Alignment Isn’t Just for Your Car: Gaining Alignment In Organizations

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  Awesome Alignment: Image via Wikipedia

  Ducklings swim behind momma duck. Human babies like to wander off.

• North Korean communists follow their leaders like ducklings behind a momma duck. Americans like to wander off.
• Muslims bow, read, and wear burkhas in obeisance to their leaders, but Christians tend to wander off.

• Ducklings have no choice. Biology determines their behavior.
• North Koreans have no choice. Violence determines their behavior.
• Muslims pay a price for rebellion in Muslim countries. Strict discipline and even punishment shapes their behavior.

I’m thinking about how a group of people self-selects to line up behind a leader, a purpose, or a set of beliefs. I’ve said a few times in the past two weeks that if a community of Christians decides to pay a pastor a salary, have communion “X” number of times a year, or meet in a certain style of worship then who are we to criticize? The group has decided. They’ve lined up and followed momma duck.

Yet, how does the group decide?

Who sets the variables before the group and how does the group select?

On Saturday, our core of committed Journeyites experimented with just such questions.

We started by reading a hundred verses from the Bible and writing a phrase on a post-it note if something in a verse stood out. We sorted these phrases by “Mission, Message, or Method.” We spent a half hour praying after this exercise.

Then, we discovered how God has worked in The Journey’s history. We wrote positive events on blue post-it notes and negative events on pink. We pasted those notes in chronological order on a timeline. We teamed up with a prayer partner to pray after this exercise.

In our third task, we sorted out the values we had worked under for the past seven years. We brainstormed about seventy relational values. Words like “big events,” “pastor-led,” and “contemporary/non-traditional” formed. We voted for five relational values to carry us into the next phase of our growth: Prayerful, proclaim Christ, Spirit-led, love, and Mission.

We began to see structural (institutional) values, so again, we brainstormed, discussed, then voted for four structural values: Spiritual Leadership, Community, Accountability, and Fiduciary Responsibility.

Finally, everyone gave at least five ideas of things we need to do this year to fulfill God’s purpose. Each project or task needed support from the values and the Biblical foundation. Instead of voting right then, we send in our votes this week and get the results this Sunday. We know our first priority is Organization: Delegation and Finances. Sometime this week we’ll get a good feel for what God wants us to do.

This process, though artificial, creates alignment. Everyone got to share. Everyone discussed. We saw the full range of thoughts and agreed to focus on just a few. Ahhhhh….alignment at last!

God really, really wants UNITY in the body. When we act like human babies or normal Americans we don’t bring glory to the Body of Christ. Alignment is difficult, but churches that have it GROW and produce amazing fruit. I’m trusting that God’s alignment is happening in The Journey.

Why Greed is Killing the Church’s Effectiveness

Jesus talked often of giving up everything to follow him. Possessions weaken our “legs.” In fact, following Him is practically impossible if we do not give up everything, he says.

• Matt. 19: 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
• Matt. 10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
• Luke 12:33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
• Luke 14:33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

Our downtown churches were at the center of American life. Hmmmm...Was SUCCESS our worst enemy?

The search for possessions compromises following Christ. In a way the Amish have given up everything you and I think is necessary to live in this world.  The Amish don’t have financial problems today. The Amish culture despises debt and a love of hoarding things. I just read a story of a fifty year old Amish farmer who has saved almost a half million dollars, and he has 14 kids! He has no debt, and is saving to buy a 1.3 million dollar farm to pass to his children!

Lorilee Craker has written, “Money Secrets of the Amish”. In an interview at http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/blog/money-secrets-of-the-amish/ she said,

The Amish have tons of self-control. One of their “secrets” is delayed gratification. They don’t see something and want to buy it right away. They see something, think about it, ask themselves “Do I really need it?” and “Can I get it somewhere else for less?” When it comes to spending, they are very careful, very slow.

Our spending means we deny our children the adventure of living by faith, letting God bring food and pleasure into our home, and having time with us because we are so busy working A) to afford more things and B) to pay off debt. At the core of our fear is that God cannot supply all our need, and that following Christ is really a success story. We measure success by things or pleasure.

