Adventures in missing the catch

Yesterday, Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson dropped a pass - a game winning, wide open, overtime pass that would have won the game. That's a bad day no matter what. But then, he tweeted this:

I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO...

The bad day just got worse. Here are just a few thoughts on life and leadership I have after hearing the story (and reading Romans 11 this morning).

1. Watch out for entitlement creep.

It's real easy to confuse God's blessing with entitlement. God doesn't owe us anything. Everything we have has been given to us by him and it's already more than we deserve. Disappointment and failure isn't punishment - it's the ingredients to a great story.

2. Worship is not a commodity to give or withhold. We don't bestow it upon God as though He needs it.

God isn't looking for favors from us. Worship isn't a business transaction where I do my part, now you do yours. God is still God and worthy of worship, but he doesn't owe me because I worship Him.

3. Worship that doesn't change us is worthless.

If we're "praising 24/7" but in the end it's still about us, we may have missed the point. If you and I aren't becoming more humble, more generous, more life-giving to those around us as a result of our worship, then maybe it isn't really worship after all.

4. Perspective comes with time. Allow yourself to go through the process.

I've been in athletic competition where I cost my team the game. My mistake, or my inability to make the play ended our chances. And you know what? There were plenty of great days after that. Whether it's in business, in relationships, or whatever - allow the time necessary to give you the right perspective on the situation. At the end of the day, it's still a football game. I think back to last year's near perfect game by Armando Galarraga - which after replays clearly was a perfect game blown by a bad call. Galarraga handled that disappointment with the utmost class because he stayed calm and held it all in perspective.

5. In the extremes, don't grab a microphone.

A really bad day got a whole lot worse because the disappointment Johnson felt was amplified when he broadcast it to the world. On the other extreme, sometimes in the moment of celebration we over-promise something we can't actually deliver. I think of the Office episode where Michael Scott ends up at a shareholders meeting with the microphone. The crowd starts cheering him and he loses control promising to save the company - something far outside his skill and ability.

I recently had a bad experience with a company's customer service. I too spewed forth on Twitter. I'm thankful that a couple of friends gut-checked me on that one. I blew it. Thankfully I didn't have several thousand followers and a host of media outlets that picked it up. Which brings us to points 6 and 7.

6. Leadership is costly.

When you are in a position of influence, or when your voice carries a lot of weight and/or authority, you pay a great cost. You can live or die on your words. Joe Smith down at the community flag-football game could miss the catch, spew forth on Twitter, and never hear so much as a squeak about it. Not so when you play in the NFL.

Leaders must limit themselves and apply a filter that other people may not have to do. Is that fair? I don't know. But it's reality. As a leader you represent something much bigger than yourself - and that may be your family, your company, your school, or even your church.

7. When you blow it, own it.

No one likes to make mistakes. But when we do, we've got to learn to own our mistakes - especially when they are in plain view of others. Many people fail to do this because they hate to admit defeat - they believe it is weakness. But the truth is that someone that makes a mistake and then owns it is seen as strong, not weak (see the Galarraga story above and the reaction of umpire Jim Joyce).

Read More

God wants me to fail

It's true. And it's something I've been learning lately but is really difficult for me.

I'm actually a bit of a perfectionist, if I'm honest. Let me give you a few examples. I don't play games for the fun of it. I play to win. If I don't win, it drives me crazy. I want to quickly figure out a better strategy and play again. Which means I can be pretty competitive at just about anything. It's not that I don't like you, it's just that I want to crush you in competition. Games like "Angry Birds" for example, drive me crazy. It's addictive to me because I must beat it. I can't let those little pigs win. A few years ago I picked up woodworking as a hobby. I've built a few things, but to be honest, it too drives me crazy. I want to build things with precision and yet my skills aren't there. I notice every imperfection, every slightly crooked cut. In school I used to do really well. I got pretty much all A's in high school and college - with the exception of science classes. No matter how much I studied, how hard I worked, I could never seem to get better than a B, and it's the only class I ever got a C in. And it drives me crazy to this day.

I tend to let failure rule. I could get 99 out of 100 right and all I can think about is the one I missed.

