïve at best or filled with pride at worst—which would make them unqualified for deacon service!

No, this list isn’t a description of perfect people but exemplary people. Your deacon candidate must be someone who honors the Christian message by his life in the church and community.

In addition to these qualities, there are four qualities a candidate should have for our own church process. Each time our deacon body calls for nominations, they do a fresh study of the Bible and our church context. In the current nomination process, they feel its best for the unity of our church body that candidates be males, church members for at least 6 months, tithers, and with no history of divorce.

What will your candidate do if elected as a deacon? The word “deacon” means “servant,” and at Hillcrest he will serve primarily in 2 areas. First, he will regularly contact a small number of widows and widowers that will be put in his watchcare. Second, he will attend a monthly meeting where the deacons discuss with me the spiritual health of the church.

This Sunday, May 23, is the last day to submit names to our candidate process. I look forward to seeing your recommendations!

______________________________________

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World—Special “Lost” Edition—Tuesday May 18

Welcome to the special Lost edition of “Links to Your World”! The 2-1/2 hour series finale is this Sunday, May 23.

The 23 “Get Anchored” posts that reference Lost.

 

‘Lost’: 13 Character Profiles. What did Locke do pre-crash? What happened to Sawyer on the Island? Where did Kate go in Sideways world? And more…

 

A good explanation of why so many like Lost—and some hints about the series finale.

 

I don’t recommend you try to jump into Lost if you haven’t been watching by now. But here’s how to try--

 

Other Links from this Week:

“Just hearing Mom's voice over the phone may have the same soothing effect as getting a hug in person, according to new research” (Time)

 

NYT: He went through the first 18 years of life as “(No Name) Pauson.”

 

A Primer on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.

 

Robot officiates at Japanese wedding. Maybe I should get one of these as a stand-in for weddings I want to avoid….

 

Previous posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday:

Final Season of ‘Lost’ Promises to Make Fans More Annoying Than Ever

Lost: “If there’s one word that we keep coming back to, it’s redemption”

Song of the Week: The Prodigal

“The public praise and worship of God, even from children, has the power to cancel the assignment of evil spirits”

“Use the words ‘I’ or ‘me’ at least 12-15 times”

LeaderLines: Leading Change--Motivate the Elephant

“‘Awesome’ and ‘awful’ are actually closer to each other on the continuum of quality than either is to ‘meh’”

How People Really Decide If Their Church is Flourishing

Winning Ways: How to Strengthen a Sermon

Storytelling, Juggling, and Lost

Review of Stephen Prothero’s “God Is Not One”

Final Season of ‘Lost’ Promises to Make Fans More Annoying Than Ever

Lost fans can be annoying, eh?

Final Season Of 'Lost' Promises To Make Fans More Annoying Than Ever

Lost: “If there’s one word that we keep coming back to, it’s redemption”

From a NYT interview with the Lost overseers:

Q. Your show traffics in a lot of big themes — fate versus free will, good versus evil, faith versus reason, how often Sawyer should be shirtless. Ultimately, what were the most important themes for you in this series?

DAMON LINDELOF: If there’s one word that we keep coming back to, it’s redemption. It is that idea of everybody has something to be redeemed for and the idea that that redemption doesn’t necessarily come from anywhere else other than internally. But in order to redeem yourself, you can only do it through a community. So the redemption theme started to kind of connect into “live together, die alone,” which is that these people were all lone wolves who were complete strangers on an aircraft, even the ones who were flying together like Sun and Jin. Then let’s bring them together and through their experiences together allow themselves to be redeemed.

It’s a shame they feel that “redemption doesn’t necessarily come from anywhere else other than internally”—quite the opposite of the Christian redemption story. But thumbs-up for the necessity of community in the search for redemption.

There’s more in the interview, including their acknowledgement that the show “is a mash-up/remix of our favorite stories, whether that’s Bible stories from Sunday school or ‘Narnia’ or ‘Star Wars’ or the writings of John Steinbeck.”

