Being “Authentic”

Last fall I was watching TV one evening and came across a show on Travel Channel called No Reservations featuring an older gentlemen (Anthony Bourdain) that simply went to different corners of the globe, ate interesting food, and drank like a coed on spring break while sharing his life narrative.  Fast forward 6 months and I often find myself perusing the TV guide hoping for an episode in the coming hours.  I love watching as he explores cities in ways that normal travel periodicals ignore.  But the real star of the show is the host himself.  His happy-go-lucky, tell-it-like-it-is attitude is always in plain view.  Best of all, he talks to the camera like it’s a good friend enjoying another round of drinks and reminiscing on old memories.

The authenticity and “real”ness that Bourdain brings to No Reservations is the same that is desired in youth ministers.  Everybody wants someone who is like-able, relevant, “cool”, honest, genuine, real, and authentic.  After serving in youth ministry positions for almost 4 years, I’m not fully convinced that authenticity is really as desired as much as liked for the way it reads on a job description.

Authenticity means telling the truth and being who I am.  This is in no way acceptable in the church as I have discovered when it comes staffing.  If it did, my resume would include the following:

• Loves Jesus
• Eats unhealthy
• Loves sports
• Drinks beer
• Enjoys cigars
• Occasionally lazy
• Can be quite critical
• At times selfish
• Loves most people with the exception of Christians who are always “great and happy”

If I actually put included this information on my resume, I would probably wouldn’t have to worry about a second interview.  But in the “Church, Inc.” culture that exists in many of our congregations, being anything less of Jesus makes you unqualified. 

The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (of which I am a member) has a wonderful system for connecting church workers with congregations.  It is dubbed “the call process” and is exactly what it sounds like.  We believe that God calls individual church workers to a specific place for a specific time to do what they were created for in that time.  In many days past before transportation was so efficient, interviews were rarely conducted.  The search team would simply pray over the list of names they had been given by the governing church body and issue a call to ministry for the person as they were led by the Holy Spirit.  That’s it!  They prayed, listened, and followed God.

I sometimes wonder if we have become so interconnected and overloaded with information that we are no longer sensitive to the nudgings of the Holy Spirit in our calling of church workers.  In the search for the “right person” for the job, many search committees ask too much of candidate and too little of God.  And the same is true for many church workers.  In the search for the “right job” we ask too many questions about buildings, budgets, and bodies and too little of our God.  Too often both congregations and church workers are seeking something that has relatively nothing to do with God.

There’s a great saying in the LCMS that “the person does not seek the call, the call seeks the person”.  There is great beauty to this statement that suggests that we are to be authentically about God above all things.  In the discussion of interviewing I often hear comments like “they sound like a great candidate” or “they have great references”.  I can’t wait for someone to say “they don’t sound like they walk with God” or “I didn’t sense the presence of the Holy Spirit in their life”!  Not that those should become the new interview buzz-phrases, but that we would be at the very least authentic to the heart of God that judges the heart rather than appearance.

From church workers, we need to be honest about our own lives.  We aren’t perfect and are fools to try and convince anyone otherwise.  Most of us can’t stand when people gesture and position themselves to appear “great” and “happy” when we are looking.  Why should we expect a different response of anyone else?  Above any of this, we need to seek God’s desire and call for our life.

Churches need to stop looking for the perfect fit or skill set in their workers.  They need to seek the counsel of the Lord.  They need to stop exhausting themselves trying to offer every program that might appeal to everyone without taking into account who is in their midst.  Churches need to understand who they are and what God has called them to do (here’s a hint: it’s not everything the big church down the street is doing).

I think we can learn some things from Mr. Bourdain (other than how to chain-smoke and do jager bombs).  This show successfully appeals to a specific audience because it understands its identity and keeps it at the forefront of production.  We (church workers and churches) are about Christ the risen savior and we are at our best when He remains our focus.

Short Standard for Christian Authors

A few days ago a friend (who will remain nameless) confided they had been given a copy of a book by a Christian author in return for a favorable blog post.  Sounds like a deal, right?  Only problem is that my friend didn’t find the book all that fascinating, yet felt compelled to post a review without any biting criticisms.

I read more than many of my colleagues and probably most of America.  In a given year, I generally top out at around 25 books (almost one every two weeks).  With the publishing conglomerates, especially the Christian genre, putting out more and more titles every year it becomes more and more difficult to sift through the insipid crap that is most new writing in search of something genuinely educational, thought-provoking, encouraging, and/or pertinent.  With only 25 opportunities to strike gold each year, I need to do better than 50%.

