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Leadership

Change: 12 Guidelines for Deciding When to Persist, When to Quit

Kanter’s Law: “Everything can look like a failure in the middle.”

Navigating change or transformation within an organization or church is a challenge, but when it time for a new ideas to hit the road? What is a good yard stick to measure a new program, ministry, or initiative? How can organizations and churches evaluate success? Often, there is a messy middle where the future is uncertain and evaluation is difficult.

The Harvard Business Review has an excellent piece on how to evaluate the effectiveness of new plans or ideas.What I like best about these guidelines is that they ask the right questions instead of using a specific school of thought through a per-packaged paradigm:

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blog

Pregnancy from rape is not God’s intent

By now you have heard of Richard Mourdock, the Indiana Republican Senate candidate who said in a debate:

“I just struggled with it myself for a long time but I came to realize: Life is that gift from God that I think even if life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”

The backlash from these comments have been swift and harsh. Mourdock was quick to distance himself from his comments. He stated that his comments were used to politically advantage his opponent. The problem with this whole story is not necessarily about abortion, but about rape. Did Mourdock mean that rape is intended to happen or that life is intended to happen?

At a dinner for GOP leaders Mourdock said:  Continue Reading…

Church Leadership, clergy burnout, Leadership

Why your church staff burnout

burnout

Has the slower US economy stretched our work force too thin and caused higher rates of burn out?

According to a new survey, 1 in 5 employees are burned out from their job. The USA Today reported the findings just how people feel about their work:

Since last year, the most significant growth in work priorities is no longer accomplishing basic responsibilities or improving their performance, but just showing up. “Being present” was the most important priority cited by 22% of workers — a 47% increase since the survey began in 2003 and a jump of 3 percentage points since last year.

Do we want people to just “show up” to work or feel empowered?

October is clergy appreciation month in many denominations and this brings added awareness to the epidemic of burnout in churches. In ministry employment, the problem of “pastoral burnout” is well noted, but many churches do little to combat it. Smartphones and social media have increased pastoral burnout, as The New York Times highlighted this problem back in 2010:
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blog

Election Day Communion

Now that the Presidential debates are over, millions of people will be heading to the polls. One of the key voting blocks will have an opportunity to make their vote a spiritual act.

Election Day Communion, a movement started by several pastors, is encouraging congregations and Christians to head to the communion table after heading to the polls. Evangelicals, a targeted demographic by Republicans, are often noted for their conservative stance on political issues. Now, all Christians will have the opportunity to unite around The Table instead of being divisive. Insuring that Election Day Communion does not get partisan, the movement does not endorse a candidate or party.

The movement’s website describes how Election Day Communion started:

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Facebook

Why do you love the Devil?

I stopped in at the Albany Times Union this week and had lunch with one of the editors there. I have developed some great friendships with a number of reporters and staff. I bumped into Mark McGuire.No not that Mark McQwire but the Times Union’s Mark McGuire. We chatted about sports, college, and life. Then, he showed me this Facebook picture making the rounds:


At first, I thought it was a fake and said, “That has to be a joke. I mean, that’s not real. Who would make something like that?”

What confused me were the phrases “emo’s”, “high fullutent”, and “sport’s nut’s”. Those are typically not the type of people who are persecuted by ugly self-righteous Christians. That just doesn’t make sense. Plus, the incorrect use of the possessive (‘s).

If real, this type of ugly proselytizing is not real evangelism. To use offensive words to persecute folks and then tell them to repent and that they need Jesus is just ugly. Jesus reserved his harshest words not for sinners, but for the religious hypocrites.

This Fred Phelps type of tactic is not about turning people to Jesus but is an attempt to taunt and bring attention to the protestor.

What’s the back story on this? Anyone else seen this picture of Facebook?

politics, Presidential debate

Will faith make an appearance at tonight’s presidential debate?

With a record number of “nones” or religiously unaffiliated Americans (20%) possibly voting in the 2012 election, I wonder: will we hear about faith tonight at the Presidential debate? Mitt Romney, a Mormon and Barack Obama, a Protestant are vying for millions of religious voters.

The town hall-style debate voters will ask questions of the candidates and each candidate will be able to respond.

You might remember that at the end of the Vice-Presidential debate, we heard from the candidates about how they saw their faith:

“I don’t see how a person can separate their public life from their private life or from their faith,” said Ryan. “Our faith informs us in everything we do.”

“My religion defines who I am,” said Biden. “I’ve been a practicing Catholic my whole life.”

, at the Washington Post posted an interesting argument: Continue Reading…

worship

A Theology for Announcements in Worship

A church member greeted me after a church service in my usual location, the back exit. I embraced her and wished her a blessed week. She had strange look on her face and said, “You know, I really don’t like announcements at the end of worship. It really takes away the momentum of service and deflates it. I don’t know how to solve that. But then again, that’s your job!” She laughed.

She was right.The obligatory church announcement time was situated in an awkward place in the worship service.

In some churches, multiple people make a multitude of announcements and service drags on. If inserted in the beginning of worship, a number of people don’t hear the announcements because they are still walking into worship. If placed at the end of worship, announcements can take the wind out of a great service. Announcements are odd to have at the end of worship, but it is often the only place the majority of the congregation can hear of something important.

Do announcements belong in worship anyway? Continue Reading…

Culture, politics, religion, spirituality, the nones

Why the nones are leaving church, but not God

nones

It should make any established American denomination panic: the dramatic increase in number of Americans leaving organized religion. In 2007, the percentage of the religious unaffiliated was around 15% and now that number is around 20% according to a new Pew study. In the last 20 years, the religiously unaffiliated or “nones” have doubled.

