THE PROBLEM WITH ORGANIZED ANYTHING

I'm currently coaching 2 of my 5 kid's soccer teams. This means that I'm at practice at 4:15pm twice a week to set up the field and get ready to coach 19 players for 3 1/2 hours. We practice in the outfield of several baseball fields at a local school.

And every time I show up to run practice, sometimes even on each of the 3 fields, there is a dad with a bucket of baseballs playing catch, practicing pitching, doing batting practice, and working his son one-on-one to improve his game.  

I love this.  I really do.  Every time I walk by I want to high five the Dad for investing in his kid and making time to play catch.  Their are literally thousands of Dad's like them NOT doing that.  

But I also want to ask, "What are you doing?"  

Where are all your kids friends?  Are you playing baseball with your kid or coaching your kid so that he can play baseball in a jersey? It's odd to me that gone are the days of 8 kids playing whiffle ball in the street after school.  You can't play soccer anymore in America without a net, a coach, jerseys, and a referee.  I'm convicted of this every time I watch those Dad's coach. Why don't I play ball with my kids more outside of soccer season?  Sometimes I wonder if we've organized the fun right out of playing sports.  The sandlot picked on this trend pitting the backyard poor kids against the organized rich ones.

And the truth is, we've organized the life out of a lot of stuff.  I think we've done it with Sports.  I think we've also done it with "Organized Religion" too.  Ask the average person on the beach in San Diego- I do it every summer- and you'll find they have a distaste for "organized religion". Call it what you want, but they're at least partially right in their distaste.  As one who works full time in an church, I know that when people gather to truly worship God, that's an awesome, and often life-altering experience.  However, when people won't worship God with their money, life, relationships, or words unless they are in the church... then we're worshipping the organization and not the God it is meant to point people to.  

Organized anything has all kinds of dangers.  Here's three I want to become more and more leary of...

ORGANIZATION DEPENDENT ACTION:  When people are waiting for the organization to move before they do, it's backwards.  Organizations should not shape people, people should shape the organization.  You don't need a sports organization to legitimize your sport or a church to make your small group Bible study official or a club to make your hobby successful.  Just go change the world. 

ORGANIZATION LIMITING RED TAPE:  I almost lost my job once for using a sound system off our church campus that was not allowed to leave the church campus. I saw no reason for it to sit idle in a closet while I rented one to use in a school gym, so I just broke the "rules" and took it.  I got in a lot of trouble for it.  But when the rules of an organization stifle the life of the organization, it's time to cut the tape.

ORGANIZATION DEFINED SUCCESS:  Organizations are notorious for deciding success based on a set of criteria, often numbers based.  I actually think numbers matter, but they do not equal success.  When an organization begins to be the guardian of the definition of success, there is great danger of us notoriously missing the point.  Before you know it, you worship your quantitative criteria instead of the qualitative and often more significant changes.  

  

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BEFORE YOU GO CHASING DOWN THAT PROBLEM

After ever Sunday of ministry, I'm left with several questions:

• So what? Did that make a difference?
• Did anybody decide anything that will matter?
• Are there any problems I need to solve?
• What do we need to do differently next week?
• Should I keep my job?

Ok.. that last one was mostly a joke. Mostly. I confess that a lot of Sundays, my mind plays tricks on me and I wonder if what I'm doing matters. Sometimes I get discouraged by the crowd. Sometimes I think of stuff I would have done different if I could do it over but it's too late. Sometimes I'm my own worst critic. Sometimes other people give me lots of help.  But in the end, working with teens is both a joy and gut wrenchingly hard.  There is so much at stake and I feel like what we do really really matters.  I can't afford to suck at it.  WE can't afford to suck at it. 

So in the pursuit of excellence, I've had to decide some stuff to ignore and some stuff not to ignore.  So, before you go chasing down that problem or quitting your job, here's a few things to consider.

