Busy is the New Lazy!

What do you think of when you consider laziness?  My guess is you almost immediately think about some college kid laying on a couch playing XBox or PS3 and skipping classes.  I would tend to agree with you (although when I did this it was a PS, I was not lazy, I was saving my energy!). Dan Allender in Leading With a Limp argues that busy is the new lazy. He says, "Being busy seems to be the polar opposite of laziness, but a busy person is not so much active as lost. (128)" Wow! That is a paradigm shifter.

In the Matrix of Brokenness Allender argues that weariness is something that all leaders will face and they will respond with either fatalism or hope. Fatalism usually displays itself in the context busyness.  Hope comes when we find disillusionment in these lesser things that keep us busy. As we become disillusioned we turn toward that greater love, the Christ who called us initially and become bold in our declaration that he is best and lesser things must find their proper place.

As I read this I could not help but think of Hebrews 4:

“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.”

Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
(Hebrews 4:1–12 ESV)

This is one of my favorite passages in the Scriptures because it subverts our conception of rest.  We think of rest being a good nap.  Rest is something that can only be found in the creation rhythm of our God as we embrace him in faith. When weariness hits we can become fatalistic and busy ourselves with lesser things.  On the flip we can embrace this Creator God and his rhythm and find rest which provides hope.

I know this is a flaw in me.  There have been times in the recent past (not so much since I joined my current ministry team) where I have been weary of a direction or a situation and I determine to busy myself with the building of my own kingdom.  I get busy with minutiae and leave the greater good of vision casting, direction setting, and aligning because of the weariness that comes from dealing with those who struggle to "get it".

I am learning that if I am overly "busy" then I am not pursuing the best.  As I look over the last few weeks of my calendar I see that it has been very full.  I know that I have experienced being tired.  However, it has not been busyness.  My tired feeling is an emptiness of serving and giving of the core of my being.  It's a good tired. It's a hopeful tired.

I know that I am in process.  I also am thankful for people like Doug who understands the rhythm of the Creator and calls me to account. God has also given me a subversive Bride, Beast, and Princess who draw me into his rest. How about you? Are you experiencing fatalistic busyness or are you disillusioned with the lesser things?

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The Manipulation Postulate

Loneliness, according to Dan Allender in Leading With a Limp, is one of the things that any leader will bump into. He can choose one of two responses: hiding or openness. Hiding is the act of manipulation. We feel alone and solitary.  As a result we hide.  In our hiding we manipulate the world around us to think that all is well.  The next thing you know another pastor has flamed out of ministry or has killed himself.  Leaders are alone.  I have written previously on the "oneness" of ministry.

The opposite response is openness or as Allender puts it, "Honest Hunger (120ff)." This honest hunger requires us to open ourselves to people.  This openness is an authentic listening to others and the willingness to invite others in.

I don't know if I can explain how hard this is. But maybe using an unrelated illustration will help. I like a good beer.  I enjoy evaluating the hoppiness or wheatiness or aroma or smoothness or flavor of a beer.  I enjoy the experience of sitting with friends at a watering hole and taking in a pint of something dark and rich. When Amy and I worked with Campus Crusade for Christ at Illinois State University we were located in a small town.  We were a part of a small community where people very different opinions about whether someone could drink a beer. Many of these people supported us financially.  I was afraid that if they knew or saw me drink a beer they would stop supporting us. Therefore, we did not drink alcohol of any kind in Bloomington-Normal.  We hid and manipulated the situation.

You see, this is the situation that leaders find themselves in every aspect of their lives.  They evaluate every little thing. "If I say I saw THIS movie or that I watched THAT television show or I think THIS political thought or whatever, what will THEY think?" So we hide. We never really tell anybody what we think about anything.  We deflect for the sake of keeping things easy and clean.

At some level that is OK.  We are called to respect the weaker brother. This is someone who does not experience the same kind of freedom in Christ that we experience.  However, there comes a point where if you never let anyone in, if you never communicate what you really think about something, you go crazy.  You go crazy because nobody knows you.

I am struggling with this.  I am struggling to learn who those people are that I can be completely open and honest with.  I am really struggling with what Allender says though:

"Honest hunger after truth requires us to remain open to everyone, including those with whom we disagree and have conflict. It also requires that we  remain open to the fact that we desperately need the very people who challenge and contradict our cherished notions of the truth. We may never agree, nor do we need to do so, but we need others--especially those who challenge us to dig deeper and become more human. The hunger, then, is not so much for agreement on factual accounts, but more for truth that leads to a greater delight in truth."

Did you catch the "everyone". That will be hard. That will be hard because peace is often my highest goal and not truth.

Well do you hide? I do and I have never really liked hide and seek. It's time to call "olly olly oxen free" and end the game and come out of hiding.

