Dream big dreams. Pray big prayers. Expect the unexpected. Trust the God of all possibility.
What seems impossible to you right now?
(Can anyone tell me where this picture was taken?)
Today, I’m hooking up with The Sunday Community, The Weekend Brew, and Sunday Stillness. Hop on over here, here, and here to see what I’m talking about.
Each week on The Stretched Blog, we ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.
From time to time, I tap into my family and friends for Ice Breaker ideas. This week’s Ice Breaker came at the suggestion of my wife, Leanne. She is in the middle of investigating new job opportunities.
Question: What was your first job?
My Answer: I shoveled a lot of snow and cut a lot of grass over my early adolescent years. This led to a job taking care of 11 acres for an elderly couple in our church. When I started this job, they paid me $3.15 an hour which was minimum wage at the time. I earned every single penny of that pay. After this, I land surveyed for an older gentlemen at my church. This was a great learning experience. I think the first job in which I earned an official payroll check was my job at Samuel Miller Christian Retirement Center. This job involved serving lunch to residents and washing the dishes afterwards. I don’t remember what I was paid, but I remember talking to the residents as I helped them with their lunch.
I’ve had many other jobs over the years including: house painter, cafeteria supervisor, babysitter, recreation room host, telemarketer, medical billing technical support staff, high school maintenance summer intern, facilities management intern, project engineer, and project manager.
Today, I’m an operations manager for a building automation company. I like my job; in fact, I love my job most of the time. I like the fact that I get to help people succeed. I like that I can help customers save energy and money. And I like the team I get to work with every day.
There you have it – my answer. Now, it’s your turn. Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (Feel free to share links.)
When I was in 3rd grade, our family moved to New Jersey when my dad became a full-time pastor. I’m not sure if it was the spelling of my last name or that my dad was a pastor, but kids soon started to call me Pope. Growing up in a fairly sheltered Protestant area (Wheaton, Illinois) and family, I didn’t know much about the Pope. The nickname stuck for a year or two before kids moved onto other nicknames.
Last week, the real Pope resigned. His resignation was a pretty surprising and rare event in Catholic history. The last time a Pope resigned was over 600 years ago. His resignation got me thinking a little bit about religion.
What do you think about when you hear the word religion?
Unfortunately, the term religion has come to carry a negative connotation. People are leaving the church and are being turned away from “religion” because of the inconsistencies and abuse of organized religion and of those who claim to follow Christ. I’ve been part of churches that stay away from the word religion and replace it with relationship.
When I was in Guatemala this past summer, Joshua Crabbs (our Casas por Cristo project leader) shared a couple of verses from James that talk about religion from a whole different and more positive perspective:
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:26-27
James’ definition of religion says nothing about church or organization. His definition is about action – about putting sneakers to our faith. If we as Christ followers pursue this type of action – if we would return to religion under this definition, “religion” would stop being a dirty word. It would be something that attracts others.
Part of our upcoming trip to Guatemala is about helping orphans and widows (H.O.W.). This is a real practical way for our family to practice the kind of religion that James writes about. (To find out how you can help our family on this trip, click here.)
How can you return to religion as prescribed by James? What can you do today to put sneakers to your faith?
We continue the Wednesday series based on Love Works by Joel Manby. In today’s post, Bill Grandi (The Cycleguy) and I are discussing the ninth chapter (Dedicated: Stick To Your Values In All Circumstances). Check out Bill’s take by clicking here.