The early church experienced greed among the new believers. God struck Ananias and Sapphira dead because of their deceitful greed. As the church grew Paul, James, and Peter spoke more and more AGAINST riches.

Eph. 5:3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. (AGAIN in Eph. 5:5)

1Tim. 6: 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

I’m guilty. So are most Americans. We hoard. We covet. We have lists of things we want. Today, even the government encourages us to spend. Remember getting government checks during the Bush-era to encourage us to go out and spend?

I can think of seven simple things to do to relieve our greedy habits.

• Start by believing the gospel is totally and unequivocally true.
• Repent of your need for things to satisfy cravings of worth and happiness.
• Make one simple change such as not eating out. Delay your gratification in this one area and watch it spill over into others. Stop thinking food is about taste and making a meal is work. (i.e. start living simply)
• Think of money differently. Be proactive in changing (if you’ve repented).
• Find a Dave Ramsey “Financial Peace University” and take it now.
• Read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki to see a clearer picture of wealth.
• Read The Treasure Principle, by Randy Alcorn.
• Give away 10% and more of your income.
• Give away anything you haven’t worn or used in the last year. Don’t sell it. Give it away.
• Work with those who have nothing once a week (at least) until you realize how much you really have.

Thank God for the gospel! We know the end of the story. Jesus died for our greed. Jesus knew it was impossible. Yet, we must live for Christ and not give in to the deceptive and destructive ways of this world.

Col. 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d]alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

Tax the Rich to Save the Poor?

Are the rich getting richer and the poor poorer in America?

In a perfect capitalistic world we could expect that income levels would be a perfect bell curve like an IQ distribution.

But we don’t live in a perfect world. We are greedy people. Money will rise to the top, that is, to people who are better at gathering assets.

If money rises to the top, poor countries should have a very high income inequality. The richest 10% keep up power and control over the nation’s GNP to maximize their own profits. We would expect (and saw this) in the Soviet Union. The power elite controls money to keep it flowing to the top.

The Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality of income distribution or inequality of wealth distribution. A low Gini coefficient indicates more equal income or wealth distribution, while a high Gini coefficient indicates more unequal distribution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient

Wealth is more evenly distributed in Japan, France, and Germany in advanced economies. Income disparity in poorer countries is as predicted except for India (possibly because of low wages in most sectors).

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

Income disparity is  increasing in the USA.  Our income distribution graph is growing like a third world country’s! The gap is about the same as in Russia and China!

Taxing more heavily at the top does not inhibit greedy tendencies.Those with power keep money flowing in their direction. The role of governments is to inhibit the natural tendency toward greed, but taxation of income has not decreased the income disparity. You can see this in the graph of Sweden’s wealth shares. The top 40% retain 93% of Sweden’s wealth.

Should the government commit to radical income distribution? Are we giving away too much for nothing? The cause of poverty is compounded today by so many factors. Health affects a person’s ability to generate income as does family of origin negative traits. IQ, personality, and social context have to be factored in. Government policies, educational institutionalism, inflation, and employment opportunities affect a person’s ability to work. Do most tax paying people think that welfare recipients are lazy? Painting all recipients with the same brush stroke is unfair and lazy.

Solutions will come from someone who knows the oppressed and fights for the poor. This someone will attack Greed and Corruption. He/she will promote resetting the economic policies which got us here in the first place. The only person I know who is capable of doing this is Jesus, who taught all these principles (Luke 4:1-4)!

Maybe all of us who call ourselves by Jesus’ name need to start businesses that actually practice these principles instead of complaining about the greedy at both ends of the spectrum or trying to get rich for ourselves! “Heaven” can help us if we repent of our own greed, and work towards justice.

Why Church is Like Eating

Written sometime  in 2009??

