caffeine, please.

Find the 2

We had a great 21 Laws of Leadership small group session this morning.  Lot's of lively discussion.  Tension was there a few times which to me is always a signpost of a group that is growing to trust each other.  We're really wrestling with the material as it relates to our daily lives. 

Today's laws were:

• 15-->the Law of Victory
• 16-->the Law of Momentum
• 17-->the Law of Priorities

The Law of Priorities was the most valuable to me from this morning's interaction.  It says that for every 10 things I have to do, prioritizing that list so that you can accomplish the two most important things will yield 80% on the production/results side of the ledger.  On the other hand, doing the 8 least important things will yield only 20% production/output.  This is the Pareto principle.  And its powerful.

So the goal when facing a set of tasks is to "find the 2".  Burning it down to that simple of a formula makes it easier to implement for my simple mind.  In fact, I have a painting of the  numeral 2 on the wall of my office (thank you to my #2, Matt, for that gift).  And it has just achieved a new shade of significance after this morning's teaching and interaction. 

Fact is, you either prioritize or you explode.  And if you can "find the 2", you can spend the limited time you have doing the most important things God has for you so that you can make a difference for Jesus.  Lord, help me implement this power-principle.

Thunderstruck

No, this not a post on AC/DC.  (But that is a pretty amazing guitar-open to a song, as a fan of such things.)  The post title is referring to a website that is new to me--www.thunderstruck.org.  This site aggregates quotes and articles that deal with the intersection of faith and culture and are offered without commentary. 

I've just begun combing through it but already I have appreciated (and used) the quotes section on the right hand margin.  This guy is doing good work in getting Christians to look beyond the ghetto (the Christian ghetto) and enter the conversation that people are having about faith and Jesus out in the marketplace. 

This is an age-old endeavor of the church.  Dating back to one of my all-time heroes of the faith, Clement of Alexandria, the church has sought to engage and translate culture with an eye toward Jesus. 

Not coincidentally, I'm also reading Walk On about the spiritual journey of U2 (thanks Ryan S. for hooking me up.)  Its been fascinating.  I have to confess that I have never sustained a love affair with one band for this long without getting bored of them.  I am enamored with U2 and enjoy the songs more the more I listen.  Its kind of weird because I distinctly remember when I was in high school and my friend Steve was wigging out with his U2 fascination and my reaction at the time was 'yuck'.  From then till now I wanted nothing to do with their music, based solely on that initial reaction.

Glad I finally woke up.  Let's engage culture and talk about Jesus some more, shall we?

Courage

Part 2 of a 4 part series called Rise: Live Your Best Life.   We'll look at factors that cause people to rise to greater kingdom influence through the lens of the lives of David and Saul (1 Samuel).
Download courage1_samuel_13.mp3

iTunes podcast subscription link

iTunes approved the podcast so for all you "I'm a Mac" people out there, here's the link to subscribe:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=256011267

Spiritual credibility

We've lived in our current home for about 6 years.  It is the first home we've ever bought and when we were looking for it (18 months of "looking for it"!) we had asked God to use us to minister to people in the neighborhood He eventually placed us.  Over the last 6 years we've had growing opportunities to do that.  We've prayed for neighbors in crisis, given out Christmas gift baskets, helped a woman who's husband died in the middle of the night, invited neighbors to church and done other simple things in Jesus name.

But I'm convinced that what has positioned us for ministry more than anything else is to be a healthy, godly, real family in front of all our neighbors year-in and year-out.  And along with that to participate in the every day of neighborhood life.

Two days ago while I was heading out for an evening run I stopped to chat with a couple neighbors sitting on the porch.  One of them lets fly the common question, "so you're a pastor?"

"Yep."

"What kind of church?"

I was tempted to make a joke but instead said, "an evangelical, Bible believing church."  This led to a brief conversation before I plugged in the earbuds and hit the trail.

