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Archive - September, 2008

In Our Economic Crisis, Who Do We Project Our Anxiety Onto? Who Pays the Cost? (Family Systems Thinking and a Biblical Parable)

September 26, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 6 Comments

Disclosure: Today’s post was written after a great workshop by Rev. Dr. Joseph J. Clifford of First Presbyterian Church Dallas. He taught on family systems in the church and the Bible, and as he spoke he spurred on much thinking in my mind. This post is partly my working out some of his thinking on family systems, Biblical parables and how it applies to our current American economic crisis. So there is some tangential thinking going on..still connecting dots. I would love feedback on the post, especially if you are tracking with it or not tracking.

FAMILY SYSTEMS
One of the things that I enjoyed in my Marriage and Family graduate work is the research of Murray Bowen, Edwin Friedman, and other family systems thinkers. It’s especially fascinating when you apply family systems thinking to churches (staffs, congregations), cities, countries, cultures, etc.

There are several key components to family systems, and sometimes it can get quite complicated, but what I’m interested in for this post, and what I will overgeneralize is the concept of anxiety within a system, and how that anxiety is often projected onto someone, or something else. For example, in a family, often when there is anxiety between spouses it can be projected onto a child. In a larger context when there is anxiety, for example in a culture or country, anxiety can be projected onto other people groups, politics, etc.

When anxiety enters that system the goal of that system, whether it be a family, or a society, is to reduce that anxiety and bring the system back to a homeostatic state….otherwise to balance it out. This can be done in many ways, but often the anxiety is balanced out in the system because it has been put on someone or something else outside of it. This is an over simplification, but I think you get the idea.

The Inagural Church Tech Camp–And the Role of the Pastor in the Age of Technology

September 26, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 8 Comments

I wish I could have been there this morning with the crew at Church Tech Camp, but since I couldn’t, it was great to watch it live and participate.

Props to Tony Steward for putting on the “unconference.” And props to #churchtechcamp making the Twitter trends today and making it on the Twitter blog.

Check out some of Tony’s thoughts on the day.

Check out the live blog from Church Tech Camp today as well.

You can see my question on the live blog that I posed to the audience.

11:22
[Comment From rhettsmith]
I’m wondering if we move more and more towards open source in the Church…what role do you see the pastor taking?

There was some lengthy discussion about my question and what I meant. But in general, I wonder with the ability for congregations to quickly self organize and communicate without having to go through the pastor, the hierarchy, etc., what role will the pastor take in the future? I think many pastors are nervous about losing power, status and position that has always been afforded them from behind the pulpit, so what if they are no longer needed? And by that, I don’t mean they won’t speak, preach or teach, but what if their particular brand of one person leadership is not needed? Will they become more of a facilitator? Are the traditional vocational roles of the pastor in jeopardy (as in paid staff)? Lots of questions I am asking.

But what I’m really thinking is that the decentralization of the pastor is actually a great thing for a church community, and it places the pastor in a role that I think he or she was meant to be in. That of shepherd, facilitator, etc. Someone who leads from within….not above or out in front.

P.S. Thanks to Rich Kirkpatrick for being my voice in person at the conference when I was actually in Dallas. He helped better finesse and define some of the questions I was having trouble articulating.

Government Bailout = “Moral Bankruptcy” & “Socialism for the Rich.”

September 25, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 11 Comments

Upfront, I’m no economist, and I know each side can paint a picture that seems right (what if we don’t help, will it send more into poverty…and if we do, what is to keep it from happening again, etc)… but we are sort of in trouble on both fronts if you will, with either decision. But I’ve been pretty sickened…strong word…but that’s how I feel about this whole government bailout.

I know financial gurus like Warren Buffett are for the bailout. But I believe that just because something is financially right, does not make it ethically right. Otherwise we could justify all kinds of terrible behavior and decisions based on financial choices and not ethical ones…not the right ones.

So I thought I would leave you with some words by people who say it better.

The Green Quote: Bono Rails Against $700 Billion For Wall Street, But No Billions For Fighting Disease, Hunger

“It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger. That’s mad, that is mad.”

“Bankruptcy is a serious business and we all know people who have lost their jobs. But this is moral bankruptcy.”

