LeadershipConneXtions

Connecting With Tim Adour in Allentown

Tim has been a friend since 1997 when I was the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Homer, New York and he was the senior pastor of Church of the Resurrection (Assembly of God) in Syracuse, New York.

We hit it off, became good friends and have really enjoyed being on the journey together. We don't see each other as much as we use to. I am now in York, working at Living Word Community Church and Tim is the senior pastor of Church of the Revelation (Assembly of God) in the Bronx, New York.

It was great to connect with Tim again and to hear all that is going on in his new ministry. I got together with Tim (one of our LCI Partners) because Tim will be doing a week course for LCI on Spiritual Leadership in Chile in November. We met to talk about that course and also look at other possibilities for Tim's involvement with LCI.

Tim is also going to Moscow late summer to do a pastor's conference and will be speaking on leadership issues at that conference. (That is not an LCI trip, but is one through his denominational connections.)

Anyway, it was a good time being with a good friend. It makes me realize that there are good friends I have who live great distances away and we just don't connect too often. That is one of the "sadnesses" of life on this planet. And it makes the times of being together even more important.

I hope you'll each have some good times in the near future with good friends and good conversation with those friends.

Brian Rice

Ten Questions for Brian McLaren (Interview)

If anyone is interested in getting an introduction (handle) on Brian McLaren, who is probably the most influential postmodern voice for Christians, go to Ten Questions for Brian McLaren Interview which is posted on  Terry Heaton's PoMoBlog.

Hear Brian McLaren speak for himself on some of the important issues.

By the way, I still really like The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Persepctives, edited by Len Sweet as an introduction for this issue. Five articles, five persepctives and four critical responses to each perspective from the other contributors.

It is in the "tradition" of the multi-perspectives books that were done by Zondervan and Baker and I think IVP on theological issues where they invited representatives from different traditions to submit an essay and also to submit critiques of the other essays.

For a short review of the book go to THIS REVIEW.

Good stuff.

Brian Rice

Evangelical Manifesto

 

My friend Lanny Kilgore (and pastor of New Covenant Community Church) sent me the link to  Evangelical Manifesto documents.  Timothy George, Os Guinness, Jesse Miranda, Dallas Willard and Richard Mouw are among the leaders of this group.

It is a group of evangelicals who would like to bring some clarity to the term "evangelical."

The main thing is to see the two pdfs on the website that are their articulation of the issues.

You can either go there to access the documents, but I have also provided them below.

Download Evangelical_Manifesto.pdf    (This is the longer one.)

Download Evangelical_Manifesto_Summary.pdf

The word "manifesto" sounds pretty modern and imposing.

Let us know what you think about the "manifesto" and if you think they are on track or stuck in a world that doesn't exist or somewhere inbetween.

Brian Rice

Kim Rudisill and Life Long Learning

I have been friends with Kim and her husband Ken Rudisill for many years. They have both been involved in a variety of ministries and given leadership to ministries within LWCC over the years.

Kim was one of the facilitator/mentors for the Leading Edge this past year. Kim and Ken have been part of the Ethiopian / Sendafa outreach ministry of LWCC.  Since LWCC works with AIDS patients in the village of Sendafa, Kim decided she needed more training. Kim recently sent me an email.

Here are her words:

Hi Pastor Brian. I wanted to let you know about my journey in life long learning. One of the things I decided to learn more about this year was HIV/AIDS. Sendafa has become important in my life so I thought this would be something useful for me to learn more about.

I have been reading some books and today I went to a mini-conference on HIV/AIDS and the faith community. It was very informative and practical. Hopefully, some of the people I met will be a great resource for my continual learning.

I am putting the things I learn into a notebook so that it might be a useful resource for others.

Here are some leadership things I see in Kim:

• She has a vision and mission in life and part of that has to do with building relational ministry in Sendafa, Ethiopia. There is a great, heartfelt passion she has for this.
• She (and her husband Ken) are willing to pay a price to do this. It is neither cheap or easy to get to Sendafa.
• She is committed to excellence in her service, ministry and leadership.
• That commitment to excellence propels Kim into life long learning endeavors so she can continue to grow and develop.
• And she is doing something with what she learns. She is keeping a journal of some sort where she records key ideas and insights. She does this for herself, but also so she has something to pass on to others.

So - great leadership being modeled by Kim. Kim, thanks for your heart of service and for your commitment to being the best leader you can be.

Brian Rice

Franciscan Blessing

Pastor Steve Almquist chose this benediction for the close of the Living Word church service this past Sunday.  It is a Franciscan blessing and I (along with many others) were deeply moved by its creative tensions.