With so many of the titles I pick up pertaining to the church, youth ministry, and the like I have become fairly familiar with many of the authors.  In fact, I have become so familiar that at times I find myself reading with such great anticipation borderlining on rooting for the author because of prior works or talks.  Put simply, I become a fan(atic) rather than peruser of information.  Metaphorically speaking, in Christian publishing we give everyone a trophy because that’s the nice, kind and supposedly considerate thing to do.  After all, as a generation that was given trophies and ribbons for participation, what more can we really expect?

Perhaps this might just be a generational thing.  If so, the older staunch generations have much on us younger folk in that they are actually willing to call something crap if the believe it to be.  There’s an older gentlemen I know who most would describe as quite grouchy and gruff (and I can’t really argue against such a description).  He thinks everything’s crap that wasn’t produced before the advent of plastics.  While he is often overkill, certainly no one could argue that his opinions are resemblent of a neutered cat like so many Christian media critics.

I can’t remember the last time that I read a review of a book or resource in Christian publication that gave a negative review of something written or produced by a Christian.  When was the last time you saw a Christian pastor get hammered in a Christian publication (minus the ultra-conservative bunch) over their crappy writing and advice for other Christians?  Even though there are some good critics out there, the majority are too often help captive by affiliations and partnerships with other organizations.

It is this happening that has caused me to limit my circle of influence when it comes to reading recommendations.  I have a few friends who are critical readers and not just trying to impress all the bookstore hipsters with their newly embraced lifelong love for the written word.  I wish the Christian magazines, websites, and periodicals had more people like my friends who don’t mind saying something “sucks” even if it is written by a Christian.

What bothers me the most about this is that it seems to be such a mainstay in Christian media where everything is great because it’s “Christian”.  For example, the movie End of the Spear.  Great story!  Terrible movie!  Yet received endless praise from Christianity Today and it’s contemporaries.

As Christians, we be more concerned with putting out good material that enriches people’s lives rather than patting fellow Christians on the back because it’s nice.  Beyond the lack of objectivity, it’s polarizing.  Faith has nothing to do with good and bad writing.

A New Dawn

It was 10:41am on Tuesday morning when I came to face the reality that I needed a change.  After days and weeks of frustration and disconnection, it all culminated Tuesday morning to a point when I knew it was time.  So after a few days of mending my broken medium, I took a monumental step into full functionality.

On Thursday afternoon at 1:26pm, a box arrived at my office from Fedex.  As I opened it, I realized that the frustration and disconnection I had experienced so regularly was about to dissipate in light of the box’s contents.  I cut the tape holding it together, and pulled up the flaps to pick up…

A new cell phone.  It was time to leave behind my Motorola KRZR K1 and take the new ride, the Samsung SCH-U740 Alias, for a spin.  After adapting my personalized options to the new phone over the first day of ownership, I have found that I’m loving having a phone with excellent battery life with the ability to type efficient text messages (best communication tool for students).  So far, I’m really enjoying this phone and feel kind of cool, which will subside within my first 10-15 words of a conversation.

Easter’s Over!!!

For accountants it’s February through March.  For teachers, it’s April and May.  For the unfortunate souls that work in retail, the most wonderful time of the year, December, is the most dreaded.  Many professions have a time of the year that is busier than others.  A period where personal lives, originality, and deep thinking are exchanged for cruising in constant work mode to avoid falling behind.  These are times that we love because of all the progress and work accomplished and we hate because our relationships and personal lives are sacrificed at the aforementioned alter.

For folks who work in the church, that time of year is Easter and Lent (the 40 days leading up to Easter).  During this stretch, multiple worship services, soup suppers, and youth conferences all converge to make this “that” time of the year.  I love Easter and Lent because of the festivities as we await the ultimate celebration (Easter) of Christ’s death, resurrection, and victory of sin, death, and power of the devil (can you tell I teach confirmation?).

During the same period, my energy dwindles and my time with my wife dissipates as I tend to so-dubbed more “important” matters at work.  My writing becomes mundane and patterned sounding more like a text message than something considered worthwhile reading.  My thoughts go from focused, concise, and provoking to bland, monotonous, and unworthy of filling space.

So with that all behind me now, I can move forward with writing that resembles a soufflé rather than mush.  Hallelujah!  Jesus is risen!  Here’s to great writing and fantastic reading!

Passion of the Christ

I’ve seen the movie once.

I went by myself to the theater in college and have never had the desire to see it again.  There were many scenes that I had to look away because it was all too real.  The terror of sin is violent, bloody, and destructive.  Thank God Jesus died once for the sin of the world and saved me from my own evil desires.

A New “First”

This past Wednesday marked a “first” in my life.  A few weeks ago when I was golfing with a fellow youth ministry friend, we got to talking about speaking in front of students.  I told him that I didn’t do it normally because of our setup, but had been having an itch to do more speaking.  Seizing the opportunity of having a week off, he quickly informed me that I could speak at their youth service on a Wednesday we didn’t have small groups.

