Serve to Sustain

It’s All About Capacity

Is your glass half-empty – or half-full? That tricky question has been around for a long time, and countless jokes and other comments have been made about it over the years. Rather than focus on the current state of the glass, what if we instead focused on its capacity?

The definitions of capacity are many and all are useful for this brief thought: Are we living up to the capacity God designed into us?

• Do we have the ability to perform or produce something that will honor God?
• Are we always doing the maximum amount of activity possible for God?
• Do we understand a specific function that God has gifted us for?
• Are we exercising our brains to increase the ability to store information for Kingdom purposes?
• Do we have the power to learn and retain knowledge that will help us understand the facts and significance of our behavior?

Are we a vessel, continually being filled up, and then emptied out, for His service?

My initial thoughts about capacity always go to the last definition: What’s my capacity for receiving the gifts and blessings of the Holy Spirit? If I continually only receive, then eventually I am satiated, and can receive no more. But if I am continually pouring out, then there is always room for God to invest and indwell in me.

For me, it’s the process of filling and emptying I seek – I don’t want to be satisfied with the status quo of half-empty or half-full.

How are you serving others today?

Write to Retain

If I didn’t write it down, it didn’t happen.

That’s a quote from Cathy Ryan, a character in Tom Clancy’s thriller series of books. Almost a toss away line at the time, it turns out to be a major turning point of the whole book. It’s also a guide that I have adapted and modified for my own use.

When I am reading (see yesterday’s post), I often take notes of the highlights of the book or magazine article or page view. I have found that the act of writing down key points helps lock them away in my memory. I may not be able to remember all of the point, but it helps to recall just enough to look it up later.

I “write” in several ways:

• For several key themes that I follow, I have a separate journal for each one, allowing an ongoing concentration of knowledge on that subject
• I also keep a notebook with me when I travel, jotting down quotes, book titles, or observations for later follow-up
• For business purposes, there are major themes that I am continually gathering information about. I document these electronically, and use them to develop white papers, presentations, or “leave behinds” for clients
• I blog daily here, and weekly for Church Solutions magazine. This has been an important part of my development process, so I want to spend some more time on blogging.

My entry into the blogging world came last year, at the encouragement of Church Solutions editor Karen Butler. Her magazine and the National Association of Church Design Builders (NACDB) are partners in the Church Solutions Conference and Expo as well as several other events. During one of those events, the Certified Church Consultant training course, I was speaking on the subject of reading and journaling, and she suggested that I move to the next natural step in that progression, blogging.

I certainly don’t consider myself knowledgeable in this area, so I turn to someone who is: Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., and a prominent voice in the church blogging world. Here are some key points he made recently about blogging; to read his blog, go here.


Blogging came pretty naturally to me because I've always kept a journal. But over the years I've learned a few do's and don'ts. Here are ten of them. I view them as my personal guidelines for blogging.

1) Stay Positive-Life is too short and the Kingdom Cause is too important for the sideways energy of negativity!

2) Include Hyperlinks-It brings people together in amazing ways.

3) Keep it Short and Sweet-It's a blog not a book!

4) Don't let commentors hijack your blog-I do think it's healthy to engage in respectful debate. But don't let it cross the line.

5) Tell Your Wife About It Before You Blog About It-If your family has to read your blog to know what is going on in your life something is wrong!

6) If You Wouldn't Say it to Their Face Don't Blog It-Again, I think we need civility and respect.

7) Know Your Audience-Would you blog if no one read it? I think that's a good litmus test. Obviously, if you are blogging you are doing it so people can read it. But I primarily blog for myself--it's my journal. It's the way I keep track of what God is doing in my life.

8) Be Yourself-A blog ought to be as unique as you are.

9) Find Your Rhythm-Part of blogging is finding a way for it to fit your lifestyle. I think it's critical that you be consistent.

10) Stay Positive-I know. I know. I listed it twice!

