What Makes A Leader Great?

Great article this morning on Kobe Bryant by The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons. Simmons, a lifelong Celtics fan, has a hate-love (cause it's mostly hate) for any or all Lakers, and Bryant seems to be at the top of that list. I think he does a great job of dissecting the player-as-teammate versus the player-as-performer (if that makes sense). Simmons decides that Kobe is a great individual performer - maybe as good as any other we'll ever see in the NBA - but way, way down on the list of great teammates. The upshot, though, is that in order to make the leap into the pantheon of the greatest whoever played, Simmons conjectures that Bryant must becoming both a great performer and teammate.

Is he right? Who knows. If the Lakers repeat, or win multiple championships with a nucleus of Bryant, Gasol, Odum, and Ariza it would be hard to deny Kobe his rightful place in NBA history. He'll need to perform at a high level to make this a possibility, but he'll have to modify his behavior if he wants these guys to stick around. How the rest of his teammates continue to respond to him, and he them, that will define whether or not Kobe is a great basketball player or the greatest.

That's what possessed me to take this work break (no writing today... got church stuff to get done). Simmons' article led me to ask the question, "What makes a leader great?".

The answer: talent, drive and trust.

We just returned late last week from conference where we spent a lot of time listening to Mike Slaughter and his associate pastor, Sue Nilson Kibbey, who are at the forefront of Ginghamsburg (we keep the "United Methodist" part in 6-point font at the bottom of the sign) Church.

When Mike arrived at what was GUMC, it was a typical tiny burg kind of church. Old building. 50-80 people. Hidden location. Biggest thing that happened each year was an annual chicken noodle dinner. Without Mike's arrival, the future of the church is probably like so many other UMC's across our conference, which is to say eventual closure.

Mike, though, didn't do this alone. While he's a dynamic preacher, and a leader without fear, he knew needed other people to make the enterprise go. Tom Tumblin was imported to give the staff shape and the church the structure necessary as the first Executive Pastor. Mike Nygren, a shop teacher/volunteer youth director, took the youth ministry to new heights on the premise that kids would rather make a difference than be entertained. Mike's wife, Carolyn, helped give the adult discipleship department shape and form. Mike, very early, jettisoned the hymnal, and while other UMC pastors were railing against contemporary worship, Mike embraced it, hiring guitarists and drummers instead of an organist.

It was the team Mike assembled around him coupled with his talent and drive that really helped propel 90 person GUMC to 1200 person GUMC.

But the tales that one heard about working at GUMC in those days were legendary. The average tenure for an employee was rumored to be 18 months. It was a pressure cooker.

The turning point, as I understand it, when Ginghamsburg went from hitting the ceiling at about 1000 to really taking off happened about 16-17 years into Slaughter's tenure. Tumblin left, replaced with somebody who ended up not being quite so able to keep things functioning under the remarkable pressure. Nygren left, throwing the youth ministry into chaos. Another leader who had been hired at some point mutinied against Slaughter's leadership, and left taking hundreds of people with him. The whole endeavor, if not in trouble, was at a crossroads. It was in crisis.

Enter Sue Kibbey.

I have strange perspective of GUMC. I actually interviewed there in 2003 for a Young Adult ministry position. This was after spending most of a week with Slaughter as a part of a thing they used to do where pastors paid an insane amount of money to just follow Mike around to see how he did things (my boss at the time opted to this, and somehow I ended up getting dragged along after immediately coming home from 10 days in Haiti). Coming off that experience it was my impression that Kibbey made, and makes, the place go. She oversees all the stuff Slaughter can't, and is focused on what she believes is going to make the place work.

I guess it goes without saying that I didn't fit into that vision. Probably about the tenth time Kibbey made it point to say that they weren't really looking for an ordained minister for that particular position I should have realized what was up. I would have reported to her, and she knew what she wanted. She's disciplined and smart enough to know that if the person doesn't fit into that vision, keep looking. Call it the blessing of a prayer request being answered with a "no". If we had ended up at Ginghamsburg in 2003, no way Joseph would have talked to me about coming to Shawnee in 2004.

(Strange how things work out. I can live with having never worked at GUMC. I would be sick if the chance to come back to Shawnee, and in effect, home to Lima would have been missed. I truly love serving this church.)

Mike's trust of Sue Kibbey, and in effect her way of conducting business, is part of the reason why GUMC keeps growing. The other part is Mike himself. He's a charasmatic communicator with a bulldog personality. Mike has vision for what he wants to create (a progressive evangelical church), has the talent to make it happen, and won't let the vision go. Kibbey is able to stack the blocks just right to make it happen.

Greatness comes only from talent, drive and trust.

Jordan ain't Jordan without , Jerry Krause, Phil Jackson and Scottie Pippen. Krause drafted and signed players that would compliment Jordan's skills. Jackson coaxed the hyper-selfish Jordan into becoming a teammate and trusting them in the "triangle" offense. Jackson too, dealt with other egos like Horace Grant and Dennis Rodman, doing just enough to harness their talent while allowing them to be themselves. Pippen did all the things Jordan needed him to do, setting an example for the rest of the team, and creating matchup nightmares for other coaches.

Without Jordan, there are no six championships in Chicago, but if Jordan doesn't trust everyone else his career is more like Allen Iverson's or Adrian Dantley's - lots of points scored but at the expense of the rest of the team. Maybe there's a championship or two, but given how good some of those Portland, Pheonix, and Jazz teams were in those days, it's not likely.

