On invalid signatures, rejection, reflection, and relief

I got the call Wednesday morning that I didn’t have enough valid signatures to place me on the ballot for the Blacksburg Town Council elections. For those of you who had no idea I was attempting to run, check out the post here. I wanted to offer some thoughts on the process and results.

First of all, I procrastinated severely. I didn’t even begin gathering the needed 125 signatures until Monday morning. They were due Tuesday evening by 7 p.m. My procrastination wasn’t a sign that I didn’t take it seriously. Rather, it may have been indicative of my hesitancy and over-thoughtfulness. As I mentioned in the post linked above, I love politics, but many don’t like the idea of a pastor engaging in civil service through public office. I’ve considered running for various positions for a long time, yet I kept looking for a “no” rather than initiating a campaign.

Sometimes beginning is only what you’re supposed to do.

So on Monday a.m., I launched myself at Blacksburg through social media and a two-foot campaign. Over the next 36 hours, I walked, knocked, stood and drove around town gathering signatures one by one. I met more new people in those hours than I have in a long time. Though exhausting, it was also refreshing. I realized again how much I enjoy life. I like people. I like interacting with them. This is strange coming from me, for I’ve always been a self-identified learned extrovert. It doesn’t come naturally.

You can’t be a Jesus follower and not like people.

Regardless of political positions, one of the undergirding thoughts behind serving in public office was simply one concept: love deeply. There is an appalling absence of love – genuine love – in our culture and public leaders and political parties today. I’m not talking about mushy, feelings-based love. I’m talking about hard-to-practice, do-what’s-best-for-another love. Love that is a commitment before it’s a cause. Love that is anchored in truth, not in making someone feel good.

I encountered an old concept called favor this week.

I don’t mean the “I need a favor” kind of favor, even though that’s what it may have looked like. I mean favor in the sense of undeserved goodwill freely given. In at least two different instances, I had relative strangers fill up petition sheets for me. One was a Democratic campaign worker who I met at the library. She graciously offered to get signatures for me while she sat there. Another was an acquaintance on Twitter who contacted me through that venue and offered to take a sheet around her neighborhood who is active in Republican efforts. Though I was running as an “Independent,” both were amazingly gracious. Help always comes from unexpected places, and in those moments, I realize again how strange and pleasant it is to put yourself out there, to meet new people, and to learn to depend on folks who you may not even know.

It’s no fun being rejected.

There were only a few people who were rude. Regardless of someone’s political position, I believe everyone should have a fair shot at being on a ballot. The people who refused to sign were business people. In one instance, I pushed back a tad. Here’s how the conversation went:

She: “I don’t sign petitions.”

Me: “Do you vote?”

She: “Yes.”

Me: “You know that the people had to get petitions signed to get on a ballot?”

She: “Yes.”

She still wouldn’t sign. Then she informed me that her husband was a “constitutional theorist.” I have no idea what that means, but whatever it means, I don’t believe it equated to good citizenship in her case. Another businessman wanted to grill me before he would sign my petition but informed me that he was so busy he didn’t have time at the moment. It was hard to communicate to them and a few others that signing the petition did not equate to supporting or voting for me. It just gives the petitioner a fair shake at getting on the ballot. I guess they viewed themselves as self-appointed political gatekeepers.

Being rejected was both disappointing and refreshing. One is self-explanatory. It was refreshing because I’m a pastor, and in church circles, most people know the pastor of the church they attend. I’m recognized while I’m out and about in town by people who have visited our church. Because of that, it’s sometimes easy to mistake being known for being well-known. Being rejected because people don’t know me provokes me to get out of my limited circle of influence. It propels me to diversify my relational portfolio. The community is larger than I think.

The political process needs to go digital and grow up.

It’s not 1850 anymore. After failing to get the required signatures in spite of having 50+ more than I needed, I wish there was a better process – a digital one – for petitions. I understand and support the need for being personally present to vote, but I don’t see the need for a paper trail for petitions and simply getting on a ballot. I say let the actual campaign trail sort out who gets elected, not technicalities on petitions.

Everyone should be willing to fail forward.

I think my main opponent through this experience was simply time. I just didn’t get started soon enough. That said, I’m glad that I tried. Too many people simply sit on the sidelines and complain. To only complain is to abdicate responsibility. Get involved.

It’s a convoluted process, I’ll grant you that. It’s not easy simply to start. I had a hard time finding out how to run, how to even begin. The only digital instructions I was able to hunt down on the web simply told me to go to the county registrar’s office. I feel like there should be a consistent web link that says, “Think you can do a better job? Sign up for run for office here” or “Tired of complaining? Start serving your community. Sign up to run here.” Instead, it’s a paper chase. But deal with it, and get involved. You may fail, but fail forward.

It’s a relief.

Finally, when the call from the registrar’s office informed me that I didn’t have enough valid signatures, my first thought, honestly, was one of brief disappointment. I don’t like to fail at something that should be simple. I don’t like to let people down. However, my immediate and primary thought was of relief. There’s my “no,” I thought. It’s good to be told “no” sometimes. It’s clarifying. For me, a “no” has also been an opportunity for redirection.

Our church is growing, and I certainly have enough on my plate there. However, I really do want to broaden my involvement and encourage others to do the same. I would hope that my church – any church – would be the kind of fellowship of faith friends that contribute positively to the life of a community. So much so that townsfolk would miss the church if it didn’t exist any longer.

Thanks.

For all those who signed a petition, carried them around, spoke kind words, left digital encouragements, etc., thanks. It was a brief, short-lived experience that will continue to teach me a lot. I can’t speak with the confidence of the Terminator and say “I’ll be back,” but I can speak with joy and say, “I’ll be around.”

Running for Blacksburg Town Council

It’s been a long, waffling process. I finally sleuthed out where to go and pick up papers to fill out for candidacy. I couldn’t find anything online about how to begin the process, nor where to go. After a few misfires, I finally had the papers in hand. And there they sat as I continued to ask myself, do you really want to do this?

