Review - "S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life"

My amazing wife had the brilliant idea of combining some family time and service time this weekend. So we got on our helmets and went for a family bike ride over to church. There the kids got to hang out in the playground, mom got to hop on the riding mower and take care of the 'fields white for harvest', and I got to relax in the library and do some more reading :) (Going to Denny's after the bike ride back home and playing more with the kids was fun too.)

"S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life" is a book by Erik Rees, a Pastor at Saddleback Church who helps people discover their SHAPE for ministry. Our church (via a special "301 Discovering your SHAPE" class) and many others use the SHAPE approach: helping people understand their...

Spiritiual Gifts
Heart
Abilities
Personality
Experiences

Each of these aspects not only makes us who we are, but reveals what God has in store for us in ministry. I always think of Ephesians 2:10 when I think about SHAPE. I see now that this verse is listed right at the front of the book:

"For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)"

There were two things that made this book different and interesting, besides a nice explanation of each aspect of your SHAPE. First was the practical information for applying what you learn about your SHAPE. It talks about having a Training Partner and a Training Group if you're serious about understanding what God put you here for. The second was the chapter specifically on Kingdom Purpose - learning more about your unique assignment. He quoted from Olympic runner Eric Liddel (Chariots of Fire) - "God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure." Then he challenges us to consider this sentence:

God made me ______. And when I ________, I feel His pleasure.

The first blank, Erik would suggest, is our SHAPE. The second blank is our kingdom purpose. Being "called" to ministry is not something God has to beat you over the head with, not grab your attention to force you to do something you don't want to do. Rather that Kingdom Purpose is the very thing that God has created you to do and be, and you feel both God's pleasure and your own when you live a life that puts Him first.

He describes in practical terms how to explore this, and uses an acronym:
Get with God
Realize your Kingdom Dream
Activating your Serving Sweet Spot
Seek Wisdom
Plan your Test Drive

I think this issue of Kingdom Purpose is critical. I'm praying that it is something God will clarify for me. He made me 'a lot of things', and I feel like I'm making an impact for Him in a lot of (small) ways. The question is, which of those are merely 'good activities' instead of a God-sized dream that will transform lives. That is the purpose I'm trying to discover.

(For more info on the book, you can download a sample chapter, read excerpts from Google Books, or see reviews at Amazon. The end of the book also mentions a title due out in Spring 2008 by ZonderKidz - Only You Can Be You: Finding Your Serving Sweet Spot, by Erik Rees, which is written especially for children ages 8-12. He's also co-author on a book for teens "Congratulations! You're Gifted!")

Review - "The New Breed: Understanding and Equipping the 21st Century Volunteer"

"The New Breed: Understanding And Equipping The 21st Century Volunteer"
by Jonathan McKee and Thomas McKee. I was delighted to see a recent shipment of books in the church office include this relatively new book. Published last November, it looked like an interesting title but the complete lack of reviews on Amazon kept me from ordering it. (Well, I'll go fix that right now.)

Short review: Great book!! Buy a copy for your pastor! :)

Longer review: Let's start with a bit more context and why this book is so relevant for the church and my ministry right now. I'm getting more involved in our Small Groups Ministry, as a coach, and have been praying for my leaders and getting prepared to kick things off (we're redoing the way we do groups and many aspects including coaching are brand new for us). I began trying to find out some dates/times when we could have our first huddle, hopefully within the week. After a full week with no replies, I get back my lone reply: "Would sometime in July be ok?" Eek! This is going to be harder than I thought!

I'm not quite a "Boomer", but was born right at the tail end of that era and identify quite a bit with the values and traditions of my Dad. I've also made a life transition that I've not seen many of my friends or peers make. I deliberately cut my work hours way down, and chose to make family, ministry and relationships more of a priority. I moved away from the crazy pace of life at Harvard Medical School in Boston and now live and work in Indiana. (Commute time cut from an hour to two minutes!) I'm busy, but nothing like I was before. I don't really feel that constrained about my free time when it comes to using it for a kingdom purpose. Having chosen to "step off" the rat race treadmill and found an amazing sense of joy in the priority of putting God first, I feel sad sometimes when people I care about don't have seem to have time to breath, or need to schedule lunch together a month in advance. Oops, I digress, back to the book...