Song of the Week: The Prodigal

Here’s an animated interpretation of “The Prodigal,” from the Sovereign Grace project, Sons and Daughters:

HT: Bob Kauflin, who also supplied the following lyrics--

You held out Your arms, I walked away
Insolent I spurned Your face
Squandering the gifts You gave to me
Holding close forbidden things
Destitute a rebel still, a fool in all my pride
The world I once enjoyed is death to me
No joy, no hope, no life

Where now are the friends, that I had bought
Gone with every penny lost
What hope could there be for such as I
Sold out to a world of lies
Oh, to see Your face again, it seems so distant now
Could it be that You would take me back
A servant in Your house

You held out Your arms, I see them still
You never left, You never will
Running to embrace me, now I know
Your cords of love will always hold
Mercy’s robe, a ring of grace
Such favor undeserved
You sing over me and celebrate
The rebel now Your child

© 2009 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).

“The public praise and worship of God, even from children, has the power to cancel the assignment of evil spirits”

“Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger” (Psalm 8:2). Can this verse possibly mean what it says—that the public praise and worship of God, even from children, has the power to cancel the assignment of evil spirits? Is there any other way to read this verse?

--Andree Seu, explaining why the Bible so often calls on prayer and praise to be verbal.

“Use the words ‘I’ or ‘me’ at least 12-15 times”

Stephen Altrogge on how to write an awful worship song:

The main point of your song should be your experiences and how God makes you feel. Don’t bother with objective truth about God. I would suggest that you use the words “I” or “me” at least 12-15 times. For example, “I feel like singing, yes I feel like spinning, because You make me feel so good inside. Like it’s my birthday, but more awesome.”

More advice here.

(HT: Cathy Lynn Grossman at USA Today)

LeaderLines: Leading Change--Motivate the Elephant

If you’re leading, you’re leading change. Your leadership may involve changing the behavior of your teen or changing the performance of your staff. Your leadership may involve changing your own habits or changing the habits of your volunteers at church.

How can we lead change? In their new book, Switch, Chip Heath and Dan Heath write that successful changes require the leader to focus on three things at once: the mind, the heart, and the situation. Imagine your organization, your teens, or your own life like an elephant ride. Your job is to--

Direct the Rider

Motivate the Elephant

Shape the Path

I’m taking 3 weeks of LeaderLines to unpack the Heath brothers’ advice on accomplishing these three things. Last week we examined how to “Direct the Rider.” But when we want to make a switch in our kids, our church, our business, or ourselves, we have to pay attention to another force. If the “Rider” represents the rational side of a person, the “Elephant” represents the feelings. While the Rider needs to know why and how to make the change, the Elephant has to feel that it’s capable of conquering the change. There are three things that you, the leader, can do to make this happen.

First, find the feeling. “Because of the uncertainty that change brings,” the Heath brothers write, “the Elephant is reluctant to move, and analytical arguments will not overcome that reluctance.” Why can’t we simply think our way into new behavior? Partly because of what psychologists call “positive illusions.” Studies have found that most people have a too-high view of their capabilities and a too-low view of the risks they face. Positive illusions are why an employee doesn’t think he needs your advice about improving his interpersonal skills. Positive illusions are why a teenager doesn’t think her text messaging while driving is likely to result in a wreck. Positive illusions are why a church can’t see that what once worked to connect with the surrounding community no longer works. To break through positive illusions, many leaders try to touch on our fears (Here’s what your lungs will look like if you smoke; our company is going to tank unless you start doing things differently). The Heath brothers say, however, that more lasting change comes from tapping into our hopes and aspirations.

Second, shrink the change. When a local car wash ran a promotion campaign featuring loyalty cards, they experimented. One set of customers got a card with the promise that the company would stamp their card on every return visit, and the customers would get a free car wash after the eighth stamp. The other set of customers got the same deal with one small change: their cards required 10 stamps but the customer received the card with 2 stamps already awarded. The “goal” for both sets of customers was the same, but the second set of customers were far more likely to reach the goal, and far more quickly. The moral and application of the story—

People find it more motivating to be partly finished with a longer journey than to be at the starting gate of a shorter one…. A business cliché commands us to ‘raise the bar.’ But that’s exactly the wrong instinct if you want to motivate a reluctant Elephant. You need to lower the bar….The Elephant in us is easily demoralized. It’s easily spooked, easily derailed, and for that reason, it needs reassurance, even for the very first step of the journey. If you’re leading a change effort, you better start looking for those first two stamps to put on your team’s cards….Hope is precious to a change effort. It’s Elephant fuel.

