Where do You Shoot From?

Welcome back.

I shoot best from this circle:

1. Equipping leaders and artists
2. Leading worship, being an artist
3. Relational leadership and vision
4. Building bridges into culture, locally and in the world
5. Speaking hope and guidance into people's lives through God's Word

Leadership Wired - May 2005:

"This is what legendary basketball coach John Wooden did to help his players improve their shooting percentages. 'I observed [as they practiced], I watched them,' he said. 'And when I found their spot, I went out there and drew a circle and said, ‘This is where you shoot from; this is where you make your shots.' '

Wooden wasn't 'leading' as he did this. He wasn't casting a vision or implementing a strategy. He was simply watching. But what he observed enabled him to help his players achieve their full potential, which is what leadership is all about."

Into the future,

davidT

Colplay on My Mind

Picture: Chris Martin, from Coldplay.

Welcome back.

I will be the voice of why Coldplay will change the way we feel about music. I can't escape them. These days, "Warning Sign" is captivating me. What a song. Call them "lifestyle music" (as Radiohead does) or whatever you want to call them, I call them passionate.

They're everywhere yes, and Chris Martin has a foul mouth (have you noticed?). Nonetheless, I joined their coldplay.com site and put in my request for 4 tickets for their August show here at Verizon in Irvine, CA. I hope I get to see them. Oh yes, and their "X&Y" CD is due out next week.

In their last week's Newsweek interview, they spoke about music, rehearsals and love (as an artist, I just love this kind of talk):

On...being the best ever

"Are we trying to get to the next level? Yes. We're trying to get to the very highest level. We want to be better than Mozart. That doesn't mean we are, but that's what we're trying for. To me, there's no point in trying for anything less."

and...on love

"We're like an eager dog just yapping around their heels, and they're trying to kick us away (speaking of Radiohead). It's like unrequited (not reciprocated) love. I'm in love with a lot of things. Some of those things love me back. And some of them don't--and one of them is Radiohead."

and...on what their lyrics mean

"I mean, I don't know. I don't give a...what they're about. They're about what they're about...if you listen to the lyrics, you can pretty well tell."

and....on rehearsing, jamming

"And when you get into the studio, still thinking you're the greatest ever. So you think...Then you play it back and you slowly realize, 'Actually, that's....that's not very good.' After a break to recharge, the guys gathered in a dingy north London rehearsal space, where they spent weeks jamming until things started to click."

Into the future,

davidT

Mark and Freedom

Welcome back.

I was talking to a friend Mark, today at the church picnic and we got talking about freedom. He told me that he's been a believer for 20 years but feels guilty over the anxiety he feels in his life, like he should know better. Ever been there? I have. He said he recently moved here from Texas and things have gotten worse for him. He asked what I did for my devotional life. I think he expected me to tell him I pray every day at 5am for 3 hours. I told him nothing of the like.

I said that to me it's a relationship. I told him that I also used to be bound. How I used to set a clock next to my bed for 15mns. and pray. I felt more self-righteous and like I was really committed to God if I prayed for a certain amount of time. Wow.

I told him that now Jesus and I talk. Sometimes it's about nothing, other times it's about real important stuff. Sometimes I tell him, "okay Lord, what are we going to do here?" I also told him that I use a devotional guide "A Guide to Prayer for All God's People" and read a psalm every day for 7 days. This week I've been reading Psalm 103, "bless the Lord, o my soul..."

We then got talking about freedom. I told him that I sensed God telling me that he was set for freedom. Freedom from the guilt of 'skipping' a devotional time. Freedom into peace and a greater understanding of the Grace of God. I used the imagery of a snake shedding it's old skin to reveal a new one (I don't know why, it just came to me). I told him that God wanted Him to see Him in a deeper way, not in a new way necesarily, for Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, but in a deeper way. That God is a near God, a God of grace, of compassion. He said he's usually a guy that expects a lot of himself. High standards, etc. Yeah, me too. Anyone?

So we talked about grace, grace and more grace. I told him a question to ask 'wise leaders' is "are you growing in grace?" He said he felt he was growing in grace with his co-workers. Mark is a manager, and was recently promoted to oversee a team of people. He told me he has been seeing his life increase in grace towards an employee who had not been doing what was expected of him. He met with him, told him he believed in him, asked him what was keeping him from succeeding, called him on a few issues (like integrity), told him he'd have to suffer the consequences of his poor performance (no raise, etc), but set goals for him for the next year. He just recently met with him again, and this employee has done so well in the last year that Mark told him he is now his 'go-to' guy. Grace does this.

