Would you be more motivated to save money with the promise that someday we will go somewhere nice or with the promise that next year at this time you will be sitting on a beach in Hawaii? Do you do better dieting when you say, I want to be slimmer, or when you say I am no longer eating fast food, snacking after 6 PM, and I am walking three times a week.

Do you send yourself postcards? Do you give yourself goals that actually motivate? Do you help others make change by pointing them to a destination and giving them steps to get there?

The next piece in helping to make change, especially when change is hard, is pointing the Rider and the Elephant in the right direction. If we want to truly change, both our emotions and our head have to be properly directed and motivated to do so. The best way is by sending out destination postcards.

Chip and Dan offer some great examples of people sending out destination postcards to motivate change. There was the first grade teacher with Teach for America who had students who were significantly behind in almost every area. She motivated her students to change with this goal: By the end of the year, they would all be 3rd Graders (at least skill wise).  The new CEO of a manufacturing company wanted his work place to not only be safe, which is was, but to be the safest and most efficient company in the world. His new motivation for the company: No Accidents. The goal wasn’t reduce accidents, or be safer, or be more aware of others, it was no more accidents. Such an audacious goal forced the employees to redesign the work area, to modify their procedures and to rethink all their systems. A couple of years later, this company was in fact the safest manufacturing company in the world, to an astounding degree. The people needed a clear cut, no way to fudge around it goal, and they needed specific steps to start attaining it.

The really interesting part is in trying to apply this to the church and our own spiritual lives. God already makes some pretty audacious goals for us. Be holy as I am holy comes to mind as one. So how do we, who are empowered by the Holy Spirit, set goals and help others experience real change? For our churches, setting clear goals would be a big help. We know what it is to be the church (we exist to glorify God and make disciples), but we don’t always have a clear picture of what that will look like or what it should look like. Setting a goal as a church that is clear, challenging, and motivating would force us to look back through our programs and ministries to see if we are actually succeeding.

For instance, with our Church, we have a mission we believe strongly in: Cultivating God’s Wholeness in a Broken World. But what does that look like for us? Those are the questions we are asking ourselves, we can say we are cultivating God’s wholeness but that isn’t a clear destination for people. But if our goal towards fulfilling our mission is (this is hypothetical) launching three new churches in the next ten years or reaching 1000 people in our community for Christ in the next ten years or training and sending off 5 new pastors and missionaries in the next ten year, that is much clearer. If our strategy for those who are part of our church is: Inviting Ten People to Church in the next year or Becoming Prayer Warriors who pray 5 hours a week, then those are destination postcards that help people understand not just where but the how.

This isn’t easy for churches, however, and as I am trying to integrate it into the visioning process for our church I am finding it really challenging. There is some great truth to the idea of getting the rider and the elephant pointed in the right direction, but if doing so were easy then well, they wouldn’t need to write a book about it.

Any thoughts?

I made it to Psalms and Ezekiel has some dirty stuff in it

My progress through the Bible in 60 days has gone over the midway point and I am still right on target. The Bible I am reading is in a more chronological book order than most and I finally made it through the major prophets and into Psalms. Moving from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel to the Psalms is a joyous experience.

Half way through I am still continually amazed at the beauty of scripture and the stupidity of God’s people.

One idea that has unpacked itself during this read is how different the hermeneutic of the authors of scripture was than what I learned in college or seminary. When the NT writers quoted OT prophesies that they believed supported Jesus’ role as Messiah they used interpretive skills that would get you kicked out of a lot of seminaries. They stretched, twisted, and expounded on prophesies that when you read them in full context hit you with very little connection to the Messiah sometimes.

That being said, the beauty of scripture is how even those seemingly unrelated prophesies were tied into the future coming of Christ and did in fact point to Christ, just in ways that the original authors could never have predicted. Scripture is mysterious and living that way!

Ezekiel 23:14-21 is the most pornographic section of scripture I have encountered. God has a potty mouth on him! I would for someone to find me a sermon someone has preached on this passage.