– Lead singer of U2 Bono speaking today during day two of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Here is more of the context of the quote.

And then I will close with this quote by Stanley Hauerwas given during his talk “The American Empire And The Kingdom Of God.”

“Government bail-outs are socialism for the rich.”

Getting Outside Our Villages

September 25, 2008 in Uncategorized with 4 Comments

I said something earlier this week about my appreciation for GodblogCon and their attempt to be more “missionally minded.” I know that when they brought the conference to Vegas from the campus of Biola not everyone was happy about it. In fact, I think many decided not to come to Vegas because it was….well Vegas. “Sin City” as it has been dubbed.

But I think that was the smartest move that could have been made, and I’m hoping that GodblogCon continues more and more to integrate its ideas, values and thoughts on social media into the rest of the Blogworld and New Media Expo.

I think that we can all learn from each other, and unless Christians and non-Christians (or those who have a practicing faith and those who don’t) continue to dialogue and listen to one another, then I think we all miss out on what we all have to offer.

I like what Diva Marketing says below:

Last year some of my greatest learnings came from sessions outside of my comfort zone – military and sports blogging. This year I sat in on a God Blog session and listened intently to the Andrew Jones, Tall Skinny Kiwi, tell his story about faith blogs. He begin with a light hearted joke .. You might be a faith blogger if .. My favorite .. You’re a faith blogger if your prayers are 140 characters or less because that’s all Twitter allows.

My big take away from Andrew’s talk (slides) was ~

A blog should not be a well. It should be a spring. ~

Although Andrew put it into a religious context, his concept makes perfect sense to me not only for blogs but for social media in general. Think about it .. a well contains stagnant waters. Stagnation occurs when there is no new flow of water. Blogs, social networks, wikis and all the other tools/tactics allow for and encourage fresh water or new ideas to flow.

Sidebar: I often say that the blogopshere/social media is comprised of many, many villages. There is the business blog village where Diva Marketing resides and then the mommy blog, golf blog, healthcare blog, beauty blog, race horse blog “villages” and more. The God blog/faith blog village is one of the most active. Skip over to the interview I did with Lead Pastor of the National Community Church – David Batterson – for some insights into this most interesting “village.”

I wholeheartedly agree. Some of the best times at the conference, and some of the greatest things I learned is when I ventured outside my village and comfort zone and saw what others had to offer. I look forward to next year. It a unique conference.

As Chris Brogan said in reference to Blogworld and New Media Expo:

Rick’s event brought diverse people like religious, military, sports, and political bloggers, and I liked that.

Are Church Leaders Inhabiting Offices Fit for the gods?

September 25, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 3 Comments

I want to say something about collaborative space, and then leave you with a quote from Leonard Sweet.

First, I think our workspace is a very important piece. It says something about what we believe in regards to leadership, collaboration, theology, etc. For example corner offices where upper leadership reside often give the image of non-collaboration, or hierarchical decision making. That then says something about views of leadership. Top-down, not a bottoms up, or leading within style.

Second, when I look around at many different workspaces, I’m struck by the fact that many churches still promote a non-collaborative environment where hierarchies are distinguished by the sizes, privacy and luxuries of the office. Not all churches promote this environment though, as I see more and more churches creating office spaces without doors or walls, and some where every office is the same size, or everyone is in a cubicle style workspace.

Third, workspaces in what we would call secular environments seem to have caught onto this idea of collaborative space more quickly than the Church. I remember my experience in a community mental health clinic where all the interns shared office space with all the directors, and no one was allowed to address the Ph.D. with the title Dr. You see, their views of leadership flowed over into their workspace.

If there is any organization that should promote servant leadership, and that should reflect those views in their architecture and workspace, I would think it should be the Church.

Why aren’t we, the Church, leading the way?

And if we are, give me some examples?

What are some churches you know of that do a good job of fostering a collaborative, non-hierarchical workspace?

