A Leadership Lesson from a Chef

I was recently pondering the importance of rest in the life of, well anyone, but especially those who lead. Whether you run a business or lead a ministry, an essential to longevity is rest. I was searching the internet using the phrase "the importance of rest" and the top results were from the world of cooking. The importance of resting a pork roast. Not exactly what I was looking for. But I did a little reading on the subject and it was surprisingly enlightening. No, really.

The reason it is important to allow any meat to rest after exposure to the heat of the cooking process is to allow for the redistribution of the juices. During exposure to the intense heat, the juices of the meat gravitate to the center of the meat for preservation purposes and it is caused by the tensing of the muscle fibers. But if you remove the meat from the intense heat and allow it to rest, the muscle fibers relax, thus allowing the juices to flow evenly throughout, rendering a more tender and evenly prepared finished product.

If only we humans could grasp this truth. We spend so much time in the intense heat of leadership, be it running a business, leading a ministry, or really any sort of leadership. And so many leaders find it difficult to pull away from the heat and just rest. Some will even applaud your efforts if you constantly work and resist "idle resting when there is more to be done." This is especially true in church leadership. You work for God...how dare you lie down on the job. Well, God did. He took an entire day and rested from His labors and, while we all know that is true (everyone is familiar with the creation story!), few of us choose to live this way.

And that is why so few people are tender and completely even through and through. We become callous and proud of our accomplishments when the whole of our bodies and, more particularly, our souls are crying out for release. To be tough and rigid often indicates the self-preservation that takes place in the heat of life. But to rest is to become tender and even, offering God the opportunity to have His way with us and actually giving us a more pleasing presentation to others. Others who are hungry and needy. And who are learning from the example we are setting.

What example are you setting? When do you truly rest? Do you separate yourself from your work environment and allow time for your mind to be occupied with things that will tenderize you and "even you out"? Make time regularly to escape the heat and the pressure. Just rest.

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A Little Something Practical

I have always been a big fan of simplicity. Less is more. It works for me and, honestly, I think it would work for anyone who would make the effort to streamline areas of their life. Once the initial streamlining is done then it is easy to live simply. Case in point... your inbox. Even if you are not willing to admit it, clutter is stress-inducing and the clutter in your inbox can become a big stressor. First of all, if you are going to maintain an e-mail address then you should be prompt with your responses to others. Very unprofessional to drag your feet with correspondence. The times when I have been horribly slow responding to others is when my inbox is out of control. Tim Sanders recommends (here) having your own inbox handicap and keeping the number of e-mails in it at or below that number. My handicap is 20 and when it gets over that, I take a few minutes to answer, delete or file what is in there. Very simple, really. Give it a try and see if it doesn't destress an area of your life.

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What Does Your Headline Say??

Seth Godin had a wonderful blog on Friday about headlines. (I know, when did I have time to read a blog on Friday?  I squeezed in a few important ones.)  And it made me think about what my own "headline" reads.  What message do I advertise to others when they encounter me, especially those who do not already know me.  What one sentence does my life scream to others as representative of me?  I don't mean this to sound narcissistic, but we do make a lasting first impression on those around us and it is worth a few moments of my time to consider what headline screams at others from the front page of my life.  Does it say something positive that would make others want to read further?  Is there depth and substance and something other than self?  Is the fragrance of God wafting from the front pages of my life enough that the casual passer-by is compelled to take a closer look?  Just some questions to consider.  Have a lovely Monday!

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Get Paid For Your Passion

I think I have already mentioned that I have been reading Seth Godin's most recent book, Tribes, and it is really speaking to me where I am.  One sentence in particular grabbed my attention.  Seth says,

 "Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you ought to set up a life you don't need to escape from."  

  Godin asserts that the people who love what they do and are eager to get to work each day are people who are affecting change in their sphere of influence.  'They challenge the status quo and push something forward-something they believe in.  They lead."  Many people get up each day and head to jobs where they are working to help someone else accomplish their hopes/dreams/goals.  How many of us are getting paid to "do" the desire of our own heart?  

One of the things I love to do when I get the opportunity to speak to a group of leaders is encourage them to allow the desires of their heart to be resurrected that they might begin living from the overflow of those dreams and desires.  Most folks are taught to get a good job with great benefits and retirement.  I am telling people to make smart financial decisions but live your dreams.  If you are college age or younger, get in touch with your heart and discover what keeps you up at night, where your passion is.  Then figure out how to get paid to do that.  It may take some time and require paying a few dues, but you really can live, and get paid for, the passion in your heart.  If you are further along in life, but disappointed with where you are, it is NOT too late to get paid for your passion.  You just have to take that first step.

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Inspiration Buffet

Many of the bloggers I read have posted notes from each of the Catalyst speakers.  Rather than do that, I am going to offer a tasty sampling of the high points (in my opinion, of course) from some of the speakers that truly spoke to my soul:

Tim Sanders:

   -A true leader gauges reality and gives hope.