GOSSIP IS GOSSIP.  Ignore it or you'll become part of it.  Don't fall into the trap of chasing down every thing students say or that you hear students say. Most of it will just burn itself out, so let students be students and leave it alone. 

DISCOURAGEMENT IS NOT FROM THE LORD.  God may correct, but he never cuts.  If you can't see the good the correction is pointing to, question it hard before you heed it.  

DON'T MESS WITH THE SEEDS.  When you teach, let it sit for several days before inspecting it.  Wait to see what God does with it.  Sometimes, when I think stuff impacted no one, a couple of days will go by and some student will say or do something profound and I'll have to apologize to God for my dumb doubt.  If you go inspecting the seeds you planted you risk uprooting the ones that fell on really good soil.  Just plant and sow God's Word and leave it alone.  Let the Holy Spirit water it. 

CHASE IT IF IT THREATENS YOUR REPUTATION.  If your in youth ministry, then your reputation is the bank account from which you write credibility checks.  About the only fire I will chase down without hesitation and put out is the one that threatens my integrity.  If someone starts spreading division and lies about you, then don't write an e-mail and don't call them, just go find them and have a conversation ASAP. 

ASK SOMEONE YOU TRUST.  Before you call something a success or label it a failure, run it by someone who was in it and whose opinion you really respect.  Find someone who loves you and loves God and is in it with you.  Then ask them for their honest feedback.   

Those are my thoughts. What are yours? 

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CORE VALUES FLUSHED OUT

Yesterday I wrote about brainstorming our core values and how we processed them with our team.  A while back I wrote about how I was no longer interested in asking my volunteers to sign a commitment of behaviors.  I want them to sign onto values and beliefs that necessitate certain behaviors and rule out others.

So we flushed out with our generation ministries staff team (those working with infants thru 29 yr olds) a set of statements that we then boiled down to 9 words and then expanded again in a few sentences for clarity.  Here's what we're asking our generation ministries volunteers to stack hands on this fall.  It's still in process and may continue to be word-smithed, but here's what we've come up with so far.  If you haven't wrestled with why you do what you do in a while, maybe this will spur you on to ponder it and create your own set of ministry values to rally your team around.

_________________________________________________
TRINITY  
We believe and teach the Biblical truth that God is mysteriously triune.  We embrace the plan of the Father, the sacrifice and example of Jesus, and encourage obedience and attention to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Our love for God is our primary motivation and our first loyalty.

JOURNEY
We are a unified body, supportive of, and integral with the work God is doing in and through the greater community of Jesus followers and the local body at JCC.  It is mission critical that we are supportive of all JCC ministries, attending weekend adult services, and are invested in a common vision.

COMPASSION
We are a grace filled community, accepting failure as part of the learning process and loving others before ourselves.  Understanding we are all in process and there is no fast track to discipleship, we humbly listen to one another and work together to become who God is calling us to be.

ENCOURAGEMENT
We strive to create spaces that reflect a positive attitude and seek opportunities to cheer one another on in our pursuit of Christlikeness.

LAUGHTER
Loving God is not a burden.  Laughter is good for the body and the soul and a gift from God.  We work to creatively and intentionally create spaces for joy and laughter.

RELEVANCY
We teach and interact in age appropriate ways.  We seek to be relevant in all ways in our teaching methods and plans, encouraging this generation to learn how to think intelligently about the intersection of faith and daily life.  In this, we want to teach them how to think first, learning what that changes second.

COMMUNICATION
We value regular communication.  We don’t bury our problems or ignore our responsibilities.  We strive to communicate clearly and graciously with one another as we address conflict and cast vision.  We are committed to mutual accountability and authenticity, talking directly to one another and avoiding gossip.

OWNERSHIP 
We own this ministry as a part of our calling from God.  We are committed to what we say we will do, regularly showing up and performing our responsibilities in a God-honoring way.

SAFETY
We believe it is our responsibility to create spaces that are both physically safe from predators and unnecessary risk, but also spiritually safe spaces where all phases of spiritual development are encouraged.

