Making you life plan become a reality is even harder ... (via Michael Hyatt)


  • Realign your priorities as needed. Earlier in my life, my children were a high priority. Friends were a lower priority. Community service wasn’t even on the list. Now that has changed. This is natural. You have to adjust your priorities as circumstances change. Be flexible—while remaining true to your values.
  • Review your life plan weekly. It is not a document you finish and then file away. The key to implementation is visibility. You must review your life plan on a regular basis. Daily is too much for me. Monthly is not frequent enough. In my experience, weekly is just right. I review my life plan as part of my Weekly Review Process.
  • Revise your life plan quarterly. Plans are only useful if they are relevant. Your circumstances can change quickly. Your action plans must shift accordingly. That’s why I recommend getting away for a half-day to day-and-a-half on a quarterly basis. Use part of this time to review your life plan and revise it. I refer to this as the Quarterly Review.
  • Reserve time annually for your most important priorities. This has been a huge help to me, particularly as things got crazy. I reserve the week between Christmas an New Years to plan out the coming year. I don’t plan every detail—far from it. But I do put the big rocks in the jar first by scheduling my most important priorities. I have created a tool for this called the Annual Time Block.
  • Realigning your life means reevaluating often just like driving a car requires you to make constant adjustments. If you get a little bit off now you will often find yourself facing either oncoming traffic or the ditch!

    Creating a life plan is not easy ... here are three first steps (via Michael Hyatt)

  • Recruit a life plan accountability partner. If you want to finish your life plan and make sure you actually implement it, recruit an accountability partner (see Ecclesiastes 4:9, 10). The best option is a coach who is trained in life planning. The next best option is a close friend who learns along with you. Regardless, having an accountability partner is an important key to success.
  • Regard your life plan as a work in process. Don’t shoot for perfect—that day will never come. Instead, complete your first draft and assume it is a living document. You will revise it as necessary, always fine-tuning, always tweaking.
  • Recognize the season you are in. Are you in a spring, summer, fall, or winter season? It makes a difference. You may not be able to do what I do. I may not be able to do what you do. The critical thing is to each be doing what we should be doing in this season of our lives, focusing on what matters most now.
  • Leaning into the future which is intended for you is not easy AND discovering, discerning, creating, and implementing that plan will bring you the greatest joy of your life. I will be glad to assist you as you work your life plan.

    Posted via email from allen bingham's posterous

    Interesting that we always dismiss young people ... even if they might be onto someting (via Utne Reader)

    It’s always unexpected.  No one predicted Tahrir Square.  No one imagined tens of thousands of young Syrians, weaponless, facing the military might of the state.  No one expected the protests in Wisconsin.  No one, myself included, imagined that young Americans, so seemingly somnolent as things went from bad to worse, would launch such a spreading movement, and -- most important of all -- decide not to go home. (At the last demonstration I attended in New York City in the spring, the median age was probably 55.)

    The Tea Party movement has, until now, gotten the headlines for its anger, in part because the well-funded right wing poured money into the Tea Party name, but it’s an aging movement.  Whatever it does, in pure actuarial terms it's likely to represent an ending, not a beginning. Occupy Wall Street could, on the other hand, be the beginning of something, even if no one in it knows what the future has in store or perhaps what their movement is all about -- a strength of theirs, by the way, not their weakness.

    History's intervention is always unexpected. Something important for us to remember when we are trying to "invent" the new. Henry Blackaby taught me to discern what God may be blessing and join that rather than ask the Lord to bless what I was doing. I am not sure where Occupy Wall Street may be going AND we all need to be watching

    Posted via email from allen bingham's posterous

    Old Spice revenues up 107%!?! Perhaps the mainline church can spice it up! (via Len Sweet's napkin Scribbles)

    The Old Spice shifted from a company trapped in its past (and my dad's past) to a completely new demographics while revenues climbed 107% in the past year. The new demographics is reflected by its 1.3 million Facebook fans and 30 million views on YouTube. Leonard Sweet notes that the shift comes without leaving its core product - hairy armpits and facial foliage. So mainline, sidelined, over the line, and offline churches should take note and stay focused on our business ... helping people learn how to be fully devoted followers of Jesus!

    Posted via email from allen bingham's posterous

    Are we defined by a generous spirit? What if we asked our friends who know us best? Thoughts on living generously.

    As I have mentioned at other times in our life together, I was made say "thank you" by my parents long before I ever knew the true meaning of gratitude. Why? So that I would know how to respond when I finally discovered that emotion on my own. Later I helped my parents prepare to file the family income tax form. As I was adding up my parents' annual contributions I offered my dad some teenage advice: "Dad, if you would cut back to tithing (that is giving 10% of your income) we could afford the car I want to buy!" Needless to say he did not listen to my "wisdom" and along the way I began to understand something about generosity. At this point in Cindy and my marriage we have given away moneys equal to what our first house will cost us and I can honestly say we have not missed the resources we gave away. That spirit has also allowed us to join the "junky car club" who's motto is "living with less, so we can give more." Click on the link if you want to join as well. The following are my thoughts on Adam Hamilton's chapter "Defined by Generosity" from the book ENOUGH: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity.