I corresponded with our church’s Leadership Board over the weekend to get their thoughts and impressions. I didn’t want to enter the process if they were not supportive. In the end, it’s Monday morning, and though it’s last minute, I’m not late. I need 125 signatures on election petitions in order to be placed on the November ballot. (You must be a registered Blacksburg voter to sign.)

Why am I attempting to run? 

Let me try to sum up my thoughts and rationale for running:

First of all, I’m a citizen, and I believe that all citizens should serve at some level. This is true on a number of levels. You want all your employees engaged, all your church members ministering. It’s about lending your voice, resources, experience, wisdom, personality and perspective to the process for a season.

Second, I love politics. I hate to confess that. I love the idea of working with a wide variety of people, opinions and worldviews to produce a beneficial outcome that blesses a wide range of people.

Another reason is that I’d like to extend my relational circles in our community. Leading a church can be a rather insular experience. As I encourage our members to be the church, I cannot avoid getting involved in the community myself. As a leader, I too, must invest and find ways to serve that corresponds to my strengths and aptitudes and interests.

Another reason in conjunction with the last is to avoid hypocrisy. I wrote in my book Super Center Savior:

If you’re consistently involved in the activities and ministries of your church but not in your community, you may be attempting to meet your own religious needs rather than the needs of others.

I must model what I preach and what I ask the members of our church to do. I can’t say “get involved in the community,” and remain immersed in activities that remove me from involvement in our community.

Finally, there are some things that I’d like to see addressed better locally. I don’t know that alone I’d be able to make a difference, but I’d like my voice to be able to give other people in the community a voice that feel like they don’t have one on the Blacksburg Town Council.

I’ll be out and about for a good part of the day. If you’re willing, I’d appreciate you signing a petition to get me on the ballot.

Why I am not responding to your texts

I’ve been a Mac guy since 1988. My mom and dad graciously bought me the first iPhone the day of its release. Carolyn and Sam waited in a small line at the AT&T store in Monticello, Arkansas for mine. Since then, I’ve owned every iteration of the iPhone as well as several Powerbooks, iBooks, MacBooks, Macbook Pros, etc. I’m an early adopter tech geek.

However, I’ve begun a DLAE. (Digital Lifestyle Adjustment Experiment) I pronounce it “delay” (Because I can. I invented the acronym, as far as I know. And delay is an appropriate word for my digital life right now.) You can read about the first part of my DLAE here, where I exchanged my iPhone 5 for a 10 year old dumb phone.

I’d like to share two general reflections in this entry:

1. My observations on part 1
2. How I’m handling text messages now

Observations on Part 1 of the DLAE

I had a few moments of withdrawal over the weekend in Richmond. We were at a wedding that I performed. Carolyn (who graciously is also cutting back on her digital life) was looking at her iPhone and taking pictures. I found myself greedily looking over her shoulder, and a few times I held back from asking her in a moment of digital desperation to read me her Twitter timeline.

Overall, however, one thing I’ve noticed is the quietness. Usually when I’m waiting in line or have a still second, I’m checking email, Twitter, the news, weather or playing Dice with Buddies. No more. When I’m still, I have no input going on from a device in my hand. While I’m new at this processing, it feels a whole lot like…. 2003 (my first smartphone was a Palm Treo).

I am growing to like being undistracted by the trivial in moments of life that should remain quiet and reflective. I’m having ideas again. (It’s hard to have random ideas – whether quirky, creative or brilliant – when you’re filling every free mental moment with techno dribble.)

Another reflection is people’s reactions to my DLAE. Within hours of posting my first entry, my website hits were way up. In person, people have responded to me weirdly. I’ve had a unanimously positive response from people, and most of them seem like thirsty people gazing across a desert at a watering hole. They look at my dumb phone with its T9 texting and seem to unconsciously drool over the whole concept. I did not begin the DLAE to be an example. I am not looking at people in judgement when they pull out their devices. On the contrary, I’m still having to convince myself at times that not having easy access to an incredible camera in my pocket is not going to ruin my social life.

More observations to come…

How I’m handling text messages

This is part 2 of my DLAE. I get a lot of text messages. In fact, in recent months, it’s begun to dawn on me that I get text messages from people who really should be communicating their thoughts to me via email or in person. It concerns me when church members or friends text me a real-life problem issue in several paragraphs. Why in the world would they not just call me or email or set up a time to visit about their crisis?

On top of that, I get texts for things like

• Requests for phone numbers
• People telling me they’re late for meetings and on their way
• Questions about jobs
• Funny comments or observations

And I’ve had entire conversations with people over text messaging. I’m not criticizing it, but the reality is that this all takes place on an electronic device in my hand rather than in the presence of a human being. Yes, I know, it’s a medium, but here’s what I’m doing:

I’m texting less.

Yes, part of that is because my dumb phone has T9 texting. It’s a pain. (Although I do like having physical buttons to press so that I don’t have to look down all the time to confirm what I’m pressing.) But the reality is that texting is an interruption to my train of thought.

Consider this:

I’m working away on a project, with immense creativity and productivity. Ding. Text message. I stop and look over at the phone. Typically, I respond. Sometimes the text message throws me for a loop. It’s a reminder of something I need to take care of, or it’s “urgent,” and I’ll feel guilty if I don’t respond quickly (after all, they know I’ve seen it – especially on an iPhone which unhelpfully tells its sender that it’s been delivered and whether it’s been read or not).

Now, however, I’m intentionally letting my dumb phone chime or vibrate to its heart’s content. I am choosing to look at text messages only once every few hours. Then I respond. If someone truly needs me, they have my phone number, don’t they? Otherwise, texts are there for convenience, not urgency, in my opinion.

What’s it like? I’m honestly still struggling at times with guilt. I think I’ve become a little like one of Pavlov’s dogs (or Dwight and breath mints) in relation to the incessant chiming and buzzing of my phone. However, I’m beginning to feel freedom. I don’t think – for me – that’s too much of an exaggeration.

