Duo Ante Meridiem, Oink (It's Pig Latin, Folks!)

It's 2 a.m.  Do you know what your pastor is doing?  Well, I don't either, but I can tell you what's going on in my life right now.  I'm awake.  I've been awake for quite some time.  I could probably attribute it to the fact that my wife's dog (notice: he's my wife's dog when I'm frustrated with him.... unless you ask her, then he's my dog when she's frustrated with him) decided that he needed to go to the bathroom twenty minutes ago.  I don't mind taking the dog out at 2 a.m. because, if I don't, he'll probably pee in our bedroom, which means I have to get up and clean it up... at 2 a.m.

It's possible that I'm awake because of the roasted garlic chicken pizza that I had for dinner.  I know that I shouldn't eat too much of something that has garlic on it, especially if it is in the form of garlic butter.  For whatever reason, garlic butter doesn't sit well with me.  That's right, I just inadvertently told you that I have gas because of garlic chicken pizza... and now it's not so inadvertent.  My stomach is slightly upset... at 2 a.m.

It's possible that I'm awake because I'm really, really thirsty.  As I laid in bed, trying to get back to sleep, all I could think about was how thirsty I was at that moment.  Being thirsty is not one of those things that just goes away the more you think about it.  So, now I sit here with a glass of milk... at 2 a.m.

It's possible that, for whatever reason, I started thinking about our personal finances.  Much like thirst, it's a little difficult to just stop thinking about finances when they pop into your mind.  I'm not particularly worried about running out of money.  Katie and I both have good jobs that pay us well.  There's really no reason to worry about it... I've actually paid all the bills for the month already, but I'm still thinking about our financial future... at 2 a.m.

It's possible that I'm awake because I have things that have to be done today.  I have a sermon to finish, a bulletin to put together, print and make copies, DVDs to watch (seriously, I have DVDs that I have to watch as part of my job... then I have other DVDs that I wouldn't mind watching, but probably won't get around to for a while).  Things need to be done today, and they're on my mind... at 2 a.m.

It's possible that I'm awake because I'm thinking about some of the paperwork that I have to get done for ordination.  I have a sermon to write, spiritual reflections to.... reflect, and a Bible study to brush up all in the next two weeks as I work towards becoming a full member of the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church.

It's possible that all of these things are playing a role in why I'm awake and writing at 2 a.m, but I don't think they are the primary reasons.  I've been thinking, praying, wondering what the future holds.  I'm wondering if the River Banks Cluster is going to do ministry that will make an impact on the world around us.  I'm wondering if Vermillion and Fountain Counties will be any different because of the presence of the United Methodist Church.  I wondering who in the world is going to want to take their free time and invest it in this thing that we are calling a ministry cluster, and if people from other churches are going to do the same.

The two churches that I serve in this area decided to join a different cluster.  I think it was a good move (that's why I recommended it).  What I only partially realized at the time was that by making this move, I suddenly would become the cluster leader.  I don't know what that looks like (which is why I have to watch those DVDs).  Honestly, I'm not sure if anybody really knows what that looks like, but I'm willing to give it a try.  I guess a part of me has always seen myself as a reluctant leader - someone who had the job because nobody else would do it.  Sometimes I forget that I have been called by God.  I don't have to know exactly what to do, but I had better be prepared to listen for God's call in the midst of everything.  That's always easier said than done.

I've also been doing some reading over the last couple of nights.  I don't read as much as I would like to, but once I get an interest in a book, it doesn't take me too long to get through it.  I started reading Communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley and Lane Jones.  I love reading Andy Stanley's books.  They are so simple, and yet so applicable in how I approach ministry.  This particular book is about one of my passions in ministry - preaching.

I know, I know, it sounds obvious that a "preacher" should be passionate about preaching.  Honestly, though, I don't think that is always the case.  If some of the "preachers" that I have heard were passionate about what they were preaching, then they have a funny way of showing it.  By the way, you've probably noticed that I keep putting "preacher" in quotation marks.  That's partly because I hate the term.  Pastors need to be more than preachers, they need to be visionary leaders... which is something that I sometimes struggle with.  Anyway... back to the book.

