the village idiot

I've been doing some research for the next First Wednesday. Part of my research, believe it or not, includes learning the etymology for the word 'idiot.' Here's what I've found out about the origins of the word: it comes from the Greek word for a private person uninvolved in public affairs. Others say it describes the person who lives alone, outside the village.

So, I think it's reasonable to conclude that if you're not in community, you must be an idiot! Literally.

It's also interesting to note that the 'village idiot' was not actually in the village...he's the guy who's not in the village.

So, now I have proof that I'm NOT an idiot--contrary to some peoples' opinions--because I'm in a small group.

change

Last Sunday we started a new weekend sermon series called NewPointe (it's the name of our new church). It's about transition/change. Dwight, our senior pastor, did an outstanding job laying the groundwork for where we're headed. He motivated us, challenged us, and even ticked us off a little bit--all good things if you ask me.

As I've been contemplating what this all means for me, I happened to listen to the Catalyst Podcast today. They had an interview with Rick Warren. Rick had some amazing truths to share so I hit the pause button, opened up a Word document, and began typing as I listened. I wanted to get some of this in writing so I could share it with some of my friends (like you).

Here's an excerpt from the interview:

It’s interesting…a lot of people think of me as a visionary. I don’t really know that I am as much as I have a lot of faith. I really do trust God and I think that’s my strongest strength is that I can teach guys how to trust God. I have what I call ‘Polaroid vision’ and that is, when I first started dreaming, I couldn’t actually imagine how it would turn out, I just had a set of values that I believe in. The value that people are looking for meaning in life. That fundamentally that doesn’t change. And one of the things that I’ve discovered is that as a leader, we often are looking at what’s changing, and, of course, the world changes every minute—it literally changes every minute, so if you’re going to build a ministry, you have to build it on what doesn’t change.

A leader often takes the exact opposite approach of what everybody else is thinking, for instance, we’re thinking like right now, “How will the world be different in the year 2020?” Or, “How will it be different in 2030?” And I, on the other hand, am going, “Let me tell you what won’t change by the year 2030. What I know won’t change."

See, you can’t predict the future…nobody predicted 9-11, if they think that they know the future, they really don’t, that’s why don’t really believe in long-range planning. But what I do know is that human nature doesn’t change. And I know that in 2030 people will still be lonely. I know that in 2030 people will still have guilt, they’ll still have fear, they’ll still have resentment. I know they’re still going to be trying to make their marriages work. I know that they’ll be looking for a cause greater than themselves to give themselves to. I know that they’ll be dealing with doubt, with anxiety, with worry…And so when you build your church on first ‘what doesn’t change about God,’ and second on ‘what doesn’t change about human behavior…I know that in 2030 people are still going to be wanting authentic relationships. And so, to me, I don’t try to figure out the future and when I was 25 I wasn’t even trying to figure it out. I was just saying, “What do I know won’t change?” And those things are still true today. What changes is the way that we communicate to people. That changes, as I said, almost by the minute.

The part that sticks with me is what he had to say about building a ministry...you know, that we should build it on what doesn't change. Good stuff.

the catalyst wrap up; donald miller

Don Miller put the cap on Catalyst with a fantastic talk about basically how the Kingdom of God has morphed into a coroporation--God is the CEO and we are consumers. The product we're buying is spirituality.

"What is the new false God of culture?' he asked. Entertainment.
He said that there are three dominant influences on the church today:

• Free-market economic system
• Darwinism
• The Bible

He outlined basic marketing strategy:

1. Convince you that you are not happy
2. Invest in my product and you will be satisfied.

He implied that this is the approach the church has taken. To shed some light on it, he read Matthew chapter six from the Message. Read it. It's powerful.

He said, "Love doesn't always give you what you want. It'll give you what you need. Love is willing to let you be in discomfort or even pain. Love is most interested in growing you into maturity--whatever it takes."

Thus endeth my summaries of the Catalyst 2006 conference. You can read the "official" Catalyst speaker notes here.

kevin carroll

A dude named Kevin Carroll spoke on the final afternoon of Catalyst. Interestingly, Kevin started a gig called the Katalyst Consultancy. He's the author of the highly successful book, Rules of the Red Rubber Ball.

