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Dave’s Tweets for 2008-09-07

Sunday, September 7, 2008
  • Love this time just before we start. Going to be a great day as we continue to Chase Balance by talking about space and rhythm #
  • Come apart to rest or you will come apart #
  • “Happiness is good health and a bad memory.
    — Ingrid Bergman #
  • First service was goooooooood. The people of God, the word of God, the spirit of God, worship #
  • Something scared happens when the spirit of God, the word of God, and the people of God gather to worship!!! #
  • I’m alread stoked about next Sunday when I will teach on How and Why to build up reserves. #
  • Off now to the Opening game for the season! Go Titans!!!! #
  • Titans win their opener and all is well in Nashvegas! http://fonpi.cc/kt2 #

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Titans win their opener and all is well in Nashvegas!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

photo posted from my iPhone

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Today @ The Gathering - September 7

Sunday, September 7, 2008
 
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chasing balanceToday @ The Gathering we continued in our present series, “Chasing Balance” with installment number four, the principle of “Rhythm.”

If it’s important to work, it’s also important to rest. Striking the balance of working enough and resting enough is a lifelong discipline.

Usually, most Americans err on the side of working too much, or at least being in a perpetual sense of activity and motion. With technology affordable and accessible to everyone, we are more plugged in than we’ve ever been. We’re also more tired and stressed out as well.

We learned about the three conditions that occur in our lives when there is no sacred space for rest and worship. They are:

1. Without sacred rhythm life feels more like and existence. That is, going in a perpetual circle of activity.
2. Without sacred rhythm life feels more like a treadmill. We just continue to turn the dial to the right and go faster and faster, hoping that we’ll achieve enough one day to feel as though we’ve earned the right to rest without feeling guilty.
3. Without sacred rhythm life is like a constant sound of static and noise that keeps us distracted and therefore stressed out.

We talked about the fact that God created the heavens and earth in six days and rested on the seventh; not because He was tired, but because He wanted to set an example and to hand to us the Sabbath principle. We highlighted four different aspects of the Sabbath.

1. It is not a particular day. In a world in which everything is open 24/7, many think we can’t use Sunday as a day of rest.
2. It’s not a religious straight-jacket. It’s not something we do for God that meets a need He has, but something He gives to us.
3. It’s a gift. God says that if we work in full engagement for six days, then one day we simply are not available for other people. We go off-line and give attention to our soul to renew, recharge, and relax.
4. The Sabbath principle is a reflection of reality. God created the world to operate in rhythms and seasons: times to be on and times to be off, times to have full engagement and times to pull back and to rest, relax, and renew.

Next week we will continue this series with the principle of “Reserves.”

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Dave’s Tweets for 2008-09-06

Saturday, September 6, 2008
  • Luck favors the prepared. #
  • Luck favors the prepared #
  • Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.
    (Edmund Burke) #
  • Just finished memorial service for young mother who had baby and then died with cancer. Life is not fair. #
  • To feel useful is to feel good. #

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Would You Pay $90,000 for a $1,000 Building?

Saturday, September 6, 2008

I have a real problem with the idea of missions that mean that white, affluent, suburbanites go into a foreign land for a week of “mission activity” which is more like a vacation. This suspicion is highlighted by a story a friend told me.

When his church was assessing the mission team’s activity over the summer, they realized they had sent 300 people out on a mission trip that cost them $3,000 per person, or $90,000. And the end result is that over a week’s time, these 300 people built a $1,000 church building, and then left. He was voicing his frustration, and rightly so, he should.Would You Pay $90,000 for a $1,000 Building?

Don’t get me wrong. Missions are important. The good news needs to go everywhere, and there is a lot of great work being done in the name of Christ’s good news and the love of people everywhere. But let’s put a stop to what a lot of short-term missions are. Yes, some are effective, but most are not.

Here is my real point. If churches want to spend $90,000 for a $1,000 building it’s none of my business. But it is my business as a member of the family to remind us that you don’t have to go across the country to go into the mission field. You can go across the street. People of different races, cultures, creeds, and backgrounds live all around us. We work together, go to school together, laugh together, and dress in the locker room at the “Y” together. It’s high time we start realizing that the mission field has come here. And we need to be willing to lovingly and graciously engage those who don’t know the story of Christ in a loving, compelling way with a servant’s heart because the more people who come to know Christ and are motivated by His love all around us, the more that’s going to get done. The more the Kingdom grows, the more God gets the glory, and the more benefit we all receive.

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Dave’s Tweets for 2008-09-05

Friday, September 5, 2008
  • Who do you belong to? #
  • I want to create a movement driven by ideas and the people who have them. #
  • The rest of those who’ve gone before us cannot steady the unrest of those of us who follow. #
  • Writers write #

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When Suck-y Service Isn’t the Server’s Fault

Friday, September 5, 2008

When Suck-y Service Isn’t the Server’s FaultLast week Paula and I took some good friends out for dinner. We went to a really good restaurant that we that we’ve always enjoyed and always experienced great service, up until that night.

The truth is, our service was horrible. The waiter couldn’t get the order right, couldn’t get the drink order right, there were long periods of time we didn’t see him, and when the food came, it was all the wrong things. It took us between 45 and 50 minutes just to be served and get everything right; multiple waiters, waitresses, and even the manager coming by our table.

