caffeine, please.

This guy will pitch in a world series within the next decade

Bob Costas' voice can be heard in the voice over setting the scene for the Angels-Mets World Series, 2015.  Taking the hill for game 3 on this auspicious night of baseball?  None other than John Odom, the man who was traded during his minor league career in May of 2008 for (drum roll, please)... 10 maple bats.

And do you think that because of this trade he's hurt?  Offended?  Angry?  Bitter?  No.  He's laughing.  He's owning it fully.  He's planning to make this the low point of his career--"it can only go up from here," he says with a chuckle.  This is a story I love.  Let's go to ESPN for a report and interview...

Forgiveness, leadership and true grit

I recently heard a story on NPR about a speech Bobby Kennedy gave the day that Martin Luther King was assassinated.  Hearing it stirred my soul.  Last night during our worship gathering I was talking with a woman who works for one of Bobby's sons, Chris Kennedy, and the speech came to mind again.   Since we'll be teaching on forgiveness this weekend I thought it appropriate to share the story and the available video from this powerful speech given on the spot in a very painful moment of our history.

Some backstory info from theleadershiphub.com:

Robert Kennedy gave this speech, forty years ago (April 4th, 1968). Kennedy was due to give a Presidential campaign speech in a predominately black neighborhood in Indianapolis. He knew, but the crowd didn't, that Martin Luther King had been killed that night. You can hear him say at the start of the clip "Do they know about Martin Luther King?"

The sheriff's department tried to get him to cancel the speech, because they thought it was too dangerous to address a crowd that night. He refused. From the back of a flatbed truck, he abandoned his campaign speech and made this one instead.

There were riots in 100 American cities that night in outrage and grief at Dr. King's death. The one major city that saw no riots was Indianapolis, where Robert Kennedy had made this speech.

(An Italian news network captured the video, hence the Italian subtitles over the video.)

Union Station

First some snapshots:

• I received an email yesterday from a church family who is moving away.  They feel on one hand sure of God's direction toward their new home across the country and at the same time, "deeply struggle with leaving our home at New Life." 
• Last weekend we visited a former church family that moved to Ohio.  I still remember the coffee I had with Tom when he shared the news that they were moving.  This couple had been very plugged in--an integral part of our core team of ministers. 
• Last week I received an update email from another family who had moved on from New Life more recently and who also had been a vital part of ministry.
• Two Sundays ago two young college graduates said goodbye to me after 4 years of investment in the life and ministry of the church.  One was headed to Eastern Europe, the other the Arizona. 
• Two other graduates who moved away last summer regularly email me with updates on their ministry training. 
• On this very blog, Jelani commented yesterday.  He and wife Holly had important roles of ministry for a number of years and are dear people to us.  They moved to Portland several years ago--the place God was calling them.

And this is just a small sample of the people I encounter regularly who are coming and who are going in our church community.

We minister inside Union Station.  Not literally, of course (at least not yet.)  But we minister in the Union Station phase of people's lives.  There are broadly two types of people at our locations of Lakeview and Lincoln Park--those who are busy working in the station and those who are arriving or departing "life trains".  People settled (for now) and serving and people in transition from and to other places.

It is a privilege to minister in an environment like this.  People in the Union Station phase are full of life, full of questions, and eager to make a difference for as long as they can.  They are also typically very open to God's leading and are very teachable.  And people working "in the depot"--in the station--never have a lack of opportunity to serve and minister if they have their eyes and hearts open.

I don't know if this is a prophetic image or not, but it helped me process and clarify our role within New Life and within the Kingdom.  I want to spend more time clarifying this picture and figuring out how we can be more effective at ministering in our environment.

Revolutionary business model

My most recent issue of Inc Magazine had these guys on the cover.

"So what," you say?  Fair enough.  These guys are Jake Nickell and Jeffrey Kalmikoff, executive leaders of Threadless, a local t shirt company that is charting a uniquely 21st century business model.  In fact, Inc calls them the most innovative small business in America.

I think their "customer is the company" business model has implications for the church.  Threadless has successfully (even if somewhat accidentally) created a powerful version of community.  In fact, they are a community before they are a company. 

Now, the church is supposed to be the expert in such matters as community... but sometimes our tools need sharpened and sometimes we need to update the whole toolbox. 

I'm not sure where Threadless' approach falls in relation to the church--new tool or new toolbox--but read the article and share what you see as crossover helps for the church as it builds community.

New roads

This past weekend Gil and I and our tribe (Jaley, Tyce, Lena and Olivia) hopped in the Chrysler, filled the gas tank and took to the highway. 