    As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life. (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

    Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want. A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water. (Proverbs 11:24-25)

    Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor. (Proverbs 22:9)

    A Theological Foundation for a Generous Life

    We Are Created to Be Generous and Tempted to Hoard: God created us with the willingness to give—to God and to others. This design is part of our who we are -- we need to be generous. Yet there are two voices that “war” against our God-given impulse toward generosity. These voices tempt us to keep or hoard what we have.

    • First, there is a voice of fear. Fear, of what might happen to us, along with a misplaced idea about the true source of our security, keeps us from being generous and leads us to hoard what we have. The truth is that hoarding offers us no real security in this world.
    • Second, we are tempted by the voice of self-gratification. Our culture tells us that our lives consist in the abundance of our possessions and pleasurable experiences. So we find ourselves thinking "If I give" there won’t be enough left for me.

    We Can Defeat the Voices of Fear and Self Gratification: When we give our lives to Christ, invite him to be Lord, and allow the Holy Spirit to begin changing us from the inside out, we find that our fears begin to dissipate and our aim in life shifts from seeking personal pleasure to pleasing God and caring for others. Although we still may wrestle with the voices from time to time, we are able to silence them more readily and effectively the more we grow in Christ. And the more we grow in Christ, realizing that our lives belong to him, the more generous we become. Generosity is a fruit of spiritual growth.

    There Are Biblical Reasons to Give to God and Others

    • We find more joy in doing things for other people and for God than we ever did in doing things for ourselves. (Acts 20:35)
    • In the very act of losing our lives, we find life. (Matthew 16:25)
    • Life is a gift and all that we are and all that we have (and everything else as well) belongs to God. (Psalm 24:1; Leviticus 25:23)

    Biblical Guidelines for Giving: From the early days of the Old Testament, God’s people observed the practice of giving some portion of the best of what they had to God. A gift offered to God was called the first fruits or the tithe, and it equaled one-tenth of one’s flocks or crops or income. Abraham was the first to give a tithe or tenth (see Genesis 14:20, Genesis 28:18-22, and Leviticus 27:30-33).

    • Giving a tithe. As Christians who live under the new covenant, we are not bound by the Law of Moses; we look to it as a guide. Yet most Christians agree that the tithe is a good guideline for our lives, and one that is pleasing to God. Though tithing can be a struggle, it is possible at virtually every income level. If you cannot tithe right away, take a step in that direction. Perhaps you can give 2 percent or 5 percent or 7 percent. God understands where you are, and God will help you make the adjustments necessary for you to become more and more generous.
    • Giving beyond the tithe. Tithing is a floor, not a ceiling. God calls us to grow beyond the tithe. We should strive to set aside an additional percentage of our income as offerings for other things that are important to us (e.g. mission projects, schools, church building funds, and other nonprofit organizations).

    What Our Giving Means to God

    How Does Our Giving Affect God? From the earliest biblical times, the primary way people worshipped God was by building an altar and offering the fruit of one’s labors upon it to God. They would burn the sacrifice of an animal or grain as a way of expressing their gratitude, devotion, and desire to honor God. The scent of the offering was said to be pleasing to God. It wasn’t that God loved the smell of burnt meat and grain. Rather, God saw that people were giving a gift that expressed love, faith, and the desire to please and honor God; and this moved God’s heart. When given in this spirit, our offerings bless the Lord.

    • Jesus said: "Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into you lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back" (Luke 6:38).
    • The Parable of the Talents reveal a God who expects us to be productive, to take risks, and know that those risks are rewarded (see Matthew 25:14-30).

    How Our Generosity Affects Us

    Through Giving Our Hearts Are Changed: When we are generous—to God and to our families, friends, neighbors, and others who are in need—our hearts are filled with joy. They are enlarged by the very act of giving. When we give generously, we become more generous.

    In Giving We Find the Blessings of God (Malachi 3:10): Many Christians have it wrong. They say that if you give, then God will give more back to you.This is not how it works. We do not give to God so that we can get something in return. The amazing thing is that when we give to God and to others, the blessings just seem to come back to us. Of course, there is no guarantee that if you tithe you will never lose your job or never have other bad things happen to you. Nevertheless, when we give generously, the unmistakable blessings of God flow into our lives.

    Posted via email from allen bingham's posterous

    Dallas Willard offers spiritual wisdom in a conversation with John Ortberg (via Catalyst Podcast).

    CATALYST PODCAST
    EPISODE 124
    Dallas Willard and John Ortberg

    On this annual Catalyst West Roadtrip Episode, listen in on a conversation between Dallas Willard and John Ortberg from Catalyst West one year ago in 2010. Plus some helpful tips on making your Catalyst West experience a great one.