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CBS to Air Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad

I really enjoy the Super Bowl. I really enjoy Sports Talk Radio. I really like it when two opposing worldviews collide. However, I do not like it when I turn on Sports Talk Radio and all I hear about is the "culture war". Over the last few days there has been a tremendous amount of conversation, yelling, and pure craziness regarding Tim Tebow, former Heisman Trophy winner, appearing in a Super Bowl Ad for Focus on the Family. The problem lies in the fact that the commercial is Pro-Life.

There have been a large number of Abortion Rights groups speaking out against the commercial and CBS for airing it. What is interesting is that there is no flack coming from these groups regarding the commercials that put women on display as sexual objects. Which of these commercials is most hurtful to women? I would argue that one which objectifies women and uses them for nothing more than their physical attractiveness is more damning.

I am also saddened by the rhetoric that has come out of this.  I have many of my fellow Metro-Detroiters saying that Tebow should not be allowed to "shove his beliefs" down their throats. To my knowledge Focus on the Family paid for the ad time. Planned Parenthood, to my knowledge did not purchase any airtime. If an advocacy group wants to advertise let them pay for it. Is it possible to have the intellectual integrity to see that both sides of a coin have the freedom to speech? You as a television viewer have the freedom and ability to mute the commercial or pause the DVR and then hit the "live" button.

We live in a country where the freedom of speech is part of our Bill of Rights. If you do not like that there is an ad about being Pro-Life and you desire "balance" then pony up the 2.5 million and broadcast your take.  Until that time comes please, please, can you let sports talk go back to sports talk? Thanks.

via CBS to Air Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad.

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Equipping People in their Faith Journey

My latest sermon:

[podcast]http://danielmrose.com/wp-content/uploads/Grace-100124-reduced.mp3[/podcast]

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Ethan's Wish...

At the turn of the New Year we all make resolutions. When Ethan, my eight year old son went to school after the turn of the new year he and his classmates did a project where they made a wish. The teacher got the idea from the Japanese Daruma Doll. Here's a quick second grade summary of the Daruma Doll:

"In Japan, one way to make a New Year's wish is to buy a daruma doll. This doll has no arms, legs, or eyes.  It does have a heavy bottom.  If the doll tips over, it rights itself. The doll is a reminder to never give up! When a wish is made, one eye is drawn on the doll.  When the wish comes true, the second eye is drawn.  The doll is kept until the end of the year."

So each student colored a doll and then responded to three questions:

• My wish for the year 2010 is...


• One way I can help make my wish come true is...


• Another way to help my wish come true is...

Ethan is eight. He is in second grade.  When he was baptized, our pastor Bob Smart, prayed that Ethan would become an evangelist.  He asked God to use him to lead many people to Jesus.  We talk to both of our children (we also have a daughter Libby who is 6) about their "bapitisms" (as they say it) often.  We show them how God is making good on his covenant promises that he made to them and to us on the day of their baptisms. They are embracing these promises too.

Back to the story. Ethan brought his daruma doll project home a week or so ago and here are his responses to the questions (his spellings, not mine!):

• My wish for the year 2010 is... to teach more people about Jesus's ways!


• One way I can help make my wish come true is...to meet more people that dont belive in god!


• Another way to help my wish come true is...get my friend's togeter that do belive and tell people that don't belive!

Our kids go the neighborhood school.  They meet kids who are Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Atheist, and anything else you can imagine.  They both come home regularly and say, "We have to pray for so and so because they don't believe in Jesus." Ethan and Libby long for their friends to know Jesus. I have to tell you I am learning more about what it means to be on mission for God from my "Beast" and my "Princess" than I ever did in seminary or in any of my training as a missionary.

In the world of an 8 year old Christ follower there are people who believe, there are people who do not. If you do not believe then you are missing out on so much love, fun, and friends! He can not understand why anyone would not want to know Jesus.

How about you? Oh, in case you think I made this up, the picture on the left is Ethan's daruma doll.

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I'm a Jerk.

Jerk: a contemptibly naive, fatuous, foolish, or inconsequential person. I am one. How do I know? I know because in my life I have struggled with the feeling of betrayal. I think I have authentically experienced it. I think that I sometimes read different situations and think that betrayal is happening when it is not.  However, when I face the pain of betrayal or even the perceived pain of betrayal I become a jerk.

Dan Allender in Leading With a Limp provides what I call the "Matrix of Brokenness". You can find it here.  Regarding the issue of betrayal Allender argues that narcissism is the negative response.  Where does this narcissistic response come from? It comes from envy (96). Envy grabs you and you respond with a narcissism that is ugly, in short, you become a jerk.

When I read that and thought about it I was not sure if I agreed with this idea or not.  However, as I pondered a time over the last few years when I felt betrayed, my evaluation led me to the realization that my initial response was indeed narcissistic and was indeed narcissistic and fueled by envy.