Seth Godin:

   -Positive deviants: you have to do something people can criticize.

   -Become heretics! (person who holds controversial opinions in an area)

   -A heretic is someone whose faith is so deep, they are willing to endure the criticism of the status quo.

   -Heretics don't let the rules of religion get in the way of their faith.

William Young:

   -Can you get through your theological paradigms that don't work but you hold on to?

   -Many Christians have a problem with the book's depiction of the Trinity as a circle of relationship rather than a chain of command.  God is inviting us into His circle!

   -God has an affection that is relentless in our direction.

Jim Collins:

   -A "to-do" list without a "stop doing" list shows a profound lack of discipline.

   -Invest your time in being "interested" rather than "interesting".

Steven Furtick:

   -God is preparing you for what He is preparing for you.

   -Don't forget the promise and forfeit the payoff because you fainted in the process.

Andy Crouch:

   -There is something that you can create in our culture that may otherwise go undone.

Andy Stanley:

   -Pay attention to the people who are breaking the rules.  It is the rule-breakers who are often 

        the problem-solvers.

Yum yum!  Hope you enjoyed the random sampling from the feast that is Catalyst.

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The Adventure Continues...

"People cannot discover new lands until they have the courage to lose sight of the shore"--Andre`Gide

Someone said to me recently that she couldn't wait to see where God would throw us next. She said that what she loves about us is that we are "throwable"(this may be a code word for "crazy"...not sure). This is true...we are throwable (certainly crazy) and it seems that God is throwing us back to the great state of Georgia and into the unexpected. We have been in North Florida pastoring a really fantastic church for the past four + years and much to everyone's surprise, He is now taking us into the marketplace. Eddie will be heading up the sales department for the West Georgia Xerox agency, Digital Technology Solutions, which is owned and operated by his sister and brother-in-law in Columbus, Georgia. I will be pouring my energies into getting my writing off the ground, hopefully making it a source of income for me.

I love the breathlessness that comes with following God and chasing dreams. I think He always meant for life to be, at times, adventurous and surprising, like a voyage on a ship in uncharted waters. The explorers of yesterday would have never known the wonder of seeing a strange, new land on the horizon if they had not left the shoreline of the familiar. This certainly doesn't necessarily require a physical move. Sometimes it simply means stepping outside of what is comfortable and well-worn to do something new that pleases God. Most people love pictures of the vastness of a horizon where the sky and the ocean appear to kiss each other but it is another thing entirely to pull your anchor in your own ship and launch out towards the unknown. There is always that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach that comes and goes...it is just part of the process. Someone asked us yesterday what we plan to do if we fail. We told him that we would check our compass and see which direction He was pointing to next. The adventure would continue.

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Wanting, Needing, Longing....

I was reading Seth Godin's blog yesterday and it made me think. He spoke of marketing and the common goal of marketers:

"What you have doesn't make you unhappy. What you want does.
And want is created by us, the marketers."

I am grateful that I am an American and that I live in a free market society that allows us each the freedom to create and sell products/services that add value to the lives of others. As a Christian, however, I must be keenly aware of the seduction of this very same system. While Godin is correct in his assertion that the consumer wants what he or she does not yet have, and those feelings are indeed exacerbated by the lure of the latest "thing" dangled at the end of the marketers' fishing pole, I do not believe that the "want" is created by the marketer. The want is created in us by the Creator Himself. The great tragedy is that we often mistake the deep longings within ourselves as a need for stuff.

In his book The Seven Longings of the Human Heart, Mike Bickle says this: "We have cravings built into our spirit as an integral part of our divine design. These cravings reveal the genius of the Creator, who placed these longings in us to reflect His own personality and guide us to-and back to-Him. He intentionally planted longings deep within our hearts that only He can fill."

How many of us try to fill our longings for greatness, for beauty, for intimacy, for legacy, with what can only be acquired with money when what we deeply desire can only be fulfilled by the God who fashioned us to fulfill HIS longing. Wow! God has a longing for.........me! He deeply desires oneness with me and with you. He is waiting for each of us to realize our desperate need for what only He can offer. And there are no shipping and handling fees! Your longings fulfilled will be delivered straight to the depths of your heart on demand anytime you call on Him.

Is it okay to still want an iPhone and a Mac? Sure. As long as you acquire them to meet your tech needs and not your emotional needs. (I want both of them...champagne taste on a beer budget) Kind of ironic that these products are made by Apple. Wasn't it an apple that got us all into trouble to begin with? Kidding...just relax!

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Out of the Hothouse

For many years I have been thinking about church. It seems odd to me that we create hothouses (we call them ministries) within the walls of the modern American church building where we conduct all manner of programs designed to " bring people in" so that we can "reach them with the Gospel". I honestly cannot find any examples of this particular behavior anywhere in the Bible. I know that someone will read this and pray that I will be suddenly struck by lightening, but I have to say this.

