The Borg have a simple strategy for growth. Assimilate everything. Take was is valuable and absorb it into the collective. I am a little like this with information. I don’t remember information, I assimilate it. If I hear something from a speaker that is good I take it and absorb it and make it my own. This is a terrible habit when writing a research paper. In research papers you are supposed to remember where all the ideas came from and you are supposed to give credit for what you say. It is also a bad habit when reporting on a conference. If I did not have my notes to reflect on I would have no idea the source of the ideas that I left with. In fact, if I weren’t doing this project I would just let them become my ideas. Some people use the phrase “my idea” to describe ideas that originated with them. I think that is far to limiting. In my world, and idea is my idea the second that I hear it, agree with it and assimilate it. I am like the information Borg.

This is all an intro to say that in my notes on Bill George’s session (see my last post for more on that) I have a bunch of stuff that I don’t remember him saying but I think that it is good stuff. But I can’t tell if he said it and I have just assimilated it or if they are thoughts that I had that came to mind as I reflected on what he said. So with that disclaimer if you think these ideas are good you can assume they are from him. If they offend you you can be sure that they are from me.

He was talking about empowering new leaders, and I wrote the following questions. (The reason for all this confusion is that I did not put them in quotes so I can’t tell if these are my questions or his.)

Am I giving people a clock or a compass?

Am I helping people use their own compass or making them use mine?

Even when I am trying to empower leaders, I often instead just use people for my agenda. I tell them what needs done and I give them the deadline. When all I give them is a clock, I do two dangerous things. The first is that I teach them that that the clock is what matters. I reinforce the desire to set milestones and then judge our lives by the rate at which they are passed. The second is that I assume that we all agree on the direction we should be traveling. I am giving them a task without a vision. I am saying to them, run but not telling them where we are going. I must share my compass before I share a clock.

But the second question takes it a step further. To empower leaders it is not enough to share my compass and share my vision and then once we all have the vision we go for it. I must help them follow their own compass. As I empower leaders, I cannot be surprised if they see a slightly different direction. If they desire and are called to go into new places where I have not gone and do not feel called. The real text for me if I am empowering leaders or just using people is if I can help them find and follow their own compass and call even if it is different from mine. If I can free them from the tyranny of time-tables give them the tools to seek God’s direction and run with perseverance the race that is set before them.

As I re-read that paragraph I realize, it is so much easier to just use people for my vision than it is to release people to pursue the call of God. But if we did it. If instead of trapping others with our clocks and making them follow our compass we could release them and even empower them to say yes to the call of God on their lives, then we could become a community experience exponential growth in leadership and service. (For those of you in the know you can see the intended tribble joke here, but somehow the tone got serious and it doesn’t just seem to fit. But if you want a chuckle you can picture that laundry chute thing overflowing with reproducing disciples.)
on the walk

-Ethan

As I have analyzed this behavior I have know for some time that it was not serving me well. In the first place, my goals were often unreasonable. In the second and more importantly my failure to reach these goals was not a function of laziness or a poor sense of direction but rather that the good and godly choices of my life were leading a different pace. It turns out that my fascination with a schedule was creating an unnecessary and distracting measuring stick that was making me judge myself for following the leading of God and the needs of the moment just because the leading of God hadn’t kept pace with my plan.

Even as I began to question this behavior, I didn’t really doubt it until I began to raise my children. The doctor’s kept reminding us, “Don’t worry about the milestones, worry about growth. The milestones are just there to help us pay attention in case there is a problem.” When I got nervous because my oldest couldn’t roll over “on-time” she assured me that he was healthy and growing and that I needn’t worry about that fact that we wasn’t yet a baby gymnast.

My bad habit of date setting and my uncollected thoughts questioning this habit all achieved clarity in one line from Bill George. He was quoting someone who was quoting someone so I forget the exact context but the line was this:

Follow your compass, not your clock.

