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Category: Catalyst (Page 8 of 27)

A catalyst is one that sparks something. The catalyst speaks from experience and enables others to move forward more freely. These articles are written to act as a catalyst in your life.

Change

January 10, 2024 / / 0 Comments

There are two kinds of people in the world, and the title of this post revealed both sides. When you think of changes to something about which you’re passionate, you either get super excited or fight it with all your might. Which are you?

Admittedly, there are some gradients here. Some are like I’m in! Let’s change it all! Others are willing to change even though they know it will hurt. Still others who are not resistant to change will tiptoe into it knowing it needs to happen but not be super excited about it.

What I think everyone needs to understand is that change is essential and it is everywhere. Change doesn’t really care of you want to do it or not. Change doesn’t mind if you hate it or love it. Change is just change.

We change our clothes everyday, some of us more than once a day. The seasons change, unless you live in Ohio and it’s pretty much always gray and gloomy this time of year. Trees change from bare in the winter to buds in spring to leaves in summer. Grass changes from lush and green in the spring to dormant in the summer to back to dormant again in the winter months again.

Change is everywhere!

Watching changes happen from one season to another or changing your clothes are super easy. But what about when, after you get married, your new spouse changes the way the budget has always been worked? Or what happens when she makes chili in a different way than your mom used to make it? Or what about someone proposing a change in how your church does worship? (you know the whole hymnal vs band debate that seems to be never ending)

The point is some changes are easier to manage than others. While change doesn’t always have to be bad but it is always disruptive to comfort. And therein lies the problem. We love our comforts in life. We love to have our set routines. And when someone disrupts our routine, all hell breaks loose. We don’t want anyone to mess with the way it’s always been done!

Change can sometimes feel like that whole ice bucket challenge that was social media popular. Except it’s like someone doing that to you when you’re enjoying a nice steaming hot shower. It is awful! It shocks the system because it takes you out of your comfort zone.

Since this week’s word is change, consider how you handle change. Consider what types of changes are hardest for you to manage.

Intentionality

January 3, 2024 / / 1 Comment

Accidents happen. I know that. Some accidents are pretty destructive. I remember getting a call one day that someone in my family was in an accident. I rushed to make sure everyone was ok. And sure enough all humans were fine, but the car…not so much. Accidents, in many cases, result in something getting broken, damaged, or disrupted.

But there are some things in life that are happy accidents. These are the kinds of things that happen accidentally and still end up leaving you better off than had they not happened. You leave late for work and end up just missing a crash at the end of your road. You drop something on the floor in your bedroom. And when you bend over to pick it up, you find the ring that you lost weeks ago.

Accidents come in all shapes and sizes. Some are good. Some not so good. And some downright terrible. But rarely does something get built by accident. Rarely do we make massive improvements without some form of a plan. Enter today’s word: intentionality.

Intentionality, by definition, means the fact or quality of being done on purpose or with intent.

That’s well and good but let’s simplify that a bit. Intentionality is doing something on purpose, in a manner that’s well thought out. Risks are calculated. Losses evaluated. Plan established. Steps mapped out. ON purpose. NOT on accident.

As we start a new year, many people are going to write some goals for 2024. Lose weight. Run longer distances. Save more money. Pay off debt. Eat healthier. Get an advanced degree. Graduate. Whatever the goal, or resolution, you’re not going to do this accidentally. You need some form of intentional plan to make it happen.

Let’s take lose weight as an example. You can’t just wake up one morning and say Today’s the day. I’m going to lose 25 pounds. Gain muscle mass. Lessen my waist size by 2 inches. Then expect the fat to magically melt away. You need some form of a plan and you have to be intentional about it!

You need to find a gym or get some workout gear. You need to dump the Doritos out and replace them with something that grows out of the ground, like celery. (By the way, just typing that sounds gross!) You need to get some workout clothes. Maybe talk to a friend who knows exercise or get a personal trainer or at least watch a YouTube video. You need to set an alarm to get up a little earlier. You should probably block off time on your calendar so nothing gets in the way. A menu plan should be created to make meal prepping a little easier. Packing up some healthy, grab and go kind of snacks will make this more of a reality as well.

You see it takes intentionality. You have to make a plan and set it in motion. Having a friend to hold you accountable is probably a really good idea. I know for myself, there are mornings I just don’t want to get out of bed to go workout. I mean I live 30 minutes from the gym. But I have a friend I meet there and I know if I don’t show up I leave him high and dry.