Here are some highlights from trip:

• Skyline Chili, a Cincinnati creation of beanless, thin chili served over spaghetti noodles with cheese on top seemed a lot like, well--spaghetti.  Is this simply a stubborn unwillingness to eat the real thing or a strange attempt at cultural (and I use that term loosely) distinctiveness?  I don't know.
• The Planetarium presentation at the Creation Museum was worth the price of admission all by itself (we got in free through our friends' membership but you get the point).  I was thunderstruck by the incredible magnitude of the Cosmos and how ridiculously small even our solar system, let alone earth, is in the scheme of it all.  I bought the DVD version and look forward to watching it again and showing it to people.  Dr. Jason Lisle, the creator of the presentation is whippin' smart.
• I have several Wii induced injuries from our time at Ron and Mel's.  I wish I could say they resulted in expert Wii game play.  They did not.  We will not be getting a Wii--even if I could buy the console, the medical bills would wipe me out.
• Another Wii comment... watching Tyce box on the Wii was pretty much the funniest thing I've seen in a few weeks.  Does the phrase "in to it" mean anything to you?  He just about knocked out the TV several times.

• We passed through 3 cities (Indy, Columbus & Cincy) and four states (IL, IN, OH, and KY) on the trip.  Great to visit and see new things but I'm always glad to come home to my city, Chicago.  Fact:  Chicago is better than bears or snakes.  (Thanks, Dwight Schrute).
• We need Chik-fil-a in Chicago. 
• Gas is cheaper here than in 9/10 of the world and we make more money than 9/10 of the world as well (I just made both of those figures up but I'm pretty sure they're right.)  So, I refuse to whine about gas prices.  Now car repairs, that's another subject.  I reserve the right to whine about car repairs.
• There is some strange law in the universe regarding children and the messing-up of confined spaces that I do not understand.  I had the van immaculately clean when we left and by the time we got to dinner at Hardee's it looked like Matt Foley's van minus the river.  But, I've also learned that what the kids mess up, they can clean up.  So they did--and they did a great job.
• Great to be anonymous in church on Sunday and to see the world as an outsider.  Great also to know that things back here were well-covered in my absence.  Thanks Mike H. and Pastor Mark for covering things at Lakeview and Lincoln Park.
• Jaley and Lena made me proud.  They slept in the same room as Julia, Mel's 2 year old daughter.  Julia woke up at 3am on Sunday.  Jaley and Lena changed her diaper and put her back to bed without going to get Mel.  Our kids are growing up.
• Children are able to survive a 6 hour car ride without a DVD player.  (Beyond 6 hours, I do not know.)

more useless travelogue, including the reason for the entry title, in the extended body...

Caffeine stats

I love stats and I love coffee.  So you can bet that the merging of those two made me very happy.  Here are some fascinating Friday stats on coffee:

• Total retail sales of coffee in the U.S. in 1990--$30 billion; in 2008--$80 billion. 
• Coffee is the second-most-traded commodity on the global market.  First is oil. 
• 23,000 cups of coffee are downed around the world every second (that's more than 710 billion cups a year.)
• A decadelong European study found that men who drink 3 or more cups a day suffer less mental decline in old age than nondrinkers.
• Finnish scientists found that locals who drink 10 or more cups a day were 84% less likely to develop Parkinson's disease than java-phobes.
• Baristas from Copenhagen have won the World Barista Championships four times in the past eight years.

Mentored

James S. Stewart, a Scottish pastor from the middle of the last century, is an author I discovered via a footnote.  (Footnotes can be valuable paths to hidden gems.)  Some have called him the greatest Scottish preacher ever and Preaching Magazine calls him the greatest preacher of the 20th century.  (Sidenote:  if you ever come across audio recordings of JSS, please let me know.)

I just finished his book Heralds of God.  This should be required reading for every pastor.  So much insight and wisdom.  I felt like I had an extended mentoring session with a gifted and proven pastor.  Here are just a couple nuggets from the book:

City of the Year

Fast Company is a must read in my world.  And this last issue, even more so.  FC's city of the year 2008?  You guessed it--Chicago, the greatest city in the world.

Earthed

I'm reading Seeking God:  The Way of St. Benedict by Esther de Waal.  Its essentially a laymen's commentary on Benedict's Rule.  Great stuff.

One quote grabbed me yesterday.  The goal of the Rule of St. Benedict was to produce "a life that is earthed in Christ." 

Earthed.  That's a great word.  Being earthed in Christ--depicts walking with God with a hands-dirty metaphor.  Unearthed--a vivid description of disconnection.

