Archive for October, 2008

Joaquin Phoenix meet Seth Godin. Joaquin Phoenix, an incredible actor who has played some major roles in some great movies like Gladiator, Signs, and Walk the Line as well as some decent movies like Ladder 49 & The Village as well as some mediocre movies like We Own the Night and U-turn is turning in his resignation as an actor to pursue a singing career (evidently sparked by his role as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line). This decision is quite a shock for someone so young and talented with such a seemingly bright future (of course many thought the same about his brother River who ODed several years ago). It will be interesting to see if his decision sticks.

I recently re-read Seth Godin’s The Dip, a great little book on when to stick it out and when to quit what you are doing to pursue something you are more passionate about and can “be the best in the world” (Godin’s phrase). I highly recommend anything Godin writes and this little book is especially intriguing. Without getting into all the details, I have to question if Joaquin is going Seth Godin on us. He has said that acting is old hat for him and he wants to pursue something fresh and new.

I am glad that some great leaders taught me early on to focus on my strengths and not my weaknesses (via Marcus Buckingham) and to pursue what I am most passionate about – that is after all how God wired me. Not sure if Joaquin is making this move for these reasons but you have to respect someone who is willing to put aside what they are good at to pursue what they believe they are the best at. Only time will tell.

I have been traveling this week and have had some hotel time. When I am alone in a hotel, I usually have ESPN blaring in the background while I work so I hear the headline sports stories multiple times. If you are a sports fan, you know that on Monday night World Series Game 5 was postponed because of weather – the first time a World Series game has ever been postponed. There has been a lot of talk since Monday night on the decision of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig’s decision to a) allow the game to be played & b) to allow the game to be postponed, and c) to continue to postpone the game for another night (possibly 2). I have heard multiple opinions on the commish’s somewhat controversial decisions. It seems that regardless of the decision he made, there was no way he was going to satisfy all involved parties (including fans).

Listening to all the talk on this issue, I have been reminded again of the reality that making decisions is not always easy. When you are a leader and make decisions that affect the lives of other people (even if it is a baseball game), you will never make everyone happy. It does not matter if you are a pastor, a CEO, a manager, a parent, the captain of a team, or the commissioner of MLB, the decisions of leaders generate opinions – some of them favorable … some of them less favorable … some of them downright opposed.

In my experience, most people respond to the decisions of the leader based on how it affects their own convenience or comfort. The most opposition I have received in decisions I have made usually comes when a decision inconveniences people or challenges people to get outside of their own comfort zones. For that reason, big decisions need to be processed thoroughly and communicated clearly. I probably could have avoided some major conflict earlier in my ministry if I would have taken more time to think through a decision or if I would have found a more effective way to communicate it. A lesson learned.

Decision-making in leadership is not always easy. The reality that your decisions can affect the lives of others can be burdensome. So think thoroughly – communicate clearly and trust God with the results.

- Played golf ALONE on Friday. No I am not a loser. I just wanted some alone time and golf is a great way for me to relax. Also the course was virtually empty so I played two rounds at once. Maybe I am a loser.
- Watched The Happening on Friday night. Typical M. Night. No closure.
- Flew out on Saturday with our worship leader Wojo to West Monroe, LA. An incredible church in this small community, First West, has developed a burden for Las Vegas and we are their first primary partner for the city. I spoke in their 3 Sunday morning services and then cast the vision for Vegas on Sunday night. Good day and looking forward to seeing what God is going to do through this partnership. John Avant is their pastor.
- Fly out to Lake Pointe Church outside Dallas for a few days. Looking forward to spending some time with some other planters and with their incredible Lead Pastor Steve Stroope.
- My girls went to see High School Musical 3 this weekend. They have drunk the Kool-Aid.
- Ty Neal, our Family Ministries Pastor, spoke on Sunday at GP. He debunked the myth “Raising Kids in a Godly Home Guarantees Godly Children.”
- Good to know GP can function without me – and Wojo!
- I don’t eat well when traveling.

…have a good one

How would you like to be forever remembered as this best man???

It seems every year at this time I get a few e-mails from well-intended Christians who want to know my position on Halloween. Should we celebrate the holiday or not? Is Halloween a celebration of Satan or evil or Harry Potter and his band of warlocks? Do I allow my kids to participate in Halloween? Legitimate questions. Let me make a few comments on this subject.

1. Like it or not – participating in Halloween is a matter of Christian conscience. In other words, whether you choose to participate is up to your own conscience. There is no book-chapter-verse mandate in Scripture that says Thou shalt not participate in Halloween. For that reason alone, whether you allow your child to trick-or-treat or not is not mandated by God. Yes I know there are verses that indicate we should not be involved in things like satanic worship or invoking evil spirits. Guess what? My kids have gone trick-or-treating every year of their life and have never sacrificed a black cat on an altar to the Prince of Darkness. Allowing your kids to go trick-or-treating does not equal celebrating Satan.

