caffeine, please.

Bowling butt

You've heard of tennis elbow?  Boxer's nose?  How about bowler's butt ("BB")?  Its pretty serious... at least I've heard it can be.  You can get it when you are really out of shape and you bowl too intensely (is that possible?) for too long, thereby straining your largest muscles.  (See last entry for bowling reference.) 

I'm not saying I have it--"BB" that is...  I'm just saying that I may be able to identify with manly men who bowl to the point of straning their glutes.  It could happen... to a tough guy, even.  That's all I'm trying to say.  Hopefully my brother pastors do not have a case of "BB" to deal with.  If they did, lets just say I'd have appropriate, uh, empathy... manly empathy, that is.

Bad bowling, good times

Normally at 9:30am on a Monday morning, you'll find our pastoral team in the conference room of our Midway campus, wrestling through the Bible (or making jokes about each other) in preparation for next Sunday's message. 

But this past Monday we decided team-building would be our priority... so we went bowling at Waveland Bowl (we had to gently turn down the curling tourny and the chess extravaganza ideas from pastors who will remain nameless).   With names like Missy, Wonder Bread, Pinky, Fred Sanford, Calls Down Rain and Urimae, other bowlers wondered who these rowdy, loud, gutterball throwing men were and why they weren't under police supervision. 

3 hours, 3 games and many pulled muscles later we emerged from the bad shirts, ugly shoes and smoke with a lot of laughs, the thrill of competition and a closer bond. 

Something different happens to a team when it plays together.  You can't get at it through any work activity in the same way.  And I believe that when a team plays together, prays together and serves together, it emerges with more power to do the work it has do. 

(Oh and 'Missy', you had a great "bad bowling shirt" brother!)

African bridge

Tonight at a party I was talking with a friend.  We're not close, but we always enjoy conversation when we see each other and I sense his spiritual interest when we talk, even though he is not yet a Christian.  As we spoke I had a chance to share with him my upcoming trip to Africa. 

I spoke about my heart for the trip, my desire to see Africa as a missional center for our church body, and the idea of African care ministry as a point of spiritual integrity.  I believe Africa is our neighbor in distress (think Jesus and the guy who got beat up and all the churhc people ignored him) and we're called to do something with that.

Here's the really cool part--sharing about Africa with my non-Christian friends gives me a unique opportunity to express the gospel.  When I tell about Africa I begin with the AIDS crisis, the children affected and our desire to deal with that.  People get that.  Everyone gets that.  But as I share, I open avenues for explaining the heart of real Chrisitianity.

When I talk about getting our church getting involved with AIDS sufferers in Africa, people see Christianity as a faith that matters on messed up planet earth as much as it does in perfect heaven.  It also creates an opportunity for someone who doesn't know Jesus to understand what happens to your heart when you know Jesus.  When you know Jesus, you feel responsible for pain and suffering that is happening around the world and you do something about it in Jesus name.

I'm looking forward to sharing often about my upcoming trip, hoping that Africa is a bridge to the heart of people.

Our first member

Nacho inspired

A funny from yesterday's staff meeting...  I was casting vision for our new small group ministry approach and was explaining how we are seeking to expand the connection points for our groups.  I mentioned different ideas for new groups--marathon training, softball outreach, support/recovery, etc.

Somewhere along the line, Nacho Libre and mexican wrestling entered the conversation.  The next thing you know we were making a group, specialized to be sure, for a largely untapped segment of our city's population...

the Lonely Luchadors.

Hmmm.  Scary.  And I think the mask would probably negatively affect the trasparency/honesty level in the group.  And men in tights trying to follow Jesus together--its just a little scary.

Neighbors

George Verwer spoke to our congregation this Spring while in Chicago.  George spends his heart on one subject--missions--bringing Jesus to the world.  Everywhere he goes he wears the same jacket--its covered in a map of the world.  Often contraversial because he tells the truth and isn't afraid of taboo subjects, George stirs things up.

He spoke from Luke 10 about the Samaritan man by the side of the road.  At the end of the parable Jesus asks, "which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man..."