Third, grow your people. While most of us look for incentives to drive change, we should look instead for how the change taps into their sense of identity.

Identity is going to play a role in nearly every change situation. Even yours. When you think about the people whose behavior needs to change, ask yourself whether they would agree with this statement: ‘I aspire to be the kind of person who would make this change.’ If their answer is yes, that’s an enormous factor in your favor. If their answer is no, then you’ll have to work hard to show them that they should aspire to a different self-image.

I loved the story the brothers told of the principal who turned around a troubled high school. One thing she did was change the grading system to: A, B, C, and NY. Not “F” for “Failure,” but “NY” for “Not Yet.” It was one way students came to see that their teachers believed they could do better, and they grew to become students who did better.

I admit that, as a preacher, vision-caster, and parent, I’ve always been more comfortable appealing to someone’s Rider than someone’s Elephant. Anytime I’ve been successful at connecting with the Elephant, it’s required some real forethought on my part instead of just coming instinctively. If we’re going to lead change, though, we’ll need to reassure the Elephant that the change is possible. This is done by finding the feeling, shrinking the change, and developing people’s personal aspirations.

Next week: Shape the Path.

___________________________________

Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

“‘Awesome’ and ‘awful’ are actually closer to each other on the continuum of quality than either is to ‘meh’”

James Poniewozik, on taking creative risks:

You have to be willing to suck if you ever want to be great. "Awesome" and "awful" are actually closer to each other on the continuum of quality than either is to "meh."

If your first priority is creating something amazing, you will make some mind-blowingly awful mistakes. If your first priority is avoiding mistakes, you will preclude the possibility of succeeding wildly (and you may end up making mistakes anyway).

How People Really Decide If Their Church is Flourishing

This one’s for the pastors, especially those of you fairly new to the guild. It’s a little secret about church work: People make assumptions on the numerical status of your church based upon whether they like it. It’s not based on counting heads on Sundays or tracking the attendance figures in the newsletter. It’s based on how happy they are with their experience.

If people like their church experience, they will think the church is growing even if it isn’t. If people don’t like their church experience, they will think the church is declining, even if it isn’t.

In one church I served, the deacons were looked upon as a governing board, and a few made a failed run at ousting me. The real reason was that they weren’t getting their way, but their stated reason was that the church wasn’t flourishing. It didn’t matter that we saw a 20% increase in average attendance and more baptisms than any previous time in the 150-year history of the church. Those were pretty good figures, considering this was a church in a small town with a stable population, not one in a city’s suburbs where you have a lot of new families moving in.

But I guess it would be hypocritical of me if I were bitter of experiences like that when I benefit from the other side of that coin: Across 30 years of leading churches, I’ve also had my seasons when people clap me on the back and compliment me for leading a growing church when, in fact, the numbers have stalled. They see it as growing because they can’t imagine anyone not liking all the things about the church that please them so much.

If my remaining 20 years of ministry (God willing) are like the first 30, I can expect seasons of numerical growth and decline—because to everything there is a season. I hope I will have patience with folks who think their disappointment with my leadership is shared by everyone—and the humility with folks who think their happiness with my leadership is shared by everyone, too.

Winning Ways: How to Strengthen a Sermon

What can you do to strengthen a sermon?

Your first reaction to that question might be, “Well, nothing. Since I don’t do the speaking, I don’t have any control over how to make a sermon more effective.”

Jesus would disagree. He often told his listeners, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” In one parable he spoke of seed that bore fruit depending on the soil—a reference to how his words could bear fruit only in receptive hearts.

It’s time to rediscover three ways that listeners can strengthen the sermons they hear. These practices aren’t new. According to Leland Ryken’s book, Worldly Saints, the early Puritans began these practices over three hundred years ago. “The Puritans,” he wrote, “emphatically did not regard the sermon as a spectator activity.”

First, the Puritans took notes.

Second, after the sermon, according to one contemporary observer, the Puritans “held arguments among themselves about the meaning of various Scripture texts, all of them, men and women, boys and girls, laborers, workmen and simpletons.”

