That is the question I have been asking myself for the past week as I have reflected on some of the teachings of Mike Breen I heard in Atlanta. Mike challenged us as leaders to evaluate the leaders we invest into not through their competency but according to their capacity, chemistry, character and calling.

The first one of those categories is the one I want to reflect on today, capacity. What determines one capacity for leadership? The more I have thought of capacity I have begun to think of it as bandwidth. As you use the internet, the bandwidth (or bit rate or channel capacity or throughput for my proudly geeky friends) available to you determines what you can do. It determines what you can upload, download, stream, view, and how long it takes you to do those things. As a leader your capacity determines the magnitude of leadership you can exhibit, how many tasks you can juggle, the output of your time, and your ability to lead others and organizations.

Instinctively I have always been drawn to high capacity people, without putting that name to it. I have always been drawn to people who have extraordinary abilities to impact others. Because of this I have a lot of friends with very high capacities. Capacity goes far beyond gifting, however, and that is the part that intrigues me. There are many things that affect our capacity.

Looking at my own life I recognize that the investment of others into me has enlarged my capacity. They have helped me enlarge my view of leadership, the kingdom and God. A bigger view, better understanding, and greater experience enlarge capacity. Education can grow capacity. Not information, but transformation through learning experiences enlarges our capacity. Life experience is huge for capacity. It is often the lowest moments of life that expand our capacity. The experience of leading a congregation through tragedy and healing grew my capacity exponentially. It was the type of learning that no amount of classroom time could ever provide.

Obediently living expands capacity. The longer and more faithfully we serve in the Kingdom of God the more capable we become of helping others do the same. Often times the people whose capacity surprises me are those who may not appear extraordinarily gifted, but they are so filled with the presence of God that their capacity is truly extraordinary.

Ultimately our kingdom capacity is determined by our openness and connection to God. The closer we are to God the more God’s power can flow through our lives. We get to be a conduit for God’s grace.

Wherever I have experienced great movements of God’s spirit it has happened because of high capacity kingdom people. They haven’t been leaders predetermined by education, gender, age, or business acumen. They have been faithful servants willing to be used by God.

So what is your leadership capacity? How has God expanded your capacity? Who are the people with the greatest capacity that you have encountered?

Two moments on Saturday afternoon brought me great joy as a father. First, my son sat with me on the couch and watched an entire Maryland basketball game with me. I could tell it was a moment of delight for him to have this time with me and it was a tremendous joy for me. His hunger to be part of whatever I am doing constantly teaches me about my relationship to God the Father and gives me joy I never have quite known before.

The other moment came when we played the Lego Star Wars game together and Logan learned what a Wookie is for the first time. He was Chewbacca and I was Yoda in our battle against the Storm Troopers. It was awesome. He has talked about it for two days. He loves those Wookies.

There are those among us who suffer. There are those for whom life is unfair. There are those who have never had a chance to make it in this world. Then there is Tom Brady. Following last night’s heart wrenching loss to the NY Giants in the Super Bowl Tom will somehow have to find solace in his super model wife, beautiful children, fame, tens of millions of dollars, 3 Super Bowl rings, passing records and good looks. Some of us have burdens to bear in this world. Some of us are Tom Brady.

Somehow Eli Manning turned into a clutch QB with more Super Bowl rings than his record setting brother. If you had to choose between the two – Peyton being a Hall of Fame QB with a shot at most passing records and plenty of success in Indianapolis or Eli who has grown into the king of NY leading two underdog teams to the ultimate prize which would you choose? I can’t believe I am saying this, but I think I might rather be Eli. He seems to enjoy life more.

Queso and chips or Hot Wings for the best Superbowl food? This is an intense debate in my mind.

Did I find myself actually enjoying Madonna’s half time performance last night? Yes, in fact I strangely did. It might have just been the queso high I was experiencing, however.

I will ultimately remember little of this game. It was actually pretty boring. But I will remember gathering with great friends to laugh the night away and enjoy the game. What a blessing it is to have a community of friends who allow me to be myself. What an extra blessing, as a pastor, that these are people from our church.

I am looking forward to watching Peyton and Eli face off head to head twice a year when Peyton accepts a huge offer from the Redskins to be their next QB. If Peyton wants to prove he is the greatest ever he can do so by resurrecting the Redskins. Come on Peyton, you are up to the challenge!

