Since I’m here anyway, I think I’ll live blog the DG conference.
It’s on missions, and the theme is Finish the Mission.
Louie Giglio is up now.
by Matt Perman
Since I’m here anyway, I think I’ll live blog the DG conference.
It’s on missions, and the theme is Finish the Mission.
Louie Giglio is up now.
by Matt Perman
Registration is open for Redeemer’s new faith and work conference, The Gospel & Culture. The conference will be November 4-5.
Here’s the gist:
The Gospel & Culture Conference represents the culmination of more than eight years of the Center for Faith & Work’s ministry targeted at equipping, connecting, and mobilizing Christians to engage the world from a gospel-centered foundation.
Drawing on the experiences of one another as well as more than 10 speakers representing various sectors, conference participants will gain:
- Sharpened discernment of God’s work in the world.
- Renewed understanding of the importance of community in cultural engagement.
- Heightened awareness of the power of the Holy Spirit in changing motivations of the heart.
- Excitement for our daily work as it contributes to building for the great City that is to come.
And here’s the agenda:
The Conference opens Friday evening, November 4th, with participants engaging the culture of NYC through “Glimpses,” events happening throughout the city which point toward evidence of God’s glory and His sovereignty over all things.
On Saturday, November 5th, all attendees convene at St. Bart’s for a full day of interacting with practitioners from across various sectors who will showcase their work in ways that highlight God’s work in the world.
Speakers include Tim Keller, Richard Mouw, and many others.
by Matt Perman
Here’s an excerpt from my book. This is not like most excerpts, probably, because it’s still a rough draft and will likely be improved and re-done before the final version.
I wrote this section a few days ago and I actually don’t yet know where it fits. I tacked it on at the end of the chapter it is relevant to, but that chapter is already mostly done and this brings together some of the ideas from it in a different way. The reason I’m posting it here is because it is largely self-contained and because of the fact that I now have to figure out where it goes (and if it will go in at all)!
So, this gives you not only a sample of the book, but a window into how books take shape.
Here’s the excerpt:
Don’t Wing It!
Just a quick final word on the importance of personal management. The last thing I am advocating is an ultra rigid approach to life. That would be massively boring and, frankly, makes you look mean. I am a fan of discipline, but I am not a fan of strictness. So, be flexible.
But don’t only be flexible. In fact, being flexible implies that there is something to flex — some type of structure and discipline to your life. You need to have that. Different people will have it in varying degrees, and the place where you set the needle is up to you. But you need to do something. Don’t wing your life.
Don’t wing it because, first, it doesn’t work. Scott Belsky points out that even among creatives, who are known for winging it, it doesn’t work:
This book aims to take pie-in-the-sky notions of how the creative process unfolds and bring them down to earth. Creative people are known for winging it: improvising and acting on intuition is, in some way, the haloed essence of what we do and who we are. However, when we closely analyze how the most successful and productive creatives, entrepreneurs, and businesspeople truly make ideas happen [and to his list I would add pastors, non-profit leaders, and many more], it turns out that “having an idea” is just a small part of the process, perhaps only 1 percent of the journey.
And, second, don’t wing it because it’s not biblical. The Bible speaks very highly of discipline and planning: “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich” (Proverbs 10:4). “He who gathers in summer is a prudent son [note: there is an intentionality here (“in summer”) — not randomness], but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame” (Proverbs 10:5). “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established” (Proverbs 16:3). “Whoever gives thought to a matter will discover good” (Proverbs 16:20). “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7).
Perhaps the most forceful verse, though, is Proverbs 21:5: “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.” Note that not planning is analogous to being hasty. Don’t be hasty — don’t live your life by the seat of your pants. Give thought to what you will do with your days and weeks and years.
Don’t be overly rigid (see above) and don’t make your plans independent of God. But do have a measure of thought and intentionality to how you go about your life.
(Note: the next several chapters after this one then go into various practices for improving your productivity and managing your life more effectively, in a biblical and creative way.)
by Matt Perman
John Piper’s latest book, Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian, will be released September 30 and is available for pre-order.
Here’s a summary:
JOHN PIPER brings the light of the gospel to bear on racial issues in this groundbreaking book. Bloodlines begins with Piper’s confession of his own sins and experience with racial tensions, along with how God has been transforming him and his church. He enables readers to grasp the reality and extent of racism, and then he demonstrates from Scripture how the light of the gospel penetrates the darkness of this destructive sin. The book concludes with sections on what Jesus’s atoning death means for racial issues, interracial marriage, and prejudice. With great sensitivity and compassion, along with a careful reading of the Scriptures, Piper helps readers navigate the painful landscape of racial sin, showing that in the gospel we all have a common bloodline and that through the blood of Jesus, race and ethnicity become secondary for a common people of God.
Learn to pursue ethnic harmony from a biblical perspective, and to relate to real people different from yourself, as you take part in the bloodline of Jesus that is comprised of “every tongue, tribe, and nation.”