Collaborative Space: Leaders need spiritual design as much as “smart design” in their use of space. A “sick building syndrome” can afflict the soul and mind as well as the body. Healthy space is team space, shared space, not a hierarchy of space with royalty inhabiting offices fit for the gods while everyone else lives in convict cubicles. Already in the business world the walls are coming down in the office space. More and more senior managers now sit in open offices with no doors. The dimly lit cubicle with one’s own private space is become more rare. Pittsburgh’s Alcoa has banished all private offices, even for its CEO. The future is “teaming rooms,” “common areas,” “playrooms.” People need their own personal spaces, their cliff dwellings, but personal space is basically electronic space (laptops and portable phones) conjoined with team space–hangouts like water coolers, living rooms, and snack bars dominated by casual learning, casual dress, and casual connectedness.
Leonard Sweet
Aqua Church: Essential Leadership Arts for Piloting Your Church in Today’s Fluid Culture
pp. 200

Technology and the Future of the Church

September 23, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 3 Comments

There are a lot of amazing things happening in the world of ministry and technology. So much so that it’s hard to keep up with all of it. Some churches are on the leading edge of innovation, while others are still trying to get a website put together. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, below are four links that might interest you from this past week.

First:
Author, blogger, video guru and Church 2.0 leader Greg Atkinson has a great post which basically introduces the Digerati Team from LifeChurch.tv, SPOTLIGHT: LifeChurch.tv’s Digerati Team. Many of you don’t know that there exists such a team on a church staff. But I think that trend is changing, and as you read the article you will definitely see their fingerprints all over the world of ministry and tech.

Greg says:

You might be wondering: “What in the world does “digerati” mean?” To get to the bottom of something, I go to Wikipedia. Wikipedia reads:”The digerati are the elite of the computer industry and online communities.” From what I know of my friends Terry Storch and Tony Steward (and the rest of the Digerati Team) this fits them very well.

Maybe you don’t recognize the team, but you may recognize their work. Here is what the Digerati team has been up to and is responsible for:

* YouVersion (Web, Mobile, and iPhone)
* OPEN
* ChurchMetrics
* Internet Campus
* LifeGroups
* LifeShare
* OnePrayer

Second:
If you can make it to Pasadena, CA this Friday, then you need to so that you can attend Church Tech Camp. It’s the first in what I think will be a growing group of church leaders who are on the innovative edge of integrating technology and ministry, especially as it relates to social media, web 2.0 tools. If you can’t make it, then watch the live stream of the get together. Not only is the technology and its use in ministry innovative, but the organization of the camp itself is on the leading edge. Check it out and you will see.

Third:
Check out Andrew Jones’ Powerpoint presentation from his talk at GodblogCon, The Missional Church in the Internet Age. You can listen to Andrew’s podcast as well at Podcasts of Godblogcon 2008, as well as all the others from there.

Fourth:
Godbloggers Prepare to Invade ‘Sin City’

Blogworld and New Media Expo & GodblogCon

September 22, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 2 Comments

This last weekend was a great time at Blogworld and New Media Expo, and GodblogCon.

It was my fourth year at GodblogCon, and my 2nd time at Blogworld.

I have some thoughts about the conference and I will be posting them this week, but just a sampler of some things that stood out to me.

Moving GodblogCon to Vegas last year to be a part of Blogworld and New Media Expo was a great choice. I would actually be interested in exploring with the Godblog people some ways that we can integrate even more, so it’s not two separate conferences.

Huge, huge props to John Mark Reynolds, Dustin Steeve and the crew from Biola’s Torrey Honor’s Institute for putting together a great conference. They are some of the most amazing and hospitable people there are, and I’m glad to be a part of such a great group. Thanks Dustin and crew.

Missional thinking: The connection between the two conferences this weekend was tech, new media, social media, etc. As Christians we need to do a better job of finding our common ground with others, with the world, build relationships, etc.

New media and tech people seem to be very accessible, patient and easy going to me. The Church can learn a lot from them, especially how they collaborate with one another, communicate from decentralized positions/relationships, etc, etc. I was super impressed with how accessible all the big speakers were, and how they spent a great amount of time talking to people. Chris Brogan, Andrew Jones and Guy Kawasaki come to mind. This conference doesn’t seem to have the speakers that roll in at the last minute VIP and then leave. The speakers are great. Very participatory feel. Again, something Church conferences can learn from.

It’s great to see friends at the conference who are involved in Church-land, but who get new media technology and are using it. I’m thinking of people like Matt Singley, Andrew Jackson and Lars Rood.