THE BENEDICTION

May God bless you with discomfort: At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships; so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger: At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people; so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears: To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war; so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness: To believe that you can make a difference in the world; so that you can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

And all God's people said:  A-men.

If you want to see this on a website go here.  The author of that blogsite says that Brian McLaren is using this benediction on his Everything Must Change Tour.

Brian Rice

On Calling (John Ortberg)

Here was a very good thought on "calling" by John Ortberg.

"A calling is very different than a quest for fulfillment. A calling, though we glamorize it, is not glamorous. It is a response to a summons. It is a kind of surrender. It is a willingness to die to the past and move to the future. C.S. Lewis wrote, "To follow the vocation does not mean happiness, but once it has been heard, there is no happiness for those who do not follow."

Brian Rice

Follow Up Article on Women in Leadership

Tony Sheng passed on this article Only the Men Survive: The Crash of Zoe Cruz. (Pictured to the right.) It is a very substantial assessment of one of the highest paid women in the financial world and her firing from Morgan Stanley (a company by the way, for whom she had earned billions of dollars).

The article has many pages to it. It will be easiest to scoll down to the bottom of the page and click  the PRINT icon. That will bring up the entire article for you to read.

Thanks Tony for this link.

Also check out Tony's blog site. He does a lot of work mobilizing young people for global missions.

Brian

Personal Rant About Economics and Out of Control Spending

SPENDING... DEBT... $$$$$$... OUT OF CONTROL CONSUMERISM...

Okay, this post and topic IS NOT AN AREA OF SPECIALITY for me.

So, this is just a brief observation with a bit of a rant and rave.

I have a friend who is a very good accountant and business manager and I joke with him about "mystical accounting procedures." By that, I mean that, to my uneducated and unenlightened eyes, accountants and financial people make wonderful and magical things happen with figures! Wave the wand/pencil, move the numbers and presto, shazam!

Smoke and mirrors. The man behind the curtain.  Slight of hand.

(I recently read an article about widespread financial mismanagement and fudging of figures to put off bad news that would alarm investors by adjusting figures and anticipating making things up in later quarters.)

We have been living WAY BEYOND OUR MEANS for a long time.

Our nation is in massive debt. Many states are in debt. Companies are in the red. Do I need to say anything about the average American family being in debt?  The dollar - what a joke on the world market (and a bad joke at that).

We spend much more than we earn. We live way beyond our means.

And we think this won't come back to bite us?

We may be in the midst of a WAKE-UP CALL about our finances and spending. I find myself wondering if there is a CORRECTIVE coming our way. Maybe we are in it. Maybe we'll find more mystical ways to avoid the financial reckoning we have been putting off.

I think it is wise, sound stewardship to start spending within our means (which probably means we have to do some radical NOT SPENDING FOR A SEASON), do whatever you need to in cutting back, living more simply, and GET OUT OF DEBT.

I have a cartoon that YOU MUST SEE. But it was a gif file and would not post on to the site. So I put it in a PDF.  Download WhatBill.pdf  It captures our unrestrained spending mentality very powerfully.

Okay, that's my rant and rave.

Brian Rice

Oh yes . . . and I do think leaders ought to think very carefully about these matters, both for our families and our organizations. What you want and what you actually need and what you can afford are often VERY FAR APART. If you can't afford it, then don't want it and in many cases (but not all) you don't need it.

Women in the Labyrinth of Leadership (Plus I need a favor)

Here is a summary review of a very good article on the challenges women face moving into positions of senior leadership in the workplace.  (The picture to the right is one of the issues talked about in the article...)

It was in HBR, September 2007.

Download women_in_the_labyrinth_of_leadership.pdf

For some just released brief articles on women in leadership go to The Center for Creative Leadership site and check them out.

Also, I need a favor. I have some feedback that there are some pdfs that some of you are having trouble accessing.  Could I hear from some of you as to whether you can or cannot access the pdf linked above?

Also, try the pdf file from yesterday's post.

Email me at lcibrice@gmail.com and just let me know if you can or cannot access these files.

Brian Rice

Rapture Ready (A Review by Ben Michael)

Ben Michael is a young, thoughtful leader who I have known for several years.  Ben was a part of the Leading Edge Community this past year.

I recently received a short book review from Ben. I appreciated the review, and even more, I appreciated the leadership development process going on in Ben's life.

(1) Leaders are those who are committed to life-long learning.

(2) Leaders are those who understand the importance of ideas.

(3) Leaders are those who are engaging the culture in thoughtful ways, to understand it and to then dialogue with it.

(4) Leaders are those who seek to imprint and influence others to do the same.

Ben did all of that in his email (which he sent out to a number of people) and review.

And since this blogsite is interested in culture, I asked Ben if I could post his review. He said yes, so just download the pdf.

