Best of 2007

Okay, so here it is, my favorite books read in 2007 (in no particular order):

Sex God- Rob Bell
Another great book from Bell and another in which the content won't be unfamiliar if you listen to him preach regularly. A great book for anyone, and one I suspect could be especially helpful for a couple considering marriage.

A Community Called Atonement- Scot McKnight
A very accessible and moving account of all that Christ has done for us.

The Beatles: The Biography- Bob Spitz
A huge volume, some 900 pages, that I absolutely devoured. I now understand why Beatles fans tend to not like Yoko. (And it has nothing to do with her singing, though that's reason enough, I suppose.)

23 Days in July- John Wilcockson
My new found love for cycling led me to this one about the 2004 Tour de France in which Lance Armstrong won a record setting 6th Tour.

Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity - Lauren Winner
A frank and honest look at the topic at hand.

10 Points- Bill Strickland
I mentioned this one in this post. A fascinating, if not always fun or easy, read. (By not easy I mean he deals with some issues that are hard to read about.)

Everything Must Change- Brian McLaren
Well, as you know by now, I like Brian a lot. His latest book is compelling, though it leaves you wondering if it's really possible to do even half of what he suggests. A good read and one that will challenge you.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster- Jon Krakauer
I started watching Everest: Beyond the Limit on the Discovery channel and decided to read a book about Everest too. This is the first one I read...hard to put down and really hard to imagine.

Selected Stories- Andre Dubus
I love Andre Dubus and especially his short stories. This collection includes my favorite Dubus short story, A Father's Story.

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters- Meg Meeker
Simply a must read for any dad with a daughter.

Honorable Mention:
Never Give Up- Tedy Bruschi with Michael Holley
This is not the best Patriots book I've read (that would probably be Holley's Patriot Reign or Halberstam's The Education of a Coach) but it is a good read. Tedy Bruschi comes off as a sincere, humble and level headed guy. The book recounts his upbringing and his suffering and recovery from a stroke.

Snowblowers

Is there a rule that if you're under 40 years old you can't own a snow blower? I thought there was, but maybe I'm wrong about that. If there is such a rule, maybe it's not such a good one.

Nothing That Clever...really!

So, it appears as though I've made some friends on the internet. Pretty funny stuff, I must admit. So let's see...to review what they had to say,

"If it comes down to a bare-knuckle brawl I give you this warning: You don't want to see how "M" fights. It is dirty, it is old-school, it is 60% verbal. You will not exit that stadium of blog gladiators the same man. Trust me."

Now, this was posted by "Q" who lists "world peace" as one of his interests. Mr. Q, with all due respect, please don't make me quote a Michael Jackson song...you know, one about the man in the mirror.

"For their own safety, all your outgoing links, including "World's Greatest Band" and "Mike Nyman Photography," should leave your blog immediately. If you choose conflict, or refuse to vacate your blog after 48-hours, you will be visited by an internet campaign of shock, awe, and indie-rock music. Choose wisely and choose carefully."

After careful consideration (drumroll.........) I'll take the indie rock music. Bring it on...I could use some new music. As for Mike and the Worlds' Greatest Band, what have they ever done to you? Besides, I don't think Mike has taken a photo in the last two years. (Or, you wouldn't know it from his blog anyway.)

"We are now acting because the risks of inaction would be far greater. In one year, or five years, the power of Brian to inflict harm on all free blogs, innocently minding their own business until their names are also stolen, would be multiplied many times over. With these capabilities, Brian and his youth pastor allies could choose the moment of internet conflict when they are strongest. We choose to meet that threat now where it arises, before it can appear suddenly in our inboxes and Facebooks."

Okay, you got me there. My youth pastor buddies and I, we are legion. Well, not legion like the demons in the pigs exactly, but, well...er, never mind.

Now, for those of my 5 readers who were too lazy to click on the link, you might be wondering what I've done to offend the good folks I quote here. In their own words, I have " appropriated (their) name (nothing that clever) and are using it for nefarious purposes. Who used what, first, is a matter for the lawyers."

But actually, it's a matter for the archives, no? And a quick glance through the archives will reveal that "Nothing that Clever" began on Tuesday, August 2, 2005 and "Nothing Clever" began on Wednesday, February 11, 2004. Now, math has never been my strong suit, Q, and I'm not lawyer, but I'm pretty sure 2004 happened before 2005, even though 2005 is a bigger number than 2004. Fortunately for you, I am a peace loving man, so I'll let you keep your blog name despite the blatant copyright infringement on the part of you and your band of letters.

Rock on, M, Q, C, and Z...and Merry Christmas to you and yours. Jesus loves you.

Workaholics and Ministry Part 2

Well, first off, let me thank Len for directing some friends this way to comment, so, thanks Len! And to those who commented, thank you as well.

My original question had very little to do with the church that used the quoted words in their job posting. After all, if it had been about them, I would have named the church. As one anonymous commenter pointed out, there are many things we don't know about with regard to those expected 55 hours and we might feel differently knowing the full story. Still, I think those expectations, taken at face value, are expectations that many churches have of their pastors and (maybe more so) that many pastors have of themselves. Since I had recently seen that posting, it simply served as a good illustration of my concern about expectations.

These expectations are not foreign too me either. As I mentioned, it is easy to feel proud of a 55- 60 hour work week. You may even get lots of pats on the back for it, and pats on the back always feel nice. I recall being complimented once for my "dedication" but the truth was I had let things get away from me at that time and was not putting first things first. (In fairness to my church, I have never felt like my congregation or its leaders expect me to work excessively. This is more of a personal issue. Rather, my church has always encouraged me to care for my family first and my pastor pushed me hard to make sure I established good boundaries for myself and that I observe a regular sabbath.)