That was the yearning I was feeling. I felt guilt for not being on schedule, but I could not look back and see that it was a mistake that I had “fallen behind.” That line has given me the freedom to look again at scripture and see how God calls and guides people. God calls people to a task and to a vision but God does not give time tables. I have returned to the story of Abraham. He followed his compass, and there was no clock. He met no timetable. His time ran out, and yet he was faithful. What if perhaps the vision you have for your future – the vision that you never seem to reach – is not the goal God has in mind for you but rather the beacon with which God intends to draw you on a journey through all the places God wants you to be.

This revelation about how dreams and vision could function in the life of one chasing after the will of God has been revolutionary in my life.

So this is me.

Following my compass and not my clock.

on the walk

-Ethan

Gary connected his call to share the interests of Jesus with the admonition to lead in areas that are hopeless, dangerous, and hard by invoking the following great quote, “Jesus did not come to make you safe, he came to make you brave.”

I found myself needing to just ponder that truth. This is such an easy mistake to make. I am consistently surprised by how easily I forget why Jesus came. I forget that Jesus came to do anything more than round up a bunch of people for heaven. When I am asked, why Jesus came, I know the full answer but I forget. I forget that it is not enough to remember all that I am saved from. I must remember that I am saved for something. Jesus did not come to make me comfortable or happy or any nice thing I might want. Jesus came so that I might be godly, and whole and live out the purposes of God in my life. I have to remind myself every day, God never blesses people for their own sake, but only so that they might bless others. I am still stuck in a “Prayer of Jabez” worldview (expand my territory) instead of a “Prayer of Jesus” worldview (not my will but thine).

And so I enjoyed thinking about why Jesus came for me. If it was more than for my pleasure but rather for God’s purpose then I need to ask if I have said yes to what Jesus came to give me.

Haugen used a wonderful analogy. He described seeing body-builders at the gym who were huge and dramatically muscular. But he wondered, “Where do they ever use those muscles.” He mused that perhaps they may on occasion have an opportunity to open a jar of jam that no one else could open.

All that great strength. All that potential wasted on preening and the occasional opening of jam jars. Of course he quickly turned this question to me and by extension to you.

He asked, “Are you wasting the great strength that God has given you, opening jam jars?”

I came back from the summit with a lot of new convictions. The strongest of these was this, I plan to try something beyond my strength. I refuse to spend the strength I have on Jam jars.

on the walk

-Ethan

One of the quotes that made it into my notes was, “Leadership precisely matters when the task is hopeless, scary and hard.” I have continued to reflect on that text. I confess that too often I want to lead in situations that are hopeful, safe, and easy. But Gary is right, that my leadership doesn’t matter then.

It is when the task seems hopeless, that a leader is needed to trust in God. It is when the road ahead is dangerous that people will need a guide to be brave. It is when a task is hard that a leader is needed who will never give up. “People,” he said, “will do the hopeful, safe easy tings on their own.”

I am not a very strong leader. (I have other gifts so don’t worry that I am beating myself up. I am just being self-aware.) But I am called to lead. Gary’s teaching reminds me that if I can’t lead everywhere, and I can’t lead well or much, then I must prioritize the areas in which I exercise my leadership.

I was thinking about this last night. I invested no energy in getting my kids to eat their cake. I focused my energy on getting them to eat chicken and carrots. In the same way from simple perspective of time management it doesn’t make sense for me to spend my limited leadership resources where they are are not needed. And where they are needed is at precisely that place where the task is “hopeless, scary and hard.”

That is where I must lead.

Which means…

that is where…

I must go.

That was the central confronting truth of his message. If my leadership is needed there, then I must be there. I cannot pretend that I happen to be the one whose leadership is desperately needed in safe, easy places. Because leadership isn’t needed in those places. I realize that I often fail to lead in difficult situations because I fail to show up.

What about you? Are your leadership energies focusing on the areas that are easy or those where leadership is really needed. Are you showing up in the places where God needs leaders?

on the walk

-Ethan

(Just to whet your appetite, I have at least one more idea from Gary Haugen that I want to share. The central quote is “Jesus didn’t come to make you safe, he came to make you brave.” Good stuff indeed.)

Gary Haugen is the head of the International Justice Mission.