2 Tim. 3:4-5 [They are] lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

I’d like to think a little more idealistically but can’t right now. Church work is a little too realistic-like a collision of incompatible food ingredients in a melange of leftovers. I’d like to think that I can dish up the greatest and tastiest morsels of spiritual growth and relationship with God, but the truth is, the plate of food just doesn’t get that reaction very often. Maybe the guys on the speaking tours get that? The crew sets the table. The people come hungry. The speaker dumps his glob of morsels on their plates. They sniff and taste, then gobble it down and hold their plates up for more!

In a local church, the food is a little different. You know the cook. You know the kind of food that is usually served. If after awhile the food doesn’t meet your taste-bud stimulation sensory level of satisfaction, you begin to look for another globber of food, another minister, another place that has a better “je ne sais quois”. Oh, it’s not that you are mad or don’t like the people serving. “It’s the food,” you say. You’re just not getting fed. You’re just not tasting what you want. The food is a little more spicey or a little more your kind of tastebuds somewhere else.

Ah, American church people on a search for the right menu and taste bud stimulation! We have plenty of eaters and connoisseurs. Where are the cooks? Where are the people who set the tables? Where is the Christ-like mentality in grazing and stuffing yourself silly?

Where are the saints on a mission to explain the real life changing truths to people? Why is this world so full of simple and fixed thinking which says, “I get this kind of food here and that kind of food there”?  What does it say when a church is full of people who can’t cook? What does it say about people who call themselves Christians but don’t know any recipes except, of course, to finesse their way to a table or send complaints to the cook?

What is the solution? To recognize Christ who lives among us and in us. Galatians 2:20 “…it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me…” Somehow, Jesus Christ is alive in the group of people who call themselves Christians. At some point of doctrine, we will differ, but at no point of existence can Christ not be present among groups of people who call themselves Christians. Thus, be careful who’s food you reject. It is Christ’s! You reject the One who has cooked and served, and thus reject your own salvation.

Happy Birthday, Grace

Responsible twenty-one, now that’s an oxymoron! But you are! You have focus and determination. You know what you want and so don’t do those childish and destructive things most people do that is thought “mature.” Getting drunk on a 21st birrthday never made sense to me, and thankfully, to you. You see the trap, and you know how sticky all traps are. Thank you!

As a parent I am proud that you are setting a straight course. As a spiritual father, I see the course leading to greater knowledge of the One Who Makes Life Meaningful. You will have far fewer problems, far less depression and anxiety, far fewer “tragedies.” It’s His promise. You may experience more people telling you how silly these beliefs are, but you have examined them, these others who bear witness to an inferior focus, and have stayed the course. “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and PERFECTER of your faith…” (Heb. 12:1-2) You will help others and be one who rescues them from the fate of unfocused living. Thank you, and Bless You, Grace, on this great day!

Love,

Daddy

culture sucks wind

Today, in the Tri-Cities region, about 175, 000 people did not attend a place of worship. Maybe, 75,000 did. That estimate is generous (30%). In the USA, statistics show that at the most approximately 40% of Americans visited a church in the past four weeks.

New churches and growing churches typically grow through the attraction of other disgruntled or dissatisfied church goers. Not many churches are able to infiltrate the unchurched market. The groundswell of church being a meaningful place is over such that your church better be a healing place, a refuge, a place to get both spiritual and psychological therapy, or you will not get people to come.

However, is this what Jesus said he was forming: a healing place? a place of meaning and therapy?

I think NOT! In fact, he said the opposite and people left him or tried to kill him. He didn’t spend much time talking to the poor people or the sick, but he gave them hope, a healing, and a “now you take up your cross daily” pep talk. he told the wise rulers and religious folks that they were barking up the wrong tree. They searched for power and respect. He told them to give up the search and learn to die to self, die to selfish needs, and don’t worry about the future.

In the past ten years the locus of authority and permanence has changed. It’s NOT in church. It’s NOT the bible or religious leaders (thanks to our human leadership in churches continually making the news for sex scandals and ripping off old ladies, for hate filled diatribes and moronic slogans, the central message of Jesus stays in the dark. Were the Popes and Bishops of the middle ages any different????)