Download RaptureReadReviewByBen.pdf

Thanks Ben. This book is on my list to get.

Brian Rice

Practicing Our Beliefs

I have been interested in quite a number of things, all of which required practice. I loved tennis, water-skiing, racquetball, basketball, guitar, bass guitar, chess and more. It was one thing to "play" those things. It was quite another to be good at them. And, in every case, greatness eluded me.

Because . . . I never practiced any of them enough.

You know the saying:  Practice makes perfect.

An acquaintance of mine who is a professional music instructor modifies this a bit and says it this way: The right kind of practice makes perfect.  By this he means that repeatedly practicing wrongly will not lead to good performance. In fact, one of the hardest things to do is to UNLEARN wrong practices so you can learn good ones. Talk to anyone who has had to unlearn a tennis serve or a golf swing!

I don't remember where I read the quote that follows, nor do I remember who David Dark is, but I love what he says:

The world is the place where we get to practice our beliefs. (David Dark)

Christianity is more than a belief system. It is a belief system lived out in the setting of a relationship with Christ and in the context of the world.

We get to practice our Christianity, in the world.

We get to practice our relationship with Jesus, before the world.

We get to practice our leadership in the name of Jesus, as the world watches.

We get to practice . . . integrity, courage, faith, hope, love, grace, trust and so much more, in the midst of a world that needs to see these things.

We get to practice the presence of God, in the world.

We are not naturally good at any of those things. We must practice them all. But we practice them, not in seclusion or in private, but very much "out in the open."

Jesus said, they will know you are my followers by the love you have for one another. Not because of your belief system or theology of love, but because of your love that is practiced before the world.

What are you practicing today?  How consistently are you practicing? And how well are you practicing it?

And - are you helping anyone else practice something before the world?

Brian Rice

A Legacy of Heirs: of Festschrift and Opus

Mentoring is all about reproducing "oneself" (although I'll come back to this idea in a minute to modify it in a key way) in mentorees.

Therefore, mentoring is all about people who become "heir" to who you are, what you know, and what you do. They are the recipients of the "wealth" of your knowledge and experience.

For mentors, their legacy is a legacy of people they have trained.

Len Sweet reminded me of the concept of "festschrift."  A festschrift is a special kind of book that is a collection of essays written by a variety of people - in honor of that person. In most cases, the authors who are included in the festschrift were former students of the one being written about and the essays being written are contributions to the field of study of which the mentor was a master. So the festschrift honors the master by the student paying tribute to master through excellence of academic thought in the essay. In my years of seminary study, I read many festschrifts and always enjoyed reading what the students had to say, not only about the field of expertise of the "master" but the personal thoughts about the one being honored.

In one way, the people in whom you invest become a living Festschrift of your life.

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Remember the old movie - Mr Holland's Opus, where the students of Mr Holland (over the many years) gathered togethered for a performance of Mr Holland's "opus?"  An opus is a creative piece of work, especially in music.  For years Mr. Holland had wanted to write and conduct his opus, but his investment in the lives of so many students kept working against that. It is time for his retirement and in one sense he believes he has failed. He has not produced a major work that was recognized by the music world. There is no musical opus.

Unknown to Mr. Holland, many of his students through the years have come together to perform that musical work he had  "mostly" written, but which was never produced. And one of his students says to him right before the performance,

"Look around you. There is not a life in this room that you have not touched, and each of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony, Mr. Holland. We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. We are the music of your life."

I probably cry every time I hear that line. Mentoring is about the people who become the Opus of your life.

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Here is one final thought (and looping back to the first statement on this post).

For Christians, what we really want to see reproduced in the life of the student and mentoree, is the life of Christ. So in a messy and mysterious way, through the imprint of our own life and beliefs and values, we seek not to turn a person into a replica of our "self" but through our "self" to help them become the best and truest form of their own "self" which is being renewed into Christlikeness.

The world doesn't need more Brian Rices, but it does need more Christ-like followers and if Brian Rice can be an avenue and channel toward that end, that is a opus worth hearing and a festschrift worth reading.

Brian Rice

Osmosis Mentoring

Osmosis:  The gradual, often unconscious, absorption of knowledge or ideas through continual exposure rather than deliberate education.

Okay, that's not the scientific definition of the word, but if I gave you that definition you would have exited this window after two lines of jargon.  But the definition is a legitimate one.

Maybe the last time you heard the word osmosis was the cartoon movie that Bill Murray played in - Osmosis Jones.

And it is how some of the best mentoring takes place.

Really good mentoring (like the kind Jesus did) takes place as mentor and mentoree do life together. Our more common practices today are mentor and mentoree getting together occasionally and with intentionality and strategy, focusing on an area of need. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it is how I do most of my mentoring, but it is not the same as Osmosis Mentoring.