Amazingly, Kevin Carroll is the guy who, in a sense, started the whole rubber-band bracelet phenomenom (you know, LIVESTRONG, DREAM, etc.). He told the story (you can read about it here).

Kevin's an inspiring guy. He asked us the question: What inspires you? For him, as a kid, it was a red rubber ball.

He says your dreams need to be lofty and audacious. Which got me to thinking, what are my dreams? Are they indeed lofty and audacious? I need to work on that.

One of the things that impressed me about Kevin Carroll is that it was obvious that he is a giver. The dude just gave stuff away like crazy. I made a note to myself in my workbook: Give stuff away!

More notes: Kevin said that missions are finite, dreams are infinite. Here's a great quote he shared: "To realize one's destiny is a person's only requirement." Powerful thought.

He passed out thousands of Nike "DREAM" bracelets at the end. Here are his five ingredients to a dream:

• dedication
• responsibility
• education
• attitude
• motivation

This guy, Kevin Carroll, he dreams big...and he inspires others to dream big. I want to be that kind of guy.

louie giglio

Louie spoke on Friday morning at Catalyst. And, as expected, he delivered the goods. Louie is just the dude. Honestly, he's one of my heroes. He talked about living lives that are inspired...and thus, inspiring others. Here are some of my notes from this session:

Inspire people with something bigger than themselves. Root them in the love of God and the life of Jesus Christ. In other words, we ought to inspire people to shine!

Louie said that vision and strategy are great but they don't carry people--it's love! We are compelled by the love of Jesus.

He said that the question we need to ask is, Okay, we've reached all these people, but what do we want them to look like? Here's what he said:

• God-lovers: above all things they're in love with the Father
• Christ-likers: they're people who look like Jesus (less coming together--more going out and living like Jesus.
• Pace-setters
• Hell-raisers
• Inside-traders: they have an inkling that there's more...heaven is on the way!

Another one could be this: risk-takers. Louie said that to the greater degree that we roll the dice, the greater the potential.

ketchup on your hotdogs?

Today we unveiled a new poll question at www.smallgroupleaders.com: Do you like Ketchup on your hotdogs? I was listening to a sportstalk show this morning, Mike & Mike in the Morning, and they were hotly debating whether or not it's appropriate to put ketchup on your hotdog. One guys says yes, the other guy says, no way, not ever!

So now it's a poll question on our homepage. I already voted. I say, "Yes!" I love ketchup (and mustard) on my hotdogs. In fact, I'm good to go with just ketchup, or just mustard, but the best, in my opinion, is ketchup and mustard on your dogs. My wife Jenny disagrees. She's a mustard girl.

I like to mix it up occasionally. I'll do relish or chili or whatever else is available but the best is the good ole ketchup and mustard dog.

By the way, the best boloney sandwich looks like this: really, really fresh white bread, baloney, (I know, it's supposed to be bologna...but nobody calls it that) american cheese, ketchup, mustard and potato chips crunched onto the sandwich. I could go for one right now.

groupLINK--the friday the 13th edition--our best groupLINK yet!

Last night we held our fourth and final GroupLINK for 2006. And it was our best one yet. Approximately 70 people attended...most were able to hook up with a small group leader and jump in on an eight-week starter group.

One of the highlights for me is getting to banter with my GroupLINK co-host, Celeste. I know I give her a hard time but she is EXCELLENT as a co-host.

The whole night was great. The food was great--we enjoyed a tremendous selection of pies. The crowd was great--you can always tell when they're having fun. The small group leaders who attended did an excellent job. And the best news is, like I already said, a whole bunch of people got connected to a small group.

Huge props go out to Teresa Raber for another job well done. She and her prep team had the place looking great. They do a great job of creating a fun, exciting, inviting atmosphere.

If you haven't checked out a GroupLINK event yet, everyone's invited. The idea is that if you're not yet in a small group, GroupLINK is the place to get connected to one. Our next GroupLINK event will be Saturday, January 27.

GroupLINK rocks!

donald miller and rick mckinley

Donald Miller is the author of several books including one of my favorites, Blue Like Jazz. Rick McKinley is his pastor at Imago Dei Community Church in Portland, Oregon. He's also written a couple of books. They shared the stage for the first session of day one at Catalyst.