My favorite commercial was the Audi commercial that made fun of vampires and celebrated their fancy headlights. This was a perfectly created contextual commercial. It captured our culture in this moment perfectly. Three years ago it wouldn’t have made sense and two years from now it would seem a little outdated.

I have been processing the week in Atlanta and have a lot to share. The rest of the week will probably revolve around more thoughts on discipleship and leadership development. This doesn’t have anything to do with the Superbowl, that is why these are ramblings.

The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller – This one comes highly recommended by numerous people. I am just beginning it, but I can already tell it is going to be a worth while read.

Real Marriage – Mark and Grace Driscoll – This book has already generated quite a bit of publicity and controversy. I am reading it because of my desire to engage in conversations about sexuality and marriage. I don’t want to comment on it just by what others say about it. I am pretty sure I will have issues with the approach of this one, but I am working to have a very open mind going in. I am especially interested to contrast it with Keller’s book.

Preaching in the Inventive Age – Doug Pagitt – This one I picked up for $.99 on sale a couple of weeks ago. I meant to read it when it came out and never did. So I am glad to do so now almost for free.

The Church is Flat – Tony Jones – This is the work Tony created for his PHD program at Princeton. It is one of the most thorough accounts of the emergent church, its origins, and practices. Knowing that Tony invested a tremendous amount of his life into this, I want to give it a shake.

A Public Faith – Miroslav Volf - I am actively engaged in this book and there is a tremendous amount of excellence here. I need to really carve out some intentional time to finish reading it and really wrestling with it. A big recommendation.

The King Jesus Gospel – Scot McKnight – I am most of the way through this book and it is not only really good but really important. Scot hits this one out of the ballpark with his presentation of the gospel and what it means to gospel in our world.

Untitled – Blaine Hogan - This book is focused on the creative process. I am excited about its potential for writing, sermonizing and ministry ideas.

Quitter – Jon Acuff – Jon is the writer of Stuff Christians Like, which is the most consistently humorous and creative blog in Christendom. This book should be very entertaining and challenging. It is focused on the idea of why we never complete the dreams we set out to accomplish.

Veneer: Living Deeply in Surface Society by Tim Willard and Jason Locy - This one came highly recommended and seems like a good companion to the discipleship work I am doing right now.

Those are the ten for right now, what are you working on?

Whenever a field goal kicker misses my mother in-law feels bad, not for him, but for his mom. Watching your kid carry that kind of burden is tough. Well after yesterday’s games, Lawrence Tyne’s mom is relieved and Billy Cundiff’s mom is thankful her son used his college scholarship and NFL dollars to get a college degree and an MBA.

The tale of two kickers. One made it his kick. One missed his. In a moment their actions would decide whether they would be the hero or the goat. That really is the magic of sports isn’t it? Seldom in life does your legacy come down to a clearly defined moment. The limited time frames of an athletes career and the games they play make for artificially created and yet beautiful drama.

Tom Brady is Tom Brady not because of his good looks, model wife, or incredible fortune and fame. (OK those things kind of define him ) He is Tom Brady because he has been clutch in moments that really mattered. If he wins his fourth Super Bowl in two weeks he will establish himself as the greatest QB of his generation.

Michael Jordan is Michael Jordan because his unmatched competitive drive refused to lose in the biggest moments. Michael willed his team to victory, time and time again. Kobe is the only basketball player we have seen since that has remotely the same kind of drive.

John Elway was the guy who couldn’t get it done until he helicoptered through the air on a crucial play late in the Super Bowl and became a legend.

Dan Marino, Bernie Kosar, Karl Malone, and Charles Barkley, they are all fantastic legendary players who never got there. Sometimes it was a moment missed, other times it was simply having the breaks go the other way. But how people view them changed because of moments like the two we watched yesterday.

When I first became a pastor, I felt like my life was a series of game winning field goal kicks. The sermon I was preaching, the worship I was planning, the youth event I was leading, those were my moments. They would either make or break who I was. If I succeeded in those moments I would change people’s perceptions of me and if I succeeded in those moments lives would be changed. It all hung on my shoulders.

Thank God I recognize how wrong I was. Life in the kingdom of God isn’t like life as a field goal kicker. Our pursuit of God and our work for his glory is all about a life well lived in continual, sacrificial, redemptive service of the world. It is never one moment, as a success or failure that defines us. We are defined by the love of God that redeems us. And the measures of our success are measured over the long term. We will fail. We will have moments of success. But our goal in the kingdom is to spend our life continually experiencing moments of obedience that change us and impact the world.

