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.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Friday, May 08, 2009
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.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, March 16, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
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!!!
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!!!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Ten Things I Think I Think (after 30 days of no posts)
1) What can I say.... I'm either insanely busy or just plain lazy. I can't decide which is true. Seems like every day at work is nuts, and I've been working 7 days a week the past three weeks. But then on Mondays I sit in my office like a zombie, trying to put a coherent sentence together and late at night each day I'm up watching NBA basketball or Law and Order or some other piece of digital crap, so it's not like I don't have free time. I think, in the end its just that I only have so many words each day. I spend them writing or speaking, and that's that. I've got nothing left.
And here's the strange thing, the older I get the fewer words I seem to have. I don't know if this is cause I'm out of shape, slowly breaking down with age, or just slowly disappearing into myself. I've no clue. But in any event, the loser has been the blog, and for that I apologize. I'd tell you that in the future I'll try to do better, but you and I already know that's a toss up at best, so let's just push forward today and call it even.
2) In case you hadn't heard, I turned forty about two weeks ago. The wife bought me a nice flat screen and Blue Ray player with some of her website money. The picture is so good you can see the age spots on Barbara Walters, even with the ample Vaseline they smear on the camera lens to try to hide the fact that she really has aged.
Forty, in all honesty, wasn't all that big a deal. Somewhere in the last five years I lost my fear of getting old, and to some degree even death. Not that I wanna die, or wouldn't be crawling under a desk if a crazed gunman walked in the office, but the prospect of death has just somehow continued melting away. Death and worrying about the future.... I spent so many hours over those things that I either don't have energy to waste on them anymore, or worked out my fears in my head. Not too mention, I've been blessed with a great family, tons of friends, and a great staff so what's not to love about my life? Hence it's not the fate of my own tail that gets that kind of personal attention any longer. Now, I spend that energy on trying to navigate a good life for my family, keeping the church in as good of shape as I can, and caring for the staff. That's what keeps me up at night now.
3) As nice unexpected gifts go, a close second to the new LG Scarlet my wife sacrificed to bring in our home was a phone call from an old friend the day after my birthday. Steve Wheeler, college buddy and best man at my wedding gave me a call out of the blue on February 11th, the day between our birthdays.
Once upon a time when the biggest worries of the day were getting a few friends to go wrangle a b-ball game at Phillips (as if that was a problem... my left knee is screaming at me thanks to the millions of miles I put on those floors with Brett, Wayne, Paul, and John), getting up for class (even an afternoon one), and the occasional exam my gang of Miami University college friends used to celebrate the birthdays of Steve and Bryan on the "day between". There were parties, outings, and even a foray to see Blue Oyster Cult to celebrate our 21st year on earth. Our gang has experienced marriage, divorce, the tragedy of losing a spouse, kids, jobs, losing jobs, getting new jobs, moving, staying, and all the blessings and challenges life doles out. Somehow (mostly thanks to Steph, who publishes "The List" listing what, where, who, when, and why every Christmas) we've stayed in touch, albeit sometimes somewhat loosely.
It had been at least two sons (Elijah and Toby) ago that I talked to Steve. He's still a middle school Social Studies teacher/coach at a private Christian school in Boca Raton. There are some people who, no matter how long it's been, you can just pick up where you left off. That's Wheeler for me. Within minutes of figuring out how many kids the other guy had and what was going on with the spouse, we were debating the three worst presidents in the history of the US. To be honest, throw in a couple of cigars, a round of Frisbee golf, a showing of "A Fistful of Dollars", and a couple pints of Guinness, and it could have 1987-1991 all over again.
Of course we've both long let go with our sheltered Christian kids fascination with tobacco (I don't care what people say.... cigars, no matter how expensive, taste like feet), and while I'll plead the Fifth as to whether or not the Christian school teacher and Methodist pastor would still enjoy pint circa 2009, the basic mutual respect and care we have had for each other ever since we briefly met at freshman orientation on South Campus remains. The guy can still make me laugh like nobody else. I could see his face when on the phone he explained to me what it was like to run poorly organized marathon in a what is essentially a Florida swamp in 100 degree plus heat.... and then promptly after telling me about this debacle inform me he's already planning on doing it again. Typical Steve. Gotta love someone who makes you laugh not just recalling the old days, but talking about the new ones too. Steve is thinking possibly a stop over in Ohio this summer. Here's hoping he can make it happen.