No, people today have a different sense of who speaks truth and what creates a sense of permanence or stability. The locus is in the social networks. Groups self-authenticate and feel safe within their “tribe.” If a Teaparty-ite believes he/she needs a dose of reality they listen to other Teapartiers. If a Freedom From Religion-ite wants to feel better about life they go to an atheist Revival. If a Pro-Life GLBT Republican wants to feel safe and significant, they tune into other PLGLBTR podcasts, and Facebook the heck out of their social network until they feel significant.

The same goes for Christians. As long as we read our Zondervan and Baker books, our denominational literature, or listen to our favorite Christian preachers, we feel as though our religion has meaning and purpose, authority and permanence. Otherwise, the world doesn’t feel very safe.

Guess what? The world isn’t very safe. And there isn’t nor has there ever been a source of authority or permanence in its groups or structures. It is and always has been a dog-eat-dog world. People are cruel, selfish, backstabbing, and egotistical in the world. It’s always been this way. The church is made up of people like this, too.

But it doesn’t have to stay this way nor do we have to go running to our social network for safety. A greater authority and permanent space for each person exists. Those who find it have done a Jesus thing. Jesus said, those who lose their lives “FIND IT.” How much more dangerous can that be??!! God would know, though, don’t you think? If it’s in losing our life, why do we see so many Christians running from church to church, or complaining so violently against their leaders, even, startlingly, gossiping about other Christians (constantly once a person gets in this mode)? Because life feels safer when we hunt for it, destroy others to feel better, and need the respect and power of others in this world.

I think we ought to be preaching and teaching “the TEN steps to LOSING YOUR LIFE,” Instead of “The TEN steps to WINNING in LIFE.” The church needs to be a little more plain in its message if its going to be effective in this socially networked, but really impermanent and chaotic world!

Careful What You Worship on July 4th

Years ago a small church put on a fourth of July cantata for the bi-centennial. For years after, the choir sang from that cantata on July 4th. Every July 4th the congregation heard about the greatness of America and how much God has blessed it. The word I was usually at the center of the songs.

Does the American flag belong in a church building? There’s a hot button for a lot of folks. I love the American flag. When I leave the country and come back, it’s the flag that sparks a warm fuzzy and a wholesome dose of pride in the good ol’ USA for me.

I’m so proud of our Journeyites! We worshipped Jesus and served Him this past July 4th. We took our worship service and about fifty pounds of breakfast to “The Melting Pot,” a worshipping community made up of homeless and the “homed”, the jobless and the “jobbed”. We loved the new friends and the authentic worship. Where else in America could a middle aged man stand up during prayer time and admit he had a great time getting drunk last night, but Jesus got him out of bed to come to worship! What a great country we live in to celebrate freedoms or what a great Jesus who gives us real freedom?

We’re going to celebrate again with “The Melting Pot-ians” August 1. We’re serving up but getting strokes from Jesus in the midst of it. Maybe the choir could sing about that next July 4th???

Endless Swimming

1 Timothy 1:8So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

What keeps our three kids swimming endless laps for hours a day? Have you ever tried swimming for three or four hours?

What makes our girls (HS Senior and College Sophomore) get up at 4:30 a.m. to swim and lift weights for two hours, and then come back for another three hours in the afternoon? I don’t ever have to tell them to get out of bed!

Every few months there is a monster swim meet.

The swimmers live for meets. The meets GAUGE their effort in swimming endless laps. The meets keep them swimming. They get faster. They beat personal times and school records. They keep on swimming endless laps. The ribbons do NOT keep the swimmers coming back to the pool after a meet. Much more is needed than a silky ribbon with writing on it.

Now, here’s the question: What keeps Christians swimming “endless laps”? I mean, what keeps a Christian wanting to get up early and meet with God, or go to church every Sunday? What motivates the endless laps of giving generously or serving others? Why would anyone plod through the difficulties of being part of a Christian community?

What is the GAUGE that Christians use to let them know they are doing the right thing, getting “faster” or honing their skills? In swimming terms, where are the MEETS? I know there are rewards, and Paul tells us to run like someone running for the prize, but the endless laps can get tiring and maddening.

