The Great Struggle (part 3): The Beat Down Test

We’ve had some great feedback and discussion this week through the blog, facebook, and email. Thanks for participating. I do see this whole thing, this blog as being interactive and one big discussion group, so keep your thoughts coming!

We’ve talked this week about the temptation leaders face when they start to become really good at what they do, or at least when they start drawing attention to what they do – we start to like the attention, the glory, the celebrity, and so the pursuit of those things competes with the message or the vision you are so committed to.  In Acts 14, Paul provides us with one more lesson, a test of what we are really all about.  It’s not a fool-proof test, there are some really dedicated fools out there, but it’s a pretty good one.  I like to call it “The Beat Down Test.”  After responding to being called a god by turning the focus and the glory back to God, some shady people enter the picture. They rile up the crowd, who moments earlier had been calling Paul the god Hermes, and they stone him to the point where the people think they have killed him!  So they drag him out of the city and leave him for dead. Fortunately, Paul’s friends come and clean him up, bandage his wounds and, I imagine, offered him a ticket on the next bus out of town.  But Paul goes right back into the city, right in front of the people who just tried to kill him.

So here’s the “Beat Down Test.” Paul got beat up but because he was dedicated to the message and the vision and NOT his glory, so he went right back at it.  All of us have gotten beat up, maybe not physically but definitely verbally, mentally, and in every other way.  How do you respond? If celebrity, pats on the back, and any of the other things we’ve talked about this week are driving you, you probably aren’t walking back into that city. You’ll find another city where you can find people who will appreciate how special you’ve convinced yourself you are.  But if you are 100% committed to your vision and to God, like Paul, you respond to the beat down by risking another one.  No one likes taking “The Beat Down Test,” but there are few things that better help to test your real motives.

What are some other tests, and how can we learn to overcome The Great Struggle?

The Great Struggle (part 2): Why are you doing this?

All of us struggle at one point or another with the desire to be recognized – not only to get the credit you deserve, but everything that comes with it. Confidence.  Coolness. Swag. Celebrity (not reality TV-like celebrity, usually, just the recognition that you are someone special in your context).  The kind of leader you are comes down to how you handle that temptation, because you will face it.  Do you accept it and begin to seek it out or do you turn the attention back to the One or the what you are leading people towards?

We see a great example of this in Acts 14, when Barnabas and Paul go into Lystra.  After healing a man who had been disabled from birth (apparently this guy had such an incredible hope and faith in the power of God that Paul could see it!), the crowd immediately began to give Paul and Barnabas all of the credit and the glory.  The people actually called them gods, and not just any gods, big ones – Zeus and Hermes.  Led by the local religious leaders, the people began to worship them and were preparing to offer sacrifices when Paul and Barnabas ran out yelling and put a stop to it asking the simple question and restating their sole purpose, “Why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God…”

Ok, you PROBABLY haven’t been mistaken for Zeus, but I bet you can relate anyway.  They went out doing what they loved and felt called to do. We know Paul’s story, how his life was absolutely transformed after his encounter with Jesus, and his response was to commit himself to seeing others transformed by the same Savior.  Whether you are a pastor, a small group leader, a volunteer at a shelter, or your kid’s basketball coach, you most likely got started because, like Paul, you had a vision. And it was pure and good.  Also like Paul, once you experienced some success, people started looking at you instead of the vision you were committed to.  Paul’s response provides us with a blueprint for how to respond, only instead of asking others “why are you doing this,” we need to ask ourselves, “why am I doing this?” For God and the good of others or for the spotlight that comes with success? For the good of the community or for the perks? The answer is found not so much in our answer, but in our response. Paul and Barnabas immediately turned the focus back off of them and to the vision.  You can say the right thing, give the right answer, but the way you respond will almost always give you away, maybe not immediately, but in time you’ll be exposed.

What’s worked for you when it comes time to deflect the credit and the glory back to God or to your mission when it comes your way?

