15 Sep 06 Consider It All Joy

I will face a great test today.  I wasn’t even aware of the necessity of this test.  Apparently in the move from VA to CA precious knowledge was lost.  I didn’t even feel it — I was not even aware of the knowledge escaping me. 

It seems in the move from there to here I must have forgotten how to drive because as a new California resident I am required to take a written test to obtain a drivers license. 

Serenity now, serenity now. 

In VA they practically give these things away.

Serenity now, serenity now. 

And so, with a million and three things to do I will spend some precious time at the DMV this morning.

Serenity now, serenity now.

I have been studying the local drivers and practicing during my daily commute in case I need to take an actual driving test.  I’ve been working on rolling stops, running red lights, and making other cars on the interstate yield so I can merge into the lane of traffic. 

Any other advice from veteran California drivers out there? 

14 Sep 06 Servant Leadership (Part 2)

It’s what’s on my mind right now.  How to cast a vision for servant leadership in our community of faith.

When we talk about servant leadership, most people think that means the "inmates are running the prison," or the leader is trying to please everyone.  People who think this way don’t understand that there are two parts of leadership that Jesus clearly exemplified: 

• A visionary role — doing the right thing
• An implementation role — doing things right 

I’m thinking about the correct push to do things right.  This is the call to excellence expressed in scripture with words such as "do all in the name of the Lord" or "work at it with all of your heart" and "as working for the Lord not for man."  But in our effort to do things with excellence, to do things right, have we made sure that we are doing the right thing?  This is not just fancy shmancy wordsmith preacherease.  I’m also not talking about right from wrong.  I’m talking about those ministry endeavors that we pursue and God is not in them.  We invest copious amounts of time, energy, and resources into countless projects that fail only to discover that God is working somewhere else.

So what does servant leadership really look like?  What do our shepherds need to hear?  What do I need to hear to be a model of servant leadership?

13 Sep 06 Servant Leadership

In preparation for a leadership retreat this weekend we asked our Shepherds and Staff to read a couple of books.  The first, as I have previously mentioned, is Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson.  The second book, The Servant Leader, by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges is a short little read that quickly gets to the heart of the matter.

The authors contrast and compare leadership attitudes and actions from a self-serving point of view and a servant point of view.  The quote of the book, so far, for me has been:

Whenever you have an opportunity or responsibility to influence the thinking and the behavior of others, the first choice we are called to make is whether to see the moment through the eyes of self-interest or for the benefit of those we are leading. 

I realize the difficulty in making this choice.  It is often hard to distinguish between what is good and healthy for those we are leading and those things that just make us feel better or validated as leaders. 

12 Sep 06 Mr. Pickles

For those of you who have not ventured into the brain of Josh Stump (Stumptown) flee while you still have a chance.  A month or so ago Josh dared to take on the food industry and share with us the advice one can only acquire from having been on the mountain.  I quote from one such page of his collected wisdom:

2. The best delis – Because the sandwich is nature’s perfect food, it
is important for you to locate a good deli or two near wherever you
live. Here are some things to look for when trying to find one.

a.
The best delis are always the ones that write their menu on a giant
chalkboard. I’m not sure why this is, but it is consistently true. Find
the chalkboard and you will find a good sandwich.

b. The more bread options for your sandwich, the better the sandwich will be no matter which bread you choose.

c.
Watch for folded meats. Sandwich meat should be thin and folded (with
one exception for places that cook whole turkeys and carve the meat off
fresh…mmmmm….yummy). The folding of the meat adds some good fluffiness
to the sandwich and takes away from that sense that it is just one
thick dense slab of meat. Good delis fold their meat.

d. Quiznos is better than Subway, but neither are good delis. I will not argue about this.