(And if he's reading this, an unexpected opportunity has arisen, and there's an outside chance we might do a quick sojourn as a fam to Florida later this year. Ah what havoc I'm certain our seven kids could create... hopefully we'll find that out sooner than later.)
4) I envisioned facing a lot of things as a senior pastor. Upset parishioners... the occasional bad offering... staff turnover... demands from the denomination... extending myself for reasons ecumenical and cross-cultural that may or may not pan out... a building project or two... a crisis of faith (mine or someone else).... but never in my lifetime did I think I would have to lead a church through the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression. Maybe, given how leveraged our world has become, I should have seen the meltdown of the investment banking system, then the rest of the banking system, Wall Street, the mortgage industry, the insurance industry, and the manufacturing sector coming, but I didn't. Now we get to add something new to the resume - led a church through a global recession.
Can't say they taught us much about that in seminary.
Strangely enough, though, I got some new insight as to what we are all up against after reading this great article by Bill Simmons, one of my favorite writers from espn.com about the effect of the economic collapse on the NBA. I won't bore you with recounting the facts of the article (I know the number of NBA fans who actually read this blog number three - Brother Esq, The Clouse, and Father Pauly) you can go read yourself if you are interested. The insight gained, though, is this... when you've structured income and expenses around certain expectations, and those expectations aren't realized spectacularly, you are in for some seriously, seriously painful days.
Churches are generally pretty stable entities. Unless we leverage ourselves for some major undertaking (a new building, ministry, staff addition, etc...) our budgets are largely pretty stable. Shawnee's budget hasn't changed all that much in the last four years. We even budgeted in a decrease for 2009 just on the prospect of what might be coming, and could do so with very little pain thanks to how aggressively we were paying down our mortgage. But if all of a sudden you see a downturn in income, and its not related to a couple of bad weather Sundays, you are faced with some real issues. Smaller churches generally weather these kinds of storms pretty well. They might only need $30-70k a year to keep the doors open, and almost always have some CD's stashed in a locked box somewhere that can be tapped in times of difficulty.
But this ain't the case with medium or large churches. Since such a large portion of the budget is allocated toward staff, and the amount of capital needed to meet expenses tends to not be underwritten by stashed CD's in a lockbox, the initial cuts of things like program tend to be more preventative than anything else (we won't spend what we thought we were going to spend to prevent a squeeze). If this doesn't work, then, generally hampered with a big mortgage and massive fixed expenses, the only thing you can cut is staffing. And while nobody stops going to Arby's or buying a Honda due to the fact Bob got laid off, this would not be the case in a local church. Cut staffing - even substandard staff - and you might as well cut revenue to some degree. So it's a double whammy. Fail in recasting the image or direction of the church, and the slow loss of momentum will slowly sink the large congregation. That's the fear of a sudden, unexpected drop in revenue. It can create consternation in even the most tranquil of congregations. Here's to praying the necessary wisdom abounds in this kidney stone of an economy to avoid stepping into some serious dung.
5) Xavier, our six year old, is a monkey. A little monkey. It's true. He just started rehearsal last week for Encore Theatre's upcoming production of "The Jungle Book". Seems he's got the acting bug after having gone to see a couple of shows with his mother (while Dad stays at home with the two youngest). Max would have auditioned also, but he ended up with the flu on audition days and was too sick to go. Just be forewarned that if you come to our house between now and April 3-5th, you are bound to hear somebody singing "Bare Necessities" or see a little boy practice his dance steps in our driveway. Ah, the stage.
6) Watched the Oscars the other evening. The only thing I really remember about them was Bill Maher looking genuinely bummed that his documentary, "Religulous" didn't get nominated for the "Best Documentary" catagory. Maher's problem was that when he went after religion he simply found the most ridiculous examples of it that he could find, and let those folks make fools out of themselves. Maher doesn't like to interview anyone who disagrees with him who might be smarter than he is, and in the end that's what torpedoed not only his chances, but the movie itself. Maybe if Maher had interviewed Ben Witherington to find out whether or not, for example, the Horus myth of Egypt really was a template for the life of Christ, he would have really done something. Otherwise, finding a guy in Florida who calls himself Jesus isn't all that engaging, or for that matter, difficult. We see that kind of crazy, and the crazy that believes it, every day. Make that the cornerstone of your critique and nobody takes you seriously. Not even Oscar.
