This past Wednesday morning, I had a great conversation with Tyler Wigg Stevenson regarding the Two Futures Project. I’ll be writing about this more in the upcoming weeks. But for now, please watch this video and act accordingly.

I’m always on the look out for what successful and productive people do to be and become successful and productive. I seek out these habits – like arising early – as a means to drink from the marrow of life and get as much from my short time on earth, both for myself and for the Kingdom of God, as possible. Here are 5 tips I’ve found helpful hopefully, they’ll be helpful to you too.

1. Turn off the T.V. Successful people don’t plop down in the easy chair every night and let cable T.V. wash over them. They are engaged from the moment they arise until they go to sleep. Whether at work, with friends, with their children or spouse, just about anywhere, successful people want to live a life, not watch one. Television is a black hole. Here’s what I suggest: Pick out a few shows – 2 or 3 – per week that you like. Set your DVR or TIVO to record them and plan a time to sit down and watch. You can even save up episodes for a marathon viewing or perhaps when you’re sick or need a “mental health” day. Beginning on Sunday, I don’t sit down to watch a T.V. show until Thursday night. I watch The Office and 30 Rock. On Friday night, Rochelle put the girls to bed, hop into our PJ’s and watch DVR’d episodes of Glee. That’s all we watch, except the occasional football game, which is also DVR’d – which saves me at least 30-45 minutes of commercials. Time in front of the tube can be spent with other people, studying, working on cause you care about, or reading something to keep yourself educated, up to speed, and growing.
2. Never lie to yourself. Don’t lie about where you are (health, financial, education, with God, business, etc…). If you know your organization, personhood, spiritual life or family is in an unsustainable situation, lying won’t help. In order to be successful a leader must be brutally honest about his or her failings, as well as those of their organization. Unfortunately, the higher you are on the organizational chart, the less likely it is that you will hear the most useful criticism. As a Senior Minister, I hear feedback about nearly everything in the organization…except myself. I have to look past my ego and get real with what I’m doing. Make a commitment to be honest and instill this commitment as a value throughout your organization.
3. Listen To The Criticism that You Do Get. Instead of rehashing my thoughts on criticism, I’ll refer you these 2  previous post.
4. Become a Lifetime Learner. As the saying goes, “leaders are readers.” I am consistently reading 3 books. One having to do with spiritual/theological life, one about leadership and organizations, and one for fun. This is in addition to what I’m reading for preaching/teaching and anything I’m writing. Ideas actually don’t fall from the sky; they are sparked – typically by reading and intellectual engagement. I’ve learned from the men and women I’ve considered successful that a lifetime of learning is the key to success.
5. Plan, plan, and plan. Many people never accomplish their goals because they never planned to. I use a personalized form of Michael Hyatt’s Master Task List to set my agenda for the month before a to-do list for each week. Every day I review and make more plans. You can’t do anything well that you do in a hurry or at the last minute. Maybe my life is over-planned. But most days, I feel as though I’ve served God, my congregation, my wife and family and my dreams well.

There you have it, a few keys to success that I’ve learned for people who are actually successful. But I don’t want to leave you without this bonus note. Success comes to those who do it! Don’t be jealous of other authors if you’ve never sat down and forced yourself to write. Don’t envy the minister with a growing congregation if you don’t have the guts to make the necessary decisions. Don’t poke fun at the physically affectionate family if you’ve never put the kind of time and energy into your family life that produces closeness and trust. If you want to do something, DO IT! Many of the people you and I know to be “successful” are considered successful because they stepped out and did it, while everyone else waited to see.

Every time I mention to someone that I wake up at either 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. the first question they ask me is “Why?”. Why would anyone who doesn’t HAVE to wake up that early do so? Apparently it’s OK for people who must be at work that early, but why punish yourself?

