Q Conference Post 2 – Jon Tyson session

The first speaker of the Q Conference was church planter, Jon Tyson.  Born and raised in Australia, he was the young adult pastor in a mega-church in Orlando and a couple of years ago started Origins Church in Manhattan. 

I’ve met Jon a couple of times (even brought my youth group to see him, and yeah, I know, our kids are so lucky, I mean blessed, to have a guy like me taking them to a guy like Jon.)  and really appreciate his humility.  He speaks with a lot of wisdom and brings great ideas and insights to his audience whether it be on Sunday mornings or to a group of fellow leaders at a gathering like this.

Here are a couple things he said that got me thinking:

“We have incredible fruit in our churches on an individual level but there is little cultural fruit”

-       So true.  The success of our churches have been on that individual level.  We all know people who have radically changed their lives through the power of the Gospel and through the discipleship and encouragement of their local church.  What we haven’t heard nearly as much are the stories of churches that have had similar impacts on their communities.

-       Thus the long-term causality has been the minimal effect the church has had on the culture.  We’ve retreated from it, been told it was evil or worldly.  For a long time, the church was only a refuge and not an agent of transformation and now many of them are becoming monuments.

“There needs to be a return of the city

                        Return where cultures are created.

                        We have a mandate – we’ve been commissioned … (gospel)

                        Accept our responsibility – Christ did this like spiritual acupuncture, he took those moments                         and points …           

                       Engage the world …“

-       Jon and later fellow NYC pastor Tim Keller, called for a return to the “city”.  This was more then an anti-suburban cheer but was more of a vision-casting of the hope and need of a city.  I’ve always loved many parts the city, (and I enjoy certain parts of the burbs too.  Who knows what is in store for us? But back to Tyson and Keller.) but the idea was to be a part of the city.  To see it for it’s potential, to see it’s not only worth saving, but worth loving.  They didn’t say this, but all the emphasis that we put on the burbs, maybe we can be as faithful in the city (or attempt to be). 

-       We read things like this and we react because the cities do not have the best public schools, have more crime, polluted, crowded and expensive.  But we all know that at the end of the day, generally speaking, we live where we want to live.  We don’t want to live in the city.  I found myself convicted on this yet again.

-       Cultures are created in the city.  That line alone is a lot to think about.

 

 

He called for the need to create “a holistic theology relevant to our time”.

- Not sure I can put these thoughts into words yet.  I find myself nodding ‘amen’ but that’s all I got so far.  Yes, things need to change.

Erwin McManus – Imagination in Ministry

To all who appreciate Erwin McManus, it’s not often that he makes it to this coast (or if it is, I never know).  On April 9, 2008, Bethel Seminary of the East is bringing in what’s called,  ”Imagination in Ministry” to the Grace Point Church, in Newtown, PA.   Costs $28.Here’s the link. 

Can Hitler be considered a leader?

In seminary we are answering an assigned question via blackboard on whether or not Hitler could be considered a leader.

Guilty of some shock-value here is some my first post:

 

My spidey-sense suspects an ambush from Dave (the professor), but going with the conventional definition) of a leader, Hitler would qualify.   I grew up on comic books so I feel I have an advantage here.  When a character attained some kind of super-power he/she had a choice to become either a hero or villain.  (Watch the first Spiderman and memorize his hero creed, “With great power comes great responsibility.”)

But I see our conventional definition of ‘leader’ as an amoral one.  And we need to rely on adjectives to describe the leadership. 

In fact, I would like to take it a step further and suggest that Hitler was an exceptional leader.  Not in terms of morality, of course, but in terms of influence.  Consider this:  he takes such an evil idea, promotes it by propaganda justified by a booming economy, has soldiers (and citizens) perform and justify terrible acts against their natural human conscience, all because he ordered them too and it takes the most powerful armies on the planet to stop him from taking over Europe.  This is exceptional leadership.

Yes, he preyed on the greed, selfishness, and fears of his followers.  Indeed he was a liar, manipulator and monster but he was leading many for his cause. 