Will Bryant's teammates put up with his selfishness another year now that they have rings on their own fingers? If Bryant wants two or three championships, sans Shaq, he'll have to hope so... or start doing even more trusting than he does now.

Talent, drive and trust. That's what will separate the good from the great.

(A Rare) Ten Things I Think I Think

1) Progress on the book continues, slowly but slowly. I've got about half the writing done, but am struggling with keeping focused. It's summer. It's sunny. The kids want to play and go swimming. Not to mention I'm trying to work through three or four major projects here at church (good stuff.... but time consuming). Would have made more progress last night, but a group in using the SRC pulled a fire alarm (or I should say a two-year old with the group) and the alarm system kept doing screwy things all afternoon and into the evening. That meant every 30 minutes the alarm company called to let me know that there was a fire at the church when there were no fires. Good gravy... the building is made mainly out of non-burnable substances. In any event, we'll just need to keep the old nose to the grindstone and gut this book out.

2) Part of the problem of book writing is that I'm not much of a writer. In high school, college, and seminary I wrote solely to provide ordered, maximum information. That's what essay writing for exams require. You'd think my writing would improve after years of doing sermons, but I haven't really written a sermon (outside of the six I had to do for our Beeson preaching classes) in over a decade. I found that when I wrote out sermons that I tended to look down a lot, which created issues as far as making contacts with the congregation. Going with a loose outline enables me to stay engaged with the people listening while at the same time forcing me to really learn the scriptural exegesis (fancy word for "in depth study").

Long story short - I don't write much.

To go from not writing much to writing a book is like jumping in the deep end of the pool in full motorcycle regalia - leathers, boots, and the works - and trying to swim. It's not easy. Nothing good is.... but to call what I'm writing "good" might be a tad over hyped. I think the research is pretty decent, but the package the research is in ain't Moby Dick. I'm glad we have a good editor.

3) Bad news for my Alma Mater, Lima Senior High School. The athletic conference they were in collapsed as members joined conferences closer to their home. Now, LSH, facing being an independent (which is a scheduling nightmare) has applied to become part of the Western Buckeye League, a local athletic conference it was once a member of before the school grew so large that it sought greener pastures (namely the Greater Miami Conference, which was made up mainly of Cincinnati area schools). The WBL denied the petition, leaving LSH in a lurch.

Personally I think the WBL has made a huge mistake. Quite frankly they would be a lot better off jettisoning a smaller school (WBL schools can be as small as Div III) or a school further away (like Van Wert or Kenton which are both hour long drives and hence more expensive to maintain as members). Even though LSH is the biggest school in the area, the only sport the rest of the league would have to worry about the Spartans dominating is basketball. The football program fell into shambles a decade ago. The school isn't much more than "competitive" (as opposed to "dominant") in any other sport.

And LSH is kind of our area's Oakland Raiders. It's the team the area schools love to hate. Every time they play a WBL school in the revenue generating sports (b-ball and football) they sell out because the WBL fans show up droves to see if they can beat the "inner-city school". Inclusion of LSH into the WBL makes sense. They should revisit this, pronto.

5) Great article in the USA Today on how a person's view of God shapes their neuro-pathways, and in effect how they view others. The gist of the article is that if you view God as loving and forgiving, you tend to be better adjusted and healthier than if you view God as angry and vengeful. Can't say this is all that big a surprise, but it is interesting that this is becoming an area of study for researchers trying to connect religious belief with brain function. I'll be interested to see the work on this subject as time passes. Should be fascinating.

6) As one of the last fourteen or fifteen NBA fans left in the country you might be wondering why I haven't yet written anything on the Laker's latest championship last night. The answer: still depressed at the collapse of the Cavs to the Magic. No way they should have lost that series. Who hits 48% from the three-point line for a series? Apparently a team that got hot and then promptly went cold in the Finals.

(sigh)

In any event, at least we got to see the Kobe and LeBron puppet commercials...






















Too bad puppet Kobe is way cooler and less creepy than real Kobe.

7) We went to Annual Conference last week. To be honest, not much happened. There was preaching, bickering, voting, praying, and lots of ice cream eating. Here are some of my most memorable moments, in no particular order...

- Sue Nilson Kibbey, Executive Pastor at Ginghamsburg, doing a sermon that was about 50% produced by the video production department at her mega-church. Gotta love somebody preaching a sermon encouraging people to think out of the box using technology nobody else in the conference can replicate. I will now light myself on fire.

- Me getting into it with a member of the Good News Movement (conservative wing of the UMC) during registration (that was a heck of a way to kick things off) because he made the outrageous claim that the liberal wing of the church would be able to speak freely while the conservative wing would be muffled by the powers that be. Twenty years I've been going to conference and I can safely say that this has never been a problem. Both sides seem to say their fair share, while those of us in the middle just sit and listen. He fired back that I had no idea what I was talking about, and I replied, "So's your old lady, sissy boy."

Ok, so I made that last one up, but I did tell em to relax. He just went away grumpily.