They challenged me to ask myself: Am I risking anything for God? Or, am I more interested in safety and comfort.

Rick said this about repentance: it's not about the things you're doing. It's about the things you're not doing.

They said the primary identity of the church is this: We are the sent people of God.
The church is for the world--not for us.

When the church starts caring about the things the community cares about--then we'll have influence. Then we'll be relevant.

So how do we start leading our people into mission? By creating pathways to get messy and dirty.

Come to the next First Wednesday (November 1) and you'll hear more about this...and we'll explore some messy and dirty pathways together.

gary haugen

Gary Haugen serves as the President of International Justice Mission. IJM is an international human rights agency that rescues victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery and oppression. Based on referrals of abuse received from relief and development organizations, IJM conducts professional investigations of the abuses and mobilizes intervention on behalf of the victims.

Gary's talk, quite honestly, was the hardest to say with at Catalyst. It was the end of a very long day for me (I started out at 4 a.m. to catch flight to Atlanta at 5:45 a.m.). Plus, he's not the most dynamic speaker...good but not, "Wow!" What he and his team is doing is incredible. One of the things IJM does is go into countries where kids are sold into sex trafficking and they investigate and rescue. You can learn more about what IJM is up to and how you can help at their website: www.ijm.org.

john maxwell

John Maxwell was interviewed by Andy Stanley at the Catalyst Conference. Here are some of my notes:

John reinforced what Marcus Buckingham had to say earlier in the day. He said, essentially, "Don't waste your time strengthening your weaknesses. Concentrate on your strengths. Lean toward the things you do very well."

• delegate the things you're weak in
• focus on the the things you do well

He said things like competence, skill, giftedness, ability, etc. can really only ever increase by about two numbers (for instance, if you're a five in one area, the best you'll ever be able to become, realistically, is maybe a seven). On the other hand, things like attitude, commitment (things that you choose), can go from a one to a ten. The more choice you have in a situation, the more potential you have to change.

John quoted Howard Hendricks who said this about people who fall morally: People who fall morally have these three things in common:

• no accountability
• they're not continually in God's Word
• they never thought it could happen to them

Here's what he recommend we do, as leaders, to guard our hearts:

• Pray "lead me not into temptation" daily
• Get an accountability partner
• Surround yourself with prayer partners

marcus buckingham

Marcus Buckingham followed Andy Stanley at the Catalyst Conference. This cat was with Gallup for 17 years and now he has his own gig. He's written three best-selling books. His main thing is helping leaders and managers focus on their strengths rather than simply improving their weaknesses. He says when we do that, we set ourselves up for maximum personal growth and success.

Here are some of my notes from his talk:

The difference between over-achieving organizations and under-achieving organizations is that the over-achieving ones have great management (leadership).

He says people join organizations...they quit their boss. In other words, they come on board because of the values, philosophy, mission, opportunities of the organization...but they will leave because the boss (leader) doesn't cut it.

The job of a manager, Buckingham says, is to turn a person's talent into performance. He adds that what makes great managers different from average ones is that great managers find out what is unique about each person and they capitalize on it.

With this whole strengths vs. weaknesses idea, Buckingham says weaknesses are not "areas of opportunity," rather, they're areas of least opportunity. So focus on your strengths--that's where you, and your organization will benefit the most.

catalyst conference 2006

Catalyst it is an innovative and organic community of young leaders that provides relevant training and cutting-edge resources to maximize their influence. In other words, it's cool, it's relevant, and it's helping me become a better leader.

I went to Catalyst last week (Thursday and Friday). Got to hear Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Donald Miller, John Maxwell, George Barna, Marcus Buckingham and others. And oh, get this, as a special treat halfway through day one, they brought out Jeff Foxworthy. He did a whole bunch of redneck stuff including "Rednecks in the Bible." Here's a sampling:

"Sampson had the mother of all mullets. He killed a thousand men with the
jaw bone of donkey. If that isn't WWF pay per view! Tell me you
wouldn't pay $29.99 to see that."

But I digress. Back to the stuff that impacted me the most...