Psalm 78 is my favorite psalm I never paid attention to before. It is a beautiful and poetic retelling of God’s history with Israel. You can read Exodus through 2 Kings, or just read this psalm.

Greg’s Oscars

The Oscars happened last night, and I watched a few minutes of them between a pastoral visit and collapsing in bed. Nobody asked me, but here are my awards for the best movies from last year.

Best Picture – Hurt Locker – I have no problem with this movie winning Best Picture. It is as good and realistic a look at the war we are fighting right now as anything I have ever seen. It is a spectacular movie. Very cool to see all the accolades it received. The story and acting were light years beyond Avatar.

My other favorite movies of the year – District 9 (Probably my favorite of the year) Up in the Air and Star Trek (Puts anything with William Shatner in it to shame),

Best Actor – I haven’t seen Crazy Heart yet, so I can’t weigh in on the actual winner. I thoroughly enjoyed Clooney in Up in the Air, Jeremy Renner in Hurt Locker and Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes. I would say the Clooney was the best of the three.

Best Actress – I didn’t see Sandra in Blind Side but enjoyed Meryl Streep in Julie and Julia was inconceivably good.

Best Supporting – I am totally down with Christopher Waltz winning for Inglourious Basterds (I am not sure I should admit how much I enjoyed that movie) and didn’t see Precious so can’t comment on her winning. My randomly favorite role by an actress this past year was Amy Adams in Sunshine Cleaning. It wasn’t Oscar worthy, but really well done. More of a lead than a support, but whatever, nobody cares what I have to say anyways.

Best Oscar Moment? – It has to be James Cameron’s ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow beating out the Avatar director for the Oscar. Oh, that had to feel good. It would have been even better if she said, “I am queen of the world!”

(If you missed the first two parts of my reflection on the book Switch, go here and here)

That was the goal for two researchers at WVU. They wanted people to really try and eat a healthier diet, but they knew that simply telling people to eat a healthier diet doesn’t do anything. People don’t understand what it means to eat healthier, so they found a specific focus, a specific behavior to concentrate their efforts on. The result, a war on 2% and whole milk. Milk is great, milk is good for us, milk is also the leading source of saturated fat in a typical American’s diet. By simply switching from whole milk to skim milk, the reduced levels of saturated fat would make an immediate and long term difference in efforts to eat healthier.

So these researchers launched a campaign in a couple of counties with the simple goal of trying to convince people to buy 1% or skim milk instead of whole milk. One ad they used showed that one glass of whole milk has as much saturated fat as five strips of bacon. People took notice. They responded to the specific directions of the campaign and skim milk sales rose, moving from 18% of the market to over 41%.

This whole story is a great illustration of the next part in directing the Rider, that is Scripting the Critical Moves. If you can convince people that change is necessary and worthwhile you have to also help them to know how to change. The more specific and concrete the action, the more likely the change will happen.

How does this apply to spiritual formation. During this season of Lent we have tried to apply this idea by focusing on getting people to start with a commitment of three minutes a day. We handed out Lenten bookmarks that simply have the Jesus Creed and the Lord’s Prayer printed on them. The goal is to grow closer to God in 40 days. The means? Begin by spending one minute, three times a day praying through the bookmark. And spend one of those minutes, together, with your family praying.

The hope with this is simple. If we can get our people to intentionally focus on God three times a day, even for a minute, especially as a family unit, they will in fact grow closer to Christ. That minute is a gateway to hearing and responding to the voice of God. Our prayer is that giving people tangible steps towards Christ will unveil the possibilities of a deeper relationship with him.

Now all we need is some sort of concrete illustration involving bacon!

Last week I began a series of reflections on this book. The central metaphor of the book is the image of a rider on an elephant and trying to line up both to get where you want to go. (Read the first post for a more in-depth description.)

Today I am focusing on the first part of making a switch, which is directing the rider. One of the most intriguing elements of the Heaths work is their ability to offer uncommon insight into a problem. In the case of making a change they suggest that the first place to start isn’t in the areas that aren’t working, but the ones that are. They call this finding the Bright Spot.