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A VALUES BRAINSTORMING IDEA THAT WORKED

We had a kids ministry volunteer training last night.  My goal was to introduce some rallying points around some core values we wanted to introduce.  But our paid staff had already come up with our "core values" so I wanted to give the volunteers a chance to own and create them too.  So to set the stage, we did a brainstorming activity and it ended up being fun an very encouraging. So I thought I'd share it with you.  If you're a youth pastor or a small group leader or teacher... it might work in some context for you too.

Here's what we did.  First, we brainstormed 2 questions:

1. What do you love about kids ministry?
2. What are the needs kids have at JCC on the weekend?

To do this, I wrote two words on two giant tablets.  For the first question, we used "ORANGE", the name of our curriculum company as an acrostic to create the list.  To answer the second question, we used our church name, "JOURNEY".  We had them do this as a table group first and then we kinda fought for our best ideas to make the master list.  It created laughter and enthusiasm and a bit of tension which was awesome.

Here's what they came up with.  

What they love about kids ministry: 

 what they think kids need when they come to JCC on the weekend:

It inspired all of us to be creative, created an environment of ownership, and was collaborative.  It made for a perfect intro to our core values.  It really couldn't have gone better in my opinion.  It was a great team building activity that was easy to prep and very effective.  I'm gonna do it again in some other environments I lead too.  

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HOW DO YOU PLAN OUT YOUR YEAR?

Week by week?
Month by month?
Quarter by quarter?

This question gets asked a lot in ministry and while there may be very good reasons for a variety of methods,  I think that as youth pastors in particular, we have a lot of work to do in this area.  As a group we have a reputation for predominantly being young, flying by the seat of our pants, doing administration poorly, dropping details, and a general lack of planning.  It makes us hard to work with, difficult to get volunteers for, and constantly rushed.  Like all stereotypes, this reputation is both true of some and not of others.  But bottom line, when it is true, it is just plain unprofessional.

I'm not perfect at this, but it is a passion of mine.  I've written and taught a seminar on this at YS for several years now, though it's not offered this year, I'm stoked that it made it onto the radar of the questions being asked at slant 33 this year.

Here's 3 responses from 3 guys in the trenches. One from Josh Griffin, one from Lars Rood, and my own experience in how we get r done.  I think it's worth your read and would love your comments.

You can read our responses here. 

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GETTING TO THE REAL QUESTIONS STUDENTS ARE ASKING

As a youth pastor and a Dad I have an underlying principal that guides me in both those roles.  It's this: "I want to teach them how to think, not what to think."

But despite my passion for it, that's going to remain a nice t-shirt motto unless I'm really intentional about it.    So, if it rings true to you and that's what you want to do as a parent or youth leader too, here's a few reminders for both of us.

YOU'RE NOT SAFE:  As a default, your role has made you unapproachable.  Ok, maybe you're an aces parent and super cape wearing youth leader, but everyone around you is not. So that means that the title has baggage.  If you want students to ask real questions then they need multiple places to ask those questions from lots of mentors and voices.  Student will tell parents some things they won't tell youth leaders and friends some things they won't tell either and stuff they'll tell youth leaders they won't tell anyone else and around it goes.  It takes a community.  We must find and create one if we want real questions asked.

FOSTER DOUBT:  You and I don't have all the answers- to anything.  So, if you want students to ask questions, then share some of your own.  Play the role of devil's advocate and flip a theological rock over every now and again.  Ask some hard questions like "So, why would you pray to a God you can't see?" or "If God can control an earthquake, then is God unloving when one kills hundreds of thousands of men, women, and kids?" Dig in and dig in deep.  If we don't create spaces where we can doubt and wrestle with real questions, we'll only be teaching them what to think and not helping them learn how to think.  Be ok with the unknown and the hard questions.. go digging for both.  It's where the real spiritual growth lies.

