enough depression – how ’bout some fun?

Alright, I have been way to depressing lately. Time for some fun.

Not only does this validate the rabid bunny in Monty Python’s holy grail, but it disproves what I previous considered to be an irrational fear of squirrels by my wife.

Squirrel Goes on Rampage

Call me a sucker for good old fashioned slap-stick comedy, but anytime pranks and Sasquach are involved, consider me in. Watch all the videos, my favorite is the flaming poo.

Not quite sure how I came across this diamond. But this is the best cover of a rap song by an indie rock folk girl I have ever heard. For a better quality track of the song, check out Jenny Owen Youngs myspace.

I noticed this week that I was receiving ESPN Classic for free (thank you Dish Network). Now the best part, besides all of the great NBA playoff replays, is the fact that they show the single greatest show of all time twice a day. What is that show, you guessed it: American Gladiators. Let’s just say that I am Tivo-ing all episodes for my personal stash. (note: my wife gives me that look when I watch it. You know that look that says, “If I weren’t a Christian this would totally be a deal breaker for me” look. I’d say I get it a solid 3-4 times a week.)

Steve McCoy and Joe Thorn Liveblogged Nowhere near the SBC Conference in San Antonio. Now if you have ever read a live blog from a conference, or understood the level of tension and unintentional comedy at a denominational conference, this is for you. Although I think Tim Challies probably thinks its mocking him. I didn’t get half of the Southern baptist inside jokes, but rather enjoyed how much Steve and Joe were enjoying themselves.

Blessings,
Matt

I swear this is not a therapy session

Sorry for the lack of posting lately.

In the past I have been known to use a blog as a sounding board; as my own little therapy session. I have not written in over a week becuase I have been reticent to post lately for fear that I would make my blog my own little therapy session. I will now list all that’s going on in my life:

1. I am planting a Church. And its really hard. And for better or worse, the next month will make or break this plant.

2. There is a good chance that I could see 3 close friends get divorced this year.

3. I am struggling with the line between being solely focused on being a church planter and being a shepherd over the people God has brought so far.

4. My wife is out of work. We can’t have kids. We don’t have money to adopt. She is really struggling with what to do right now.

Then I hear Tim Keller say this, and I try not to freaking loose it at my desk:

If you are a leader… most of what is called leadership is really… 90% of what you are doing is trying to keep all the human relationships from blowing apart, all the relationships from the individuals who are underneath you. If you are ever in leadership you realize that people are always getting slated, always getting upset, always getting offended, always falling out with each other, all the time. There’s something in the water, there’s something in the air, there’s a force-field in the world, that seems to make community impossible, and yet it is the deepest need of your heart. What hope is there for us?

Thank you Tim Keller for sending me even deeper into depression.

I joke, he brought it back to Jesus.

Then Jesus shows up and says:
Power is coming from me,
to create a true community,
“I am your only hope, I am your only hope.

Right now I am just struggling to keep all the human relationships around me from falling apart. Struggling becuase as much as you cry, as much as you plead, sometimes it seems helpless. I am trusting with as much faith as I can muster that Jesus is building a community. That he is going to do miracles, take away sin, restore marriages, and give many people victory over the power of sin in their lives. I meditate on 1 John 3 a lot.

Matt

Good To Great

Well I finished reading Jim Collins epic leadership book Good To Great again. As someone who likes to delve into the leadership theory and practice world I have found this book incredible and very well written. I would imagine that it would be especially helpful not just to business leaders but also to church leaders, particularly church planters. Since there was so much good content in this book I do not want to just throw it back on the shelf but will instead spend some time writing about it, doing so often helps me retain and further wrestle with good principles and insights. So I am going to blog through the book a little bit and hope to foster some good conversation on the concepts that Collins presents. Here is my first installment, which well tell what the book is about and the first trait he sees to be essential to great leadership.

Author Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great sets out to uncover just what exactly are the principles and ideas that propel a company to be great for a sustained amount of time. His book is not about looking at companies that just happened to stumble into a timely swing of the market, like the late nineties dot-com boom, but companies that, in spite of external forces and economic factors, still thrived. Jim Collins is not just writing about his opinions and what he thinks are the reasons for companies being great. Rather, he is an incredibly dedicated researcher, spending over five years uncovering the findings for what makes a company succeed over the long haul. What might make his book even more compelling and adept at being applicable to ministry is that the majority of his findings are counter cultural and greatly differ from the personality driven leadership model that is so often assumed in American culture. Though Good to Great is written in regards to what makes a successful corporation and one must be careful in transposing all principles onto church leadership, there is a wealth of wisdom that church leaders could learn from and implement that would allow our ministries to grow and endure.