- Barry DeShetler, former senior pastor to yours truly and current senior pastor at Kettering Christ UMC telling the story of how, as a young Elder, at Annual Conference each year they would present a "conference cane" to the oldest living pastor, and how someday he wanted to get that cane and still be preaching. He plans on going strong into his 70's, and is convinced he could still preach and lead someone 20 years younger "under the table". I believe him.

- Over conversation Bill Lyle of Greenville Evangelical UMC letting it slip that they congregation will, as a service project, will be painting the football stadium at the local high school. Some guys get all the luck.

Church + Ohio + Football = The greatest community service project, ever. They have enlisted over 280 volunteers from the congregations.

- Sue Kibbey explaining why they call them "servants" and not "volunteers" at Ginghamsburg. I was convinced. We'll now be calling for "servants". Makes sense.

- Mike Slaughter (once again, from Ginghamsburg, only he's the Lead Pastor) telling us that in the last election more than 300 people left their church, and how this happens every election year because he won't equate "Republican" with "Christian" in rural NW Ohio. Gutsy.

- Me driving around in our house golf cart (came with the rental), telling anybody who asked where I got the cart that "walking is for suckers".

- Me driving the golf cart constantly getting flagged down by people who thought I was driving one of the free shuttles for AC, and then taking them wherever it was they wanted to go without telling them they were mistaken.

- Bishop Ough asking AC "Are We General Motors?" in his Episcopal Address (one of the most daring I've ever heard). As he related time and time again how we UMC's are too much like GM and what would need to happen to fix it, you could have heard a pin drop. Change is coming my friends. Change is coming.

- All the ice cream cones eaten with various friends and collegues. Gotta love ice cream, friends, and collegues.

8) The boys are swimming for Westside Swim and Raquet Club this summer. It's the first year a Bucher hasn't been a member at Sherwood CC since 1981. Aimee likes the place cause it has a playground and more people she knows. The boys initially resisted the change, but after realizing how many of their friends swim at Westside soon came around. I thought Sherwood was fine, but if my family is cool with it, then so am I. A pool is a pool. Gotta leave here in a few minutes cause we have to make the trek down to Kenton tonight for the meet. Next Monday we go to Van Wert and their indoor nautatorium that's about a million degrees. Whatever. I like to watch the boys swim.

9) Sad news out of Celina... a ,mother of two teenager died of an overdose after chewing on a fentanyl patch provided to her by her husband. Now he's in jail facing a myriad of charges, and the top things off, it was the two children who found their parents passed out in the family room. The family had no apparent history of drug abuse and had ever been in trouble with the law. The community is still in shock.

If you don't know what fentanyl is, it's a drug that's inserted in a patch that applied to chronically ill patients. The drug is absorbed through the skin and can dull pain for up to three days. Nobody really knows why in the world this couple decided doing fentanyl would be a good idea. Did they have a secret drug problem? Was it really a suicide attempt? Did they do it on a lark?

Who knows.

This much we can say, though, sin - and you can't really call illegally buying a fentanyl patch to use recreationally anything else - is a killer. You can shield it from the world, sometimes even for a lifetime but in the end it will destroy you inside out. Unfortunately sometimes when the bottom drops out it can have catastrophic consequences.

Can't think of too many things more catastrophic than a dead mother, an incarcerated father, two reeling teenagers now living with family, and a community groping for answers. Very, very sad. I'm sure every prayer, particularly for the kids, would be appreciated.

10) Been listening to a lot of O.A.R. and Pink Floyd as I write my part of the book. Wonder what that means? I'm guessing it won't appeal to hippies or psychedelic drug users. Must mean the bands write music that's easy to ignore while a guy writes. That's how I wore out my "Genesis: Three Sides Live" cassette back in college. Apparently you can only write so many papers and study for x number of exams before the cassette says "no mas". MP3's have no "no mas" limit. So if you hear me quietly, mindlessly singing, "There's a road outside of Columbus, Ohio...." you'll know what's going on.

Ten Things I Think I Think

1) You will get a new post every time I don't want to write anything for this book. Today would be one of those times. Call it a mental block. Call it laziness. Call it anything you want, just don't call me late to dinner.

2) Resident Family Digital Genius, CJ, has dug up this gem of a commercial. Low budget at its best. These are the ideas I wish I had.




Pure genius on a $65 budget. I'll be singing that jingle all day.

3) Worshiped yesterday at Philippian Missionary Baptist where the Rev. Dr. B Lamont Montford was on fire yesterday. In all seriousness that might have been the most challenging, in-your-face, Mothers Day sermon I'll ever hear in my life. A powerful sermon from a guy whose own mother was a drug-addicted prostitute who was murdered at a young age. It was an honor to be there. A true honor.... although at a certain point in the service, I was sitting in the back of the sanctuary, and upon realizing I was there, Lamont invited me to come sit up on the platform with him. Unfortunately, it meant that another guy up on the platform lost his seat, which I still feel terrible about. Things work differently in predominantly black congregations.

4) Was told that yesterday's service here at Shawnee UMC was also very powerful. Testimony was given by a woman who is now a social worker who as a teenager gave a child up for adoption. Also heard from a teenager who lives here locally who realized a couple of years ago just how loved she is not only by her adopted mother, but by her biological mother who gave her up in the hope she would have a better future. Kind of a different take that Charlotte Hefner, our associate pastor, decided on for Mothers Day, but that's why we love her. Nobody's better at getting people to look at things from a different perspective. Here's the link for our podcasts. I'm sure at some point soon this week's service will be posted if there weren't recording issues (which we sometimes have). Just keep your eyes peeled.