Mark also told me of a book he's reading called, "Working with Emotional Intelligence" which talks about how outstanding leaders are not measured by their IQ or job skill alone, that's only the 1st level, but outstanding leaders succeed because of their "passion." Sounds awesome. He told me he thought I was an example of this to him. He was very generous.

Do you struggle with performance anxiety in your devotional life? Does this help? What have you done to get yourself out of that place and into a connected life with Jesus the River of life?

Into the future,

davidT

Depressed All Day, Better Now

Welcome back.

Today I was just down all day. Many reasons, same reasons. But I'm better now. Worked out, took a little nap, had a BBQ with some family from out of town, and now I'm home with my wife.

What touched my heart today? My aunt Sonia (grandma's daughter), who is here visiting from New Mexico, was in grandma's room today. She brought out some of gramma's plants and watered them. We also water them, but it was a very tender thing for her to do, a way to re-connect with the room and the place where abuelita spent most of her time. When my aunt lived in the area, she would often visit gramma here at our home. It was special to see her again, remembering together, looking back with sadness, still all of it hard to believe, but moving forward.

Into the future,

davidT

Thank you Eric Marsh

Welcome back.

Days like today, reading Rudy, Ryan, Andrew, Karen, Latino Pundit (oh yes, I'm supposed to be finishing my paper also), I just feel so connected to God, Jesus, His Kingdom through all my friends. There are many more of you (see blogroll for links, I'm just too rushed right now to do all the html for it, but I owe you each a link).

I just mentioned some of you, but all of you touch my life daily.....(oh yes, my Talbot paper, I know, I know. Almost there, working on it...)

And I want to thank Eric Marsh, Hope for Long Beach, Grace Brethren, Long Beach, CA, (I feel like I just won a Grammy or something), for getting me started on blogging two years ago. If not for him, and Rudy (and those first few moments of 'wow! this is so me, brown people blog too, and intelligent ones like Rudy and others) I would not be here.

So thank you Eric, thank you Rudy, thank you blogging friends for the community, the insight, the mentoring that takes places here daily. You all know what I mean. You are leaders, servants, emergent and moderns, practicioners, Jesus freaks, critical, opinionated, sometimes wrong, but often right, sociologists, pastors and philosophers. You are yellow, brown, red, purple, black and white. You are cool and nerdy, techies and artists and all of the above mixed into one. I am one of your kind.

And by the way, if you have not started your own blog, what are you waiting for? Go to Blogger.com, it's free.

I hope you feel inspired through my writings to live, to lead, to serve, to unite, to feel, to worship, to equip, to move into the future, to exercise, to eat right, to have courage, to suffer, to cry, and to have hope amidst it all.

After all, as our 6 year old said when I asked her "why do we say in Jesus name when we pray?" she said, "porque esta vivo." "Because He's alive".

..great, I'm in tears now...

Now back to the "Sermon on the Mount" and the "Authority of Jesus."

Into the future,

davidT

Apple-Intel rumour resurfaces

Welcome back.

More leadership principles on changing a whole ethos of an organization. Not an easy task, and for Apple it may not happen, but they're thinking about it:

Apple-Intel rumour resurfaces.

"It's like Ferrari going to BMW for an engine," said Richard Doherty, the research director for technology consulting and research firm Envisioneering. "This is seen as a whole changing of church."

Into the future,

davidT

LeadershipJournal.net - Two Good Ones

-->This week they have two outstanding articles:

1. Where Have All the Magi Gone? How to Find Wise Leaders.
- Does this person live a life of grace?
- Does this person understand suffering?

2. Building Diverse Churches. Mark Jobe's story (Chicago). I know Mark Jobe. My father in law almost got me a job there back in the early 90's. At the time, I wasn't ready to move to Chicago. God has used Mark to bring diversity to the church. He speaks of bi-racial couples feeling out of place in mostly White churches and finding a home at his church. That resonates with me.Welcome back.

Alex McManus Mentorship Newsletter:

Emergent Leaders 1:

"Being "nowhere" didn't matter because everyone was there for the same thing, to be with others. No running water. No electricity. No shelter. Indeed, no toilets. Nothing but people in the desert, under starlight, with a real sense of belonging.

Young leaders-like leaders of all ages-want relationship, not just responsibility.