25 minutes later when I returned one of the men I'd spoken to from the porch, a neighborhood influencer and longtime resident, was lurking around waiting to talk.  For the next half an hour he shared a bunch of personal and heart-breaking realities he is facing in his life right now.  He also shared that he had recently started attending a church and was clearly very open to Jesus.  I prayed for him and promised to give him a CD version of The Bible Experience so that he could encounter Jesus through the Bible in a fresh way.

Saw him the next day and dropped off the CDs.  He was quietly grateful.  Then later that evening I played ball on the street with him and a bunch of other neighborhood men and boys.  Another neighbor who has always seemed to avoid me, played on my team and we won both games.  Let's just say we connected (there's something about men, winning and connection). 

Just before the third game he says to me, "Are you ready, man of God?"  I looked over my shoulder to see who he was talking to (kidding.)  I smiled.  "Yeah." 

Seems like after 6 years, our family is beginning to see the fruit of gaining spiritual credibility with our neighbors.  And along with that it seems like God is opening doors of opportunity with key neighbors to share in Word what we've been able to share through the aroma of our lives. 

Here's my point--most of the time, real ministry takes an investment of time and your life.  There's rarely a shortcut.  Spiritual credibility is gained one day at a time.

When Waiting Seems Like Waste

Part 3 of a 4 part series called God Love Sex.  Originally taught at New Life Community Church, Lakeview on April 29, 2007.

Download when_waiting_seems_like_waste_9am_kevin_bruursema.mp3

Camping

Last week I joined 3 of our other pastors for an overnight camping excursion at Riverwoods in St. Charles, IL.  Tents, campfires, fishing, dirt, man-stink, canoes, pellet guns, off-roading, no plumbing, cold overnight temps--this trip had it all!  Getting out to nature reminded all of us how great it is every now and then to get out in nature. 

Here are  a couple pics...
Pastor John, Matt and me  (P Joshua taking the photo) preparing our incredible campfire dinner.   Butter-roasted  campfire vegetables with a slow-roasted, smoked chicken.  Makes my mouth water remembering it.

Equally incredible campfire breakfast.  (Stay warm, John.)

"Say hello to my little catfish friend."  (Note the giant chunk a turtle had taken out of his tail--looked like a fresh bite!)

Honoring and Releasing Imperfect Parents

Mothers Day 2007 message at New Life Lakeview (www.newlifelakeview.org)

Download honoring_and_releasing_imperfect_parents.mp3 .

Kickoff of Podcast

For the 3 people who want to listen to my messages (thanks Mom, wife and grandma), we're debuting a podcast feature on the blog.  (The subscribe link is on the side.)  In order to post to the podcast, I need to enter the files as blog entries so you will see short entries with an audio file appearing weekly on the blog.  You can either download from the blog or you can just subscribe to the podcast. 

More details to follow (and bugs to be worked out.)  I've submitted to iTunes but have to wait for them to approve the podcast. 

Passion

Part 1 of a 4 part series called Rise: Live Your Best Life.   We'll look at factors that cause people to rise to greater kingdom influence through the lens of the lives of David and Saul (1 Samuel)
Download passion1_samuel_17.mp3 .

Bound for Glory

Glen Kaiser's new album Bound for Glory rocks.  I got a copy of the album as a thank you from a JPUSA sister who was using our space to lead Redeemed Lives this past year.  Took me a while to pop it in to the CD player but now I can't stop listenting to it on my Nano.
Here's a music video from the album (requires Quicktime to play it.)  You can also subscribe to the GRRRR Records podcast to get this and other content.

Download glenn_kaiser__since_i_laid_my_burdens_down__music_video.mov

Big ups for my sis!

My sister just completed her PhD in Industrial Organizational Psychology from the University of South Florida.  Wow! 
(Pictured:  Dad, sister Kari, sister Kelly, Mom)

Seriously, Kar--youdaman, er... youdawoman!  You earned that goofy robe and that "my other home is in Paris" hat you're wearing.   