I love Paul's words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:10-22.

You know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings - what kinds of things happened to me . . . the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

Yes, Timothy did know because Timothy and Paul did life together.

Here is another word. APPRENTICE.

I bet two ideas come to mind. Micky Mouse as the magician's apprentice and Donald Trump's reality TV show.

In the ancient and medieval worlds, apprenticing was the main way young people learned a trade. A master would take a novice as an apprentice and the apprentice would learn a trade or skill by doing life together with the master.

In the Judaic world of Jesus times, rabbinic students would be chosen by a Rabbi, to come and be with the Rabbi and to learn from him. In essence, they became apprentices.

In Apprentice Mentoring, in Osmosis Mentoring, much of the teaching and training is in the form of what is CAUGHT and not just TAUGHT. Things are taught in a classroom, in a workshop, in a seminar. things are caught as we do life together.

I think those of us who are interested in mentoring in the worlds of modernity and post-modernity have to figure out how to do life together in a more consistent way. We really failed to do that in modernity. it is a theme in postmodernity. But it will take some reconfigurations of life and ministry.

There are probably quite a few Christian leaders in the marketplace where you are with others in a pretty continual way. That may be the context for some Osmosis/Apprenticing mentoring to take place.

Brian Rice

Those who leave full-time ministry

I got an email yesterday that my friend Sam has left his church position (which I knew about previously) and has taken a role as a VP of a company. My first response was sadness because he was a tremendous minister (executive pastor at a large church) and very good leader.

But then I got thinking about my paradigm of "secular - sacred" and realized my prejudice that I think the pinnacle of life is to go into full-time ministry. I know that Sam will be massively involved in ministry even as he is working in industry. Perhaps THAT is the pinnacle?!?

Any thoughts?

- Brian Newman

Missing Caption

Someone asked me about the cartoon that was included in this post from a few days ago.

I went back and looked and realized that for some reason, the caption was cut off.

The woman on the left is saying to the woman on the right, "I need to tell you - too much botox."

Brian Rice

Prayer Partner

Here is a real simple question for all you leaders. Well, it is one simple question asked in a few forms.

Who is praying for you?  I mean really praying?  Praying for you often . . . maybe even daily?  Who believes God has called them to be an intercessor for your well being?  Who loves you so much that they will not stop praying for you?

Even Jesus needed people to pray for him. That is why he asked the disciples to "watch" with him while he was in the garden.

Okay, that is one simple question. Was it easy to answer?  (or)  Was it easy to answer yes to this question?

Here are a few more questions:

• Do you think you need a prayer partner who prays for you in this way?
• What would be the benefit of having this?
• Are there are repercussions if you don't have this kind of prayer support?

Now - really - what do you think about the bulleted questions?

For any of us (and I include myself in this category) of driven, self-sufficient, indepent-minded leaders who are used to working hard to get results -- we need to be pretty ruthless about these questions and say what we really think.

We live in a supernatural world where life is far more than what we see and do with our own hands. The presence of God is a supernatural reality and prayer is the language of that realm.

We need to pray and we need prayed for.

Final question:  If you don't have that kind of person in your life - is there anyone who you could invite into that role?

Brian Rice

Reflections on Paraguay

I've been in the habit of writing a longer reflection time about each trip I take. I did not do one for India (March 08), just due to being so busy when I was back. But here are some thoughts about my trip to Paraguay. I jotted down most of these ideas while in Paraguay, (To the right is a picture of half of the guest room of Paul and Hildi, my hosts for the last trip).

The following reflections are not in any particular order of importance.

ONE:  It is a little hard to get to Paraguay. You can't fly there directly from the United States, or for that matter, from a lot of places. For this trip I decided to fly through Buenos Aires. I had changes in my schedule going and coming and spent a lot of time waiting in the Buenos Aires airport. That's just a fact of life for those who want to work in Paraguay. There is just not a lot to do in the Buenos Aires airport, so if you are ever going to be spending time there, be sure to take a book along. I also thought it was funny that the Today Show's Matt Lauer was doing his "where in the world is Matt Lauer?" from Buenos Aires right after I left.  So, Matt and I did not cross each other's paths!

TWO:  This was my third trip to Paraguay. The first two times were to teach graduate courses for Londrina/REG/Omar. Both times, I had translation help from a missionary/pastor named Paul Amstutz. The second trip, Hildi Amstutz did translation work as well. They are involved in leadership development ministry of the pastors and church planters in their denomination and have a mentoring process set up. They asked if I would come down to do some training on mentoring and that is the reason for this trip.

