To all of my students (especially the ones who are in high school):

Please do not water down the English language by cheapening our words of value. Don’t make “love” the equivalent of “like.” it cheapens the real deal.

Take a look at this cute, thought-provoking video about this idea…
(And by the way, these guys have a lot of good videos. Check them out!)

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been listening to a leadership book recommended to me called Mavericks At Work by William C. Taylor and Polly Labarre. Listening to this book in the car while i’m driving really maximizes what would otherwise be dead-time for me. Audio books aren’t for everyone, and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them to college students who need to be able to highlight passages and offer quotes word-for-word, but for me, this works. I just have to keep a notepad handy for thoughts and quotes that I’d like to remember.

With that in mind, I’d like to offer you my take-aways from Mavericks At Work

The book is filled with compelling case studies and sound research. This makes it a little more dry than a leadership book by Ken Blanchard, who is known for the parable entitled Who Moved My Cheese?, but it still has stories and glimpses of interactions between the researchers and business leaders. It is a book in the style of Jim Collins, author of Good To Great. Mavericks At Work is definitely worth the read…or in my case, it’s worth a listen. Check it out for yourself.

A new movie is coming to theaters this weekend from the producers of Facing the Giants & Fireprood.

It’s called Courageous.

And, it focuses on a series of events in the lives of four law enforcement officers. These four men face incredible challenges that force them to evaluate their lives and to make decisions about what’s really important.

Here’s the trailer for the film.

We showed it on Sunday at my church. Yep, we pitched a movie in church. Pretty cool, huh? And, we even gave away free tickets. You see, we really believe that if we support films like this then more will be made. If we fail to support the few faith-based films that are made, then less will be made. Plus, we actually believe that a film like this can change lives. So, we’re encouraging our whole church to go together on Sunday night (opening weekend). We’re even making the movie event replace our evening service. Great idea, huh!

For more info on the movie, visit http://courageousthemovie.com.

Managers & Makers

In this world, some of us are managers and some of us are makers (I’ll explain this in a minute). And because of this, there is tension when our worlds collide, or more specifically when our schedules collide. We work for the same company, and we share the same office building, but our schedules are different. What it takes to get things done looks different if you are someone who manages or someone who makes. Let me unpack this a bit because chances are you’ve experienced this tension.

The Manager

The manager’s typical day looks like a series of one-hour segments (half-hour segments if you’re super-organized). It might look something like this: an hour in the morning tending to emails, the next hour dedicated to preparing for the 11:00am meeting, the next hour actually having the meeting, an hour for a business lunch, an hour on the phone, an hour hearing from your direct reports, and so on. Before you know it, the day is done, and you go home…for another series of one-hour events: dinner with the family, putting the kids to bed, an hour watching or two watching TV. Then, you go to bed because you’ll be doing the same thing tomorrow. If ever an unplanned interruption happens upon his day or if there’s an impromptu meeting that’s called, he loses an hour, but then jumps right back on schedule with no problems. The hour-managed day is how he gets stuff done.

The Maker

The maker’s schedule is much harder to describe. It does break down into nice one-hour segments. Instead, the maker works with chunks of time. In the office, he might think, “I’ve got the morning, and I’ve got the afternoon.” Throw a meeting or unplanned interruption in the mix, and he loses the entire chunk of time. That’s because the work that he does requires hours of focused time to complete. He’s a maker: an author, a creator of art, a web designer, a computer programmer, a speech writer, an architect, and so on. You get the idea. And by the way, these guys are also prone to do some pretty crazy things work-wise. They wake up in the middle of the night and write a hundred pages for an upcoming book. They stay up late into the night (or early morning, depending on how you look at it), and write a couple hundred lines of code. They can’t stop when something good is happening. This is how they make stuff.

The Tension

The tension should be quite obvious. The managers and the makers have to interact. There are meetings, phone calls, impromptu conversations about necessary project changes. Life happens, and the worlds collide.

The Conclusion

The tension will always be there. It just has to be managed (Andy Stanley talks about managing tension). You have to know that it’s there and act accordingly. Be respectful and considerate of the managers and the makers in your life. If your a manager, plan as many of the interactions as you can with the makers in one block of time, freeing up their alternate block of the day, and try not to interrupt them unnecessarily. If your a maker, understand that meetings have to take place, and let everyone know when you “available” time slots are, politely asking people not to disturb the creative process.

So, what do you think? Have you experienced this tension? I have. And in case you were wondering, I’m a hybrid of both. I live in a managers environment with responsibilities in that area, but I also make a lot of things because of my role at my church. I guess, I have it even worse because I have an inward tension . But, that’s life, and I enjoy making and managing.

(I started thinking about this concept two years ago, when I read this article by Paul Graham)

The facts matter. They really do, but if you can’t communicate them in a way that makes sense to people, then the facts lose their impact. Take these two tablet advertisements for example (embedded at the bottom of the page). Both are the same length, and both are clever in their own way. But, from an emotional standpoint, the iPad 2 commercial probably wins. The reality is that the average non-techie person, who doesn’t care about the internal specs, gets lost when you start talking about Flash, Tegra processors, and LTE upgradeable. They just want to know if it “works.” In other words, will it do what I want it to do? Can’t you see your Dad saying that?

The take away is this, Christianity is the truth. The Bible has the answers to life’s challenging questions. Our task is to find ways to communicate the truth to those around us in ways that make sense. We need to put the cookies on the lower shelf so that everyone can reach them. The message can be made relevant and simple while still maintaining it’s doctrinal integrity. So, let’s get to it!

(Thanks to The iPhone Blog for the inspiration for this post)

This is a preview of what we’re doing at my church on Sunday for Father’s Day…

We’re showing the Mark Driscoll message and giving all of the men who attend a copy of the Man Code DVD series. It’s going to be an in-your-face experience for all of the men, but it’s exactly what we need to hear.