2. If we are going to eliminate all holidays that have some form of pagan roots, then we are going to have to eliminate the celebration of any holiday (including the big 2 for Christians – Christmas and Easter). Just do the google search if you want to learn how many of our holiday traditions stem from some form of paganism.

3. Why are most of the passionate e-mails on this subject vehemently directed at those who participate by those who do not? I have never received an e-mail from someone who was railing on why Christians should participate. Does it reflect our tendency to be against things instead of for them?

4. If you choose to abstain from celebrating Halloween, more power to you! That is what it means to have Christian freedom. Just please abstain from making legalistic directives against those who choose a different route (and I’m talking to both sides here).

5. My kids like to dress up and get candy. I enjoy hanging out with family & friends on occasions like Halloween night. We do not celebrate evil or Satan in any way on Halloween. Halloween in and of itself is morally neutral. We have no moral reason to prevent our kids from a) dressing up, b) getting tons of candy (might be some health & teeth issues on this one), or c) having fun. So we allow our kids to participate. End of story for us.

6. My position does not have to be yours! Let’s not try to make minor issues more than what they are.

7. There’s probably no e-mail or link you can send me that will change my mind but you are always welcome to flood my inbox if you think there’s something out there that I just “have to read” on this subject.

P.S.: I have the same position on Harry Potter books and movies.

So for those who choose to participate in an innocent way, Happy Halloween! For everyone else, Happy Reformation Day!

Last Sunday, I talked about how God is more concerned with my holiness than He is with my happiness. I do believe that God cares about my happiness and wants me to enjoy life’s blessings but I don’t believe God’s primary aim for my life is for me to be happy. I think He wants me to be holy – which may or may not mean that I am happy all the time. I have to believe that we are almost guaranteed seasons where we are less “happy” than others b/c often the shaping of our lives for holiness comes during times of testing and trials – which definitely does not translate into happy. Dark days are a guarantee.

I have to admit that I struggle with the balance between holiness and happiness. Here’s what I know from experience: most people, devoted Christ-followers or not, will not live for extended periods of life without seeking to find some type of happiness or fulfillment. As a matter of fact, I believe most people who live life unhappily for an extended period of time will end up in a depression from which they may or may not ever recover or even worse. Almost every person I know, including me, has struggled with “being happy” at different times in their lives. Those that dwell in this state for any length of time usually end up doing something drastic or they fall into this depressive funk that affects them and everyone around them. Does God desire for us to live life with this type depressive dread? I don’t think He does.

I am not sure what the answer is to this conundrum but I think it has something to do with this spirit of contentment or joy that the Bible describes that is not dictated by circumstances or my life situation. Paul speaks of it in Philippians 4 yet this same apostle also struggles at times with his own fulfillment. Jesus said it only comes from Him. Like so many things in the Christ-walk, it is not cut-and-dry Christianity. It is easy to cliche things and speak about holiness over happiness. It is easy to “hang in there” periods of struggle. It is easy to tell people that God is in control when they are not sure He is. What is difficult is to maintain a mindset of “God is making me holy” while in the middle of a season of unhappiness.

Job did it … oh wait – not really. He had tons of questions and doubts and did not get any real answers. Joseph did it – oh wait – he questioned why God was “with him” so much and everything turned out so bad. Come to think of it – not sure there is a biblical example of someone who just embraced the refining every time without the internal struggle. Even Jesus asked if the cup of suffering could be removed. I’m starting to feel like I am in good company.

Following Jesus is a journey. The road is marked with good times and bad – seasons of happiness and unhappiness. I want to be holy … and I want to be happy. What do I do when those worlds collide? I want to hold steady and trust that God is refining and shaping me. Can I be honest for a sec? Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t. And that’s why Jesus followers are real people living real life with a faith that sometimes wavers. Starting to feel a little better about your own struggles?