PROVIDE ANONYMOUS QUESTION CARDS:  I'm always amazed at what students will write down and ask me in a group of 10 or 100, that they won't ask directly.  Our church staff even uses "anonymous question cards" when tough issues come up so people who ask what they're really wondering.  This is both weird and understandable to me. I really want safe places but I also have to acknowledge that 99% of environments are not safe from judgment and the fear of ridicule.  We did this again last Sunday and I've decided a staple in my student ministry from here out will be anonymous question cards that students can write down and we'll periodically address in youth group.

MEET ONE ON ONE:  If you want to become safe, then there's no substitute for relationship.  There's also no fast track to relationship. If I could challenge you to do just one thing on this list it'd be this. One on one times with my kids or students are the best way to foster and ask questions.  They are the best time for me to both strive to become safe and to dig for deeper questions. They also don't just happen and are rarely initiated by students or my kids.  If I want them to be a priority, then they must be my priority and be intentionally sought out.

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CONFESSIONS OF A BAD MEAL PRAYER

This week my church is launching a week of prayer and it got me thinking about praying before meals.  I confess: I'm not the best at praying before meals.

As a kid I grew up and we prayed a memorized prayer before dinner.  In our home today, we don't pray a memorized prayer, but we pretty much only pray before the dinner meal. We take turns and now our kids kinda lobby for who gets to pray.  Maybe it's cuz at dinner, you have to wait for everyone to be served and us to pray before you eat.  I dunno.  At breakfast, lunch, or any other meal, you can just dive in once you get what you get.  Don't ask me why it is, it just is.  Welcome to our weird world of eating at the kitchen table in the Berrytribe.

I'm not even really sure why we do this as Christians, but evidently, you're supposed to pray before meals.  Sometimes it's awkward when I'm with someone, cuz I never know their conviction level on this one.  And there's this weird moment where you're not sure if you're supposed to just eat or wait or what.

But, here's my observations on prayer time at meals and the variations I've seen.

BUMPER STICKER PRAYER:
"Rubadub dub, thanks for the grub. Let's eat."

CLASSIC MEMORIZED PRAYER:  

"Please bless this food to our bodies and our lives to your service, Amen."

PRIVATE RESTAURANT PRAYER:  

I don't know how this one goes, but before you eat, you're supposed to hold your fork in your hand or fold your hands, then bow your head over your food, close your eyes, and not say anything anyone can hear but show them you're not eating yet either.

TOAST TO GOD PRAYER:  

I was introduced to this prayer by a friend of mine. I use it in restaurants a lot.  It's where everyone at the table grabs their glass, and instead of offering a "toast" to someone at the table, you offer one to God. You thank him for the food and for being at your table and then everyone taps glasses.  Then you eat.

THANK YOU BABY JESUS PRAYER:
I guess you can thank Will Ferrell for this one.




GROCERY STORE PRAYER:
There are two varieties of this prayer that I'm aware of.  First, there's the family that just prays over all the food they bring into their house from the grocery store and then, calls it all blessed.  You can also pray over the entire grocery store and help other sacrilegious families out while you're at it I suppose :)  The other variation on this is evidently buying "preblessed food".

Which does your family do?

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A NEW DAY IN MY WORLD

My oldest son, TJ went to his first day of high school today.

I've worked with high school students in the church for 17 years as a full-time youth pastor and now I finally have one in my house.  It's weird, exciting, faith stretching, and perspective warping already.

So, here's some initial conclusions I have staring down tunnel of parenting, knowing the next 4 years will be like a blur:

I'M PASSIONATE ABOUT MAXIMIZING THESE NEXT 4 YEARS. 
Today I re-uped my commitment to deeply care about the student ministry we are doing at our church.  It has always mattered to me, but for obvious reasons, the reality of what's at stake has a new face for me.  I re-uped my commitment to meeting weekly one-on-one with TJ like we've done the last 3 years.  I re-uped my commitment as a Dad to make the sacrifice and investment it will take to invest my best time into the privilege of parenting.

