theoquest

Friday, February 11, 2011

Sticks & Chisels 2.3

A couple days ago, I mentioned on twitter that my flipbook app was not updating well. I couldn't figure out why and wondered if it was just me, or if others were having issues. The last thing I expected was a follow up from the CEO and co-founder of the company. But after a simple question,

6drews Mike Andrews

Anyone else having issues with @flipboard not updating?

that's exactly what I got:

@mmccueMike McCue

@6drews yes, you won't have to wait long for that feature request. :-)

This is one of the fruits of social media that is turning all kinds of systems upside down. 30 years ago, the end user of most products would never have access to the chief executing officer of the company that developed that product. How many Chrysler drivers called up Lee Iacocca in 1980 to ask about that whirring noise they heard under the engine? The thought is ridiculous.

But today, someone in a small town near nowhere can mention a problem, and with alerts and searches and other monitoring software, the CEO of a company can discuss the problem with me. Social media has given us a line into the boss's office - and it's given the boss an ear in the community that hasn't always been there.

Thanks, Mike McCue, for developing a great product. Thanks for putting processes into place that allow you to notice someone having an issue with the product and respond. And thanks for continuing to make it even better...
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There are a lot of ramifications that are beyond the scope of this post, but I wonder how well we're using social media in the church in a similar way. Do the people we lead (and the people we hope to lead) feel like we're listening? Are leaders paying attention to the chatter about their ministries? How do we follow up effectively when concerns arise?

The best leaders will be those who listen and effectively tailor quick and meaningful responses to the issues that need addressed.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Speak Up & Listen

"I am young and you are old, so I held back and did not dare to tell you what I think. I thought, 'Those who are older should speak, for wisdom comes with age.'" -Elihu, friend of Job

But what if it doesn't? What if the older are not wiser at all? What if they've missed the lessons they should have learned along the way? What if their advice is of little use, or even harmful?

These words jumped out at me the other day as I was reading through the book of Job, and they've been rolling around in my head ever since. (Probably because I keep reading and re-reading the debate.) Elihu had deferred to the older friends simply because they were older. He let them speak and continue to debate with Job out of respect for their age (and the supposed wisdom that came with that age). That's fine, but at some point, he'd heard enough of their wrong-headed thinking and had to speak up. The discussion had degenerated into the 3 friends telling Job he'd messed up and Job saying he hadn't. (My 4 year old argues better than that!) Their insistence that bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people was nonsense. In addition to that, Job's arrogance by this time had escalated to a point that had to be confronted. So Elihu points out a truth that we need to hear as well:

"Surely it is God's Spirit within people, the breath of the Almighty within them, that makes them intelligent. But sometimes the elders are not wise. Sometimes the aged do not understand justice. So listen to me and let me express my opinion." -Elihu, friend of Job

Wisdom is not a byproduct of survival - it is the result of the presence of the Spirit of God. Just because I'm older than you doesn't mean I'm wiser. So Elihu speaks up - with humility. He could stay silent no longer, so he chastised the 3 friends and presents his case against Job and for God's justice and power. His voice was sort of a pre-echo of what God would soon say Himself.

I think one of the shackles the church puts up with today is that we've marginalized the young and have discounted the validity of their input. Younger generations feel like they're waiting and waiting for their turn to speak, but it never comes. It's no wonder the biggest gap in so many churches is people 18-35; they're tired of waiting, so they move on to meaningful service somewhere else. When we consistently isolate the young from the old, we rob the young of the pleasure of fully participating in the ministry of Christ AND we rob the old of fresh vantage points from which to paint the vivid story of His conquest of death.

Maybe we need more Elihus to humbly deliver fresh words of truth. Maybe we need to ignore a person's age and hear the Spirit within them. Maybe we need to pay more attention when someone lives this out: "Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity." -Paul, friend of Jesus

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Sticks & Chisels 2.2

This time of year here in western Nebraska usually brings with it some adverse weather. The weather app on my dashboard is telling me it's cold enough to keep Lassie inside even if Timmy was dumb enough to fall into another hole. It's up to about 11 degrees this afternoon and will be 20 below tonight. Last night, we had several inches of snow blow in and blow around and just generally blow all night long.

The technical term for all this cold, snowy iciness: winter.

We like to pretend it's a surprising annoyance, but it's pretty much like this EVERY year. Days without a clear sky or a non-icy surface street... cold, cold, and more cold... fresh clean blankets of snow slowly coagulating into a slushy, muddy mess... This is winter. In a lot of places, these kinds of conditions would be paralyzing. Here, we bundle up and kick winter in the teeth.

It's not because we're so tough and ready to fight anything - you'll hear more than an earful of whining today, I'm sure about how this or that should have been cancelled and how the piles of snow are so inconveniently placed. Actually, we owe a lot to the technologies that allow us to keep going when everything around us is frozen. Road sanders, salt trucks, plows, snow shovels, gloves and coats, well insulated buildings, furnaces, boilers...

Frozen fountain in Tucson!

This has all led me to thinking about the usefulness of various technology. These technologies that are so useful for a west Nebraska winter are mostly useless in Palm Springs (where it is currently 66 degrees if you're interested). What would you do with a snow plow in Galveston?