Geoge asks, "who are the people by the side of the road in 2006?"  His list is:

1. At risk children (sex trade, AIDs orphans, child soldiers, to name a few)
2. At risk women (abuse, female circumcision, repression)
3. The extremem poor (those with literally no money or options--ie. no welfare available)
4. AIDS sufferers (over 40 million people worldwide)
5. People with no clean drinking water (as high as 30% of world population)
6. Mr. Planet
7. Lukewarm Christians

How can these 7 be viewed as "by the side of the road"?  Shouldn't it be people I physically pass by who need my help?  Is George trying to give us a guilt trip?

No.  In the CNN era with an affluent society that spends billions on liesure and fun every year, we cannot escape our responsibility to our neighbors.  I believe that living to serve these neighbors, as a church, moves us into a "living beyond myself" lifestyle that allows us to leave behind lukewarm Christianity.

More on this in coming weeks.

Small things make loud noises

I "fixed" the brakes on my van last week.  Don't be impressed.  I changed the front pads--trained monkeys could have done it.  I had to adjust a total of 7 bolts--5 of those were lugnuts (i.e. the ones you take off to change your tire). 

A few days later we began noticing a loud noise from the front driver's side wheel.  It was the kind of noise that can only mean "major destruction is happening right now and its going to cost a lot of money to repair."   I dreaded the idea of pulling the wheel off, certain that I would find a problem I couldn't fix. 

I dreaded the potential scope of the problem.
I dreaded the time it would cost me to fix it.
I dreaded the potential expense.
I dreaded the simple aggravation of having to re-fix something I just fixed.
Besides all that, I just dislike broken stuff.  It slows me down.

Today was the dreaded day.  I pulled the wheel off expecting a mess.  What I found were metal shavings and a "wandering brake pad" but no serious or scary damage.  I also immediately noticed the small mistake that had led to the seemingly big problem.  When I had originally put the new brakes on, I had failed to locate a tab in the right position.  That allowed the brake pad to "leave home". 

Because I had intervened quickly to fix the problem and because the problem was small, I was back in business after about 20 minutes of work.  Rare.

It got me thinking about ministry and leadership.  I'm not a big fan of small things that make big noises in ministry.  I prefer to ignore them for all the same reasons I want to ignore noisy brakes.

But I've learned that as a leader, if you leave some small but noisy problems for very long, they do real damage, cost a lot of time and money, have tons of aggravation associated, and probably worst of all, can grind momentum to a halt.  I believe discerning and dealing with noisy problems quickly is a primary leadership discipline.  It can make or break an organization.

A way to win at home

Recently, I made a staffing change in our home.  I appointed my wife as the CLO, firing myself from the position.  For the uninitiated, the CLO is the Chief Laughter Officer. 

Now I'm usually the nutjob around the house, the one acting like a 9 year old, the one seeking the laughs by pulling my pants up too high.  But just because I'm a clown, doesn't mean I have the real power to make the house a place of laughter.  I may get a temporary laugh out of the kids, but I've observed that the real power for a happy home is my wife. 

I think there are a couple of reasons for this:
#1--she is the tone setter of the house.  she spends 85% of her day (okay, 105%, really) with our 4 kids, particularly when they are out of school.  I spend about 15% of my working days with my kids.  Getting a laugh at the end of the day doesn't set the tone in our home--Gil does.
#2--her smile is more infectious.  I should know; I caught the bug and it has infected me for 16+ years.  When she is smiling the kids are smiling even if they want to be mad.

So if I'm no longer the CLO, what's my job?  Simple--make sure the CLO is well-positioned to do her job.  In other words,

• Keep the laughter in her life strong. 
• Make sure she is doing things she enjoys during her down time. 
• Make sure she has down time. 
• Joke with her when the kids are in bed and its just the two of you. 
• Make sure you have lots of private jokes that you can activate with a simple look and a point.
• Don't let the hard things hold the emotional center of the home.
• Remind her that her joy is one of the best aspects of your life and home.
• Pray for her to have a light heart--a merry heart works good like a medicine.

Swimming with your clothes on

Last night we went to visit a new baby born to a couple in our church.  The hospital was downtown in the Chicago parking version of Catholic purgatory.  Kids weren't allowed up to see the baby but we didn't find that out till we were on the way.  So... when we got there Gil went up to see the baby and me and the kids began circling the block looking for metered parking... yeah, right.