5) I am having a hard time moving forward on this book regarding leadership transitions (obviously, cause I'm killing time here to avoid killing time there). Part of the issue is just feeling overwhelmed by the task at hand. In a lot of ways I just feel like I'm over my head. But the first and foremost issue is that there's a lot of information to sort through, and not a lot of time. I was up until 2am last night simply sorting out the various learnings I think have been uncovered by the research, and there are many.

One of the most important, for example, is that boards and bureaucracies have to show a lot of self-restraint in order to make a leadership transition work. Because these folks generally have a lot of power, the inclination, particularly as it relates to finding new leadership, is to use it. Once all involved agree on a transition process, this biggest challenge often faced is getting the board to keep their hands to themselves, and trust the process.

At one of the churches, for example, a board member who vehemently opposed doing a transition from a senior leader to one of the associate leaders, had to be asked by the rest of the board to resign when he simply wouldn't back down even after the decision had been made. The particular board member was convinced that the only way a church should receive a new senior leader was in the aftermath of doing the more traditional "national search" and "call" process where resumes were solicited, candidates interviewed, trial sermons given, and the congregation getting the final vote. So married was he to the idea of the traditional "call" process that the stink he began to create convinced the rest of the board that he really didn't support the direction of the church, period, so they let him go.

In many cases, particularly in church settings, the general rule of thumb is for boards to make stink makers happy. Whether or not a leadership board has the stomach to follow through with a non-traditional leadership transition is a big question that should be asked by themselves and the senior leader before they try to engage the process.

6) When do you know the economy is bad? When every quartet, band, actor, and choir is sending you countless emails asking to come play at your church. I can't remember a six month span where I've been solicited more by artists. It must really be lean out there. Southern Gospel quartets, guys who can recite the entire Gospel of John, a female singer who sings ACR music and gives her testimony about her life as a gypsy, numerous hard-core speed metal/punk/r&b/alternative Christian rock bands, a Christian motivational speaker who juggles, countless choirs from all over the world..... everybody just wants meals and a free will offering. Just another sign that the church is battening down the hatches in a difficult economy.

7) Cleaned Max's room with him Saturday (for Mothers Day), and realized that my son suffers from the same malady I do: Pack-Rat-Pile-Making-itus. What's more, its genetic. You ought to see my dad's office. Everytime I get depressed about mine, I just go see his and I feel much better about my organizational ability. Let's hope that there's steady improvement generationally as we continue to sit on Max to keep his things in order. There's still hope for him. For Dad and I, like Red from "Shawshank Redemption", we're institutionalized. We can't make it on the outside of pack rate pile making.



Or maybe, then again, there might still be hope for us pile makers after all. In any event I'll do what I can to help my son.

8) My excitement over my own discovery of Ben Harper only grows. You will be... I will be... forgiven:



9) I'll tell you where amazing is gonna happen this year in the NBA playoffs. Wherever this guy is. He's on a mission.





10) Finally, to wrap this up, not only is there apparently a Red House commercial, but also a behind the scenes video of the making of the the Red House commercial. The internet at its finest.



I too enjoy extending credit to all people. On that note, I hope you have a nice day.

Ramblins And Such....

- The "Blessing of the Bikes" is over, and it was fantastic. Beautiful weather, 1300 people, 800 bikes, great tunes, and grace made it a morning to remember. Our service may not be the biggest Biker Blessing, but I am convinced it is the best. Look for it the first Sunday of next May. You won't want to miss it.

Here, by the way, are two the "mockumercials" we showed as a part of the service that day. For the unwashed, there is more than a little bit of rivalry between the owners of various makes of motorcycles. Let's just say that in these parts, Harleys and Hondas rule the roost. Us Kawasaki owners are the oppressed minority subject to much ridicule.



Joseph Bishman, our former senior pastor, was in the audience for this one. Fortunately, he has a pretty good sense of humor.



Special thanks to CJ Dugan, the family digital genius, for his editing work.

- I'm officially on the hook to write a book on my dissertation topic (speaking of which, I should be beating that buggar out right now... let's call this a creative genius break) with Bob Russell, whose web site is right here. More on this as things kind of come to fruition over the next three or four weeks (which is my deadline).

I can't say that I really wanted to get into something like this. On a number of occasions the past three years I've been told I should turn this research into a book, but 1) I've always kinda thought that sounded like more work than I wanted to do, 2) wouldn't be all that lucrative because (well let's face it) books by pastors leading midsize mainline congregations in small midwestern communities aren't exactly flying off the shelves, and 3) I had no idea where to begin. It wasn't until I was in Louisville to interview Bob Russell (among others) that someone who seemed somewhat serious about this project actually pursued me with the idea we do something together. This mysterious third party, the proprietor of "Ministers Label Publishing" is a young go-getter who has enough gumption and giddy-up for all three of us. He's the force behind the project, cracking the whip to keep me moving.

Well, cracking a whip and writing a check. That's pretty much what it takes.