Third, the Puritans spent further reflection upon the sermon. “One sermon well digested, well meditated upon,” wrote Puritan Edmund Calamy, “is better than twenty sermons without meditation.”

We give you a chance to follow these three practices at Hillcrest.

First, we give you notes to complete as I preach. When I refer you to your sermon notes where you complete sentences or circle certain words or read certain verses aloud with me, your participation actually strengthens the sermon.

Second, we reinforce the points of the sermon in Common Ground discussions. We consider our Sunday morning schedule to be one program in two locations: the auditorium and then your small group. To leave after the worship service is like leaving in the middle of the movie!

Third, we even create a way for you to reflect on the sermon throughout your week. By subscribing to “The Daily Cup,” each weekday morning you will find in your e-mail inbox a brief scripture reading and thought-provoking question based on the sermon from the previous Sunday. Herb Ingram writes these. Write him at herb@hbcaustin.org and ask him to sign you up.

It’s not just a preacher that makes a sermon effective: the listener has his or her role to play as well. Take advantage of these three ancient ways to strengthen a sermon!

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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Storytelling, Juggling, and Lost

"I always thought storytelling was like juggling. You keep a lot of different tales in the air, and juggle them up and down, and if you're good you don't drop any. So maybe juggling is a kind of storytelling, too."

--from Haroun and the Sea of Stories, by Salman Rushie, a book that influenced the Lost creators I'm told.

Let's see what kind of jugglers they are as Lost winds down to its last 3.5 hours...

Review of Stephen Prothero’s “God Is Not One”

As I’ve taught at Hillcrest, believers have the task of being good neighbors and good communicators at the same time. Stephen Prothero will help you learn to be a good neighbor—and he will get you halfway to being a good communicator.

That requires some explanation.

Stephen Prothero’s work is a refreshing change in the academic field of religious studies. The field has been dominated by the notion that all religions are just different paths up the same mountain (see Karen Armstrong, Huston Smith, and Wayne Dyer, for examples). None of us who take our faith seriously have been satisfied with that inadequate treatment of faith issues. Though that approach is viewed as the best route to religious toleration, Stephen Prothero is right to regard this approach as “dangerous, disrespectful, and untrue.”

In new book, God is Not One, the Boston University religion professor shows how the world’s religions ask very different questions, tackle very different problems, and aim at very different goals. Climbing up the same mountain? Hardly. “If practitioners of the world’s religions are all mountain climbers,” he writes, “then they are on very different mountains, climbing very different peaks, and using very different tools and techniques in their ascents.”

Each religion articulates:

• a problem: an explanation of what is wrong with the world
• a solution: the religion’s goal
• a technique (or techniques): things that have to be done from moving from this problem to this solution
• an exemplar (or exemplars) who chart this path from problem to solution

Prothero uses this four-part approach to succinctly introduce eight religions: Islam, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Yoruba Religion (from which offshoots like voodoo come), Judaism, and Daoism, with a brief coda on the “religion” of atheism.

Prothero’s book is not a critique of the various religious claims so much as it is a celebration of them. In each chapter, he serves as an appreciative tour guide, helping the reader to understand why a particular ritual or perspective is so meaningful to the adherents.

And that is why his book will help in your task of being a good neighbor—and it will get you halfway toward being a good communicator.

Believers are to be good neighbors, seeking “the peace and prosperity of the city” (Jeremiah 29:7). We are to work for our neighbors’ good, regardless of whether they convert to Christianity or even express polite interest in it. At the same time, we are to be good communicators of the gospel.  The promise of God’s forgiveness and presence through Jesus is a promise not only “for you and your children” but also “for all who are far off” (Acts 2:39).

It is impossible to be good neighbors and good communicators without understanding, and I highly recommend reading Prothero’s book to that end. However, believers who want to be good communicators must also know how to assess and not simply appreciate the alternate religious views among their friends. Christians would say that other religions do not adequately explain the human inability to overcome our personal and corporate faults, or the personal nature of a God who both hates our sin and yet loves us. All of this was so perfectly demonstrated in the biblical account of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, which is the Christian communicator’s constant touchstone.