Become An Early Riser

I’m not naturally a morning person, though. Because I am a night owl, I presumed the move to early rising was going to be a struggle. It wasn’t. Now having made the shift, I am an early-riser evangelist, believing everyone should do it. And here are three reasons why:

1. Spiritual Development. Most Christ-followers I know want a deeper relationship with God. We know how to do it – prayer, spiritual reading, silence and solitude, along with other spiritual disciplines – but most of us don’t have good time to do it. It’s not that we don’t have time altogether; we don’t have good time. The time we have for ourselves, after work and kids, church and life, we are often far too exhausted to do anything worthwhile. Rising early changes the scales in the direction of spiritual formation. When I wake up, before the kids, the dawn and the Dawn Rochelle (my wife), I have the best and most time – coffee aided, of course – to engage God. Getting up a little earlier affords me the opportunity to orient my life towards God.
2. Knowledge is King. Another plus of arising at five is seeking and finding all the news that’s good to know about our world. Karl Barth once said that a good preacher prepares his sermons with his Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. And he’s right. Each morning, I crack open my MacBook Pro, fire up my Google Reader and check all the news sites and blogs that I favor. Before 6:30 a.m. I’ve picked up leadership lessons from the likes of Michael Hyatt and Brad Lomenick; I’ve been introduced to ways of connecting others with what I’m doing through folks like Seth Godin and Chris Brogan, and I’m up to speed on national and international events thanks to Politico.com, NYTimes.com, Washingtonpost.com, and drudgereport.com. Being on the west coast, most of what’s going to happen in the world has already happened by the time my neighbors wake up, but I’m ahead of the game. More than that though, throughout my day I don’t have to check websites, etc…once I arrive at the office, I can focus on being with people and tackling the day’s tasks.
3. Family Harmony. Once our oldest daughter began school, we quickly realized that all four of us waking up, preparing and eating breakfast, brushing teeth and getting dressed at the same time was pretty tough. Now, I’m awake, coffee-fueled, fed and ready to go by the time the girls get up. This makes our mornings much less stressful resulting in better, less stressful mornings.

There you have it.  There are other reasons – such as a more productive workday and exercise – which serve as additional reasons to get up early, but I think you’re getting the point. My encouragement to you is to give it two-weeks, make a plan describing what it is you want to do with your time and stick to it. You’ll find that your bedtime comes earlier, but, most likely, it’ll be worth it.

My new guilty pleasure is Fox’s “Glee.” I love it, but because the content is not typically aligned with my convictions, I feel guilty about liking it. Though I’m not crazy about all the moral/ethical leanings of the show, I think there is something there to learn from “Glee” – and that’s what I like. Interestingly, I’m not alone. Lots of other people seem to like “Glee” as well. If you’re not familiar with the storyline, let me give you a quick run-down.

“Glee’s” main character is a Spanish teacher named, Will Schuester. Will, looking to regain some of the meaning and past glory of his own teen years at the high school where he now teaches, restarts the once popular glee club, of which he was once a member. In Will’s day, the glee club was cool (which is hard to believe), but as of late has fallen on hard times (this is no doubt a small comment on school’s cutting back fine arts programs across the country). Will’s desire is to bring hope and music to some students, and perhaps find some of his lost self at the same time.

In forming the glee club, Will assembles a hodge-podge of misfits and outcasts There’s Rachel, the drama queen born with the belief she will be a star; Kurt, Mercedes, and others, including the wheel-chair bound, Artie who all form their own island of misfit toys. They are all talented, all disenfranchised, all on the outside of the mainstream looking in.

Interestingly, “Glee” reminds us that everyone, in some way, is on the outside looking in.

As the story progresses, Will discovers, Finn Hudson, the quarterback of the hapless football team, is also a gifted singer and recruits Finn to join the group. In time, other students join the glee club; including Finn’s girlfriend, and head cheerleader, Quinn – who is there mainly to spy for the conniving cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester (wonderfully played by one of my favorite actresses, Jane Lynch) – and one of Finn’s football friends, Puck, joins the group as well.