- Gotta love the Cavs right now. They say the greatest story nobody has talked about in the NBA season is the relationship the teammates on the Cavaliers have with one another. In this day's NBA, where everyone has a posse (albeit the bigger the contract, the bigger the posse), its unusual for a team when its on the road to eat together, or catch a movie together. Normally they all go their separate ways, and see one another at the arena a few hours before game time. But the word on the street is the cheerleading you see LeBron doing on the bench is no act. Unlike Michael Jordan (champion basketball player... not-so-champion teammate who pretty much destroyed both Brad Seller's and Kwame Brown's confidence single-handedly) or Kobe Bryant (when Bryant goes to sit on the bench if you watch his teammates its almost like they're willing him to sit somewhere not next to them... I think he scares the crap out them) who begrudgingly worked with the rest of the team, LeBron is truly into the concept of "teamwork". I mean, this is a guy who has "loyalty" tattooed on one rib-cage and and "family" on the other. He still runs around with the same three guys who were his best friends in high school, the same high school he accepted his MVP award at earlier next week. The man likes having deep roots.

Which is to say, "Eat Your Heart Out NYC". No way LeBron leaves Cleveland. He'll be a global icon from the shores of Lake Erie.

- What's it say that right now I'm listening to a lot of Pink Floyd? Especially when for the longest time I haven't been able to stand Pink Floyd. We had a guy back at Stanton Hall, freshman year at Miami, who used to blast Pink Floyd out of his room at all hours day and night. A couple of us snuck in, took his "Dark Side of the Moon" CD and buried in the flowerbeds not far from our dining hall. After much cussing and threatening, he had a replacement copy by the end of the day. For all I know now there's a Pink Floyd Tree growing next Hughes Dining Hall. The music wasn't worth retrieving. Now, the Floyd rings out the speakers in office and I'm not even using drugs while marveling how amazing my hand is, which is always how I thought you had to be to stomach their so-called music. Now I'm singing along with Roger Waters... "tongue tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit am I". Must have to be 40 to appreciate these guys. That's all I can figure.

- Got an email from an old friend, Steve, who was in Columbus last weekend to run a "half-marathon" with two of our mutual friends, John and Wayne. He wants me to run with them next year (given that he's seen me recently, "with them" meaning that while they run 13 miles I do the 5k fun run). Steve is one of my favorite people, and always had a unique way with words. Here's an excerpt of his invite for next year's festivities:

"Anyhow, you'll be done dinking around with your doctorate stuff before you know it and we want you to join us next yr but you can do the 5k fun run. You gotta get in shape or your gonna have a grabber before your 50. Instead of biking, get all those harley/honda boys to get in shape. Half the country is a lard ass and adding to our health care costs. I imagine in your part of the country its probably 2/3 are over weight and Obama aint gonna fix it for 'em. Gotta go, take care

Don't wanna have a "grabber" anytime soon, so I suppose back up on the treadmill I will drag my "lard ass". I surely would run next year if it meant I could see all those guys.

Maybe its just time passing (or the Facebook updates by Tyler Hoops, a young parishonier, about his Miami experience) but I look back on my collegiate experience with even more relish and nostalgia now more than ever. John plinking around on his guitar. Chuck chucking class to play Bards Tale (until they kicked him out of school). Countless hours playing basketball with Brett and Wayne (and I really, really miss playing ball with those guys). Steve regailing us with stories from his past life as a sportsware salesman/dump truck owner/man about town. Wheeler's own brand of unique humor as he re-lived that day's lecture by B.H. Smith. The cast of characters who seemed to constantly pass through Mike and I's dorm room: Paul, Star, Mel, The Pickerington Gang, Laura.... the list goes on and on. Late night at Saloon and a burger at Chuck's. My old radio show at WMSR. Even the rotten stuff like cramming for finals I can chuckle at now (although I wouldn't go through that again for all the tea in Greece).

All that and young love with my own beloved Aimee. Young love before kids and obligations and responsibilities and the constant fatigue you feel no matter how much rest you try to get. Great days. Great, great days.

Thus, if it's at all possible schedule-wise, you are on Steve Skeels. I'll be in Columbus to run that 5k as long as we can all go out afterword and beat the stories of the past into the ground. I'd like that a lot.

(By the way, nobody would be prouder that I'm shoving back the completion date for my doctorate so that I can make money writing a book than Steve. I may even get a free stock tip or a story about a guy who tried to outmanuver him in some business negotiation as a reward for my mercenary ways.)

- If you've got the time and ability, you gotta listen to new album "White Lies for Dark Times" by "Ben Harper and the Relentless 7". Great stuff. YouTube won't let you embed, but here's the video for "Shimmer and Shine"... and indeed it does take 100 miles of love to heal a mile of pain.

- Special thanks to Todd and Pam Stallkamp for hosting me whilst I finish up my doctoral dissertation research work in Tucson last week. The parents of Eric the Buckeye informed me that their son loved a particular snackfood so much that they ended up calling him "Mr. Ho Ho".

So, I wonder... is it "Mr. Ho Ho", or "Dr. Ho Ho" now?

In any event, thanks for a soft bed, witty conversation, great cups of coffee, a lovely meal at El Charro, and garage space for my rented Harley Electra Glide (under the auspice that they wanted to keep it protected from the elements.... I just think they didn't want to scare the neighbors into thinking Todd had joined the Hells Angels).

Also thanks to Pantano Christian Church for their cooperation so I could cram a bunch of interviews into too short a time period. Wish I had more time to hang out with that bunch. Undoubtly they were the happiest and most accomidating staff I met during my travels. Blessing to Glen Elliot and his staff as they attempt to reach their corner of the American Southwest.