I'M ACUTELY AWARE THAT TODAY MARKS A NEW DECADE FOR US.
For the next 10 years, the Berrytribe will have at least one of our kids in high school.  Wow.  That's a lot of high school years ahead of us.  At year 6, we'll have a senior, a sophomore, and 2 freshman in our house.  HAAA!

I'M NO LONGER "TELLING PARENTS HOW TO DO WHAT I'M NOT DOING".    
I've worked hard for 2 decades to be in that place.  I've apologized and backpedaled my way out of giving advice to parents of high school students because I have not done it.  Even 10 years from now, I won't have some magic wand or be able to give advice without the humble truth that I don't hold the answers to to the task of parenting teens.  But with every passing day of the next 3650, my credibility as a pastor who is walking in a high school parent's shoes, for better or for worse, will only increase.

DANG, TIME FLIES. 
I know everyone says this, but I swear, my son was born yesterday.  14 years went WAAAAAY too fast.  My youngest will be freshmen tomorrow.  I gotta continue to freeze me some moments in time.

I THOUGHT I MIGHT HAVE TO QUIT ON THIS DAY
For years I thought that this day would mark a day that I might need to bow out of youth group.  In an effort to give my own high school students the space to own their faith, I thought I might need to call it a day on this day.  But after a summer of ministry together, I'm even more committed to doing life with my own high school students while leading with them in the risk and faith filled experience we call Student Ministry.  Today was truly a new day on the job for me.

Pray it up people.  My family needs a decade of your help and a 5 fold dose of grace from the Lord on this one.

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IF YOU HAVE A TOILET...

... then you are blessed.

Don't believe your flushing toilet makes you blessed?

Water.org reports that more people in the world have access to a cell phone than a toilet.

I believe it. In early July I was in Haiti with our students. I saw people with cell phones in tent cities with no toilets.  I watched kids in an orphanage use a hole in the ground because they had no flushing toilet.  In Uganda I watched people walk into mud huts in the most remote of villages on Lake Victoria and have a cell phones, but no toilets.  The first time I met my now daughter Becky, she was peeing in a field, which is normal... cuz there are no toilets in fields!

Then a few weeks ago I was traveling the country to go camping with my kids and I was reminded that in the United States, we have toilets everywhere.  We have toilets in houses.  We have toilets in restaurants and gas stations and stores. We have toilets in campgrounds and in fields in the forrest and no joke....

... we even have toilets on the side of the road.  Yup.  On the side of the road, on all kinds of roads, we have places to pull your car over, sit in the shade, and poop in private on some multi-thousand dollar pooping spot.

Seriously?  Seriously!

2 weeks ago I was in the middle of butt-crack-nowhere Nevada... I swear, we passed one car every hour headed south east on hwy 140 headed out of butt-crack-nowhere Oregon and was like 120 miles outside of Winnemucca.  Trust me, 120 miles outside of Winnemucca, Nevada is the definition of butt-crack-nowhere.

And of course, one of my kids in the back seat tells me they have to poop.  I tell them, "Well, I have bad news for you.  We're in the middle of nowhere and it's gonna be 2 hours before you can poop in anything remotely resembling a toilet."  Truth is, you could poop behind a different sage bush for the rest of your life on the road side where we were and never hit the same one twice and never be caught doing it either.  There is nothing and no one out here.

Then, I kid you not, we came around the corner and there was a "rest stop".  I laughed out loud!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  I'm on a 2 lane road used by 15 people a month and there's a rest stop with toilets that someone has to drive out and stock with toilet paper, clean, and pump poop out of.  There was a shade cover thing and a section of road to park your car on.  Even a picnic table!

Unbelievable.  I drove almost 2500 miles through 9 states, never dodged a pothole, and stopped at roadside toilets so Americans don't have to pee in "public".  Try that in Haiti or Uganda or Mexico or... 100 other countries in the world.