The artificial drama of sports is intoxicating. It changes the outlook of fans, for the good and bad. But it is not the way life works in the kingdom of God. And for that I am deeply thankful. (Especially since as a fan of the Wizards, Redskins, Capitals, Orioles and Terps my outlook is mostly jaded, pained, and frustrated. There has to be a beattitude that applies to me. Blessed are you when you root for perennial losers whose owners make torturing their dedicated fan base a way of life for in the kingdom of heaven your team owner is Jesus!)

Seeing a ship sitting on its side like that however, seemed to be a metaphor for so many things in our world right now. With whole countries on the verge of bankruptcy, with massive investment firms and corporations having already sunk below the surface, and with once vibrant and flourishing churches collapsing beneath the weigh of debt, overhead, and dwindling numbers the world seems awash with capsized cruise ships. Is there a common theme? Are there lessons to be learned?

Over and over again we find that the actions of those in leadership can have dire consequences. Not all is known of the actions of the captain of this ship. Why did he choose a different course? Why did he go so close to shore? Did he abandon the ship before the passengers were off? Was he asleep, not paying attention, or being stupid? We don’t know, at least yet. But we do know that on a clearly laid out route this ship makes all the time the captain deviated from the norm and the results were disastrous.

There are so many things that can make us deviate from our prescribed course. In the financial realms the disasters we are experiencing are the result of greed, short term gain vs. long term intelligence, and a love affair with debt. All of these are deviations from the prescribed path. All of them lead to bad choices and capsized cruise ships.

In the church our deviations are frankly very similar to the those in the financial realms. Churches regularly practice greed and pride in the name of expanding the kingdom. Christ called us to go and make disciples. He said that he would take on the task of building his church. But bigger buildings, more people, more money, and more fame are tempting for anyone. They are justified when you slap the “work of God” label on them. But we already see how quickly this road can lead to a church that is capsized, taking on water and simply trying to rescue the people who are jumping off into the water. We lose our way as the church when we chase a seat at the table of power. Whenever we think we need to take things into our own hands in order to do the work of God, instead of relying on God’s power, direction and methodology we risk running aground.

This cruise ship disaster is also a reminder of what is at stake. People are dead because of this mistake. People who were on vacation, on honeymoons, and gathered for family reunions lost their lives when that ship ran aground. In our churches people’s lives are at stake as well. Those who are broken and lost turn to us for hope. When we deviate from God’s will we lose our ability to give them hope. We lose credibility to our story. The lost stay lost, the broken stay broken and that is on our shoulders.

I think I will print up a picture of that cruise ship and hang it over my desk. I need the reminder of what is at stake for the choices I make personally and for our church corporately. There is too much at stake to veer from the course God has laid out for us and run the risk of losing it all.

I especially talked about the differences between knowing about God and knowing God. Too often our participation in religion has led us to exchange knowing God with knowing about Him. We think our participation in the systems of religion is the same as having a direct connection with our creator. When that occurs it is a guarantee that our life will be incomplete rather than whole and assuredly out of balance spiritually. How balanced is your spiritual life? How much intentionality is focused on cultivating intimacy with God in your life?

You can listen to my sermon or download it here. 1.8.12 – Intimacy with God

Here is another trailer we created for the series just to get excited about what God is doing in our midst. We do like to have fun.

A 2012 Focus

Every year I come up with a theme for the year. This past year my theme was wholeness. It was a good theme and despite my best efforts sometimes, I experienced more of God’s wholeness in 2011 than any other year of my life. I learned to listen to God better. I learned to respond to God better. I learned to love my wife, family and church better. God’s presence alone did that.

I am really excited for the start of 2012. This is going to be a big year, I can just feel it. With the excitement and potential of 2012 I am setting my focus this year on God as Lord over all. This year I want to understand the reality of God’s power and sovereignty in new ways. I want to experience the transforming presence of God in new ways. I want to be bold. I want to take risks. I want to be overwhelmed by what I see God doing around me this year. I want to see the Kingdom of God where I have been blind to its work before. Eyes wide open, I am plunging myself into the power of God this year. I have no idea what that is going to mean for my life, but I feel so compelled to seek this out that I just can’t live this year any other way.