Good to Great begins with laying down the leadership gauntlet and challenging many of the stereotypes that exist about leadership today. Dr. Collins argues that for organizations to make the transition from good to great they must have, what he calls “Level 5 Leadership” (20). The quote by President Truman at the beginning of chapter two grasps the idea of Level 5 Leadership, “You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind who gets the credit” (17). This is not to say that leaders must be egoless, but rather they channel their ambition into the success and accomplishment of the organization rather then themselves. Level 5 Leadership is marked by two characteristics –humility and a determined will. Contrary to popular opinion today, great leadership is not defined as individuals with gregarious personalities and larger than life talents. Personality and talent driven leaders can at best only lead a company to a period of greatness (26). Instead it is the leader who practices modesty and is more concerned with renown of their company who will do a better job at forging a company into sustainable greatness. These leaders are also marked by their resolve to achieve success and results for the company. It is important to note here, that often personality leaders often share this same goal, but what ends up happening is that, at times, the goal of seeing the company thrive may be at odds with a their desire for personal credit and notoriety. Level 5 Leaders are tenaciously committed to seeing the organization do well and prosper long after they are gone. This type of leadership is truly the foundation for any company wanting to make the leap to greatness.
A Level 5 Leader realizes that no matter how talented he or she may be, the success of the company will start with having the right people in the right positions and getting rid of the wrong people. In fact, getting the right people must even come before deciding the mission. Dr. Collins uses an analogy to communicate this, “They first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it” (40). The right people are so imperative that finding them must take precedent over all else. So who are the right people? Dr. Collins defines them as people with a bent toward excellence wired into who they are. Regardless of circumstance, role, or even compensation, these people want to achieve and do their best. In short, these are people with great character, personal responsibility, and a strong work ethic (51). Companies that achieve greatness have Level 5 Leaders who recognize that the company cannot be defined by one person and their excellence; if so, then success will only last as long as the leader. Long term greatness reflects a group of people who are competent and have upright character.

Addicted to blogging

Steve, the director of Acts29, has a funny/convicting new BLOG POST about being addicted to blogging. For fun, I will fess up to which I am guilty of. Please fess up yourself in the comment section.

I have met some bloggers out there and they are all interesting in their own way. Anybody who is excited to put their ideas, pictures, random thoughts, ramblings on the web for anyone to see has to be partly nuts. Some give it a go for a short time and find it taxing to regularly write things the whole world can see and a few might find interest. Others become addicted to blogging. It is these cats that I write about.

Top Ten Signs You are a Blogging Addict

1. You technorati yourself daily
2. You prefer blog commenting over actually talking to people
3. You have thought about live blogging your “interactive marital event”
4. You call other bloggers by their blog names, “Hey Tall Skinny Kiwi”
5. You think about blog subjects while on the toilet
6. You have more than ten RSS Feeds in which you subscribe
7. You have commented on your own blog with a pseudonym
8. You tell friends you could quit blogging anytime you want
9. You have blogged from your cell phone
10. You are not satisfied with blogging. Now you are a twitter

1. You technorati yourself daily
– Not daily, well except when the whole beckwith thing went down
2. You prefer blog commenting over actually talking to people
– No
3. You have thought about live blogging your “interactive marital event”
– Ahhh
4. You call other bloggers by their blog names, “Hey Tall Skinny Kiwi”
- Ha! Guilty. I remember a buddy and I getting giddy becuase we saw Steve McCoy in person at resurgence.
5. You think about blog subjects while on the toilet
- Or post while on the toilet. Or post about the toilet.
6. You have more than ten RSS Feeds in which you subscribe
- RSS feeds are a time saver. I OBJECT TO THIS ASSERTION!
7. You have commented on your own blog with a pseudonym
– No.
8. You tell friends you could quit blogging anytime you want
– That’s silly, of course I can’t quit. Anyone that knows my history knows I should have quit in December
9. You have blogged from your cell phone
– Well, I do have a smart phone.
10. You are not satisfied with blogging. Now you are a twitter
– Uh, what?