Not to ruin the story, but every character in this story, from the kids in the glee club to Principal Figgins to Will and his wife, Terri, is profoundly lonely. Each one is groping for their place in the world and something larger of which to be a part.   Glee’s characters are searching for some one or some thing that will bring purpose, meaning and direction to their lives: a baby, a trophy, stardom, a marriage, a chance to break out of their small town, and even the acceptance of a parent. How hard it must be for kids who love to sing and dance to be forced to do it alone.

Ultimately “Glee” is about longing to be loved for who we are, which is why, I think, the writers and producers choose such extreme characters. In their longing to be “with” others, we can lower our guards and find some of ourselves within them. And that’s why so many people sing and dance with glee!

As I’ve preached through the book of Acts this fall, I’ve been stunned by how all-inclusive and all-embracing is the community of the cross. As Glee illustrates, there are precious few places where someone can find his or her self or discover their place without ridicule or exclusion.

That’s why the church of Jesus is special. If nothing else, the church is meant by God to be a place where all that call on the name of the Lord DO fit; where all are invited and there is the constant extension of welcome.

I long for a day when a show like Glee isn’t popular, not because the singing and dancing are bad, but rather because no one knows what it’s like to be left out, to be alone, to exist without a community and longing. Until then, though, may we create spaces and places where no one sings alone.

This is some of the most thought-provoking work on motivation I’ve heard. If Dan Pink is correct, it should change everything in the place you work.

Here some thoughts/insights/ questions brought to my mind by Pink.

1. People have to be invested in the organizational mission/goals for this to work. Oftentimes employees can go through difficult times and/ or malaise, what would pink suggest then? I suspect he has a good answer.

2. He mentioned taking money off the table. What should companies do when they can’t afford the best people and the people they have are not the intrinsically motivated kind? And how, in the interview/on-boarding process can you best eliminate those candidates?

What say you?

This is my review of Matthew Raley’s “The Diversity Culture,” which was posted at Viral Bloggers.

I picked up Matthew Raley’s. “The Diversity Culture” with great anticipation. Raley is a pastor in my new neck-of-the-woods, dealing with the same social, cultural and spiritual challenges that I have, and the topic – Christian engagement with others – had lots of promise. Plus, it ‘s been a busy month, and if I were to review a book this month, I wanted it to be short, which “The Diversity Culture” is. The information I received regarding the author, projected him as a political and social conservative and the church is woefully short of these kind of men and woman who are engaged in meaningful dialogue with the irreducible Other – or at least are willing to write about it!

After giving Raley a solid read, I must confess I found his work to be a mixed bag. That’s not to say that “The Diversity Culture” is a poorly written or overflowing with poor ideas. Rather, Raley and I, while sharing a desire for similar outcomes, we come at interaction with the Other in some significantly different ways.

My task here is not to argue with Raley – that would be counterproductive, not to mention out-of-school. Raley has some significantly useful points and perspectives that more Christ-followers would be wise to incorporate. Therefore, I will simple lay out what I consider to be the good, the bad and the ugly and allow you to decide.

The Good

Raley’s best work surrounds his ability to give Christians a language and process for engaging the Other. This, I know, can be discombobulating to some, especially those that view increasing diversity in America as some kind of threat. Describing the stereotypical World War II man, Raley explains that he “knows who he is.” This kind of knowing is often – and I may be reaching here myself – unsettled by cultures and epistemologies that the World War II man doesn’t understand. If that is the case, then Raley is a great place to begin.

What’s more, Raley, gives a step-by-step guide to engagement – the perfect solution for those who don’t quite know what to do. Raley offers scripture, community, and testimony as a way forward. For some this will be a great challenge and Raley gives them glimmers of hope and thoughtful ways to engage. If you know someone who wants to interact with Others, yet is too uncomfortable to do so, then Raley is a good place to start.

