I have been thinking a lot lately about how to create something awesome.  My new job at the fabulous Woodlawn UMC in Derby, KS has pushed me to think outside the box and “rethink church”.  But leadership for creating something awesome requires  incredible balance of a myriad of factors.  Just after the Winter Olympics one professor likened it to speed skating.  She watched the short track race and noticed that being fastest and strongest did not mean you would win the race.  What really mattered was negotiating the crowded track so that you were well positioned at the moment of greatest opportunity.  Often this positioning seems mysterious and out of our control, but I believe that a well thought out strategy could help us get there…. [Read more →]

I cannot believe there are only 51 days left till graduation.  With all the hubub of our last semester the blog has been a little sparse lately. My apologies.  But I have a bit of time right now, so I figured I’d use it to talk about the only thing March is good for…..BASKETBALL!

I have seen some pretty awesome basketball already this season, but March brings out an unusual flurry of great games and tremendous individual efforts.  Adding to my personal excitement is my faithfulness to the Wildcats of Kansas State University who have found their way to the sweet 16 for the first time since 1988.  GO CATS!

So my question is this:  How come the effort at the end of the basketball season is so amazing, but the effort at the end of a degree program is so lackluster? [Read more →]

I finally figured out why I contradict myself so often.  It is my lizard brain!  The lizard brain is the prehistoric part in the back of your brain that is responsible for rage, fear, and other primal urges…even that one.  This is the part of the brain that told me to stay in bed because I am not as fit or athletic as the other people at the YMCA where we work out.  It is the part of the brain that tells me to second guess my vision for my sermon, my Sunday school class, my pastoral vision.  It is the part of the brain that assures me that no matter how much I read I will never be as smart as others, which means I usually just don’t read.  Seth Godin talks about the lizard brain as the “resistance.”  The lizard brain’s main concern is survival and continuing the species so it doesn’t want to take risk.  It is the force that keeps us from achieving our dreams.  But the first step to quieting it is recognizing it is there…. [Read more →]