 As I was preparing my message, he told me that I should expect about 90 to 100 kids to show up which I told him would be easy considering I give chapel messages monthly to the 350 kids at our school.  I had some preliminary thoughts about what I thought God wanted me to say, but basically wrote my script during Wednesday afternoon.  My message focused on accountability: why it’s important?, what it does?, and how it works? 

Without getting too deep into the details of the talk, I found something that I really enjoy and would welcome any opportunities to speak in the future.  It’s good to do something you enjoy and have the chance to share the message you’ve been given.

Youth Ministry Identity Crisis

I am often quoted as proclaiming my love for my profession.  However, I also find myself in crisis at times concerning our identity as a youth ministry given that there is such a short history of the profession.

Unlike other professions, youth ministry seems to be something you learn as you go.  Experience is much more valuable than information and relationships conquer wisdom.  What works in Alaska doesn’t work in Denver and what’s life-changing in Kansas is ignored in Florida.

The single-most frustrating thing about youth ministry is there is no one answer.  You can’t learn it in a book or from a conference.  The only way is to walk side-by-side with people for years until you know what they are made of and what they need to hear.

The journey continues…

Ever Wonder Where Ludacris’ Hoes Are?

Thank you to the folks over at Strange Maps for fulfilling my deepest queries.

When to Quit

Like many people out there who read blogs, I utilize Google Reader to help organize and simplify my reading.  At any given time I have anywhere from 6 to 20 blogs of which I subscribe for daily scoops and insights.  With topics that range from theology to business to interesting maps and a list that is constantly changing I have developed an unofficial system for determining if a blog stays or goes.  If I can go more than 4 posts without reading past the first paragraph, it’s got to go.  Of course, I don’t recommend this strategy with my blog.

One blog that I consistently read and rarely skim belongs to one Seth Godin.  It is a business blog that is very practical and can be applied to many fields that might fall under a description other than business.  Which leads to this comment he made recently…

For a long time, we’ve created a myth in our culture that it’s worth any price to reach your goal, especially if your ego tells you that you’re the best solution. We’ve created legends of people and organizations that pursued transformative long shots to achieve great results.

I need to be really clear: pushing through the Dip and becoming the best in the world at what you do is in fact the key to success. But (and it’s a big but), if you’re required to become someone you’re not, or required to mutate your brand into one that’s ultimately a failure in order to do so, you’re way better off quitting instead.

As I read this, I couldn’t help but think how the our churches often ignore this concept.  In a place where our reasoning often includes the words “tradition” and “it’s how we’ve always done it”, perhaps there is no organization in America that needs to hear it’s time to quit.

With perseverance being one of the great teachings of Christianity, we often struggle with the idea of change and hold on tightly to the success stories of others who persevered, while neglecting some of the obvious indicators around us.  I’ve been in this uncomfortable place with youth ministry.  A few years ago, I was really excited about starting a youth worship service.  After a year of pushing it, it was all too obvious that the leaders were not in place on the student end and although a good program this was not the time.  As I planned the following year during the summer, I decided to kill the program.  I learned another humbling lesson that my own desire and perseverance will not drive a program on its own.

I think Seth’s second paragraph has even greater significance for the church.  The “professional church” world is so overflowing with paradigms and models.  Right now, there are literally hundreds of books titled “The _______ Church”.  Many of these books are good.  In fact, many of them are great books. (Even though most aren’t)  The problem with so many models is that we focus more on becoming the church in the book, down the street, or the one that doesn’t exist instead of Jesus Christ.

So many mainline Protestant church bodies are compromising their doctrine and identity in the Jesus Christ of the Bible.  If there is any truth to the statements Seth is writing here, we the church will be best served to confirm our identity in Jesus as He is the one who saved us and one we proclaim.  If our programming, attitudes, and visions are not built upon such a solid foundation, perhaps we should just quit.

Wisdom from “The King of Kong”

First things first.  If you haven’t seen The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, do yourself a favor and set aside a couple hours to be amazed.  The hit documentary is filled with many nuggets of proverbial wisdom as evident is the following inclusions.

Billy Mitchell: No matter what I say, it draws controversy. It’s sort of like the abortion issue.
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Jillian Wiebe (Steve’s Daughter): I never knew that the Guinness World Record Book was so… I never knew it was so important.
Steve Wiebe: I guess a lot of people are… yeah, a lot of people read that book.
Jillian Wiebe: [while directly looking at Steve, her father] Some people sort of ruin their lives to be in there.
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Brian Kuh: If anybody wants to see, there’s a Donkey Kong kill screen coming up.
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Adam Wood: I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs. I play video games, which I think is a far superior addiction to any of those other ones.
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Billy Mitchell: …but competetive gaming, when you wanna attach your name to a world-record, when you want your name written into history, you have to pay the price!

It’s just too good to pass up.  Go get it!