MIM Ezine - June 7, 2006IN THIS ISSUE-- -- "An Unfolded Life" - Article by Thomas Tumblin -- "Monday Morning Church" - Article by Teena Stewart -- "Becoming a Healthy Team: Five Traits of Vital Leadership," Author, Stephen A. Macchia - Book Review by Teena Stewart
An Unfolded Life Thomas Tumblin, PhD Associate Professor of Leadership, Asbury Theological Seminary District Superintendent, West Ohio Conference United Methodist Church
Professionals can be dangerously complex. We master (many of us with an academic credential by that name) the rubrics of our calling. We learn which face to show at the appropriate times – the face of compassion, the leadership face, the preaching face. We take on the practices of the profession. Sophisticated specialists develop layers of expertise polished by diverse life experiences. A former Willow Creek staff member taught our doctor of ministry group an important truth. Imagine this: a gathering of professionals working toward a terminal (pun intended, if pursued recklessly) professional degree. We were looking forward to hearing from an elite pastor, one who had served at one of the largest congregations in the United States at that time. What better opportunity for growing in our own abilities but to learn from a Willow staff member? His presentation unnerved us. What follows is a brief capture of his teaching. His text addressed the double-minded person in James 1. The word used for “double-minded” occurs twice in the New Testament, both times in the book of James. It is the word from which we get the idea of being duplicitous – being deliberately deceptive. The Hebrew derivative is “kaphal” and carries the idea of a piece of cloth folded over on itself. He made the parallel of having something up our sleeves. In contrast, our lives are to be unfolded with nothing up our sleeves. We are to practice a holy vulnerability, the open heart of Christian community. Our lifestyles, our speech, our very character need to reflect a constant unfolding. We trust the Triune God to create clean hearts and an unhidden quality in our lives.
Living from the Center One of the ways we can embody this unfolded life to which James alludes is to live circumspectly. Ephesians 5:15 talks of “walking circumspectly.” Dr. Luke, in his two New Testament books, points to the need for precision and accuracy in our understanding of, and life in, Christ. For example, Apollos accurately taught about Jesus, but only up to the point of the John’s baptism. Priscilla and Aquila had to fill him in on the rest of the story (Acts 18:25-26). A friend uses the analogy of living at the center of Christ rather than dancing at the edges. I am often tempted to live at the edges. I should be satisfied to experience all of God’s goodness at the heart, but I feel the draw to hang out near the fence in an attempt to have the “best of both worlds.” Flirting with the gray areas can color one’s perspective. To walk or live circumspectly suggests we see the boundaries around us clearly and avoid getting too close to the edges. Consider the analogy of the electronic pet fence. If the dog gets too close to the line, it experiences a warning buzz. If it attempts to violate the boundary, it gets shocked. After a few jolts, the pet is conditioned to stay away from the out-of-bounds areas. Two friends serve as a centering force for me. Since 1983 we have been meeting on quarterly retreats for support and encouragement. We were prompted to do so by a more senior pastor who described his years in a covenant group. John and Randy continue to call me to the center. They have access to every area of my life. No folds, no secrets, no games. Only my wife has greater access. Usually with gentle reminders – always with permission to use whatever means necessary – they remind me that God’s center far outshines any alternative. They stoke the Coram Deo in me – fueling my heart for God.
A Common Tragedy A key leader in an urban ministry challenged the seminarians to a daring summer outreach. To qualify, they would need to pray a minimum of three hours a day just to keep a pure heart while serving victims of immoral corruption. There would be multiple levels of accountability. The context offered too many temptations otherwise. We were fascinated by the bold stories of how this leader had grown such a powerful island of hope in a desolate community. Finally, a chance to do real ministry. Many of our classmates did spend their summers serving drug addicts, prostitutes and sex slaves. The hours of prayer took on life-and-death proportion as they struggled against the powers of darkness. They discovered appetites in themselves they thought had been tamed years before. Yet, as they laid down their lives in ministry, they found a paradoxical freedom. God was releasing them in a new way was they “rescued” young men and women. A few years later, word got back to us. The streets had claimed another victim, this time the key leader who had invited us to serve the inner city. As careful as he had been in his own life, he allegedly succumbed to his own addictions and had to be removed from the ministry. A new leader was now in place. The outreach would continue – without this compelling brother. I wish we could have interviewed that leader to learn where things went wrong. Like Gordon MacDonald and others like him, we have much to learn from those who go public with their failures to help others from making the same mistakes. Where did they begin to hide their real feelings? When did they realize the folds were multiplying in their lives? Why didn’t they heed the calls to stay in the center rather than live at the edges?