I was being evaluated for a leadership position that was being vacated by another person.  I had been in a similar leadership a few years before and in my estimation this would be a formality.  However, it turned out to be one of the most painful experiences I have endured.  I did not get the position.  I did, however, receive a large list of things that I was failing at in ministry, relationships, and perceived in my walk with God.  This list was delivered with the tact and grace of a sledge hammer.  Nonetheless, the evaluation was accurate in many ways.  My initial response was anger and a sense of betrayal. I wanted answers. I wanted to quit.  I stopped relating to God and turned inward.  I was so wrapped up in my own sense of self-confident awesomeness that I could not see how this was God's hand calling me to a new level and season of development.

I would not have admitted it then but I was envious of whoever would take on the role that I was passed over for. In my mind this role was an amazing place to serve and lead.  From this role a leader would have influence regionally and nationally within the organization. I was envious that it would not be me. There was not anyone in place to take the role and this envy turned to an ever deepening narcissism. Clearly God needed to teach me.

He has. He is. I am still learning this lesson.  I am learning how to respond to all this.  I am learning that often my perception of "betrayal" is nothing more than God using people to move me away from my self-centeredness. This is why the appropriate response to betrayal is gratitude.  I need to be thankful that I have the opportunity to grow closer and to enter more deeply into reliance on God.

I am a jerk.  But I am not as much of a jerk as I used to be.

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Book Review: Counterfeit Gods

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=FFFFFF&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=danielmroseco-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&asins=0525951369 Timothy Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York.  His recent book Counterfeit Gods continues to cement his place as one of this generation's leading voices in calling the church back to where it belongs. Keller, however, has the unique ability to speak to the hearts of people who do not claim follow Jesus as well.

The driving question that Keller is seeking to answer comes from a description of Americans by Alexis de Tocqueville who said that Americans exhibited a, "strange melancholy that haunts the inhabitants...in the midst of abundance. (x)" De Tocqueville analyzes this "strange melancholy" and comes to the conclusion that it is the result of taking an "incomplete joy of this world" and having that become the center of your life. Keller states, "That is the definition of idolatry. (xi)"  He goes on to say that an idol is, "anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. (xvii)" This is the central motif of Keller's text.  He then draws us back to the reality that it is in relationship with Christ, the idol breaker, that we can be set free from our idol worship.

Keller hits on topics like money, greed, power, politics, sex, and love. He grabs your attention with riveting personal stories from his life, his ministry, and from the headlines.  The economic collapse of 2008-09 plays a heavy role. If you come to this text with an open mind then you will walk away from this text with a challenged heart. It is strong in biblical exegesis as Keller works through key texts and draws out their central teaching and their contemporary application. I would say that the weakness of this text is that the issues raised are difficult and that in such a brief text they can only be given a cursory examination.  I would like to see Keller develop this text more fully at a scholarly level.

I was deeply challenged by the book.  I was most especially brought to a place of deep consideration regarding the idolatry of religion.  I think that as a pastor I am easily swayed by this idolatry. I can get caught up in my Reformed, Presbyterian dogma and lose sight of the sacrificial savior who called me to follow him. Following a self-sacrificing savior is painful, difficult, and yet fully satisfying and glorious! But, the comfort of a religious dogma that provides all the answers is seductive and so easy to embrace.

I encourage you to grab this little text and evaluate the idol factory in your heart.

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Complex Rigidity

I like to think of myself as a person who has great intellectual flexibility.  Often times I am very creative when it comes to problem solving.  I even like change.  I thrive on change.  Change is a good thing in my mind because on the one hand it makes a jingly sound in your pocket and on the other it keeps divine bovines to a minimum.  I also like to think that I handle complexity well.  Again, it's something that I face with a certain level of confidence and joy.  That is, until complexity meets me outside of my comfort zone.  When this happens well, it is not pretty.

According to Allender, when a leader finds himself in a position of complexity they can have a negative response of dogmatism.  Dogmatism is defined as an "arrogant, stubborn assertion of opinion or belief." It is not what you believe but is an issue of how you believe.  Dogmatism is a symptom of rigidity.  When the world becomes too complex, Allender argues, people can tend to become rigid in an effort to control the world around them.

I read this chapter in Leading With a Limp and thought, thankfully I do not do this! Then, as I continued to process more I realized that I do not do it in areas where I feel I am gifted or strong.  I do however move in this direction when I am faced with complexity in places where I am out of my comfort zone.

For example, last summer I led a team of High School students and volunteers to Appalachia, Kentucky.  We were there to serve people by working on two building projects.  We were bringing some physical relief and dignity to people who desperately needed it.  I am not especially gifted or talented in using my hands.  I really do not enjoy it and the thought of doing this for a week really scared me.  It took everything I had to keep my emotions in check on the site because felt so stupid.

