Emotionalism
but…
Emotions
Be trumps Do! Or better yet, Be precedes Do… Until you decide what God has designed you to BE; what values, standards and hills you’ll die on, your DO will just be blind action steps that have no strategy and are a part of no mission.
DO is huge! BE is huger!
I notice a lot of DoBe kind of people.
God help me BE so my DO is your DO for me!
There’s a huge difference between standing on the shoulders of giants and just copying the giant.
There’s no added value or leadership in just copying what successful people, ministries or businesses are doing. And it makes people kind of mad too.
But there’s incredible value in learning from the giant, asking why the giant did what it did and understanding why it left such a huge footprint. And that takes leadership. That’s standing on the shoulders of the giant.
Standing on the shoulders of the giant is way better than just cloning the giant.
Share TweetMy Emmy is 3. Some friends came over the other night and brought some peanut butter kind of candy that Sherrie (the wife) had made: rich, buttery and delicious. We put some on a plate and offered it to Emmy. She wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole. We tried, begged, influenced, threatened and marketed to that kid for 30 minutes telling her she would love it if she just tried it.
Finally, Sherrie just grabbed a piece of tin foil from our cabinet and wrapped the candy in it. She gave the wrapped up, newly packaged candy to Emmy who immediately said thank you, opened it up and chowed it down. She loved it, wanted more, but still wouldn’t eat it off the plate. Interestingly enough we had to “package” more of it so she would eat it.
It begs the question: should we think about packaging at church? Things like plants on the stage? Banners with strange religious words that “outsiders” would struggle to even pronounce? What about the music? The art? How about the parking spaces and the handles on the doors? Or the air? Does the smell, the feel, the temperature matter?
Those things are PLATES. And Plates don’t matter… The peanut butter candy does.
Then again…. Emmy wouldn’t eat the peanut butter BECAUSE of the plate. So maybe the plate matters.
Maybe, as the church, we need to start trading in plates for tin foil.
If we want a different demographic to be reached, can we just be adults sitting at a table eating off of our plates? Or do we need to be able to let go of the plate, think outside the box we know (and are comfortable with) and keep some tin foil on hand?
Share TweetI’ve been sick for about a week. I’ve been out of the office and out of pocket almost the whole week. Here’s my take-away though.
Recovering has been needed in more ways than one.
My dad, Hughbaby, doesn’t own a computer.
I asked him, “Do you ever want to own a computer?”
He said, “I don’t need one. I have Eene. And she knows everything.” (my mom)
Classic Hughbaby!
Interestingly enough my mom’s nickname is CNN.
…. make that “I live with two artists.” D took some pics in our yard a few evenings ago. So tonight, while she’s gone, I snagged the card out of her camera and grabbed this cool image.
Our Japanese “whatever you call it” kind of tree in the front yard is neon right now. But this picture is beautiful, not because of the brightness of the flowers that are all over this tree, but because of something brighter and more radiant behind it. I love that!
There is definitely something brighter and more radiant behind every beautiful thing I see in this world. Those silhouettes of beauty only have their form because of HIM. Maybe there are more than just two artists in this house.
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Dennis Tinsley here; Follower of Christ; Husband to D; Dad to Mac, Park and Em; Pastor to students, Speaker, Teacher, Yo-yo and slinky master.
