The State of the Union

Last night I had a moment while watching the State of the Union when it showed Dick Cheney sitting behind the president and I actually thought, "Dang, is he still around..."

I'm a registered Republican and I voted for Bush/Cheney. But I can't wait to see them both gone at this point. and I surprised myself with my disappointment that Cheney was still in office. My disappointment was not some kind of demonized portrayal of him, I think he's a really smart guy, but I'm ready for him to be gone.

I guess I need to live with the consequences of my decision a little longer.

Marketing Wendy's and the Church

Wendy's is discontinuing their "red pig-tail" ads saying that they didn't generate an increase in falling sales. Marketing can certainly work to help turn a business around, but marketing really isn't the key. When was the last time you went to a Wendy's and got great service? When was the last time you went to a Wendy's and it seemed that they were happy people and happy to see you?

Starbucks does this well. Who oversees the hiring process for Starbucks? Whoever they are they are genius. If you show up at 6:30am or late at night the folks at Starbucks are always willing to engage in witty, fun, lively conversation. The last two times I've been to Wendy's I've felt like I've somehow offended the woman handing me my food and don't get me started about asking for extra BBQ sauce. There was a rolling of the eyes, a quick meeting about how many kids meals I ordered and if I deserved an additional BBQ sauce. BTW - I'm not a BBQ hound, I ordered 5 kids means with chicken tenders... er ... chicken nuggets the voice from the sign corrected me.. and with my 5 kids meals I received 1 BBQ packet. Thus the meeting of the minds about whether I deserved more. Finally she handed me four more and when I said thank-you she said, nothing... she actually didn't even acknowledge me.

Wendy's my friends. The red-pigtails are the least of your problems.

Churches have something to learn from this as well. You can pay folks to mail out slick looking advertizing, but the heart of the average church's problems isn't an advertising issue. It's a people issue. It's heart issue. My friends in progressive churches would say it's a vision issue. Regardless, marketing isn't the solution to the church's problem either.

Wow.

Cell Phone Porn

Think kind of thing is more common than we think. It's not always photo's of people in the same school, but churches and parents who write this off as something that can't happen to their kids are making a mistake.

ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania - Police tried to stop the spread of pornographic video and photos of two U.S. high school girls, images that were transmitted by cell phone to dozens of the girls' classmates and then to the wider world.

At least 40 Parkland High School students believed to have received the images must show their phones to police by Tuesday to ensure the images have been erased, or they could be prosecuted in juvenile court for possession of child pornography, District Attorney James B. Martin said Thursday.

But students at the Pennsylvania school said the distribution was far more widespread.

Link

A lecture I'd love to hear

Pete Rollins will be delivering a lecture in Belfast Feb. 13th.
I wish I could hear it. Maybe he'll record it.

The title: On the Supreme Difficulty of Atheism and why only the Religious can attain it.

A New Kind of Memory

This past October my friend Bill Wiseman died in a plane crash. He was apart of a local cohort and he was a local priest. I have memories of Bill serving us the Eucharist and always giving us his take on scripture. He loved the mystery of the Q source. I several good memories of Bill. But more than memories in my head, Bill lives on in another kind of memory. Bill was not only my friend in real life, but also my friend on Facebook and Bill's name also appears in my Entourage (outlook) address book. So when I send an email to my friends named Bob, or Bill, or Brandon, or Brian, it has a feature where it suggests each of their names. Bill Wiseman's name appears as a suggestion too. It gives me pause. I think about him. This has happened a few times and I've not yet removed him from my address book. After a while, I began to wonder if I sent Bill and email who would get it. On facebook his image and profile still exist. I assume this is because his family doesn't know his password and can't take it down. Or maybe they don't even know that he had such a thing. Or that the family and friends he had aren't technologically inclined. Regardless, Bill is remembered on facebook and in my email account. I also assume that Facebook has considered that a member might pass away and how they might handle this. Perhaps there are policies in place to handle this kind of thing. I wonder who decides if and when a profile is erased... and what does that mean for people who knew Bill. In the case of my email account, I haven't erased him yet.

Here's Bill's profile.
I'm not certain you can actually view it... but I'll give it a shot.
It creates an interesting situation. Has this happened to you?
What does it bring to you mind and cause you to wrestle with?

In Case you missed it

Barack Obama's sermon/speech at Dr. King's church Sunday.

How Acceptable is Normal

Change is in the air. Candidates are talking about it. Pastors seem to talk about it lot as well.
Perhaps is sounds simplistic, but a person's desire for change is born from their personal view on how acceptable normal is.