We as pastors get frustrated that we can barely move people in the right direction for the best of reasons they not already agree with but claim is the most important cause of all!  I find myself a embarrassed after thinking about this. 

 

 

 

Lonely & Low Risk

The last thing we need is any more sugarcoating but I am looking forward to the day when Barna gives us some good news.

———–
Leadership Journal, Fall 2006

Lonely and Low-Risk?
by Abram Book, with survey info from Barna.org

Pastors appear to brim with self-confidence, display good communication skills, and have rigorous, demanding schedules, but many also struggle to make and keep friends. And eventually, a large percentage pull back from life’s challenges.

A new study by The Barna Group shows 61 percent report difficulty creating and maintaining personal relationships. Dr. Louis McBurney, founder of the pastoral counseling center Marble Retreat in Marble, Colorado, says a majority of pastors in his care cited “lack of emotional intimacy with others” as the main factor in their decision to seek counseling.

“The expectations people have of pastors to always have answers and be competent to do almost anything just tends to shut pastors out from being open about who they are with somebody else,” says McBurney. “This may not be as true as it used to be, but many pastors were taught in Bible college and seminary not to get close to their people because it can create problems of jealousy and tension in the church.”

Over a long period, this makes pastors guarded. Barna’s study found that pastors’ potential for risk-taking drops off after 20 years in ministry. Pastors who spent 20 years or more at the same church were found to be particularly risk-averse.

“Most people in most careers tend to train during the years when they’re 20 to 30 years old, try to grab the entire world by the horns when they’re 30 to 40, and then ’settle in’ from 40 to 50, or after about 20 years. It’s no different for pastors,” says Dr. Neil Wiseman, a former professor of pastoral development at Nazarene Bible College in Colorado Springs. “Since a pastor will have bumped up against all sorts of resistance during the years between 30 and 40, and since he’s had to deal with every new idea imaginable during that time, it’s probably not a surprise that after 20 years, he’s tired of taking risks.”

Wiseman also cites as factors the sense of career boredom and lack of motivation that some pastors feel after 20 years, and the notion they often feel that taking risks will get them fired. “After a pastor has been in ministry that long, it’s hard for him to start over again if he’s terminated. With that in mind, most pastors who’ve been around that long just figure it’s better not to take chances.”

In other words, without carefully cultivated friendship and fresh challenges, pastors can begin to resemble the Maytag Repairman.
Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Leadership Journal.
Click here for reprint information onLeadership Journal.
Fall 2006, Vol. XXVII, No. 1, Page 10

Why I Don’t Set Goals by Jack Hayford

People and institutions begin to corrode when fleshly zeal is tied to spiritual goals.

What are your primary goals for the immediate and long-range future?” The question came from the audience at one of our annual pastors’ seminars.

“I have none,” I replied.

Dubious stares and blank looks everywhere. I continued, “We never set goals—that is, in the sense of numerical targets, fund-raising drives, or enlargement campaigns. Our one goal is to build big people. Every effort goes into developing each believer in the threefold ministry of worship, fellowship, and stewardship of the gospel.”

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It makes more sense by the end of the article. If anything, applying his ideas will give a healthy backdrop to goalsetting.

Interview with Rick Warren

An interview with Rick Warren by Religion and Ethics Newsweekly

“Dr. WARREN (at Toronto conference): So, I wasn’t wasting my life, but God just said, “Rick, you don’t care about the people I care about the most. I care about the poor and the sick, and the needy, and the oppressed.” And I said, “God I’m sorry, and I will use whatever affluence or influence you give me to speak up for those who have neither.”

Click Here for article

"You are a Freak…"

“Accept that your life is abnormal. Nothing about life as a ministry leader—from its emotional toll to relational demands and constant interruptions—is normal. Accepting that you are a freak with a freakish life will help you not to freak out.”

Mark Driscoll cracks me up.
This was taken from a page of advice from ministry leaders. Click title for more.

Click here for article:
Three Kinds of Leadership