Did God Think We Would Forget This?

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It’s the only commandment that begins with the word remember – almost as if God knew we would forget.

Well, guess what?

We did.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:8,11

I first met Matthew Sleeth at a Creation Care Conference at Northland Church in Orlando in 2008. We were both speakers at the conference, and it was there that I learned Sleeth’s amazing story as he moved from an emergency room doctor to one of the leading voices for Creation Care.  Our paths have crossed several times in the last few years, most recently at the White House Greening America’s Congregations Conference.

Sleeth is the author of Serve God, Save the Planet, and founder of Blessed Earth, a nonprofit organization that focuses on Creation Care. It’s very much a family affair as wife Nancy (Go Green, Save Green and Almost Amish) and daughter Emma (It’s Easy Being Green) have contributed much to the healthy conversation about Creation Care by not just writing by living out their values.

Mathew Sleeth’s newest book 24/6 provides a life-giving prescription for a healthier more God-centered life amidst a digitally crazed, always-on world. It will help you better understand how your life can be radically transformed – physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually – by adopting a 24/6 lifestyle.

His years of experience as an ER physician in hospitals qualifies him as a veteran in a culture of demanding overwork. His entry into the Christian faith ten years ago provides a total reorientation of his imagination in the Hebrew/Christian culture of Sabbath keeping. And most impressive of all, he explores the many details of what is involved in practicing Sabbath in a world that is unrelenting in its distractions and pressures to work longer and harder.

All this is done not from a theoretical position but firmly in the context of marriage and family life, with all the domestic and relational details involved in doing nothing where doing nothing always requires constant coordination and relationship.

24/6 is a book that restores Sabbath to its extensive biblical narrative context. Jesus, not rules, sets the tone. Sabbath keeping is conveyed in stories – doctor stories, stories of friends, stories of family, stories of Jesus. These stories keep Sabbath “nested” – integral to the tie and place in which relationships form and develop.

To illustrate how well Sleeth accomplishes this, here are a few excerpts from a section entitled “What God Created on the Seventh Day.”

In Genesis, we find a seven-day week. God begins to create the universe, and finds everything “good.” Each succeeding day, things get more complicated. On day six, God forms Adam, and then – because she is even more complicated – God makes Eve. “Yes! Excellent! Very good! Tov m’od!”

How can God top creating a universe and my wife and daughter?

The piece de resistance comes out of left field. Up to this point, everything has been created out of nothing, but on the morning of the seventh day, God makes nothing out of something. Rest is brought into being.

The point is that something very important about the character of God is revealed on the seventh day: God stops.

God doesn’t need to rest after creating the universe because he’s tired. He rests because he’s holy, and everything that God does is holy.

God rests. God is holy. Therefore, rest is holy. It’s simple math.

24/6 is a powerfully personal story of one man’s exploration of our 24/7 world, why we need the Sabbath, how we do the Sabbath, and how to create a 24/6 life.

Consider the Sabbath close to home: what would it look like if you and your family remembered?

Celebrate the Supernatural

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It’s that time of year again – spooks, goblins, and witches take to the streets on Halloween. Most parents don’t know the origins of Halloween –from ancient Celtic celebrations about the end of summer and the beginning of winter, to the Romanized adaptations of All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints Day, and eventually All Soul’s Day. Consumerism has taken over in books, movies, and a whole industry devoted to the supernatural. In recent years, there has been an increasing involvement of adults in Halloween activities, even those formerly limited to children.

Where should the church stand in all this? I say “Celebrate the Supernatural”!

I’m not a heretic, and I don’t advocate a focus on the dark side of things. I simply encourage you to look at the word “supernatural” and what it should mean for believers.

At its very basic level, supernatural means “above nature”. Is this not a great definition for believers in Christ? We are to be “in the world, but not of it”. But there is an even greater reason that we should celebrate the supernatural, and that is in the area of spiritual gifts.

The scriptural basis for spiritual gifts is found in a few New Testament passages, but our additions to these few verses over the years could fill a small library. I don’t want to enter into a theological debate about gifts – I simply say the Bible teaches us about them, and we should celebrate them by putting them into practice by serving others in God’s name.