When we would return to the camp I felt that I was back in my domain where I knew what to do and how to do things.  This junction of physical and emotional exhaustion left me in a place where I became rigid when complexity struck at the camp.  The complexity took the form of High School not doing things exactly as I expected them to do (surprise, surprise right?).  This led me to be more dogmatic and rigid in how I approached various situations.

So, how do I move forward? Well, I am learning that awareness and communication are key. If I know that I am going to be in a situation like this then I need to prepare myself and my team that this might be an issue.  That way WHEN my sin rears its ugly head everyone will know what's happening and we will be able to interact honestly and openly about it.

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What is Community?

Community. It's a buzz-word. It's a television sit-com.  It's a longing in our hearts.  But what is it? What does community mean?  There have been books, long books, written on the subject.  There have been many sermons preached.  There have been many university seminars given.  I have to be honest with you, I have talked about community and thought about community and yet I do not think that I could define community. Community. Community. Community...

Then I read Wendell Berry's essay, "Writer and Region" in What Are People For.  His definition of community is astounding: "a common experience and common effort on a common ground to which one willingly belongs.(85)" Consider with me for a brief moment what the ramifications of this definition are for us. First, a common experience.  People who seek to have or be a part of community must have a common experience.  This means that they must actually do something.  I think that often people think community will just develop or happen around them, it does not.  What is a common experience? It is a common doing.  It means that a person willingly does something with others.  They engage.  They enter in.  They participate.

Second, a common effort.  The term effort implies that there is a mission or a purpose for one to be in relationship with another. Community develops along the lines of mission.  There must be a purpose or a mission before one can have community because there must be a common effort.  This again requires a person and individual to choose to set aside herself to enter into a mission with others. Effort will then be exerted when the mission is grasped and understood and embodied by the group.

Third, a common ground. This can mean all sorts of things but I think Berry means it in the sense of proximity.  Community happens in a place.  There is a proximity to it.  Boots on the ground together as a group on a mission in the same place.  I think about a place like Ocean City, NJ where I spent a summer on mission.  I can picture the people and the things done but they are all tied to a place: the boardwalk, the Ambassadors Inn, Philly, or Broadway.  A place, a common ground.

Finally, there must be a willingness.  This community will not happen unless a person willingly submits himself to the group.  He must enter in of his own accord.  Apart from this willingness he cannot know community because he cannot be with the others on the common ground; his heart is elsewhere.

Community: common experience and common effort on a common ground to which one willingly belongs.

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Daddy...

Dedicated to Jay and Vince, both of whom are now Daddys.

When I would look at men who had little girls there was something different about them.  They had this look about them that was different from those of us with only sons.  There was a tenderness in their eyes as they would watch their daughters play or walk or sleep.  There was a gentleness to how they handled their little girls.  And, there was the look of incredible love when that little girl would look back over her shoulder at her daddy.



The day, the moment, that Libby was born, I understood.  There is something unique about little girls.  They are sweet and gentle.  You look at their face and know that soon you will hear that little voice whisper, “Daddy.”  Just knowing that your heart melts, just the thought of it.  I love my son with all that I am.  He is my buddy, my partner.  But there is something different about my Libby.  It’s hard to explain.

There is just something special about the love of a Daddy toward his little girl. A desire to protect her.  A desire to keep her safe from the fallen world.  The reality that another will come along one day and make her his own.  Knowing that some day she will wear a white dress and take the hand of another man.  She will not always be all mine.

I don’t know.  There is something intangible about the love of a father to a daughter.  I can not possibly do it justice.  All I know is that I love her and get lost as I watch her.  All I know is that I see her Mommy in her and know that she is an amazing gift that is to be cherished and loved only to be given away.

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"Pastor" Pat...

The scene is Haiti is horrific. The cries for help. The reality of people being buried alive. The dead littering the streets. The pain, chaos, and heartbreak enveloping a country that is already impoverished and broken. To this situation Pat Robertson on the 700 Club today spoke.  He stated among other things that it was a "blessing in disguise". Check out this video and then read my response:








This response is heartless, cruel, and un-pastoral. My good friend Scott Crocker has posted a wonderful response and I would encourage you to read it. Near the end of this clip Mr. Robertson speaks of a pact made with the devil.  This is a rumor, an urban legend.  It may have happened, it might not have happened.

We seek to find meaning out of tragedy, it is our natural response.  To make this tragedy into something other than it is simply smacks of pretentious self-righteousness.  The sad fact is that we live in a world that is broken.  It is broken at every level.  St. Paul tells us “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.(Romans 8:18–23 ESV)”

You see the creation is longing for its own redemption.  What happened in Haiti is not the result of an act of a vengeful God.  It is not the act of a God who was tired of waiting for the Haitians to build big buildings.  No, this was the result of the tragedy that took place in the Garden. This is the outworking of the fall.

