church

This past weekend I was at a bar with a mechanical bull. With mechanical bulls there are two general camps of people. Those who have ridden the bull and those who haven't yet secretly want to but are a little scared. Those who have ridden it usually love it and even find it a little addicting. So, we talk others into riding it. That was my mission this past weekend. I talked several people into riding the bull. I just have to get them past that little fear they have and then they give into their desire to get up there.

Looking around the bar some more I could see the same thing happening all over. People were talking others into doing thing. It wasn't always with the mechanical bull. Other times it was talking someone into doing a shot. Sometimes it was talking someone into a game of pool. And, still other times it was one guy talking another guy into hitting on some girl. In any case people all over the bar were talking each other into doing things.

Each time I saw someone talking someone else into something I saw enthusiasm, real effort, and a desire to do 'it' grow in the person being talked into something. And, often times it works. People get up on that bull, people take that shot, and a guy will go hit on that girl his buddies point him at. That's when it hit me. Why doesn't this happen with church stuff?

Have you ever listened to a leader and thought, "You just don't have it right"? Have you looked at the world around you with all of the different types of leaders and wondered what makes a good leader? I have been asking myself both of these questions for the last couple days but rather than look at what a good leader isn't I decided to look at what a good leader is. Abraham Lincoln is considered, by scholars, to be the best President in US history so I decided to look at his leadership style for insights into what I should look for in leaders locally, in the church, and on a large scale. What I found was somewhat amazing and was left wondering if Lincoln wouldn't get booed out of office if he lived today.

We are all biased when we look at the world around us. No one has clear glasses. Some are rose colored, some are brown, and still others are green. These biases we have affect what we look at and how we think about it. Before we look at something new in an honestly subjective or objective way we need to accept our biases and sometimes drop them.

Our teachers, through life, have biases, too. This affects what they teach and how they teach it. Sometimes they teach something that is not the truth because they believe it so strongly. Still, others teach the truth and people won't even listen to them because of a bias.

Before we can honestly dive into something of controversy, like evolution, creation, Genesis, or God, lets look at some of the biases we have.

Leaders are only one part of successful ministry. A far larger part, in number of people, is the volunteers and workers. These are the people that carry out the work of the ministry most of the time (God steps in occasion and parts seas n' stuff). Let's dive into what can be done to help them be a success.

First, as in all things ministry related we have to put God first. We need to pray for the people God wants working in the ministry, for God to send the people He wants working in it, and for God to lead them in this.

Now, on to the other maybe not so obvious things....

Being a ministry leader isn't easy. There is so much going on, so much to organize, so much to remember, and so much energy to have and share. Over at the Project Management Source blog they have come up with a list of "101 ways to organize your life".

While some of these tips make me go "duh", they are a great and gentle reminder of simple little things we can do to help ministry along from a leadership point of view. And, as I wrote about yesterday, A leader is a key part of any successful ministry.

I am looking for a good daily devotional and am wondering what the peanut gallery thinks about this. There are a few things that go through my mind when I think about this:

• Something old and not tied to pop culture. If God doesn't change than His teachings shouldn't either, so the age of the devotional shouldn't matter.
• Something that challenges me to open and use my bible.
• A devotional that challenges me to action in life and doesn't just talk about happy happy joy joy things.

So, any thoughts?

Successful ministries are hard to come by these days. It's not that God isn't backing ministries, it's that our sin keeps getting in the way and killing them. This doesn't have to be the case. We don't have to let that happen. Here are a few key elements that can help a God backed ministries be a success.

God Backed

The first thing one needs is the ministry to be God backed. It has to be something God cares about. If it isn't, then why do it? At the same time God calls us to do certain things in certain places at certain times. This is a theme through the bible. It's not about what we want to do when we want to do it, but about what God wants how and when God wants it. We should respect that, pray to God, follow scripture, and let God lead us.

The path we walk in life has many forks, how do we choose which path to walk? This is the question that everyone asks at either one time in their life, or more likely, regularly throughout life. This morning, around a fireplace at a cabin in the woods, a few of us went from relaxing to a deep conversation about just this.

It all started with a book. The book is about an unhappy church worker. One, who had done ministry for some time, was left feeling empty. As a result he changed his life and wrote a book about it. The book talked about filling up your internal tank and seeking God. But, and there was a but..... we didn't agree with what the author wrote.

Outreach isn't easy. Sometimes it is downright hard. Today was one of those days but it ended with an intriguing twist.

This afternoon I was talking to one of my coworkers about God (I know, it's not very PC but oh well). This coworker is usually fairly well thought out and reasearched on the things he talks about. Before he gives his opinion he dives into things and has some form of backup to his beliefs. So, I was suprised when he told me what he believed about God and admitted it was what he felt about people and God without any backup material.

Last Night, churchrelevance.com post a blog entry about Asian Americans being the next big trend setters. While, this may be what is happening in society, the same style trends should not be those of the church.

According to the post, "Respondents identify (1) technology/gadgetry, (2) anime/manga, and (3) video-gaming as the top three primary areas of popular culture where they are driving overall trends in the U.S. marketplace." In this case the they is Asian Americans.