The idea behind strategic texting is simply to check in 3-4 times a day. People can expect to hear back from me – just not immediately in most cases.

A few notes

Before you think I’m a technological hermit, remember that I just bought an iPad Mini with 4G. I am not going dark. I am simply scheduling my digital lifestyle so that I’m not always “on.” I am still Instagramming (though that’s a challenge without the amazing iPhone camera), tweeting and advocating for Google+ instead of Facebook. (Although the Path app looks great these days too.) There are a couple of times a day that I play catch up with these streams – but they’re times that I plan for that.

On the whole, the past few days with my DLAE have been ones that I don’t regret at all. I’ll keep you posted with more observations and also about part 3 of my DLAE involving email.

Why I’m moving from a smart phone to a dumb phone

Call it a digital life adjustment experiment (DLAE for short).

I’ve been mulling over the implications of being constantly accessible, online, responsive and honestly, much of the time, digitally consumed. It’s been weeks of mulling. Today, I pulled the trigger. Here’s Part 1 of my DLAE.

I boxed up my iPhone 5 and put it in a drawer. I dug out our trusty old Sony Ericsson w810i from a drawer, charged it up and took it to AT&T for a SIM card. The welcome screen still shows “Cingular.”

Here’s Part 1 of the plan. I’m selling my iPad 2 and have bought an iPad mini with 4G capability. I’ll carry it around and use it when I need access, but for the most part, I’ll use it like I used my iPad 2 – for meetings, taking notes, reading, email, and preaching.

There’s more to my DLAE that’s coming soon. I’ll keep you updated, but today has been spent getting “ready.” One fun freebie – we found a ton of pictures on the massive memory card (256 mb) in the Sony phone. It has a 2 megapixel camera that is surprisingly crisp. (Check out the image below that I took this evening when Sam returned from fishing with Adam and Paul.)

Some of you are probably scratching your heads, wondering why. The short answer: to take back the margins of my life’s pages. They’ve been too filled in with digital noise and distractions. Stay tuned for Part 2.

A la carte: Are you doing team leadership wrong?, Interns, and 3 Issues Churches Must Answer

Are you doing team leadership wrong?

Phil Cooke offers some strong advice about meetings, teams and decisions on this blog entry:

Teams are for brainstorming and execution.

Leaders make decisions.

Simple as that. What’s happening today is that too many leaders are afraid to embrace decisions. Fear of not being liked. Fear of failure. Fear of making mistakes. Insecurity. There’s a number of reasons. As a result, they defer the decisions to the group. But all that happens in this scenario is that the decision devolves into endless discussions, debates, and arguments. I’ve been in leadership meetings that lasted for 12 hours because they couldn’t arrive at a decision. (No surprise there.)

Turn to your team for ideas, brainstorming, research, opinions, and more. Develop a killer team of brilliant people. But when it comes to making a real decision, nothing takes the place of genuine leadership. Once that decision is made, a great team is brilliant at execution.

In military terms, a great team can figure out how to take the hill. But someone has to decide which hill to take.

Don’t give up your role as being a strong decision maker.

Agree/disagree? I tend to agree, but I also love the joy of bringing a group of people to consensus on issues. Where there’s consensus (even if it takes longer than I desire), there’s ownership and investment.

Interns

Jodi Glickman in the Harvard Business Review asked, “Does anyone has time for interns?” The answer is that if you don’t, you should. We have an intern program in our church that is consistently stretching and helpful. One thing I’d affirm from the article is the importance for the intern of making things happen. Get busy. Take initiative. Get things done.

One of the best ways to get ahead at work is to make your boss’ life easier or better… Show your new employer how you’re going to solve a specific problem, fill in a missing need, or simply be someone who can hit the ground running on a specific and manageable task.

Matt Morrison also wrote on The Importance of Interning and identified the following three areas:

• It’s a chance to learn.
• It’s a chance to fail.
• It’s a chance to humble yourself.

He also offered the following wisdom:

Internships are a vital part of growing as a professional and as a person. In medicine or law, they require it. Many businesses and corporations prefer to see them on a new hire’s work history. Quite honestly, I wouldn’t even hire anyone who didn’t have an internship under his or her belt. [emphasis mine]

While not all interns are created equal, having a consistent intern program – especially in the church – provides you as a leader with the opportunity to discern the suitability of a person’s role in ministry. From mundane tasks to significant assignments, the intern is observed and assessed for greater roles of responsibility and leadership. Internships provide a way for churches to identify future leaders (and to cull out that who shouldn’t be leaders at the present time).

Our church has a one-year intern program. They work for the first three months on mostly mundane, “grunt-work” and errand-type tasks. This provides us with the opportunity to observe attitude and motive in service. The second three months, they are assigned a particular area of ministry. The remaining six months (after evaluation of the first six), they are paid – a very little – and continue in their assigned area of ministry as a growing part of our staff team. You can review our intern documents here.

Three Questions Ministers Must Answer

Steve Murrell wrote in February 2012 what looks like now a prophetic post. Since then, there has been a full-court press on his third question. Here are the three issues he said ministers (and churches) must be able to respond to:

1. The Exclusivity of Christ. Is faith in Jesus the only way to heaven?
2. The Authority of Scripture. Is the Bible trustworthy and authoritative for all mankind, in all times?
3. The Sanctity of Marriage. Who should define the institution of marriage?

I would add another issue that churches and leaders must be able to address with grace and from scripture:

• The Beauty of Gender and Sexuality. Are men and women fundamentally different in their roles, and as a result, are there boundaries for sexual expression?

Would you add anything to these issues as important topics for churches to be able to address with grace and truth for our culture?

