Sharpening vs. Honing

I love to cook - primarily because I love to eat, which makes cooking a necessity. But the process of cooking can be difficult without the right tools. For years my wife and I struggled through with a bad set of knives. That is, until last year. Last year we upgraded to a nice set of knives; but even with the finest knives you have to keep the blades conditioned.

Because our knives are in constant use,
I must consistently hone them.

In the same way, your leadership is constantly in use; and yet few leaders take the time to regularly condition their skills. Sure, you may hit a conference once a year and read a book or two, but is that really enough to keep your leadership sharp considering how much you use it?

If your leadership is in constant use,
you must consistently hone it.

Now before I go any further, let me differentiate between a good sharpening and regular 'honing.' Every blade needs a good hard sharpening a few times a year - if not more often. Conferences and reviews are great for such sharpening. They serve as intense times to focus and re-focus your leadership. But daily use requires constant care. That's where 'honing' comes into play. In the cutlery world, 'honing stone' or 'honing steel' is used to touch up and condition the blade before or after use. A few strokes on the steel won't completely sharpen the blade, but it smooths out those little imperfections or nicks in the metal that come from regular use.

So what are you doing to address the nicks? What practices do you implement to keep your leadership in good condition? It doesn't take much, but a few moments of focus can go a long way towards keeping your leadership fresh.

In my next post I'll give you a few ideas for sharpening your leadership and keeping it conditioned, both from my own life and from the experiences of others...

Don't Forget

Forgetting about a meeting is simply inexcusable as a leader. Forgetting about a meeting - or showing up significantly late without calling first - communicates a lot about you and it communicates a lot to the person you were supposed to meet.

For example, missing a meeting communicates:

• That your time/work/schedule is more important than mine,
  
• That I am not a priority,
• That you are disorganized,
• That you manage yourself and your schedule poorly,
• That your priority for this organization is low,

I will admit, I've forgotten a few meetings in my time and it was those experiences that taught me how much I had communicated to the other party. I am still working to regain the trust of one of those individuals.

Forgetting simply isn't an option.

Don't miss your meetings.

Come As You Are, But Don't Stay That Way

It is a mantra at Chase Oaks Church: "Come as you are, but don't stay that way." In many ways it was a call and vision inspired by John Burke and his book No Perfect People Allowed. But in so many more ways it was and is a call and vision inspired by Christ.

But it does not come without complications.

This morning I met with a leader in one of our LifeGroups walking a difficult road. His group is committed to sitting with "sinners" and tax collectors [that's a Jesus reference by the way, and a tremendous complement to their group and their vision]. But the vision for reaching such people isn't easy. One of the couple's attending their group is far from Christ and far from the Christian norm.

The call is to love them and lead them. The challenge is how. We celebrate the movement this couple has made by choosing to investigate Christ and, in the process, choosing to change how they live because they sense that is what Christ would want. But what next? Now that movement towards Christ has begun, where do they go from here?

Different Christians answer that differently. Many - perhaps most - would have already thrown them out. Many - if not most - would demand instant change. We must determine how to help them maintain progress towards Christ all the while walking the fine line between grace and truth.

Most churches fail to prepare their people - let alone their small groups - to live like Jesus in these hard spaces. Is your group prepared to love and lead a couple living and sleeping together? Are they prepared to love and lead an alcoholic? What about a gay couple?

What is your churches strategy to equip your groups and your people to love and lead - to encourage people to come as they are and yet lovingly challenge them not to stay that way? Are you showing them how, or are you letting them shut the door?

If you don't equip them to do this well, they won't.

Run-In

Just ran into Todd Phillips, Pastor of Frontline, right here in the halls of Chase Oaks. Turns out that Todd and I have a few mutual friends, including some of the guys at BluefishTV.

Yes, I know that doesn't make Todd and I friends.

Yes, I do know that I'm name dropping.

No, I don't care.

No, I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

Yes, I am shameless.

Short-Sighted

Few people want to wear glasses, especially when you are young. As a kid, when I was told that I needed to start wearing glasses I was mortified. Worse still was the fact that at the time we were living in Ecuador, South America, which suffered from a severe deficiency of youth-sized specs. Consequently, not only did I have to start wearing glasses - I had to wear glasses twice the size I needed.