To be fair, it was the waiter’s first night. And therein is the clue of the problem. Why in the world was he waiting on us without someone helping him? When is sorry service not the server’s fault? It’s when no one has trained him or stands behind him when he gets in trouble. It’s when he’s sent out on his own to sink or swim, without any sense of responsibility on the part of the manager and other servers to be there to support him. It was obvious that in this restaurant, it’s not a team. It’s every man or woman for him or her self.

I learned this during our frustrating night at this restaurant. It wasn’t our novice waiter’s fault. He was doing the very best he could. He was engaged, worried, and more regretful than anyone else that the experience had turned out badly. It’s the manager and the other waiters and waitresses that I blame for the suck-y service.

Why am I telling you this? Because what is true in that restaurant is true in every organization. We rise and fall on each other’s performance. We need to support each other and make sure that we have each other’s back. We need to provide the kind of training, service, and support that those around us need in order to succeed. It really is a rise and fall together. The mentality must be: when I succeed, you succeed; when you succeed, I succeed; when you fail, I fail; we weep together, we celebrate together. It must be a team, camaraderie, and a close-knit-ness. That’s what provides a service and a product that people not only want to buy, but they also want to be around the people who provide it.

So how is service in your church, your business, your organization, or your group? Are you all star-performers, out trying to impress the people around you? Or are you a team of servants, helping each other be successful, and moving the mission forward?

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Dave’s Tweets for 2008-09-04

Thursday, September 4, 2008
  • The choices you’re making today you will live with tomorrow–good or bad. #
  • What you’re building today you will have to manage and maintain tomorrow. Build wisely. #

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This Weekend @ The Gathering – Rhythm

Thursday, September 4, 2008

chasing balanceJoin us this weekend at The Gathering when we continue our current series “Chasing Balance,” with principle four, “Rhythm.”

As we learned last week, God created us to work; to have intense periods of full engagement. But He also created us to rest. So in this talk we’re going to be striking the balance between work and rest.

Here’s where the importance of balance really shows up because a lot of us are workaholics who work way too much. We deify activity. Perpetual motion is our creed: Always moving forward, always doing something, all the time. Our technology and other gadgets that we use enable us to be available 24/7, 365. And that, my friend, is the prescription for disaster.

This weekend we’ll be talking about rhythm and sacred spaces, what life is like without the true ability to rest, and what true rest really does include. We’ll also be talking about the importance of the Sabbath principle, or for Christians, why it’s important that you attend church each and every Sunday that you are able. It’s not just a matter of convenience. It’s a matter of commitment.

Join us this weekend at 9:00 or 10:30. You’ll be glad you did.

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7 Reasons We Work

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

7 Reasons We WorkYesterday was Labor Day, a holiday on which we stop working to celebrate working.

Working is something that seems to be so natural and part of life, we don’t often think about why we work. It’s not just to fund your lifestyle or pay your debts. There is something you get out of the work that, believe it or not, is more valuable than the things you receive.

So when you think about why you work, here are seven reasons to consider.

1. I work because it’s God’s ideal. God created the world in such a way that human beings are to be the stewards and managers of the earth’s resources. We are to be environmentalists and capitalists all at the same time; motivated for the highest good of all concerned.

2. I work because it supplies my needs. There is no greater satisfaction than being able to pay your own way. To buy a home and to provide for your family is one of the highest of life’s successes and sweetest achievements. No one with character and integrity wants to be taken care of by the government, their family, or anyone else for that matter.

3. I work because it develops my character. It’s working around wounded and broken people in an imperfect world that’s often dark, sinister, and unfair, that forces us to face not how bad the world is, but what we’re like deep down inside. Working around wounded people in imperfect conditions for low pay and little recognition helps develop your character over time. And if you’re already cynical about this idea, I’ve made my point.

4. I work because it allows me to be generous. You’ve heard the saying, “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.” It is certainly true. It allows us to give to our church and other great causes that otherwise we couldn’t be a part of. One of the greatest privileges in life is to be able to earn enough money to be able to take care of yourself and fund your lifestyle, and have plenty left over to be generous. The Scriptures promise us that if we give with a generous heart, we will never be able to out-give God. I’ve certainly proven that in my own life and I know many others who have too.

5. I work because it shows who I am. It lets people know what skills and abilities I have, what I bring to the table, and what I can contribute to helping advance the good. All of us were born with talents and abilities. And even though character always trumps talent, talent is equally important and we all have it. It needs to be developed and disciplined. Work helps me do that.

6. I work because it allows me to earn my self-respect. One of the confusing things about our relationship with God is the idea of His unconditional love. Although it is true you can’t earn God’s love by your performance, it’s equally true that you must earn your self-respect. What God says about your behavior will make you feel guilty, but what God says about you will never make you feel ashamed. But people often do feel ashamed because their behavior betrays who potentially they could be and what they could do.

7. I work because it honors God. At the end of the day, I live before an audience of One – one Boss, one Master Donor, the God who created me, loves me, and enjoys seeing me succeed. I work not for the people around me, nor their applause, but I work in a way that honors the God who created me, loves me, and sustains me even when I don’t deserve it.

Here are the seven reasons why I work. Sit down with your staff today and come up with some other reasons or maybe these are good enough to generate a discussion and maybe even a realignment of purposes.

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