Young leaders care about community and about context. Our postmodern context is not about the style of worship celebration and even less about the facilities. Mission today is about creating community that cares for the world in the way God does. Jesus is the only one who knows this kind of community, and thus everything begins with him."

I know this, we've had moments of it, but I want more of it. This is right.

Into the future,

davidTWelcome back.

Most artists don't like to talk about character - perfectionism, jealousy, envy, pride, ego, isolation. Many hide behind their playing or singing and as long as they're serving all is well. After all, that's what most Arts Ministries expect from their people - show up, do it well, see you next week. How are you really doing? Ah, hmmm, well, we don't have time for that.

Today I auditioned two drummers (we're looking for a drummer). The first, a high school student, was shy, a beginner. In those situations when the person is still developing musically (he's been playing drums for 3 months), you want to encourage learning and playing. So we've developed a place called Reimagine for guys like him. Reimagine is our equipping ministry for artists. He would be great for that.

The other drummer was an older gentleman and a good player. Very good in fact. He's also new to the church and has been away from God for many years. With guys like him you want to make sure you connect generationally because we grew up in different eras. But he's open to bands like Coldplay and Mute Math, so that was good. We then got talking about honesty, community and character, about perfectionism, jealousy, envy and pride. He said he used to deal with those things when he was younger, but not any more. That his life was going pretty well and he was a very happy man. His marriage, work, children all were fine, life is good.

This got me thinking about artists and honesty. It's tough for artists to take off the music/Christian mask. We hide behind our drums, guitars and mics and pretend life is perfect. Sometimes, guys that are returning back to God come when they feel their life is pretty well put together. Like they have done enough good things to be back in church kind of thing. Of course I'm doing well, I'm here right? How can I not be doing well?

So what can we do to help artists be transformed? Here's what I try to do. First, be in relationship with them, have dinner together, visit each other, talk on the phone. Second, talk about character and the importance of that, admit your own mistakes and model honesty and grace. And third, do things together, do a serve day with, go on a missions' trip, play and serve at other churches. Artist Transformation is about relationship and honesty, taking off the mask, and deconstructing the fake, happy Christian ethos people have come to expect.

To me, this is where Emergent meets real life. Emergent Arts is not just about candles, experience, low lighting and stations of the cross. It's more than that. It's about character formation, community, serving together, about transformation. This is what I'm majoring in. This is what this Arts ministry is focused and intent on doing, otherwise we keep feeding the stereotype, and keep the mask on.

My desire is to be an example of a passionate, visionary artist, who is honest about his need for grace, the hope I have found in Jesus, the change he's making in me and the change He can do in all of us.

Into the future,

davidTPicture: John Calvin.

Welcome back.

These Calvinist proffs and students sound pretty Emergent to me - Tolerance, God is not a Republican, anti-war in Iraq, Christians should be about peace...wow, good stuff.

I had never heard of Calvin College before (Grand Rapids, Michigan). Am I the only one?

Here is what some of the faculty members said in a letter regarding President Bush's visit and speech at their commencement ceremonies:

"We believe your administration has launched an unjust and unjustified war in Iraq," said a letter signed by about one-third the college's 300 faculty members and published in Saturday's Grand Rapids Press. As Christians, we are called to be peacemakers and to initiate war only as a last resort," it said. The letter criticized economic policies that it said favored the wealthy over the poor, and faulted Bush for mixing religion and politics and exhibiting and "intolerance" for others' views.

Here are President Bush's "Remarks by the President at Calvin College Commencement." Pretty funny guy.

PAPER UPDATE: I'm making good progress (page 6 of 10) on my 2-week over due paper in Matthew (Talbot Seminary). Wednesday is the last day of class. I'll get there.

Into the future,

davidTWelcome back.

If this is what Warren is about, we should all apologize to the man for the critical nature towards his "Purpose Driven" stuff...

"The five-point Global Peace plan is succinct: plant churches; equip servant leaders; assist the poor, care for the sick and educate the next generation."

Amazing.

Warren enters 26th year of ministry with new vision:

“At Saddleback, we’re a ministering church,” Warren said. “We train people, we train pastors and we send them out. In his deepest of hearts he prayed, “Lord what do I do with all of the people you’ve brought here? What’s next Lord?”

Warren then cited the words of God in Isaiah 43.

“‘Watch for the new thing I will do,’” the pastor said, then issued a commission.

Into the future,

davidT