leadership

Dave (personal) / leadership / life / vision — No Comments
10
Dec 10

My 3 C’s for success: Commitment

Of the 3 C’s: creativity, collaboration and commitment, I feel like commitment is the most important. So often we end up so close to realizing success, yet we quit just short of realizing the dream.

“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” --William Feather.

It takes a committed effort to be successful, but sometimes it takes a lot longer than we anticipated. We can start off fully committed and passionate about realizing success, but after a few months or a few years it just gets discouraging. Creativity happens and generally acts like a magnet to draw people together to collaborate. It’s commitment though that takes a tremendous amount of effort to keep going. Creativity and collaboration together are wonderful things and important ingredients to success, but without a commitment to see it through, success will not be realized.

Are you prepared to hang on even when others would tend to let go? If so, then prepare to celebrate your success!

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Dave (personal) / faith / leadership / Oregon — No Comments
20
Oct 10

What to do when the fun ends…

As most of you know, I moved from Sacramento, CA to Beaverton, OR this year to help a church transition through an uncertain time, but left that position after 30 days. I came to Oregon to help a ministry and now find myself as an internet sales manager at a car dealership.

Working at the dealership started off being fun. I was meeting a lot of new people and learning new things. There was hope that things would work out and that I could finally get settled in to life in Oregon. However, things have changed a lot in the past two months that I have worked here. Some people have been threatened with their jobs unless things improve and there is a big culture shift that needs to take place, with no one seemingly able to steer it into place. As I see all that is going, I feel like I am gifted in areas of leadership that seem to be lacking. I struggle with being silent and not in a position where I can make a difference. It’s frustrating and at times, a bit depressing. So many people here are just existing, or reacting in fear so they don’t lose their job. It has become a job.

So often I think about the situation and feel as if I need to move on. Work shouldn’t seem like “work” I tell myself. Through it all though, I keep coming back to one question: What does God want me to do in this situation? I really wish I knew the answer. Not knowing is also not fun. I feel sort of trapped. I want to escape the environment, but for some reason I stay. I want to dig out of the pit of earning minimum wage for 40 hours when I work 50 hours and am the sole provider of my household. It sucks… It drains me… it causes me to constantly second-guess myself.

I’m challenging my thinking that work should be fun. It reminds me of the consumeristic mentality of church goers that feel the need to be entertained for 90 minutes once a week or they leave for another church. Ive learned and grown a lot in the last two months. I’ve made mistakes and been chewed out for them. I’ve been told how to do my job when I know how to do it. I’ve followed instructions I didn’t agree with. Not being the leader and started from the bottom rung of the ladder has definitely hurt my pride. However, my pride probably needed to be hurt. Humility and patience are a common theme in my life this year. It’s nasty-tasting, but just like medicine, if I take it I will get better.

Father God, I still am not certain why you took me away from my family and brought me to this place where I feel like my hands are tied and progress is slow. Im frustrated and at times I feel defeated. When I ask for your guidance I sense silence. When I see new opportunities advertised elsewhere, something about leaving here just doesn’t feel right. Not yet at least. Lord, I just ask that you lead me through this time as I beginning to feel desperation. I pray that this is exactly where you want me and I ask that you give me a spirit of acceptance and the desire to keep moving forward, even when I don’t sense any immediate return. Give me the strength to get out of bed and get through one more day. May you bless others that are feeling the same way. Provide for them and comfort them through this time. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

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church planting / leadership / ministry — 1 Comment
4
Aug 10

The Jasonisms of church planting

[This is a repost from August 29, 2008 with updated links]

Found what seems to be a huge blessing via twitter today. I’m now following Jason Salamun (@jsalamun) on twitter  [actually, as this is a repost, I've been following him for over two years now] and linked through to his blog about an awesome church plant in Rapid City, SD: projectchurch.net. Just as Tony Morgan posts about Perryisms, I’m totally digging on some Jasonisms. Jason Salamun posted a list titled “101 Nuggets for Church Planters” and it’s very awesome! All 101 are necessary, but here are some that really made me say “Ah ha! Someone else gets church planting!” or “Wow! I definitely need to work on this!” I’ll let you decide which is which for me :)

    2. If you are called, you have permission.

    4. Don’t just plant a church; start a movement.

    6. Don’t make the church your idol. It’s easier than you think.

    14. There’s a lot of wisdom in the words of dead guys.

    22. Don’t talk about church all the time to your wife. Pace yourself.

    26. You should be able to explain the vision on the back of a napkin.

    29. You’ll get criticized for things you never even said or implied. Get used to it.

    40. Start a church where it’s okay to be a dude.

    66. Typical is boring.

    74. Be intentional.

    77. Prepare- but understand that you’ll never been prepared enough.

    79. Stand up for the ones who can’t stand up at all.

    80. Time alone with a notebook, a pen, and a Bible often lead to something special.

    81. Authentic people are led by authentic leaders.

    87. It will be messy.

    88. When was the last time you went to a bar or sat in the smoking section of a restaurant?

    92. Repeat after me, “I heart simplicity.”

    100. Church all boils down to relationships.

Rock on Jason! Praise God for putting the desire to be passionate for the Lord and minister to people and open enough to help other ministers stay on-track and to share in your victories!