- Here's the latest from Brother Esq. With his hard-earned attorney's fees he bought a smoker, and promptly bought 25 pounds of brisket to break it in. Also, Sammy, my nephew, had an earache this week, meaning Brother Esq. got to squeeze in 3 hours of sleep before appearing at an early-morning hearing (welcome to parenthood, Brother). He also informed me that if you win the lottery and are paid in the form of a long-term annuity, that before you can sell the annuity to one of those folks who advertise that they buy these things for pennies on the dollar in the wee hours of the morning (because lottery winner don't apparently need to sleep), you have to receive permission in a court of common pleas before you make the sale. Apparently JG Wentworth and the lot of those snake-oil salesmen were paying in some cases less than 50 cents on the dollar, and the complaints were so many that Ohio General Assembly passed a law that basically protects people from themselves.

The lesson, as always, the lottery is for suckers. Well, that and there seems to be no end to the ways attorneys can make money.

- Pray for SUMC pillar, Buzz Alder. He's having hip replacement surgery today.

Be good. See you again in another month.

My New Screenplay

Well, here it is. The beginnings of what I hope to be a great adventure. It all started with a phone call from a friend in the entertainment industry who reads the blog, and liked one particular post I wrote a couple of years ago. He forwarded it to a friend who is a producer, and now they want me to expand it to a full screenplay! Unbelievable! I'm so excited I'm using all exclamation points!!!

So what's it about? Well, here it goes....

A 40-ish pastor and father wakes up one day to realize that it's April Fools Day and decides to make up something ridiculous like writing a screenplay for a movie in Hollywood to fool all his Facebook friends and now is laughing hysterically as the number of visits to his blog increase dramatically today.

You people are too easy.

Have a nice April Fools Day.

8 Things I Think I Think (and they might the last 8 for awhile)

1) I know posts haven't been coming fast or furiously lately, but they're about to become as frequent as Big Ten Basketball Championships at Northwestern. This weekend I received the unsettling news that the Beeson Center at Asbury Theological Seminary which funds my fellowship is for all intensive purposes, broke. There's still money in the foundation (millions one would assume) but the language of foundation reads that none of the principle funds of the foundation may be allocated. With the stock market tanking, only the principle will remain as of June 30th (estimated), and as such the center will essentially go into a state of suspended animation for 18 months.

The upshot of this for me was that I had arranged with my adviser to hand in my work in late June/early July, but now if I wait that long, the necessary funds to pay for my graduation and associated fees won't be available, leaving me with $2500-3000 bill before I can collect my degree. Hence, somehow, I've got to arrange graduating in May with the stipulation that all work will be handed in and ready to go by early June.

To complicate matters further, I've got research left to do on three churches (I'm doing a multi-site case study of 10 different churches that did a planned pastoral succession, involving the in-house transition of an associate pastor to a senior pastor role). One is half-done. The other will be done in a couple of weeks. The third, though, involves a United Methodist Church in the Orlando area that imploded last fall. Hence, now I have to find a new church to fill the void... fast. Needless to say, my schedule, which hinged upon not having to really get back into the saddle until after Easter, has moved up dramatically.

I'm just another casualty of the Great Recession. Uncle Frank must have had a lot of GM stock.

2) To be honest, I've not been motivated to complete this dissertation. Earning a Doctorate of Ministry will amount to very little in real terms personally. DMin's don't qualify you to teach in any institution, including a seminary or Bible college (you need PhD for that work). It doesn't qualify you to do anything new denominationally. It's really just a professional and personal improvement degree. And since I've done just about all the work, I've profited personally and professionally immensely already. The diploma will add little else, other than doctoral stripes to my robe.

I did this initially because my senior pastor, at the time, told me I wasn't ready to lead a church and I needed to do work on a degree in church leadership so I'd be more prepared to take the reigns. I had thought that at some point maybe of working on a doctorate, but at the time I just wanted to do our pastoral transition, move into the lead chair, and put my energies to making that work. But, he insisted, got the DS involved, and next thing I knew I was moving to Wilmore in June 2006. Strangely enough, by the time we were about to move, my senior pastor had recanted his early assertion about my leadership ability, and I think would have been glad to have made the transition in September 2006 but by then papers had been signed, and this train was leaving the station.

Now, I wouldn't mind jumping off the train. It's been a great journey. More than enough to justify the time spent. So, why stay on?

I have four sons, two of which will always remember our Asbury experience fondly, and ten years from now I don't want one of them quitting a degree because their old man did. Just gotta suck it up and summon the will and desire to bring this puppy home even though from a professional position all it does is enable me to put "Dr." before my name on the church bulletin.

Hopefully, the last research church will be in Tuscon where I can rent a motorcycle instead of a car while I'm out there. One last perk before the stress goes to 11.

3) Some folks have been asking how the new service on Saturday night has been going. I'd have to say that at this point we're pleased, but the jury is still out as to whether or not we can sustain it over the long term. We'll have a discussion on the matter in various quarters here at the church. Staff are telling me what they need. Finance is telling me what we can afford. Staff-Parish are weighing out what the ramifications will be long term bringing on new staff. It's a process.