7) New target for dissertation completion: end of June/early July 2009. I've got two churches left to research, but can I get those and the writing done by then. YES I CAN! Thank goodness I'm getting a waiver to lower the number of case studies from 12 to 10, otherwise I'd have never made it. Get ready Kingdom of Heaven to make room for one more over-educated pastor. Just what the world needs.
8) After I picked up Max from swim practice tonight, we started looking for a copy of The Jungle Book. As mentioned earlier, Xavier is playing one of the monkey brothers in a local production, and since the music comes from the old animated feature Walt Disney made in the sixties, we thought we'd pick up a copy for our Friday Family Movie Night. Unfortunately, I think the other kids parents had the same idea, after a couple of stops sans movie, we wandered into a local Hollywood Video.
We took a look around, and the only version on the shelves was some lame remake. Fearing we had struck out again, we were about to head out to a Family Video, when on a sale shelf Max found it... a 40th anniversary edition for only $15. We took it up to the counter to buy it, but when we got up there the video store guy was on the phone, unsuccessfully trying to order a pizza. He ignored us for awhile, finally turned to look at us, and said, "Just hang, I'll be there in a minute."
Like we had any choice. It was the last copy of The Jungle Book in Northwest Ohio.
So we wait a little longer, and finally the guy hangs up the phone, complains about the poor service at the pizza place, looks at our DVD and promptly exclaims, "That's the wrong price."
Now, you couldn't print "14.99" any bigger on the package without covering up the title, so I instantly am skeptical. The guy scans it, and sure enough, it came up to $20. "It came to us from one of the other stores they closed, and I just missed re-pricing it. I'd take $5 off, but it will get me fired. That's the crazy crap their pulling around here right now. I just can't do it. I need my job."
At this point I'm fairly flabbergasted, so I tell him I'll pay the $20 but I want the name of a district manager or somebody who I can call to voice my displeasure. And immediately, the guy says, "If you're going to corporate, I'll just give you the five dollars myself, because they'll let me go. $5 isn't worth losing my job, and it's my fault the DVD wasn't re-priced because I'm the store manager." As he's saying this, he takes out his wallet and pulls out a five-spot.
Max's eyes are huge. He's ten, so he gets what's going on. Later he admitted to me that he was scared to death that because we wanted to buy a video that a person was going to be fired. I'm trying to give the five dollars back, and the guy is getting increasingly pushy about the whole thing when I finally just had to throw it back on the counter and tell him that he was making me angry. I paid full price, and got the heck out of there, but not before we realized that he had given us the wrong game that Max had selected as a rental for the weekend.
Which leads me to this... if the economy is so bad that a video chain is one iota away from closing a) scaring the poo out of the employees is probably the wrong way to turn it around and b) maybe your customer service ought to go up a couple of notches. Needless to say, the future doesn't look bright for Hollywood Video. Better get your Netflix on.
9) Ten songs playing in my office today:
- One (Aimee Mann)
- Save Me (Aimee Mann, featured in "Magnolia")
- Maybe We Could Get Clean By Christmas (Aimee Mann... writes lots of songs about heroin addiction, which isn't a great topic, but she makes catchy depressing little tunes)
- What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding (Elvis Costello)
- Everyday I Write The Book (Elvis Costello)
- Ubi Caritas (From the "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" soundtrack, arranged by John Rutter)
- The Man in Me (Bob Dylan.... it's featured in "The Big Lebowski")
- Between the Bars (Elliott Smith... what can I say, I saw "Good Will Hunting" the other night)
- The Wind (Cat Stevens.. another song from another movie, "Rushmore")
- Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac... I'm fascinated with the opening acoustic guitar riffs)
we're definitely feeling a little mellow in the senior pastor office at sumc this week.
10) Finally (and I do mean finally cause these things take forever to write) the other night we conducted a joint service with The Future Church of Tomorrow in their sanctuary on the corner of Kibby and Elizabeth. There was a nice crowd there, particularly given the fact it was an Ash Wednesday service and none of us are Catholic, high church, and Ash Wednesday had never been celebrated by their church before. Ever.
