Building Momentum, "In Life," part 2

A continuation of the series…

Readiness for life-long learning…I hope this is something I’m good at, but I can’t let myself think that. If it was up to me, somewhere along the line I would have probably thought, “OK, this is enough now.” “I’ve learned enough.” I can’t do that. The world is changing ever so rapidly. What was once good enough to get by ten years ago is no longer. What was once good enough two years ago isn’t either. But way more enjoyable and interestingly to me is that there is just so much fun stuff out there to learn.

The older I get the more I give myself permission to read and learn outside of my own professional disciplines. When I was in D.C. two months ago, I was reminded how the early leaders of our country always did that. They were “multi-disciplinary,” renaissance men and women. It seems like that used to be a much more highly valued idea back then. Of course, not as much had been written in any of the disciplines back then. I get some of my best, most creative thoughts when I get out of my field. It keeps me fresh.

Some days I will go to the library and browse, i.e. feast, picking up anything and everything that looks interesting.

I do try to read particularly in the fields of leadership (business, church, political, technology, and others), ministry, spiritual formation, and then for pure fun. And I’m big on experiences too: mission trips, field trips to business where friends or contacts work, interviewing people who are successful and finding out what worked best for them, holy land pilgrimages, etc. The older I get the more I also realize the importance of questions and the power of a good one. Not that good at it yet, but at least am making a better effort.

I have also discovered the ultimate power in doing something brand, spanking new. It feels like I’m on the biggest learning curve of my life right now. I pastored a church for twenty years. Some of the D.S. work is similar, but much is different. I’m learning more about myself and myself as a leader than ever before too. Still, not that good at it yet, but am trying.

Maybe I needed to shake things up in a much bigger way long ago…

Building Momentum, "In My Life," part 1

Someone recently commented, "Waiting for your post now on building momentum for your life." And I immediately thought of a book written by one our region's leading pastors with that exact intent, "Momentum for Life" by Michael Slaughter. In it, he shares his "five life practices for balance and self-leadership" which "together form the acronym D-R-I-V-E:

1. Devotion to God
2. Readiness for Life-Long Learning
3. Investing in Key Relationships
4. Visioning for the Future.
5. Eating and Exercise for Life.

Following the metaphor of the above as it relates to me, under...

Devotion to God...I stay in the word and prayer with both a deliberate, "setting-down-all-else" time as part of my Daily Rule as well as taking advantage of moments of centering all throughout my day. Studying the Contemplative Prayer movement has been a real soul-saver. Merton and Thomas Keating have both been invaluable on that.

I serve and try to lay down my life daily. I don't "go to work." My work I treat as part of my service in addition to other. I pray I am devoted to God in every breath. And there are a myriad of things I do to stay in tune with that.

I recently signed up for just a simple thing, a daily scripture sent to my email in-box which I can get on my cell phone. Each day it feels like I am getting "a special message from heaven sent just for me." They have actually really hit me personally each time. A quick internet search can sign you up too.

Probably the biggest thing thing I do is to keep my daily faith practices fresh. Instead of doing the same thing week in and week out of every year, I live more as a free-bird according to the season. Others might be wired though different. Right now I am reading through the Bible in a year (or so) and journaling what I am learning in the Book of Judges, in addition to a new book here or there. I've also been deliberate recently in retreating where I can in nature, getting away and getting quiet to gain clarity in what can be the flood of my life.

If someone is actually interested, I'll finish what I've been doing with the R-I-V-E in successive posts. Stay tuned...

Building Momentum, "In Worship"

More thoughts...

1. Teach on worship.
2. Eliminate all but 2-3 pulpit announcements.
3. Outlaw dead space. Make sure people are prepared when it is their time to go.
4. We called it "traveling music." Instead of dead space, use some transition music.
5. Become the best, kick-butt preacher you can be. We are competing with everyone on TV, the internet, and the self-help industry. We have to make it worth people's while to listen to us. Feed their soul with the richest of truth and in the most enthralling of manners. Channel a combination of T.D. Jakes and Henri Nouwen. Ok, now I'm kidding, mostly.
6. Recruit and train first class musicians. God is worth our most excellent effort. Putting money here is usually well spent. In planting a church, the worship leader/musician is often a more important position than even the pastor. Sorry, it's true. :-O
7. Sing mostly what people know. People can only handle so many new songs in one service. Usually, it's about one.
8. Make sure everything connects back to the theme. We can make our churches disjointed in the flow as well as the logic. We are shepherds. Shepherd their hearts and minds.
9. Start with a bang: something upbeat, that everyone can participate in.
10. Find the spiritual-emotional flow of your service/people, i.e. get in touch with the movement of the Spirit.
11. Leonard Sweet said post-modern worship needs to follow the E.P.I.C. pattern... experiential, participatory, image-based, and connective.
12. Make it as multi-sensory as it can be.
13. Throw cheeseburgers to the balcony (I confess, I did that once.)
14. Keep them guessing.
15. Creativity, creativity, creativity... God said it was good.

Feel free to share your ideas...

Building Momentum, "In the Life of Your Church"

Just some things that you can do...

1. Begin a visioning team and process for your church.
2. Launch a new ministry to reach out to the community.
3. Start a small group for those that are willing and have the capability to launch their own small group. I called them "turbo groups." Can start a small group ministry from 0 to 60-80% in a very short time.
4. Divide the church up in small groups and do a church-wide study. It can do the same thing.
5. Get a new haircut and become a new kind of leader. Seriously.
6. Do a creative sermon series that kicks it all up a notch.
7. Deliberately try to up your quality level of worship over the long haul.
8. Start a new service.
9. Deal with your own angst and anger.
10. Be just a tad bit more positive and treat people just a tad bit nicer.
11. Just do one cool event that no one has ever done before. See what God does through it.
12. Celebrate people's accomplishments. Thank people.
13. Make eye contact and say hi to everyone you meet (Oh, you'd be surprised...).
14. Balance your church's budget and get them out of the red. "Right-size" your ministry. That can alleviate a lot of extra stress that no one needs.

Others??? Feel free to add your own in a comment...

Building Momentum, "Pulpit Announcements"

I have been to a lot of different church services lately. Have seen and experienced lots of great hospitality. Seen a lot of the same things I used to struggle with though too in the pastorate: like balancing all that sometimes needs to get included in a particular service. On my first Sunday in one of the churches I served, I received 13 different requests for special, pulpit announcements at the last minute that included virtually everything, including the kitchen sink. That can really kill the momentum of a service. I have found that a pulpit announcement is sometimes a poor substitute for inviting someone personally to your event. I tried to teach my folk all the many ways that they can create momentum and interest in their event or program. Ministry is, at the heart, relationship building, and not program promoting. Announcing something from the pulpit was very strategic though when trying to mobilize the whole church behind a key initiative supporting the overall vision of the church. Our attention spans are only so long, 22 seconds the last time I checked. We already speak “at” them in our preaching. Maybe one more moment at the max, but much more than that can kill the Spirit’s movement and flow in the service. Reading all the prayer requests and then praying all the prayer requests can be more than enough sometimes too. Town and rural churches, though, seem to love that, however sometimes our practice inadvertently keeps us small. There are creative ways to incorporate it all. Found anything that worked effectively for you?