Many definitions of spiritual gifts exist, but the one that I have adapted over the years and that resonates most with me is a “supernatural capacity of grace from God, used to serve Him for His purposes”. To me, it is a given that these gifts are from God and to be used by us for His purposes.

Through the Holy Spirit, we have been empowered to carry out His purpose and contribute meaningfully to His body. We know that we belong to Him, that our inherent worth is to be found in Him. He made us, redeemed us, gifted us, and placed us in the body of Christ – the church – just as He chose.

If that’s not “super natural”, I don’t know what is!

How will you celebrate this week?

Attic Memories

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It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house. Prov 21:9 KJV

I’m nearing the end of a week of traveling that has taken me through 6 airports on 4 airlines in order to: observe and document the weekend worship experiences of one of the pioneer multisite churches in the US; participate in a 3 day conference; launch Auxano’s Vision Room; and take part in a training initiative. The last event ended up in Nashville, where I joined the rest of the Auxano team for a daylong Navigator learning opportunity.

I was able to take advantage of my schedule and spend the night at my mother’s house, working on a few projects around the house before heading back to Charlotte later today.

One of those projects required me to go up into the attic of our house to bring something down. Once I climbed the folding stairs, a rush of memories flooded me. This wasn’t your normal attic – this was my teenage bedroom.

A little more about information is necessary. In the late 60’s, as my older brother was beginning high school and I was beginning to start junior high, my father thought it would be a good idea if my brother and I had separate rooms – we had been sharing a room since I was born. My dad asked if I would work with him and convert our attic into a bedroom for me.

What an adventure! Over the course of several months, we spent time putting in floors and walls, carpet, an air conditioner, and shelving. It worked great! During the remaining years of junior high then into high school I enjoyed using the initial bedroom plus an expansion that more than doubled the size of the original room.

Walking into that space this morning, my eyes fell on this:

It was my dad’s business checkbook, with the last check written to close out the account when he retired in 1994 after 44 years of operating a Gulf gas station.

That visual took me back in an instant to the years I spent in, around, and all over the gas station. Over the next few minutes, as I finished my work in the attic-turned-bedroom-turned into a storage room, I was transported back in time.

I won’t bore you with those stories (at least not now), but my point is this:

Images convey stories that touch the heart

How are you using images in your church?

The Vision Room Launches Today

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Auxano’s Vision Room goes live today.

For almost as long as I have known Will Mancini, he has dreamed of the Vision Room. When I first met him in 2008 at a conference we were both speaking at (courtesy of Karen Butler, editor of Church Solutions magazine), he was talking about it.

In dozens of conversations since then, he has continued to talk about it.

In February of this year, he was still talking about it – and in the same breath, asking me to join Auxano as the Vision Room Curator.

I’m still like a kid in a candy store about that…but, here it is:

You can read Will’s official welcome to the Vision Room here.

You can read my initial take on being the Vision Room Curator here.

Of course, I’m sure that will be changing as the dream has become reality…

But for now, the Vision Room is live and

Come on in, look around, but just don’t be a Guest – register your own MyVisionRoom and let me know what you think.

How Are You Celebrating “Evaluate Your Life Day?”

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I haven’t been to the Hallmark store to see if there’s a card for it, but today is apparently “Evaluate Your Life” day. Being reminded to reflect on your life – where it is, where you want it to go – can be a valuable exercise. In the spirit of that thought, here’s a repost from an earlier series called “Brand You.”

Very Old New Job Security

Tom Peters was one of the early leaders of the “Brand You” movement. First writing about it in Fast Company magazine, he soon expanded into a series of books. Writing in “The Brand You 50”, Peters has the following comments about job security:

Job security – as we have known it – is vanishing.

So…what now?

My answer: Return to Job Security. Actually, it’s Very Old New Job Security.

It’s what job security was all about before – long before – Big Corporations. Before Social Security. And unemployment insurance. Before there was a big so-called safety net that had the unintended consequence of sucking the initiative, drive, and moxie out of millions of white-collar workers.