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church / Dave (personal) / leadership — 8 Comments
27
Jul 10

blog one another

The title is in reference to my friend Jon Reid‘s blog of the same title. In particular, it has to do with this post: “and” (Philippians 1:1 lectio) and Jon’s reply to my comment on that post. I’m sure my takeaway from Jon’s post was different than his thoughts that went into writing the content, but it struck me pretty hard in my own way. You see, I’ve been wandering around here in Portland, OR for the past six months feeling alone and like a stranger in a strange place. No matter what I do, I just feel unsettled here. During a tokbox video chat with my friend Josh Roberts, I found myself unexpectedly going off on a rant about pastoral leadership and how I felt there was a breakdown in pastors caring for and mentoring leaders within their churches. So many people are leaving the ministry and embracing life in roles as speakers, authors, coaches…you name it. They are abandoning the church. It saddens me. So many people are falling away from their roles as servant leaders because of feeling burned out or just going through the motions. They have lost their passion and have become unsupported for their callings. This saddens me as well.

During my rant I told Josh that it was just what was in my mind at the time of our conversation. He insists that it was more than that. He told me it was a burden on my heart. I never thought about it before as a burden, but from that moment on I’ve thought about what he said. Is it a burden? Must I respond?

Feeling lost and alone here in Portland, I too have removed myself from any formal ministry role. I’ve been working up to 12 hours a day, coming home around 9:30pm and even working Sunday mornings until 9:30pm sometimes. I’ve been okay with that up until that tokbox conversation with my friend Josh. I hadn’t really thought about acting on it much until I read the post from my friend Jon. Jon wrote in his blog post:

“I haven’t had either a Paul or a Timothy in my life for many years now, and it shows. ++Lord, send me a Paul. Send me a Timothy.++”

This crushed me. My heart went out to Jon. I know his pain and anguish. I hope for what he hopes for. We need people to have a burden on their hearts to help equip and encourage others. We need people like the Apostle Paul to pass along his encouragement and training to people like Timothy. It must be a continual cycle of renewal. Somehow we have lost this mentoring relationship. I feel I must get back into this, even at an informal level. I may not be the designated leader in a community at the moment, but I have a burden to give back to those who want to receive and encourage those that just need a little boost.

While I could always just go do this, I feel like there must be more to it than that. A community, a network, a fellowship… something bigger than myself must be the result.

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leadership / people — 3 Comments
5
Apr 10

Infrastructure + Order + Process = Creativity?

I picked up on a Wade Kawasaki quote from my friend Dawn Carter, who happens to be at an event known as The Ideation Conference today. The quote was:

“Infrastructure creates order and processes to support those who are doing the creative work.”

When I saw the quote from Kawasaki, it was something I deeply resonated with. It’s something I have been talking about for the past six months or so. It is something that has taken me 43 years to really understand.

In the most literal sense, this quote seems to make no sense. Words such as infrastructure, order, and processes sound so restrictive to the creative person. Creatives need space to dream and wonder. Those are things that you can’t put infrastructure or order into. It’s like trying to mix oil and water. However, as those of you that cook may well know, oil and water can be mixed. In the kitchen we call this process emulsifying. When one takes oil and another liquid (usually an acid such as vinegar or lemon juice) and puts a lot of energy into beating it together, the end result is a combination of flavors unified to our taste buds. The two separate forces become tightly suspended together. Let them sit idle, and they separate apart again. To me, the essence of the emulsion in the kitchen is the same in the world of leadership. Imagine creativity as the oil and infrastructure (order and processes) as the water. The oil of creativity resists the water of infrastructure. Each in its separate form has its merits and can stand on their own. However, when they are united together into a mix they become more than they could have been on their own.

As a visionary manager in the business world for several decades, it has been unbelievably difficult for me to work with creative people. In my mind, creative people have their heads in the clouds and are happiest dreaming about things, rather than caring if any of those ever made it into the real world. I on the other hand want to dream about something that can be made reality, and then stay focused on seeing that dream become reality. Unless this were to happen, I would consider myself a failure.

I took that mindset with me into ministry and found that it caused a lot of conflict. However, through that conflict arose a new perspective. One of collaboration for the sake of seeing things happen regardless of how it comes about or who gets the credit. I realized that I was wired to see something in the horizon and find a way to bring it into my world, but what if I could do the same for others? What if the inspiration of someone else could be brought to fruition? Better yet, what if I could help others to realize that while they may be happiest dreaming about the what ifs, they could be even happier seeing some of those dreams become reality.

Infrastructure, order, and process can be very rigid and restrictive. Creativity can be very freeing and at times chaotic. While it may be impossible to reign in a creative person and make them incorporate infrastructure, order, and processes it is possible to come alongside them and collaborate with them as the infrastructure, order, and process behind their creativity. Who cares if it was the creative person that thought of the idea first? Who cares if the creative person ends up getting the credit once the idea becomes a reality? For me, helping others realize their hopes and dreams is a form of creativity. It is more important than getting credit and it has become an integral part of my ministry.

I gave up the opportunity to lead a small church by being the leader for the sake of desperately wanting to be part of a team where collaboration was the fuel of seeing the dream become a reality. I’ve proven myself many times that I can lead and direct a business, but now I am being called to emulsify people into something they never realized they could be until I started mixing things up in the hopes of bringing us together. In my mind infrastructure + order + process is a powerful formula for seeing creativity thrive.

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