Normal is status quo. It is the supremely sustainable way things are.
Your need or desire for change is directly correlated to how you feel about how well things are now. Complacent is the name given to individuals who guard normal by people who don't like it.
Complacent people don't generally fear change, they fear loss.

Of course, normal is relative and thus so is change.
So if you perceive a need for change and normal is no longer acceptable to you.
A desire for change may be born from a pure sense of how things should be, or a kind of divine vision from God. It may be born by a sense of idealism, or if may be from a tumultuous inner life in which creating change is a way of veiling the voices in your head. that is to say, that you have a need to make everything crazy around you so that it feels like home.. or normal. Chances are your need for change comes from all of these. Chances are you can't tell the difference.

Buechner on Memory

I could think about this quote all day and still see new nuances to it. Few can put words together like he can.

"Memory is more than a looking back to a time that is no longer; it is a looking out into another kind of time altogether where everything that ever was continues not just to be, but to grow and change with the life that is in it still. The people we loved. The people who loved us. The people who, for good or ill, taught us things. Dead and gone though they may be, as we come to understand them in new ways, it is as though they come to understand us - and through them we come to understand ourselves- in new ways too."

Fredrick Buechner, The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days, page 21-22

Sustain

Take a deep breath. Hold it in. - It's not sustainable. Chances are you may be hold your breath for a minute or two. Some guy held his breath for 8 minutes and 58 seconds. That's a long time to sustain yourself on one breath.

Have you ever played a note on a wind instrument? It might be a fancy trumpet, or a new years eve party horn (with purple streamers on the end). Play the note and sustain it. You can only hold it for so long.

There is only so much effort we can give in ministry. Effort comes in a variety packages. Effort is essentially the force or energy put into attempting something.
Effort is what you pay to make ministry happen. It costs you. Certainly, God can sustain you, but most of this kind of chatter from people is the rationalization of their work-a-holism in spiritual terms.
Effort will cost you. Emotionally, relationally, and physically it costs you.
You can make the payments in big chunks with a busy tax season, a summer filled with activities, or a new initiative or building or you can make the payments in small payments made daily, spread out over years by working five or 6 extra hours a week.
Nothing you do can be sustained by one individual forever. Rest is required.
Pace must be considered.
What kind of payments are you making?

Effort is more than time. Effort can be tricky. It can take an invisible form.
For a church leader, how much of what is happening in your church would continue (or be sustained) if you took a few months off? Don't answer too quickly. Quick answers are usually wrong, even when they are factual.

When leading change, more depends on you. If you work 40 hours a week it cost you more, than it normally would. Change charges interest on it's leaders. The interest is compounded as the greater the change or the more innovative. Long term, constant change can not be dependent upon one individual, or even a few. It costs too much. In some systems it costs you everything. And while change should and must happen, taking the bill yourself is the way to burn out.

How much of your ministry is dependent upon you?
How much does it cost you?
What does it cost you? Are you making small payments or big with your family?
With your soul?
With your body?
Is your life sustainable right now?

Youth Ministry Summit: the Future of Youth Ministry

I'm co-hosting a YS summit this April 21-23 with Marko at Spring Hill Camp in Michigan on the Future of Youth Ministry. This is the info from the YS site. Sign up and bring a friend to two.
Space is limited to 50 folks!

Link

Random Links

-Brant "Quit Going to Church" a year ago.

-Tony thinks this is how church should start. Evidently I'm out of the loop on such things. This seems to have been passed around a bit. I think this is how you start a show. The lights are pretty, and artistically it's fun and creative. I hope we can find places in our communities for folks like those performing and who design such things. But it's a show. Just watch the crowd, especially the last half of the song. It reminded me of this. and this. No judgment for me. Just not my cup of tea. I really like the creativity. I wonder if there is a better use for it, than a church service. It seems such a waste to me.

Scot has started a series of the Kingdom of God.

Todd is a remarkable thinker. Who is one of those emerging Southern Baptist you keep hearing about.

Moron drives his truck into a house.
(ht dave barry)

A matter of perspective I suppose. Link

Young Life is learning something about leading change. Marko has come good links on this. Read the articles and blog posts. Then tell me we don't live in a chronically anxious culture.

i can't wait

The Dark Knight

Done. for now

I'm done.
I just uploaded both book manuscripts to YS!
yeah!
I'm tired and hungry.

I should start blogging on Wednesday, as I have a report to write monday and tuesday for a church.

Do You Hear that Sound?

Do you hear that sound? It's the sound of George Barna becoming increasingly irrelevant.
More later.