    RSS Feed | iTunes | Download

    Skip the Catalyst bantering to 17:45 to hear the conversation. The following quotes from Dallas Willard are worth pondering (the times are indicated for your convenience).
    * Thesis of THE SPIRIT OF THE DISCIPLINES: "Authentic transformation really is possible if we are willing to do one thing, that is, to rearrange our lives around those practices that Jesus engaged in in order to receive life and power from the Father" (19:00).
    * The church is not getting right at this time: The gospel is not the minimal amount to get into heaven after you die. "The gospel is about how to get into heaven before you die." Jesus preached the availability of the Kingdom of God to everyone right here, right now (22:00).
    * The effect of the kingdom of God is God in action. This is grace! Grace is not a synonym for the forgiveness of sin. Grace is for life, not just forgiveness. Grace enables us to live with God as a part of our lives. The sinner does not use much grace. The saint uses grace like a 747 on takeoff because everything they do is the result of grace (24:00).
    * "Grace is God acting in your life to accomplish what you cannot accomplish on your own." (27:30)
    * How should we think about heaven: "Think of heaven as God's presence (i.e. grace)."
    * Thinking about spiritual disciplines: "Grace is not opposed to effort. Grace is opposed to earning. Effort is action while earning is attitude." Spiritual disciplines are those things we do to enable us to do that which cannot do by direct effort (e.g. we need discipline to learn a foreign language). "Discipline is essentially practice" (30:00).
    * The is a difference between trying to do something and training to do something. If at first you don't succeed, fix what went wrong and then try again (32:00).
    * The place to start on the spiritual journey is "to do the next right thing you think you ought to do" (33:00).
    * The spiritual disciplines are not deeds of righteousness. They are wisdom. So you should approach them experimentally (34:30).
    * If you undertake a spiritual discipline and fail it is not a sin (38:00).

    Posted via email from allen bingham's posterous

    Jesus said where your treasure is there your heart is also. Jesus says "follow the money" ... wish he hadn't!

    Recently I was listending to a conversation with Tim Sanders on his new book http://www.amazon.com/Today-Are-Rich-Harnessing-Confidence/dp/1414339119/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305650161&sr=8-1. Tim tells the story of his grandmother Billye taking him into her home and raising him as her own. In his early years Tim remembers the day a stranger happened to visit their very humble farm. He was out of work and trying to get to another town in New Mexico and was desperate to perform some work in order to get a good meal. Billye and the man agreed to do some chores around the house in exchange for $10 in wages. The man worked hard that day under Tim's youthful "supervision" and at the close of the day Billye paid the man with a twenty dollar bill and offered him a pair of his grandfather's shoes. As the man walked away with wealth in pocket and new shoes on his feet Billye whispered to Tim: "Today we are rich!" (check out the inteview on the Catalyst podcast: http://www.catalystspace.com/content/podcast/catalyst_podcast_episode_131/)

    If you ask most people to define wealth its always one dollar more than they make. Someone else is always richer. Today I want to challenge you to see that you are rich when you have time, talent and resources to share and to spare. Which means most of us are rich!

    Today I want to invite you to ponder one of Jesus' sayings with me. In the sermon on the mount Jesus offers this insight "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21). This is so true that it hurts. As a spiritual exercise open your checkbook up and see where your biggest expenditures are. I remember as a teenager doing this with my parents' checkbook and suggesting that the car I wanted could be found if my parents were to cut back to tithing. I discovered that they gave away almost eighteen percent of their income that year ... Jesus says to us follow the money to find where your heart truly is. I wish it was not so, but you can wander into my libraries (one room does not hold all my books) and you will know that I treasure books and the knowledge they hold. What is your treasure? 

    As a closing thought you may want to "follow the money" and ask yourself do I use my time, talent, and resources for purposes that honor God and bless others? If so, then join me in saying "Today We Are Rich."

    The following are my notes from reading about "Wisdom and Finance" in Adam Hamilton's book http://www.amazon.com/Enough-Discovering-through-Simplicity-Generosity/dp/1426702337/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305651570&sr=1-3.

    • The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to want (Proverbs 21:5).
    • Precious treasure remains in the house of the wise, but the fool devours it (Proverbs 21:20).

    Where Does the Money Go?

    Living as Prodigals:   The story of the prodigal son (see Luke 15:11-16) demonstrates the habits of squandering and spending. The word prodigal does not mean someone who wanders away or is lost. It literally means “one who wastes money.” A prodigal is one who wastes money, who is a spendthrift.

    Many of us struggle with that habit as well. We’re not worried about tomorrow. We want it today. The problem with that kind of thinking is that, for most of us, the “famine” eventually comes. It comes when we have spent everything we have and even a little bit of next year’s income. So we use the credit card and charge it, and we go a little further into debt. Finally, we come to a place where we “find ourselves,” just as the prodigal did. We have nothing left, not even any credit, and we can’t figure out how we are we going to make it.

    The More We Make, the More We Waste:  It also seems that the more financially secure we become, the less we worry about spending money here and there. We waste a dollar on this or that, and we forget where it went. Money just seems to flow through our fingers. We’re not as careful with our money as we should be. There are many ways we waste money, but there are two primary money-wasters that many of us struggle with. It is not necessary to eliminate these two things all together, but we should think more carefully about how we spend our money.

    • Impulse buying: Tips for avoiding impulse buying: • Never go grocery shopping when you are hungry. • Shop for what you need only. • Make a list and stick to it; buy what you need and get out of the store! • Wait twenty-four hours before purchasing an impulse buy.
    • Eating out: The issue is frequency. The average American eats out an average of four times a week. By eating out less frequently, we will have more money to save, spend on something more important, or give away.
    • By the way, are you wasting money? I ask you to perform a simple test. Go through you check register and add up all the ATM receipts. Tell me how much went through your hands and where did it go. If you do not "know" then it was a waste.