The thing that struck me about the service (besides the fact that we decided to do it together only days before, and still somehow we pulled it off) were the large number of teens and pre-teens that were there, all but one or two of whom were from TFCoT. I know that even when we do an Ash Wednesday service in our own building, there aren't more than a couple of teens there. Usually they avoid that sort of the thing like the plague, and when we do it takes about 45 minutes. With The Future Church we went 80 minutes, and they were kinda lost at the end because the service was so short.
The presence of all those kids has stuck with me, and I've been trying to figure out why. I think mainly what keeps coming back to me was the feeling that at Daniel Hughes' church kids make up such a large portion of the congregation, that they are needed to step up and take leadership roles. One of our parishioners who arrived late, talked about being fearful stepping out of her car and having to walk down a south end street after dark, only to be relieved to see four or five teen boys from TFCoT standing out on the street, waving at her. Seems they realized that suburban people aren't all that comfortable in the city at night, and took it upon themselves to keep an eye out for their guests to make them feel welcome.
They are challenged to own their faith, and be a fully functioning member of the Body of Christ.
Leading me to wonder if we make the same kind of challenge and offer the same kind of call to adults, let alone teens, at SUMC? Or at least to the degree that I saw come out in the commitment I could see in those kids eyes? I makes me wonder, and I'm sure I'll be preaching about it soon.
It's good to be back.
And here's the strange thing, the older I get the fewer words I seem to have. I don't know if this is cause I'm out of shape, slowly breaking down with age, or just slowly disappearing into myself. I've no clue. But in any event, the loser has been the blog, and for that I apologize. I'd tell you that in the future I'll try to do better, but you and I already know that's a toss up at best, so let's just push forward today and call it even.
2) In case you hadn't heard, I turned forty about two weeks ago. The wife bought me a nice flat screen and Blue Ray player with some of her website money. The picture is so good you can see the age spots on Barbara Walters, even with the ample Vaseline they smear on the camera lens to try to hide the fact that she really has aged.
Forty, in all honesty, wasn't all that big a deal. Somewhere in the last five years I lost my fear of getting old, and to some degree even death. Not that I wanna die, or wouldn't be crawling under a desk if a crazed gunman walked in the office, but the prospect of death has just somehow continued melting away. Death and worrying about the future.... I spent so many hours over those things that I either don't have energy to waste on them anymore, or worked out my fears in my head. Not too mention, I've been blessed with a great family, tons of friends, and a great staff so what's not to love about my life? Hence it's not the fate of my own tail that gets that kind of personal attention any longer. Now, I spend that energy on trying to navigate a good life for my family, keeping the church in as good of shape as I can, and caring for the staff. That's what keeps me up at night now.
3) As nice unexpected gifts go, a close second to the new LG Scarlet my wife sacrificed to bring in our home was a phone call from an old friend the day after my birthday. Steve Wheeler, college buddy and best man at my wedding gave me a call out of the blue on February 11th, the day between our birthdays.
Once upon a time when the biggest worries of the day were getting a few friends to go wrangle a b-ball game at Phillips (as if that was a problem... my left knee is screaming at me thanks to the millions of miles I put on those floors with Brett, Wayne, Paul, and John), getting up for class (even an afternoon one), and the occasional exam my gang of Miami University college friends used to celebrate the birthdays of Steve and Bryan on the "day between". There were parties, outings, and even a foray to see Blue Oyster Cult to celebrate our 21st year on earth. Our gang has experienced marriage, divorce, the tragedy of losing a spouse, kids, jobs, losing jobs, getting new jobs, moving, staying, and all the blessings and challenges life doles out. Somehow (mostly thanks to Steph, who publishes "The List" listing what, where, who, when, and why every Christmas) we've stayed in touch, albeit sometimes somewhat loosely.
It had been at least two sons (Elijah and Toby) ago that I talked to Steve. He's still a middle school Social Studies teacher/coach at a private Christian school in Boca Raton. There are some people who, no matter how long it's been, you can just pick up where you left off. That's Wheeler for me. Within minutes of figuring out how many kids the other guy had and what was going on with the spouse, we were debating the three worst presidents in the history of the US. To be honest, throw in a couple of cigars, a round of Frisbee golf, a showing of "A Fistful of Dollars", and a couple pints of Guinness, and it could have 1987-1991 all over again.