As a reminder, Manby’s premise is that leadership is best when it comes from a position of agape love based on I Corinthians 13 (“…[love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”). Since I already read the book, I thought it would be interesting to highlight some of the sentences I underlined when I read the book initially:
- “One of the primary roles of a leader is to give hope.” (p. 150)
- “A leader needs to clearly communicate how the organization will win in a competitive marketplace and then execute that plan.” (p. 150)
- “We need to care HOW people achieve their tasks, not only IF they achieve them.” (p. 150)
- “‘Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.'” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (p. 153)
- “Love and power must be harnessed together to get the most important things done.” (p. 153)
- “The USE of power need not become the ABUSE of power.” (p. 154)
- “Leading with love is more important than the temporary approval of your coworkers.” (p. 155)
- “Many organizations talk about values, but few truly integrate those values into how leaders are evaluated and chosen and how organizational results are measured.” (p. 156)
- “It’s critical to define the values that will drive our lives…. What kind of person do we want to be? What values will we uphold? What kind of integrity will we have when nobody is watching? How do we want to treat others regardless of how they treat us?” (p. 156-157)
- “It’s one thing to TALK about values like leading with love, but it’s another thing to DELIVER on those values, especially in tough times.” (p. 164)
When we think of dedication, we typically think of someone who is committed to someone or to an organization. We think of someone who comes in early and stays late. We think of team members who consistently go the extra mile. Most managers I’ve encountered in the corporate world would be considered dedicated by this definition.
Joe Manby takes it to another level with his discussion in chapter 9. According to Manby, a dedicated leader is someone who leads out of solid values. There are several leaders I’ve encountered in the corporate world that lead out of a value-focused position, and there are many leaders who don’t seem to be concerned with values as much as climbing over whoever to get to the top and crushing the competition.
I thoroughly appreciate Manby’s take on power and love. Leaders can get a bad reputation when they misuse their power. I’m convinced that a love-based, value-focused use of power will not only improve leader reputation, it will lead to the overall enhancement and advancement of the organization, the employees, the customers, the stockholders, and the community at large.
When you and I hear the word “dedicated”, we must get past the hard-working, tunnel-visioned definition. Starting today, let’s define “dedicated” to mean so much more.
Over the next two weeks, Bill and I will conclude our exploration of love based leadership. I hope you’ll read along, jump into the comments, and maybe even change the way you lead. Consider getting a copy of Love Works for yourself, and see how this book might change you and your leadership.
What is one thing you can do differently this week to become a more dedicated leader? How have you been led with dedicated, love-based leadership?
Life can be pretty challenging, and it can be so easy to get distracted. We get our priorities out of whack. We focus our attention on things that just don’t matter.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss out on what really matters. With that in mind, I’d like to offer some ways to focus on things that really matter.
Six Steps To Focusing On What Matters:
What would you add to this list? What are you doing that matters? How would your life change by focusing on what matters?
That’s me in the center. This picture was taken back in February of 1989 at Camp Johnsonburg where my senior high youth group, SYNC (Senior Youth Nurturing in Christ), was enjoying our annual winter retreat. This is about the time when I picked up the nickname, Stretch. When I started my junior year in high school, I was 5’6″. By the end of my junior year, I had grown several inches. Somewhere along the way, someone started calling me Stretch.
High school was a stretching time for me in more ways than one. I obviously grew in size, but I was also stretched in many other facets of my life. As a preacher’s kid, I struggled to figure out my place. I was known as a goodie-goodie to many, but I was certainly not perfect. At times, I was a very obnoxious kid – just ask some of my youth leaders. As I went through high school, I began to discover an interest in leadership. This was an area where I stretched a lot taking an active role in the student leadership of our youth group and in the student government at the high school. I certainly stretched academically as I took on a full load of honors classes.
Here’s a picture of my dad and Dave Kennedy on this same youth retreat (my dad is wearing the darker shirt). My dad was the youth pastor, and Dave was one of the youth leaders. What I didn’t fully realize until recently is that my youth leaders (including my dad) were stretching too. I’m sure I helped in that matter with my own actions, attitudes, and questions, but the leaders of our youth group were more than likely stretching in many different directions themselves – raising a family, working on their marriages, growing in their careers, serving in their churches, and interacting in their neighborhoods.
And this is where I find myself today. The tables have turned. I’m a youth leader balancing work, life, and church. And I’m still stretching. I’m not growing vertically anymore, and I’m trying to prevent any horizontal growth. But I am definitely stretching in my faith, my leadership, my work, my marriage, my family, and in other ways as well. And so that nickname has stuck with me, and I suspect I will continue to stretch as life continues.