THREE: The Mennonite Church has a pretty strong presence in Paraguay. This is due to Mennonites who left Russia and Germany in the World War 2 time and settled in Paraguay. There are Germon speaking churches as well as Spanish speaking churches in Paraguay. Paul and Hildi are pastors of a  Spanish speaking Mennonite church that was planted by the mother church which speaks German. It is always interesting to see which "flavors" of the church are strong in certain areas of the world.  Read here for an article about the immigration of Mennonites into Paraguay.

FOUR:  Paul told me that the World Mennonite movement is having their 2008 conference in Asuncion. He will have a lot of responsibility for some of the translation work for that event. I can imagine that they are going to have some major logistical issues getting all those world delegates into Asuncion!!!!!

FIVE:  Some of the big news while I was there was about the recent elections and the president elect being a Roman Catholic ex-bishop who is/was under discipine from the Vatican because he is a liberation theologian and socialist. Now...he is the president elect of Paraguay. He campaigned on the issue of helping the poor. I talked with a number of people there and there is kind of a "wait and see" attitude.  The issue of corruption is a pretty big one in Paraguay and it seems like the reigime in waiting is going to take a strong stand against it.

SIX: I was struck, again, by the high quality of leaders who were present in the workshop. We had 12 people there and they were all high caliber people who are leading and mentoring. I appreciated their leadership perspectives, I respect the good work they are doing and it was a privilege to spend two days talking about mentoring with them.

SEVEN:  On a more subdued note, I always come away from those times with a bit of sadness. For I meet so many good leaders that I wish I had time to get to know better and with whom it would be wonderful to have a more substantial partnering relationship. One of the themes we talked about in mentoring was the need to have an "incarnational" approach to mentoring. You need to spend considerable time with mentorees. That was the model of Jesus. The mentor and disciples did life together. We have settled for a classroom model that is best designed to pass on ideas. I always find myself wishing that I could just spend some leisurely "life together" to consider the issues that are on our heart.

EIGHT: Many of you know that Becky and I are gardeners and I love flora and fauna of a wide variety. It was lovely being with my hosts - Paul and Hildi, for Hildi especially is a gardener and their place was a little "Garden of Eden."  I really enjoyed their place. It felt restful. The flowers were beautiful. The landscaping was really nice. They also have a variety of orchids growing! The last time I saw a live orchid was down at Longwood Garden in their conservatory.

NINE:  I had a chance to spend a few hours with another friend and leadership development guy - Javier Velasquez. Javier is getting close to finishing his doctorate in leadership and I came away with a much better understanding of the model he is involved with and looking to implement in Paraguay. I also learned a lot more about his own life journey and came away appreciating Javier more than ever. Here is the website for BILD who does a larger picture of theological educational development for leaders. They have some really good approaches.

TEN:  Paul, Hildi and I went out on Friday night to a really good Chinese restaurant that I ate at last time I was there. I REALLY liked the food and jumped at the opportunity to go back. We had a great time sharing a variety of foods and hanging out.

ELEVEN: I think the accomodations that I had were about as ideal as anything I've had on any of my trips. Paul and Hildi had a guest room that is attached to, but not a part of, the main house. So, I was right there to have as much time with them as needed, but also to have some space for preparation and downtime. (And again, the beautiful gardens were right outside my door!)

TWELVE:  I think the church where Paul and Hildi pastor is one of the most unusual church structures that I have every seen. It has beautiful architecture with flowing, curving lines of brick walls, with courtyards, sanctuary, classrooms and offices. For some of you, the name Leonard Ravenhill may ring a bell. If you don't know who he is and want to read a quick note on him - click here. But their church was a ministry center that was built by a son of Ravenhill who lived and ministered in Paraguay. I preached there on Sunday morning. It is always a dilemma for me when I preach and the preaching has to be translated. I really prefer not to do it, but spoke briefly on Standing at the Crossroads theme on Sunday morning.

THIRTEEN:  I came away, once again, seeing that even in the Spanish language, there are just not enough good resources for leaders. And there is not the easy availability of English works for those who are fluent in leadership. I thought it would be nice to have about $2000 to get a leadership lending library set up and make some of the best resources available to a variety of leaders. Go here to read the list of Core Leadership Books recommended by LCI.

Okay, I hope this gives you a little flavor for my last trip. A two-day workshop on mentoring and a little time for connecting with Paul and Hildi and Javier. It was a short trip, but a good one!

Brian Rice

New Quotes are Added on the Quotes Page

New quotes are addedon the Quotes page in the right hand column.

Next and Level (Great Article in Leadership Journal)

I am being inundated (in a good way) with stuff on teams.

Not only is the Harvard Business OnPoint all about teams, but so is the latest quarterly issue of Leadership (or at least in part).