To go with this theme is my song for the year. It is Take Heart by Hillsong. It is awesome.

Thinking back on 2011

Looking back on 2011 I have to say that it was a good year, especially since it was such a dud of a year. Worldwide this wasn’t a great year. For many Americans the most hopeful moments of the year were the death of Osama Bin Laden and Muammar Gaddafi. If these are moments we are celebrating, you know it wasn’t a banner year for humanity. Good things did take place in 2011, the Kingdom of God is still advancing, but in all 2011 won’t go down as a year we all look back on fondly.

Personally, however, 2011 was a big step forward. I have more clarity about my role as a pastor than I have ever had before. I am better at communicating with my wife than ever before. I feel that God has pushed my preaching, prayer life, and care for my people to a place I have never known. The difficulties of our world are probably a big reason for the growth I experienced this year. The burdens of our people who are out of work, struggling to make ends meet, dealing with broken families, and grieving the loss of loved ones has pushed me to rely on God more and more. When I speak about trusting in God to people who aren’t sure if they can pay their medical bills or mortgage, I better mean it. The ugly realities of a broken world have seemed more real to me this year and inversely the beauty of God has been more apparent.

So thanks be to God for 2011 a wonderfully ugly year in many ways.

Best Posts of 2011

I never got to post a look back at the top blogs of 2011, so here are the ten best posts I feel that emerged from this blog last year.

In no particular order.

Tuesdays are for Wonderfully Garish Football Uniforms

The End of Evangelicalism Part 3

Thoughts on Osama Bin Laden and Justice

Christians and the Death Penalty

Holy Sex Life, Batman!

I can’t not post about the Virgin Diaries

The Theology of Harry Potter

What Kurt Cobain Taught Me About Preaching

Sandwich Showdown – JJ’s vs. Subway vs. Quiznos

Mondays are for Same Sex Marriage Ramblings

Arthur Christmas Rocks, of course – We took the kids out on Saturday to see Arthur Christmas. (How could we not when they name a movie after us.) It was instantly added to the Christmas movies we watch every year collection. It was really well done, funny, and had some interesting commentary that would go well in a sermon. As a matter of fact I am announcing right now that next Christmas I am using clips from this movie in my sermon.

Debating whether or not I care how unBiblical our idea of Christmas night is – The image we have of Mary and Joseph rushing to Bethlehem, finding nowhere to stay, ending up in a stable, barely getting there in time for Jesus to be born, shepherds and Wise Men crowding around to get a glimpse, is just not a terribly Biblical image. But I can’t decide whether or not I care. They were probably in a room of a house where animals also stayed. That would have been typical. The text doesn’t say that they go there and had the baby the same night. The Magi probably didn’t show up for several years. There is a part of me that wants to teach a more realistic picture of the Nativity scene, but the other part of me thinks that the image we have serves its purpose. We get the idea and that is probably enough. Thoughts?

Were there flurries in Hell yesterday? – The mighty Packers lost a game. The inept Colts won one. The Redskins played a pretty good game and won in NY. There was definitely something in the air yesterday. If Tim had Tebowed Tom Brady I might have thought that some sort of signs and wonders were being done in our midst. Regardless it was good to see the Skins do something worth watching. And it is always good to see the Giants stink. Now it is time to start scouting College QBs not named Andrew Luck and find one to replace Sexy Rexy next year.

Jesus visits Tebow – If you missed the SNL skit with Jesus visiting Tim Tebow after a Broncos game, you can catch it here or on Hulu. It is pretty funny. Some good commentary here. I could use this in a sermon.

I am totally digging Christmas on Sunday – When I realized that Christmas was on Sunday this year a part of me was bummed at first because I knew that I would then need to work on part of Christmas day. But then I thought more about it and the rhythm a worship service would add to our Christmas and I have gotten really excited about it. In the middle of opening presents and celebrating Christmas we will go to church as a family, sing carols, hear the word of God and go to the Lord’s Table together. That sounds like a perfect Christmas to me.

Those are my ramblings for today. Stay tuned this week for part three of a Holy Sex Life and my look back at 2010 2011..

1) Sandwiches. Sandwiches can change America. A sandwich can be hearty, healthy, delicious, practical and economically responsible. We need to help people eat more and better sandwiches. Just like earlier promises for a chicken in every pot, I pledge there to be a sandwich in every lunch box. A tasty one at that. We need to guarantee people their right to sandwiches. We need to use the sandwich as a guide for fixing our budgetary problems. Just take the issue and think, now if I was making this problem into a sandwich how would I do that?