With these words on my heart I ventured into a deli down the street known as Mr. Pickles.  The name alone speaks volumes.  I’m sure Josh will have something to say about the name of a deli.  The sandwich was huge.  We’re not just talking quantity here we are talking quality.  I realized I was back in California when Avocado was an ingredient in 5 or 6 out of the 15 choices.  How could I not have #13?  Chicken breast (the carved kind not the sliced kind) crisp bacon, melted cheese, lettuce, tomato, peppers and pickles - extra pickles baby

The great thing about Mr. Pickles is the sandwiches are so huge we could split amongst ourselves and feed the entire Clan McWray for $15!  Three cheers for pickles.  Hip Hip . .

11 Sep 06 Five Years Ago

I dropped the kids off at school, arrived at the office I was greeted by our secretary who informed me that an airplane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers.  At that moment it was just a freak accident.  Pilot error perhaps.  I called Beth and told her the news in case she had not heard.  I remember thinking the airplane was a small plane.  I had not even thought that it was a passenger jet.  I went to one of the classrooms, found a television and rolled it into the office admin area.  We tuned into a local television station and watched the second airplane hit the second World Trade Center tower.  The moment that second airplane hit everything changed.

I got into my truck and drove the short distance home.  It was then that I heard a loud explosion and saw the windows of our house shake.  We were under attack and I had to go get our children.  I drove RAPIDLY to the school (it sits in the flight path of Reagan National) and was the second parent to arrive.  I went into the office and calmly spoke to the vice-principal informing her that I was there to pick up my children.

 She said, and I’ll never forget this, "you’re just over-reacting."  I remember smiling back at her and saying, "You might be right.  We can talk about that tomorrow, perhaps, but right now I’m taking my kids out of school."  It wasn’t her fault.  They did not fully understand the magnitude of what was happening.  No one really understood.  I seem to remember that out of the almost 600 students all but 125 or so were picked up within the next hour.

I drove back home and by then the picture began to clear.  We were being told that commercial airplanes had been hijacked and were being flown into specific locations in New York and Washington, D.C.  All planes were being ordered to land and several planes were still in the air not responding to the instructions.  I’ve seen fighter jets taking off, flying high overhead.  Never before had I seen fully armed figher jets flying directly overhead, over our house.  We lived just a short distance from Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon.

We debated leaving the city.  We didn’t know where to go but wrestled with the decision to stay or leave.  I called my dad and asked his opinion.  He said, since we didn’t know the full extent of the situation, it would be better to stay.  He was worried about us getting out into a log jam on the freeway.  He advised us, and we took his advice, to bunker down in our basement and wait it out.

It’s hard, even now, to vocalize how scared we were - perfectly safe as it turns out the whole time but scared nonetheless.  Certainly our experience did not compare with those who were in the buildings or on the airplanes.  Just a few months before I had visited New York.  I had stayed at a Hotel in the World Trade Center complex.  I had been in the lobby of those towers.  I had spent time in the subway station and shopping complex below.  There was a small city all in itself underneath the ground of the World Trade Center buildings.  I kept thinking about being there and all those people in the buildings and all those people below.

And then the towers, one at a time, came crashing down.

08 Sep 06 Just plain wrong . . .

Costco is currently selling Christmas decorations, wrapping paper, trees, and other Christmas stuff.

It’s not even Halloween.

It makes me want to take up two parking spaces and you know how much I hate that. 

07 Sep 06 More Thoughts On Faith Quest

I expected the teens at Faith Quest to be receptive and hungry for God.  What surprised me was the reaction of the adults — that and the number of adult "chaperones" in attendance.  The adults were into it as much, maybe even more, than the teens.  The worship, the messages, the experience as a whole - the adults were dry sponges soaking up the power and presence of the Lord

My impression of the ZOE worship conference is that it has become a youth rally for adults.  I’m not saying that as a bad thing.  Thousands of adults gather together to experience the power and presence of the Lord - like they did when they were teens at a youth rally.

The reason adults flock to ZOE (again a good thing), the reason adults in greater numbers are attending Faith Quest (probably a good thing as well) is because this type of encounter - experiencing the power and presence of the Lord — is lacking is so many every day church gatherings (a very bad thing).