In addition to being a prolific blogger, Batterson also writes books – to the tune of one per year. Even though you and I may not write a book, I found Batterson’s thoughts on writing a book to be an appropriate close to today’s post:

Writing a book is baring your soul. You feel intellectually and spiritually vulnerable. Writing forces you to come to terms with who you are and who you aren't. Unfortunately, many authors hide behind their words. You don't feel like you know them any better at the end of the book than you did at the beginning. I try to write as if I'm having a conversation with someone over coffee. Keep it real. Keep it personal. Don't just share your thoughts. Share your life.

What are you writing?

Read to Succeed

The Gift of Reading

One of my father’s greatest gifts to me cost nothing at all but has a price beyond value: a love of books, reading, and learning. It’s a gift that I open many times each day, can enjoy no matter where I’m at or what circumstances I’m in, and one of that I have enjoyed passing on to my children.

Bookstores are one of my favorite places to visit at any time, but especially when you are stuck on a problem or have run dry in the creative area. A visit to your neighborhood bookstore can be a personal oasis of calm in a frenzied day. Books can spur the imagination and take you on journeys that you never thought you might go.

You can also be a regular visitor to your local library for a reading excursion. This year to date, I have checked out and read 43 books and dozens of magazines from my local library. I have scheduled into my calendar a visit to the library every two weeks.

There is also the pleasure of owning personal books: thus far in 2009 I have purchased or have been given an additional 19 books that I am working through.

Then there are visits to virtual bookstores and libraries: the limitless resources of the Web. I regularly visit about 20 or so blogs and websites, and pursue dozens more during a week's time for specific information.

In order to process that amount of reading, I don’t “read” each book, blog, article, or website the same way. Over the years, I’ve gleaned a few reading helps. Believe it or not, a book helps me read books: How to Read a Book, a classic by Mortimer Adler, gives these 4 levels of reading:

• Elementary Reading – What does the sentence say?
• Inspectional Reading – What is the book about?
• Analytical Reading – What does the book mean?
• Syntopical Reading – What does a comparison of books on the subject reveal?

To get the most out of a book in the least amount of time, try this strategy:

• Read the title.
• Read the introduction.
• Read the Table of Contents.
• Flip through the material, scanning the chapter titles and sub-headings. Note the words that stand out as bold, different colors, underlined, or italicized.
• Examine the illustrations, captions, charts and diagrams. Read the pull-quotes and sidebars.
• Scan through the index looking for buzz words that interest you.
• Read the first chapter.
• Flip through the book and read the first sentence of each paragraph. In a well written and edited book, the most important sentence containing the topic is usually the first sentence of the paragraph — but not always.
• Read the last chapter. If there is an executive summary, read it.
• Read any other information on the cover or dust jacket.

While the knowledge gained from reading is important, the real benefit is from the habit of reading. When you are continually reading, you condition your mind to keep taking in new knowledge. Your thinking remains fresh and sharp. Your brain is always churning on new ideas, looking for new connections it can make. Every day you pour in more ideas, which your brain must find a way to integrate into your existing knowledge base. Frequent reading fires up your neural activity, even during the periods when you aren't reading.

Reading, then, is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Why don’t you give a little "self-improvement" to yourself and those around you by reading a new book this week?

Listen to Learn

Hear What People Are Really Saying

Listening is one of the most important skills you can have. How well you listen has a major impact on both your job effectiveness, and on the quality of your relationships with others.

• We listen to obtain information.
• We listen to understand.
• We listen for enjoyment.
• We listen to learn.
  

Listening is a skill that we can all benefit from improving. By becoming a better listener, you will improve your productivity, as well as your ability to influence, persuade, and negotiate. What’s more, you’ll avoid conflict and misunderstandings.

The way to become a better listener is to practice “active listening”. This is where you make a conscious effort to hear not only the words that another person is saying but, more importantly, to try and understand the total message being sent. In order to do this you must pay attention to the other person very carefully.

There are five key elements of active listening. They all help you ensure that you hear the other person, and that the other person knows you are hearing what they are saying.