Of course we've both long let go with our sheltered Christian kids fascination with tobacco (I don't care what people say.... cigars, no matter how expensive, taste like feet), and while I'll plead the Fifth as to whether or not the Christian school teacher and Methodist pastor would still enjoy pint circa 2009, the basic mutual respect and care we have had for each other ever since we briefly met at freshman orientation on South Campus remains. The guy can still make me laugh like nobody else. I could see his face when on the phone he explained to me what it was like to run poorly organized marathon in a what is essentially a Florida swamp in 100 degree plus heat.... and then promptly after telling me about this debacle inform me he's already planning on doing it again. Typical Steve. Gotta love someone who makes you laugh not just recalling the old days, but talking about the new ones too. Steve is thinking possibly a stop over in Ohio this summer. Here's hoping he can make it happen.
(And if he's reading this, an unexpected opportunity has arisen, and there's an outside chance we might do a quick sojourn as a fam to Florida later this year. Ah what havoc I'm certain our seven kids could create... hopefully we'll find that out sooner than later.)
4) I envisioned facing a lot of things as a senior pastor. Upset parishioners... the occasional bad offering... staff turnover... demands from the denomination... extending myself for reasons ecumenical and cross-cultural that may or may not pan out... a building project or two... a crisis of faith (mine or someone else).... but never in my lifetime did I think I would have to lead a church through the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression. Maybe, given how leveraged our world has become, I should have seen the meltdown of the investment banking system, then the rest of the banking system, Wall Street, the mortgage industry, the insurance industry, and the manufacturing sector coming, but I didn't. Now we get to add something new to the resume - led a church through a global recession.
Can't say they taught us much about that in seminary.
Strangely enough, though, I got some new insight as to what we are all up against after reading this great article by Bill Simmons, one of my favorite writers from espn.com about the effect of the economic collapse on the NBA. I won't bore you with recounting the facts of the article (I know the number of NBA fans who actually read this blog number three - Brother Esq, The Clouse, and Father Pauly) you can go read yourself if you are interested. The insight gained, though, is this... when you've structured income and expenses around certain expectations, and those expectations aren't realized spectacularly, you are in for some seriously, seriously painful days.
Churches are generally pretty stable entities. Unless we leverage ourselves for some major undertaking (a new building, ministry, staff addition, etc...) our budgets are largely pretty stable. Shawnee's budget hasn't changed all that much in the last four years. We even budgeted in a decrease for 2009 just on the prospect of what might be coming, and could do so with very little pain thanks to how aggressively we were paying down our mortgage. But if all of a sudden you see a downturn in income, and its not related to a couple of bad weather Sundays, you are faced with some real issues. Smaller churches generally weather these kinds of storms pretty well. They might only need $30-70k a year to keep the doors open, and almost always have some CD's stashed in a locked box somewhere that can be tapped in times of difficulty.
But this ain't the case with medium or large churches. Since such a large portion of the budget is allocated toward staff, and the amount of capital needed to meet expenses tends to not be underwritten by stashed CD's in a lockbox, the initial cuts of things like program tend to be more preventative than anything else (we won't spend what we thought we were going to spend to prevent a squeeze). If this doesn't work, then, generally hampered with a big mortgage and massive fixed expenses, the only thing you can cut is staffing. And while nobody stops going to Arby's or buying a Honda due to the fact Bob got laid off, this would not be the case in a local church. Cut staffing - even substandard staff - and you might as well cut revenue to some degree. So it's a double whammy. Fail in recasting the image or direction of the church, and the slow loss of momentum will slowly sink the large congregation. That's the fear of a sudden, unexpected drop in revenue. It can create consternation in even the most tranquil of congregations. Here's to praying the necessary wisdom abounds in this kidney stone of an economy to avoid stepping into some serious dung.