matt

Fridge/Shelf/iPod

FRIDGE

Now I gotta say that this is just my favorite brewery in the world, hands down. Almost every beer they make is a homerun and the company just rocks. I have taken the tour a few times now (and I use the term tour loosely because it is really sitting in a bar and drinking beer) and the ethos of the employees and New Belgium is truly unique. I mean the head guy there who is in charge of giving the tours, but really just stands around acting silly and drinking beer, wears a kilt and has bees tattooed all over his body. And because I have become more and more environmentally concerned over the last few years I admire that their brewery is the most enviormentally friendly building in all of Colorado. They spent three times what it could have cost to build it with materials and methods that would maximize its energy efficiency and use. Then combine all of this with the fact that Skinny Dip is a stellar beer that I find myself looking forward to before I get home and you know you have a good beer.

I know that this is not a beer and does not go in the fridge but when you are as good as Jose Curevo you transcend all lists. A few weeks ago I was at the liquor store (that probably sounds weird to people who live in Vegas but here they do not sell booze in the super markets so you have to go to a liquor store to get anything that is not 3.2 beer) and I saw this beautiful bottle of Jose half off!! After rubbing my eyes for a few seconds and confirming it with the store clerk I purchased it and ran out the door before the store changed their minds. Since then I have been in the pursuit of the perfect margarita, which I am no where near but I gotta tell you I am sure enjoying all the attempts along the way. If anyone has any suggestions on a good margarita let me know.

iPod

Here are the last couple of things I have listened to on my iPod

1. Sermons: to many to list

2. Randy Travis: I don’t care what anyone thinks about this. I like him.

3. Shane and half: These guys are always good

4. Snow Patrol: Not sure what I think of them yet

SHELF

Kept By the Power of God by I. Howard Marshall

Mr. Marshall who is a retired honorary research professor at some prestigious school in Europe and wrote this book back in the 1964 and it is now out of print. I have been wanting to read it for quite some time and finally found a copy of it at the seminary library. I think I am the first person to check it out in about thirty years, and whoever did last wrote all over it. Anyway, the book is an exegetical study on key passages that deal with the issue of one losing their salvation and if this is possible.

Everyday Theology editor Kevin Vanhoozer

Every person who continues to draw the false dichotomy of theology not being practical to life/ministry needs to read this book. What I have possibly enjoyed most about this book is that it shows that theology DOES matter, and not just to ivory tower theologians but to everyone who calls themselves a Christian. It has become overly trendy the last few years to utter statements like; “I just want to love Jesus and people and not worry about doctrine and stuff like that.” While the sentiment of loving people and Jesus is admirable is is disasteriously misplaced and naive. Because the ocean of practical theological questions logically follow from those statements.

1 . Who is Jesus?

2. What is biblical love?

3. How do you biblically love people?

4. How do you love Jesus?

And that does not even deal with the apologetical questions that must be answered as well. Now I am not advocating that everyone needs to become a scholar and devote their lives to study the finer nuances of the Trinity and eschatology. But it is a cop-out to think that theology is not something all of us engage in all the time. We all have thoughts on God, Jesus and the Bible, so we are all theologians the question is will we become good biblical theologians. Vanhoozer’s book seeks to promote just that. That as Christians we will have the theological grid to process the culture and world we live in. It is intensely practical and written to be a guide for all of us to understand the world we live in from a Biblical framework.

A Long Obedience In The Same Direction by Eugene Peterson

This is just one of those classic books that everyone should read. It has been personally convicting and rewarding and a fairly easy read. Ironically it is this book that birthed Eugene’s journey to write The Message. As he wrote this book he wanted to put some of the Psalms he is writing about into modern language so the reader could really feel the emotion that the original audience heard. He decided to do just a few of the Psalms for this book and it took off from there. Check this book out you won’t regret it. On second thought read anything by Eugene Peterson and you will be blessed by it.

cheers ryan

Driscoll at Creative Church Conference

From a theological standpoint, this is a great Christological sermon.
From a preaching standpoint, its a lesson in many different styles.
From a heart standpoint, its a crushing hammer.

I only wish they posted the notes.

Side Note: Driscoll was sharing the stage with Ed Young Jr. (anyone remember that Boot Camp reference a few years back?), Craig Groeschel, and T.D. Jakes.

Matt