It’s not just with New Year’s resolutions though that we need to be intentional. It’s the same thing with our personal and professional development. Things don’t just happen accidentally. We need to be intentional.

As a pastor, I meet a lot of people who treat their faith like a happy accident waiting to happen. It’s like they think showing up for worship on a Sunday will get just enough Jesus on them to get them out of a bind. But that’s not how it works. You need to be intentional.

Story after story in the Bible shows us that our faith grows by being intentional. People have to take time to read what God says in the Bible before they can hear what he tells them in answers to prayers.

The same is true in leadership. We can’t lead accidentally. We need to be intentional. We need to make plans and do our best to stick to them, or communicate changes as they need to be made so people can keep following.

Intentionality is a massively powerful tool that everyone needs in their toolbox. You can’t oops I did it again your way through life. And yes that reference is for all of you pop music fans from the early 2000s.

The long and short here is take time to be intentional. Slow down. Map out the plan. Set some benchmarks. Bring in someone to hold you accountable. It may cost you some extra time, effort, or money now, but in the long run it will benefit you more than you can realize.

Theme Song

December 29, 2023 / / 2 Comments

Before we dig into this one, I know some are not going to like some of what’s in here. And that’s ok. Not trying to please everyone. Actually I’m not the people pleasing type, but that’s probably a post for a different time.

Ok so I’ve heard people talk about having a word or theme for their year or even a theme song for their life. Most of these are either one of those relationally sappy songs about how their life is defined by love and all the things. Or they have one of those Don’t Worry Be Happy kind of songs where everything is going to be just fine no matter what life throws at you. The kind of song that has your backside in the sand drinking mimosas on the beach. That’s not my gig either for two reasons. I don’t really like the beach and not 100% sure I even care for mimosas!

Still others might be the drink your life away kind of person and have a theme song like Whiskey Glasses. Now I have nothing against a good glass of whiskey. I’ve been known to have a good pour of bourbon as many close to me know. But to have a theme song about grabbing a drink of something strong to help lessen the pain isn’t my style either.

Admittedly, I’m not normally a theme song for my life kind of guy, but if I were I think I have the song. At least the song that seems to hit right now. And this is where some of you are not going to be super excited, but hang with me.

A couple of months ago, my daughter played a song for me off her Apple Music Playlist. It’s something she heard from a friend at school. And the title of the song is likely why someone shared it with her, and why she shared it with me. The song is titled Soldier, and it’s by the artist Tom MacDonald. The idea of a song titled soldier was appealing to her since her older brother is currently deployed halfway around the world in the US Army.

I had never heard of this artist before so I listened…closely. The song was a bit driving in parts and a bit dark in others. But something about the song resonated with me. No I’ve never been a soldier. I don’t run around with two guns loaded. I don’t see myself as the one knocking down doors taking out my opponent. But the chorus of the song kind of hooked me.

I won’t give up, I won’t turn around, Tell them if I ain’t enough, Let ’em shoot me down. And my whole life I ran from the fight, ’cause my whole life I lost every time, but I won’t give up, I ain’t backin’ down.

Ok before someone goes all he needs a therapist on me, give me a minute to explain why this hits so hard. If you know me, you know that I don’t normally give up the ghost very easily. But what you don’t know is that didn’t used to be how I was. Ask anyone who knew me growing up and you’ll find out I was backward, awkward, and super shy. I wouldn’t stand up for myself, much less anyone else. I would shy away from conflict. I was the flight kid in the fight or flight example.

But one day something in me snapped. I don’t know exactly what happened or even when specifically it occurred, but I realized that I wasn’t going to lose every time anymore. And I doubled down on myself. I worked harder. I read books, listened to podcasts, watched people better than me. I asked questions. I shadowed people who had skills I wanted. I started working out. I didn’t take no for an answer.

Now – that’s really who I am. It’s the drive that moves me some days. It’s what gets me out of bed at 4am to hit the gym. It’s what led me to be able to bench press 350lbs when I only weighed 155. It’s what has me getting more done before noon than many people get done in a whole day. This is most definitely not a patting myself on the back moment either. I know that this drive has its downside. Sure I can get stuff done. I can accomplish a task. Sure I don’t give up when things get rough and can shoulder a pretty decent workload. But it comes at a cost.

That whole won’t back down, won’t turn around, won’t give up mentality has a consequence and it’s in the middle of the chorus. let ’em shoot me down. Yep some people don’t like that drive. Some people feel threatened when I bulldoze through a room to get a job done. This drive has cost me. It’s cost me sleep for sure. But it’s also cost some close friendships.