If I can brag a minute--Kari received a fellowship to complete her grad and PhD work at USF that paid all of her tuition and a decent stipend on top of that.  She was the first fellowship program grad in her discipline and she was the only student to speak at her graduation.

Kar--I wish Gil and I could have been there.  Glad Dad, Mom and Kelly could be there with your friends to celebrate with you. 

Final stat: 

• Kari's total time in undergrad, grad and PhD work--9 years. 
  
  • Degree achieved:  PhD
• Kevin's total time in undergrad--6 years (spread over 7.5 years)
  
  • Degree achieved:  BS (in Home Economics?)

The girls got all the brains in my family.

Outreach in a box

Nate and I spent some time this morning prayer-walking and brainstorming around the Belmont/Clark community.  As a church we've got 4 different new venue possibilities in the hopper and this one makes 5.  We're taking small steps and praying for people of favor and God-doors to open.  No hurry but continuing pursuit.

Sidenote:  Nate took me by the former homes of The River, the ministry that helped birth New Life Lakeview back in 2000.  Very cool to tap into the past.  In fact, in a very real way pursuing a ministry venue in the Belmont/Clark 'hood is like fulfilling the legacy of our past. 

As we thought through connecting with people in the community we accidentally came up with an idea for an "outreach in a box" idea.  (Outreach in a box:  we assemble, produce and package a servant evangelism project that a small group could then "buy" and take to the streets for outreach, touching anywhere from 150-300 people in a high traffic area.)

Some of the ideas?

• Give away cheap memory stick drives with appropriate media content (worship songs, custom video, sound bites of messages, etc) on them and the church email and logo.
• Give away retro items like Pop Rocks, tube socks, Lego's, rabbits feet, Aqua Net hairspray, etc.  Each has a tag attached with a "Remember when you were a kid and this was cool?  Remember when you used to go to church and God was on your mind?"  Then finishing with, "New Life--maybe its time."
• The Lego idea actually had a cool extra that Nate came up with.  The tag on the Legos says, "What can you make with these Lego's?  Send a pic of your Lego creation to ___.  Most creative Lego figure wins a huge Lego set!"  And then has a website for publishing the pics--in other words, making it Web 2.0 interactive.

Leave your zany ideas for an Outreach in a Box in the comments.  Dare to think "outside the box" (snicker.)

Quote from Sunday

Sunday in a message on Releasing and Honoring Imperfect Parents, I shared a quote from Dennis Rainey.  To me the quote was so powerful that I wanted to repeat it here in case you missed it:

Honoring your parents is an attitude accompanied by actions that says to your parents: “You are worthy. You have value. You are the person God sovereignly placed in my life. You may have failed me, hurt me, and disappointed me at times, but I am taking off my judicial robe and releasing you from the courtroom of my mind. I choose to look at you with compassion-as people with needs, concerns, and scars of your own.

Honoring is choosing to view your parents the way God views you:  through Grace rather than failed expectations.  That is a huge spiritual principle that I believe has the potential to bring great freedom to people living with hurts from home.

Remember that? That was Awesome!

A lighter entry since its Friday...

This morning I had breakfast with Dan T. and he threw down an awesome reference during our conversation--"Tron bike".  (Or as they are officially called, "Tron Light Cycles".)

Remember Tron?  Remember when Tron was cool and edgy and on the cutting edge of film-making technology?  If you do, you're an official 80's dork.  Welcome to the mullet-infested club!

So for the 1% of you that are having a flashback right now to the days of "Tron and Roses", heres a Youtube link to the Tron Light Cycle showdown, straight from the movie.

Go electronic gladiators!

21 Laws, week 3

The 21 Laws Commandos assembled once again this morning, 6am sharp.  One thing about this group--never early and never late.  Seriously--everyone arrives within 3 minutes of each other.  And can you blame them?  Early means "I could have been sleeping" and late means "I'll be late for work cause the group will go long".  Incentive.

