Is Your Business Just an ATM Machine for Ministries?

 “[W]hatever you do, eating or drinking or anything else, everything should be done to bring glory to God.” 1 Cor. 10:31 (Phillips New Testament in Modern English) 

It’s soon to be upon us... Christmas! Christ is born. Christians will celebrate the birth of Jesus. It will be a “most wonderful time of the year” as the song goes. But wait a minute. If we ONLY focus on the birth or death of Jesus, we may forget that he lived about 33 years doing the everyday things of life just like you and me. He ran a company making things, he led a team, some of whom gave him grief and challenged or betrayed him. He was frustrated with his team at times and got cross ways with government leaders. He prepared talks given to small and large groups, he got mad and cried. He got tired, was under extreme stress, and his good accomplishments were misunderstood. He was finally killed at a young age.  

The apostle Paul writes about Jesus in the book of Philippians in chapter 2: 

"When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process.” (The Message) 

In her magnificent little book, A Theology of the Ordinary, Julie Canlis writes:  

“Jesus is not just going through the motions of being human in order to fast forward to the cross. Jesus is being fully human in order that I might become, in him, fully human once again. Jesus took on my humanity in order that I might, like Adam, live in communion with God in my ordinary life. When Adam was created, being human was part of his daily worship. As we are made human once again in Christ, this too is part of our worship, and to be frank, much of this is very ordinary.” 

It’s clear that Jesus participated in the ordinary things of life. That means when you create a spreadsheet, hire or fire a team member, write an article, give a talk, create a strategy, execute a plan, shred a document, sell a product or service to a customer, manage a process, fix a broken system, or praise an employee, you can do it to the glory of God.   

You are not just an ATM machine to write checks to missions organizations, and God does not ONLY smile upon you when you help homeless folks or sing in church. Besides, do you really think God would have created your 40 plus hours of work Monday to Friday to be an irrelevant exercise, so you could really worship him for one hour in church or one week on a missions trip? Unlikely.  

Work has been around since before earth was created. God worked to create earth. Adam and Eve worked in the Garden of Eden. In the Old Testament book of Leviticus, the priests worked to build a place of worship. Today, you are working in God’s temple. It’s called your work. What would it be like to see it as worship? Might it be time to reclaim Monday to Friday for the glory of God? Clearly, Jesus was born and died. But he also lived 33 years between his birth and death. It’s time to not just put Christ back in Christmas but time to put him back into your everyday ordinary business life and place your work before God as an offering (Romans 12:1). 

Who's Washing Your Feet?

Recently, I experienced a tough situation where I was at my wits’ end. Some rough news was shared, and I was a mess. Of course, my first impulse was to do what leaders do and keep this to myself and put on a game-day face. Right? WRONG! That’s what prideful leaders do who think they should be immune to pain, always perfect, never real.

Remember the story of Peter who didn’t want Jesus to wash his feet? Let’s take a quick look.

Jesus got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”      

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

 Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

John 13:4-9

Why didn’t Peter want Jesus to wash his feet? Maybe he was embarrassed that he hadn’t tried to serve first. Maybe he was too full of pride to receive that type of service. To be sure, accepting a gift of service to oneself means you are willing to be vulnerable, willing to have needs. In short, allowing ourselves to be served requires humility.

I remember being in a CEO’s office in Paris, France one day. It’s the only CEO’s office—the only office of any type, for that matter—I have ever been in that had a shoeshine chair in it. Eric Celerier, the CEO, asked me to sit in the chair, roll up my pant legs, and let him shine my shoes. Predictably, I declined, saying my shoes were okay, and he did not need to take his time for my shoes.

Why was my first impulse to not let Eric serve me? It was nothing but pride. However, Eric convinced me I should let him shine my shoes, and he did a beautiful job of it.

Back to my tough situation. Into my office that day walked a dear friend. He asked how I was doing, and instead of hiding behind my pride I told him, “not so good,” and cried a river of tears into his shoulder. I opened myself up to receive his care for me that day. All pride was surely gone, and it was the best encounter of my week.