5) Xavier, our six year old, is a monkey. A little monkey. It's true. He just started rehearsal last week for Encore Theatre's upcoming production of "The Jungle Book". Seems he's got the acting bug after having gone to see a couple of shows with his mother (while Dad stays at home with the two youngest). Max would have auditioned also, but he ended up with the flu on audition days and was too sick to go. Just be forewarned that if you come to our house between now and April 3-5th, you are bound to hear somebody singing "Bare Necessities" or see a little boy practice his dance steps in our driveway. Ah, the stage.
6) Watched the Oscars the other evening. The only thing I really remember about them was Bill Maher looking genuinely bummed that his documentary, "Religulous" didn't get nominated for the "Best Documentary" catagory. Maher's problem was that when he went after religion he simply found the most ridiculous examples of it that he could find, and let those folks make fools out of themselves. Maher doesn't like to interview anyone who disagrees with him who might be smarter than he is, and in the end that's what torpedoed not only his chances, but the movie itself. Maybe if Maher had interviewed Ben Witherington to find out whether or not, for example, the Horus myth of Egypt really was a template for the life of Christ, he would have really done something. Otherwise, finding a guy in Florida who calls himself Jesus isn't all that engaging, or for that matter, difficult. We see that kind of crazy, and the crazy that believes it, every day. Make that the cornerstone of your critique and nobody takes you seriously. Not even Oscar.
7) New target for dissertation completion: end of June/early July 2009. I've got two churches left to research, but can I get those and the writing done by then. YES I CAN! Thank goodness I'm getting a waiver to lower the number of case studies from 12 to 10, otherwise I'd have never made it. Get ready Kingdom of Heaven to make room for one more over-educated pastor. Just what the world needs.
8) After I picked up Max from swim practice tonight, we started looking for a copy of The Jungle Book. As mentioned earlier, Xavier is playing one of the monkey brothers in a local production, and since the music comes from the old animated feature Walt Disney made in the sixties, we thought we'd pick up a copy for our Friday Family Movie Night. Unfortunately, I think the other kids parents had the same idea, after a couple of stops sans movie, we wandered into a local Hollywood Video.
We took a look around, and the only version on the shelves was some lame remake. Fearing we had struck out again, we were about to head out to a Family Video, when on a sale shelf Max found it... a 40th anniversary edition for only $15. We took it up to the counter to buy it, but when we got up there the video store guy was on the phone, unsuccessfully trying to order a pizza. He ignored us for awhile, finally turned to look at us, and said, "Just hang, I'll be there in a minute."
Like we had any choice. It was the last copy of The Jungle Book in Northwest Ohio.
So we wait a little longer, and finally the guy hangs up the phone, complains about the poor service at the pizza place, looks at our DVD and promptly exclaims, "That's the wrong price."
Now, you couldn't print "14.99" any bigger on the package without covering up the title, so I instantly am skeptical. The guy scans it, and sure enough, it came up to $20. "It came to us from one of the other stores they closed, and I just missed re-pricing it. I'd take $5 off, but it will get me fired. That's the crazy crap their pulling around here right now. I just can't do it. I need my job."
At this point I'm fairly flabbergasted, so I tell him I'll pay the $20 but I want the name of a district manager or somebody who I can call to voice my displeasure. And immediately, the guy says, "If you're going to corporate, I'll just give you the five dollars myself, because they'll let me go. $5 isn't worth losing my job, and it's my fault the DVD wasn't re-priced because I'm the store manager." As he's saying this, he takes out his wallet and pulls out a five-spot.
Max's eyes are huge. He's ten, so he gets what's going on. Later he admitted to me that he was scared to death that because we wanted to buy a video that a person was going to be fired. I'm trying to give the five dollars back, and the guy is getting increasingly pushy about the whole thing when I finally just had to throw it back on the counter and tell him that he was making me angry. I paid full price, and got the heck out of there, but not before we realized that he had given us the wrong game that Max had selected as a rental for the weekend.
Which leads me to this... if the economy is so bad that a video chain is one iota away from closing a) scaring the poo out of the employees is probably the wrong way to turn it around and b) maybe your customer service ought to go up a couple of notches. Needless to say, the future doesn't look bright for Hollywood Video. Better get your Netflix on.