I am thankful that Mr. Robertson called for prayer and compassion at the end of this clip.  However, his call is empty and meaningless due to his previous comments.  I believe that Mr. Robertson believed that he was speaking truth.  He spoke without love though and became a "resounding gong."

The old saying goes, "It takes one to know one." Sadly, I know a lack of gentleness, an absence of compassion, and graceless truth. It takes one to know one. I know one.

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The Cost of Vision

I am learning that you must be careful about what you ask for, you just might get it. That's right, I think I am getting what I asked for.  Heaven help me!



In my quieter moments, a number of years ago, I would have told you that I would like to start something from the ground up. I think at the time I looked at things like history and tradition and fel that they were rubbish.  I still feel that way, most of the time. However, I am learning that history or backstory is important.  It provides you with a road map for the reasons why people are the way they are.  It gives you insight into ministry mindsets and culture. Backstory, history, tradition: they are important.

Important though they may be these things are the cost of vision.  If you have a vision, a dream, a desire it comes to you in power only if you are unhappy with the status quo.  There have been many times in my life when I have had vision.  I think I am in one of those times.  But vision comes at a cost, it costs the status quo.  It costs the sacred cows.  It costs comfort and ease. The one with the vision does not pay this price because they have already lost their comfort and ease as a result of their broken heart that leads them to vision. No, this cost is paid by those to whom the vision is cast.  This makes setting a new course pretty difficult, if not impossible.

A few years ago I read, Visioneering by Andy Stanley.  One of the key components in that book is that people need to hear the vision over and over and over (and then over again!). What was assumed in the book was that the one casting the vision had a pulpit, microphone, and captive audience.  So how do you this without a captive audience, microphone, or pulpit?

Well, it turns out when you are fumbling your way through you don't do it very well. It's something that has to change in my ministry.  I have to get the vision out to three audiences: volunteers, students, and parents.  These three audiences are vastly different.  It's no wonder that "youth pastors" burn out so quickly. I am trusting that as I am coming to this conclusion it will help me communicate the vision, mission, and values of the movement I lead more effectively.

But, it will come at a cost.  It will come at the cost of comfort, ease, and tradition.  I understand the picture. I am the dog and the vision is the rocket. The question is: Is there a guidance system? I hope so. I need one.

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Potential, Passion, Power

Youth Specialties just dropped a post over on their blog about Passion 2010. The heart of the post was that college students in any number have incredible potential to change the world.  This is so true.  It's the whole reason movements like Campus Crusade for Christ, InterVarsity, and Navigators exist. I love that conferences like Passion are springing up and highlighting the potential of the emerging generation.

I think that there is a larger conversation that needs to take place and that is a conversation about power. In the church (and in every other institution) there are multiple generations existing together under one tent. The question is how will the generations that are older begin the process of taking on new roles? The generation that populates the leadership of most churches is the generation of the Jesus Movement.  It saw incredible mobilization toward causes that was bigger than itself.  It was a generation of radicals that forcibly took power in politics and church. It is the generation that created the "mega-church". It figured out how to reach a de-churched population with skill and wisdom. The emerging generations need to be grateful for what has been done.

But, now is the time for the established leaders of the church (50s+) to realize that they must enter into a new leadership role. The time is now for them unlock the potential of the emerging generations.  They need to actively choose to not become like their parents/grandparents.  The "Great Generation" would not yield power and become coaches so the "Boomer" struck out on their own and created it's own institution. Now, will they choose to embrace the leadership of the emerging generations? Will they listen? Will they hear what the culture is like NOW? Will they determine to bring emerging leaders up and hand over precious power and set aside their preferences to reach the next generation?

Youth Specialties and Passion are right.  There is incredible potential in the emerging generations.  But will it be coached and brought to maturity or will it be required to makes it own course and not come to maturity until they reach their 50s?

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Crisis, Cowardice, Courage

In Allender's matrix the first challenge is that of crisis.  What do you do when the world comes crashing down around you? Thankfully I have not faced any huge crises in my time as a leader.  I have experienced personal ones within the context of my family but not so much in the context of ministry.  This is God's grace.  

In these crises though I know that I experience the pull to cowardice.  I want so badly for there to be someone else who can take on the problem and have the hard conversations  and to make the decisions that nobody wants to make.  I feel it.  My hands sweat. My stomach gets upset.  My breathing quickens and my heart pounds.

Thankfully I had a model of courage when I was a boy.  My mother was and is one of the most courageous people that I know. It's remarkable how courageous she is.  With three young children she worked full-time, went to school full-time, and made sure we did not become screw-ups. She had hard conversations.  She did hard things.  She didn't hide. She faced it, all of it.