The big question, personally, is whether or not over the long term I am able to preach every Saturday night and Sunday morning without eventually losing my edge. We're not a Granger Community Church or a Ginghamsburg Church where there are a staff of teaching pastors. There's just Charlotte and I, and while she does a fine job when called upon, she has a pretty heavy load of other responsibilities she needs to put her mind to completing. Right now I'm on a pace to about 40-44 out of the 52 weeks this year, and since I haven't learned healthier work patterns I'm currently working seven day weeks... which is stupid and can't last. Another full-time teaching pastor, however, is a huge expense. It would be a giant leap of faith, or a singular act of financial irresponsibility for us. Maybe its a leap need, particularly if the steady stream of new people coming to us continues.

Lots of questions. Few answers. Your prayers are appreciated.

4) Well its the end of the NBA Fantasy League season and our playoffs are upon us. Currently in what has been the closest season yet, Brother Esq yet again leads the league by a paltry game-and-a-half. And who's in second but his better looking but obviously less-Fantasy skilled brother. Our teams are about as even as they can be. His rebounds better, but mine tends to score more. He's had his share of serious injuries (Michael Redd being the most significant), as have I (Manu Ginobelli and Tracy McGrady), but yet we soldier on. I've won the regular season a couple of times, but never the whole shebang. Will this be the year? Will his thriving law practice and addition of a child be enough of a distraction to keep Brother Esq from making that one additional change needed to put him over the top?

Eh... he'll probably just sue me if I win.

By the way, what do you call twenty-five lawyers parachuting out of a plane? Skeet

(It's on. Winner take all and no mercy. You want a sermon, come to church on Sunday. I'm here to play Fantasy Basketball.)

5) A big congrats to pastoral colleague and old high school buddy, Eric (Bubba) Rummel, who will be staying at his church in Bluffton upon graduation from seminary to become the first full-time pastor in that congregation's history. As the ranks swell in the pews of the once-sleepy UCC church (maybe the only growing UCC church in the state..... or midwest... or possibly the universe) the need for a full-time pastor to do visitation, preach, teach, surf the internet, and drink copious amounts of coffee is now deemed necessary. Can't think of a better guy than Bubba to fit the bill.

He called to thank me for my "wisdom" in navigating the murky seas of pastoral ministry while also working on his MDiv at United Theological Seminary, but the wisdom offered was minimal, at best. Bubba grew up in the home of a very conservative pastor, and while theologically they don't see eye to eye, I think he picked up how to do certain aspects of ministry simply by watching his old man.

Bubba also spent a lot of time playing bass for Apostle Leon Stutzman at the now defunct Liberty Christian Temple here in Lima.

(As an aside, he's a heck of a musician. We tried to convince him to apply to the Conservatory at Indiana University back in the day, but the thought of more school literally made him ill. Now I think he's on the verge of earning a second Master's degree. How ironic is that? Just goes to show all my high school readers out there, that just because your grades might stink doesn't mean you aren't higher academic material. It just means you're a lazy punk who hasn't figured out that education is a ticket to do whatever it is you wanna do with your life. Wise up, or end up with multiple degrees and crap load of debt as you shuffle job, school and family at the age of 40. You can survive it, and maybe even be better for it, but ain't no picnic. Consider yourself warned.)

His experience with Apostle Leon, which I think once left him jaded when it came to faith, has been turned by he and the Lord into a formative experience for discovering what a pastor should be. While Leon was notorious for fleecing the flock with great music and preaching that sounded much more holy than it was, Bubba is genuine man of God. Which is to say that his primary concern is for his people, his community, and somehow moving them closer to Kingdom of Heaven. Not easy work done by an imperfect guy, but needed nonetheless.

So, if you are reading this Rev. Bubba, you are welcome, my friend, for whatever guidance you might have received from me. I suspect you've more survived my advice than profited from it. At least my old robe fits. Wear it with pride.

6) Been a bit down in the dumps the past few weeks. A good friend of mine recently surrendered his credentials to his Bishop, which is just United Methodist-speak for "he messed up bad and isn't a pastor anymore". I don't know the details, which aren't any of my business, but I don't need to. Pastors don't surrender credentials they slaved to earn for no good reason. The big downer of all us is that this is for me another instance of "this is the last person you'd ever expect to screw up royally" I've had to witness during my pastoral tenure. Another person I looked up to who, for whatever reason, succumbed to the temptation or boredom or feeling of unworthiness or rebellion or whatever it is that compels pastors to cut corners and take whatever it is (liberties? a member of the opposite sex? cash? who knows) that isn't his or hers.

If I know my friend I'm sure he'd chalk it up to the power of Satan and his need to tear down whatever is good or right. That's the side of the theological plate he bats from. But while I don't discount the existence of a real, tangible evil, coming out of my own experience in this gig, I suspect that most pastors fall less due to a tempting devil, and more out of a sense of their own entitlement. Let enough people tell you that your wonderful, and believe it, and you are setting yourself up for a heap of trouble.

In meeting so many different pastors over the past three years, I've observed, in my humble opinion, that too many churches exalt their leaders to a place they should not be, and too many pastors buy the hype. For example, you find no greater amount of ego than the ego you encounter at a meeting of big-time pastors or when you go visit a pastor a huge church. I used to think it was just me and my own insecurity, the lowly associate pastor in the presence of greatness. But with time I've grown to realize that the traits that tend to attract people and build large congregations are not necessarily the kind of traits, or create the kind of Christian movement, that it seemed like Jesus envisioned.