Before churches and denominations panic, this study does not prove people are leaving behind their belief in God – just the church.

There are a few things we need to remember. This poll, as with any poll, asked questions that may have not accurately described the respondents. The Washington Post reports,

Pew offered people a list of more than a dozen possible affiliations, including “Protestant,” “Catholic,” “something else” and “nothing in particular.”

Those “possible affiliations” are terms that may no longer apply. I’m routinely amazed how Christians incorrectly refer to other Christian denominations as “religions”. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and other Christian traditions are not separate faith systems, but sects of Protestant Christianity. Such semantics usually do not bother the average Christian, but it highlights how religious people often misunderstand or misuse terms and affiliations. This follows the pattern of Christians and disenfranchised Christians who dislike being labeled with added denominational titles. Such titles are innocuous and most Americans cannot tell you the difference between a Reformed church and an Episcopal church.

Does all this mean Americans aren’t religious people anymore?

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social media

Six ways to set a positive blog tone


There is something common about negativity in social media platforms. No matter if the topic is politics, playoffs, or puppies people can default to negative comments as a defense.

I had an epiphany regarding my Albany Times Union blog and the tone of negativity in the comment section. In the interest of freedom, openness, and free speech I had unknowingly allowed my blog to become a swamp of negativity. I could receive anywhere between 30-100 comments on a post. I allowed just about any comment through my standard comment moderation process, as long as it wasn’t threatening or contained foul language.

The tone of the comments kept coming back to negative personal hang ups with other people. I was providing a platform for people to carry out their personal gripes. I realized that people can do that type of online attack anywhere: Twitter, Facebook, or even YouTube. Unfortunately, the same 4-6 people bickered, constantly. Other people stopped commenting on my blog because a few bad apples were ruining the bunch. Comments constantly got off topic. I had to change things.

Blogging is a challenge and maintaining your cool is key. By following a few simple tips, you can keep readers coming back and generate more interaction:
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anger, Leadership

The day I was cursed at in church

In ministry, one day is always different from the next. Sometimes, there are wonderful and rewarding experiences. Other times, there are difficult experiences.

I’ll never forget the day I was cursed at in church. Samuel L. Jackson style.

I was in my office working on the bulletin for the upcoming Sunday worship service. My office manager was not in so I was alone on the first floor of the church. I heard a commotion outside my office. I heard someone yelling at the top of their lungs. I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I stood up to get a better look through my window to the common area outside of our church offices. There I saw a women who started into a profanity laced speech:

“What the f**k is going on? Who’s in charge here? Someone has to help me with this sh*t”

Ignoring her cursing, I immediately greeted her, told her I was the pastor, and ask how I could be of assistance.

“How you going to fking going to solve my problem. You don’t fking understand!” She said. And directed her anger, misplaced as it was, at me. I was floored. I never met this woman and had no clue what was going on to produce such craziness.

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Leadership

Replacement referees in the church

“Oh my gosh! Did you see that play? Green Bay should have won the game!”

Just about everyone was shocked watching the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks game finish on Monday night.

The reactions were swift and critical. Angry fans believe the replacement NFL referees got the final play wrong. For weeks now, sports writers and fans alike have lamented the replacement referees and their seemingly obtuse penalty calling… or lack there of. It seems these replacement refs don’t get the job done. Or do they?

http://youtu.be/n5L7O3PWICs

There certainly has been a lot of hyper criticism revolving around these refs from day one. Since the strike of the regular NFL refs, the replacement referees have been placed under a microscope. Every call, play, or touchdown has been meticulously examined, digested, and judged in the court of public opinion. Referees blow calls all the time, but we usually forget about those plays. Not for replacement referees. We’ll remember those.

In reality, the standard of expectation has been set unfairly high. Many fans are waiting for these refs to make a mistake. And when they do, the fans and sport writers are like a pack of wolves ready to devour them with criticism. Truly, most fans do not lie in wait for a ref to make a mistake, but that’s what America’s football watchers have been doing.

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Jesus

Round up of Jesus’ wife controversy comments

Here’s a round up of thoughts on the scrap of pyprus that refered to Jesus’ wife:

Stephen Prothero, Boston University religion scholar and author, CNN Belief Blog:

What we do know is that we live in a country besotted with Jesus and in an age obsessed with marriage and sexuality and the body, which is why this tiny papyrus is making such big waves. As for me, I don’t much care what Jesus thought about marriage, or whether he engaged in it. I think we as a society tend to collapse religion far too readily into bedroom questions, as if Jesus came into the world to tell us with whom we should be having sex, and how. I’m more interested in what Jesus has to say about wealth and poverty, the rich and the poor. And there is plenty in the available record to read and heed, “if only we have ears to hear.”

Steven R. Harmon, professor Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity and author, Associate Baptist Press News Blog:

The celibacy of Jesus is not essential to Christology, just as Jesus’ maleness is not essential to Christology… The particularities of Jesus’ historical existence are representative of the totality of human experience, from birth through death and resurrection, even if they do not reflect the particularities of every human being’s experiences… Theologically, for Jesus to have been married would not require us to re-think historic Christological doctrine. But historically, there is not sufficient evidence to suppose that he was–even if the best interpretation of this fragment is that Jesus therein is referring to a woman named Mary as his “wife” in the usual sense of that word.

Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show, via LA Times:

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