1. Pay attention.Give the speaker your undivided attention and acknowledge the message. Recognize that what is not said also speaks loudly.
2. Show that you are listening.Use your own body language and gestures to convey your attention.
3. Provide feedback. Our personal filters, assumptions, judgments, and beliefs can distort what we hear. As a listener, your role is to understand what is being said. This may require you to reflect what is being said and ask questions.
4. Defer judgment. Interrupting is a waste of time. It frustrates the speaker and limits full understanding of the message.
5. Respond Appropriately. Active listening is a model for respect and understanding. You are gaining information and perspective. You add nothing by attacking the speaker or otherwise putting him or her down.
   

It takes a lot of concentration and determination to be an active listener. Old habits are hard to break, and if your listening habits are as bad as many people’s are, then there’s a lot of habit-breaking to do!

Be deliberate with your listening and remind yourself constantly that your goal is to truly hear what the other person is saying. Set aside all other thoughts and behaviors and concentrate on the message. Ask question, reflect, and paraphrase to ensure you understand the message. If you don’t, then you’ll find that what someone says to you and what you hear can be amazingly different!

Start using active listening today to become a better communicator and improve both your business productivity and relationships.

Self-Improvement Week

If you haven’t noticed already, home improvement stores have launched a full-out marketing blitz to encourage you to invest in improving your home and yard. In this time of financial uncertainties, they are betting that you will spend some money now that will pay dividends in the future.

Along those lines, I am posting this week on “Self Improvement”. Beginning later today and continuing this week, see how you can invest in your personal self-improvement in the following ways:

• Monday: Listen to Learn
• Tuesday: Read to Succeed
• Wednesday: Write to Retain
• Thursday: Serve to Sustain
• Friday: Love to Live

Let me know what you think!

Granger Community Church - Knocking it out of the Park!

I've just returned from a NACDB Field Trip to Granger Community Church with about 30 of our NACDB partners from across the country. This was our 5th annual trip, and in many ways, the most personally rewarding for me.

GCC began in 1986 as a Methodist church plant. Founding pastor Mark Beeson led GCC with a clear vision from day 1: Helping people take their next step toward Christ...Together. GCC does everything with intentionality, and it is evident in their stories, the leadership team, and their campus development. As builders, the members of the NACDB are always seeking to learn from innovative and successful churches "facilities" stuff that we can pass on to churches we work with. While that was true on this visit, the real learning came from the heart of the leaders.

Tim Stevens (Executive Pastor), Theresa Hoeft (Project Manager), and the whole GCC team live out their calling in tangible ways every day. As we listened to the story of GCC and toured their facilities, it was very evident that this is a body of believers who know their stuff, but more importantly know Who they are serving.

This was nowhere more evident than our visit to the Monroe Circle Community Center (MC3) in downtown South Bend. Begun a few years ago from the hearts of a few GCCers with a heart for missions and the urban area of South Bend, it has developed into a laser-focused strategy with not only bricks and mortar presence (of the MC3 facility) but through relational programming that is reversing the trends of welfare dependency and hopelessness prevalent throughout the community. Dan Blacketor leads this amazing work, with hundreds of GCCers volunteering their gifts and abilities throughout the week. Here is a sampling of what MC3 is accomplishing:

• SonCity Kids-onsite activities and offsite field trips for inner city kids
• SonCity Summers-8 week camp for kids
• SonCity Teens-mentoring and coaching for inner city teens
• SonCity Afterschool-afterschool tutoring, reading, snacks, and homework
• Cafe' and Food Pantry-serving over 300 families per month
• Life Basics-teaching life and home skills to women in the community
• GED-working with adults to complete their GED
• The Gathering-small group faith community, serving over 90+ weekly
• Prison Transition-works with prisoners while they are in the work release center
• STARs-vocational training partnership with the Center for the homeless
• Little League-starting this weekend, a new team with assistance from the Silverhawks (minor league team next door to the center)
• and more to come!

Granger Community Church would say they're nothing special, just doing what God called them - individually and collectively - to do.

Would that every church could say-and do-the same.

Granger Community Church

Worship Center set-up
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