    Clarifying Our Relationship With Money and Possessions

    We do not exist to consume as much as we can and get as much pleasure as we can while we are here on this earth. We have a higher purpose. We need to know and understand our life purpose—our vision or mission or calling—and then spend our money in ways that are consistent with this purpose or calling.

    • Be Clear About Your Purpose and Calling:  Our society tells us that our life purpose is to consume—to make as much money as possible and to blow as much money as possible. The Bible tells us that we were created to care for God’s creation. We were created to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We were created to care for our families and those in need. We were created to glorify God, to seek justice, and to do mercy. Our money and possessions should be devoted to helping us fulfill this calling.
    • Set Worthy Goals:  Being able to accomplish the greater purposes God has for our lives requires some measure of planning. Taking the time to set goals related to our lives and our finances is crucial if we are to become wise stewards of our God-given resources.

    The Discipline of Managing Your Money

    The Necessity of a Budget/Spending Plan:  Once we have set some financial goals, we need to develop a plan to meet those goals. A budget is a spending plan that enables us to accomplish our goals. Many people find it helpful to seek the advice of a financial advisor. For those who find themselves in the midst of a financial crisis, a financial counselor can help to work out terms with creditors and develop a workable financial plan. Whatever approach you choose, the important thing is simply to have a plan.

    Six Financial Planning Principles:  The following financial planning principles can help us to manage our money with wisdom and faith:

    1. Pay your tithe and offering first. Put God first in your living and your giving. Give your tithe and offering from the “top” of your paycheck, and then live on whatever remains.
    2. Create a budget and track your expenses. Creating a budget is simply developing a plan in which you tell your money what you want it to do. Tracking your expenses with a budget is like getting on the scales: It allows you to see how you are doing and motivates you to be more careful with your expenditures. (Suggestion: Use the bulletin insert “Basic Budget Worksheet.”)
    3. Simplify your lifestyle (live below your means). Because this discipline is critical to the success of any financial plan, next Sunday’s sermon will be devoted to this topic.
    4. Establish an emergency fund. An emergency fund is an account separate from checking or long-term savings that is set aside specifically for emergencies. Dave Ramsey recommends beginning with $1,000 and building that to three months’ worth of income.4 When you have this amount, you won’t need to use your credit cards anymore.
    5. Pay off your credit cards, use cash/debit cards for purchases, and use credit wisely. As you are building your emergency fund, begin to pay off your credit card debt and start using cash or debit cards for purchases. Some experts suggest starting with the credit card that has the highest interest rate. Others suggest paying down the smallest debt first, experiencing that victory, and applying your payments from the first card to the second, and so on, creating a snowball effect to pay off the cards as soon as possible. Cut up your cards as you pay them down so that you are not trapped or leveraged by your future for present-day pleasure, as the prodigal son was. If you must use a credit card, such as when traveling or making purchases online, be sure to pay off the debt monthly. If you are unable to do this, then it is better for you to cut up your cards and stop using them altogether.
    6. Practice long-term savings and investing habits. Saving money is the number-one wise money management principle everyone should practice. We do not save merely for the sake of saving. There is a word for that: hoarding. Hoarding is frowned upon in the Bible as the practice of fools and those who fail to understand the purpose of life. Saving, on the other hand, is meant to be purposeful. There are three types of savings we should have: 1) emergency savings, 2) savings for wants and goals, and 3) retirement savings.

    Resources for Developing a Budget

    Crown Financial Ministries offers the following Spending Plan Calculator: http://www.crown.org/Tools/Calculators/Budgeting_SpendingPlan.asp This is a fun and helpful budgeting calculator that automatically generates a suggested budget based upon the user’s inputs and Crown’s recommended expenditures.

    Resources for Getting Out of Debt

    Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University offers a great deal of online information including his approach to reducing debt using the following "Debt Snowball" tool: https://www.mytotalmoneymakeover.com/index.cfm?event=displayDebtSnowballLanding

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    When Our Dreams Become Nightmares ... thoughts on having Enough Stuff

    This past week I took off for a four day retreat with a duffle bag, a bag of books, and another book bag with several journals and my computer. As we begin our sermon series centered around Adam Hamilton's book, ENOUGH: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity, I have a confession to make. The stuff I carried to Camp Rockfish was the same amount of stuff I lived on for eighteen months in Kenya. 500 days of living out of the same amount of stuff I "needed" for a four day domesticated adventure? Really?!? Several scripture lessons come to mind as I reflect on where I find myself today.

    • Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith, and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:10b, NIV)
    • The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 5:10)
    • For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? (Matthew 16:26)

    Below are the rough notes and thoughts from reading the first chapter of ENOUGH.

    The American Dream

    • For most people, the American Dream has to do with a subconscious desire for achieving success and satisfying the desire for material possessions. It is the opportunity to pursue more than what we have, to gain more than what we have, and to meet success. We tend to measure our success by the stuff that we possess.
    • The love of money and the things money can buy is a primary or secondary motive behind most of what we Americans do. We want to consume, acquire, and buy our way to happiness—and we want it now.