The first part of the book is written in narrative form, and it draws the reader in.  I seriously can't believe that I read nearly 100 pages in about an hour and a half.  It usually takes me forever (seemingly) to read that many pages of most books.  I'm about to get into the nuts and bolts section of the book, and already, my preaching style is getting wrecked.

I want to preach messages that will make an impact on people's lives.  I'm tired of hearing, "good sermon" and not seeing any real change in people's lives because of what I've said.  I already know sermon topics until the end of May, but when I look at those topics, are they sermons that are going to move people to a place where God is calling them?  Or, are they just going to be another series of "good" sermons that people remember for a grand total of 2 hours... if that.

It's 2:54 a.m. and I've been awake pondering these things for nearly an hour now.  Soon sleep will set in once again, and I'll wake up with these issues still rattling around in my brain.  Ever wonder what pastors do at 2 a.m.?  Well, hopefully, for his/her sake, your pastor is sound asleep right now.  As for me... well, you know what's going on tonight.

Visioneering

It's been a long time since I've updated my reading reviews. Mostly because after finishing three books in 2 weeks, I haven't really finished any others yet, though I have still been adding to the reading list. A little backwards, I know. Regardless, the most recent book that I have picked up is one written by Andy Stanley entitled Visioneering. I haven't come across any of Stanley's work that I haven't like so far, and Visioneering was no different. Here he walks through the story of Nehemiah and shares some insights regarding vision. Here are some of the quotes that popped out to me:

• "Visioneering is the course one follows to make dreams a reality. It is the process whereby ideas and convictions take on substance" (8).
• "Looking for something doesn't necessarily mean you will find it. But it sure increases the odds of seeing it if it is there to be seen.... Our tendency is to pray for miracles. But in most situations, it is more appropriate to pray for opportunities. More than likely you need an opportunity rather than something supernatural" (31).
• "And to focus on what's around you diminishes your ability to focus on what's before you" (48).
• "You will know what God has put in your heart to do before you know how he intends to bring it about. Often, you will know what long before you understand how" (55).
• "The vision calls us to imagine what could be. The reason behind what could be moves us to believe that it should be" (99).
• "A vision is what could and should be. A plan is a guess as t the best way to accomplish the vision" (156).
• "To accomplish the important things you must learn to say no to some good things. More often than not, it is good things that have the greatest potential to distract you from the best things, the vision things" (203).
• "Don't sacrifice your relationships for the sake of a business or a ministry or, for that matter, for any other vision" (228).

I have way more than the above underlined throughout the book. In fact, I doubt that I could go more than three pages without underlining something. The above is just a sampling. As always, Stanley's book has something significant upon which to reflect on nearly every page.

I started reading The Habits of Highly Effective Churches by George Barna now. I may be able to get through this in about a week, maybe sooner. I have a long list that I'm trying to get through right now, and the most dangerous thing is when my extreme case of literary ADD kicks in. I try to read 4 books at the same time, and usually, I don't get through one of them.

Life Lessons from Farkle

I have recently been hooked on a game on Facebook. Actually, I've been hooked on a couple (I think I may have a mildly addictive personality...), but the most recent one is called Farkle. Farkle is a dice-game a lot like Yatzee in that it uses dice. That's really the only similarity between the two games. Here's a quick rundown of the rules according to the Facebook version:

1) You start with six dice.

2) In order to keep rolling, you have to score something on each roll.

3) Once you use a die as a part of a score, it gets taken out of the next roll.

4) You have to have 300 points before you can end your turn.

5) If you do not score on a roll, then the round is over and you get no points.

6) If you roll a one or a five, you get 100 or 50 points, respectively. These two numbers are your best friend because as long as you have at least one of them in a roll, you can potentially keep playing.

7) You can also score by getting three-of-a-kind in any number, three pairs, or a straight (1 through 6).

8) There are ten rounds in each game.