A la carte: Evernote app ideas for speakers, Chris Broussard

Evernote org for speakers

Do you use the Evernote app for speaking? Michael Hyatt has a great entry with ideas for organizing your prep.  His system makes Evernote a database with material you’ve read, thought and seen for easy referreal when prepping for speaking. He includes notebooks for illustrations, jokes, quotes, and statistics. In addition, he also files:

Blog posts. I am going back through my 900-plus blog posts and extracting the various components. When I find a personal illustration or a historical anecdote, I copy and paste it into my Illustrations notebook. The same is true for quotes and jokes.
Web articles. When I am reading on the Web, I do the same. If I stumble across something I think I might want to use later, I copy and paste it into the appropriate notebook. This can include everything from other bloggers’ posts to news articles.
Digital books. This is also a big advantage of using Kindle for my reading. Anything I highlight in a Kindle book is automatically extracted to my personal Highlights page on Amazon. I can copy and paste these directly into Evernote from there. This is a huge productivity boost.
Traditional books. One of the great things about Evernote is that you can share individual notebooks with others. For example, I am still reading several print books and highlighting them as usual. In the margin, I put an “I” with a square around it to indicate to my assistant that I want her to key the highlighted content into Evernote. I use a “J” for Jokes, a “Q” for Quotes, and a “S” for Statistics.

Chris Broussard and Jason Collins

On April 29, 2013, ESPN’s Chris Broussard came out about his feelings on NBA player’s Jaason Collins’ coming out (Jason announced that week he was gay.) Chris’ comments were made on air, and as such, he received a hailstorm of criticism for communicating a very even-handed assessment the sinfulness of human sexuality beyond its God-given boundaries. Chris demonstrated more courage than many pastors and church leaders. Many have criticized him for expressing his opinion on air, but if you watch the clips, he was asked. Here are his comments:

“I’m a Christian. I don’t agree with homosexuality. I think it’s a sin, as I think all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is. L.Z. [Granderson, a gay sportswriter and ESPN contributor] knows that. He and I have played on basketball teams together for several years. We’ve gone out, had lunch together, we’ve had good conversations, good laughs together. He knows where I stand, and I know where he stands. I don’t criticize him, he doesn’t criticize me, and call me a bigot, call me ignorant, call me intolerant.

In talking to some people around the league, there’s a lot of Christians in the NBA, and just because they disagree with that lifestyle, they don’t want to be called bigoted and intolerant and things like that. That’s what L.Z. was getting at. Just like I may tolerate someone whose lifestyle I disagree with, he can tolerate my beliefs. He disagrees with my beliefs and my lifestyle, but true tolerance and acceptance is being able to handle that as mature adults and not criticize each other and call each other names….

Personally, I don’t believe that you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle or an openly premarital sex between heterosexuals, if you’re openly living that type of lifestyle, then the Bible says you know them by their fruits, it says that’s a sin. If you’re openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, adultery, fornication, premarital sex between heterosexuals, whatever it may be, I believe that’s walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ. I would not characterize that person as a Christian because I do not think the Bible would characterize them as a Christian.”

I do appreciate his boldness. I regret that our country won’t permit honest dialogue about beliefs without personal attacks. Chris certainly got his share. Just Google “Chris Broussard and Jason Collins,” and you’ll have to wade through the heated, hateful responses from both sides.

One thing I think should be clarified. When Chris said, “I would not characterize that person as a Christian because I do not think the Bible would characterize them as a Christian,” I think he went too far.

There are periods of prolonged sinfulness and rebellion in many of our lives. That doesn’t mean you’re not a Christian. It might hint that your profession of being a Christian is merely that and not indicative of possession of biblical faith. It’s vital to understand that someone’s pronouncement of another’s lack of belonging to Christ cannot be taken as ex cathedra.

The reality according to scripture is that we cannot claim Christ and snatch eternal life from Him. God alone gives salvation – and freely – to any person who will surrender their heart to Him through faith in His Son. Whether it’s Jason Collins or me, I cannot, by wishful thinking, claim salvation from God’s hands if I have not surrendered my life in faith to His Son and submit to His teachings.

Nine things to know about Duck Dynasty

The Gospel Coalition blog offers a few thoughts about America’s #1 show. Here’s one linked video from the article:

Sometimes it takes a ballpit

Check out this beautifully conceived and well done concept. Put two strangers in a ballpit with some pre-written mixer questions and then stand back and watch the laughter, surprises and simple joys of – get this - talking to another human. In our day of pseudo relationships engineered by cell phones, social media and sound bytes, we need to be reminded again that relationships begin simply – and sometimes in a ballpit.

Thank the good folks over at Soulpancake (brainchild of Rainn Wilson – aka Dwight on The Office) for putting this together.

Here’s one idea for putting yourself out there if you don’t have a ball pit:

• Introduce yourself to the person in line with you – at the grocery store, movies, etc. Smile and say, “Hi! I’m ____. Tell me something good that happened to you today. I like meeting interesting people.”

Live Where You Love: The New River Valley

This was fun to be a part of!

February book update and observations about the inglorious process of book publication, ego, and supporting creative friends

First of all, I owe thanks to so many for your gracious help and support in getting the word out about Super Center Savior. I have no publicist or agency. It’s just me, my mom and sometimes my wife. I actually think they are the ones who have bought the most books to date.

I won’t know overall sales until the end of March when CrossBooks releases the quarterly sales statements. That should be interesting. To date, the only money I’ve seen from the book are from the copies I’ve personally sold, and that has been applied to the cost of the initial batch of books I bought to have available for sales. (In other words, breaking even is still in the future.)

Humbling is a perfect word to describe a book project. Especially a self-published one. A friend and church member, Kiera Cass is a New York Times best-selling author with The Selection and her soon-to-be-released sequel The Elite. (Adelyn loved both of them; Kiera was kind enough to allow her to read a pre-release copy of The Elite). She advised me to not obsess over book rank and sales numbers on Amazon and other sites after the initial launch. Did she know how hard that is not to do? I’ve discovered how vain it is, and the temptation is to allow book sales (or lack thereof) to negatively effect one’s self-worth and the book’s value overall. It’s a mental – and spiritual – battle I never dreamed I’d face, and one initially that I had poorly prepared for.

