2009 July | Modern Ekklesia

Archive - July, 2009

My Two Simple Steps For Getting Things Done

July 29, 2009 in leadership with 0 Comments

I want to share how I usually attempt to get things done.

But first, let’s just admit that personal productivity is one of those phrases that’s been used and abused. We hear the word and immediately conjure up images of amazing multi-taskers: those people who drive while listening to audiobooks, eat while reading something, and even yes, figure out a way to get an extra project done while going to the loo.

This is not what I’ll share about.

To get to where I am (which is just a notch above no system) I’ve gone through a little journey. I attempted to read THE book on getting things done: Getting Things Done. However, I got lost in the quite involved process on how to prepare to get things done. Failure.

I also tried and tested several software programs and iphone apps such as Remember the Milk, and others, but I was never able to stick to them. Epic failure.

Most recently I’ve just been creating little “notes” on my mac mail program. Here’s what it looks like:

It’s really simple and it works. But I found some tools that work better.

So here’s my high tech solution for getting things done. A notebook.

But not just any notebook, a Moleskin notebook. They’re simple and indestructible. Plus, they look pretty cool, so that takes care of that. For a simple series with more info on how you might use one click here. I carry this with me everywhere. If I need to take notes on the fly, I write it down in here. Write a quick to do list while away from my mac. In it goes. In a board meeting and need to take notes. In it goes.

Here’s a pic of my notebook and a few things I jotted down today:

David Allen, of Gettings Things Done fame, talks about how many people remain really stressed out because there are lots of tasks floating around in their heads (he calls them “open loops”) that they have to do, but then they forget them without writing them down. The first step he talks about is dumping all the info into a “bucket.” This notebook is my bucket. If I hear a nice quote or get a blog post idea, I write it inside here. I think one of the reasons this notebook works so well is because, for me, it’s the central repository for info. No scraps of paper. No stickies. Just the one notebook.

By the way, here’s a great hack for how to carry a pen with your moleskin. It works!

So that’s step number one.

Step number two is just as easy: Google Tasks. The reason this works so great is because it’s super simple and you can open up a task window from inside your gmail. If you don’t use gmail, it’s time to stop being lame and begin. It’s the best email system out there period. Not hotmail. Or yahoo. It’s gmail. Ok, sorry….enough.

So what I’ve been doing is at the end of a day, I’ll open up a new task box that I will work on the next day. I spend a minute evaluating what didn’t get done, and then adding in what I have to work on for the next day. If I’m on the computer and think of something, I quickly go to the window and add it. And best of all, if I have to hit the road, the tasks come with me “virtually” on my iphone through the Google Task app. This is the same principle as just writing out a simple to do list in my notebook, but I type quicker than I write, so I prefer to do it there.

So that’s it. Nothing too special. But it’s a system that’s simple and has been working for me. The key is just about writing things down in a central location.

What about you? What’s been working for you? How do you get things done?

[image by fuchsphoto]

The Role of Humility In Leadership

July 27, 2009 in leadership with 2 Comments

I just started reading the book Good to Great, and was struck by an interesting finding.

The purpose of the book, of course, was to analyze companies that went from average or good, to great. The author and team researched thousands of companies, narrowed the case studies to eleven, and began to dig deep into each one, extrapolating from the research what made these companies go from good to great.

So what stood out about the leaders of these companies? Humility.

Here’s what Jim Collins says, “In contrast to the very I-centric style of the comparison leaders, we were struck by how the good-to-great leaders didn’t talk about themselves. During interviews with the good-to-great leaders, they’d talk about the company and the contributions of other executives as long as we’d like but would deflect discussion about their own contributions” (p. 27).

On the flip side, there were a different breed of executives who also showed exceptional aptitude, but that suffered with pride and huge egos. During their tenure as executives these companies generally did really well. The fall of the companies came after that particular executive left. It seems that because these executives were so self-absorbed, they didn’t care too much to prepare the next generation of leaders that would follow. (Somebody should have given them some John Maxwell books).

Again, here’s Collins: “In over two thirds of the comparison cases, we noted the presence of a gargantuan personal ego that contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of the company” (p. 29).

The reasons for the success of these leaders and companies can’t just be attributed to humility, of course, but this was a clear commonality that all of these leaders exhibited.

Reminds me of the Scripture in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

So what’s the lesson in all of this? It would be too simplistic, I think, to say, “ok, be humble, then, and your organization will do better.” Humility is not exactly a skill set, per se, like practicing your jump shot in basketball. For the Christian, humility is an expression of an inward change. It’s the fruit of a change at the root (Galatians 5:22-23).

So what can you do? I would work on following Jesus, and going where He tells you to go and doing what He tells you to do. The bumpy roads through which He sometimes leads us seems to be a good recipe for keeping that ego in check.

What would you suggest?

[image by Andy b]

The Impact of Incentives in Your Organization or Society

July 26, 2009 in leadership,missional with 0 Comments

I recently had the opportunity to guest blog on ChurchCrunch.com on the topic of incentives and why people do the things they do. The ideas were based upon a few chapters in the book Freakonomics by Steven Levitt.

Here’s a quote from the beginning:

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of incentives recently. Steven Levitt, the renowned economist from the University of Chicago devotes a chapter to the topic in his book Freakonomics. The chapter is called “What do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?”

So here’s the gist of the issue: People will cheat if the incentive is big enough and the associated risk is small enough.

We’re all used to the idea of students cheating to do better on tests. After all, if you don’t pass some tests, you may not pass the class. Once, when I was in high school geometry, I entered some answers into my TI-89 calculator. I passed the test. Another time in AP English class I carefully…well, let’s move on.