Prothero’s book was not designed to help you critique the world’s religions, and you will want to add other books to your bookshelf for that purpose (for example, Winfried Corduan’s Neighboring Faiths, a review of the world’s religions from a Christian perspective.) But he can help you in the task of appreciating the convictions that are so important to those from other faiths. To that end, Prothero’s God is Not One should be on the bookshelf of every mission-minded believer.

Links to Your World, Tuesday May 11

Jonathan Acuff calls it “The Justin Bieber Effect.” It’s when you erroneously think someone’s entire body of work (music, acting, writing) is family friendly because you were introduced to the artist in a family-friendly setting.

 

German Man Marries His Cat

 

The 20 Most Brilliant Christian Professors

 

“An increase in fatal nighttime crashes involving teenage drivers is likely attributable to an increase in talking and texting while driving, according to a new report from the Texas Transportation Institute.” (Time)

 

Is "motherhood" and "fulfillment" mutually exclusive? Amy Henry critiques the debate at the WSJ.

 

Posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday

The New Suburbs; The New Downtown

“What do you want me to ask Jesus to do for you?”

Introducing the Multicultural Refugee Coalition

Print This Post and Fix It to Your Office Cubicle or Kitchen Fridge

LeaderLines: Leading Change--Direct the Rider

“Loving the city is different than loving the actual people in that city”

Ex-Offender Opportunity

Neighboring Faiths—Simpsonized

Winning Ways: When the Wind Blows

The New Suburbs; The New Downtown

The NYT reports on a Brookings Institute preview of the 2010 census:

As the first decade of the 21st century comes to a close, more black, Asian, Hispanic, foreign-born and poor people live in the suburbs of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas than in their primary cities.

“Several trends in the 2000s further put to rest the old perceptions of cities as declining, poor, minority places set amid young, white, wealthy suburbs,” a report released Sunday by the Brookings Institution concluded.

The NYT article on the study includes other findings, too:

• “In the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, black, Hispanic and Asian residents constitute a majority of residents younger than 18 — presaging a benchmark that the nation as a whole is projected to reach in just over a decade.”
• “The number of married couples fell to fewer than half of the nation’s households.”
• “The wage gap between rich and poor was the highest recorded in modern times.”
• “The 100 biggest metropolitan areas grew by about 28 million people since 2000. They are now home to two-thirds of the nation’s population.

“What do you want me to ask Jesus to do for you?”

Don Whitney:

Over and over I’ve seen one simple question open people’s hearts to hear the gospel. Until I asked this question, they showed no interest in spiritual matters. But then after six words—only seventeen letters in English—I’ve seen people suddenly begin to weep and their resistance fall. The question is, “How can I pray for you?” …

This question is similar to one that Jesus Himself sometimes asked: “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32). For what we are really asking is, “What do you want me to ask Jesus to do for you?” And by means of this question, we can show the love of Christ to people and open hearts previously closed to the gospel.

I had tried to talk about the things of God many times to a business-hardened, retired executive who lived next door. He was a pro at hiding his feelings and keeping conversations at a superficial level. But the day we stood between our homes and I asked, “How can I pray for you?” his eyes filled with tears as his façade of self-sufficiency melted. For the first time in seven years he let me speak with him about Jesus.

It’s a short, easily remembered question. You can use it with longtime friends or with people you’ve just met. It doesn’t seem too personal or pushy for those who’d rather give you a shallow answer just now, and yet it often leads to a full hearing of the gospel. You can ask it of people nearly every time you speak with them and it doesn’t get old. Just simply and sincerely ask, “How can I pray for you?” You’ll be surprised at the results.

Introducing the Multicultural Refugee Coalition

I have a sister here in Austin, Meg Goodman (Meg Erskine starting tomorrow!).  She started and operates the Multicultural Refugee Coalition.  Here’s a promotional video, shot and produced by her nephew (my son, Michael):

Print This Post and Fix It to Your Office Cubicle or Kitchen Fridge

Tim Chester:

Everyone has their own version of the ‘gospel’ story:

creation – who I am or who I should be
fall – what’s wrong with me and the world
redemption – what’s the solution
consummation – what I hope for

When we hear people expressing their version of creation, fall, redemption or consummation, we can talk about the gospel story. Talking about Jesus begins with listening to other people’s stories and sharing our own story of Jesus. [emphasis added]

I hope you caught how I tried to bring this out in our “Neighboring Faiths” interviews (which should be available online next week).