Additionally, you discover gracious support from friends you haven’t kept in contact with but who promote, spread the word and encourage you consistently. They seem to understand innately the inglorious process and are a wonderful balm to a wounded ego when it appears that the book has slipped into a black hole of nothingness. I think the adage goes: If a pastor writes a book in the forest and a tree falls, does anyone buy it? Others who are friends are more like me, pre-publication.

I was so busy with my own stuff, that when friends and acquaintances created material, I would help initially and then move on. Although I knew that a follow-up on social media every so often would be a boon to a beginning artist or author, I would forget. After walking a month and a half as an author in their shoes, I am reminded about the importance of occasional, but intentional, support of my creative friends.

And then there are those friends who simply haven’t helped. It’s ridiculous for anyone to reassess relationship based on a person’s willingness to promote a creative project. However, in confession mode, I confess that there are a few ego injuries that I’ve received over the past few weeks from ignorant friends. (I mean “ignorant” in the literal sense of “they simply don’t know what they don’t know.”) Such is the strange new world of being an author.

After reading some of the reviews from Kiera’s first book on Amazon (overall a 4-star!), I am thankful that the book hasn’t had wider impact yet. When you receive brutal, excoriating reviews on a project you’ve poured yourself into, it has to be difficult to resist anger or frustration. I don’t think I would have been (or am) adequately prepared for that yet, so….

In fact, in addition to the two excellent articles below that Amy posted on Super Center Savior’s Facebook page, let me add another suggestion to aid your favorite author/creative:

• Pray for their ego. Ask the Lord that it would be nurtured by their identity in Christ rather than the reviews of others or the works they produce.

Articles to help you help an author:

• 12 Ways to Help an Author
• 8 Ways to Help Your Favorite Author

I’ve got more, but in the meantime, for book updates, feel free to stop by – or subscribe – to the book blog here. I’ll stop here for now. In other words… nuff said.

What do you use for tweeting?

I was pretty bummed today when I learned that the Mac app for Echofon was discontinued last October. I had no idea. I don’t know how I missed it. When I googled to get the scoop, Cult of Mac had the story.

Echofon has been my main Twitter client for over a year on all my devices – iPhone, iPad and Mac desktop. LOVE it. In the past 2 months though, I’ve had problems with it on my iPhone. I use Siri to tweet – a lot – and the Siri button would be grayed out and not available. In frustration one day, I went looking for new clients and found Tweetbot.

It’s nice, but not as clean and smooth as Echofon. It has a learning curve to it and doesn’t seem quite as intuitive as Echofon.�One thing I HATE about Tweetbot is when you “@” someone, it pulls in a long list of people that I don’t even follow, which forces me to enter more characters to get to the person in the list I want to mention.

One Twitter client that I love – it’s beautiful – is Janetter, but it doesn’t yet have push notifications or sync what tweets you’ve read on other devices. However, their Mac app is stellar.

The main things I want from Twitter apps, on iPhone, iPad and Mac is:

1. Syncing to last tweet read
2. Push notifications
3. Multiple account capability
4. Scheduling (the only app I know that does that is Hootsuite)

What Twitter app do you use and why? Have you used any of these apps that I’ve mentioned?

Why did I write Super Center Savior?

I grew up in the South, just to left of the buckle of the Bible Belt. My family was faithful to be �at church� every time the doors were open. Both my parents were active in serving. In college and on my own, I too found myself heavily involved in church life. After sensing a call to ministry and later graduating from seminary and beginning full-time ministry, these many years of church involvement and service were rungs upon which I climbed to get a better view of what I now call �churchianity.� What I saw disturbed me and led me to write Super Center Savior.

I saw thousands of people attending church semi-regularly, but very few of them being the church, much less�enjoying their relationship with the God of the church. These ideas coalesced into a conviction that not only does God deserve our whole-hearted devotion (which results in our joy), but our world desperately needs Christ-followers who live a God-saturated life 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The world doesn�t need to see our church-building gatherings. It needs to see our love.

Because Wal-Mart is a commercial and social staple of many of these Bible-Belt communities, I took a familiar cultural icon and hopefully have used it and its practices in a way to both challenge and encourage Christians and church leaders to experience the joy of 24/7 Christian living. This happens when we allow our Savior to be center of lives.

“Select all” code for inviting Facebook friends to an event

Ever wanted to invite ALL your friends to an event or maybe just the ones on a Facebook list you’ve created?

Here’s a handy hack that I use a lot for church purposes (I have a “Northstar” Facebook list) and have used for the Spread the word about “Super Center Savior” event.

1. Go to the event page.
2. Click invite friends.
3. Go to the list you want to invite (or just keep it default to invite all your friends – but be ready to be “unfriended.”)
4. Scroll all the way to the bottom of your friends list. Make sure everyone loads (their profile pics will load next to their names).
5. Now paste this code in your browser address window:

javascript:elms=document.getElementsByName(“checkableitems[]“);for (i=0;i<elms.length;i++){if (elms[i].type=”checkbox” )elms[i].click()};

6. Hit return, and ALL your friends will eventually be selected (you may have to wait a few moments).

7. Hit “invite” button. Done!

Here’s an image that shows you:

Cover for Super Center Savior

At long last, my book project is fully complete! Super Center Savior has been a labor of intense joy and adventure. It began while we were living in Monticello, Arkansas, and it was finished earlier this year. Now, it’s heading to online stores, and I hope next month to some brick and mortar ones as well.

It will really depend upon you, my faithful reader of Notes from the Trail, my friends, my church, and acquaintances from sea to shining sea to help promote the book. It is a self-published project with Cross Books. They’ve been great, but honestly, we couldn’t afford the package with a publicist and hot air balloon.