Sunday morning worship is not the guage. Sunday attendance is an illusion. On Sunday morning only a handful of “swimmers” are “in the water.”

How does church leadership know if their “swimmers” are getting “faster”? We simply cannot take attendance as a good indicator! We all know horror stories of people who have attended Sunday morning and Wednesday night services, but cannot “swim.” One pastor I know had become a Christian only after he had finished seminary and had started his first pastorate!

Around these parts, fall “Revivals” act like gauges. Some churches have annual “Leadership Conferences.” Summer Vacation Bible Schools act like a gauge for many churches.

I think that Jesus was very clear about what gauge to use. He sent his disciples out while he could oversee their efforts. He told them he was sending them just like the Father had sent him. He commissioned them right before ascending into heaven. He sent his Spirit at Pentecost to empower them to do what he did.

A swim meet measures the advancement of a swimmer by placing him/her in a situation that “tests” their ability. Jesus devised “tests” for his disciples. He asked them questions, sent them out and brought them into awkward and painful situations with him like the cleansing of the temple and going into Samaria to find the “woman at the well.” In the early church, the disciples continued these “tests” by sending out missionaries, taking younger Christians with them on church planting trips and going into awkward situations like Greek temples and crowded marketplaces to talk to people.

Jesus upset comfort zones to “test” people’s faith. The gauge is simple: how much is there a WANT TO go into the discomfort zones? Churches will lose members this way, but it is Jesus way. Endless meetings aren’t a gauge most of the time. Our discomfort zones will test what we know, feel and believe. They prove if our “relationship with God” is real or a placebo. They test our spiritual muscles to see if we have swum or standing on the sidelines.

How have you entered a “discomfort zone” recently to test your faith?

Riding the Bus in Johnson City

What if I gave up my car to ride public transportation? Would it work for me? How about all the folks who ride every day? Are they serviced well? What do they think? Who rides the bus anyway? Not me in Johnson City.

I’ve ridden mass transit systems in Russia, Belarus, Europe, England, Canada and some of the larger cities in America. It’s the only way to go in those places. The cost is low and it beats driving and paying for $8.00/gallon gas (London). Yet, in Johnson City, I rarely see anyone riding the bus. In other parts of the world, people are ten or fifty deep waiting for a bus. In the last month (yes, it’s been freezing cold), I think I’ve seen a person a day waiting at a bus stop, and I drive about fifty miles a day!

To start my research, I Googled “Johnson City bus routes”. The Johnson City Transit System was the first on the list. Their website is well-engineered and easy to use. A big surprise came when I started reading the first line of the page in Spanish! Brilliant! It’s only one line and redirects a Spanish reader to a Spanish only website. Good job on website design for Spanish-speaking people.

I looked deeper for evidence that the JCTS was doing its job so I hit the “News” button to discover they had just received $1.4 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money for 7 new larger buses, 5 smaller buses and some bus shelters. I downloaded a PDF from a study in 2006 which is crammed full of research about stakeholders and needed improvements.

My observations about the study are as follows:

Does the Military Understand Community?

We face an uphill battle trying to create community in our industrialized, western culture. Community is easily created when it involves alcohol, education, employment or sports. I think that many churches are true community, but getting one started, by all statistics, is an uphill endurance contest against the forces of our context.

The military understands the difficulty.

According to my buddy, Jim, a former Marine and Viet Nam vet, the purpose of boot camp is to strip or extract all remnants of individualism. The Marine Corp is esprit de corps. The unit is much more important than the person. On Guadalcanal, when things got so bad, the only thing that made sense was their fellow marine. He’s doing it so I can do it so I can help and he can help.

Can you imagine that kind of interdependence in your church community? Jesus did. Paul did. It’s called Body Life. It’s called “loving one another.” Community is active involvement, actively pursuing conversations and actively working on friendship. How have you injected yourself into a community to fulfill its mission? How and why have you failed to inject yourself into a community and need to repent for creating more “uphill-ness”?