When I think of the crises that we have faced as a family over the last five years and I think about how I responded I know it's because of the model that she was.  I think that in the face of crises I actually move into courage.  I think I move there because I remember my mom's story and I embrace it as my own.

Allender says that a limping leader understands, "I don't know if I am right, not am I sure the path chosen is the best, but after reflection, feedback, debate, and prayer, I am choosing this path.  In the process, I will seek life life like water and drink death like wine. A confident leader remembers her own story of redemption. She remembers that in the past God has been good to giver her favor and a way out of disaster; therefore, she borrows from the past to invest in the crisis du jour (74-75)."

That's courage. Courage is embracing the narrative that God is writing in you and seeing the redemption that he has wrought.  Then you grab hold of that fact and drink it like water.

Thanks mom.

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The Kingdom Part 2

My latest sermon:

[podcast]http://danielmrose.com/wp-content/uploads/100103-Reduced.mp3[/podcast]

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The Kingdom Part 1

My latest sermon:

[podcast]http://danielmrose.com/wp-content/uploads/Grace-091227.mp3[/podcast]

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Just DO IT or Holiness

The Backyard Missionary posted recently on some thoughts about holiness by Alan Hirsch.  It was interesting to see these ideas in front of me, nearly 15 years after I first heard them. I had been dating Amy (now my bride) for a few months.  At the time I was new to this whole follow Jesus thing in every aspect of your life and the guy who was teaching me to walk with Jesus (Matt) wanted to have a conversation about my dating relationship. That was weird.

So, Matt and I headed to the Bovee University Center on the campus of Central Michigan University and grabbed a table in the Down Under Club.  It was awkward as he asked me some really personal questions.  I told him what he wanted to hear (whether or not it was the truth is another story).  Then Matt asked me what I thought the statement, "Be holy as I am holy" meant. Well, I listed off as many rules of good Christian moralism as I could muster and Matt took it in. This was not his first time around the block.  He smiled and asked, "Is that it?" I squirmed (not smiling) and replied, "Yeah."

At that point Matt flipped my entire grid of what it means to be holy. He changed the way I thought because he opened my eyes tot the reality that I was focusing on all the things that I couldn't do and still honor God with my life. The key thing, Matt explained, was what we could do.  We could be holy.  We could choose to live our lives in such a way that shows the world around us that we are different.

I had never thought about it like that.  I thought following Jesus meant that I needed to understand the rules.  The reality is that the rules aren't the point.  The point was living like someone and as opposed to not like someone.  It's so much easier to watch someone model something and do it than figuring out how not to do it.  You see Jesus lived life the way we ought to live life.  He lived it full, he lived it fun, he lived it on the edge.  Do I? Do you? Jesus was called a drunk and a glutton.  Most of us would only be mistaken for Tom Sawyer's good-goody cousin Sid.

Holiness pushes us out to the brink.  Holiness challenges us in ways that makes us uncomfortable.  Holiness subverts our ordinary lives and causes us to live life on the edge where only angels dare to walk.

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One. Mono. Uno.

There is a saying, "One is the loneliest number." For many years I thought one was not all that lonely but a nice change of pace. I think that's because in my former life as a staff member with Campus Crusade for Christ there was such a crushing emphasis on team that you almost couldn't escape it.  I am not an introvert by nature so for one  to feel not lonely is saying something.  I have been a "pastor" for one year now.  I am coming to the conclusion that "pastor" equals "one". I want there to be a team around me.

I desire for there to be a team around me.  But, the nature of the office is that there is the pastor (full-time, on duty, Christian-type) and then there are those around the pastor (people who are working out their faith in REAL life, in the REAL world, here and now).  It seems to me that those around the pastor are amazing, awe-inspiring actually. I mean they work, they work hard all day for some company somewhere and then they work, and work hard in the context of the church. Pastors become pastors because (and let's be honest here) they can't or are unwilling to do that (yes, I understand there is an aspect of being called by God to vocationally serve his church, please don't think I am missing that or downplaying it, I am not;  I feel very called and very led to vocational service. I also know that if I wasn't in vocational service I wouldn't serve to the level that I do).

Leadership requires one to plan, prepare, and set direction.  This takes place as we dream, think through the possibilites of how to make this dream work, and then begin to put it into practice.  This is very easy to do in the context of the parachurch (relatively speaking).  You have a team of full-time professional staff who are committed to the mission of the organization. There is already a base of like-mindedness or they would not have spent the time they did to raise all that money.  Now you come to the church context where everyone (and I mean everyone) has their own idea of mission, direction, and praxis.  There is only a handful of professional staff (all of which are working in specialized areas) and there are volunteers.  The volunteers care deeply for the people they are ministering to but generally don't have a broader desire to lead, cast vision, or set direction.