More Than Volition God wants our hearts. We were created for an unfolded life. As Adam and Eve taught us, hiding is a learned trait. The sad reality is we need more than willpower to stay centered. Our emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual wellbeing converge in relationships. Attending to our complete health means we seek holy interactions with our Creator and our brothers and sisters. That may translate to reprioritizing schedules to allow for more community life. That may translate to regaining regular devotional habits. (The most common report of clergy is how little they spend in devotional practices.) That may translate to engaging a spiritual director and/or counselor to practice vulnerability in a safe place. As we expand our relationships, God grows our heart. Usually the expansion comes from loving interactions that feed and mature us. Occasionally the growth comes from prickly relationships as we learn how to love the less lovable. The goal becomes a healthy balance of knowing and being known. In our private times, we go deeper in loving God. In small and large groups, maybe in one-on-one conversations, we learn how to experience love in the flesh. Naturally I am not advocating for a mile-wide, inch-deep set of relationships. Some will be more acquaintance-like. A few need to be especially profound. We simply strive to unhide our inner selves and our social selves in biblical community.
Unfolding at the Center I suspect it’s more difficult for God to bless the hidden places. Hide-and-seek can lead to isolation. We find ourselves feeling more like Gollum of The Lord of the Rings than the tender servant of Christ God intends. As scary as it might feel at first, a healthy unfolding frees us to experience the potential God has created in us. Living at the edges no doubt robs us of the sweetness God’s heart. Ideally our loss equals no worse than sacrificing of the “best” for the “good enough.” Tragically the damage can become almost irreparable. Centering establishes a supernatural trajectory. We position ourselves for God’s full anointing. What will you choose? The edges or the center? Gollum or Christ’s servant? Will you join me in the lifelong journey of centering and unfolding?
Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Tumblin has been serving a joint appointment as the Superintendent of the Findlay District and as an adjunct professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky since July 1, 2003. Before becoming the District Superintendent he was the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program and Associate Professor of Leadership at Asbury. Tom is a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary. He also holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan. Tom has served the Edenton UM Charge in the Wilmington District, the Burlington UMC in the Portsmouth District, and as an associate pastor at Ginhamsburg UMC in the Dayton North District. Rev. Tumblin is an able administrator, teacher, vision-caster, and stewardship leader. He also has a strong evangelical faith and is deeply committed to the spiritual life of clergy, laity and congregations.
Tom is
married to Yvonne. They have three school-age daughters, Hope, Holly and
Suzanna.
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Monday Morning Church Teena M. Stewart
It is easy to be a Christian on Sunday when surrounded by other Christ followers. But when Monday morning rolls around and we have to face the real world with real life “characters” it can be daunting. How can we as leaders be a light and witness for him? How can we teach other Christ followers to prepare their hearts and attitudes to do the same? Author, speaker, and pastor Jerry Cook discusses these challenges and how our transformation can impact on our worlds.
Transformed and Courageous By Jerry Cook One of the most valuable things you can do as a Christian is to learn to live consciously in his presence. Remind yourself regularly, “Jesus Christ lives in me. I am in heavenly places now.” That practice will save you a lot of aggravation, grumbling, and fear. It will also make you available for God’s purposes wherever you find yourself. Do you work with people who are annoying and cross? Do you wish sometimes you could work with only pleasant people who talk nicely and smell good, complete all of their assignments, and never complain? People who never leave their work for you to do, who don’t play political games to try to get one up on you, who don’t keep dirty pictures in their lockers and in their minds? The reason you’re where you are is because Jesus loves the people there—and you are the way he loves them. If you don’t love them, he can’t. You’re there not because you would choose it; you’re there because you choose to be with him, and he has chosen to be there. If you’re going to be with Jesus, you’re going to spend time with some difficult people, because he came to seek and save that which was “lost (see Luke 19:10). Feel free to cross out “lost” and substitute any of these words; ugly, mean, vulgar, immoral, dangerous, violent, abusive. Those adjectives describe the kinds of people Jesus came to find. And lo and behold, he found some right where you work! Isn’t that remarkable? All he wants to do is love them, and you are the way he wants to love them. That doesn’t mean you have to live where they live. You’re in heavenly places. When you walk into the office, you’re not down in the grime and dirt with them—that’s not where you are. Everyone around you may be complaining and bellyaching, but what’s happening where you live? There’s a song being sung down inside you someplace. You don’t even know all the words to it, but it sings itself in your mind. You think of a particular person, and you say a little prayer for them. There’s a separate world going on within you. You’re not detached or in a coma; but at the same time, in a very sane way, you’re not a part of all the stuff that’s happening around you. Every once in a while, somebody will notice, and he or she will ask, “Where are you anyway? What’s going on with you?” It won’t happen all the time; but once in a while you’ll get the opportunity to tell people about the world you live in and how Jesus Christ can help them.