Jeff and The Thief raised good points about priorities, boundaries, and Sabbath. Boundaries can be hard because we can fall into the trap of thinking that if we establish boundaries we are somehow failing to serve with all of our heart or something like that. The truth is that God calls us to rest (thus the need for boundaries) because we need it. Failure to rest and have these boundaries is a failure to love and serve with all of our hearts because we are setting ourselves up for burnout and no real ability to serve. Setting boundaries can also feel selfish, but "loving your neighbor as yourself" requires that you do love yourself. (I think I got that from Bell...not sure.) I'm not advocating for selfishness at all, but I am saying that we do need to care for our own souls in order to care for others.

Eugene Peterson's book Working the Angles, was very helpful to me with regard to Sabbath. I went looking for my copy of it, but it must be at my office, otherwise, I'd throw a quote or two your way. If you've not read it, check it out.

I'll reiterate what I said about working too much being a theological issue/ sin. It is pride, a false belief that we are indispensable, and a failure to recognize that it is God who works (through us, sure, but it is His work.) I went to one Promise Keeper's event and I only remember one thing from it and it was this: "There are only three things you can do that no one else in the world can do: Only you can have your relationship with God, only you can be the husband of your wife, and only you can be the father of your kids." For everything else I do, no matter how good I am at it, someone else could do it too.

Finally, I was very interested in Julie's comment. I've been in youth ministry for 11 years, all at the same church, Julie mentions she's been around for 12, also at the same church. Julie works beyond what she is paid, but does so, "because it's my church and I have a vision of where I'm going and it takes me more time than 30 hrs. The difference is that I generate my hours, not that the church requires it."

Each situation is unique and knowing nothing about Julie's situation other than what she shared, this seems good and healthy. She volunteers time to her church (as I do, and as we should, I believe.) The church seems to have reasonable expectations for her. Like all of us, though, Julie needs to remember that there will always be more work to be done or more that she could do. My prayer for Julie, for my fellow youth workers, and for myself, is that we will work hard, be diligent, faithful, and that we will do so in a way that keeps first things first in every sense.

(And just to be clear, I was using Julie's comment as a jumping off point. As I reread that it could come across as a warning or that Julie's comment raised a red flag for me. That's not the case. Rather, I'm wanting to acknowledge that we all need to be diligent as even a healthy situation can turn unhealthy if we aren't careful. So, Julie, rock on!)

Workaloholics and Ministry

I finally got around to opening the November/December issue of Youthworker Journal. One of the articles stated that 80% of pastors surveyed felt that ministry has had a negative impact on their own family.

Recently, a friend of mine pointed me to a youth ministry job posting he was looking at. Part of the post read as follows, "Approximate time needed to perform position: 55 hours/week (including church functions) – must be available after school and weekends, when the students are available."

Is it just me, or is that part of the problem? I understand that, as a youth pastor, I need to be available at "odd times" when the youth are available. I also understand that I may need to put in over 40 hours a week. But 55? I'll ask my three readers to weigh in, if they would. It seems to me that, as a pastor, I do expect that those who are a part of the body will volunteer their time and talents to accomplish the work of ministry. As a part of the body, I therefore expect the same from myself. The way I look at it is that the church pays me for 40 hours and anything above that is done voluntarily by me. Should I expect people (myself included) to volunteer 15 hours a week to the church every week? Is that reasonable? Should I expect a family with young children to volunteer the same amount of time that a family without kids at home volunteers?

It seems to me that part of the problem of pastoral burnout is workaholism. Workaholism is a theological problem too. That is if I'm a workaholic I believe that ministry is primarily accomplished by me. Part of the problem are churches who expect their pastors to be workaholics. Now, there was a time when I was proud of my 60+ hour weeks, but no longer. If I have a 60+ hour week (or even a 55+) these days I feel like I've failed somehow, and that strikes me as being healthy. It seems to me, 40-50 is a much more reasonable expectation, knowing that occasionally there will be those weeks that require more, but this should not be the norm. I'd love to get some input on this one.

The Salvation Army

Do you want to know what, for me, has been one of the hardest things about being a father? Well, too bad, I'll tell you anyway; it's dealing with the "noise toys." You know the toys whose main purpose is to make noise? They can drive a normal person (like me) insane, but apparently are entertaining for toddlers. Then there's the more ridiculous things, like the books that add sound effects. Why would anyone ruin a book this way?

So yeah, there are certain noises that really bother me. Wind chimes for instance. I hate them! We had a drummer at our church who had to use the chimes in every song...let me tell you, its difficult to focus on worshiping Jesus while at the same time thinking about strangling a drummer. (Relax! I'm kidding! Well, sorta.)

I'm guessing you've figured out where this is going. Yes, those bell-ringers. They drive me nuts. I always tell my wife that I'll donate if the STOP ringing the bells. In the December issue of The Covenant Companion there's an article by Beth Ernst called, "Christmas at the Kettle" where she recounts her experience working as a bell-ringer for the Salvation Army. She received permission to, get this, sing instead of ringing the bell! It's a great little article in more ways than one. She talks about how she got to proclaim the gospel story over and over as she sung her hymns and carols, armed as she was with a collection of hymnals. She talks about the impact it had on people and the connections she made as a result.

I'm hoping the Salvation Army gets rid of the bells and turns to singing. Of course, it sounds like Beth was a good singer. Not everyone can sing whereas anyone can ring a bell. That leaves me with the question, which would be worse: listening to a bell, or someone singning off key? Yeah, I'll take the singer any day.

Merry Christmas.

Funny Sign

Katie and I were at T.F Green airport in WARWICK, not Providence, RI the other day and she noticed this sign, which struck us both funny. You know, you can never be too careful...I guess.