So, will you let someone serve you this week? Maybe you could begin by answering more honestly next time someone asks, “How are you?”. Instead of giving a glib or fake answer, try being real, even going so far as to share the tough situation you’re in the middle of. You’ll be surprised at how much your friends want to love you. And you’ll be giving them the blessing of serving by humbling yourself enough to receive.

I Know You're Busy, But...

What do you say when people ask you how you’re doing?

Most of us have the standard 21st century answer – ”busy”!

In addition, we kind of revel in people calling us to ask for our help and beginning their request with the happy little phrase, “I know you’re busy, but could I ask you to ________________ ?  You know what they say: “If you want something done, ask a busy person”! It’s even worse when our busy life spills over into our family life, “Mom, I know you’re busy, but could you read me a book?

Don’t worry, I’m as guilty as you might be. This month I flew across the country twice and sadly I exited our family reunion a half-day early to fly to Africa to “save the world” (well, not really, but it felt like it). On the way to my day, I called people on my call list to “save time”. On Sunday (that day of ‘rest’), I entertained out of state guests. I drove three hours to speak to a gathered crowd, then drove home at 9 p.m. to arrive at 11 p.m. in time to sleep in my own bed for five hours, just in time to wake up for a 6:30 a.m. breakfast meeting to help things at work run better.

What about you? Are you always hurrying somewhere? Are you always a bit late? Are you “just skimming” this article to save time? Are you present when you are with people? When you relax, do you feel guilty? When you’re driving or walking or exercising, do you listen to podcasts to be “more productive”? Do you wonder what would happen if there was nothing but the sound of silence?

So, can we talk? Just for a minute, I just have one question. When do you listen to God in silence so there is space for Him to talk back as you listen? Or do your prayers go something like this…

Dear God, thank you for today. I need help with my project, and please help Aunt Ruth to feel more loved ‘cause she was upset at Thanksgiving, so give her peace. And help me to know what to say to my boss… (I wonder how the traffic is doing on my drive to work) …anyway, God, like I said, please help me get to work safe, amen. Oh and let me do better at being more at peace and help me to slow down, amen. Amen thank you God, please speak to me! I really want to hear your voice! Gotta run. Bye!

In his book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer notes that we live fast-paced distracted lives governed by the invention of the clock. Our days are longer thanks to the invention of the light bulb, while our brains are governed by smart phones (which psychologists are discovering are really dumb phones since we’re all becoming addicted to their endless pings and dings)

Our soul is crying out, “I’m dying!” Are you listening?

This season, it really matters that we might slow down and worship. Something BIG happened thousands of years ago at this time of year. Most missed it but a few heard from God and stopped what they were doing to pay attention. Mary, the mother of Jesus, even before he was born, stopped to praise God for her future son.  Shepherds stopped being busy caring for their sheep for a while. Wise scholars took time off from their duties to buy gifts and follow a star to God-knows-where for days on end.

All of them did this to take time to worship a king that was born this season. His name? Immanuel. His role? King of Kings, Lord of Lords. His kingdom? It’s forever and ever and ever. Why did he bother leaving the perfection of Heaven for the broken nature of earth? It was so that you might make time to discover Him and His offer to learn from Him, and maybe even accept His gift of eternal life. This season, let’s slow down, put away our phones, skip the shopping for a night or two and bow down to worship Him.

How Do You Grow as a Leader?

How do you grow as a leader? Read books, meet over coffee with like-minded friends, listen to God, get a life coach? Each of those in and of themselves are good but none of them alone is likely enough.

I’ve done a lot of thinking about this over the past year and it’s clear there are many ways leaders grow. Problem is, sometimes we only participate in one part of a multi-part ecosystem.

Some people learn from their participation in a peer group in which they learn from each other, dive into case studies, advise each other on business issues and more. Some people love their books (I’m guilty!) and can’t wait for the next self-help book or podcast to download. They are lifelong learners. Some of you have a coach and some of you have a mentor. Some of you have your DiSC or Myers–Briggs or 5 StrengthsFinder strengths posted on your office door.