This week we covered laws 6-8:

Law 6-->The Law of Solid Ground:  Trust is the Foundation of Leadership

Law 7-->The Law of Respect:  People Naturally Follow Leaders Stronger than Themselves

Law 8-->The Law of Intuition:  Leaders Evaluate Everything With a Leadership Bias

These laws really flow together.  In my view laws 6 & 7 especially are top of the list in importance.  If you aren't trustworthy in competence and character, then you are going nowhere fast as a leader.  And if you aren't increasing the respect of your team by continued risk-taking, courage, and success then your leadership is irrelevant.  I am confident that of all the leadership laws, the Laws of Solid Ground and Respect cannot be delegated to a team member if you are weak in these areas.

What I mean is, if you are weak in Intuition but you have a good intuitive young leader on your team, you can learn to listen to them even if your intuition isn't that good.  And if you are a poor navigator, your team can also pick up the slack in that area without compromising your ability to lead.  In fact, honoring their contributions can even strengthen your team dynamics and ability to lead.

But if you are weak in character and competence (Solid Ground) and if you are not increasing the respect level of your team all the time through what you deliver on (Respect), your leadership will not survive long.  Trust and Respect cannot be farmed out.  (Maybe that's the ultimate "duh" but it is an important "duh".)

Once again, really loving the early a.m. group time slot.  My wheels are already turning for my next group when this one finishes.  Hmmm.

Twosday

On the second Tuesday of the second month of every quarter, I meet with my longtime closest male friend (my #2 after my wife) for a half day of mutual "life coaching".  Today was that day.

I hopped the Metra to Crystal Lake at 6:03am and by 7:30 we were having breakfast at IHOP.  (We meet in Crystal Lake because its halfway between our homes.)

Matt and I have been friends and accountability partners since 1995.  With that history, we can say things to each other that no one else can.  We throw anything on the table that needs attention in our lives and we ask the other for input and direction.  Format:  one talks the other types.  Afterward, we exchange our notes including all agreed upon action steps. 

One big action step for me today--begin working out.  By the time we parted ways I had a pair of running shoes, a workout plan for 3 runs a week that gets me to 10 miles by late August and a huge sense of motivation to get it done.  The operating code phrase for my running plan was, "shut up and run."  Very motivating.  Already got my first run under my belt earlier tonight and I'm ready for more.

And along the way a core value for Twosday is to have fun together.  So we went to a driving range today--I hate golf, Matt loves it but I'm game for anything.  I managed to spray balls everywhere they shouldn't be--including into the guard next to the tee which sprayed the ball up to the ceiling and almost hit the guy next to us.   Oops.

I also came home with a spiritual disciplines "next 6 months" plan, a better sense of my next season for ministry, and a lot of really fun time with my friend.  On the train on the way home I was able to do some message prep for Sunday as well so even the travel time was useful.  Oh and don't tell Gil but I finished most of my Mother's Day/Gil's bday shopping too in less than an hour of power-attack-shopping.

Bottomline--I think it is super valuable to schedule moments like this that are totally out of rhythm but that help you stop, look and adjust your life.  Rarely can things be adjusted over the long haul without some set aside time for digging in and figuring things out.  And I've also discovered that Matt can give me more good insight than a bunch of seminars, training sessions or meetings ever could.

Happy Twosday!

Sleep like a Calvinist

Some Sundays I come home and say, "huh?"  Seriously.  Preaching every week, there are just weeks where I feel like my heart and my mouth are on two different planets and I'm standing outside myself watching them both saying, "had your chance--muffed it!"  (One of my favorite movie lines of all time from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.)

But I received good advice from another pastor a while back.  He says, "preach it and then go home and sleep like a Calvinist.  Don't obsess.  Don't relive it.  Don't edit.  Its done.  Just trust the sovereignty of God, even on a bad day and keep moving."  (My loose paraphrase.)

And that's true in all ministry.  You can think you're prepared and that the ministry will "flow" and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.  Funny thing, God seems to use either to minister to people, but in the process He shapes you powerfully, especially through your perceived failure.