There is a REALLY GREAT article which is an interview with the four senior leaders of The Next Level church who gave up the traditional model of solo senior pastor and embraced a model of shared leadership. If you don't get the journal, you can go on line and read it at:

Next Level Article.

Very thought-provoking. Brian Newman knows these guys since their church is in Denver.

Enjoy.

Brian Rice

p.s.   Tomorrow's post will be a reflection on my time in Paraguay.

Truth as a Friend

Truth comes as conqueror only to those who have lost the art of receiving it as friend.  Rabindranath Tagore (quoted by Sweet, page 31 of Eleven)

Boy did this one stop me for a few minutes of reflection.

There is truth we need to hear, but truth we don't want to hear. But hear it we shall... whether it comes to us as a gentle friend with caution and guidance...

... Or as a conqueror who forces us to face the realities that we have pretended were otherwise.

How about the famous line from Jack Nicholson playing Col. Jessup in A Few Good Men, "You can't handle the truth!"? This is truth that is coming in conflict, antagonism, challenge, and confrontation.

We need mentors who speak truth to us.

Here is a little exercise for you to try sometime. Think of two or three (or more if you want) people (a mentor, a spouse, a friend, a colleague) who know you well. Talk to them individually and give them this invitation.

What wisdom and truth would you like to speak into my  life about who I am, what I am doing, how I am doing, what concerns you have and what your "best counsel" for me is?  (Or think of your own way to say it, you get the idea.)

BUT...also tell them they have your undivided attention. You will not argue with them about what they say, you will not get defensive, you will not explain or justify yourself...all you will do is listen and ask clarifying questions so you can understand what they are saying.

I think this would be profitable for most of us, hearing truth from friends ... yet I think most of us would find this pretty threatening.

Do we really want to hear truth? Are we willing to engage with truth as a friend?

"Rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still." Proverbs 9:8-9

Brian Rice

Who is Your Editor?

I just finisehd Len Sweet's book,  11 Indispensable Relationships You Can't do Without. It is a book on a variety of mentoring relationships. I took it along with me when I went to Paraguay to teach a workshop on mentoring and thought I'd read it to get some fresh ideas. I didn't have time to read it on the way down, but I started reading it on the way back (from Dallas to Baltimore).

I jotted down about a dozen ideas that I want to blog on in the next week or so that all relate to mentoring. I owe the impetus for all of them to Sweet's book...so check it out if you are interested in any of the ideas in the upcoming days.

By the way CLICK HERE for Sweet's website. 

(And see his picture below.)

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Story and narrative are now a main concept we have to understand life, the  Christian faith and our journey through life and faith.

Many years ago, I read a book by David Fisher called, The 21st Century Pastor. One of the chapters in his book talked about the metaphor of "penmanship." We are God's "penmanship" or "living letters" which God is writing.  It is based on 2 Corinthians 3:1-3 and this is a text well worth your reflection time. (By the way, the book was actually quite good. Fisher played around with a number of metaphors used by the Apostle Paul to describe leadership.)

That idea came back to me when I read Len Sweet's idea about everyone needing an EDITOR. We need mentors who will serve as editors of our story.

As I thought about it, an editor does several things.

(1) An editor is deeply committed to a writer and to helping the writer succeed.

(2) Editors help writers improve their story.

(3) Editors serve the writer because the editor does not win accolades from an audience for a story. The author gets the credit. However, good authors acknoweldge their indebtedness to the editor.

(4) An editor gives feedback from the outside perspective. Writers tend to get stuck on their story and on the best way to write it. Plus writers find it very hard to be objective about their story and how well written it is. The editor comes in with that objectivity.

(5) Editors help us see our story with another pair of eyes and find better words and usage of words.

In one sense, God is the GREAT EDITOR, but we also need mentors who will serve in the editing role for us. So, who are you telling your story to in deep and authentic ways, mainly for the purpose of feedback? Who are you asking to comment on your story and how well it is being written and told?

Brian Rice

Witnesses

My friend and colleague at LWCC, Rob Tucker, recently spoke to our staff team about being witnesses. Rob led us through a nice process of thinking about past and current models of "witnessing" and then into some considerations of emerging approaches.

He talked about what worked . . . what isn't working as well . . . and what might work in the days ahead.  (I'm pretty sure that wearing this t-shirt  pictured is not going be that effective.)

Rob talked about the Nike - Lebron James - NBA campaign that uses the slogan . . .

We Are All Witnesses

. . . which is a reference to witnessing the spectactular play of Lebron James and then telling others how good Lebron is. It was a powerful illustration.

I've been thinking about this word WITNESS a lot more in the days since that meeting.

At first it sounds pretty old fashioned, but the more I think about it - I like it.

It's a good word.

It's a biblical word that was, above all, used in reference to Jesus.