The passage in Luke 14 where Jesus talks about the master who speaks to his slave to 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled", this speaks of an invitation to come to Christ, not to a bible study or pancake breakfast. Now, I am not against pancake breakfasts or bible studies. But we tell the 98% of the average church, who are not called to vocational ministry, to find their place of fulfillment within our "hothouse programs" that have precious little to do with their destiny in Christ. There are so many who are called to the marketplace to fulfill their destiny and, instead of helping to equip them and encourage them in that, we emasculate them by making them feel that if they are not helping us fulfill our dreams within the four walls of the church, well, they are somehow falling short of their potential in Christ.

I remember talking with a business woman once who felt condemnation from the women in her church because she was not active in the ladies ministry. Never mind that she was giving herself, as God was leading her, to the women connected to her business who might not have been confronted with the love of God if it weren't for her willingness to be used mightily by God in her "marketplace ministry". I applauded her obedience and told her to ignore the yapping dogs.

I know that God loves His church and so do I. I do not pretend to have all of the answers to the problems in the American church. I am also not just a critic who has no answers. There is much that the church does well and I want to be a part of the solutions to what needs work. I do believe this though-we in the church should rip the roofs off of the hothouses and send people out to do whatever they were born and destined to do. We should applaud peoples' tenacious obedience and encourage them to ignore life's critics. Jesus spent His time out where ministry grows naturally...in the streets and the marketplace and people's homes...not in a hothouse where things only grow under artificial conditions and out of season.

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Jobs I've Had

-Retrieving straight pins off of the floor at Churchwells' Department Store (my grandmother paid me a penny per pin while she shopped)
-Babysitter (beginning at age 11 until, well, now)
-Lawn maintenance (the summer between 11th & 12th grade...I lifted my mower in and out of the trunk of my grandmother's old, blue Nova a thousand times and I had a great tan)
-Alligator Billy (yes, I dressed up in a huge alligator suit for the Clean Community Commission in Waycross, Georgia)
-Easter Bunny (once again, I dressed up in a huge bunny suit, small children screaming helplessly in my lap while having their picture made at the mall)
-Waitress (Golden Corral Steak House)
-Waitress (Shoneys...three days...couldn't memorize the menu)
-Jewelry sales (Great Southern Gold & Diamond Market...high quality jewelry, my friends)
-Used bookstore clerk (could things get any worse?)
-Christmas elf (at the Santa photo booth at the mall...will I ever graduate from college?)
-Nanny (I didn't know three-year-olds could pee in their pants so much)
-School teacher -3rd grade (thank God -I finished college!)
-Babysitter, again (call it regression, but I wanted to stay at home with my own kids)
-Conference speaker (great fun AND great pay...I could get used to that)
-Pastor (pays slightly better than babysitting)
-Writer (okay, no paycheck yet, but I wear the title proudly regardless)

You learn a lot about someone from the jobs they have held. Where has your path taken you and who are you now??

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Restaurants and Churches

This past Friday, my husband, a prince among men, took me away for the weekend to celebrate my birthday. We went to dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House and, if you have never dined there, you should make it a priority. This restaurant has long been known for its’ unmatched preparation of some of the finest beef to cross your lips and for its’ incredible service to its’ guests. While I was considering the amazing dining experience I was having, I was asking myself, as is my habit, what the church could learn from this. The wait staff there is careful to explain who Ruth Fertel was and what makes her establishment exceptional and, as our waiter, Julian, was talking, I made these observations.

Any good business is careful to train their staff by “indoctrinating them”, if you will, with the philosophy of its creator. All employees of Emeril's, for example, have been “Emerilized” with the beliefs and convictions of Emeril Lagasse. He, the creator of his restaurant, wants his patrons to be treated a certain way and to be given a dining experience that is unforgettable. It was just that way at Ruth’s Chris on Friday night—an indelible mark was made on me and I walked away from there not only supremely fed, but with a sense that I had somehow been touched by Ruth Fertel and what was important to her.

Many people serve others because they love people and serving them brings pleasure. This is, by definition, simple philanthropy and, while it may be deemed noble and sublime by the average Oprah viewer, it won’t get you very far. Oswald Chambers puts it succinctly this way, “If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we shall soon be crushed and broken-hearted, for we shall often meet with more ingratitude from men than we would from a dog; but if our motive is love to God, no ingratitude can hinder us from serving our fellow men.”

So what is my point? Those who take care of you in a fine establishment like Ruth’s Chris or Emeril’s are allowed to be there because they have been identified with the creator of the establishment and they are trained to leave the creators mark on every guest. What would the church look like if we all understood the heart of the Creator of the church and we acted on His behalf in every interaction with the unbelieving world? What if we were motivated only by the love of the Creator for His creation and we left, not our own interpretive mark, but His mark on every person we served? What if we allowed ourselves to become background, like the wait staff dressed all in black and white, and only His best was evident to those we serve, and they walked away impressed and changed, not by our service but by the touch and the vision of the Creator? Certainly the church, and all she touched, would never be the same.

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