Wow. We're stupid blessed.  If you don't believe me.  Go without a toilet for a week.  Or better yet, just drive across the United States counting public toilets.

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THANKS FOR TAKING US CAMPING

If my kids said it once, they said it 50 times on our 14 day road trip this summer.  "Thanks for taking us camping Dad."  As a Dad, I think it's the best thing we do for our family all year.

This summer was our longest road trip yet: almost 2500 miles, touching 9 states, 3 campgrounds (Trinity Lake in CA; Yellowstone/Grand Tetons in WY; & Zion in UT), and having a ton of fun with friends and family along the way.  With TJ heading into high school this year, it really feels like the countdown has begun.  We have only so much time as a family before life starts getting really complicated with schedules and agendas.  I'm more committed than ever to not waste these next 10 or so years.  This is the last decade until everyone turns 18 in our home.  Crazy how time flies.  I'm gonna do everything I can to put on the brakes and make trips and experiences like these a must every break I can find.

You can take a gander at this slice of heaven in these pictures below.  They pretty much tell the story.  But whether you're a camping family or not, here's a couple of reminders I took away from our family vacation.

There's no substitute for time spent.  You can't rush impact on your kids.  Influence comes slow through methodical and consistent time spent over the long haul.

Intentionality and sacrifice is required.  Even if impact can come in spur of the moment times, it was planning that put my family on a road trip. It took time, money, effort, sacrifice, and focus to pull this experience off.  We decided to do this and the investment was beyond worth it.  But I can't assume I will influence my kids or impact their lives by accident.  I must be intentional about it.

There's something awesome about getting away in nature.  No cell phones. No internet. Just the beauty of God's creation and the joy of spending time in some of the most beautiful country on the planet.  Really, we have an epic opportunity to experience nature in San Diego and in the State and National Parks around us.  It is so healthy and needed for my family to spend ample time in them. It's good for all our souls.

Smiles and experiences like these are priceless.  I'm so thankful for this memory.  

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SOME GREAT STUFF AHEAD

This has been a great summer.  3 weeks of straight ministry camp and missions followed by 2 weeks of family road trip made for great memories.  More on that in future posts.

But as awesome as the summer was, I think this fall might be even more so.  I'm excited for some new changes we're making to small groups in Encounter.  I'm excited for new freshman. I'm excited for some new members on our team.  I'm excited to start coaching soccer again for 2 of my kids.  I'm excited for some writing and teaching opportunities I have coming up.

MAGAZINE ARTICLES:  I'm still writing a magazine article for Group every 2 months. It's called Family Matters and I just renewed my contract for the coming year too. Each article is about life in ministry with a family.  I wrote a longer article for the September issue too as a teaser dealing with the subject of another book I'm working on for them about Criticism: enduring, learning from, and responding to your critics.  

I started doing a little writing for "Immerse Journal" as well and have an article coming out in the September/October issue dealing with taking care of your own soul.  

BOOK I'M WORKING ON CURRENTLY:  I'm also in contract for a book due out sometime in February 2012 I think on the ministry and family subject.  It's called, "As for Me and My (Crazy) House: learning to protect your heart, marriage, and family from the demands of ministry".  I'm stoked about it and start crankin on my due dates this week.  

ONLINE CONVO I'M PART OF:  Today launched a new and re-vamped website called "Slant 33".  I'm part of a team of contributors who will each answer a question.  The questions publish regularly and have 3 different responses or views from ministry professionals on each topic.  Should be a great read.  I'm looking forward to both reading and contributing this year.  

CONFERENCES I'M TEACHING AT: This fall, I'm teaching at two conferences for youth pastors.  
One is the National Youth Workers conference in San Diego September 30-October 2, 2011.