Again, I will post more this week on some more specific issues. But before I do I have a question.

GodblogCon seems like it’s on the verge of becoming more integrated with Blogworld. And it probably can take some more strides.

Are there any other major conferences where we can bring together the Church and the non-Church world, using our common interests to unite us, but allowing our differences to teach and learn from one another?

Cool, but Surreal

September 20, 2008 in Technology-Social Media with 7 Comments

I walked into the convention center today and saw this sign sitting at the front of the bookstore next to our book. Very cool, but pretty surreal seeing it next to books by Guy Kawasaki, Tim Ferriss, etc. Especially since I only have a chapter in the book, and it’s not a whole book I wrote myself. But it’s a good start.

Liveblogging: Andrew Jones on “The Missional Church in the Internet Age”

September 20, 2008 in Ministry-Theology, Technology-Social Media with 4 Comments

10:44am: Andrew Jones is setting up for his talk….people are beginning to stream in the room..everyone looking for power strips. haaa

10:50am: #bwe08 is one of the best conferences to be at in my opinion. Where else do you get such diversity in the tech world (i.e. politics, military, ministry, tech, etc.)

11:00am: I’m chatting with Brett McCracken from Still Searching. Check out his blog…sweet stuff.

This quote is sitting up on the screen. I’m supposing Andrew Jones is beginning his talk with it…maybe.

“Let this observation be a safeguard against sinning: let us each note and write down our actions and impulses of the soul as though we were to report them to each other.” Athanasius, Vita Antoni, 4th Century

11:05am: Dustin Steeve is up introducting GodblogCon to everyone and welcoming them. Dustin and his team of volunteers have done a great job. Kudos to them.

11:10am: Welcome Andrew Jones…probably my favorite blogger there is, and definitely one of the smartest out there in the new media. He has been blogging for 11 years. Yeah, how many of you even knew there were blogs 11 years ago….

11:12am: Hilarious. Andrew Jones asked someone to come up and help him with the PC Powerpoint..awesome, Mac guy doesn’t know how to use the PC.

11:15am: Andrew Jones is giving us “you might be a faith blogger IF…..” You can see it on his blog here.

11:18am: Jones says the cyberchurch vs. the traditional/modern church is a false dichotomy. The “Church has always been virtual.” He’s using the story of the woman at the well to share the importance of our praise (which means to publish, share with others) in the new media world online.

11:20am: “blog your whole life. don’t be scared.” Jones is talking about how your sermons might be great, but your children and grandchildren are going to know what kind of cereal you want to eat. what’s your favorite color.

11:25am: “A blog should not be a well, but a spring.” It shouldn’t be a container for thoughts, images, etc, but should reflect the life given image of Christ in me, etc.
Andrew Jones blogging journey, and some milestones in blogging: Geocities–then he went to Blogger and loved the archiving. Then comments came, and changed the one way conversation that used to exist in blogging. Andrew is sharing about how he used to get emails back in the day before comments, and how he used to cut and paste emails and put them in the blog post. Then tags came. Then widgets came, and we are able to bring everything together….Twitter, Facebook, etc.

11:27am:

11:32am: Andrew is starting to talk about life streaming now. Blogging is just one component of life streaming/life streaming.

11:35am: Andrew talking about how to drive traffic: tags, history, etc.

11:45am: Andrew Jones on Len Manoviceh’s 5 Principles of New Media: 1) Numerical Representation 2) Modularity 3) Automation 4) Variability 5) Transcoding

Jones: In regards to the Church “We are talking about transcoding and not just translating….we don’t go native enough.” The Church just too often translates and not transcodes.

11:50am: Jones says if you want to see how the church is being formed look at the new media (i.e. collaboration, crowdsourcing, etc,) Jones says that Church is going to be more modular, not singular. We won’t be going to one church anymore where we have everything. We will have a worship service somewhere. A bible study somewhere else. A prayer meeting somewhere else. Something online. A conference, etc.

11:55am: Andrew is talking on the idea of a “gift economy” in the blogging, and new media world. Amazing stuff. You can see his thoughts on this issue at his blog, here.

Lots of good questions for him, and not enough time for him to talk. He is awesome. Great way to kick off the day.

Check out our interview with Andrew Jones.