What’s more, Raley committed works from a Biblical perspective. He is not attempting to create conversations by distancing himself or the church from the claims of scripture. He is not even advocating that we see the Biblical text in a new way. Rather he is attempting to bridge the divide, giving Christ-followers helpful ways to move the conversation along

The Bad

But what Raley does well is also the Achilles heal of “The Diversity Culture.” Admittedly, most of these critiques involve the first half of the book, which was difficult to get through. First, while reading “The Diversity Culture” I got the distinct sense that the Other is a problem to be dealt with, not a person to be loved. The books aim seems to be this: “How do we get the irreducible Other to think and act like typical American evangelical Christians?” This fact is embedded in the book’s title. The subtle suggestion is that there is a “diversity culture” that we need to learn to reach and teach – as if (1) we are not all a part, in some degree, of the same culture and (2) that other cultures out to acquiesce to “our” culture.

Raley’s bias is exposed in his exegesis of the Samaritan woman, whom he constructs as the necessary Other to be engaged. Looking at Jesus’ interaction with the woman, Raley offers their interaction with one another as a model for the church. Here’s the problem with that model: (1) Within this interaction, Jesus is socially and politically the superior. This necessarily effects the engagement. We must ask whether or not this kind of engagement is a proper equivalent. Do we want to use an image of superiority when engaging the other? Perhaps one of Jesus’ encounters with a social equal might be better.

As Raley writes, you get hints of this superiority in his descriptions of others, such as a New York Times reader or the lady at Café Siddhartha. Raley characterizations may come off to some as flippant stereotypes that may make some readers wonder whether or not he took the irreducible Other seriously as a person. Along with this, Raley offers a popular exegesis of the Samaritan woman that simply is extra-textual. Like many before him, Raley posits that the woman was divorced by her five previous husbands, which may be true but is not actually in the text. How might the reader engage the Samaritan woman if through the devastating blows which life sometimes deals, they discover that she is a five-time widow? Sounds extreme? Maybe. But it is no more or less explicit in the text than a five-time divorcee. Oddly, I happen to know a woman who is a three-time widow. Given the disparity in ages, which occurred in the marriages of antiquity, it’s not entirely far-fetched. Perhaps Jesus’ interaction with the woman is less concerned about sin and more with compassion – but now I’m rambling. At root, however, for Raley the Other seems to be less a person and more the object of a ministry designed less to convert from darkness to light and more to assimilate. But, (and I mean this sincerely) I may be woefully misreading him.

Second, because Raley switches back-and-forth between an imagined scene in a café, his own insights and Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman, his writing style seems herky-jerky, at times. Though not a major problem, there are points in which his argument is lost in transition.

It should be noted that Raley’s instincts get better as the book wears on, but it’s hard to give him an audience for that long. As a pastor desirous of conveying the message of the gospel, I respect Raley, and his desire to engage the Other in meaningful way. For that we can all be thankful.

What makes good preaching? Do you have any idea? I don’t know that I do. I was trained by some of the absolute best homileticians anywhere, who, in turn were trained be great homileticians, so I have a very specific — and, in some ways, theologically acedemic — view of the preaching event. I have a high view of preaching. I know what it is “supposed” to be. At root, I do homiletics. It’s who I am! Which is the case for many other pastors I know.

The problem is that for every preacher that has been “trained” in homiletics, there is an entire congregation who is not. This gives rise to the fact that for every face in a worship gathering their is an opinion about what the preaching should and shouldn’t be. Some folks think a good sermon produces something they didn’t know before — but that’s turns preaching into novelty. Others think that a good sermon is “practical” — by which they typically mean “moralistic, therapeutic, Deism.” Yet some want great oratory, the quick turn of a phrase, the sermon turned literary piece, I suppose. And still others want “points” — a form of teaching the Bible simple does not embrace. I’ve known church members who loved the preaching because it was “biblical,” disregading how poorly crafted it was. And others who loved the craft and didn’t notice that the preacher didn’t really say anything.

So there sits the congregation, each with their own ideas about what the one with the mic should do and how well they do it. Assuming that both the preacher and the congregation want to be faithful to the scriptures, but view the preaching event differently; what do you think should happen? (And don’t say you can do it all, because you can’t and it’s intellectually lazy.)