This book was really an eye-opener for me in understanding how my younger friends and colleagues view work, commitments, relationships, and the search for significance. The 'Boomer' view of commitment was a world apart from how it's viewed by Geneation @ (as the authors call them).

The book has three parts: The Volunteer Recruiter, the Volunteer Manager and the Volunteer Leader. The Volunteer Recruiter looks at this new breed of volunteer, painting a profile of the 21st Century volunteer. They talk about the need for providing easy on-ramps, and treating recruiting more like a courting relationship. The goal is not all that different - this new breed is quite capable and interested in committing, but it's going to be more on their terms, out of passion, and will come after they see themselves making a difference - it won't be signing on "up front" for long-term commitment out of someone else's 'need.' The first part also looks at two great sources of volunteers - retired Boomers and young professionals. It has a great discussion of seven "sins" of recruiting efforts:

Sin 1 - Expecting announcements to work
Sin 2 - Go it alone
Sin 3 - Recruit only those able to make long-term commitments
Sin 4 - Assume "No" means "Never"
Sin 5 - Recruit any BIC (Body In Chair)
Sin 6 - Ask busy people to do busy work
Sin 7 - Recruit professionals who know nothing about volunteer management

Part two gets into managing a new breed of volunteers. The increased need for understanding their individual needs and motivation, feedback, perks, and understanding role of relationships. There's more to having a "huddle" than just a fancy new name for a "Team Meeting." Chapter six has a good discussion on 'Empowerment' and how that differs from 'Delegation'. Chapters 7 and 8 were good inclusions in the book as well: Managing the Virtual Volunteer; and Managing (or Canning) High-Maintenance Volunteers.

The final part of the book is on the Volunteer Leader, with discussion and a case study on successfully leading a volunteer organization. (The book is about any kind of volunteer organization and has broad application, not just in church or ministry settings.)

Overall, the book is a must-read for anyone new to recruiting or managing volunteers, or anyone from the old school working with volunteers who wonders why 'these kids nowadays are so afraid of commitment!'

My Gardener

There was a funny TV show, a comedy about marriage that sometimes hit fairly close to home - 'Til Death, starring Brad Garrett. One particular episode talked about how in marriage there is often one spouse who is the "gardener". That spouse is constantly thinking about the other person, and does so much for the 'plant' - often unnoticed. In the show, Brad realized with a touch of horror, that his wife was the gardener, and realized what a lucky man he was.

Today, on Mother's Day, it's time to head home from church and I'm hanging out in the lobby, with the kids running around nearby. Hmm, where's Dawn? She must be talking to someone... boy she sure can gab...

Next thing I know, I see her pulling up in front with my car - and that after already getting the van for the kids. She knows how much I hate getting wet and even on her special day, walked through the rain thinking of me.

She's the gardener. And I love her very much. Indeed, I'm a very lucky man!

Happy Mother's Day!

Gotta love the nerf

Kids came home with a nerf football today.

Oh my, guys, I had one of those when I was your age. I think that's the kind I used to learn how to throw a football. Hey! Any of you want to go outside and learn how to throw a football?

Four hands quickly shot up along with choruses of "Me! Me!" I soon found out that throwing a football is not as intuitive as you might think, and it's easier to just do it than to actually teach someone else. (Hmm, that sums up a major issue I'm wrestling with as I try to better understand the process of developing leaders, but I'll leave that for another day) Laces, proper grip, stance, transferring the weight, elbow and arm motion, aiming high...

We had a blast! Despite the fact that it was about as soft an object as you could imagine, they found it almost impossible not to close their eyes and look away in fear as the ball was thrown to them. The youngest and the oldest had better arms than I expected - good accuracy and speed. The middle two boys enjoyed seeing the nerf ball bounce off someone, even themselves.

I think what they liked best was "Go long! Run!!" They would sprint like the wind down the field and watch as the ball was thrown an almost unimaginable distance. They never managed to catch it, but they liked running it back while the other three tried to stop them. My girl outran them as all three boys ran straight at her. Our youngest pulled a super cut-back move and faked everyone out for a touchdown. Of course, that meant I had to pick him up on my shoulders for the victory dance.