9) Ten songs playing in my office today:
- One (Aimee Mann)
- Save Me (Aimee Mann, featured in "Magnolia")
- Maybe We Could Get Clean By Christmas (Aimee Mann... writes lots of songs about heroin addiction, which isn't a great topic, but she makes catchy depressing little tunes)
- What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding (Elvis Costello)
- Everyday I Write The Book (Elvis Costello)
- Ubi Caritas (From the "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" soundtrack, arranged by John Rutter)
- The Man in Me (Bob Dylan.... it's featured in "The Big Lebowski")
- Between the Bars (Elliott Smith... what can I say, I saw "Good Will Hunting" the other night)
- The Wind (Cat Stevens.. another song from another movie, "Rushmore")
- Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac... I'm fascinated with the opening acoustic guitar riffs)
we're definitely feeling a little mellow in the senior pastor office at sumc this week.
10) Finally (and I do mean finally cause these things take forever to write) the other night we conducted a joint service with The Future Church of Tomorrow in their sanctuary on the corner of Kibby and Elizabeth. There was a nice crowd there, particularly given the fact it was an Ash Wednesday service and none of us are Catholic, high church, and Ash Wednesday had never been celebrated by their church before. Ever.
The thing that struck me about the service (besides the fact that we decided to do it together only days before, and still somehow we pulled it off) were the large number of teens and pre-teens that were there, all but one or two of whom were from TFCoT. I know that even when we do an Ash Wednesday service in our own building, there aren't more than a couple of teens there. Usually they avoid that sort of the thing like the plague, and when we do it takes about 45 minutes. With The Future Church we went 80 minutes, and they were kinda lost at the end because the service was so short.
The presence of all those kids has stuck with me, and I've been trying to figure out why. I think mainly what keeps coming back to me was the feeling that at Daniel Hughes' church kids make up such a large portion of the congregation, that they are needed to step up and take leadership roles. One of our parishioners who arrived late, talked about being fearful stepping out of her car and having to walk down a south end street after dark, only to be relieved to see four or five teen boys from TFCoT standing out on the street, waving at her. Seems they realized that suburban people aren't all that comfortable in the city at night, and took it upon themselves to keep an eye out for their guests to make them feel welcome.
They are challenged to own their faith, and be a fully functioning member of the Body of Christ.
Leading me to wonder if we make the same kind of challenge and offer the same kind of call to adults, let alone teens, at SUMC? Or at least to the degree that I saw come out in the commitment I could see in those kids eyes? I makes me wonder, and I'm sure I'll be preaching about it soon.
It's good to be back.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Lord Giveth and The Lord Taketh Away
When I moved to Goshen, Indiana in late 1999, the community was growing like it was going out of style. The population boom, made up mainly by Hispanics migrating to a town with so many jobs locals couldn't fill them all, was fueled by growth in the RV and manufactured housing industry. I remember when my former boss, the late Dick Lyndon, was trying to sell me on moving to the community, part of the sell was that local economy was so diversified that historically recessions didn't hit it as hard as other communities. There is no one big employer in Elkhart county, just a bunch of small factories that make just about everything you can imagine. Those factories were turning out products as fast as they could make them, and the local community prospered.
I thought after 9/11, when gas first took off above $2 a gallon that it would spell doom for the local economy. RV's get, what... 6 or 7 miles to the gallon, at best. But the fear of flying, coupled with the steady trickle of Baby Boomers looking for a pleasant diversion, and even a new home, kept RV sales sky high. Not even natural disasters could touch the local economy. Hurricanes in the south spurred production of mobile homes and manufactured housing. Remember those trailers that rotted, unused after Katrina? They were made in Elkhart County. It appeared that truly Goshen's economy was recession-proof.
Fast forward to 2009. The credit bubble bursting, after a season of high commodity prices, did what Hurricanes and 9/11 couldn't. Elkhart County is now in real trouble.
It was announced yesterday that Elkhart County has the highest unemployment rate in Indiana, and one of the highest in the nation. 15.3% in the county, and over 17% in the city of Elkhart. On Facebook last night, a friend, Jerry, revealed that his last day of work at his current job ends tomorrow. Now, he writes, he faces the prospect of standing in long-lines at the unemployment office.