Mexique and the Spares

I took Gil out for her birthday on Friday night and we got to do two things we don't normally do.  We ate at Mexique on its opening night of operation and then we headed over to Fitzgerald's in Berwyn to catch the Spares.

Mexique has Mexican cuisine with a French influence and the Chef and his wife, Carlos & Iliamar Guytan, are a part of our New Life Lakeview location.  I love Carlos' story.  He came to Chicago as a young man and started as a dishwasher in a restaurant.  When he asked to move up to a cook the owner refused so he moved on to a place where he could learn the trade.  He worked his way up little by little so that he was able to apprentice under some of the best chef's in Chicago.  The meal was great and the place is very cool--don't miss the chance to have a special date their soon.

The Spares are an Americana/bluegrass country group from Chicago.  Jodee, the female voice of the band reminds everyone of Alison Krauss--she's an effortless singer with a great stage presence.  Her bandmate Steve is equally skilled.  He's got a great voice and is an amazing guitar player.  My favorite instrument in the band is the electric mandolin--the guy who plays is awesome and the instrument looks like a guitar that spent too much time in the dryer.

Good to break up the routine of our dates with this night out.  We had a great time! 

10 Signs You May Have Relational Issues

So on Sunday, I want to use some humor to step into teaching on relationships, connecting and isolation.  I've worked up a proverbial Top 10 list and I'm asking you, the caffeine, please team, to add your own items or nix any of mine that land with a thud. 

I will use knee-slapper contributions on Sunday (with credit given of course.)

10 Signs You May Have Relational Issues:

#10    Your cat/dog is the only one who really "gets you". 
#9    "I already have plans with Friends tonight," means you'll be hanging out later on with Ross, Rach, Joey, Phoebe, Monica and Chandler.
#8    You don't think your halitosis is "that big a deal".
#7    You feel Twitter is too intimate and should be used only by married couples.
#6    You thought the book Bowling Alone was a celebration of your favorite pastime.
#5    You're emotionally exhausted and needing alone time after replying to a text message.
#4    Your Fave Five includes Fandango, the Chinese Takeout joint around the corner and that number that tells you what the exact time is... <beep>
#3    You run to the bank to check your balance at the teller every day so you can get in some quality "hangout time"
#2    The Budweiser "Dude" commercial guy has given you some valuable relational and communication tools.
#1    The last time someone knocked on your door you hid and called the police.  (Your neighbor will never ask to borrow sugar from you again.)

Don't be shy--share your humorous thoughts with the rest of the class.

The blessed Nudge

I'm a big fan of Chip & Dan Heath--the brothers who wrote Made to Stick.  They also write a column in Fast Company that read with interest every time my copy arrives in the mail.  I love the originality, simplicity and groundedness of their concepts. 

Their latest column is worth a read.  The power of a nudge. 

My wife calls me "the steamroller".  (Steamrolling would be the anti-nudge.)  But when I hear them talk about the power of nudging people in a direction, I realize it is true and even scriptural.  I'm pretty convinced that most of the Spirit's guidance in daily life is in the form of a nudge.  (Sometimes its also a nuggee, when necessary.)

The best preaching is a nudge when I think about it.  I've rarely been changed by a message that solved everything.  But I can think of many times when preaching has nudged me into change. 

How have you seen the nudge in action?  How have you been nudged and the result was a good change?  How have you nudged others and the result was a good change?

"That's my Power Spot"

I had a meeting yesterday afternoon with a great couple from our NL Lakeview location.  God has them in a season of job transitions right now so we sat down to talk about possibilities and ideas as they plot their next step ('a man plans his steps but the Lord directs his way'). 

As we talked we began to see fields of opportunity to do "work as mission"--to marry together a career with making a difference in people's lives--in a creative and non-traditional way.  By the end of the conversation I was so excited about the possibilities that I was ready to drop everything and join them in pursuit of this venture.

I've come to realize that some of the happiest moments of my life are when God uses me to help people see the possibilities they have to make a difference for Jesus--to get their lives on mission for God.  They are "Gehazi Moments".  I love to be there at the inception of an idea and then help it go from idea to reality.  And the crazier and more impossible the idea, the more excited I get.  I love to help people figure out their "power spot" (love that phrase from Sonny Arguinzoni--and I love how he says it.  A friend and I heard Sonny speak 10 years ago in California about the "power spot" and its still fresh with me today.)

I know other people who find their happiest moments when they make order out of chaos.  Its their power spot.  (My wife is an "order from chaos" person.)  Personally, I like to see chaos emerge from order and then to take that chaos and help focus it into a laser beam of missional power.

What is your power spot?  What % of your time do you spend working in/toward your power spot?