All that, beautiful weather, some time biking all together as a family, and a special Mother's day dinner out...
Definitely a fun and memorable day for Daddy and the family:)

Clarifying the Vision of the Church

As we have been seeking to better understand what God is calling us to be and to do, we needed to pause briefly in our strategic planning process. Herrington describes that the "vision path is the next level of detail... It explains the meaning and implications of the vision. Vision describes the big picture of where the church is going, and visionpath begins to fill in details of how the church will get there." So first we just wanted to spell out some key aspects of the vision that would guide the development of the vision path. Though we have a ways to go in describing a clear, shared, compelling vision of the future to which God is calling us, the follow are definitely important pieces of this framework:

• Biblically Sound – Culturally Relevant

We will communicate a passionate message of God’s love which is culturally relevant, uncompromised and biblical.


• Accepting Environment

We will enthusiastically welcome all people at Calvary and provide a contagiously friendly environment where all are accepted and loved.


• Living Life on Purpose

We will encourage living an abundant and intentional life, never ceasing to grow, as we yearn to see all become fully devoted followers of Christ.


• Active in the Community

We strive to become vitally involved in our community, agents of transformation helping those who are hurt, and sharing God’s love with all around us.


• Nurturing Families

We are urgently committed to excellence in all aspects of ministry to families, radically devoted to serving the children and youth of our community.


• Connecting in Groups

We are not just a church with groups; we are a church of groups. We rely on small groups as a primary way to develop authentic relationships and to grow spiritually.


• Every Member a Minister

We will empower, encourage and equip every person to serve God according to their SHAPE as an expression of our radical devotion to Jesus Christ.

Vision of the Church

I like Jim Herrington's definition of vision - "Vision is a clear, shared, and compelling picture of the preferred future to which God is calling the congregation." Clear – so that people understand it. Shared or it leads to disunity. Compelling so it motivates the congregation to action. To be honest, we've been less clear on the vision for our church than on our purpose or values. When we say that we are encouraging the development of fully-devoted followers of Christ, what does that look like in practice? How does Calvary do that any different than other churches?

As part of our recent processing developing a strategic plan for priorities over the next two years, we've had some excellent discussion on our strengths and weaknesses, as well as some opportunities we have at this time, as well as some threats that must be guarded against. These discussions at our Wednesday evening services have included a broad cross-section of the congregation. A key benefit of doing this has been a better understanding of some things we could be doing better. From a high-level perspective, it was encouraging to see that there was strong unity among the congregation and a set of top priorities for improvement were identified. At the same time, there was not consensus on what 'success' in our mission would actually look like in the future. We could definitely benefit from a vision that was a bit more clear, shared, and more compelling to action. Fortunately, doing just that is one of the top hopes for our Pastor on his sabbatical next year. One thing we know is that we God is able and willing to do amazing things in our community and in our hearts - and we long to be used by Him to make a tremendous positive impact on our community. Next time I'll share some aspects of our vision that seemed to be clear.

Core Values of the Church

The mission of our church is not subject to change, as Christ's mission is unchanging. Our understanding of it may (should) improve, and the words we use to discuss it may vary, but we're looking to encourage people to become fully-devoted followers of Christ. What that looks like from one church to another may vary somewhat. In the same way God makes each of us unique as individuals, our churches and communities are also unique. Core Values are those things that help define a church, and express some of the heart of what God has called our particular congregation to be. Last year we spent some time discussing our Core Values, and the following expresses what we feel is most important at Calvary.

Christ-Centered Lives
Agents of Change
Loving Relationships
Volunteer Ministry
Authentic Leadership
Relevant Preaching
You are Loved

These core values are consistent both with our mission and who we are. We want to put Christ first in all things, and make sure that all we say and do communicates His love for all people. We want to share and live a clear biblical message, spoken not only in words but also in deeds. Calvary is a place for family, friends, and faith. Each one of us is called to serve, and has been uniquely shaped by God to do the good works He has prepared for us to do. It's important for us to accept and meet people where they are, but to encourage them to take a next step towards or in a relationship with Jesus Christ - to transform not only ourselves but our community.