Andy Stanley kicked things off on Thursday morning with a powerful message about leadership. Here was my bottom-line take-away from his talk:

"Leadership is stewardship. It is temporary and all leaders are accountable."

He used Daniel 4 and 5 as his text. The key phrase from the text that keeps repeating in those passages is: The Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.

Andy emplored us to lead with diligence...we've been put where we are for a reason. He said that if God has called you and gifted you...is there anything you should be afraid of? No! Fear nothing! You're not working for man (you're accountable to men), you're working for God.
A personal note to myself during this session...I wrote down, "My hallmark should be humility." Andy said that we are where we are because God put us ther and he can take us out at any time (that's humbling if you ask me).

To sum it up: Leaders should be

• diligent
• fearless
• humble

I'm working on it.

I'll blog more about the other speakers. Maybe I'll take one per day for the next week or so. Stay tuned...

musically speaking

Here are a couple of CD recommendations I have. These are both new to my collection and I've been listening to both of them a lot lately:

DecembeRadio has a great sound that seems influenced by some of my favorite 80's bands but their music definately has a modern feel.

Desperation Band offers some great modern worship.

I highly recommend each.

our mission in life

I recently listened to a Podcast with Tim Sanders. During the interview he said something that really caught my attention. He said, "Our mission in life is simple; participate in the end of suffering."

I thought, wow! That's huge. So I did a little surfing to see if I could read more about this. I found his blog. In it, he goes on to say, "If we reduce suffering in the world, we enable the positive. We make a difference. You cannot make people happy and you cannot make them like you. You can, however, be a part of the solution instead of being part of the problem. Suffering is everywhere waiting to be addressed. It comes in physical and mental forms from hunger to uncertainty."

Now, I don't know if you know who Tim Sanders is or not...he's a little on the weird side...but this dude impresses the heck out of me. I really, really connect with his way of thinking and his approach to life.

His statement about our mission in life has me thinking...am I actually doing that--participating in the end of suffering? Or, do I just talk a good game. Too often, I'm afraid, I'm more about talk than action. I want to change that.

biker sunday (my second in two weeks)

I just got back from the going my the longest ride of my short motorcycle career. I rode with Bill and Kathy Whitmire and a few of their friends to Syracuse, Ohio (waaaay down on the Ohio River) for their Biker Sunday. The ride was about 300 miles round trip. I froze on the way down but we had absolutely perfect weather for the ride back (because I'm a newbie, I don't yet own the proper and appropriate "riding gear." That means a sweatshirt, jeans, and a Buckeyes jacket while everyone else was wearing leather chaps, H-D boots, and expensive leather jackets...oh well, I'll catch up with those guys some day).

Back to the trip. It was a lot of fun. I was able to catch up with my good friend, Steve Combs. Steve mentored me while I was at Grove City Church of the Nazarene. He was the guest speaker today (did a great job, as usual). 8 or 9 people came forward to receive Christ in this little bitty church right on the banks of the Ohio. I think there were well over 100 bikes there today. The sanctuary was packed. I had to side in a folding chair way off to the side. The food was phenominal. Good old-fashioned home-cookin' (including soup beans made right there over an open fire along with juicy and tender pulled-pork sandwiches).

My buddy Steve has this incredible ministry called Leave a Mark. His Biker Sunday in Grove City had to move to Crew Stadium in order to accomodate the 8,000+ people who attended it this year. Very cool.

It was great hanging with Bill & Kathy and the gang. Bill & Kathy are going to be giving leadership to NewPointe's biker ministry next year. I'm very excited about that. Anyway, that's why we went. I wanted them to hook up with Steve. Mission accomplished.

college footbal...baptist style

Apparently Ed Young (Senior pastor of Houston's Second Baptist Church) is a Rice University football fan. According to the grapevine, Rice's head coach, Todd Graham, was spotted visiting the chuch last weekend and Dr. Young decided to have the crowd do "the wave" for Rice in honor of the coach's visit.

Everybody did the wave except for two people: University of Houston's head coach Art Briles and his wife who, from what I hear, have quietly and without recognition attended Second Baptist for several years. Oops.

Speaking of college football...HOW 'BOUT THOSE BUCKEYES! 5-0! Huge win over Iowa last night. This could be our year! Go Bucks!