    The American Nightmare

    • Affluenza is the constant need for more and bigger and better stuff—as well as the effect that this need has on us. It is the desire to acquire, and most of us have been infected by this virus to some degree.
      • The average American home went from 1,660 square feet in 1973 to 2,400 square feet in 2004.
      • Today there is estimated to be 1.9 billion square feet of self-storage space in America.
      • Meanwhile, the average American family size has decreased ... fewer people in bigger space
    • Credit-itis is an illness that is brought on by the opportunity to buy now and pay later, and it feeds on our desire for instant gratification. Our economy today is built on the concept of credit-itis. Unfortunately, it has exploited our lack of self-discipline and allowed us to feed our affluenza, wreaking havoc in our personal and national finances.
      • Average credit card debt in America in 1990 was around $3,000. Today it’s over $9,000.
      • The average sale is around 125 percent higher if we use a credit card than if we pay cash, because it doesn’t feel real when we use plastic instead of cash. 
      • Credit-itis is not limited to purchases made with credit cards; it extends to car loans, mortgages, and other loans. The life of the average car loan and home mortgage continues to increase, while the average American’s savings rate continues to decline.

    A Deeper Problem Within

    • There Is a Spiritual Issue Beneath the Surface of Affluenza and Credit-itis. Our souls were created in the image of God, but they have been distorted. 
      • We were meant to desire God, but we have turned that desire toward possessions. 
      • We were meant to find our security in God, but we find it in amassing wealth. 
      • We were meant to love people, but instead we compete with them. 
      • We were meant to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, but we busy ourselves with pursuing money and things. 
      • We were meant to be generous and to share with those in need, but we selfishly hoard our resources for ourselves. 
      • There is a sin nature within us.
    • The Devil Plays Upon This Sin Nature. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). The devil doesn’t need to tempt us to do drugs or to steal or to have an extramarital affair in order to destroy us. All he needs to do is convince us to keep pursuing the American Dream—to keep up with the Joneses, borrow against our futures, enjoy more than we can afford, and indulge ourselves. By doing that, he will rob us of joy, make us slaves, and keep us from doing God’s will. Check out:
      • Matthew 4:8-10
      • Luke 8:14
      • Mark 8:36
      • 1 Timothy 6:10

    The Biblical Alternative

    • We Need a Heart Change: When we accept Christ into our lives we receive a changed heart. Each morning we should get down on our knees and say, “Lord, help me to be the person you want me to be today. Take away the desires that shouldn’t be there, and help me be single-minded in my focus and my pursuit of you.” As we do this, God comes and cleanses us from the inside out, purifying our hearts.
    • We Must Allow Christ to Work in Us: Christ works in us as we seek first his kingdom and strive to do his will. As this happens we sense a higher calling—a calling to simplicity and faithfulness and generosity. We begin to find ways to make a difference with our time, talent, and resources. 
    • By pursuing good financial practices, we free ourselves from debt so that we are able to be in mission to the world. A key part of finding financial and spiritual freedom is found in simplicity and in exercising restraint.
    • With the help of God, we can: 
      • smplify our lives and silence the voices constantly telling us we need more 
      • live counter-culturally by living below, not above, our means 
      • build into our budgets the money to buy with cash instead of credit 
      • build into our budgets what we need to be able to live generously and faithfully

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    This Easter join a spiritual adventure with Gabe Lyons and the NEXT CHRISTIANS.

    Gabe Lyons begins his new book, Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America (2010), with the startling confession that several years ago that he was "embarrassed to call myself Christian" (3). He and Dave Kinneman described the source of this embarrassment in their groundbreaking book UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks About Christianity (2007). Next Christians is Lyons attempt to offer a compelling vision for how the church can reform itself as it learns from the next generations of Christians. This book seeks to answer three questions that Lyons has been chewing on in subsequent years: what does mission look like in America in the twenty-first century, how should the message of the Gospel go forward, and what does it mean to be a Christian in a world disenchanted with our movement (4)?

    Interestingly, Lyons begins Next Christians with the death of Jerry Falwell. This marked for him the high-water mark of Christian influence, however polarizing, on what some described as a "Christian America." This moment in history may have announced the end of Christian America, but my hunch is that its death was first announced when President Dwight Eisenhower quipped "this country is founded on a deeply held religious faith and I don't care what it is." Lyons then describes the ways that most Christians interact with the culture in contemporary America. The first three groups Lyons describes are separatists who "take seriously Jesus' call to bring their light into the world, even if it means judging (insiders), confronting (culture warriors), and proselytizing (evangelizers) those outside conservative Christian religion" (37). Contrasted to the separatists are cultural Christians who "don't obsess about the afterlife and generally believe that heaven is reserved for everyone except the awful folks" (42). The first group of cultural Christians are blenders who value the faith of their fathers and mothers and yet attempt to blend with the cultural mainstream. Another group, the philanthropists, do the good work of "serving the needs of their community" (42). Both blenders and philanthropists find it hard to state in a compelling way how following Jesus influences their words and deeds. In some ways these chapters are a fresh reworking of H. Richard Neibuhr's classic book Christ and Culture (1956) with its typologies of Christ against, of, and above culture; Christ and culture in paradox; and finally, Christ transforming culture. Where Lyons differs with Neibuhr is the appeal of his book. Lyons is writing to beckon the church to abandon the attitudes described above and move into a practice of restoration already being practiced among the next generation.