Here’s the breaking news: none of these things by themselves are enough to help leaders grow holistically. You can always mislead your coach about how others view your leadership. Too many books puff you up with head knowledge if you’re not careful. Too much conflicting advice from peers can be confusing if God is not your ultimate source of direction.

I do know one thing – real learning happens over time in community. That’s why Jesus spent time with his closest followers. It’s why Jesus was full of wisdom as a young boy before he got to the church leaders; he was studying regularly. That’s why we often need an outside coach to help us get unstuck from our paradigm ruts. That’s why an outside consultant is helpful for what we don’t know how to fix alone.

“Real learning happens over time in community.

One thing is also true: we all experience spiritually poverty. Are you honest enough with yourself to admit that because of man’s fall in the garden, you might experience weakness, unfulfilled needs, emotional injuries and pain at the hands of others, or your own immaturities and sins? We cannot always repair in our own strength. When we realize we need each other, it helps us get closer to God and to live in community.

At Convene, we have all these leadership learning modes in play with our members. Check us out and see how you might learn from a thought-provoking faith work article or engaging podcast. Maybe it’s time to join a peer to peer group of leaders, to journey with an executive coach that will help you get unstuck, or to hire a consultant to help you peer into the future. At Convene, we exist to help you in all these areas because we exist to help you grow as a leader.

Let’s do this together!

An Ordinary Day with God

I was in India for a mission trip in 2009 and I was as sick as a dog. The long train ride to Nepal from Delhi was one where the clickety-clack of the train coupled with the food I was not used to just about did me in. I ended up in a little tiny train bathroom turning green with people shaking the door trying to get in since I’d been there so long. Enough said.

When we arrived just short of the Nepal border and checked into our rather run-down lodging, I was given some medicine by our trip leader that knocked me out for 24 hours. I awoke groggy and weak only to hear the news that we were going to Nepal that morning. Everything in me wanted to crawl back into my little lumpy bed, but we jumped into the vehicles that would drive us to the Nepal border.

We entered the little Nepal village and went house to house talking about Jesus to people who spoke precious few English words – the translator did the rest. We had tea with one couple and spoke to many. By the end of the day, I felt we had accomplished absolutely nothing. It was just an ordinary day with ordinary people doing ordinary things. It seemed not to be “radical” or “passionate”, like some of the book titles or conference titles I was used to back in the USA. So, we got back on the train and headed home. For me, I was glad I at least felt better!

I pretty much forgot about that ordinary day there in a tiny ordinary village in Nepal in 2009 till today. My email dinged me this morning and said I had a newsletter from the Indian leader who took us to Nepal.

”Dear friends,

The sharing of God’s Love among our neighbors in western Nepal began in the year 2009. A short-term mission group from Saddleback Church in California came out to visit us in India and decided to take a day trip to shower the love of God into a Nepal village. On seeing the unengaged communities in Nepal the team was inspired to dedicate their efforts to sharing the good news among various tribes in Nepal. Today, 10 years later, we have started over 40 house churches.”

Wait, what?! My ordinary day, plus God’s extraordinary Spirit driven power, plus the strong, regular, 10 years of work by local missions professionals, created over 40 little churches?! Here I thought my day in 2009 was wasted for God. Instead, God used my wasted body for his glory.

At Leadership Collab 2019 in San Diego, California, we aren’t going to try to blow you away with a light show, a cast of superstars, racy graphics or a perfect worship set. We are going to ask God to use ordinary, exceptionally gifted communicators and award-winning musicians and artists to strengthen you, to inspire you and to encourage you to be all you can be as an ordinary leader out on point for God’s Kingdom. We are going to send you home from the Hotel del Coronado with your ordinary briefcase or backpack loaded with ideas as to how you can use your business as a platform of influence for God. We’ll be sure to give you a file folder full of straight-up block-and-tackle business ideas too. Things like how to scale your firm, how to lead well and how to be up to date on critical issues of our day.