Richard Florida Authors@Google

Readers of this blog know that I'm a big fan of the research of Richard Florida.  His recent book, Who's Your City, is a valuable resource for people who want to understand cities.  Prof Florida was recently at Authors@Google to talk about the book.

Sidenote:  I love the concept of Authors@Google.  The premise seems to be, invite a thought-provoking author to present a thumbnail of their work to Google employees for the simple reason of adding value to the employees' lives.  Honestly, Google probably takes better care of their employees than just about any church I know of.  So I'm wondering,  how could we harness the concept of Authors@Google at New Life?  How could we bring great thinkers, writers and people of faith into our staff environment to present their best material and let it be a catalyst for growth, adding value to our staffs' lives.

Poems

Its my wife's birthday tomorrow.  This will be the 19th birthday of hers that I've been able to celebrate.  The first one was her sweet 16.   

Seems like yesterday that she was a cheerleader and I was a soccer player.  Seems like yesterday that I was making eyes at her from across the parking lot we used for marching band practice while the band director yelled in his megaphone.  Seems like yesterday that we were in the kitchen at 6521 Cherrywood making Sunday night pizzas for her family. 

As I was writing in her card tonight I decided to write a poem.  (Not sharing the poem--it was just for her.)  I like writing poetry.  I don't do it nearly as often as I'd like.  But certain moments move me to want to write poems. 

A man should love his wife enough that it stirs poetry out of him.  Thank you God for that Redhead you gave me.

Honey, I shrunk the gardener!

What's your caption for this freaky news story photo?

Guest blogger

My wife writes a devotional every two weeks for the MOPS group at New Life Lakeview.  (She's the writer of the family--people have asked her to write a devotional book.  What can I say--I married up.)  Here's last week's entry:

My Journey of Forgiveness

    I’ve  been on a journey.  A journey of learning how to love and forgive.  I guess I’ve probably been on this journey since I first knew what it felt like to love someone and to be loved, and to wound someone, and to be wounded by someone.  Can I admit that it has been a painful journey at times?
    We all know that it’s those we love most deeply that can in turn leave the deepest wounds in our soul.  So, in learning to love, we must learn to forgive.  The Bible is certainly not silent on the issue of forgiveness.  God makes it clear that in order for us to be forgiven, we too must extend forgiveness to those who have sinned against us.  (Matthew 18:34 & 35, Mark 11:25, Luke 6:37)
    But the issue of forgiveness is never as black and white as we would hope.  Sometimes it is – someone wounds us, genuinely repents by saying sorry, and asks to be forgiven.  Other times, the wound is inflicted, time passes, and finally the offender, mostly out of obligation gives a lame apology in hopes of pacifying the situation.  Still other times, we are wounded, and the offender refuses to repent or perhaps the offender doesn’t seek repentance during his or her lifetime, and we are left with an unresolved wound.
    As I’ve wrestled with each of these different issues, I’ve screamed, cried, pounded fists, and at times, demanded that God bring justice.   One thing my husband has helped me to understand (as we’ve fought things out over the years) is that forgiveness is never deserved, even though God requires it.  Something I’ve been learning more recently is that while forgiveness makes it possible for our hearts to heal, it doesn’t insure that relationships stay the same.   I think I’ve been confused about that for a long time, and am finding peace in knowing that forgiveness can sometimes mean loving by releasing and letting go.
    I’m still on a journey.  I’m not claiming to have all the answers in regard to forgiveness, but I think I’m beginning to learn what it means to extend genuine forgiveness that ultimately frees the heart from bitterness.

Dechurchification update across the country

Chris Salzman over at ThinkChristian.net (a blog I regularly read) sent me a link to an article on Dechurchification happenings around the country.  Here's his link and a couple referring articles charting dechurchification as a national urban issue. 

• From the Washington Post
• From the New York Times
• From the Get Religion blog

The Church has got to wake up on this.  It pains me to see that we can't figure out the kingdom agenda here and keep church buildings working for the name and glory of Jesus.   I know that God doesn't need buildings.  And as a church we'll never let buildings be an issue that determines ministry.  But buildings do open up ministry options.

I've said it before and I'll say it again--buildings are a stewardship; nothing more and nothing less.  Maybe if we ring this bell loudly enough and in the right places, the story can be written differently.   

Reading

Just finished Church Shift and Church of the Perfect Storm.  Both of them were pretty short reads.  Thumbnail reviews...

Church Shift is a "step up to your church's calling" type of book by Sunday Adelaja.  Sunday is a Nigerian-born pastor of the largest church in Ukraine.  (God has a good sense of humor.)  What I liked about the book--Sunday's story and his personal devotion to Jesus are compelling, his leadership boldness in the marketplace was inspirational, and the manner in which he carries his pastoral burden while challenging people to live out their personal mission was soul-stirring.