The Great Struggle (part 1): So it begins

One of the great struggles for great leaders, pastors, and communicators is the inner desire for credit, glory, even a bit of celebrity.  We know that’s not the right attitude, but unfortunately it gnaws at all of us, sometimes more than others for sure, but if we’re honest it never really goes away.  For most of us, probably all of us, it didn’t start out this way.  We started doing what we do because we loved doing it, because we wanted to make a difference, because no one else was doing it and that just wasn’t ok. Whether you planted a church, took a job as a teacher in an urban school, got asked to speak at a small women’s retreat, you said “yes!” for the right reason.  Before long, though, we started getting pats on the back, people wanted to buy us coffee to more spend time with us, they even tell us they brought someone to church just because they knew we were speaking or singing that week. (By the way, I don’t think any of these things are bad in and of themselves)  I’m not going to lie; all of those things usually feel pretty awesome.  And so the struggle begins.

This week we’re going to dig into this a little deeper with the help of guys like Barnabas and Paul, and talk about how we can work through this.  I’m hoping we’ll get some good discussion going together because we’ve all faced it and have experience to draw from. While no one has mastered it, perhaps you have some insight into what to watch out for and how to guard against the trap.  I’ll post on Thursday and Friday this week and I hope between now and then that we can continue the discussion.

Let’s get it started:

In your context at work, in the church, in your class, at home, etc, in what ways does this struggle come at you?  Ex: I really love it when you

lead _____.  They should let you do it more often.

                                             

Breaking Down Church Terminology: Clap Offering

If you've been in church for a long time, you probably don't realize that you say things that a lot of people don't understand.  It's not your fault really, we all do it - at work, with friends, on the golf course, wherever. We all have "insider" language and, unfortunately, that often leads to some misconceptions by outsiders who are trying to decode what we're saying.

Jeremy has been paying attention to this phenomenon within the church for several years.  A little while ago, in an effort to create a more welcoming environment at Christian Community Church, we went to work on debunking some of these misconceptions.  Below, you will find our first effort at creating such an environment:

Clap Offering

What are some other church insider terms? What are some insider terms in your context?

Reflections from a Bee

By now you all know I got to hang out at the Spelling Bee last week.  It’s pretty intense, actually, but at the same time they are still just kids, kind of goofy, kind of cute, and probably taking it way less seriously than most of the people in the crowd. I like that. It was also pretty cool seeing the reactions of a couple of parents after their kid come down off stage after spelling a word wrong. Back when I was there age, if I would have spelled the first word wrong I would have thrown a bat at the announcer. I know, they don’t use bats during spelling bees but I was pretty committed to throwing bats as a child. I would have found a way.  Anyway, when those kids came down, there was Mom or Dad waiting for them with a hug, rubbing their back when they sat down, and then everything seemed ok to the kids. It was pretty amazing.  With all of the junk that kids and families face these days, I guess it’s just nice to see when it’s done right.

Just for fun, here are a few of the words that tripped people up. See how many people you work with or talk to today can spell them: “Citizen,” “Eavesdrop,” and “Indomitable.”

And this is too good not to include. Go check out this clip from another Spelling Bee, then answer this question – is there a contest thatTom Bergeron hosted?

Big weekend at CCCN

The highly anticipated Spelling Bee blog is coming! Sorry for the delay!

CCCN'ers, you don't want to miss this weekend.  We're in Week 3 of the "Just Walk Across the Room" series. This week Pastor Duane will be sharing about "The Power of Story." Everyone loves a good story and you're going to hear some this Sunday, and you're going to get some tools to tell your story more effectively.

Following the service we'll have our annual Congregational Meeting, hosted for the second year in a row by me and Jeremy Fredell (which might mean there are a couple of videos in order!).  You'll get to hear highlights from the past year and catch the excitement about where God is leading us in 2011. Did I mention the free lunch?

It's going to be a great weekend as we look forward to what I really believe is going to be an incredible year at Christian Community Church. Make sure you are there!

What are you excited about for 2011?

A little help from Pastor Perry

It's Christian Community Church congregational meeting week, with the big event happening this Sunday starting with lunch following the service.  With many of my creative energies directed at that today, I thought I'd share a post from Perry Noble that I loved and wanted to re-post at some point.  Today's the day.  It is awesome, and I would love to hear your thoughts on Perry's "Book" of theology.