And I think it is a good metaphor for leadership. The leader as WITNESS.

Of course, how one chooses to be a witness will make all the difference. I think that the leader as witness is the leader who knows her or his story, who knows the story of God in Christ and who is able to weave those two stories together into the Story of Us.

What have you born witness to so far today?

Brian Rice

Leading High Performance Teams

My friend and LWCC colleague, Aaron Kunce, lent me his copy of Harvard Business Review OnPoint. This is a quarterly publication. It was on Leading High Performance Teams, and after skimming through his copy, I stopped by Borders on the way home and bought my own.  I recommend you do the same and spend $16.95 to get this issue.

And in the spirit of teams, I have some fun images on this post.  Be sure to scroll down to the end to see the last ones. The last one may be my favorite.

I think one person says it this way...too many chiefs and not enough Indians!

Anyway, about the HBR OnPoint issue . . .

The OnPoint is a collection of "best of articles" from previous issues of HBR. And in this case, there are ten good articles.  Here are a few of the articles:

The Tough Work of Turning Around a Team by Bill Parcells. The ironic thing is just this morning I listened to Mike and Mike in the morning speak very critically of some of Parcell's failures as a leader with the Miami Dolphins organization. They were getting at the same emotional intelligence issues that affected his tenure with the Cowboys.

The Discipline of Teams by Katzenbach and Smith (this is an oldie, first published in 1993...!...wow!)

Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams (a recent article which was very good).

Building the Emotional intelligence of Groups (I am looking forward to reading this one).

Leading in Times of Trauma

Managing Multicultural Teams (this one should be very interesting).

Virtuoso Teams . . .

and several more as well.

You might enjoy surfing the internet and look for funny images of team work.

I just typed in team work and found about 100 of them that were fun.

Brian Rice

Signs of Life

I treasure a photograph taken on Easter morning at Lookout Mountain Community Church. The building sits at 7800 feet and one side of the sanctuary has windows facing east.

On Easter morning at our sunrise service someone caught a photo of a couple worshipping as the sun rose to the east. It was breath-taking ... or life-giving ... or something like that!

Enjoy the photo.

- Brian Newman

Back From Paraguay

I returned Monday afternoon from Paraguay.

I had a great time with Paul and Hildi (the pastors of The Rock Church) and also the ones who organized the mentoring workshop I did.

I'll write more about that in a few days.

Thanks for your prayers.

Brian Rice

On Practicing by Artur Rubinstein

Artur Rubinstein was/is one of the great pianists of the last century. He is renowned for both his artistry and his technical competence. But it was not always that way. Here are Rubinstein's words about practice.

"When I don't practice for a day, I know.

When I don't practice for two days, the orchestra knows.

When I don't practice for three days, the world knows.

I must confess with sorrow that I was not very proud of myself. The dissipated life I was leading . . . never allowed me to concentrate on my work. I prepared my concerts using the large repertoire I had accumulated but without the urge to play better, without referring to the text, relying entirely on my fine memory and my cleverly acquired knowledge of how to use certain encores to arouse the audience to the right pitch of enthusiasm.

To put it in a nutshell, I couldn't boast of one single piece which I played entirely faithful to the text and without some technical shortcomings . . .

I knew I was born a true musician but instead of developing talent I was living off the capital of it."

At the time of this realization, Rubinstein then devoted himself to excellence through practice. Afterwards, he maintained a high level of performance through his 70's and 80's leaving a legacy as one of the greatest pianists of recent times.

Check out this website for a very nice introduction to Rubinstein.

Click here for a video of Rubinstein playing.

I am struck by several things:

ONE: If the secret of success in real estate is location, location, location, the secret of success in life and leadership is practice, practice, practice.

TWO: It requires discipline and devotion if one is to sustain a commitment to practice.

THREE:  Natural, raw talent is not sufficient. I think God gives us gifts/talents and then expects us to multiply/develop/enhance them. Practice is the only way to do this. Without practice, we squander what God has given us.

• If you are called to preach and teach - you need to be constantly developing your skills as a student, a preparer of the message and then as a communicator.
• If you are called to lead - you need to be constantly increasing your strengths to new levels, and when possible, adding new ones to your toolbox.

FOUR:  It is never too late to begin a new devotion to practice.

FIVE:  If you need to - get a mentor. A mentor will know how to help you develop practice routines so you can grow from average to good and from good to great.

Brian Rice

Redefining the Questions (and Vision as an Example)

Many times we are stuck on an old problem or a long-standing question. We don't normally think to reframe the question.

Questions are always more important than answers, because it is the questions that frame and direct the conversation. A question always (to some extent) predetermines the range of solutions and answers.

Creative leaders find ways to ask new questions, unexpected questions, paradigm-shifting questions.