You’ll rub shoulders with other ordinary leaders who all want the same thing you want, Kingdom impact. Maybe what we need right now is to do ordinary things better, to not look to change America, or to fix the world, but to love the neighbor (aka, employee) that God has given us the responsibility to lead. Let’s not miss God in the regular while we’re looking for the fireworks show to happen outside our window.

All in all, we’re going to learn how to “take our ordinary life … and place it before God as an offering”. Who knows, maybe 10 years from now if we’re faithful and God infuses our work with his power, someone who works for us as a shipping clerk, a VP of Finance, a janitor or a VP of Marketing, will have been loved in Jesus’ name. And maybe, just maybe, someone who works with us will find a relationship with the God who made them.    

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Sexual Temptation and the Spiritually Healthy Leader

The book arrived on my doorstep unrequested. It was going to go in the “TO READ” pile that never actually gets read. There was one show stopper, however. It contained a note from a dear friend. He was endorsing a book by his friend Jay Stringer. The book was entitled, Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing.

As a psychotherapist and ordained minister, Jay had done groundbreaking research on 3,800 people about their unwanted sexual behavior. I was intrigued. The world is telling us to put blocking software on your computer and pray hard to rid yourself of unwanted sexual behavior. Make no mistake, both of those actions are good ones, however, Jay was saying something new, something different.

He said our unwanted sexual behavior leaves clues like breadcrumbs in a mystery novel that lead to the secret of unlocking years of pain. This was no “writer’s opinion” of how to avoid things like unwanted pornography viewing, buying sex, visiting massage parlors or affairs. This was a solution based in clinical research. Jay shared how we get to this place of pain, why we stay there and how we can get out of the mess. I was ready to dive in.

I called Jay out of the blue,

ME: You don’t know me but I got your book from our mutual friend, Bruce McNicol, President of Trueface Ministry.

JAY: Nice to meet you, Greg!

… After some pleasant conversation…

ME: I was wondering if there was a correlation between your research of unwanted sexual behavior and the power of a leader to do what they want when they want to? It seems the work world is rampant with leaders abusing their power over people in sexual ways.

JAY: Yes there is! Leaders and their abuse of power can make everything even more pervasive and rampant.

ME: Would you be open to doing a video podcast about this to share the secrets you’ve learned in your research?

JAY: Of course!

The result is here now for you to take in. Jay and I met in Seattle and filmed something that could release you from the grip of unwanted sexual behavior. I asked Jay what happens when we mix the power of the leader’s role with unwanted sexual behavior. Leaders are at times fighting loneliness, anxiety, complexity, overload, decision fatigue, and multiple pressures. They can create “alone spaces”, feel entitled to a reward, know that almost anything can be theirs or feel they deserve a break.

Oddly enough, Jay shares in the interview we had that lack of purpose can lead to sexual failure. There’s been failure at the C-Suite, the White House, the Hollywood casting couch, the sports world and our own living rooms in the dark of night when no one is watching. It can rip your relationships to shreds in a moment and make you feel at loss as you try to wash away the shame.

Turns out there’s a solution to all this shame and pain. Jay shares the strategy for confronting unwanted sexual brokenness, and has a plan for a pathway to wholeness. Listen in:

Jay will be sharing live and taking audience questions at Leadership Collab 2019 in San Diego, California.

REGISTER HERE

Who's Sitting in Your Pew?

This is really written to the world’s pastors… you’re welcome to listen in as we sip our coke.

So, pastor, have you thought lately of who’s really sitting in your pew? As you know, most of your adult church members live Monday to Friday in the workplace. As the old rock music song ‘Takin Care of Business’, by Bachman Turner Overdrive belted out: “You get up every morning from your alarm clock’s warning, take the 8:15 into the city. There’s a whistle up above and people pushin’, and people shovin’…”

Your members live in this world that is often fraught with pushing and shoving and swearing and off-color jokes and more, and they often feel like it’s not a place they can raise the banner of faith. As a matter of fact, a recent Barna Research study showed that only 26% of Christian workers see how the work they are doing serves God or a higher purpose.

