Followership

We can't go anywhere now days without running into books, articles, lectures, seminars, videos, and probably a few delivery devices I've forgotten, about Leadership Development. Create material on the topic and you have a hot product. I think, for a Christian, the focus should be on Followership Development.

A Christian is supposed to be a Christ follower. Period. Every Christian leader should ultimately be a Christ follower. Of course there are sincere Christian leaders who fail, but I think there are many more so-called Christian leaders who are not following Christ and who ultimately will fail spectacularly at being a Christian leader. It may sound like I'm quibbling but I think it is serious for a couple of reasons.

When we put so much focus on "Leadership Development" we fail to adequately develop other gifts even though we don't mean to. We need to be helping people develop their gifts no matter what they are. Some people do have leadership gifts that we need to help them develop, but we need to do that right along side those who need to develop their serving gifts or hospitality gifts, or whatever other gift God has given them. I know that developing these other gifts is championed in a few corners but, by and large, leadership development takes center stage. This is probably due to a thinking that developing leaders will lead (aren't I clever there) to the development of the other gifts. But I'm not sure this has been the experience. Instead it causes people to develop a superiority complex that doesn't do anyone any good.

That leads to the other concern and that is that failing to recognize our ultimate need to be a follower causes us to end up in the weeds more often than not. Using leadership gifts needs to be understood in terms of humbly serving Christ as a follower. Instead we can easily end up at the other end of the spectrum, haughtily dispensing our leadership talents on our followers as an egotistical maniac, or worse.

So I propose that we do away with Leadership Development and focus on Followership Development. It will include Leadership Development, but everything else as well.

Cohorting

I've been part of several "cohorts" but I'm not sure they are named correctly. The first time I can remember hearing the word was back in college when it came up in a class on genetics and negative mutations in people who lived near a nuclear waste sight over a 10 year period. They were a cohort because they lived in the same place at the same time and it was possible to study the collective results of that cohort in comparison with another cohort who lived in a different location or in the same location at a different time. But genetics gave me a headache then and does so even more now.

The point is that I was surprised to be told one day that I was being assigned to a cohort. I thought that I could be defined into one but didn't know I could necessarily be assigned into one. Oh well, what's a word or two between friends.

I usually end up in pastor cohorts since I'm a pastor. Being assigned to such cohorts, or groups, herds, or whatever you might want to call them, never works out well, in my experience. With pastors it usually involves accountability or being told what to do so we don't like them. I guess I have never really been satisfied with the basis of the group. They were never relational or authentic enough.

My friend Dan gave me a little card a few weeks ago that may change my mind. It has a few other things on it but the main statement on the card goes like this:

"Never let me get to the point where I can only be told the things I want to hear, as opposed to the things I need to know! Always tell me the truth. It is important to my ministry."

That struck a chord with me. I'm not sure it works like the card intends it to but I can see how a group could be built on a foundation like that. It requires relationship and authenticity. It takes time. It takes effort. You have to connect more than once a month.

I wonder if pastors would be more willing to join groups where this was the agenda. Maybe they would be more relaxed when they connected. Maybe they would even enjoy it.

Zaccheus

The story of Zaccheus is probably one of the more well known Bible stories. If you are like me, the image of a rich little man (Because the song calls him a "wee little man" I always picture him as a Scottish Leprechaun) immediately pops into your head when you read it. We also think of Jesus' mission of salvation as he enters the home of a hated man instead of some righteous folk. But as I was reading this story again I began to wonder about how much Zaccheus must have fallen in love with Jesus.

In the story we see an almost instant change in Zac. He announces in Luke 19:8 that he will give half of his possessions to the poor and repay anyone he has cheated 4 times the amount. (Yes, I believe that the first promise is something he wanted to do as a result of his encounter with Jesus and that he was not merely stating something he had already been doing.)I also believe that he had indeed cheated many people because otherwise he probably would not have brought it up.

I have always thought that this was a terrific gesture but that Zac was probably still pretty well off financially. But if we think about it, maybe Zac underwent a serious change in financial status. First, he gives away half of everything he has which immediately cuts his net worth in half. Maybe that didn't make much difference to his everyday life. We hear from time to time about rich people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet giving away most of their fortunes. I applaud their giving but I doubt it has much of an impact on their standard of living.

Nevertheless, giving away half his net worth does make a difference when you consider his next pledge of paying back anyone he has cheated four fold, the amount required by Roman law for cheating tax collectors. Tax collectors were despised by the general population because it was well known they were cheats. Zac brings up the issue himself so he had, no doubt, also amassed his fortune in this way. That's a lot of cheating which means a lot of repaying. And he had to repay it out of a fortune that has just been cut in half. He probably hadn't made a four-fold increase on what he had taken so that means he would be in a severe deficit.

What I am trying to say is that Zac very well could have put himself in the poor house with his pledge and yet he seems happy to do it. That's an incredible change. He met Jesus while wearing nice clothes and watched Jesus leave his house while wearing rags. He may have paid a heavy price. And yet we get the sense that it was totally worth it just to be in relationship with Jesus.

I think it is worth it too. But thinking about this story makes me wonder how much that fact has transformed my thinking.

Nook

Kim and I decided to buy a Nook Color for ourselves for Christmas. Yeah, just one to share. It was an agonizing decision deciding whether to buy a Kindle or pay $100 more for the Nook. But I was sceptical about the whole ebook thing anyway so I wanted something a bit more versatile.

So far I love this thing. I love reading on it. I like being able to set the text size and I really think I read faster with it. Maybe it has something to do with the page size. I turn the page sooner than I would in a dead tree book and that seems to keep me going. I was worried that reading a screen would give me a headache but I don't even notice.

I also like the web browser. I don't have a lot of experience with mobile web browsers but this has been fine. I also enjoy the extras like the crossword puzzles and the Soduku. I haven't messed with the music player yet but I'm not sure I will use it for that.

I do have some concerns. It definitely needs a memo app. It just seems obvious. You can write notes in books so I could put all my notes in one book as a work around. I am writing this post from my Nook so maybe I'll just set up a private blog dor notes. But then I have to be inwifi range for notes. A bunch of apps are promised soon so we will see.

I am also hoping the battery lasts. I am getting at least the 8 hours they promised but I use it a lot. Yeah, I know that since it is for Christmas I shouldn't be using it yet but I have to get in as many hours as possible under warranty you know. Kim is finishing up a paper book before she starts using it. I'm not sure how the sharing will work. She may need to get her own.

Pushing

Note to Christian organizations who are trying to start a movement to save the world.

I may be all for your effort until you call me offering to send me a box of materials to look over with the option to buy if I like it, or send it back at my expense if I don't. Something tells me that if you really did have the ultimate evangelism strategy, and if you really had a heart to make it happen, you wouldn't be using this method to get it done.

Confused

I don't think I'm dazed yet but the Mole is being chased by Jack Spratt and Mary Mary of the NCD because of his heretical view of Jesus and his desire to be a part of an organic house church movement in Ankh-Morpork.

(I used to read several books at the same time with no problem but maybe I'm getting to old for this.)