Yes, I got beat up a lot.

Glasses are an admission that we are incapable of something; in my case, seeing at distance. Without my glasses, I am incapable of seeing across the room - at least with any clarity. I am, in effect, short-sighted. And while it may be okay to be short-sighted physically, it is not okay to be short-sighted spiritually.

In The Parable of the Shrewd Manager, Christ challenges the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law for being spiritually short-sighted. They could not understand Christ's mission to seek and save the lost, and consequently they mocked Him for sitting with "sinners" and tax collectors (Lk. 15:1-2). They viewed life only in the here and the now - thinking more about their status and their wealth (Lk. 16:14) than the mission. While Christ worked to remove barriers and welcome sinners, the Pharisees worked to distance themselves from anyone unworthy. They missed the mission. They lived with this life in view. They were short-sighted.

The beauty of The Parable of the Shrewd Manager is that it has more to do with mission than it does money; and yet, money is an indicator of mission. How you use what you have shows what you truly value; and so if you spend your life and your money thinking only about your future you end up living a short-sighted life. Christ calls us to live with the end in view, to invest whatever we can into relationships that will make an eternal impact.

Get some glasses, look across the room, and make sure your welcome is wide-open.

Super Star

Had the joy of hosting my Kiwi friend Chris Opie while he was in Dallas. Chris led worship at the conference in New Zealand and is now in the U.S. for 3 weeks playing at various churches here. Sunday he was at Lake Pointe, last night he left for L.A. to play a few churches in Cali.

Chris is an amazing guy and equally amazing worship leader. Check out his new album here. Most of all he is the real deal - the genuine article. It was great getting the chance to think with him and be challenged by his heart.

On a side note, Chris also has a major hang-up over Krispy Kreme, so he forced me to take him there for breakfast on Monday morning. I'm pretty sure that reduced my lifespan by about a year...

Today is my study day. I'm getting ready for the upcoming weekend's topic: Curse a Tree, Move a Mountain.

Great Start

Great start to the series! The stage looked amazing, the team was spot-on, and the worship was great.

After the service we rushed out with friends (and new staff members, Jason and Joy) to grab some food and see some fireworks. One problem though, no one told us all the good food joints would be closed!!! But you know what they say, third time is the charm. We ended up at Scotty-P's, grabbed some grub for the road, and then watched a great fireworks show at The Ballpark at Craig Ranch, just around the corner from our house.

Ethan loved the show.

And the fries.

One Hundred 1's

Met with a guy this morning who left me with a good reminder. He talked about the 99 and the 1 - you know, Christ's illustration about going after the lost sheep. He said that sometimes he gets real fixated on the 99 and at others he gets real focused on the 1...

But in the end, he said, to do ministry well I need to remember that ultimately they are one-hundred 1's. Every one of them is a 1, and we need to treat each person as an individual.

Good reminder.

Random Information

So I'm currently listening to Travis thanks to my friend Sean - the jury is still out on them. I'm also digging AutoEscape because Grant Pittman (keys) played with us at Epoch last weekend which reminded me how badly I miss his influence here. FYI, the new ColdPlay album has been a permanent fixture on my iPod since I got it - and, of course, Mute Math is always in the mix. Nothing new there. If you haven't already, check out the video for Typical - killer!

This weekend I kick off the new series on the Hard Sayings of Jesus. We're tackling the 'gouge out your eye' passage, so you can expect to see a machete in the mix... and I have someone tracking down cow tongue for me - Chris, I did read your post on "When an Image Kills You" but since Christ's image is about chopping something off I think I'm safe... and it really isn't my main image.

Friday is also the 4th, but I think the church figured that I wouldn't miss it since I'm Canadian which is why I'm preaching and everyone else is grilling out and waxing nostalgic about America. Oh well. With any luck we'll catch fire-works on the way home from church.

Yes, I know I still haven't posted pictures from New Zealand... truth is, I haven't even looked at them yet and that, of course, is a sad commentary on my schedule.

Sigh.