In addition to these “four points of intersection” with which to start gospel conversations, Chester shares “four liberating truths” from which to start conversations.

Oh, you should print this post and fix it to your office cubicle or kitchen fridge. That way you can review it til you’re living it.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

LeaderLines: Leading Change--Direct the Rider

If you’re leading, you’re leading change. Your leadership may involve changing the behavior of your teen or changing the performance of your staff. Your leadership may involve changing your own habits or changing the habits of your volunteers at church.

How can we lead change? In their new book, Switch, Chip Heath and Dan Heath write that successful changes require the leader to focus on three things at once: the mind, the heart, and the situation. Imagine your organization, your teens, or your own life like an elephant ride. Your job is to--

Direct the Rider

Motivate the Elephant

Shape the Path

I want to take the next 3 weeks of LeaderLines to unpack the Heath brothers’ advice on accomplishing these three things.

First up: Direct the Rider.

The “Rider” refers to the rational side of a person. It refers to the ability to delay gratification, to exert self-control, to sacrifice short-term wants for long-term gains. But the Rider can get stuck in the paralysis of analysis and so he needs clear direction. That’s where your leadership comes in.

The Heath brothers recommend three things to direct the Rider.

First, follow the bright spots. Investigate what’s working and clone it. They write:

To pursue bright spots is to ask the question, ‘What’s working and how can we do more of it?’ Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Yet, in the real world this obvious question is almost never asked. Instead, the question we ask is more problem focused: ‘What’s broken, and how do we fix it?’

Among the “Cs” and “Ds” on your kid’s report card, why did she get a “B” in one subject and is there anything you can do to clone that success in the other subjects? In a church, what Common Ground group or Sunday School class is flourishing with new attendance, and what can we copy from that group as we try to make our own group better at outreach? Among the students in your kids ministry or high school class, figure out why some of them are “getting it,” and duplicate in others the things that led to that success.

Second, script the critical moves. Don’t think big picture, think in terms of specific behaviors. They write:

Big-picture, hands-off leadership isn’t likely to work in a change situation, because the hardest part of change—the paralyzing part—is precisely in the details….Until you can ladder your way down from a change idea to a specific behavior, you’re not ready to lead a switch.

Third, point to the destination. Change is easier when you know where you’re going and why it’s worth it. They suggest that a leader should provide a destination postcard—“a vivid picture from the near-term future that shows what could be possible.”

It’s best when all three of these actions are utilized to direct the Rider. But I’ve found that in most leadership books and seminars, it’s really just the third action that’s emphasized. We are told that the leader’s job is to cast the inspiring vision. No doubt, we need to present our Rider with a “destination postcard” so our Rider will confidently know where we’re going. But we also need to “ladder down from a change idea to a specific behavior” (I like that phrase). And we need to base our change idea on things that are already successful within the context.

As you prepare your sermon or Sunday School lesson for this week, how are you planning to direct the Rider? What successes will you highlight for others to copy? What actions will you recommend that they can put into practice? What inspiring picture will you give them so they can imagine the kind of people or the kind of church they can be if they accept your challenge?

Of course, these questions don’t just apply to teachers, but to parents and business administrators and program directors and sports coaches. To lead change, direct the Rider.

Next week: Motivate the Elephant.

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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

“Loving the city is different than loving the actual people in that city”

Anthony Bradley:

Is it not likely that many evangelicals flocking to cities for justice are actually going there as consumers, using “justice” as an excuse to live in “cool” places? Loving the city is different than loving the actual people in that city.

Ouch!

You should take a minute with this brief post, that alerts us to the reality that poverty in America is “predominantly suburban, rural, and white.” So, Bradley suggests,

Perhaps American Christians concerned about the poor should stop chasing poverty, plant themselves in whatever neighborhood they find themselves, and love whomever comes and goes as housing trends change over time.

Ex-Offender Opportunity

Our own Cheryl Selby shows up at the one-minute count on this video promoting the Travis County Offender Workforce Program.  Cheryl Selby is active at Hillcrest and the director of Network for Life, an ex-offender ministry that was birthed at our church.

