Vision, Not Need…

John Maxwell once said something like…

People will give to great vision, not great need.

Today at The Serene Bean, I heard a Jerry Garcia lookalike say something like this…

You find me a world-class ministry project that changes the world, and I’ll find you funding in seven days.

Meanwhile, we’re think it’s OK to pay for satisfied paying for air conditioners and office supplies…

Anybody Got an Old Rocking Chair?

I mean one you don’t want. One that you absolutely don’t care about ever seeing again. The rattier the better. If you do, and you’re close by, I’ll take it off your hands if I can get it by June 8 or 9. Just wondering…

Sunday Night Unwind, 05.27.07…

Classic Windham Hill! Pretty good Memorial Day at church. Number 3 in the Joshua series – “Obstacle or Opportunity?” – Jericho, natch. Great almost free meal – thanks to a gift card from the lovely and gracious “Mrs. Just Charlie’s” recent birthday. A trip to The ‘Pot (HT: Kelsey Bohlender!) to get a few flowers on sale. Home to mow the dirt. Now unwinding with music that just sounds like summer. Not the top-down, cruisin’ kind of summer, but the hammock-on-the-porch, big ol’ glass of lemonade (with Splenda, of course!) kind of summer.

Ah, summer…

Stuck in the Future?

This morning I passed by one of the bulletin boards at our church and realized that there are pictures of formerly-fat me from about the year 2003. My first thought was…

Why are we so stuck in the past around here?

Then it hit me. Sometimes we who fancy ourselves as leaders talk proudly and loudly about our future-orientation. About how if only we could convince our people that they need to get out of the past. About how we’re going to make the jump “one century at a time.”

Could it be that our people are stuck in the past because we who fancy ourselves as leaders have been so busy stuck in the future that we’re not leading them to accomplish anything in the present? Could it be that they’re not really enamored of the past for the sake of the past? Could it be that they’re not really resisting change because they’re too comfortable? Could it possibly be that they are stuck in a time when something great (or at least near-great) was actually happening? Could it be that our focus on the future may be robbing us of some amazing opportunities in the here and now?

If you’re stuck, it doesn’t matter whether you call the bog “the past” or “the future.” You’re stuck. And you need to do whatever it takes to get unstuck. Or else the past – pre-bog – will be all you have to live on or live for.

Ironman, I’m Not…

…but I am working on a triathlon. Of sorts.

This month’s Men’s Health has a neat little article called “Build Your Own Triathlon” and it talks about changing up your cardio routine to get more benefits. So today, I started building my own triathlon.

I did 22 minutes worth of intervals outside in Heritage Park, then went into the YMCA and rode the stationary bike for 4.1 miles, and then finished up with 400 yards of swimming in the pool. Not exactly Ironman distance (or times, for that matter!), but it was good.

Now, my big cardio days are Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and I think I’m going dub Tuesdays and Thursdays “T-Days” (Tuesday, Thursday, Triathlon…get it?).

In or around Canton, Georgia Tuesday or Thursday mornings? Come on…let’s go!

Tony McCollum, You Da Man!

I already told you about hanging with Tony yesterday. The “money quote” for me from the whole time I spent with the pastor-guys came from Tony, sitting next to me at the RidgeStone office. He said…

Leadership, not money, is the bottleneck.

Check his great post today about money. Good stuff, Tony! Thanks!

Ctrl-Alt-Delete: Reading…

I dumped my bag out today. Yep, I literally turned it upside-down and dumped it out in my office. Then I “re-booted” my current reading. I replaced some stuff I wanted to read with some stuff I need to read again. The new stack looks something like this…

• The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren. (I’ve lost at least a half-dozen copies of this book since I got my first one the year it came out – 12 long years ago now! I’ve given away at least two dozen copies to various folks in the places I’ve served. I picked up a new copy and started reading it again this afternoon. It was almost like I was teleported back to 1996 and the sheer passion I felt as I saw this vision of what “church” could be.)
• Failing Forward, Thinking for a Change, and Developing the Leader Within You by John Maxwell
• Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders
• Transitioning: Leading Your Church Through Change by Dan Southerland
• Becoming a Man of Prayer by Bob Beltz
• Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper. (The one I’m currently working through.)
• Knowing God by J. I. Packer
• The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri J. M. Nouwen
• Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis
• The Autobiography of George Muller
• Power Through Prayer by E.M. Bounds
• Holy Bible, New Living Translation(Slimline version, fits in my bag.)

True Believers…

I had a great opportunity today to hang out with two of my favorite people in the whole wide world, Gary and Tony. I also got to meet Greg Rohlinger and a few other guys who are doing some pretty cool things for the Kingdom of God!

Being the old coot in the bunch, I kind of just sat there while these guys passed around some great tidbits of knowledge. I also managed to laugh. A lot.

I did notice something though.

I wasn’t particularly struck by the superior intelligence of these guys, even though they all are pretty smart. It’s not their overwhelming charisma that grabbed me, even though they are, for the most part, outgoing and magnetic personalities.

What struck me was their belief that what they’re doing matters! They believe in what they’re doing. Totally! They are fully and passionately engaged. They believe that they can make – and that they are making – a difference in the world. They believe that what they’re doing is actually worthwhile. That it’s something worth giving your life to.

And that passion makes all the difference in the world. And I wish I had some of it again…

It Wasn’t Me!

My buddy Gary Lamb reported in his Sunday Night Mind Dump about RidgeStone’s band rockin’ the house at the City of Canton Festival of the Arts. He also told about the reaction of one of our local pastors as Tim and the boys were playing…

Seeing another pastor roll his eyes and walk away in disgust today while our band was playing made me want to punch him but he is older then dirt so I decided not to do it.

Just for the record, even though Gary has referred to me as “older than dirt” on more than one occasion, I was not…repeat…I was not the pastor who reacted with disgust on Sunday!

Just so you know…

From The Boss, via John Maxwell…

Found this quote from Bruce Springsteen in John Maxwell’s Leadership Wired email…

A time comes when you need to stop waiting for the man you want to become and start being the man you want to be.