Have you ever noticed how junky your garage can get? Now, I know that some of you actually use your garage for parking and manage to keep it in pristine condition…but let’s be honest, most of us just use it to store our junk. And over time, the law of entropy takes effect, and our garages get more and more cluttered and messy.

Well, my wife and I took some time this week and tried to clean up our garage a bit. There’s still more to be done…we tend to be pack-rats. But, we did our seasonal cleanup.

So, here’s what I’m thinking. In the same way that our garages tend to get junkified over time, sometimes our lives get cluttered and disorganized. By nature, we lose focus on where we should be headed and what we should be doing. Perhaps, its time to take an inventory of your life and consider plotting a new direction. Have you been watching a little too much TV lately? Has it been a while since you were enriched by a good book? When was the last time you learned something? Have you been spending a little too much time on Facebook (gasp)?

Just something to think about. Maybe it’s time to clean that mess up.

Well, not so much the Super Bowl (as in the game itself). But, I learned something from Christina Aguilera’s singing of the National Anthem and the Black Eyed Peas halftime performance.  I’m a firm believer in two things: 1) you can learn from anything/anyone, and 2) it’s best to learn from the experiences of others (I’d rather learn from someone else’s mistakes than have to make them myself).  So, here’s what I learned from Super Bowl XLV.

1. Stuff Happens
Despite our best efforts, some times bad things happen.

Certainly, Christina Aguilera practiced the National Anthem before the game. She has even sung multiple times before, and yet she messed up the lyrics at the Super Bowl.  Undoubtedly, the Black Eyed Peas rehearsed for the halftime show, and yet they still had audio issues (poorly mixed and/or mic problems) and a portion of the stage didn’t light up like it was supposed to (the “V” in LOVE).

For us, some times despite our best efforts, stuff happens.  We lose our job, our car breaks down, someone in the family gets sick, our project gets cancelled…you know what I’m saying.  Stuff happens.  It’s part of life.

2. Keep Going
Don’t stop even when bad stuff happens!

Although things didn’t go as planned during the National Anthem or the halftime show, the performers had to keep going.  They couldn’t just give up and stop the show.  Could you imagine what that would’ve been like? Christina calling it quites in the middle of the song and walking off stage…nope, that can’t happen, she had to keep going.

For us, we have to remember, don’t quit!  (This is a link to my favorite poem of all time). You have to keep going.

3. Get Help
Be willing to accept help from others when you need it.

The trending topics on Twitter seem to show that many people feel that Usher (and/or Slash) saved the halftime performance.  Usher stepped in at just the right moment and bailed out the show.

Sometimes, we’ve got to lay down our pride and accept help when we need it… whether it’s in the form of a person lending a helping hand or financial  or physical resources that are offered to us.  Everyone needs help eventually, and when we need it, we should accept it graciously, knowing that some day we will be called upon to help someone else.

4. Finish Strong
Even if you mess up along the way, make sure you finish strong.

Despite messing up in the middle of the song, Christina Aguilera managed to belt out that final line “Home of the BRAAAAVE!”  She finished strong.

We need to do that to regardless of the difficulties that come our way.  Pull it together, take a deep breath, and finish strong.  What’s happened in the past is done.  There’s no changing it, but we can finish well.  So, let’s do it!

So that’s what I learned from the Super Bowl.
Did you learn anything?

Also, stayed tuned as I post in a few days how these same principles were at work in the people of God in the book of Exodus.

Here’s a cute little clip.  It’s not spiritual or anything, but it’ll probably make most dad’s smile.  It’s a commercial for Volkswagen, and though I’m not a VW guy, I did enjoy this ad.  Why?  Because I have a son who would do just this. Watch and enjoy (especially if you know my son).

(Via ChurchCrunch)

Do You Hear What I Hear…sounds like it should be the title of Christmas song, doesn’t it?  But alas, this post is not about Christmas.  Sorry.  This post is about hearing the truth…maybe listening is a better word here.  And more than just listening to the truth, this is about applying the truth to our lives.

This week, we had new windows installed at our home (Yay for us!).  The tax credit helped to make it the right timing for us.  We’ve been losing A/C during the summer months and letting cold air in during the winter months for years through windows that are as old as me!  So anyway, our window installer was a pretty nice guy…let’s say he was a jolly soul…since it’s Christmas and all.  And so, as he worked, he and I talked…it was an all-day job so there was plenty of time to talk.  As we talked, he shared with me about his kids.  He’s a pretty fortunate guy.  His kids love and respect him, and they communicate with each other.  So, he tells me that his daughter is in her second year of college but is getting discouraged and is thinking about dropping out.  He had encouraged her, but once he learned about my academic background, he asked me to talk to her and encourage her to finish.  She was coming by my house to drop off some tools that he needed for the job so I would have a chance to see her.

While the story could go on, it doesn’t need to.  Because here’s my point…

Why is it that we often only listen and accept truth when it comes from “an expert”?

In this story, the father had talked to his daughter, but he thought that she would listen better to someone like me with a bunch of college experience.  This kind of thing happens at church, too.  Our pastor can make powerful truth statements, but when we hear it at the men’s conference from a guy who pastors a church of over 10,000, suddenly it clicks, and we accept it.  Here’s another one, when we were kids, our parents could communicate valuable truth to us until they were blue in the face, but we didn’t believe it until we heard Dr. Phil say it on the Oprah Winfrey show.  What’s up with that?

I think you know where I’m going with this…

Be a 360 Learner
Learn from those above you, beside you, and below you.  Truth is truth, even if it comes from unlikely sources.  So parents, learn from your kids. Employers, learn from your employees. And spouses, learn from each other.