So, if you see if popping up online in the Amazon store or Cross Books website, don’t order it yet! I’d like to pick a day soon to heavily promote it and ask everyone to buy it together on that day to help drive the sales and book up on the list of “best sellers” to create buzz and attention.

I honestly feel a bit weird and awkward about “self-promotion” of this nature. I’d rather get stung by a wasp. Ok, not really, but it is just as painful to me. So I’d appreciate the help. Leave a comment below if you’re interested in a copy or have questions about that book.

The problem is in us

• West Paducah, KY.
• Jonesboro, AR.
• Littleton, CO.
• Blacksburg, VA.

Add to the growing list of horrible killings on school properties the town of �Newton, CT. Yesterday, the nation tuned in with horror (again) to news casts about the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School which left 20 children dead.

Though the count was 1/3 in comparison to the massacre at a youth camp in Norway last year (which killed 69 there; 77 total in day’s rampage), the shock of another shooting – especially of children – reopened our larger cultural wound. It forced us once again to look into the face of evil. What our society saw there makes it deeply uncomfortable with greater spiritual issues, and like our ancestors in the garden, we too turn to the blame game.

The discussion yesterday was quickly politicized into a debate about gun control. When it should be a time for consolation, grief, counsel and prayers, talking heads committed a cultural larceny by stealing our sympathy and pontificating about gun control.

Yes, let’s reevaluate what guns can be sold and who they can be sold to. BUT, those who believe guns are the issue are missing the point.

We are the problem.

THIS is where sin leads us. To grief, tragedy and despair. To evil, dysfunction and atrocity. Every time. There is no small sin. All sin kills.

Thank God for Jesus, the sin bearer and sin destroyer. He allowed our sin to kill Him so that God’s power would be displayed in His new life.

May we turn to Him in heartbroken confession. He will forgive and heal.

Let us not blame guns. It is as ludicrous as blaming the Big Gulp. It’s US, idiots. WE are the problem. It is the resident evil within each of us, that left untreated individually creates deep sickness societally.

As God’s Word so boldly informs us, “the wages of sin is death.” Every time. Our collective sin and rejection of God is a killing cancer in mankind.

May we turn. One by one. May we turn to Him. We are the problem. God is the solution. He loves us and wants our complete and full surrender.

The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. (Romans 7:14 NLT)

Living in a community where tragedies have taken place brings perspective. One powerful force is the humbling reality that in such times of evil violence, we are simply not in control. We are helpless. We try to retake control through analysis, legislation and a commitment to better security. Yet, all the planning and deterrent measures in the world will not leash the evil heart of man.

We need a Savior who cares for us. We need a God whose heart breaks over the ugliness of our sin and offers salvation from it. We need a God that the prophet Isaiah described:

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… (Is 53.4)

It’s grievous to note that such a God is ignored and marginalized – even ancient Israelite culture:

yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

Yet…

But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed. (Is 53.5)

Oh, America, may we turn. May we turn from blaming the externals and look internally. The problem is in us.�May we find our hope in Him. He offers His wounds for our healing. He offers His crushing for our consolation. As the angels proclaimed to unsuspecting shepherds about the Christ, it is “good news of great joy which will be for all the people.” (Luke 2.10)

Let us pray diligently for consolation and mercy for the families and community of Newton. Unity and hope is found in communal grief, humility and empathy, not in blame.

Reflections on the Elections and Reminder of the Debates

Well, as I said in a tweet last night:

The Redskins fooled us all. My guy didn’t win. The blogs I read were wrong. But you know what? I have joy. You can too. Mt 22:37

While I hoped that the Romney/Ryan ticket would win, now it’s time to pray that the leaders of our nation will get back to work (and get others back to work). It’s time to pray for their wisdom, their cooperation, and the blessings of our nation as a whole. Isn’t that what the intent of Jeremiah’s words to Israel as they lived in captivity in Babylon meant:

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.�(Jeremiah 29:7)

Finally, in reflection of yesterday’s elections, I thought it appropriate to remind you of some sobering realities from the first debate:

I voted

Four years ago I voted against Barack Obama more than I voted for John McCain. I was concerned about Obama’s lack of experience. However, when he won, I celebrated that America had elected its first African-American President. I prayed for him, and I hoped that his rhetoric would translate into reality.

It did not.

Instead, the President and his party have created a vitriolic climate in Washington this past four years. This was in direct opposition to his promises.

So today, I voted against Barack Obama for the second time. However, today, I also voted for Mitt Romney AND Paul Ryan.

Whoever wins today will also receive my prayers for the next four years. Personally, I just hope that the subject matter of my prayers is different.

Statism or Conservatism

This for me was the most compelling and dynamic video in this election season. There have been many political ads I’ve shaken my head over in distress, literally astonished and dismayed by their pettiness and banality. I expect more from Presidents and potential Presidents of the strongest country on earth.

This video is truly worth your time to watch. Once it progresses past quoting President Obama, its beautiful visuals in distinguishing statism from conservatism are commendable. It’s very well done.

Cultural progressivism

One of the most enjoyable and thought-provoking research projects I’ve read during the past several weeks has been George Yancey’s What Motivates Cultural Progressives. It’s a four-part series that I’ve linked below:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

�The series is based on his book by the same title, and it seeks to examine the overt assault on the Christian right from a position of research and documentation. Its material is derived from open-ended questions in an online survey sent to members of organizations that have as part of their purpose opposition to the Christian or religious right.�Yancey says:

Those fighting the Christian right have attracted little academic interest. But recently I have conducted research on such individuals who I will call, for lack of a better name, cultural progressive activists, and some of that research is in my latest book, What Motivates Cultural Progressives.

Yancey sees in CPA (cultural progressive activists) an actual social movement. He defines this in part 1 as the ways that “meet the social needs of a particular group as well as provide members of that group a social identity.” In his research, he found that “demographic information on the members of this group revealed they are relatively likely to be white, male, wealthy and highly educated.” In fact, the stats on the sampling revealed CPAs as:

• 93% white
• 64% male
• 52% making more than 75K
• 43% with graduate degrees
• 75% atheist or agnostic

In his words, “Cultural progressive activists do quite well.”