As a result this means that for the pastor there is much that must be done alone.  However, this is then compounded by the reality that he must bring his volunteers along and up to speed with his dreams and vision.  This requires the pastor to be a coach.  I stink as a coach. I am a terrible coach. I am pretty good at casting vision, setting direction, and bringing change, however, I am not good at bringing others along with me.

So, what does this mean? I think it means that I have to learn to hold certain things more loosely and do a significantly better job at bringing people into the conversation at the beginning of the process as opposed to the end.  This means that I have to cast vision to them to help them see how important it is for them to set direction with me. I think I see why Dan Allender calls his book "Leading With a Limp".

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You Took Me Seriously?

It turns out that people are actually taking this stuff I write seriously! It also turns out that when I post something it is no longer for me but for the world to read. Oh right, I wrote about that.

Well, today I cam face to face with one of my weaknesses in our staff meeting. I realized today, in light of a great conversation around a big table, that my Achiever combined with Futuristic makes it hard for me to field questions regarding vision and direction (see my page on my personal strengths here). I take in so much information and I am constantly learning that my vision and direction are based on good strategic information.  The details of the conversation aren't important.  What is important is that for the first time in a long time I was actually aware of how my brokenness was being displayed.

I realized today that I need divine intervention so that I might be more gentle, not some wishy-washy gentleness, but the kind of gentleness that meets people where they are.  I am comfortable with being like this in relationships with people who are not in relationship with God, however, I struggle to live this way alongside those who are.

Why?

I don't know, that's why I am writing and processing and limping my way through all this. Thanks to those around the table who are willing to enter in with me in spite of how broken I am.

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Matrix of Brokenness

As I said yesterday I am going to work through and begin to try and identify the weaknesses that I have. Before doing that though I need to show you the matrix that Allender developed in for the challenges that leaders face and their potential responses.  It's helpful and it's a bit of a diagnostic tool. It also provides a good grid for framing the discussion.

There are five leadership challenges with which every leader comes face to face. I have re-created the grids that Allender developed on pages 8 and 9 of Leading With Limp.

The challenges are obvious. I don't think that anyone would doubt them.  If you do doubt them then, I would have to assume that you have never led for any length of time. Now consider these five ineffective responses.  Which of them do you most struggle with?  I want to pick and choose.  Yet, as I honestly evaluate my own leadership I think that I have failed in every one of the categories.

The effective solutions are the places where we want to get to.  I find that courage is easier for me.  The reality that I have to grapple with is that the ineffective responses are easier to control.  If I am going to legitimately move into these effective solutions the core of my being, of who I am, has to be open to change. If it is not then I simply will not get there.

One note of hope, I don't want you to think (or me to think) that I am a constant failure in leadership.  I think that in many ways I lead well. I think that there are times when I actually live out the effective solutions that are listed above. I simply am aware that I have a very long way to go.

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You're in the Battle of Your Life

Dan Allender says, "So here's the hard truth: if you're a leader, you're in the battle of your life." Welcome to a challenging text called Leading With a Limp. This is a book that was given to me by a man who mentored me for six years, on the day of my ordination he mailed it to me. I finally got around to reading it this Advent season and what I read has brought me to a place where I need to re-evaluate how I have been leading. I have not been leading with a limp.

The assumption of Allender's book is this, "To the degree you face and name and deal with your failures as a leader, to that same extent you will create an environment conducive to growing and retaining productive committed colleagues (2)".  He goes on to say, "To the degree you attempt to hide or dissemble your weaknesses, the more you will need to control those you lead, the more insecure you will become, and the more rigidity you will impose - prompting the ultimate departure of your best people (3)." These are the presuppositions. They are truthful and if you have been in leadership for any length of time you have experienced these statements in an all to painful way.

In the swath of leadership literature that I have read this book is changing the way I think about leading. Allender is not calling for leaders to be "authentic" and "self-disclose". He is calling for leaders to do more.  He is calling us to embrace our weaknesses and then in the company of those we lead to take our weaknesses apart piece by piece. This is not a "work on your weaknesses" kind of effort.  This is an embracing of our brokenness that will necessarily lead us to a place of humility and in search of grace.

As I consider my leadership in the past I realize that more often than not I ignore my weaknesses, I write them off.  I ask for forgiveness when I offend. I have never considered the idea of inviting those on my team into my weakness. I am going to process some of my weaknesses out here and subvert myself. Other weaknesses will have to be embraced elsewhere. In all of them, I need to invite people in. To live out of my strengths (which I am going to post soon too) I need to dismantle the atomic bomb of my weakness.

