Strategic Spirituality - Todd Hunter
The tag line of the Off the Map Live conference this week is Hear, Listen, Connect. Todd Hunter just came and lead a session speaking on how a strategy of listening or being “missional” must not be disconnected from a personal and corporate lifestyle of spiritual formation.
Here is a quote:
“Spiritual Formation is not something you just add to an already busy and overwhelmed life. Spiritual Formation is a way of rethinking your life that brings meaning and mission to your life.”
I think what he is saying is that we can’t just let the new realizations of how we as Christians need to interact with our world be a strategy, trend or method. We must realize the changes that these new realizations require of us need to be applied to our person and being.
Instead of employing a “listening tactic” with an unbelieving friend, I need to become a good listener. Instead of organizing programs to be more “missional”, I need to personally allow myself to be “sent” out to the people in MY life and the community I live in.
Off the Map Live - First Taste
Kerry and I talk about our “first taste” from the Off the Map Live conference here in Seattle.
World Wide Open
I had a friend point me to a really interesting website / idea. It is called World Wide Open, and it is a group of Christians who want to connect the gifts and passions of the body of Christ with the needs of the world. They also want to create a shared space for the expertise of the body of Christ to further enable the ability to meet needs and spread the gospel.
It is really and incredible idea, and the more I think on it the more it seems so possible. Especially if there was a universal web space that the body of Christ shared. The challenge is to spread not only the vision but the use of the tool as well. That will be difficult because it is hard to build momentum with out using a “brand”, but brands are divisive as well.
And it can’t just be another Christian Social Network, because the way social networks have been built their goal is to keep you online for ad sales. The purpose of this site would need to be connection, empowerment, and then prompts and tools for actual action offline. Like a combination of Facebook and Meetup, with a strong Wikipedia element and a dose of Pownce.
What a daunting task! But man would I ever be excited to see this come about, I would sign up for sure!!!
Attitude as a choice
As a young leader in ministry it is very easy for cynicism and negativity to creep into your attitude. The reasons abound, from frustrations of just being younger and treated as a part of broad 
stroke of assumptions towards your generation, to really desiring to make a contribution but not being able to have a voice.
Regardless of the reasons, it seems like cynicism and a “whatever” attitude creep in very quickly in the ranks of young leadership. I know I have struggled with this and I have been praying and studying the Bible for a solution. My answer comes through the life of Joseph. Yes, we have all studied and even taught on the life of Joseph a lot of times, even with the lame curriculum’s that portray Joseph as a “clip art” figure – ugh when was that ever good?
But as I have been studying his life I think the biggest lesson taught by his example is that our Attitude is a choice based on our level of Trust in God. I have heard that attitude is a choice, but that choice isn’t random. If I choose to follow Joseph’s example and be positive and content no matter my position or situation or age, I can’t just “will” that to happen. The power to live as Joseph did is supernatural, it requires faith, it requires trust that God is working even when it would seem obvious to the rest of the world that he left you a long time ago. So the choice to have a positive attitude is the same choice of deciding to trust in the Promises of God. I think that gets lost in the translation to my heart a majority of the time.
In previous attempts to have a positive attitude, I have attempted to just “will” it, or make it a value, and have usually come up short, or inconsistent. But when I realize that attitude is a faith choice, the power for consistency comes from being feed spiritually and trusting in God. It isn’t a “fakey” pretend everything is okay, it is being fully aware and admitting when things are hard, but having made a choice of Faith that God is in control, and that I actually, truly trust him with that control – no matter what.
That is what Joseph had to do, he trusted God even when he was thrown into a pit to die and then was sold into slavery. He trusted God when he made a choice between his faith and his career, and he trusted God when he was in prison and forgotten by those he helped. And because of that faith, and that trust, Joseph was far from cynicism, he was blessed in whatever he did, and when the timing came, he was READY to be a strong leader. There is a big difference in wanting to lead, and being ready for it.