Any organization that is facing the need to change should start with a look at what parts of their work are actually working, not the ones that are failing. Often it is in these bright spots that many of the answers to our problems can be found. If we want to direct the rider down the right path, find places where this is already happening and learn from them.

Applying this idea to our church has been eye-opening. For instance, we have identified one of our greatest needs as a church is to train up Godly men. The culture of men in our area is simply not Godly. It is far too self focused and removed from family life to be effective in creating a God centered family. Addressing this issue, however, is really daunting and we weren’t sure where to begin. So I began by finding the men in our church who are Godly. They are certainly bright spots! Families that function with a Christ centered life also stand out clearly in our church, as I am sure they do in yours. So I started talking to those men to discover how they parented, how they interacted with their wife, and the role that Christ played in their and their families’ lives.

So now, having discovered some bright spots, I worked to reshape our men’s group into a forum where those guys who get it are able to share about their families and provide some insight into other men’s lives as well. Our hope, of course is that if we create enough bright spots we can then get these men partnered with more and more men and help them become bright spots.

Celebrating and understanding bright spots can be the first step towards real change.

So what are the bright spots you can find in your life or your church to lead real change?

It is the pursuit of that question that led me to explore the fascinating and very insightful new book by Dan and Chip Heath called Switch. In their own unique way these two authors explore why change is so difficult, how people make successful changes, and how we can help motivate change around us.

Although it is not written towards a church audience specifically the implications of this book for spiritual formation are far reaching.  Quite frankly Switch taught me more about leading my people into significant spiritual change than almost any book I have ever read on spiritual formation.

For the next couple of weeks I will post some reflections from the book to spur some conversation on the subject of affecting true change. There is a central metaphor in the book that helps guide their discussion of change. The metaphor is of a rider on an elephant. The authors assert that the reason change is so difficult for us is that often our heart and our mind are not in alignment, we are in fact schizophrenic when it comes to motivation.

Certainly any of us who have tried to lose weight, or give up an addiction, or begin writing the great American novel, know this two sided nature of our minds. Our analytical side is like the rider on the elephant. The rider knows the path that we want to take, she can see the road ahead and can plan out exactly what needs to happen to get there. The problem is that the rider is a lot weaker than the elephant. The elephant represents our emotion and motivation. The elephant is the energy necessary to go where we need to go and to do what we need to do.

The problem is that the rider and the elephant are often of different minds. So how do we align the two? The book tries to answer that question by looking at how we should best Direct the Rider, Motivate the Elephant, and Shape the Path.

When we take these three ideas and combine them with a robust theology of the Holy Spirit and God’s shaping of our lives I think we find some rally powerful tools to help shape our own lives and the lives of those we minister to.

So as we enter this conversation about change let’s focus specifically on spiritual formation. What have you found to be the hardest parts of change in your spiritual life? When have you experienced spiritual breakthrough? What have been the biggest roadblocks to significant change in your spiritual life?

So which of these three genres are the best and what are the best of each genre.

We have already covered Post-Apocalyptic Movies here, so let’s now shift to the other genres.

Here are my suggestions for some of the best of these other genres and some commentary.

Apocalypse Films

2012 – Haven’t caught this one yet, but definitely fits the category.

War of the Worlds – This is sort of the apocalypse, but we win in the end, so maybe not

Independence Day – Once again aliens are trying to destroy our planet, and succeeding but they didn’t count on Will Smith and Harry Conick Junior

Terminator 2 – We get some vivid scenes here of nuclear destruction, but it is back and forth about whether or not the apocalypse is going to happen, time travel will do that

Shaun of the Dead – This is just funny, lots of Zombie films could fit into this category

Various other Zombie films – There are just so many zombie films, Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Zombieland, it is hard to even differentiate some of them, but they need serious mention here for a specific type of apocalypse genre.