Another friend, Merv, faced with fewer RV's and box trucks to deliver, is one of two guys who now shuttle what meager production local plants are turning out, to a staging yard for the company that will deliver them to customers or dealers, and is happy to have the work. Merv used to be able to deliver two units in one day, mostly to the Chicago suburbs. Now, with many people who deliver units sitting at home with nothing to deliver, Merv considers himself fortunate, even as his income has dropped.
The crowning blow though, and the thing that really raised my alarm today, though, was this article in the Goshen News. Much like Jesse Lowe last winter, who got so fed up that he made a sign (Drugs Bring Death) and stood out on a street corner where drug dealers across the street threatened his life, Mike Grant made his own sign and posted it outside of his house. Five months of unemployment just pushed him past his breaking point, causing him to etch, "Will Work 4 Job" and prop it up in his front yard. What hit home was that his front yard was in my old neighborhood. The recession has reached Yorktown Drive, and with a vengence.
As jobs disappear at a pace that's making heads spin, the downward spiral of the economy seems to be picking up steam. The bottoming out everyone hoped would come in the days leading up to the inauguration still hasn't come. No one knows where the bottom is on this thing. And it seems that in certain corners of the country, like my old stomping grounds in the Hoosier state, state action curtailing foreclosures is the only thing from creating new Hoovervilles... renamed, I suspect, Bushvilles from turning up in city parks or empty lots. Not-so-slowly, we are sliding into a deep recession, that without the social safety net put in place by the New Deal, would probably look a whole lot more like the depression my fraternal grandmother described in great detail when I was child. Older people, who now enjoy Social Security and Medicare, may not be living like royalty, but aren't being forced out into the streets like they were in droves in 1929 and 1930. Unemployment is at least, for now, keeping people from starvation. Rush Limbaugh may not like socialism, but in times like these social program show their true merit by alleviating wide-spread suffering.
But folks taking unemployment are now your neighbors, who once took great pride in being able to make their mortgage payments on a nice home with a well manicured lawn, and in the process they're taking a spiritual beating. Prayers for a turnaround in the economy, or an upswing in hours at the local plant, or increased sales on the floor are seemingly being met with silence. In Goshen, one of my favorite places to eat, The Backyard Bar-b-Que, which was the brain child of a couple in our congregation, was finally forced to close its doors last month. This couple are two of the of praying-iest people you'll ever meet but their business was not spared. I mean it's hard to keep a restaurant open when there's 15% unemployment. Now the site of their dream is nothing but a vacant storefront in Linway Plaza, awaiting a new tenant. Their story, and others like it, are becoming more common, and in a place like Goshen, can be found on just about every block.
And so, I ask the question I'm sure is being asked a lot of places right now: "Lord, where are you?"
Part of me thinks that during the boom times, the Lord was screaming as loudly as he possible could. Begging people to be prudent with their money. Coaxing those on Wall Street to think of the bigger picture. Speaking to politicians who avoided taking on big issues because it was easier to stick with the status quo. And dare I say it, wondering why pastors, including this one, were more focused on building bigger buildings with coffee bars than warning people that love of money is the root of all evil.
Not money, mind you, but the love of it.
Now, though, I suspect the Good Lord, just as he called us to prudence, integrity, and mercy for those in need as the stock market boomed, are calling us to humility, hope, and mutual concern in these difficult days. To remind us that blessings in this life are neither eternal, nor a birthright for any of us. They are gifts, to be treasured, but not to be trusted as measures of self-worth. There are no short cuts or guarantees, and as such we need to build our lives on that which really matters. God doesn't love and reward us according to the size of our paycheck. The Lord's love isn't contingent on what we do or don't do... it just "is", in abundance. The Lord's reward is in the depth of our connection to him, and between us and our neighbor. We're just so focused on the moment, that we often forget these things, and it usually takes a sickness, tragedy, or even our own mortality to shake us out of our malaise.
The depth of our honesty and integrity. A concern for our neighbor. Elevating our focus above crass consumeristic goals to a quality of life which is defined by intangibles: love, grace, mercy, justice, and peace. A satisfaction in doing what God has called us to - love justice, show mercy, and be righteous - in alignment with the teachings of the One who as he washed the feet of his disciples commanded us to serve others as He was serving them. It's these things that really matter, in good times, and bad.
In any event, pray for people who live in a town that showed us great love and acceptance, and for all those suffering right now. And where you can, make a difference.
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