So here's my dilemma. I'm a church planter. That may or may not mean much to you, but a church planter is basically an entrepreneur on steroids. It's someone who is trying to start something from scratch without funding, people, buildings, or any existing structures. While there are some obvious guidelines (the Bible for example), there's no blueprint for how to plant the church that exists in my head. Which means there's lots of trial and error. We start things that don't work and so we tweak it and try again. Some of what we try completely fails.

Now back to what God has been showing me. I've noticed lately that with some things I would rather not do anything than to try it and fail. Fear of failure has paralyzed me. Uncertainty about the outcome has left me unable, or unwilling, to move forward. I want it to succeed the first time. And so I believe God has been confronting me on this, because here's the deal - the difference between those that see their dreams become a reality and those that don't is very small. In fact, it's a single step. Those that are willing to step into the unknown change the world. Those that aren't, don't.

The vision I have for my church is scary. It scares me. It really does. And yet it is the most exciting thing I have ever dreamed in my life. And God is showing me that between here and there will be lots of risk. Lots of failure. Lots of doing it the wrong way before we figure out the right way. So I'm beginning to see God as the One who invites me to fail. He calls me into the unknown, he challenges me to risk. It's a scary reality, but one I hope I can embrace more and more.

So I'm praying this for myself and for you today (especially those of you that are part of Story Church!):

2 Timothy 1:7 - "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

May you and I have the courage to fail.

Read More

Hey Story Church - help us out!

If you attend Story Church would you do us a favor? We believe that what God has been doing in us and through us is something amazing. We believe that the life that we are experiencing as a result is something that should be shared with others as well. There are lots of people out there looking for a life-giving church. So would you do us a favor? Here are a few ways you can help us to get the word out:

• Write up a great review on Yelp.
• If you blog, put a link to Story Church on your blog.
• "Like" us on Facebook.
• Follow us on Twitter and retweet us every chance you get.
• Most importantly? Live an authentic, loving, generous, Jesus-centered life. There is no greater invitation than that!

Thanks for helping us get the word out!

Read More

Numbers

The number 100. It's a good number. A nice, round number. It's the first number that is three digits instead of two. And up until recently it was a number we had never reached at STORYCHURCH. That is, until yesterday. Yesterday, on my birthday, we had 101 in attendance!! It was exciting, not just for me, but I think for most of the people in the church who have been with us for a while. It's feeling fuller all the time and it's fun to be part of something that is growing and picking up momentum. And I think God calls us to celebrate. We SHOULD stop and take notice and party and rejoice over cool moments like this one. I was personally on cloud nine all day yesterday and woke up today feeling about as good as any Monday morning I can remember.

Numbers are important. They tell a story - not THE story, but a story. The reason we celebrate milestones like that is because every one of those 101 people is a life that is being touched and changed as they interact with and approach Jesus. And as cool as 101 is, we keep pushing and praying for more. The reason? Again, because we want to see as many lives as possible transformed by the good news of Jesus.

But there are some dangers with numbers as well. So as we celebrate, here are a few things I caution myself and you with today:

• The DANGER OF ACCOMPLISHMENT - There is a danger with every milestone to pat ourselves on the back and say "Look at what we accomplished." I never want to be in the place where I think that any of this had anything to do with me. God chose to speak through donkeys before. The fact that He would use us is pretty awesome, but make no mistake - God is the one moving and changing people's lives, not me and not Story Church.
• The DANGER OF LEGITIMACY. I don't know what else to call it. There's a real sense in which a certain number carries with it a level of legitimacy. Like, we're for real now because we had 100 people. I never want to lose the awe over the fact that ANYONE shows up! It is a miracle to me, and what God is doing in the life of 1 is just as important as a crowd.
• The DANGER OF DECEPTION. When our numbers are down, I often feel like we failed. When they are up I feel like we are the best church in the world. I make the mistake sometimes of assuming God is at work when lots of people show up, but that he isn't when they don't. It's a lie. The reality is that I often hear the greatest stories of life change on days when we have some of our smallest attendance numbers.
• The DANGER OF COMPARISON. It's real easy to start comparing ourselves to other churches, other ministries. I sometimes find myself comparing myself as a church planter to other guys doing the same thing. God hasn't asked us to plant their church, He's asked us to be faithful with ours. No matter what God is doing somewhere else, we must be faithful to do what he calls us to do.
• The DANGER OF RESTING. Last I checked, there are still hundreds of thousands of lost people in the Triangle. Celebrating 100 is fine, but this is no time to rest. We aren't even beginning to scratch the surface of what God can do in us. People need Jesus and they are lost without Him! That truth has to continue to drive us to help people embrace the story they were meant to live.