And here are a few endorsements:
“For years, I have yearned for a biblically sound, theologically anchored resource on race. God has answered that prayer. This is an important, foundational work and I am sure it will be used of God to remind all of us of the power and precious, priceless dignity of the gospel.”- Crawford W. Loritts Jr., Senior Pastor, Fellowship Bible Church, Roswell, Georgia; author, A Passionate Commitment
“John Piper has given us an exquisite work on the matter of race. He addresses the issue with biblical and theological soundness coupled with personal sensitivity and practical advice. This is a must read for those who wish to pursue unity God’s way.” – Tony Evans, Co-founder and Senior Pastor, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship
by Matt Perman
Sometimes people criticize the Global Leadership Summit (which I live blogged last week) on the grounds that it brings in secular thinkers to speak at a Christian conference.
If secular thinkers were teaching theology or preaching, that would be a legitimate criticism. But they are teaching on the subject of leadership — which is a broad area which affects all of us and which most of us engage in, either through position or influence, in multiple areas of life.
Hence, I think the following John Wesley quote is applicable and a helpful reminder:
“To imagine none can teach you but those who are themselves saved from sin, is a very great and dangerous mistake. Give not place to it for a moment.”
John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (London: Epworth Press, 1952; 1st Epworth ed.), p. 87, quoted in JP Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul, 54.
I’m aware of some follow-up criticisms that could still be made, and have been made. But this is worth thinking about a bit. And I’ll address the other issues, including Eric Landry’s post, if I can hit a decent stopping point in writing my book this week.
by Matt Perman
“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” — Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.
(HT: The ROWE blog)
by Matt Perman
As is well known by now, Howard Schultz, Chairman and CEO of Starbucks, withdrew himself as a speaker at the Leadership Summit this week. Starbucks did not say why, but most speculated it was because of an online petition by an activist group accusing Willow Creek of being “anti-gay.”
Bill Hybels ended that speculation and addressed this issue at the Summit on Thursday. His response is a model of combining graciousness with truth and conviction. Here are two key quotes:
“If the organizers of this petition had simply taken the time to call us, we would have taken the time to explain to them that Willow is not only not anti-gay; Willow Creek is not anti-anybody. Our church was founded on the idea that people matter to God — all people. People of all backgrounds, colors, ethnicities, and sexual orientation. The mat at every door on this campus reads “welcome”. . .
“Now what is true is that we challenge homosexuals and heterosexuals to live out the sexual ethics taught in the Scriptures which encourages full sexual expression between a man and a woman in the context of marriage and prescribes sexual abstinence and purity for everybody else. But even as we challenge all of our people to these biblical standards, we do so with grace-filled spirits, knowing the confusion and brokenness that is rampant in our fallen world.”
Ed Stetzer and Adam Jeske also provide some helpful reflections.
by Matt Perman
Tough Callings
Michelle Rhee
Henry Cloud
Patrick Lencioni
General
by Matt Perman
The summit is just ending now, and I’ll be heading back home shortly.
This has been a lot of fun and an excellent experience. I’m grateful to the Willow Creek Association for the opportunity to have been one of the guest bloggers here at the leadership summit. I learned a ton, and I hope that all of you were able to follow along a bit through the posts. This has been quite a packed two days!
I am pretty tired right now, but if I can I’ll write up some concluding thoughts when I get the chance.
by Matt Perman
Talking about vulnerability. Good follow-up to a talk on humility.
How he came to this view on the importance of vulnerability: His faith, the example of his dad growing up, experience as a consultant right out of college — they were told “always look smarter than your clients, etc.” Wasn’t real.
The desire to avoid vulnerability in our society stems from our over valuing of avoiding suffering and difficulty. People say “no, always be on, always make yourself strong.” But there is something attractive about people that are humble and vulnerable.
The three fears that keep us from being vulnerable.
1. Fear of losing the business
Another way to say it: Fear of being rejected.
Rejection is something we are called to — Christ was rejected. We have to be willing to be rejected. “Enter the danger.”
We have to speak the kind truth. Can’t have “terminal niceness” in our churches. We fall into it because we don’t want to be rejected.
People are hungry for those who will tell them the kind truth.
Don’t be afraid of being rejected. 8 out of 10 times you won’t be. But sometimes you will — and you have to accept that.
[My observation: Just make sure you really are accurate about the truth and what needs to be done and how you are assessing the situation. If you tell the kind truth, but are actually wrong, that’s not helpful!]
2. The fear of being embarrased
When we’re serving others, we have to do things that could embarrass us. We need to be willing to say “I don’t understand that.”
Your job is not to look smart, but to help them do better. If you are editing yourself to manage your own image, people will not trust you and you will not inspire them.
Be willing to ask dumb questions!
Celebrate your mistakes.
3. The fear of feeling inferior
Be willing to put yourself in a lower position. This is what Jesus did: washed the disciples feet.
Sometimes people aren’t going to reward you for doing the dirty work. But you should do it anyway.
This is about honoring your client’s work: being so interested in them that you care more about their success than your own.
There’s a standing ovation for Lencioni.
(Note: Lencioni just found out he was speaking this week, as he took Howard Schultz’s slot after he withdrew.)