 

Neighboring Faiths—Simpsonized

Watch this space for information on how to get the “Neighboring Faiths” interviews via mp3 and video formats. Until then, here’s a new take on the logo for our series.  Debra Morgan did a great job on the original logo:

And here it is—Simpsonized:

Winning Ways: When the Wind Blows

The residents of the Shetland Islands, just above Scotland in the North Sea, have stories about coping with the region’s high winds. You could say they love to, well, regale others about the gusts.

There are stories of cats meowing helplessly as they flail airborne for 15 feet. There are insistent accounts of flying cows. At miles-per-hour, the unofficial account for one gust was a top wind speed of 201—before the wind gauge blew away. Then there is the ungraceful humiliation of what some residents call “Shetland Dancing,” where the wind twirls you around before flattening you.

It’s hard to sort out the truth from the tall tales, but clearly life is different in the Shetlands when the wind blows.

The second chapter of Acts says that when the Holy Spirit showed up, “a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting” (verse 2). The Greek word we translate “blowing” was used in Luke 21:25 to speak of the crash made by breakers in a stormy sea. And, if the word “blowing” wasn’t descriptive enough, the wind was also described as “violent.” Verse 2 says the roar of this blowing, violent wind filled the whole building.

We like to sing that gentle song with the line, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is peace.” I’m grateful for my experiences with God’s peace. But the disciples in Acts 2 would say that providing us our personal spa day is not always what the Spirit has in mind!

No, sometimes in our lives and our churches we find the experience of the Spirit is not so much like a spring breeze but more like a roaring wind rushing forcibly through our lives.

Nothing can remain securely in place when the Spirit blows Shetland-style. Sinful habits get scattered, moribund church traditions get overturned, and bitter attitudes get knocked aside. God’s Spirit sweeps away the things that have kept us from being useful instruments for him.

If you want a closer study of the disciples’ first experience with the Spirit in Acts 2, you can listen to last Sunday’s message at our website (www.HillcrestAustin.org). You will also benefit from Herb Ingram’s “Daily Cup” devotionals this week. These devotionals are sent to your email each weekday with a scripture reading and a thought-provoking question based on the previous Sunday’s sermon. Ask him to sign you up (herb@hbcaustin.org).

This week’s article was inspired from an old church newsletter article by Doug Jackson.

_______________________________

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday May 4

Bad habits can age you by 12 years, study suggests.

 

Here’s Hoping: Wired writes about “Making Oil in Minutes, Not Millennia.”

 

How rich are you in comparison to the rest of the world?

 

Does it bother you when people condense “a lot” down into one word? This will help. Alot.

 

Study: Drinking, R-rated films linked in middle-schoolers

 

“Just making cellphone calls increases your chances of crashing by four times; sending text messages increases the risk 23 times.” The NYT reports on some apps that can shut down the texting feature of a cell phone when driving.

 

NCAA Tournament Expands To However Many Teams Honestly Feel They Should Be In NCAA Tournament.

 

Building a bridge to a Buddhist heart so Jesus can walk across.

 

“A body of research is emerging that suggests that there's little risk to carrying a few extra pounds. And there may even be some benefit. Indeed, people who are 10-to-15 pounds overweight appear to have no greater risk of dying than those of so-called "normal" weight. Other studies have shown that those who are overweight are no more likely to die from cancer or cardiovascular disease. Also, being a little overweight may help stave off osteoporosis. And it can make you look younger, too.” (WSJ)

 

“While there is no precise count, some experts believe New York is home to as many as 800 languages…. ‘It is the capital of language density in the world,’ said Daniel Kaufman, an adjunct professor of linguistics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. ‘We’re sitting in an endangerment hot spot where we are surrounded by languages that are not going to be around even in 20 or 30 years.’” (NYT)

 

Posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday

“The cross is what separates the Christ of Christianity from every other Jesus”

Song of the Week: Angus and Julia Stone’s “Mango Tree”