A few minutes into it I told the kids we should pray and ask Jesus for a parking spot.  Jaley thought that was very funny.  "Dad, you are so crazy.  That's the craziest idea I've ever heard!"  So I prayed and then we got silly as we drove around.

A little while later Olivia, 3, began sounding the "potty alarm".  Parents, you feel me don't you?  So after another 15 minutes of driving and hoping she'd forget that she had a bladder, we reached emergency status.  Enter flashers, handicap parking spot and bushes with bark chips.  I did the cradle-with-legs-spread position and we managed to deal with the problem without either of us getting wet.  I ran her back the to the car cracking up laughing and the kids were pretty amused too.

Next stop--park on Chicago avenue with flashers on and wait for someone to move.  As we sat, I began singing a parking song to the tune of your favorite opera aria.  As I was singing, a man across the street stole "our parking spot" so the song became a dirge, a funny dirge, about the man who stole our parking spot.  Belly laughs from all kids with each new octave and each new verse about the man who stole "our spot". 

Then a flash, a vision (it had been about 45 minutes by this point)... there in front of bad-parking-man's spot was an "almost legal spot next" to the park driveway.  There was room to squeeze the van in and no signs saying you couldn't park there.  I knew I could contest the ticket successfully in the absence of appropriate signage so we took the spot!  (Jaley kept asking me, "dad, are we going to get a ticket?")

Now to the swimming part, remember the title?  We took the "stanky tunnel" under Lakeshore Drive (if you've ever walked it, you know what I'm talking about) and walked down to the little patch of sandy beach for some fun time.  Everyone had clothes on (no applause please) so we rolled up our pants to "wade" in the water.  10 minutes later everyone had "fallen" or "got hit" by a wave so that all the kids were soaking wet... and having an absolute riot. 

I gave in to the experience and we had a ball.  I've got to say, swimming with your clothes on makes for a memory that you can't get with your swimming suit and picnic basket.  Later, as the five of us walked back, wet and tremendously happy, I basked silently in what a blessing it is to be a dad.

Heaven, please.

"We're going to make it."  Those were the powerful words spoken by my cousin, Ryan, while standing beside his wife Amy, at the funeral of his 7 year old daughter, Grace.  300 people dried already tear-soaked faces as the two of them spoke in remembrance of their special little one.  On days like these, my heart earnestly longs for the tragic-less environment of Heaven.

7 year olds weren't meant to be the object of car crashes and the subject of funerals.  They were meant to be a source of joy, an expression of raw curiosity, a pleasure to be experienced by their parents and loved ones. 

Grace was that kind of 7 year old.  Hearing her aunts, uncles and grandparents share their special memories was both emotionally tough and yet joyful at the same time.  In 7 short years she expressed loads of personality, dispensed buckets of love and was a child truly wise beyond her years.  A lover of animals, "alone time" with others, bugs, "boys clothes" and silence in nature, she was a treasure to all who knew her.

Now her mommy, daddy, and sister, Helena, have the impossible task of living life again without her.  Pray that the God of all comfort would hold them through this painful season.  Pray that Jesus would be real in their lives.

Winning, again

I'm reading 7 Practices of Effective Ministry from the guys at North Point.  I was turned on to the book by their podcast called Practically Speaking.  The podcast is a complement to the book.

I've really been soaking in the first practice, Clarify the Win, from both the podcast and the book. 

Here's a great line from p. 31:  "It's a funny thing, Ray.  People like to win."  (This from the ficticious baseball team owner/leadership coach in the opening allegory of the book.)

Winning together

I like to win.

I think most people like to win.
Most of all, I think people like to win together--winning in a team is a powerfully bonding experience.
Winning creates a buzz and buzz feeds momentum and momentum runs over stuff... obstacles, mainly. 

Winning happens when...
...a visitor feels so welcomed they are compelled to come back
...people are provoked to life change, over and over again
...an excited new small group leader emerges
...a child goes home excited about her HisKids experience
...a new believer gets baptized
...200 people sing their hearts out to God at 9:11 or 10:53 on a Sunday morning
...people wake up early Thursday morning to read the Bible and meet with God (with their coffee, of course)
...I look more like Jesus today than I did yesterday

Its a short list, but its a start.  What would you add?  What is a recent win in your life?