I believe that mentors need to offer the GIFT of asking new questions to those they mentor.

***********************************************

EXAMPLE:

Here is an OLD QUESTION:  How do I, the leader, get the people to follow my vision?

And of course, there are endless workshops, articles and books (including Andy Stanley's) on new and improved, better than before vision casting! But somehow vision continues to leak. Maybe our need is to find a new question.

Here is a POSSIBLE NEW QUESTION: How do I, the leader, help people discover and pursue their own visions?

I have run this one past a lot of "visionary leaders" in the last year and for some of them, the lights go on, they have an "aha" moment and a new way begins to emerge. If you re-read those two questions, it is quickly obvious that they will lead to very different "ways" of leading!

The old question simply tries to find a better way for the leader to be a Vision-Caster.  The new question suggests the leader may be better as a Vision Multiplier or Vision-Releaser.

For the old question - the leader will function in highly directive leadership ways that motivate others on the leader's vision. For the new question - the leader will have to discover empowering styles of leadership that enable the others to discover and move into their vision.

What are your troubling old questions that may need to be reframed? Get out a piece of paper. Write down the old question. Now try writing at least three or four new questions. This is not a skill that is immediately learned. It takes time.

Check out this website for some help on asking new questions.

And even though it is a long and difficult (at places) read, check out Senge's The Fifth Discipline if this is an area of interest for you. Senge tries to help organizations learn how to become learning organizations who think in new ways, in part, by asking new questions.

Ron Martoia also did some really good stuff on this. I have it buried in my files someplace and I'll try to find it and make it available to you sometime.

Brian Rice

The Safest Place for Ships...

Here is one worth pondering.

The safest place for ships is in the harbor, but that's not why they were built.  (Anonymous)

Maybe part of our "human" problem is that we spend too much time looking for safe places, and when we think we find them, staying put there. But that's not how we were meant to live as human beings, nor is it the way to a purposeful life.

Some one said, "the only way to discover new lands is to loose sight of the shore!"

So - are you hunkering down in a harbor or out riding the seas, even if they are stormy?

Brian Rice

Four Signs of Leadership "Anxiousness"

Rabbi Edwin Friedman (now deceased) wrote a paradigm changing book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of Quick Fixes. Friedman also wrote the ground breaking, Generation to Generation.

The theme of A Failure of Nerve was to talk about the importance of the "differentiated self." Now, this is a pretty complex psychological topic that I really can't cover here. But one of the things Friedman addresses is that of anxiousness on the part of leadership and the need for leaders to have a "non-anxious presence" as they engage in their calling.

I found this book very insightful, although not quite as practical as I had expected.

Here are five signs of LEADERSHIP ANXIOUSNESS.

1. Reactivity to problems and crises.
2. Blaming kinds of behaviors.
3. Victimization on the part of the leader and creating a victim mindset in others.
4. Quick fix solutions that do not address the problem but which alleviate the anxiety of the leader.
5. Triangulated relationships.

On the other hand, here are  signs of a WELL DIFFERENTIATED LEADER.

1. An ability to not get lost in emotional processes that are swirling around in the workplace.
2. The ability to be separate from the anxiousness of others and still connected in healthy ways.
3. The ability to be both non-anxious and yet challenging of others who are anxious.
4. The ability not to react to the reactivity of others.
5. The ability to take a stand that displeases others without becoming anxious or remote.

Of course the prime time when all this surfaces is when conflict and criticism are present in the organization (or team, or family).

I'm not sure that I would recommend the book. It is difficult reading.

Yet the non-anxious leadership presence is vital. You may want to do some personal assessment work on the signs that are mentioned above and get some good input on these things from one or two peole who know you well.

Brian Rice

A Little Background on Paraguay

If you want to watch a very good movie that involves Paraguay, get The Mission. It features Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons. If you watch closely, you will see a very young Liam Neeson (of Star War fame) and if you are really watching closely, you will see social justice activist Daniel Berrigan who has a cameo role also.

The movie is about the Jesuit influence in Latin America, specifically in Paraguay as they tried to work with the Guarani Indians. The movie highlights the tragedy of colonialization and imperialism and the "rape" of South America by both the Spanish and Portugese. It shows the struggle of church and state. It shows a very dated approach to missions. Yet, at the same time it shows a deep commitment to the Guaranis by the Jesuits.  It is one of my very favorite movies, even though the ending is painful! (The ending was painful in reality and not just in the movie).

For some basic information on the movie visit this site on Wikipedia.

For some basic information on Paraguay visit Wikipedia again.

For some basic information on Asuncion (the capital city) visit Wiki for the final time.

Pictured below is the money of Paraguay, called the Guaranies!

Brian Rice