I'll be teaching or participating in 3 different learning environments this year:

(1) A panel discussion called Retreat Planning 101

(2) Seminar called:  Say No to the Status Quo: Declaring War on Extended Adolescence and Casual Christianity

Here's the brief description on that one: You don't have to be very observant or very well read to know that adolescence has moved from a life stage to a lifestyle and that students are leaving their faith behind as they head into their twenties. This workshop will challenge us to look into how we're structuring our ministries in ways that might be perpetuating the problem and develop some solid theological and practical solutions to putting a stop to this common trend. 

(3) Panel discussion on the Future of Youth Ministry with Josh Griffin, Matt McGill and Mark Oestreicher. 

YS made lots of changes to this years format.  You can see my new boss, Tic Long, explaining some of it in this more awesome video :)

Another conference I'll be joinin is called "Recess" and is hosted at the Mt. Hermon Conference grounds at Ponderosa Lodge in the Santa Cruz mountains.  

October 9-11, 2012 is a weekend of training for those who live within driving distance of Mt. Hermon.  It's gonna be a great 2 1/2 days of play, training, conversations, and team building. Josh Fox is leading worship and I'm teaching along with Duffy Robbins.  Super excited about being part of this new venture.  


3 cheers for a full fall. 

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PICTURES, SHOVELS, AND THE POWER OF VISUALS

I'm back from 6 weeks of out of town, out of state, out of country, and/or out of the office ministry and family summer experiences and I think it's time to pick up bloggin' again.  I'm sure my readership is down to like 12, but to those of you who are still around, let the bonding begin.  :)

I came home to dive full into several days jam packed with meetings and then 2 days of attending the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit.  It's like a leadership fire hose of information and inspiration that  always gives my own soul and those of our pastoral team tons to think about.

Today was no exception to that rule.  Bill Hybels inspired me to make hard decisions.  Cory Booker challenged me to let the hope of Jesus inspire me to see the world through hope colored glasses and to "do sumpin" about it.  Seth Godin reminded me that the future is not determined by the economy, but by my own willingness to see every shift in our cultural tide as an opportunity to be seized by someone- who might as well be me.  Steven Furtick inspired me to believe God for all he has promised and to act in faith, especially when it makes no sense at all.

But as much as I loved those lectures/talks/presentations/sermons... the thing that stood out to me again today was the power of a visual illustration in communication.

• Bill Hybels used a flip chart to draw pictures and enhance his talk.
• Cory Booker used the power of story with vivid details to invoke images in my brain.
• Seth Godin used over 100 pictures to support his points, invoke laughter, and inspire the listener to never look down.  Really, it was masterful. 
• Steven Furtick spoke about a passage in 2 kings 3 and challenged us to follow Elisha's lead and dig some ditches.  You'd have to listen to the talk or read the passage to get the gist of it.  But the power of his message was not just what he said, but what he used to make it stick.  He pounded home just one visual.  One principal that was solidly rooted in one image from the text.  It was the image of someone with a shovel digging a ditch.  Lots of ditches in fact.  He never showed a picture or even brought a shovel on stage. But it either one would have been even more powerful.  

In the end, I bet that if you asked anyone who heard the lectures today, each and every one of them without fail could tell you the visual tools used by these communicators.  Not only was I inspired by their message, but I was reminded of the power of their method.  Steven said that he wished he could give everyone a shovel today as they left his talk, but that it would cost too much.  The point was made.  When those in the audience think about a shovel, they'll think about digging faithfully where God calls before it makes sense to anyone but those who heard the call.

I think I might just go buy a shovel and stick it in the corner of my office as a reminder. Maybe I'll carry it around on days I need BIG faith shoes.  I did just that after I heard Jeanne Stevens  speak at the National Youth Worker's conference in San Diego last year.  She told about the power of a "chainsaw faith" out of Mark 2 and the friends who ripped a hole in the roof of a house to get the paralytic to Jesus.  I bought a chainsaw as a reminder.  It was epic and I rarely forget a great visual.

I love communicators that engage my mind, my ears, and my eyes.

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