Some random things that occupied my weekend…

- Watched a lot of sports: college football, ALCS, NFL
- Went haunted housing with 10 other “still think we are young” 30/40-somethings
- Haunted houses don’t scare me anymore … I miss the old “grab you” and run a “chainless chainsaw” on your leg days. Too many lawsuit threats nowadays to create an old school haunted house.
- Laid on the couch a lot.
- Beat Batman Lego this weekend. Fun game.
- Began a new series on Sunday – Urban Legends – where we are debunking some popular spiritual myths.
- Good start to our series.
- Had 2 of our first band members back yesterday. Band was jamming.
- Had a couple of church planting teams there yesterday. Good guys. One of them is our first partner as a church plant: South Bay Church launching in San Fran Bay area. Lead Pastor: Andy Wood.
- I taught on whether God wants us to be happy yesterday. Conclusion: God cares more about my holiness than my happiness.
- Traveling at the end of the week.
- Weather in Vegas is beautiful right now.
- Parenting is no cake walk.
- My head hurts.

later…

For the past several days, my “man fish” Surge has been sick. He refused to eat (even his favorite meal – live gold fish). He has been lying around upside down and breathing heavy. We checked his water conditions and did everything we knew to do to figure out what was going on. At the end of the day, we lost the battle and Surge passed on to the other side. Much to his owner’s chagrin, he has now entered the great fish bowl in the sky. He will be forever remembered as the fish who ate Nemo and all his little friends. By the way, you know you have a man fish when he is too big to flush.

One of the realities of starting a church – particularly in a city like Las Vegas – is that God raises up people to help your church for a season and then they move on. One of the original 7 families who helped launch Grace Point was Nelson & Karen Yee (and their daughter Abigail). They were one of the first families to step foot in my living room and hear the vision. They were the first local family to say “we’re in.” Obviously they hold a special place in the GP story.

Nelson has been extremely valuable in our computer graphics area and has served as a key volunteer since the beginning. Karen has been one of the lead persons in our church since the beginning days. She has served on my staff since our earliest months and her responsibilities have increased with time until the point she has served as our Weekend Service Director for the last year – no doubt one of the most important positions in our paradigm.

In our earliest preview days, Karen started by helping with children and then once we realized her gifts, she moved to become our set design leader – and if you know anything about GP, you know how important this position is. Soon thereafter, she became our creative arts director and utilized her experience and professional contacts for GP to help make our weekend services engaging and relevant. She added creative elements that have set us apart from so many church plants. God strategically placed her with her life experiences at GP at the right time.

From there, I asked Karen to coordinate our community service and she attacked it with fervor and was the key person in helping us establish our incredible relationship with the City of North Las Vegas. When I had the vision to partner with the City (another story for another day), she put feet to the vision and made it happen. She then turned over this vital part of our DNA to our present community service director and helped make the transition smooth and effective.

Last year, I asked Karen to take the position Weekend Service Director and oversee almost every element of our weekend gatherings. Once again she stepped up to the task and has done a great job in helping make our weekend gatherings effective. It is largely because of Karen that we have the level of “production” and professionalism that help define Grace Point Church.

This past weekend, Karen resigned from the staff of Grace Point to take a break for a while. It is time for a much needed break as she has struggled to maintain the balance of home life and work. She is an “all-in” type person and has given her heart and soul to Grace Point. She has made my life much easier and has never complained about the “whatever Devin asks” clause in her job description. We have been able to survive without an administrative assistant type person at GP largely b/c Karen has done so much outside of her technical job. I believe you must have that type person when planting a church to accomplish the vision.

I know that I have been hard to work under at times and we have not always seen eye-to-eye in every situation, but Karen has been 100% loyal and 100% committed to the vision of Grace Point. She has never wanted to be in the spotlight. She is talented. She is giving (I don’t even want to know how much out of pocket money she has spent on GP). She has served without complaining. And she will be missed. “Little Wheels” was a name given to her when she worked in the “industry”. She is small in stature but is always on the move and gets things done. The name is fitting.

Church plants do not happen without the blood, sweat, and tears of faithful people who will never receive the recognition they deserve. Karen Yee is one of those people.

Thots from a random weekend…

- I played Wolf Creek in Mesquite – one of the top 25 public golf courses in America on Thursday with a friend from out-of-town and 2 GP guys. It was beautiful. The course kicked my butt but I enjoyed the experience. Thanks to John Jenkins for picking up the tab to enable it to happen.

- Worked all day Friday to make up for being out on Thursday.

- Picked up Lego Batman for the Wii for Zac (and me). We have almost beat it already. Cool game. Love playing video games with my boy.

- I literally did not leave the house on Saturday. Lazy day.

- The temps dropped into the 60s in Vegas this weekend. No 80s. No 70s. Just straight to the 60s. Hopefully it will warm a little and give us some of that “perfect temperature” weather in the next couple of weeks.

- We finished our Jesus series on Sunday talking about the resurrection. This series has been one of my favorites.

- Our next series is called Urban Legends and will deal with some popular spiritual myths.

- We had Five20 last night and had some good discussion on spiritual issues. We are looking to team up with another ministry near UNLV to reach college-age young adults. Not sure what that means for the future of Five20. We will play it one month at a time.

- The Cowboys have stunk it up the last few weeks. Stupid loss yesterday.

later