We walk the line I think, those of us who preach to hundreds or thousands, or long to, of becoming MasterLeaders as opposed to ServantLeaders. Or rather, to lead like a CEO where the bottom line is the bottom line in every aspect of church ministry, as opposed to leading in such a way that inspires people to lead by picking up a shovel or ladle or a Bible in an attitude of grace as they begin to shepherd others looking for direction.

Probably the moment you begin you thinking you deserve "it", whatever "it" is, you're in danger of using the movement, as opposed to being a servant of movement. In any event, while disappointed, I still love my friend. There but by the grace of God go I. To believe anything else will simply fly in the face of that grace.

7) One of the interesting outcomes of my friend's credential surrender is that it has but all the conversations we had together in an entirely different light. Older and wiser, he always told me that in this ministry gig that there was a relationship between the amount of success (in whatever terms you want to define it) a church experiences and the degree with which it is bombarded by evil spirits to derail said "success". I won't pretend to understand the intricacies of otherworldly entities. All I know is when I heard him speak, I heard Biggie say...

Mo money? Mo problems.

When I was appointed at Goshen First, and our satellite campus, The Life Center, was taking off, you would have thought it would have been the most positive of all ministry experiences. Literally hundreds of new people coming out of the woodwork to join us at the church. But with all the added people came all kinds of issues.

People we had but assimilation we lacked. People weren't getting involved or connected with others, and there were so many of them that it was impossible to know who was sticking around at their new church home, and who wasn't. I remember one day eating with my family at a local restaurant in Goshen, and I saw a woman who I remembered had been part of a huge new member class. I went up to her to say hi, and upon asking how she liked the church, found out she was going somewhere else. That was just one example of dozens of issues we were ill-equipped to deal with. Raging jealousy and distrust among those at our older campus of the new one.... staff carping with one another.... a lack of resources of all kinds... shortages of volunteers... it was nuts. Couple that with the stress and depression that can come as problems crop up and aren't being solved, and you get a recipe for disaster.

Now, if you want to call that us being assaulted by Satan, be my guest. I won't argue. I have a hefty appreciation and respect for all things spiritual. But looking back now, I'd say we were pretty unprepared as a congregation for the onslaught of issues doubling in size overnight presents. Church leadership was so far out of their comfort zone that it became impossible to figure what had to be done to find the new "comfort zone". Instead, we were imploding, effectively organizing the "Back to Egypt" Committee And as things started going askew, so did we.

I'll never forget, at kind of the bottom of the mess, the Goshen First staff went on retreat to our senior pastor's cabin near Boyne Falls, Michigan. Under the summer sun on the back porch overlooking Lake Louise, after months of harboring increasing resentment and frustration, we humbled ourselves and started not only communicating with one another, but we also earnestly sought guidance to pull us out of the various dilemmas we had fallen into. I won't say everything got solved or that everything was forgiven, but as the Fall season neared we were a lot more balanced. I think we were just starting to figure out how to lead a large church when our leader fell ill and passed away that following winter.

Whether you understood that situation like the other associate pastor at the time did and my recently de-frocked friend does as spiritual warfare, or as a situation where we had become undisciplined and out of alignment as a leadership team and a community of faith, in either case prayer, humility, a little honesty, and a willingness to ask questions of others was serving us well. That Fall was a good one, promising great things to come. I wish we could have seen what was coming next.

(sigh)

All that to say that maybe the issue, whether things are going well, not so well, or just going is remaining grounded, humble, disciplined, and rooted in the grace and mercy of the Living God. Fail this and you'll be toast. And it doesn't matter if I'm talking about ministry or if you're a hedge trader on Wall Street... lose focus and humility and you run the risk of ending up like Jim Swaggart or Bernie Madoff - hiding behind a thin facade of what you want others to see.

8) Well that's about it. Don't know when I'll get to this again. Quickly on the family front, Max just finished winter swim with a nice performance at our regional swim championships. Xavier is a monkey in a local production of "The Jungle Book". Eli is loving the warm weather and practically living outside. Toby is climbing and running, because running is faster than walking. Aimee is losing her mind, busy with all the boys and a growing business. And as for I, well, I guess its back to the academic grindstone.

See you later. May the good news be yours.

I Am Going To Take A Nap

My wife says that my blog posts are too long. That instead of ten things I think I think, I should do one or two. She's the web expert, and probably is right. The last post took a good portion of a day, and a very, very late night to put together. One or two things would have been much better choice.

Now, though, she's telling me I need to make a much shorter post of just a few paragraphs as kind of a lure to keep everyone reading. Problem is, I said everything I had to say in my last ten things. She told me that was no excuse, and to write about what I'm thinking right now.

Well, right now, I want to take a nap. Naps are good. They are beneficial for the soul. They cost little more than an hour or two of time. I like naps.

In any case, now I'm sure you can't wait until my next post. Probably be scores of you gathering around the water cooler tomorrow talking about what I wrote about today.

"Man, I like naps too."

"Naps rule."

"I wish I could take more naps."

"Boy, those Spanish really have it figured out. Siesta!"

There. Got you started. Enjoy. I'm off to take a nap.

Siesta!!!