So here's me tonight sleepin like a Calvinist and believing that God's a whole lot bigger than one weak's worth of preaching.  (BTW, do Calvinists count sheep or do they have to wait till heaven to see whether a sheep is actually a sheep.  If a sheep doesn't persevere or if it might not perhaps it shouldn't be counted.  And what about...)

I can't overstate the importance of this interview from Africa

Hey team, time to back to the Christian Vision Project again for an incredible interview with Oscar Muriu, Kenyan pastor of Nairobi Chapel.  I saw Nairobi Chapel on Ngong Road a bunch of times as I traveled around Nairobi--great to get some of the back story on the church.  This interview published on the CVP blog is pretty long but absolutely stuffed with insight.

If you are interested in going to Africa, if you are going to Africa, or if you care about missions at all and if you are an American, this is must-reading.  Pastor Muriu is saying things in this interview that I am certain other African pastors who deal with the West are thinking but that they won't say because they wish to be respectful in their communication.

Don't get me wrong, he is not bashing Americans.  He's just giving the straight dope to Americans on how to partner with Africans in a kingdom-minded way that is partnering rather than colonizing.  I am hugely grateful for the insight I received from the interview.

Here's a nugget:

As a Kenyan I was quite familiar with American long before the first time I came here. The culture shock for me is minimal. But Americans know almost nothing about Kenya. And so the culture shock when they come is very deep. Some of them see destitute poverty for the first time ever.

When you see poverty in America, on your television, it is sanitized. But the first marker of poverty is that it smells. That's how you know real poverty: the smell. I have watched short-term missioners come in, and I've realized, Oh boy, we need to go and debrief quickly. Because they're weeping, they're broken, they have an immense sense of guilt. This is more about them than it is about what they came to do.

Hangover special--Tampa version

I ran across this brief article today at ChristianPost.com (got to say again, this site has news and info I don't get anywhere else and the format is professional.)  Here's the headline:

Salvation Saloon Aims to 'Bless Your Socks Off'

For those of you averse to clicking hyperlinks, the church is biker-oriented, meets in a bar and attracts a crowd of "a bunch of outcasts and misfits" according to its website.  Though this is not an exact picture of what I envision for a marketplace ministry venue in a bar or club here in Chicago, it heads strongly in that direction.

Any other ministry examples out there that you are aware of?  Leave me a comment with the link.  We're investigating and praying and I'd like to see what is working in other venues and cities.

Ministry alma mater

I got a chance this morning to speak at the chapel for my ministry alma mater, Inner City Impact (ICI).  My first 4 years of ministry in Chicago were spent at ICI.  I "cut my teeth" there and made some lasting friendships.  In fact, if it wasn't for ICI, I would not have stayed in the city of Chicago.  ICI birthed in me a love for the city and for urban ministry.

ICI is on the threshold of some exciting new ministry opportunities and I think their best ministry years are ahead--really praying that God helps them find their way through the process to some new vision and excitement.  Change can be a great opportunity to reignite passion.

I spoke from Acts 16 and 1 Samuel 14 on the power of Overflow Ministry.  In brief, here's my outline:

1.    Overflow ministries pursue, pray, adjust and obey  (Acts 16:6-10)

• I believe that the amount of opportunities we take hold of and run with is directly related to the number of wild chances we explore on the way to opportunity.
• I believe opportunity favors the pursuing

2.    Overflow ministries exhibit "vision courage"—they rise to the calling of God. (Acts 16:11-12)

3.    Overflow ministries see opportunity where others see defeat. (1 Sam 14:6)

4.    Overflow ministries have the same opportunity as everyone else but they do more with it. (1 Sam. 14:7-10)

5.    Overflow ministries are filled with people who show courage, passion and integrity in their everyday opportunities. (1 Sam 14:11-15)

6.    Overflow ministries unlearn excuses so that they can learn from their failures. (1 Sam 14:24-15:15)

• Its easier to move from failure to success than excuses to success.