In ministry, we're often quick to jump on technology bandwagons (when budgets allow of course). We see technologies put into use and quickly try to find a way we can justify the shiny, new, light-blinking system for whatever it is that we weren't doing before. Maybe we need to slow down and think about context - is the tool useful? Is it useful, HERE?

I ask this as someone who likes new technologies. I'm not the best capacitor on the motherboard when it comes to all the new technological developments, but I do like discovering something useful that wasn't available before. But I don't want to try to force things to be useful. If the technology is more work than its capacity for being productive, that kind of misses the point, doesn't it?

Then again, this picture was taken last week by my brother in Tucson. Maybe I should send him a snow shovel, just in case...

Monday, February 07, 2011

Disservice?

Soccer gets a bad rap for haircuts, but after this weekend, I'm nominating wrestling for "Worst Hair in Athletics". Shaggy pink mohawks, green goatee (on a parent, not a wrestler, but still...), shaved lines, shaved head with raised lines of no particular design... It was amazing.

I sort of feel like I've done my boys a disservice. (I don't mean by giving them somewhat normal looking haircuts.) Both of them lost both their matches and were finished early Saturday at their second wrestling meet. Both of them faced kids who've been wrestling 3 or 4 years, as opposed to their 6 weeks. When you're only 7 or 8, that's almost half your life! My disservice is in not starting them in wrestling when they were 3.

But wait a minute...

When my boys were 3, did they really need to be in wrestling? Probably not. The learning curve is steep, but is it insurmountable? Again, probably not. There's a kid Siah's wrestled 3 times now (in 2 tournaments), and each time, he's scored more points, gained more control, and spent less time getting thrown around. He's learning. They both are.

I like sports, and I'm competitive. If there's a score, I want to win. I want to see my boys win, too, but yesterday I saw some parents that seemed to have way too much vested in the outcome of their kids' rolling around on a foam mat. I can only hope they'll be embarrassed when they hear themselves on tape, but I'm not that optimistic...

Leaving with some disappointment, I dropped the kids off at home and headed out to the church building where the feelings of let-down and loss were quickly banished. I got to be there for the baptism of an eighth grade girl whose family is a part of WestWay. What a contrast in parents. These guys were celebrating something that really matters! Any disappointment in the wrestling outcomes was eclipsed with the joy of being able to bear witness to the beginning of a new life lived in Christ.

I don't really care if my boys become great wrestlers - but to know Christ... that is something worth working toward. I'm glad we started early - and I pray our priority will always be to see them know and love Him. I guess that's not a disservice at all...

Friday, February 04, 2011

More than Open Chords & Goosebumps

The last message for the series I've been doing with my students on Wed. nights is focused on worship. I want our students to live in a permanent attitude of worship - the way Jesus did. That doesn't mean they walk around singing the doxology all the time. It doesn't mean they sing loud and and proud at church gatherings every Sunday and Wednesday without fail. It means they consistently offer themselves to God for service in His mission to reconcile what's been broken in this world.

I wonder if music has become a worship idol for us? Can you worship without it? Can you worship without your preferred style of it? Worship is more than open chords and warm, fuzzy feelings on a Sunday morning. I was looking at the site for Catalyst Dallas today (anybody I know thinking about going?) and came across a great quote from Michael Gungor that captures this idea:

"If leading worship is just about bringing a group of people into a room so we can get goosebumps and sing songs together, there's not much value in that. But if leading worship is a means to an end, that we leave this place as a different kind of people, as part of a new humanity that God wants to create - the people that are caring for the widows and orphans, that aren't bound by the systems of this world but becoming free, becoming fully engaged in our world - then that matters."

Worship is about how we live our lives - engaging with God and caring for those He loves, offering our selves to Him to be transformed...

How have you been worshiping lately?

How will you worship tomorrow?

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Sticks & Chisels 2.1

Yesterday, the groundhog saw no shadow on a day when a huge majority of our country is frozen solid, so we all look forward to an early Spring. Doesn't really seem connected to me, but... whatever.

Today, I took a looked back into the shadows of this blog and found some of my favorites listed among the most visited posts here over the last 6 or 7 months. Not sure what it all means for tomorrow's weather, but at least we're above zero.

#10 Humility of a Half-Marathoner - Some humble, post-race reflection after the CO half marathon. I can't even remember the pain anymore, but man that was fun!

  #8 Dear Youth Minister... - This is why I don't quit - and I'm glad to be hearing outside this blog how this has been an encouragement to youth workers I'd never have had the opportunity to encourage otherwise.

  #7 A Question Regarding a Church Planting Mindset - Eric Bryant sparked a thought in me that hasn't gone away. What if we were planting a church with a team as big as our current congregation and with the same budget? I'd love to have you go back and check this one out and dream together in the comments section, especially if you're from WestWay...

  #4 Help Us Help Haiti - An invitation to a concert we hosted to benefit the earthquake relief efforts in Northwest Haiti Christian Mission. There is still so much to be done...

  #1 Leaders Who Don't Know What to Do - An admission that sometimes, we just don't know what to do - and that puts us in pretty good company, and causes us to depend on Someone who does know what to do. This one got picked up by YouthWorker (the online home of YouthWorker Journal) for their blog section, which bumped it up from sixth (or so) to first.

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