Mission of the Church

Any biblical consideration of the mission of our church, of any church, must consider Christ's mission. Two tremendous passages that provide insight into this are the Great Commandment and the Great Commission:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:36-40, NIV)

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20, NIV)

Bottom line - we want to be who God wants us to be and do what He wants us to do. Our mission is to live out the commandments of Jesus Christ. What does this involve? Looking at these two passages, we are to worship God with all that we are, fellowship with other believers, evangelize and disciple people, and serve others. Based on these biblical passages, this is how we see the mission of our church:

"Calvary Baptist Church is a is a community of faith encouraging the development of fully devoted followers of Christ through commitments to church membership, spiritual maturity, personal ministry and world missions."

Transitions

For the past several months our church has been spending a lot of time in prayer and discussion as we've sought to be more intentional in strategic planning - both to clarify the vision and to focus efforts on our next steps in pursuing the vision. The urgency of this stems from two significant transitions we're facing. The long-term transition is that of shifting the mindset from a pastor-does-the-ministry small church to a pastor-equips-for-ministry growing church. Through our senior pastor's leadership over the past eight years we have broken out of the big 100-150 attendance barrier and have shifted away from the comfort of a place where you know everybody. But we've not yet reached the point where we have a well-trained experienced staff equipping dozens of volunteer leaders for ministry, nor are we likely to see fully see that mindset for volunteer ministry before we break through the next growth barrier of 500 or so. The second important transition is short-term, with Pastor Chuck planning to take a long-overdue sabbatical next year.

Pastor Chuck has pulled together a Strategic Leadership Team, both to start a more formal planning process and to form an advisory group and sounding board that will help in some aspects that would be covered by the staff in a larger church. The process we've been following has been to start with our mission and values, clarify our vision, and put together a 'vision path' of priorities or major goals to focus on over the next two years. One book that has been helpful in doing this has been "Leading Congregational Change - A practical guide for the transformational journey," by Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem, and James Furr. The book covers several important areas including preparation of the heart, a cohert planning sequence for change, as well as essential attitudes for leaders shepherding the change. Fortunately, we're starting from a fairly strong and unified position, looking to establish focus and elevate the vision, rather than navigate a turnaround or overcome great internal resistance.

During this process I've learned a lot about myself, my co-laborers in Christ, and have grown in awe and wonder of God and the love He has for all people. I'm very excited about our growing emphasis on helping people better connect to God and to each other in relationships, growing in Christ-likeness, developing faithful leaders with a heart to serve others, towards a goal of becoming better equipped to share God's love with those in our community who don't yet know Him. I'll be sharing more about our vision and vision path in upcoming posts.

Baptizing my Children

Today was an amazing day! It's been a great weekend overall, but the highlight by far was that today I was blessed to be able to baptize my four children at our church. Their ages range from 7 to 10. They were all very excited about it, although the boys are not big fans of water, and it didn't help that the baptismal was filled to almost neck level. Sierra's comment after breakfast summed up their attitude nicely - "Dad, my stomach is telling me I'm a little nervous, but my heart is telling me I'm very excited and happy!" The oldest, she was the first to accept Christ, followed by Christian and Justin, and just recently our middle child David chose to ask Jesus to be his savior as well. When she found out she started dancing for joy, hugged David then told mom and dad - "This is fantastic, the boys and I have been praying for him for years!" I found out recently that her previous hesitation about getting baptized wasn't really fear, but came from a desire to do it together as a family with her brothers. As she explained it, there was a mix of "leave no man behind" as well as "I just know David will ask Jesus into his heart someday soon. He can see all around here that Jesus loves him so much!" It was her last comment that really touched me. Not just from mom and dad, but from brothers and sister, from our friends, from his Sunday School teachers, David could see in the lives (not just the words) of others what it means to follow Jesus, to pray from the heart, to forgive, and to worship. God is in heaven, but he's ever-present in our home and church. Today was also special because it was 'Vision Sunday' and I was one of several people sharing our focus for the next year or so. On setting the date for the baptism I was hoping it wouldn't cut into time for the service. Pastor Chuck laughed and said "Are you kidding? Seeing people become followers of Christ is the vision!" I've never been prouder of my Church family than today - and I'm joyous that God has barely begun His work of transforming lives, and that He will do a great thing in our community and in the hearts of His people. Calvary Baptist Church... thank you so much for loving my family!