2) I am immediately quadrupling what we spend on education in this country. Teachers are getting big raises, and we are going to go out and recruit the brightest Americans to the classroom. None of this money will ever be wasted.

3) Candidates for president should be limited to campaigning via social media and free airspace on TV and Radio. No more purchased TV ads, TV specials, or ridiculous campaign contributions. If you can’t let everyone know who you are and what you are doing via social networking, a couple of debates and an interview then just forget it.

4) I am proposing giving every candidate a mandatory test on world geography, world leaders, world religions, American history, the political system and the 1991 Washington Redskins and then publishing the results.

5) We are going to get rid of the designated hitter, prohibit lockouts from ever occurring again, get rid of all sideline reporters, and give college football a playoff system and impose the same rules about leaving a school that players have to follow to their coaches.

6) Let’s add more states! 50 maybe nifty, but let’s add more. Why not add Guam or Puerto Rico or see if some of Canada might want to come on down. Wouldn’t Bermuda or having the city of Vancouver as part of our country be kind of cool? Maybe we can even have an application process!

7) DC is going back to PG County. Those of us who grew up in PG County, MD know that we donated the land for Washington, DC in the first place. We want it back, they want to be able to vote like a real state and the Redskins already play in PG County. Done, that is a settled issue.

8 ) Congress will be paid via an incentive based performance review. The idea of reviews determining pay for teachers seems so popular that we can apply it to congress. Congressmen will be paid based on whether they made the country a better or worse place during their term. Of course this means that many will be end up owing the government money by the time their term is up.

9) I promise to love and care for old people, poor people, immigrants, women and children as much as I care for rich people, white people, and sandwiches.

10) I pledge to find a way to get the following TV shows that ended too soon back on the air somehow: Firefly, The Dresden Files, Friday Night Lights, and Arrested Development.

Yesterday we began our celebration of Advent looking at Jesus’ words to his disciples in Mark 13. Jesus said, ““Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”

(Here is the audio from the sermon if you want to listen. 11.27.11 – Hope)

Watch, that is a a great word to begin Advent with. Jesus told his disciples to watch for his advent, for his coming to them. It is the word that defined the people of God before the incarnation. They watched, they waited, they hoped for a Messiah to come to them. It is the word that defines us now as we watch, expectantly waiting once again for the advent of the Messiah, the return of Jesus. So what should our watchfulness look like during this Advent?

Well I am pretty sure that Jesus never intended watchfulness to be passive. It isn’t an excuse to inactivity. In Acts we have the disciples chastised for passing watching at Jesus’ Ascension. The angels had to come and tell them to get a move on. Stop staring up at the sky watching for Jesus’ return, go back to Jerusalem and wait on the Spirit. The Spirit will teach you how to watch actively. We have no shortage of activity preparing for Christmas, but how much of it is watchful, anticipating the return of Christ and preparing for the coming of the Kingdom of God in all its fullness? Two moments this past week got me thinking about this.

Early Friday morning/late Thursday night I accompanied my wife, my mom, and my sister for some Black Friday shopping. For the record I went under protest (not for any moral reasons, just because I was tired). When we got there the line at Target at 11:45pm was wrapped around the entire building. It took over 45 minutes for the entire crowd to even be let into the building. There was such anticipation, such excitement, such willingness to stand there waiting for great deals. I wonder how often my desire for Christ daily, for his participation in my life, and for my expectation of his return ever mirrors that Black Friday crowd?

As I was getting a beverage at the convenient store near our church yesterday about 6:15 am the clerk looked at me and said, “How’s business for you guys? Do you have enough work?” The clerk sees me frequently on my way in to work but doesn’t remember that I told her I am a pastor. So I responded to her, “Well I work at the church, so you business is pretty good. We are staying busy. The world certainly isn’t fixed yet.” She just smiled and nodded her head.

While we are watching we should be busy with our preparations for the wedding. The groom is coming and this place is still a mess. People still need to be invited to the party. The bride is struggling to get ready. The site of the wedding is a tremendous mess and needs some serious attention. We are watchful. We are attentive. We are waiting. We are expecting. We are an Advent people, for this season and for all seasons. Come Lord Jesus Come.