Red Dawn-? – This is technically just the overthrow of the US by Cuba and Russia, but in the 80’s it sure felt like the apocalypse to me

Resident Evil Films – This would probably be the best category for these video game knock offs

The Day after Tomorrow – Some natural disaster movies might make this genre, but most of them threaten the apocalypse without delivering.

Dsytopian Movies

Demolition Man – So bad, but so good

V is for Vendetta – Could have been better but I really enjoyed it

Running Man – The Governator gets it done

Roller Ball – James Caan at his best

1984 – A force that has shaped our culture

Clockwork Orange – haunting, disturbing, revolutionary, iconic

Aeon Flux – ehhh

Blade Runner – So stinking good

Children of Men – Pretty good

District 9 – might fit this genre, thoroughly enjoyed this

Judge Dredd – So, so, terribly awful

Gattaca – not as bad as I thought it would be, pretty decent cast

Deathrace 2000 and Deathrace

Minority Report

Strange Days – tried to get into this when it came out but I just can’t stand Juliette Lewis

Wow that category ended up being a really huge and there are a bunch more out there. This seems to clearly be the dominant category between the three. What do you think?

Well put those thoughts to good use and help us answer that question.

There is a lot of publicity right now for Denzel Washington’s new flick The Book of Eli. I need to round up a group of guys to go and see it and enjoy Denzel as the wandering Bible toting prophet warrior of post nuclear America. But to hold me until that, let’s dig into this category which I will now abbreviate to PAM (Post Apocalypse Movie).

What makes a great PAM? You need world wide disaster, people living like they did before technology, lots of artifacts from our time that are marveled at by the people in the future, renegades or rogue warriors, people who have been injured or disfigured by some sort of disaster, you need some sort of commentary on our own times, you need a strange mystic leader, you need a creepy kingpin type villain, you need a plan to save what is left of humanity and you need lots of action. So what movies fit these categories? Here is a list off the top of my head, these are in no particular order.

It is important to note that I am separating our PAM movies from Apocalypse movies like Independence Day, War of the Worlds,  or 2012. They deserve their own post some other time. I am also separating out the category referred to as Dystopia Movies. These movies show a futuristic culture that is evil and very different from our own usually with a strong totalitarian regime.  You would get films like Roller Ball, The Running Man, and V for Vendetta in this category. ( I am not sure where to put Blade Runner, really it is just a future movie, but with a great commentary.)

Post-Apocalypse Movies

Waterworld

The Postman

The Matrix Trilogy

The Terminator Movies (This one gets bonus point for bring the post-apocalypse to our day)

Mad Max Movies

The Book of Eli

Escape from New York

12 Monkeys

Planet of the Apes

The Children of Men (This one is interesting because the world wide disaster is the infertility of all women)

28 Days Later

Reign of Fire (Bonus points for dragons)

Steel Dawn (I knew Patrick Swayze would show up on this list somewhere)

Cherry 2000 (Don’t ask where I pulled this one from)

I am Legend

What movies have I missed and what are your favorites?

I started blogging on February 14, 2006 and in the almost four years since I have now written 500 blog entries. That equates out to 125 a year or one about every three days. That is more discipline and consistency that my life has usually known, so for that I am celebrating. In honor of this momentous occasion here is a mega post with a massive amount of ramblings to celebrate. If you make it all the way to the end I will be impressed.

When I set out to start writing four years ago my goal was simply to offer thoughts on what it means to serve God and to live a holy life. It has expanded beyond that in humorous and soul stretching ways, but at the core that is still my desire for this blog. I can say that regardless of the impact on anyone else the discipline of writing and the subjects I have worked to write on have certainly taught me about holiness in many ways.

I wonder, however, as to how long this discipline will stay a part of my life. With blogging being such a recent phenomenon I have to stop and think about whether or not I will be doing it five years from now. Who knows, if I am I hope I will still have something to say.

One thing this blog has proven is that the burning questions of people’s lives are, “Who is the greatest lead singer in rock history”, “What is the greatest TV Show ever”, and “What is the greatest rock song ever”. I hope I have helped people find the answers that they are looking for.