So, for us young leaders in the church of 2007 – can we trust God in the midst of budget cuts? In the midst of staff conflict? In the midst of financial hardship? In the midst of being lead by poor leadership? In the midst of being left out or forgotten? In the midst of being attacked? Etc…
All that stuff is hard, all of it can work our emotions over like the new recruits in boot camp, all of it takes the center of our attention and leaves us with a choice. Will we chose to trust God with the details that are out of our control and move forward in a positive attitude? Or will we try to grab the reigns back`from God and let our cynicism do the talking?
The choice is ours, and what we chose strongly determines what we will be READY for when God’s timing is right!
Coffee Mold and Rectums
I went to college with Josh and he has always had a fascinating mind and a way with words that I envy. Here is an excerpt of an article on his blog, great stuff…
“I went to make coffee today. When I opened the lid to put in some grounds, I realized two things: 1. I hadn’t made coffee in a long time. 2. I left the grounds in the coffee maker last time I made coffee. 3. There was mold all over the place. So naturally, I started thinking about the old notion of spontaneous generation. (What can I say, I’m a geek.)”
Each Day into 3 segments
This weekend I heard a time management principle from my pastor that I have heard before, but that I am thinking about taking seriously now. That is to make each week into 21 segments; which is 7 days into morning, afternoon and evening, and organizing what I plan to do in those segments.
I have been a Getting Things Done, David Allen junkie for that past 18 months, but I find the distraction of large lists to be counterproductive. I am moving to this middle ground between GTD and 4 Hour Work Week, where I not only capture things so they don’t fall through the cracks, I also limit the things I am trying to capture or just doing the ones with the highest value (80/20 rule land).
Regardless of whether you use 4 Hour Work Week, Getting Things Done, or Franklin Covey, I think Prioritizing your time will always trump Managing your time. If you let a bunch of junk in, you can manage it all you want, it is still junk.
So, here it goes with the 21 segments experiment - I will let you know how it goes!
Faith and Endurance
Endurance is certainly not something we like to have tested. Unless you are one of the weird-os that loved Cross County and running around in embarrassingly short shorts. Today the whole pace of life is fast, instant, on demand, live. Fast food feels to slow; we can’t fast forward through the commercials with our Tivo soon enough, even the search engines on our computers now does a live search as we type the letters in cause we can’t wait to get to the result. The current pace of life is hurried and blindingly fast, and that is why times that require strong endurance can quickly knock us off our feet.
James 1:2-4 is one of the passages that consistently gives my attitude and heart a hard kick in the pants.
James 1:2-4 (NLT)
“2 Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.
3 For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”
Many times I am praying for God to do this, and do that, and to take away hardship. When in reality I am asking God to take away the teaching and testing I need to be ready for anything.
But the phrase that has caught my eye today is in verse 3, “… your endurance has a chance to grow.” When our faith is tested, meaning when our life can’t be lived in our own power – by choice or situation, there is “a chance” for our endurance to grow. It is not automatic. The growth ties back into our attitude of Joy in the midst of trouble.
I have definitely done this wrong. Several troubles or hardships that I have gone through, I have done the mumbling and grumbling. I have gossiped, I have talked behind people’s backs, I have had the wrong attitude, and it was certainly not a time of Joy. I think when you remove Joy you remove the opportunity to grow because when you are complaining and grumbling you have given up. You have given into letting an event, situation or person control you. Instead of deciding to have an attitude of Joy, I have given over to the worse case scenario of life lived in my own power. An attitude of Joy can really only come from fully trusting that God is in control, AND that he is faithful and good at being in control of our lives.
This thought reminds me of a quote from David Allen author of Getting Things Done, “The better you get, the better you better get.” He is speaking about that in terms of personal productivity and the corporate world, but how much could that easily apply to the building of our faith and endurance?
So what does it take for God to slow us down and teach us endurance? Well it takes Joy on our part, and it takes a peace that only comes from trusting in God with abandon. With abandon … hmm that sounds risky…
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