“Neighboring Faiths” and the Gospel

Even Mayberry Isn’t Mayberry

10 Ways to Raise a Faith-Sharing Child

LeaderLines: Pray Until 5 Things Are Manifest

Pullman Novelizes the Liberal Scholars’ Distinction Between the “Jesus of Faith” and the “Jesus of History”

Spring Cleaning: A Chance to Ask Why You Have So Much Stuff

Mars and Venus Online

Winning Ways: Where Grace and Truth Meet

“The cross is what separates the Christ of Christianity from every other Jesus”

Kenneth Woodward:

Clearly, the cross is what separates the Christ of Christianity from every other Jesus. In Judaism there is no precedent for a Messiah who dies, much less as a criminal as Jesus did. In Islam, the story of Jesus' death is rejected as an affront to Allah himself. Hindus can accept only a Jesus who passes into peaceful samadhi, a yogi who escapes the degradation of death. The figure of the crucified Christ, says Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh, "is a very painful image to me. It does not contain joy or peace, and this does not do justice to Jesus." There is, in short, no room in other religions for a Christ who experiences the full burden of mortal existence--and hence there is no reason to believe in Him as the divine Son whom the Father resurrects from the dead.

Even so, there are lessons all believers can savor by observing Jesus in the mirrors of Jews and Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. That the image of a benign Jesus has universal appeal should come as no surprise. That most of the world cannot accept the Jesus of the cross should not surprise either.

NEWSWEEK March 27, 2000 Page 47 "The Other Jesus" by Kenneth Woodward

Song of the Week: Angus and Julia Stone’s “Mango Tree”

Seven years ago this month I left the Cayman Islands for service at Hillcrest here in Austin. I love the work and the people, and its clear God was directing this move. I still miss my Cayman experience, though. The following song is a good one for me as we move into May. In my back yard I grew mango and lime, plantains and sugar cane, apple banana and pineapple. Click the player to hear Angus and Julia Stone’s “Mango Tree”--

(No, I didn't see the Stone duo when they played at the 2009 SXSW here in Austin.)

“Neighboring Faiths” and the Gospel

You can read Eileen Flynn’s coverage of our “Neighboring Faiths” interview series in this Saturday’s Statesman (online here). I particularly liked the comments she included from three of our members (Melissa McKanna, Erin Waldo, and Jim Steed). 

Eileen was instrumental in the early planning for this series. In the Fall, I asked her for recommendations of religious leaders I could enlist for this series. Her suggestions got the process started, and no doubt it was easier to recruit the leaders by mentioning to them that she had recommended I call them.

One quibble with the article. In explaining what made this event unique, she left the impression that the gospel was not shared:

I've known ministers who view the world's faiths simply as different paths up the same mountain. They're open to the idea of multiple truths and would never dream of proselytizing to non-Christians.

I've known other ministers who see interaction with non-Christians as a must-witness-for-Christ situation. To them, not sharing the Gospel with a Muslim or Hindu is a missed opportunity.

Neither approach suited Goodman.

In fact, the Gospel was shared the first three nights, and I expect to share it in the last interview tomorrow.

Now, to many, “sharing the Gospel” hasn’t happened unless there’s a formal presentation such as the Four Spiritual Laws or the Roman Road, followed by a formal appeal to cross the line of faith. Eileen was correct to report that the “Neighboring Faiths” interviews did not include this kind of “sharing the Gospel.”

Oh, but the Gospel was shared.  In every interview, I challenged my friends on the adequacy of their optimistic view of human nature: that our own moral efforts are enough to pass muster with God. And I communicated the Christian message that, since our moral efforts are insufficient, we depend upon Christ. In fact, Imam Islam was already so familiar with the Christian story that he completed my explanation of the Gospel for me!

Further opportunity to apply the Gospel to the interviews happened afterward. I concluded each night by giving my friends a copy of my book, The Anchor Course: Exploring Christianity Together. I also referred the audience to the Resource Table where they could purchase books that enabled them to better understand the faith of their neighbors and communicate our gospel convictions if/when the occasions arise.

Understanding and communication: That was the dual aim of this interview series.

I hope you can join us for the last interview tomorrow night with Buddhist priest David Zuniga. It’s at the Hillcrest auditorium, May 2, 5:30 p.m.

And listen for the Gospel as I interview David. It’ll be in there.