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Religion is Good at Guilt

On January 1 Charlie Rose had a montage of his best interviews. Well, we usually put Charlie on in the background and fall asleep to him.  I suppose it's gentle North Carolina accent or the intonation of his voice but he knocks us out pretty quickly. In one particular clip he was interviewing Frank McCourt, the author of Angela's Ashes and 'Tis. McCourt said, "Religion is good at guilt." For some reason that idea stuck in my head and I have been thinking about it ever since.

Is religion good at guilt? I suppose so. Religion is a man made attempt at controlling other people and at the same time seeking to make people feel better about themselves. But, if you are going to control other people then you can't possibly clear their shame ridden consciences with something like grace. No, you must make them work for it.  They must work hard for it and they must comprehend that whenever they slip up they need to work even harder because the scorecard is now unbalanced.  They can't get ahead until after their dead, possibly, and the right people think they were especially good.

You see, religion is good at guilt.  Religion is about control and power.  It is about controlling those around us and exerting power over them so that we can continue to stay in control.  I think this is what is so incredibly subversive about Jesus. He was unwilling to grab the power and control. He was willing to set aside controlling power and offer up grace.  This grace changed the world. It's interesting when you think about following after Jesus you aren't required to do anything.  But, when you come to terms with the reality that you aren't required to do anything it compels you to do something.

I think this is what makes Jesus so compelling to me and also makes me sad when I look at this world with supposedly 1/3 or so of its residents claiming to follow him. It seems to me that maybe many of us might not understand this grace in a way that we ought and that has kept us from being compelled.

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Stop the Snark

I have recently noticed that people who are supposed to be academics, people who are supposed to be representing an intellectual position, are becoming increasingly snarky towards those who disagree with them. I am especially noticing this in the intelligent design/evolution debate that seems to be gearing up again. It's interesting to me that many on both sides of the debate start, continue, and end with name calling. They refer to one another in demeaning tones.  I see this happening in the political debate too. Where ever an issue has two sides with strong feelings it seems that emotion takes precedence over reasoned intellect.



I think the reason for this is found in a comment by Wendell Berry in his essay, "A Few Words in Favor of Edward Abbey".  He is discussing Abbey's tendency to tip sacred cows. Berry's says, "Any human product or activity that humans defend as a category becomes, by the very fact, a sacred cow - in need, by the same fact, of an occasional goosing (Berry, 42)."  In our current cultural milieu we struggle for meaning and for finger holds.  Therefore, we tend to categorize everything and everyone.  This categorizing leads to the development of multiple "consecrated bovines (Berry, 42)." As these cows begin to fill our world we are constantly bumping up against someone's deeply personal category and they defend it with passion. When sacred cows are engaged the one protecting them flares the nostril and becomes a raging bull.

This kind of debate and conversation is wholly unhelpful.  If we are to engage with meaning and purpose with those of other perspectives and worldviews there must be a willingness on both parties to discuss rationally and with grace. What is the purpose of just being snarky? What is the point of just making fun of someone you believe to be wrong on an important issue?  Can you not bring to the table more than one liners designed to gain the smiling head nod of your supporters?

References:

Berry, Wendell. What are People For? North Point Press: San Francisco, 1990.

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Welcome to the Subversive Journey

There is a strange phenomenon that has taken place in the world today. Not very long ago there were little girls with diaries that had locks and keys. Now, they have been replaced by Blogger, Xanga, Myspace, and Facebook Notes. The world is invited into our minds, memories,thoughts, concepts, and ideas. So why do this? Why invite people in?

A friend of mine, Ken, has said that blogging is cathartic and that in it this generation finds hope for community and connection. I think he is right. There is something cleansing about writing your words out. Sending your ideas into the universe and to possibly have them read, one day, by someone. In past times people wrote books. Well, not many read long texts anymore. I am struck by the fact that Jonathan Edwards, a Christ-follower from an earlier time, seemed to be aware that his journals would someday be read. He had an eye to the encouragement and edification of future people.

My hope is that through the posts on this blog I will find some aspect of this cathartic enterprise. I have attempted blogs before. The process has always been the same: I begin well. Then they are devolved to YouTube posting and pictures. The images took over. This time I hope there will be a difference. I hope that the posts here will be the kind reminiscent of earlier generations with an authenticity that cleansing requires and an eye to the reader who in some way might possibly be edified.

I also hope that there will be an edge, a subversion of the common experience.  I have thought a bit about transcendence and imminence.  I have often wondered why the average Christian life does not transcend what others experience.  I have come to realize that transcendence is not the mark of the person following closely to Jesus but a subversive imminence.  After all, it was the imminence of Jesus that made him so subversive.  We have lost this by and large and have replaced this subverting rabbi from Nazareth with the image on the left. May it not be so here any longer.

*Note: There are some posts here from previous blogs.  I tried to save the better ones. I would strongly suggest checking out the Forgotten Ways series that interact with Alan Hirsch's book of the same name.

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