What we’re not so used to hearing, though, is about teachers cheating.

I always looked up to teachers as castles of moral integrity and as civil missionaries. Those that seemingly don’t make a lot of money but still choose to work with hormonal/moody/hyper kids were surely saints on earth. But in the book Levitt details what happened when the state of California introduced $25,000 bonuses “for teachers who produced big test scores.” Many cheated.”

For the full post and to find out why this matters click here.

How Should A Pastor Address Himself?

July 23, 2009 in blogging with 17 Comments

A few months ago I wrote a post here about a struggle I had been having with pastors wearing suits: whether they should wear one or not when they preach. It seems that it struck quite a nerve with people as it’s become the most commented post on the blog.

Allow me to confess another struggle I’ve been having: how to address myself.

More specifically, how does how I refer to myself impact how other people see me and the position I hold? Does it make you think less of a pastor when he just refers to himself by his first name? Does it make you respect him more when he refers to himself as Pastor so-and-so?

These are some questions I’ve been struggling with. You’d think that three and a half years into pastoral ministry I would have figured this one out by now, but I haven’t. And so I come to you.

I know when I go to the hospital, I like it when the Dr. introduces him/herself as Dr. so-and-so because it helps me to see them as being authoritative. I want to know who will best be able to give me the answers I need. When I’m on a university campus and a professor introduces himself as Dr., it helps me to see that professor as someone that knows what they’re talking about.

Let me show you some of the more common options and then comment a little more.

I could introduce myself as Pastor Ortiz. This to me sounds extremely formal and I don’t think I could ever pull this off with a straight face. I know that in most cultures, this is the de-facto way that people address the pastor. But it just sounds kind of old to me.

I could also call myself Pastor Rodlie. This sounds better to me. I think that could work. It feels like a decent middle ground.

Of course there’s also just Rodlie. It’s my name. And I actually use this quite a bit. When I meet someone at church for the first time I usually say, “Hi, my name’s Rodlie. I’m the pastor here.” I feel like just using my name without the title perhaps helps to engender more of a connection between us, like we’re friends. And especially if you do become close friends with some of your church members it just seems a little odd (to me) for the person to address you as Pr. Rodlie.

So if you can give me some perspective I’d really appreciate it.

So what do you think? How do you think a pastor should address himself? Does it make a difference to you? Does the title used influence your perception of him/her?

[Image by Kid Continuity]

When The Right Response is "You’re Pretty Lame!"

July 19, 2009 in preaching with 5 Comments

I was fascinated by a recent Time article that seems to contradict everything we’ve ever heard about positive thinking and self-help. We’ve always heard that the best thing we could do for people is to build them up, encourage them, and make them feel better about themselves. If we don’t do this, the theory goes, our children’s fragile egos will be hurt and they will not be able to fully realize their potential. Because of that, a generation of kids that can’t hit a home run, throw a free throw, catch a pass, or hit a back hand in tennis have been told, in spite of their obvious ineptitude, that they can achieve greatness.

Turns out they were wrong.

Here’s a telling quote from the article:

“…when people get feedback that they believe is overly positive, they actually feel worse, not better. If you try to tell your dim friend that he has the potential of an Einstein, he won’t think he’s any smarter; he will probably just disbelieve your contradictory theory, hew more closely to his own self-assessment and, in the end, feel even dumber.”

What does this mean for us? I think this brings us to the crux of the gospel story. The truth is that we are people that are and have messed up. We are not perfect. People are sinful. And God allowed His Son to be sacrificed and take the penalty for our sins. There’s no way to really sugar-coat that. It’s a messy subject. And yet so many preachers and leaders out there simply try to present this really warm-fuzzy version of the gospel. God wants you to have lots of money. He wants you to be blessed beyond your wildest imagination and to have a Bentley (or two) in the garage.

As I survey preaching in the last few years it seems that a shift is taking place. The past decade or so has been owned by baby boomer preachers who preached on five ways to do this better, or ten ways to get out of debt. Yes, we’ll always have the Olsteen-type preachers out there. But it seems that the pendulum is now swinging in the other direction. We’re coming to a place where people are searching and seeking for deeply authentic biblical preaching that cuts to the core.

I feel like a shift has taken place in my own preaching to this end as well. My job is not to help people retire in a better financial position, but to be ready for the soon coming of Jesus. And that means that sometimes we have to tell people the truth that, yes, they are pretty lame, but there is hope in Jesus.

What about you? What has your experience been with these concepts of positive thinking? Or about some of these different preaching styles?

*Thanks to Pastor Chris Bullock of Fusion Church Atlanta for pointing out this article to me.

[image by APHOrism]

What Not To Do In A Meeting

July 14, 2009 in leadership with 2 Comments

We’ve all been there before. Either you’re leading the meeting or you’re participating in it. And all of a sudden someone starts to do something quite rude or disrespectful in the meeting. Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson book publishers delineates here what those top annoying meeting behaviors are. Read it and repent.

Which of these have you been guilty of?

Church Systems Checkup

July 14, 2009 in Evangelism,web tool with 0 Comments

In case you haven’t read it, here’s a copy of the new Church Systems report by Nelson Searcy. In this ebook Searcy presents some of the foundational “systems” that must be in place for a church to be healthy and to grow. If you’re familiar with Natural Church Development it’s somewhat similar, but Searcy actually gives you the details that you need to implement them. I’ve been able to implement a few of his systems into my church and I’ve noticed the difference. If you’re in church leadership work, you need to invest the time and give this a go. It will be worth it.