I’m talking about job security in the Colonies and in the first century after our country was founded. Which was:

  • Craft
  • Distinction
  • Networking skills

Craft = marketable skill… Determination = Memorable. Networking Skills = Word of Mouth Collegial Support.

It’s about being so good and meticulous and responsible, about what you do (and making sure that what you do is work that needs to be done) that the world taps a speed path to your laptop (or mobile phone – or iPad).

My modern-language term for this ancient, self-reliant, networked, word-of-mouth-dependent, distinguished craftsperson: Brand You.

What are you doing to create “Brand You?”

 

Other Brand You posts you might be interested in:

 

Generation Flux Revisited

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One of the greatest challenges of 21st century leadership is that the world we were raised and trained in no longer exists.

Robert Safian, Editor, Fast Company

Earlier this year I wrote a series of posts about a feature article in Fast Company magazine entitled Generation Flux:

Generation Flux was a term coined by Fast Company magazine Editor Robert Safian. It describes the people who will thrive best in today’s environment. It is a psychographic, not a demographic – you can be any age and be GenFlux. The characteristics of a GenFluxer are clear: an embrace of adaptability and flexibility; an openness to learning from anywhere; decisiveness tempered by the knowledge that organizational life today can shift radically in a short time period.

In the November issue, Safian has written a great follow-up feature, Secrets of the Flux Leader.

According to Safian, “we have grown up with certain assumptions about what works in an enterprise, what the metrics for success are, how we organize and deploy resources. The bulk of those resources are wrong now. The clarity of words we use to discuss business, standbys like marketplace and competitive advantage, are being redefined and rendered almost meaningless.”

It’s the same for ChurchWorld, too. 

Following a single system or outmoded model is foolhardy – churches that are successful in understanding and accomplishing their vision will be nimble and ever-changing.

Attempting to minister in today’s world is nothing if not paradoxical. Churches must be both efficient and transparent; thrifty and ambitious; nimble and stable. Churches and other organizations based on traditional stable structure and management models are not equipped for these dualities.

Generation Flux leaders are the ones who will steer their organizations toward more sophisticated models needed to survive – and thrive – in today’s world.

Are you a GenFluxer?

Want to Provide Great Guest Experiences? Focus on Emotion

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While researching Customer Experience best practices a few months ago, I came across Beyond Philosophy, a company that helps organizations create deliberate, emotionally engaging customer experiences that drive value, reduce costs, and build competitive advantage. Based in London with an office in Atlanta, Beyond Philosophy specializes in strategic consultancy services, custom research, training and education.

Steven Walden, Senior Head of Research and Consulting, was kind enough to engage me in a conversation via email and phone when I contacted the firm about my work in translating corporate Customer Experiences to ChurchWorld Guest Services.

After several conversations and a lot of great ideas, Steven recommended that I read Beyond Philosophy’s books – which I am currently doing.

I started with The DNA of Customer Experience: How Emotions Drive Value. I didn’t get far into the book when this statement jumped out at me:

Our research shows that over 50% of a Customer Experience is about emotions.

Though I skimmed through the rest of the book (a great book that’s going to be the source of future posts), I knew that to fully understand that comment, I would need to dig further into Beyond Philosophy’s research and prior work.

Which I am currently doing… 

In the meantime, as a ChurchWorld leader, how do you react to the statement above?  What part do you think emotions play in your church’s Guest Experience? 

 

This post is part of a journey translating Customer Experience learnings in the corporate world to Guest Experience in ChurchWorld

Of Balloons and Men…

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A week ago I was at the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was pretty amazing to be at the launch site and see over 200 balloons lift off in a short time. Added to that, another 100+ balloons launched away from the site and “flew” in. This was my ground view of one balloon.

While at the Balloon Fiesta, I heard about the planned “space jump” attempt that week. Weather didn’t permit it then, but it did happen.

Last Sunday, 201 miles southeast of Albuquerque and 23 miles above Roswell, New Mexico, this was the picture:

Same principle, different applications

What heights will you reach today?

It all depends on your perspective…