How are you stretching these days? What was your nickname in high school? How has that nickname stayed with you since then?
I took this picture last summer at our family’s favorite beach town – Ocean Grove, NJ. This town was hit pretty hard by Superstorm Sandy which destroyed the town’s boardwalk and fishing pier. It also damaged many of the town’s homes and buildings. I’ve been following the rebuilding process through regular updates on Blogfinger, and our family is looking forward to returning there this summer.
This sign and the town’s response reminds me that God is with us all the time – in the ups and downs of life. I have no idea what you may be going through today, but I remain convinced that God is there with you.
How have you experienced Emmanuel (God With Us) this week?
Today, I’m hooking up with The Sunday Community, The Weekend Brew, and Sunday Stillness. Hop on over here, here, and here to see what I’m talking about.
February 2013 saw traffic slow down a bit from the previous months high, but it was still a great month for The Stretched Blog. During the month, we focused on Truth for one week, we continued with a discussion of love based leadership based on Love Works by Joel Manby, and we continued to STRETCH through other posts. The top post for overall engagement (based on comments and shares on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest) was “Say What You Need To Say” – a post that paid tribute to my grandmother.
The top 10 posts by pageviews were as follows:
And the Top 10 Commenters:
Thanks to everyone who reads The Stretched Blog and to those who leave comments. You are all part of what makes The Stretched Community a community. For the month of March, I will be giving away a copy of Wrecked by Jeff Goins to one the top 10 commenters for the month of March. (The more you comment, the better your chances are to win.)
In the coming month, I am looking forward to continuing the Love Works Wednesday Link Up with Bill Grandi. I’m also looking forward to celebrating a huge milestone for The Stretched Blog which will happen in the next week or so. Finally, I’m excited for more stretching opportunities in the month ahead.
How was your month? If you’re a blogger share a link to your top post in the comments? What was your favorite Stretched post this month? How were you STRETCHED in February?
Each week on The Stretched Blog, we ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.
This week’s Ice Breaker is inspired by a road trip my family took this week. On our way to our destination, we saw a car with a vanity license plate that read “HWYADOIN”. I didn’t figure it out right away until someone in the car said “How ya’ doin’!” I’m not sure if I would ever get a vanity plate. I don’t think I would spend the money to get one, but it got me thinking.
Question: What would you get on your vanity license plate? (If you have a vanity license plate, what does it say?)
My Answer: STRETCH or STRETCHED. I think it’s pretty obvious why this would work for me. I wonder if it’s taken.
There you have it – my answer. Now, it’s your turn. Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (Feel free to share links.)
What does SELAH mean? I’ve seen the word before. If you read the Psalms, SELAH is a word often found at the beginning of a Psalm, and the word is sometimes used in the middle of a Psalm as if to break up the passage.
I looked up SELAH in a couple of dictionaries, and they both indicated that the translation of this Hebrew word wasn’t completely clear. I get the picture that SELAH is meant to indicate pause or break. It’s a call to attention – “stop, be alert, pay attention!”
My friend, Joseph Iregbu, recently wrote a new 90-day devotional eBook called SELAH. In the book, readers are encouraged to stop for a moment and to pay attention to the grace and hope in our lives. In a world where we are bombarded with messages of despair, destruction, and ridicule, SELAH refreshes the sole with brief, daily messages that point readers to the grace and hope that comes as we put our faith in God.
If you are looking for a way to rekindle your faith – if you are going through a time of discouragement – if you simply need something new in your daily experience to point you to the truths of grace and hope, I’d recommend that you pick up a copy of SELAH. The book is available on Amazon starting tomorrow. For more information on SELAH, check out the book’s website by clicking here.
When was the last time you stopped and paused long enough to be refreshed and to hear from God?
(Note: I am part of the launch team for SELAH. I received this book for free. As part of the launch team, I was not required to write a positive review for this book. I truly enjoyed the book, and I’ve even used it to lead devotions for my small group.)