Now, so far, the online, Facebook version will show me the top scores from my friends, but it will not allow me to play against them live. It's basically a one-player game right now. My top score is listed, and my goal is to beat my top score (and the top scores of my friends). Okay, so that's the background information. Hopefully it wasn't too tedious. If you've made it this far, then you are actually interested in what I have to say, or you skipped the rules above. Either way, please continue...

So, with Pandora jamming to the Lifehouse station, I give you...

Life Lessons from Farkle

Life Lesson #1 - Sometimes in life, it's just you trying to beat your best. Competition is healthy, for the most part. It challenges us and pushes us to go one step beyond what we thought we could do. More often than not, our only limitation is the obstacles that we have placed in front of us.

Life Lesson #2 - Things happen that we have no control over. Isn't that the truth? There are not many more explicit signs of this than when we play a game with dice. I cannot control what gets rolled when those dice come out of my virual hands. If I don't have 300 points, I have to keep rolling. A lot of the time, I end up getting Farkled before I've even hit the minimum points. I've even gotten it on the first throw before! There's no way to control it. You just pick up the dice and start over. On the flip side, if you get a straight, you get 1,500 points. The only way to do this is right out of the gate on the first toss of the round. There's no strategy, no way to make it happen. It just does. Good things happen, bad things happen. That's life.

Life Lesson #3 - While we don't have control over some things, there are other things that come down to a decision that we make. If I'm sitting at 450 points in Farkle, I can take the points and end the round, or I can decide to continue to roll. Now, hypothetically, I would have already rolled 4 one's and 1 five to put me at 450 points. I still have one die left to roll. I know that I need to roll either a one or a five in order to continue my turn with any hope of scoring points. I have a decision to make. I know the odds, but the odds mean diddly-squat at that moment. I have to decide whether or not I'm going to take the points and run, or if I'm going to risk them for more.

Life Lesson #4 - Knowing all the facts doesn't make the decision any easier. It certainly doesn't hurt to know that I have a 1 in 3 chance of getting the needed value, but it doesn't make that value appear when I do decide to throw the die.

Life Lesson #5 - Our past sometimes helps our decision making. If I've already thrown one Farkle, I am hesitant to take a chance on getting another one. Getting three in a row causes the player to lose 500 points. Do I really want to put myself in a position where I might get that third Farkle in a row and lose those points?

Life Lesson #6 - Keeping an eye on the future also helps our decision making. If I'm on the final round of my game, and I still haven't topped my high score, I'm rolling those dice until I either a) beat my high score, or b) get a Farkle. I think even if I were playing against a live opponent, I would have to make this decision. Because if you aren't going to take a risk from time to time, you aren't going to win. Oops, I think that's #7....

Life Lesson #7 - If you aren't going to take a risk from time to time, you aren't going to win. Sometimes you have to take a risk in life. Sure, it may be easier to play it safe, but if the result is just going to be pedestrian, then why bother? Average is all right from time to time, but there are times in life when we have to be willing to take a risk and become better than average.

Life Lesson #8 - It's not over until that final Farkle. There is always hope. Even if you are 2,000 points behind in that last round, you can hit a hot streak and rack up some serious points. I've had a few rounds go over 2,000 or even 3,000. That's when taking a risk pays off. What would've happened if I didn't take that final risk? I would have lost anyway.

Life Lesson #9 - And finally, when things are going bad or something happens that completely works against your ultimate goal, there is no need to cuss. You can just shout out, "FARKLE," pick up your dice and get on with life.

Next Generation Leader

I just finished up Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley. Overall, I thought it was a good book. Very easy to read, which is always a plus, and it seems to be a characteristic that is common with his other books as well. Here are some of the key points that stuck out to me during my reading.