I love winning. I grew up in Mississippi loving to play both soccer and baseball, but mostly loving to win when I played soccer and baseball. From an early age, the question, “Did you have fun?” never mattered. I wanted to win! And couldn’t understand those kids on my teams that were there to “have fun.”

It was fun to win; it was not fun to lose.

At the same time I was winning and losing, my family and my coaches – which were often the same people – taught me that good sportsmanship was part and parcel of playing sports well. Even when I lost, or while the game was hanging in the balance, I understood that my opponent wasn’t my enemy. At the end of games both teams would shake hands and leave our striving against one another on the field. My father taught me that winning was a good thing, but it wasn’t everything. But sadly, in our world more and more of us are finding winning to be the only thing. If you haven’t noticed, American culture, perhaps more than anything else now, is about winning.

This summer as opposition arose the President Obama’s healthcare goals, undecided on the subject myself, I asked my friend, Kraig, a series of questions about the uproar and the anger (town-halls, birthers, etc…). Kraig and I e-mailed back and forth our thoughts on the subject. Kraig articulated hosts of reasons why some people were so angry. A staunch conservative, Kraig has issues with “Obamacare,” as do many people I know, trust and love. Yet in our exchange, he said, “Some of these people have come to see politics as a kind of sport, and it’s not necessarily about the issues so much as it’s about winning.” That was a new take on politics to me – as naïve as that sounds. For some, there is an opposition and when there is an opposition, the most fundamental thing that can be done is defeat them. In fact, if you’re able to convince yourself that the opposition is inherently evil then you must defeat them – even if that means degrading one’s own self to do so. Don’t mistake me, though naïve, I know there are people of all political persuasions, left and right, who see their primary political motivator not as advocacy of a position, bi-partisanship, or statesmanship, but the elimination of the opponent.

Our political blood-lust for winning bubbled up and spilled over into the President’s address to the nation last week as we saw Joe Wilson embarrass all of us with his ill-advised shout at the President. Shouting in Congress does not produce a useful bill, it’s done in order to hurt the President’s cause. In turn those opposed to Wilson have and are calling for endless apologies, not because the apology will do anything besides weaken Wilson and his chances for reelection. The issue is long past and never really mattered much anyway, now it’s about winning.

Obviously, this kind of behavior isn’t limited to politics. As we’ve seen through Serena Williams’ U.S. Open profanity laced tirade, the winning edge within sports itself can be taken too far. Here a talented athlete, frustrated by the prospect of losing, demeaned herself, her opponent and a lineswoman in view of millions – some of kids. Why? Because winning was the most important thing. Worse than that, even, has been the treatment of South African runner, Caster Semanya. This poor woman has been made to undergo a public testing of her gender. There is very little else that strikes so closely to who we are than our gender. And why has she faced this wholly embarrassing testing? She was winning and other runners weren’t. As a father of two daughters, I can’t imagine the pain, hurt, discomfort and mortification Caster’s family must feel.

I have to ask: How much are we willing to lose for the sake of winning?

Too many of us have forgotten that Jesus calls not for the defeat of our enemies but for us to love them. And Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that love for our enemies entails, “refusing to defeat them.” Of course, on the ball field, someone has to win or lose, but there is a way, both on and off the field of play to treat others in ways where everyone wins, or at least is not about defeating. In the end, Christ followers believe that love wins, and because it does all words and actions should be done in love.

What would our world look like if all of us held deeply to the truth that loving our enemies, rather than defeating them, was the ONLY way to win? Hopefully the millions of us who darken the doors of churches every Sunday would be the last people to shout out in anger, regardless of the venue, and the first to know why and how to speak out about the heinous behavior that places winning above all else in sports, politics and the workplace.

At root, we should live as though the most significant victory in the world has already been won, and indeed, with Christ’s salvific act on the cross, it has.

Taking a break from blogging, in case you haven’t noticed. I’m currently discerning the future of this space and what I feel called to do (or not do) with it.