Light in the Darkness Ephesians 5:8 says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” This verse doesn’t say you were in darkness but that you were darkness. Before you were in Christ, wherever you went, you not only were dark, you made everything dark when you got there. You’d come into a good conversation, and it would be worse because you showed up. You were spreading darkness. But now you are light! Think about it: you don’t control light with darkness. When you leave a room, you don’t turn the darkness on; you turn the lights off. You control darkness with light. Why? Because darkness has no substance; it’s simply the absence of light. You can’t measure dark waves. They don’t exist. In a very practical sense, then, you are where you are because Jesus wants to bring light to darkness. He wants to position himself beside hopeless people so they will sense hope. He wants to position himself beside angry people so they will sense peace. He wants to position himself beside depressed people so they will experience joy. He honestly believes that every person is worth dying for, and he doesn’t want them left alone in their chaos, whether they respond to him or not. You are one of the ways he stays within their reach—just in case they call on him to be saved. --- From MONDAY MORNING CHURCH by Jerry Cook. Copyright ©2006 by Jerry Cook. Reprinted by permission of Howard Publishing Co., Inc., a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Teena Stewart is a published writer, a ministry specialist and consultant, and a product developer for Ministry in Motion. Recent published works include stories in the book Soul Matters for Moms, and Soul Matters for Women (Countryman Press). To learn more about Teena or to order her books, visit the about Teena Stewart page.
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Helping Churches Dream Dreams and Live out their Vision! Book Review – Becoming a Healthy Team: Five Traits of Vital Leadership Stephen A. Macchia, Baker Books, 2005, ISBN 0801065720, 190 pages Review by Teena Stewart
There are many books on building team and team operations. What, if anything, can be said that is new on this subject? Stephen Macchia, manages to share some fresh gems excavated from his many years of team building. Macchia is founding president of Leadership Transformations, Inc., a ministry that oversees spiritual formation of leaders and teams in churches across the country. By joining together in a unified effort, church ministries improve how well they work together and increase they likelihood that they will do great things. Macchia begins his book with a clever acronym for traits that make up a healthy team. Teams Trust, Empower, Assimilate, Manage and Serve. He also reminds us that Christian ministry teams only have one enemy. It's not the church down the street or other ministries. The foe we face is Satan, who does not wish any ministry endeavor to succeed. Since teams require many people working together toward one mission, they are extremely vulnerable to his destructive methods. A team’s first mission priority should be intimacy with God. In a sense, Macchia sees healthy teams relating similar to Christian small groups. He recommends that at meeting we start off by spending time sharing spiritual needs among team members and that we pray for these needs. This will put members on the right footing and make them more likely to bond and care for one another – the beginning of healthy team function. He concludes each chapter with a team prayer. I particularly like the Team Member’s Prayer which places the member’s focus on their calling to the team. The challenge is to be accepting of other team members’ diversity and authentic regarding their own challenges and needs. Though the word team does not actually appear in the Bible, Macchia points out passages where the concept of team and leadership is clearly conveyed. In many cases, people believe they have working teams, when in fact they are nothing more than work groups with individual mindsets and no accountability to each other. One device Macchia uses effectively is the statement of what is a Christian ministry team. Throughout the book he reminds us by repeating it to make sure we get the concept and remember it. When members join a team they come wanting to know their responsibilities. It is important to map out those responsibilities. In addition, it is important to help members discover their gifts and how they can be used to help the team accomplish its mission. Also covered are goal setting and evaluating to help teams move toward the same purpose and analyze how well they are achieving those goals. Though there are many books on the market already on this topic, Macchia still has some new insight to share. This book is a helpful tool to those building and launching teams, or presently working on teams. It will help you refine your efforts for maximum impact.
Purchase Becoming a Healthy Team here...
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