Part 1 of the series focuses on CPA’s fear of “mixing religion and politics” which was a predominant concern among this movement. Results found that CPAs expressed deep concern about the need for separation of church and state, to the extent that they were willing to take steps to silence the opinion and exclude the influence of Christians from academia and government. CPAs especially want to control the means of communication (mass media) in our culture to assist in these goals.

Part 2 of the series examines the concept of rationality. Research reveals that CPAs believe the Christian right is irrational. Consider this quote from the research material from a respondent:

The Christian Right appears to be composed mainly of lower-middle class, blue-collar Caucasian workers with limited formal education who use their limited mental abilities to come up with illogical arguments, and then angrily enforce their positions with fear and intimidation (Male, age 56-65, master�s degree).

It is not whether or not CPAs are actually more rational than Christians. It’s their perception that they are. Indeed, Yancey affirms this in one of his conclusions on their motivations:

it is not really that important whether cultural progressive activists are more rational than those in the Christian right. My argument as a result of this study is that the value of rationality characterizes cultural progressive activists, not actual rationality…�They honestly believe themselves to be more rational than their counterparts and because of that belief can assert that they have the best plans for our society. Cultural progressives conceive their plans as being well thought out instead of based on the emotional fears of the Christian right.

Part 3 of the series examines the political progressiveness of the CPA. The results found that across the board, as you might suspect at this point, that CPAs identify themselves predominantly as liberal and affiliate with either the Democratic or other left-leaning political parties. It’s not just their “feelings” or values that lead to this identification. Because “rationality” is a value for the CPA, Yancey says,

Acceptance of political progressive ideology is a marker for intelligence. Consequently, the opposite is true for these respondents as well. Those who accept a conservative political ideology must not be very intelligent or are being misled. (italics mine)

In fact, where most CPAs are religiously atheistic or agnostic, it’s interesting to note that they have a belief system in which “the more progressive an individual is the higher level of morality that person possesses.” Their political progressiveness is expressed in high activism, seeking to transform culture and society and institutions into their vision. They have a tendency to disdain anyone that disagrees with them as being unintelligent, uninformed or “misled.”

Part 4 wraps up the series (and I hope tempts you to buy the book) seeks to identify the “action frame” of this social movement. Yancey explains that an action frame is a way of explaining how people in a movement “find ways to ‘frame’ their movement that justify their participation in the movement” and “whereby movement participants argue what has gone wrong… and why movement participants take the actions that they do.”

While CPAs do not oppose religion that is confined to the home, they seek to keep its influence out of society at large. One respondent indicated:

Christian fanatics have not yet reached the stage of active persecution but it is only a matter of time to where they become as bad as the Islamic fundamentalists.

It’s worrisome at the least to understand again the demographics of this group. As Yancey said earlier, “Cultural progressive activists do quite well.”�Unfortunately, they abandon their embrace of rationality when they embrace fear as a motivator to hinder the Christian worldview from influencing culture at large.

Fear is a powerful motivational tool that social movements can use to maintain loyalty and commitmentIt is often difficult to persuade individuals to provide resources to a social movement based purely on the vision of a better society…�Thus, it is not surprising that primary literature from some of the organizations run by cultural progressive activists paints Christian conservatives as a powerful enemy that must be defeated at all costs.

Yancey ends the series with a worn-out term that I believe is overused – “culture war.” For me, it doesn’t communicate much hopefulness in dialogue to paint a militaristic picture. I did appreciate his attempt to unpack for us what motivates a person or organization that is a cultural progressive. I wonder what your thoughts might be related to the material, particularly in light of an election season?

What politicians should learn from pastors

“There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.” ~ Linus

Some subjects tend to divide the moment you discuss them, and it’s one of the most unfortunate and wretched states of our culture. During this political season, it’s almost impossible to have a rational discussion with someone who votes differently. Heat, rather than light, too often enters the conversation. So I post today with some concern about the nature of the response.

I’ll confess to being a political junkie. I love politics and the intricacies of leading a nation by democratic principles. It may be because as a minister, I work in relationships as well. As the leader of a church, I have been tasked with the prospect of changing people’s minds from one perspective to another. That’s actually what the Greek word – metanoia – that we translate as “repent” literally means – “to change one’s mind about.”

In politics, it’s extremely difficult to change one party’s mind. Some would say it’s impossible. In the face of retrenchment, it often looks like Republicans and Democrats refuse to come to the table to have rational discussion about mutual goals. It is disconcerting that much of what we see from Congress or the White House does not actually represent us.

In this contentious political season, here’s one thing politicians could learn from a pastor: Build consensus about right things. In the church, when there are strong differing opinions about an issue, it’s important to proceed with grace, caution, love and yes, diplomacy. Two quick notes:

1. There are times that pastors and church leaders have to stand strong and “fight” for issues. These would be matters of biblical truth that are essential to salvation or clearly revealed in scripture.
2. There are times that it’s important to compromise because some contentious issues are matters of preference, style or personality, that while they are important, the when and how of those battles can be chosen with wisdom for the greatest consensus.

A good case in point is the pastor who goes to a conference and while there is moved by the contemporary worship style. He knows his church is more traditional in its worship styles, but on his return, determines to implement a new worship style in his congregation. Feelings are hurt and tempers flare. People feel ignored or slighted. The pastor digs battle lines, insisting that by not having contemporary worship, “they” are ignoring the younger generations who prefer it.

What a pastor in this or a similar circumstance doesn’t realize, is that he’s heading for a “business meeting.” There will be a vote there. It will fall along the lines of “us and them,” and it will result in the most feared words in churchianity – a split.

Churches implode on issues that may be of great importance, strategy or even style, but they are handled in the wrong way and in poor timing. Relationships are lost and people are bruised in contests of our wills. The wise pastor learns and understands that there are better ways to move a people forward. Almost all of them take time, prayer, counsel, and deep relational investment.