LOST Thoughts

After the LOST premier last night I have to say that LOST has almost evened up to The Wire for my vote on the greatest TV show ever.

The smoke monster is that mysterious dude with no name? Jacob is dead? Is Jacob the one who keeps appearing as Christian? Are we onto parallel universes now? Is that what happened? Did any see them adding a whole new layer to the island with another group of mysterious Others? Those dudes are awesome.

The actor who plays Sawyer has really come into his own. The emotional gambit he showed last night was amazing. He is so good, how come I have never seen him in anything else?

They handled Jack so well in that episode. Did you notice how warn down and aged he looked by the end of the show? The time travel, explosions, violence and pressure of their fight for their lives can all be seen as lines in his face.

Did Jacob come back to life as Sayid to battle the smoke monster masquerading as Locke? That would be awesome.

How soon before Sawyer tries to get over Juliet by sleeping with Kate?

These are the questions burning my head now!

Book Recomendations

Here are the books I have read in the last six months I would recommend.

Non-Fiction

Switch by Chip and Dan Heath

The Monkey and the Fish by Dave Gibbons

The New Evangelicalism by Soong-Chan Rah

What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

Deep Church by Tim Belcher

The Teachings of the Twelve by Tony Jones

Novels

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child (Jack Reacher Series)

The Defector by Daniel Silva (Gabriel Allon Series)

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Movie Recommendations

On a five star scale here are some recent views that deserve a consideration

District 9 – 4.5

Avatar – 4

Angels and Demons – 3

Sherlock Holmes – 4

Up in the Air 4.5

Star Trek – 5

Julie and Julia – 3.5

Once – 3.5

Away We Go – 4

For my friends in random countries I have no idea how to find without Google

After blogging for four years I can say that weirdest part is looking at the map of where my site visits come from. In the last six months here are the countries that people have visited me from. So a big shout out to my friend in Djibouti!

What if the question you are asking is the answer you are looking for? What if following God is a matter of knowing the right questions and not knowing the right answers?

Dave Gibbons suggests that one of the most radical shifts that occurred in his understanding of following Christ and how to be the church came when he stopped searching for answers and found the right questions.

Third Culture living requires questions that lead to fluid answers that are shaped by our individual experiences, local context, and by God’s tendency to use surprising means to accomplish his will. Dave offers three questions that have transformed his ministry and his pursuit of God.

Where is Nazareth?

What is my pain?

What is in my hand?

Where is Nazareth? This is a question about where are the forgotten or marginalized people in your area. God chose Nazareth, of all places, to be the launching place of the Messiah. People couldn’t believe the Messiah could come from Nazareth. Who is forgotten where you are? Who is left out of leadership? Who do you dismiss off hand as having something to add to the direction of the church?

What is my pain? We want to always look at our strengths and celebrate our gifts and talents as the ways in which God will use us. But we are reminded that the gospel of Christ is foolishness to the world and that has chosen the foolishness of this world to humble the proud and the wise. It is quite often our pain that the world will respond to instead of our success. It is our moments of loss and failure that allow the broken of the world to most clearly see the love of God.

What is in my hand? When Moses was convinced of his failure as a leader, that the Israelites would never believe he had talked with God, God told him to use what was already in his hand. God took his simple shepherd staff and turned it into a symbol of God’s power and a tool for Moses’ success as a leader. Maybe everything we need we already have. Maybe it isn’t money, or staff, or a building, or some other desperately desired mark of success that is holding us back. Maybe God is ready to use what you already have to accomplish his plan.

These are three great question. What do you think? Do they provide you with any answers?

How churches answer that question will tell a lot about how they do ministry and where their focus is. In my continuing reflections on The Monkey and the Fish by Dave Gibbons, he lays out what he sees as the shift from typical Western ways of doing church to a Third Culture life. Here is the list he offers.

Western                                                                                                       Third Culture

I found the list helpful in understanding the differences between how he perceives the church and how what he believes the church needs to be. The questions are whether or not he is accurate in his list and whether or not the way he is proposing is better. Any thoughts?