Some prayer help

Do you ever go to pray and just don't know where to start?  You want to pray but you simply feel empty-handed.  Whenever I feel this way, I pray the Bible.  In fact, even when I don't feel this way--when my heart is full of prayers--I pray the Bible.

Praying the Bible--interactively reciting God's word back to Him--is a soul-igniting prayer practice.  I find that by the end of praying through a section of Scripture I sense my heart being warm to God and my words reaching heaven and the depths of my soul at the same time.

Colossians is a great book to pray through.  It is chock full of worship, intercession (pray for others), and supplication (prayer for yourself).  Try chapter 3 in particular.  Replace the tense from 3rd person ("you") to 1st person ("I") and walk through that text out loud to God. 

Keep in mind--this will require you to have your eyes open (unless you have the chapter memorized--not a bad idea).  And you can pray with your eyes open!  You can even pray while moving around (thank you Jesus.)  But pray.  And pray the Scripture.  It is enriched with power and focus that will revolutionize your praying.

What are some of texts you use to pray Scripture back to God?

The Waldensians

I have often wondered about the faithful expression of Christianity between 1000 and 1517 in the Western World.  That period of history known as the Dark Ages is full of Papal abuse of authority and wealth and Roman Catholic doctrinal compromise.  Today I've learned of a sect that arose in that season of history who had practices and beliefs that were much more in line with the Apostolic faith of the early church than the excesses of the Roman Catholic church of the middle ages.

Who are they?  The Waldensians.

I'm only beginning to dig into the history of this group but here are some snippets of who they were:

• "the Waldensians were more activistic and outreaching than sacramental or reflective"
• "the Waldensians are an early test case in the area of lay ministry. Their main sin was to take too literally the Biblical command to, '. . .teach them to observe all that I commanded you.'"
• According to Roman Catholic church hierarchy, the founder, Waldo, "arranged for the Gospels and some other books of the Bible to be translated in     common speech . . . which he read very often, though without understanding their import.     Infatuated with himself, he usurped the prerogatives of the Apostles by presuming to     preach the Gospel in the streets, where he made many disciples, and involving them, both     men and women, in a like presumption by sending them out, in turn, to preach."

Later excommunicated by the Roman church, they were viewed as "pernicious" in their "heresy" because:

• In the first place, because it is one of the most ancient; for some say that it     dates back to the time of Sylvester; others to the time of the Apostles.      
• In the second place, because it is the most widespread. There is hardly a country     where it does not exist.      
• In the third place, because, if other sects strike with horror those who listen to     them, the Leonists, on the contrary, possess a great outward appearance of piety. As a     matter of fact they lead irreproachable lives before men, and as regards their faith and     the articles of their creed, they are orthodox.

Sounds to me like being a heretic for all the right reasons.  Looking forward to reading more about this radical little group that managed to last from 1170 all the way to around 1500.

Sign on the door

I saw a sign on a photography studio/training center door today as I drove by it on Lincoln.  The sign said simply "Beginners Welcome". 

I immediately felt invited by that sign.  It said, "we may have fancy pictures up on our storefront but if you don't have a photographic clue, we'll help you and we won't be snotty about it." 

I was thinking... what would that kind of a sign look like on a church door?  What would it say?  Any suggestions?

Expelled, in brief

I got a chance to take in Expelled on Tuesday.  I was eager to see the movie and it did not disappoint.  The movie provides compelling evidence of the intolerance of the scientific establishment to squash any conversation that does not start with wholesale acceptance of Darwin's theory of origins. 

This is not a Christian project.  Ben Stein is a devoted Jewish man who believes the Hebrew Scriptures.  And as a journalist and researcher, his interest is to expose what is happening out of the public eye.  I think  he succeeds and along the way he is pretty hilarious in a dry-witted manner.

My favorite scene is when Stein is searching downtown Seattle for the Discovery Institute.  Let's just say I can relate.   

Open Mic Night at the Pub

Last night was our first Experiencing God worship and story night.  Shanda and Rachel did a great job planning for the night and it was great to see about 6 or 7 small groups well represented. 

We started the open mic testimonies about 8:05 and frankly, I wasn't sure what to expect.  About 8:55 I had to simply say, "that's it for tonight".  The testimonies flowed one after another.  I don't know what everyone was experiencing but hearing the God-stories for so many different people's lives was tremendously faith-building.  It was exactly the encouragement I needed.  Thanks to all of you who shared.

Now for this next part of the story I need to back up a bit in the day...