    Restorers think that "telling others about Jesus is important" and they see their mission as "infusing the world with beauty, grace, justice, and love" (46). In response to the brokenness of this world they envision the world that "ought" to be and work diligently to heal the earth's brokenness until Christ returns. Lyons slows down his fast moving critique of Christian America at this point to describe the mindset of the restorers he finds in the coming generation. They are marked by being provoked but not offended, creators not critics, called not employed, grounded not distracted, in community and not alone, and finally countercultural and not relevant. In each of these chapters Lyons opens with a personal witness of someone who exemplifies one of the above statements, shows how their stance differs from the previous generational types, and then offers several hallmarks that serve as guidelines for reorienting our thinking in each of these arenas. The chapter that really invited me into the world of the restorers was on being "Called, Not Employed." Lyons offers us seven channels of cultural influence (media, education, arts & entertainment, business, government, social sector, and the church) and suggests that we consciously begin to see ourselves living and working as practicing Christians in these places. One of the missing pieces in the spiritual formation of students in my tribe, the United Methodists, is discerning a sense of calling. Far too often we associate the word "call" exclusively to the life of ordained clergy. Lyons offers a helpful corrective that challenges each of us to see our life's work as having kingdom consequences.

    Lyons closes Next Christians with a call to "First Things." The first thing we need to pay attention is "recovering the gospel" as the center of every thing we say and do. The second things of "outreach methods, good deeds, social justice, cultural engagement theory, church models, environment stewardship, career paths, and even the negative perceptions of Christianity" are predicated on paying attention to the first thing. To adjust these second things without centering on the good news of Jesus Christ will look more like the proverbial rearranging of deck chairs on the Titanic. When we pay attention Jesus and center our lives on the "power of the ought" to be in God's world then something truly new will break out in our midst. Then we will be living in Lyons paraphrase of Jesus' ministry announcement in Luke's gospel: "enough of what is, I see things in terms of what ought to be, and I'm here to do something about it" (204). Now that is an adventure worth pursuing. Buy the book and join the journey of following Jesus with the Next Christians.

    You can download the first chapter of Next Christians at scibd. I received a copy of Next Christians for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

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    Rob Bell talking about LOVE WINS with Lisa Miller (via Livestream)

    LOVES WINS: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, a book by Rob Bell, releases today. I am reading it now on my Kindle.

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    Sabbath Keeping as joy and delight, not obligation and burden. Dan Allender sets a feast!

    Dan Allender's SABBATH (Thomas Nelson, 2009) is an invitation to practices that truly brings life. He first concedes that except for a few providential moments he may not be the person to write this text. Like many, in his drive to be successful in the hectic and harried world of academia, he let Sabbath practice fall by the wayside. Those moments, encounters across the world, a family emergency, and being lost in a sabbatical led to a changed heart. The book is part of a larger work from Thomas Nelson, The Ancient Practices Series, which seeks to reintroduce and reinvigorate the traditional spiritual disciplines of the church. To that end Allender succeeds.

    First, restoring Sabbath practice in a 24/7 web of connectivity seems like an endless and possibly fruitless battle. In my life I am only returning in later years to the life-giving practice of setting aside a day to rest in order to give meaning and energy to my work. Allender would commend my tentative steps and then he would introduce me to a larger Sabbath practice filled with sensuous delights, a time set-apart for God and family, a feast to be shared, and finally a day to play in God's presence. Allender never points to the Proverbs 8:30 where Wisdom celebrates God's unfolding creation and seems, like a young child, so say "do it again" as creation unfolds, but the wonder of Sabbath is on display throughout the book. Allender states that "Sabbath is the day that holds together the beginning of time and the end; it is the intersection of the past and the future that opens a window into eternity each week" (p. 49). The simple practice of pausing every seven days leads us to pay attention to the larger unfolding of God's redemptive work coming to consummation in an endless Sabbath.

    Then, Sabbath practice is grounded in the playful moments when division gives way to shalom, destitution surrenders to abundance, and despair yields to joy. These chapters yield a series of probing questions that will coach you as you deepen your practice. "How would you live if there were no wars, enmity, battle lines, or need to defend, explain, interpret, or influence another so see anything differently" (p. 110)? "If we were to pray today for our enemies, who do you most hope to be united with on this earth? And who do you most hope not to see in heaven" (p. 111)? "What would give you the greatest sense of the abiding goodness of the Father's arms" (p. 112)? Allender's chapter on despair surrendering to joy needs a moment of caution attached to it. He has obviously enjoyed a good cigar, a fine glass of wine, and wholesome beer on his journey. The onset of diabetes has limited his ability to enjoy this rituals. As a pastor I offer a caution to those whose sensitivities would see these practices as insensitive to the intent of Sabbath. I personally think Allender is right to point us to the take real delights of all of our senses.

    Finally, Allender moves us embrace the biblical vision of Sabbath: a remembering of the need for Sabbath after centuries of slavery in Egypt, the deliberate pause to listen for the still small voice, and reminding ourselves of God's justice raining down on world thirsty for restitution and redemption. Here he offers a variety of practices, thoughts about ways to allow the scriptures to breath new life into us, and reminders of the God's provision of welcoming all to the Sabbath as a matter of justice ("remember that you were slaves in Egypt" - Deuteronomy 5:15). Somehow sitting at the Sunday buffet and enjoying a feast with others within the church while others buzz about us caring for our needs hollows out Sabbatical intent. These last chapters contain many helpful thoughts that would reduce Sabbath practice to a series of rules, something many have chafed at throughout their lives. I think spending the first two-thirds of the book helping us learn to delight and play in the presence of God, family, and community should help us answer the question: "Do we really believe that Sabbath delight is God's heart for us? Are we willing to silence the rabble of idols and foul spirits to hear the intoxicating joy of God" (p. 193)? Buy this book, ponder its Sabbath questions, engage God's heart on a weekly basis, take time to stop and stand between the no longer and the not yet. You will be glad to find Sabbath taking up residence in your being.

    Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a copy of SABBATH mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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    Spencer Burke wades into the swirl surrounding Rob Bell's LOVE WINS. 1 Cor 13 never sounded so good (via TheOOZE).

    If I speak in the tongues of popularity or of authority, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of speaking absolute Truth and can understand every secret God has concealed and conquer every doubt, and if I have a faith that can move trending topics on twitter, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I say I am only looking out for those who cannot look out for themselves and stake my reputation on the line that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

    Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

    Love never fails. But where there are absolute Truths, they will cease; where there are persuasive arguments, they will be stilled; where there is no doubt in any theological position I take, it will pass away. For we know in part and we try our best to make sense of our world, ourselves and God, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away the childish thought that I could know as God. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

    And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

    Or as a friend of mine likes to say “Love Wins,”
    Spencer

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    Ten things Americans waste the most money on (via 24/7 Wall St). Can you add to the list?

    24/7 Wall St. reviewed how Americans spend money. One of the conclusions of this analysis is that consumer spending is relatively alive and well, despite the recession. This may mean that Americans continue to be over-leveraged. US citizens have, in general, brought down their indebtedness. However, holiday spending rose substantially from last year, and the extent to which Americans feel poor has declined now that the recession has ended. Americans spend about 15% of their household incomes on things that they do not need to satisfy their vices or to keep themselves amused.

    The authors suggest we "waste" money on eating out; gift-giving; television and sound equipment; pets, toys, and hobbies; lodging, vacation homes, and hotels; fees and admission; alcohol; recreational equipment; tobacco; and apparel. Jesus says: "Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’" (Matthew 6:31).

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    Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It's in the soul of the artist - Seth Godi (via Seth's Blog)

    Art is what we call...

    the thing an artist does.

    It's not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human.

    Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It's in the soul of the artist.

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    Struggling with God's purpose for your life? Mark Batterson's SOULPRINT will help you find the way.

    Mark Batterson states in SOULPRINT that as a former athlete "the older I get, the better I was" (59). And of course I want to laugh at him, but I know myself too well. I may not have been that high school jock, but I have those touchstones in my life where "the better I was" seems superior to "the me I am." Batterson challenges us to face this reality head on and decide that "the better I was" and "the me that I am" are nothing compared to what God wants for me. Through the story of David, Israel's great king and poet, he reminds each of us that "we are God's masterpiece, created anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things God planned for us long ago" (Ephesians 2:10, NLT).

    David's journey is marked by moments of decision: do I wear King Saul's armor or trust my experience with stones and a sling, do I trust that my present skills with a sling and harp for future will honor God and bless people in the future, am I marking moments of victory by carrying Goliath's armor (all 125 pounds of it) with me wherever I go, am I becoming the person others or God wants me to be, can I use moments of crazy embarrassing dancing for God's glory or be mired in fear, will I allow God to take my weakness and sinfulness and use it for glorious purposes, and finally, can I trust God will establish in me a legacy with plan and purpose? These questions mark the journey that Mark Batterson takes us on in SOULPRINT ... along the way he sprinkles in marvelous moments of God's grace permeating the lives of Jesus followers across the centuries.

    The heart of Soulprint is found in five chapters. The first three are positive steps for discovering moments in your personal past where a God destiny was being birthed. Do not glide quickly past these chapters and pay careful attention to the creation of a life altar to mark these moments for yourself and others around you. As I continue to pay attention to appreciative moments and character strengths in myself and others I especially found Batterson's two chapters on dealing with embarrassment and sinfulness to be gems. I remember moments when I was made the fool and now I realize how those moments also set me free from the fear of failure. Realizing how God can take my biggest moral failures, which often arose out of my greatest personal strengths, and forgive me and set me free for future work is a tremendous healing for me.

    Included in SOULPRINT is a good seven session study guide and the opening chapter of PRIMAL, another great book by Mark Batterson. Find the first chapter of SOULPRINT here and a videoclip here. This book is a definite buy!

    Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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    Seth Godin reminds us to think through what the customer wants before presenting ideas. True for preachers as well (via Seth's blog)

    The most effective way to sell the execution of an idea is to describe the use case first. And before you can do that, you need to have both the trust of your client and enough information to figure out what would delight them.

    Then, describe what a great solution would do. "If we could use 10,000 square feet of space to profitably service 100 customers an hour..." or "If we built a website that could convert x percent of ..." or "If we could blend a wine that would appeal to this type of diner..."

    After the use case is agreed on, then feel free to share your sketches, brainstorms and mockups. At that point, the only question is, "does this execution support the use case we agreed on?"