• -"Perhaps the two best-kept secrets of leadership are these: 1) The less you do, the more you accomplish; 2) The less you do, the more you enable others to accomplish" (17).
• -"Only do what only you can do" (19).
• -"We should strive for balance organizationally, but it is not realistic to strive for balance within the sphere of our personal leadership abilities" (23).
• -"Leaders who are not in touch with their own weaknesses feel that they are as good as anybody else in their organization at anything that pertains to leadership" (25).
• -"We must never forget that the people who follow us are exactly where we have led them" (28).
• -"Being busy isn't the same as being productive.... The most productive people I know seem to have more, not less, discretionary time than the average person.... Observation and analysis confirm that 20 percent of our efforts result in 80 percent of our effectiveness" (34).
• -"The primary reason we do too much is that we have never taken the time to discover that portion of what we do that makes the biggest difference" (36).
• -"We know when we are misemployed. We know when our talents and efforts are being misappropriated. What we don't know is how open our supervisors are to hearing about it" (39).
• -"There are times when you must pitch in and do things that fall outside your core competencies. But those occasions must be chosen strategically, and they must be the exception, not the rule" (43).
• -"Next generation leaders are those who would rather challenge what needs to change and pay the price than remain silent and die on the inside" (51).
• -"Leaders provide a mental picture of a preferred future and then ask people to follow them there" (52).
• -"Leadership is about moving boldly into the future in spite of uncertainty and risk" (55).
• -"Strategies and goals have their place. But they don't define leadership. Leaders see and seize opportunity. And in most cases, the opportunities take them by surprise" (60).
• -"Leaders worth following are always carefull" (61).
• -"The only way to figure out how something can get done is to refuse to take your eye off what needs to be done" (68).
• -"Don't allow the many good opportunities to divert your attention from the one opportunity that has the greatest potential. Learn to say no" (70).
• -"Leaders worth following are willing to face and embrace current reality regardless of how discouraging or embarrassing it might be" (72).
• -"It is impossible to generate sustained growth or progress if your plan for the future is not rooted in reality" (73).
• -"Facing current reality is often nasty, but always necessary. Nasty because it may entail acknowledging that you aren't as far along as you thought you were. Necessary because you can't get where you need to be if you don't know where you are to begin with" (73).
• -"You must allow your mind to wander outside the boundaries of what is and begin to create a mental picture of what could be" (74).
• -"This is the tension every good leader lives with: negotiating uncertain terrain while casting a clear and compelling vision" (86).
• -"People will follow you in spite of a few bad decisions. People will not follow you if you are unclear in your instruction, and you cannot hold them accountable to respond to muddled directives" (88).
• -To enhance clarity in the midst of uncertainty: 1) determine your certainty quotient; 2) express your uncertainty with confidence; 3) seek counsel; 4) measure your success by the scoreboard, not the playbook.
• -"Uncertainty exposes a lack of knowledge. Pretending exposes a lack of character" (94).
• -"Leadership is not about making decisions on your own. It is about owning the decisions once you make them" (95).
• -"Clarity of vision will compensate for uncertainty in planning" (97).
• -"In the world of leadership, however, we operate under the misguided assumption that because we are leaders, we don't need to be led" (105).
• -"A good coach will evaluate your performance against your potential" (106).
• -"If you are not teachable, you are not coachable" (110).
• -"Great leaders are great servants" (113).
• -"An effective leadership coach: 1) observes, 2) instructs, and 3) inspires" (119).
• -"As a leader, you are not responsible for knowing everything there is to know about leadership. But you are responsible for sharing what you do know with the leaders around you" (127).
• -"You can lead without character. But character is what makes you a leader worth following" (131).
• -"Character will do what's right even when it's hard" (133).
• -"The day will come when progress seems to call for a compromise of conviction" (135).
• -"Leading with character is not about doing right to avoid consequences. Leaders worth following do the right thing because it is the right thing. Virtue is not a means to an end. It is the end" (138).
• -"Moral authority is established once it becomes clear to those who are watching that progress, financial reward, and recognition are not a leader's goals" (139).
• -"The fact that some people choose to follow you is not necessarily an indicator that you deserve to be followed" (151).
• -"To leave a legacy that goes beyond accomplishment alone, a leader must devote himself to matters of the heart" (152).
• -"To become a leader worth following, you must be intentional about developing the inner man. You must invest in the health of your soul" (153).
• -"Character is personal, but it is not private" (155).

I know that's a lot to swallow all at once. Take some time and come back to it from time to time. Better yet, get the book and check it out for yourself. It's good stuff.

Up next: Releasing the Power of the Smaller Church by Shawn McMullen