And don't forget to check back here Thursday, where I will be blogging for the first time ever from a Spelling Bee.  Ever since ESPN did that sweet "Under Pressure" promo for the National Spelling Bee Championship correct spelling has been cool.

Here's Perry's post:

My “Book” Of Theology February 2, 2011

Whew!  Been looking at a lot of theological papers and books lately…so, just for fun I decided to write my own theological position paper right here on my blog, here goes…

GOD – He’s awesome!

JESUS – See above…same person

HOLY SPIRIT – See above…same person

SALVATION – It’s awesome, includes the package deal off all three above, which are really one…but they are three…but one…uh…

MANKIND – We suck (translation, we’re not awesome!)

END TIMES – It’s going to be awesome (and people who try to predict it are stupid!)

CREATION – It was awesome, then mankind, who sucks, messed it up and have been doing so ever since.  BUT…one day God is going to make it awesome again!

SIN – People think it’s awesome, but it sucks…but God saves us from it, which is awesome!

THE BIBLE – It is a story about a God who is awesome!

There you go…probably will not be quoted in a lot of theological articles…but it works for me!  :-)

No power, no problem

I was sitting in Starbucks having a cup of coffee and studying yesterday and the place was packed. Usually on Wednesday mornings there are steady streams of people coming and going but this was different.  Every table, every seat, every counter was occupied.  In talking with the manager and just listening to people as they stood in line, the story came more into focus: not only were these people without power, but several other Starbucks and coffee shops were also and people were looking for someplace to work, recharge batteries, and stay warm.  So I formulated a plan to open up the café in the church, serve coffee and muffins and make our WiFi, heat, and electrical outlets available to anyone who wanted to come by, logged on to Facebook and posted a message that we were open.

This story isn’t about opening up the church though. I did all this in a city where many were without power and cable/home internet.  And the message still got out. In fact it wasn’t until late last night that it even occurred to me that some people might not get it until their power was back on. Sure, that was probably an oversight on my part, but just a minor one.  Most people did see it. Or could have seen it. We live in a world now in which we are so connected, where information is so easily attainable that downed power and cable lines barely cause a blip on the radar.  More and more people are updating statuses, getting their news, submitting assignments from their phone or fancy tablet that fits in super cool backpacks.

The opportunity to connect has never been greater, and that’s a good thing.  But not always.  Let’s not let the convenience of accessibility and connectedness ever totally replace a phone call or even better, sitting across a table from one another over a cup of coffee.

How has increased "connectivity" helped you? What are the potential dangers for you?

More from Ananias

A couple of nights ago I shared some thoughts about Ananias from Acts 9 (the one who met with Saul/Paul, not the one who dropped dead).  As I’ve continued to think about him and his story, there’s just a couple of new thoughts I want to share.

Ananias went for it, and because he did he left an impression. He made a mark.  He took a chance and did something that still has implications today.  That’s what leaders do, not for their own glory or credit necessarily, but because it’s the right thing to do.  And because a leader is wired differently.  They don’t wait for things to happen.  They help make them happen.

 Ananias saw the big picture, with a little help from Jesus.  Paul would lead a breakthrough for Christianity around the globe.  Ananias understood that his part was not to lead that change but to set the ball up so that Paul could get it rolling.  If Ananias didn’t see how his part might connect to something bigger he might not have been able to convince himself to risk everything to go see Paul. 

The other thing that I’m reminded of here is that leaders take chances when they believe in something.  If he didn’t go and meet Paul, it’s hard to say how that would have affected the rest of Paul’s story, but it’s easy to know what it would have meant for Ananias – we wouldn’t have any idea who he is.  Some people would have waited for Paul to knock on THEIR door before recognizing it as an opportunity.  Ananias recognized that a leader doesn’t wait for timing to be right or the circumstances to the most convenient.  He went for it. He took a chance.  If you think about anything truly great you’ve ever done, I’m guessing it took some risk, some action, and some initiative on your part.  The opportunity for great accomplishments rarely drops in our laps while we’re watching a CHiPs marathon on a Saturday afternoon. 

What opportunities are waiting for you to take the lead on?