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    Samuel Chand's CRACKING YOUR CHURCH'S CULTURE CODE reminds us of what we already know (and often forget) about organizations

    One of my mentors encouraged me to launch my ministry in every church with a study of John's letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor. I baulked at opening ministry with I percieved as a can of worms and then something hit me. These letters were written to the angels of the seven churches! Intuitively I knew that every organization I had worked with had a sense, an ethos, that was often hard to get a handle on and yet crucial to its function (or dysfunction!). My mentor was inviting me to pay attention to that ethos as I envisioned ministry in a new setting.

    Samuel Chand's recent book, Cracking Your Church's Culture Code: Seven Keys to Unleashing Vision and Inspiration (Jossey-Bass, 2011), has brought greater clarity to my intuitive hunches about a church's ethos. Chand quickly challenges the reader to understand that culture is king when it comes to leading an organization. Your leadership has less sway than the inspiring or toxic culture that you swim in within your church. The unnoticed and unexamined cultural code will rise up to challenge every change needed by the organization, so pay attention to Chand's discerning exercises for revealing and changing the code for multiplied benefits. He uses the acronym CULTURE (control, undersanding, leadership, trust, unafraid, responsive, and execution) to help the reader think broadly about the cultural ethos of their organization.

    The heart of the book centers on the chapters "Vocabulary Defines Culture" and "Change Starts with Me." Our vocabulary shapes the environment which we lead. If we describe everything in negative terms, then we find negative results. I have learned that the opposite is true as well. Chand helped me understand that I have to examine every piece and source of communication for the words that hold an organization from realizing its potential. The culture code is strong and must be addressed on multiple fronts honest communication, deep listening, naming the unknown in "some people say," and offering real affirmations as the church moves forward. The challenging reminder that I can only change myself is braced by a helpful section on how to leave gracefully when your gifts and strengths are not aligned with that of the organization's cultural code. This section of the book is pure gold and I wish I had read it sooner!

    Cracking Your Church's Culture Code should be required reading for every pastor. And pastors should pass their copy on to other leaders in their congregations. Every community, business, enterprise, and organization has a "culture code" and not paying attention to the code inevitably leads to ruin.

    Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the above book for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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    David Platt's RADICAL ... a call to radical obedience to God and a rejection of the American Dream. You've been warned!

    Sometimes you just want to sit in your rocking chair and sometimes God put someone in your path to rock your world. Recently, some young adults talked with me about a study that was rocking their world based on David Platt's book RADICAL: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. I acquired a copy to check out their excitement and nearly fell out of my Kennedy rocker.

    Each of the opening chapters of RADICAL begin with a powerful story out of Platt's experiences among populations under severe persecution. He reflects on the contrast between their hunger for God's word and the typical person sitting and soaking in the pews of American churches. Platt lays it on the line as he described a weekend visit with a church that spent more time celebrating their American patriotism and promising "we will continue to send you a check so that we don't have to go there ourselves" (63). A page later Platt sums up his frustration with this bold claim: "God has created each of us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and I propose that anything less than radical devotion to this purpose in unbiblical Christianity" (65). 

    This unbiblical Christianity, an oxymoron if there ever was one, is characterized by "assigning the obligations of Christianity to a few while keeping the privileges of Christianity of us all" with a dismissive "I'm not called" from the pews (73, emphasis in original). The privilege of "enjoying God's grace" must be coupled with the obligation to "extend God's glory" and anything less is what Bonhoeffer called cheap grace. The balance of RADICAL reminds us of our grounding as Christians and posits an urgency for fulfilling the great commandment to carry the message of God's love made known in Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.

    Platt closes RADICAL with a challenging experiment.  For one year would we commit ourselves to: praying for the entire world, read through the entire Word, sacrifice our money for a specific purpose, spend a week in another context, and commit ourselves to being part of a multiplying community of faith. Platt labels this radical obedience and the claim made on our lives by Jesus demands singular devotion to this mission.

    I admit to approaching the book with some skepticism. Over the last two decades I purchased numerous books that promised to change my thinking about the church, grow my spiritual leadership, or show how my theology was out of sync. Most of the time those books made it to the used book store within weeks. By the time my copy of RADICAL makes it to the used book store I hope it will have passed through numerous hands ... buy this book, settle into your rocker, and be prepared to bolt out of it into a RADICAL life devoted to God's soon-coming kingdom.

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    Where are you on the illustrated history of content creation, circulation, and consumption? I am catching up to the 2000's! (via Mashable)

    One more time I have to unlearn a three decade old habit! Two spaces after a period: Why you should never, ever do it. (via Slate Magazine)

    Last month, Gawker published a series of messages that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had once written to a 19-year-old girl he'd become infatuated with. Gawker called the e-mails "creepy," "lovesick," and "stalkery"; I'd add overwrought, self-important, and dorky. ("Our intimacy seems like the memory of a strange dream to me," went a typical line.) Still, given all we've heard about Assange's puffed-up personality, the substance of his e-mail was pretty unsurprising. What really surprised me was his typography.

    p>Here's a fellow who's been using computers since at least the mid-1980s, a guy whose globetrotting tech-wizardry has come to symbolize all that's revolutionary about the digital age. Yet when he sits down to type, Julian Assange reverts to an antiquated habit that would not have been out of place in the secretarial pools of the 1950s: He uses two spaces after every period. Which—for the record—is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong.

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