Think about the culture we’ve allowed to develop.  The idea that one particular song is a "camp" song and this other one is a "church" song.  Think about the mentality that says "this is allowed at camp or at a retreat or a youth rally but never at church."  Think about the diservice we’ve done to our teens by saying the songs that speak to their heart are not good enough for our Sunday God.

If you wonder why teens have lost their voice in this world it is because our narrow minded, compartmentalized way of viewing "true worship" has ripped their voice right out of their throats.

Maybe we should take a hard look at our Sunday God and our Sunday experience?  If we are not experiencing the power and presence of God we are not being renewed into the image of God.  That’s why many of us love retreats, youth rallies, and worship conferences.  For in these venues we engage our great God with heart, soul, mind and strength.

06 Sep 06 My Jonah Moment

Riding back to Portland from Camp Yamhill on Monday (where Faith Quest takes place) I had the sense that I needed to stay one more day to be with my parents, sister and brother-in-law.  I knew I would have to pay a change fee and whatever else to make it happened.  I was tired from the weekend, the good kind of tired, and wanted to go home.  I was worried about my seat on the plane which I had fortunately changed at the last minute from a middle seat to an aisle in the rear of the plane.  So I dismissed the thought of staying.

I arrived at the terminal, breezed through security and asked about getting my seat changed to an emergency exit row or at least closer to the front.  I was not checking any luggage so my plan was to get off the plane quickly, catch the shuttle to my metal chariot and drive home from Sacramento.

All the seats were filled.  I went and stood by the window and watched the hustle and bustle of a major airport.  A few minutes later the ticket agent approached me and said that a person of considerable age (my term not hers) had checked in and was assigned the emergency exit row.  She asked if she could switch our seats.  Why of course.  Please, I will do my part.

Half an hour later, as I’m relishing my new seat with loads of leg room the ticket agent makes this announcement.  "We have oversold the flight and need someone with flexible travel plans to give up their seat in exchange for a free round trip ticket anywhere Alaska Airlines flies."  The moment she made that announcement I knew she was talking to me.  But still, I sat there.  Four other people hopped up and rushed over to the counter engaged in a brief conversation and walked away without giving up their seats.  No one else moved.  I watched the ticket agent as she scanned the room without saying a word.

It was a Jonah moment.  I knew I was being called to stay.  Far better to stay behind than to have a turbulent flight — have the passengers discover that I was responsible and be tossed from the plane!  I went up to the ticket counter and in two minutes the deal was done.

My decision to stay was confirmed in the conversations I was able to have with my family members.

Even though it looks like it the moral of the story is not "see if you resist the urging of the Holy Spirit it won’t cost you a ticket change fee, in fact you will get a sweet offer to convince you to listen to the Spirit."

I would have stayed without the incentive of a free ticket.  Sure, it is a nice bonus.  Had they just waived the change fee and any possible fare increase I would have stayed.  It is what God needed me to do.

05 Sep 06 Prayer

Faith Quest was a blessing.  In so many ways.  Perhaps I’ll sort through it via the blog at some other time.  Not sure about that yet.

Prior to each message a group of 4 to 5 people surrounded me, laid hands on me, and prayed.  I knew that my preparation would only take me so far.  The time of prayer before each message made the difference.  

It’s the most visible thing I took away from the weekend. 

01 Sep 06 Faith Quest

20 Years. That’s almost like two decades.

This weekend marks the 20 year anniversary of Faith Quest.  I know it is a tired, worn cliche but wow time has certainly flown by!

20 years ago I was an intern with the Metro Church of Christ.  I went with Greg Woods to the house of Drew Brown for a planning meeting for the first ever Faith Quest.  My job was to put together the audio visual show for the weekend.  This, I did using the wonders of LP records and slides.  The next two years I worked with Greg Woods as the director.

I was honored to return 10 years ago as a keynote speaker.  And now, on the 20th anniversary, I return to speak again.  No, Greg England, I can’t just use the talks I used 10 years ago.  I can’t find them.

20 Years.  Am I really that old?