Politicians have missed this. In fact, the scene above was repeated in much the same way, but over another issue in 2009. The�Affordable Health Care for America Act, H.R. 3962, was passed in the House on Saturday, November 7 of that year�by a vote of 220-215 with support of the majority of Democrats, together with one Republican who voted only after the necessary 218 votes had already been cast. Thirty-nine Democrats voted against the bill. (Source)

It was an “us-them” moment over an important issue. One party ramrodded their preferences through because they had the power and the resulting votes to do so. It’s happened before and will happen again.

Think about how that would go over in a church.

People can leave your church. Few – a mighty slim few – can leave the country. Many of those with the dollars to do so are the very ones who in the past four years have forced their will on an unhappy electorate. Another “for instance” is the reality that 62% of Americans want all or most abortions illegal. (Source) Yet if the Democrats win control of both house of Congress in 2012, their party platform embraces abortion without exception. In fact, Obamacare provides financing for abortion currently.

In regards to the abortion issue alone, if the country had a “business meeting” where every citizen’s vote counted (like in a church), only 2% of the abortions performed today would be legal.

…with a large percentage of Americans opposing abortions except in cases such as taking of the life of the mother, or cases of rape or incest � both of which, combined, constitute less than two percent of all abortions in the nation, according to the Guttmacher Institute � most Americans truly want 100% or 98 percent of the 1.2 million abortions a year made illegal.

Before you’re tempted to say, “but the country does have a business meeting like a church, it’s called an election,” let me just say that it’s painfully obvious that many of our elected officials do not vote or lead in the manner that their constituents would have them do so. And then there’s this thing called the electoral college. (See my post called “Electoral Smectoral“)

Politicians and pastors. Both are professions in which building consensus and relationships are key. Both are professions that elicit negative feelings from the population. Both have documents for their guides and foundational principles. And in both professions, the trouble comes when those guidelines and principles are misinterpreted or ignored.

From one pastor who is continuing to learn the beautiful complexities of influencing people and seeing minds changed to any politician who may read this: Build consensus.�Build it about the right things in the right way and with the right timing. Please. The only splits that are really good are banana.

A la Carte: Crumb and Get It, Your Pastor’s Marriage, Tats and Academic Bias against Religion

When referring to a menu, something is a la carte if it is priced and ordered separately from other full menu items.�For those of you not familiar, my “a la carte” entries are simply that – unrelated, brief entries that have captured my attention over previous weeks. Normally, I use readitlater.com (now Pocket) to save websites or blog entries for later reflection and reading.

So pull up a chair and peruse these offerings. I encourage you to click through to the original articles for more content and reflection.

Crumb and Get It says “no thanks” to VP Biden

A friend of mine is a bivocational pastor in Radford, Virginia. As pastor of Love Church, Chris McMurray and his wife Kelly knew that their new church plant would not be able to support themselves financially. Like Paul in the New Testament who at times worked to support himself so that a new congregation wouldn’t be burdened with that, Chris and Kelly restarted Crumb and Get It. They had opened one in Blacksburg a few years ago, but it was not able to make it when they moved to Alabama to serve in a church there.

This past week, Vice President Joe Biden was touring Virginia on the campaign trail, and Radford was one of his stops. WDBJ 7 in Roanoke first broke the news that Chris had politely told Biden’s campaign “no thanks” to a proposed campaign stop in his bakery.

Since that time, business has risen like a muffin on steroids. The company’s Facebook page went from about 250 followers to over 10,000 in a few short days.

Regardless of your political position, I hope you are encouraged by someone who makes a difficult decision based on conviction. On the other hand, it’s a crazy world we live in which Americans mobilize to support restaurants and bakeries that choose personal conviction over political correctness in a gracious fashion.

Related: Story, Story, Story

Your Pastor’s Marriage

Eric Redmond posted about the importance of protecting marriages – specifically that of your church leaders’. When you consider the devastation of marriages cracking on personal and individual family levels, you must magnify that immensely to understand the destructive power unleashed when a pastor’s marriage fails. One of the most powerful witnesses a minister can have to a watching world and church is a healthy marriage.

So Redmond offers some practical ideas on how to protect your pastor’s marriage.

Tats

Again from Redmond. He says he is working through how he feels about tattoos from a theological perspective. Honestly, I am too. He came across a provocative quote by John Piper in a post on from 2007:

�Thirty years from now today�s tattoos will not be marks of freedom, but indelible reminders of conformity.�

Many people I love and respect have tattoos, and I certainly do not condemn them or criticize them at all. I think tattoos – if they are an issue in scripture – are an issue of Christian liberty, wisdom and discernment. While there are Old Testament laws that seem to speak to directly to marking the skin (Leviticus 19:28), arguments are made that we don’t live under Old Testament law any longer.

Here are some interesting and provocative lines of thought to digest: 1, 2, 3, 4. The last link has a ton of comments that are entertaining (though sadly judgmental at times) to read.

Academic Bias against religion

It should not surprise you that educational institutions challenge faith. Indeed, much of their purpose is to get you to think, and they consistently – across academic disciplines – employ rationalism as the chief means for examination and research. What may surprise you, however, is that research shows that academia is not content with simply challenging faith. It appears that it judges those who hold faith as unworthy of working in their institutions. Bradley Wright reveals some of the findings here.

Those who work in educational environments are consistently intimidated to keep their views quiet, which seems to fly in the face of open discussion, honest debate and inquiry. This is particularly disconcerting if matters of faith – God, life, relationships – are actually rational.

The 2011 book�Compromising Scholarship: Religious and Political Bias in American Higher Education by George Yancey details just how deeply this bias is present and presents evidence that it may not just be a bias but the existence of deliberate agendas in some institutions to suppress faculty members who have religious convictions.

What are your thoughts on the issue? If you’re currently employed at an educational institution, feel free to comment anonymously. ;)