He is serving Jesus and listening to him talk made me want to get serious about serving Jesus.

Early in his talk he challenged us to ask this question, “Are Jesus and I interested in the same things?”

Well, are you?

There is some background work that needs to be done on this question. We shouldn’t just assume that we know what interested Jesus. I may need to return to the gospels to refresh my memory. If your first response was, “Well yes, we are both interested in making sure that I go to heaven,” then you need to reread the gospels too.

Haugen suggested that Jesus was interested in loving the world and Jesus was interested in justice. I think that we could add a few. Jesus was interested in gathering a counter-cultural community. Jesus has interested in calling people to a new lifestyle. He was interested in feeding the poor and caring for prisoners. He was interested in taking time out for little kids.

So I need to face these questions.

Am I truly interested in working for justice for all people? Jesus is.

Am I truly interested in living a life-style that challenges the culture? Jesus is.

Am I truly interested in building a community that embraces all people, including those that are deep in sin? Jesus is.

Most basically, do I love the world? Jesus does.

on the walk

-Ethan

I am allergic to fame (I think that this is mainly because I want to be famous and I am jealous) and so I always expect to dislike Hybels. That expectation is never met. Every time I hear him speak he is fantastic. Even when he is trying to sell me something that I don’t want and think is a waste of paper, I respect him because I’m convinced that he believes in the product and is offering it not to make a buck but because he truly thinks it is good.

His first talk was excellent. He outlined a straightforward strategy for Christian decision making.

1. Set a deadline for the decision so that you know you will make it.
2. If scripture makes it clear what is right, then you are done.
3. Seek wise advisers. (He commented that we shouldn’t be surprised if different advisers give us different advice.)
4. Look at your own experience, both painful and not.
5. Listen to the spirit. It was in this section that he mentioned the key nugget I took away. He suggested that if a decision is hard to make and the previous three factors do not make the right choice clear, than before a decision deadline we should make the decision in a trial way. Then we can walk around for a couple of days with the decision made in our heads. If the decision brings life and peace that is a good confirmation. If it brings dis-ease and concern that would be a cause to rethink our decision.
6. Make the decision. I found this to be a helpful reminder. If all the facts are in, and good counsel has been sought and scripture has been consulted and the guidance of the spirit has been invited, then there is no reason to delay a decision. It may be that the only road to a right decision is a wrong decision and if this is the case, then only making a decision will lead you to a right decision. Delay after all the facts are in serves no purpose.

on the walk

-Ethan

For the next several posts I plan to react to some of the key learnings from the summit. This will serve two functions. It will help me process what I encountered, and it may serve to share the value of the summit with other who were not there. I will go back to the beginning with my next post, but for now I want to start at the end.

At the very end of the final talk, I could tell that Bill Hybels was planning a time for people to make a public and formal commitment to respond to his talk. The talk was great, and I needed to hear it and I needed to respond. But since I am naturally rebellious I found myself thinking, “I will not be manipulated. Even though I know this is the right thing, I plan to think about it some more. I will not be swept up in the moment. I will be cautious.”

My hesitations were not about the nature his call. The call (which I will talk about more in a future post) was perfectly biblical and I know that I need to say yes. My resistance was simply that I did not trust my heart. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to lay it all on the line for Jesus.

So I was pretty committed to not doing whatever is was he asked us to do.

Then he said, “Now for those of you who know this is the right thing to do, but just aren’t sure if you are ready, I wonder, ‘What life are you waiting for?’”

In a moment I was struck to the heart. If I know it is the right thing to do. If I know that it must be done. and If I know that this life is my only chance to do it, then what in the world am I waiting for? I do live my life as if I was going to get a second chance. I pass up on the goodness God has for me all the time, always so sure that I will do it next time. But what next time am I imagining?

So that is my motto as I process through the summit. If I believe that I am called to share the gospel and love my kids and serve the poor and work for justice, and all the rest, then I simply must act. To wait and stall and fail to commit is to believe the lie that I have some other life to play with.

So with me you can ask yourself, if you are putting off a commitment to follow God

What life are you waiting for?

on the walk

-Ethan