Our author friends have been writing about faith-work integration for folks in your pews who are company owners, leaders and workers since the 1980’s. Fresh new books are coming out regularly. Many of the books have the same basic message. Something like, “Hey Business Person! Your work is a holy calling!” and they remind us to “be like Jesus in the marketplace.” The thing is, some of the business leaders sitting in your pew would love to feel like they’re in ministry, but they don’t. They feel like second-class citizens who imagine someday they will finally be in a “real ministry” . . . in a soup kitchen or crisis pregnancy center or in a foreign land, and then finally God will smile on their life.

I know, I was one of them, way back in 1990. I was one of those deacons who prayed Sunday night for the visiting missionary and then hopped a Sunday night plane to business in another city, hoping I too would be a missionary someday. So, your business leaders and workers that sit in your pews keep going on mission trips where “real ministry” happens. Unfortunately, the mission trip seems more spiritual to the man or woman sitting in your pew than it does if they balance the books or write a new marketing plan or hire a new team member or invent a new product or care for a patient or teach a toddler new skills.

Dorothy Sayers, one of the first women to graduate from Oxford and possibly one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the twentieth century, wrote some powerful things that help workers and leaders live out their faith at work. Let’s read:

The Church's approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.[1]

Have you told the folks sitting in your pews to ‘make good tables’ and to love their neighbor while they’re at work? They’re dying to know how their work matters and they trust you to tell them what God says about it. They’ve been under the impression that their work is something they do just to make money. The problem is, that premise does not live out well. Logically, it would mean that after God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden, he set them up to do meaningless drudgery for 70% of their life. THIS ISN’T TRUE! The truth is that meaning can only be found in God’s purposes for work. God’s hand is not absent from accounting, teaching, cleaning, wood carving, leading, painting, owning a business or piloting an airplane. In Psalm 90:17, the Psalmist asks God to “establish the work of his hands“. Jesus talked about not hiding our talent and being a faithful steward for His Kingdom. Jesus knew that the people hearing his voice had to go back to work when he was done talking, and he wanted them to know that work matters. The workplace is where the world is Monday to Friday. It’s where we as Christ followers must show up to redeem a world craving hope, love and meaning. We must turn the Sunday stuff into Monday stuff.

What can you as a pastor do to truly see and engage a business leader and champion them in their calling outside your church? I get the pleasure of talking with hundreds of Christian CEOs in our network as the CEO of Convene. You can start your learning journey at our website.  We meet monthly to try to “turn the Sunday stuff into Monday stuff.” If I could bring along one of our leaders and we met in your study as you worked on your next sermon, here’s what we’d likely suggest as to crafting your talk with the worker or leader in mind.

1. Teach your members they are in ministry, each day from sun up to sun down

2. Go visit your members at their work if it’s appropriate. They’d be honored and likely would even buy you lunch! If you can’t visit, call them and pray for them as ministers of the gospel living out their faith at work.

3. Add to your reading list a few books on faith and work such as Giving it all Away by David Green or Every Good Endeavor by Pastor Tim Keller. Better yet, why not get a gift for your business leaders such as the Maxwell Leadership Bible, or grab the practical daily devotional for all of us who work called 10X For Christ by Carlos Rosales. They’ll feel so understood by you!

4. Send an email to all your members who serve in the workplace asking how you could pray for them.

5. Send a video learning link on faith at work. They’ll know you’re thinking about them.

One more thing. My friends and I are assembling a group of thinkers who understand the faith-work space deeply. We’re all gathering in San Diego, CA to talk about how we can show up with God’s love in the workplace. The learning event is this fall. We’d love to welcome you to learn with us. Details can be found here. Email us if you are a pastor or would like to invite your pastor to the conference at a 30% discount. We’ll be waiting to greet you.

[1] Dorothy Sayers, Creed or Chaos