To my friends at STORYCHURCH, my fellow story tellers - we are just getting started. As we celebrate this week the things God HAS done, don't lose sight of what He still WILL do. Pray for continual impact, for opportunities to share, and that we will hear more and more stories of God changing lives in our midst in the days ahead. I'm so blessed to be on this journey with you guys!

Read More

Sparky

About ten years ago I had the privilege to play a round of golf with Sparky Anderson, a hall of fame baseball manager who passed away yesterday at the age of 76. Some of you may know I'm a baseball fanatic. I played baseball in college at Biola University. It was as an alumni when I went to play in a fundraiser tournament that I got paired up with this legend. As a fan, I knew him as a manager who had won the World Series in both the American league with the Tigers, and the National league with the Reds. But I didn't know what to expect that day.

Sparky was a small man as you can probably tell by the picture. But he was a man with a huge heart. He talked and shared with us as though we had been buddies for years. At one point during the round I hit a tee shot that sliced way right into a bunch of houses. I eventually learned I had broken a window of one of those houses, as the homeowner met me half way down the fairway. Sparky had a good laugh about that.

At one point I asked him about the greatest player he'd ever had the privilege to see play. Without hesitation he said "Roberto Clemente." Clemente was a dynamic player for the Pirates in the 60s whose life was cut short when his plane crashed on a disaster relief effort. But to hear Sparky talk about him and describe his abilities was almost as real as seeing him myself. He spoke with passion as a fan, and yet someone with the credentials to speak in such a way that you believed every word he was saying was true.

I've always tried to be a learner, to observe people and figure out what makes them a leader. In the baseball world, Sparky was one of the most successful and admired leaders in the history of the game. As a player - he was terrible. He couldn't hit to save his life. And yet as a manager he was one of the most successful men of all time. And here's the deal - he accomplished that by smiling, by being genuinely joyful, believing in his players, and when necessary taking a stand for them. He was a leader of men. A passionate, fiery, joyful, pleasant, small in stature, yet giant of a man.

Baseball lost a good one this week. I only spent about four hours of my life with the man, and yet, I'll miss him.

Read More

Story Church lately...

We're almost 10 months old. I can't even believe it at times. And yet, in other respects I can't hardly remember life apart from this church that I love so much. I seriously can't believe I get to do this. Here are some of the things that have been happening lately:

• Growth. We've experienced a really fun season lately where we are seeing more and more people each week and more and more who are excited about making Story Church home. We think we'll crack the 100 mark sometime soon!
• A couple of weeks ago we had some visitors who came because one year ago our launch team (the group that helped get Story Church started) washed their car for free one day. Wow.
• Baby boom. More like explosion. Not that babies are exploding, but you understand. At some point I will try and count all the babies from this year, but in the last six weeks alone we've had four new babies join the Story Church family.
• Connection Groups. We've got three groups going now of people that gather throughout the week/month to just hang out and do life together. Love it.
• Amazing God stories. It's been awesome to see people give their lives to Jesus and watch them begin to be transformed. Never gets old.
• Baptisms coming soon! Sometime in November we'll be having our first baptisms as a church and I can't stinking wait. So excited to share their stories.
• Community. I was watching our people yesterday just hang out, talk, love each other - it was amazing. New people were headed to lunch with some of our members, others were sharing coffee and chatting. So proud of who we are becoming.
• Looking ahead - we are quickly approaching our one year anniversary. WOW. We're going to throw a celebration of epic proportions. It's only the beginning - the best is yet to come!

One of the other things that I love about our community is that in times of difficulty we get to come along side each other and lift each other up. This week my heart is heavy while a couple in our church goes to be with family who lost a baby this week. Please pray with me for Jeff and Sara and their family as they seek to be a source of strength and encouragement this week in the midst of pain, unanswered questions, and difficulty.

Read More