There’s no easy way to really say this, so I won’t beat around the bush. When there’s a job to get done, I have a tendency to get the job done. I don’t wait for everyone to get onboard. I have run over people (not literally mind you) in an emotional sense. I’ve walked right past people who wanted to talk to me, but I was too laser focused on the job to even realize it. I didn’t ignore them knowingly. I just flew past them on my way to get accomplish a task.

Let ’em shoot me down. It sure doesn’t sound very “nice” does it? But to be certain, when you know who you are and are fairly confident in the person you’ve been called to be, someone is going to try to shoot you down. Most of the time though, the shot comes from behind your back.

I won’t give up. I ain’t backin’ down. That’s pretty much how I roll these days. If the reason is compelling enough and the payoff is right, I’ll run through a wall. Another way to see this is in light of those personality profiles. I’ll hit that one more after the first of the year. If you haven’t already guessed, I’m a D on the Disc Inventory. I’m an 8 on the enneagram. And I bet you’ll never guess what I am on the Myer’s Briggs Inventory.

To bring this to a close, you don’t have to choose a theme song for the year. But if you did, what would yours be? And why?

Unexpected News

December 15, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Have you ever received one of those calls in the middle of the night? You’re sound asleep and the phone rings and startles you to a half awake state? You know in your heart that nothing good happens at 2 o’clock in the morning! And yet there you are, half awake and listening to the voice on the other end of the line.

Sometimes that news is nothing. A wrong number. Someone living on a different continent forgot what time it was in your neck of the woods (yep that one actually happened not too long ago.)

But then there are those times when the phone rings and it’s not what you want to hear. How do you react when crisis hits home? What do you do when you get unexpected news?

I’ll be honest I’m the fix it guy. I like to come up with answers or create plans for how to move forward. I have a tendency to try to cut off problems before they become huge obstacles. But that doesn’t always work.

Some things in life are outside of our control. There are some things we just can’t do on our own. I don’t like those things. I don’t like to sit back and feel like I’m doing nothing.

I’m going to be honest with you here and even a tad vulnerable. If someone looked at my life, they’d likely think I’ve got it pretty easy. And for the most part they are right. I have a great family. Loving wife. Children who are phenomenal examples of people of God. A wonderful home. A terrific place of employment. A church family that would rival any other church throughout history. Like many people around I have a lot going for me.

But the me that everyone sees is the me that I want them to see. I know that sounds a little evil sounding but we all do it. We put a smile on our face when we have bad news. We will often bury the hurts and pains of the losses we’ve faced so we can get the job done. This is the way I get through life’s challenges. For right or for wrong, this is my standard operating procedure.

When people I thought were friends turned to selfish motives and abandoned their position in life, I bit my tongue, smiled and walked on. When I lost three grandparents in 18 months, very few people know what I was feeling. When I was in the midst of challenges and minor conflicts with people close to me, I didn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on it.

But the way I do things doesn’t work for everyone. As a matter of fact, that way doesn’t work for most people. None of these moments that I described above are a crisis in and of themselves. Each of them add a little pressure. Each of them brings a little more weight. Each of them mount on the previous and have the potential to really get heavy. How do you deal with the pressures and crises in life?

Now before someone goes all “see a counselor” on me, let me tell you that I have people around me to talk to. I don’t bottle things up forever. I need to internally process these kinds of things. I hit the gym. I might even go for a run (and I don’t like to run just fyi). I take my dog out for a walk. Mow my lawn. Work in my garden. Walk around my property. These are ways I deal with the crap life throws at me. Eventually, I’ll loop someone in. Eventually, when the emotional storm settles a little, I’ll open up and share what’s on my heart.

The point of this post is that it’s ok to not be ok. It’s ok to clench your fist and want to yell at God. It’s ok to curl up in a ball and ask why me. It’s ok to be broken for a moment. But it’s not ok to feel broken, carry the burdens of life around you and do it all alone. Eventually, you need to lean on someone. Eventually you need to talk to someone. If you don’t…you’ll hurt people close to you. You’ll isolate yourself from people who care about you. You might even end up losing friends when you try to carry the weight of the world by yourself, because you’ll end up taking it out on the people who are trying to care for you.

How do you react when crisis strikes? Break but don’t stay broken. Cry but don’t sit in tears alone. Worry but don’t let that worry overwhelm you. Surround yourself with people who can help you.

Sticky Word

December 6, 2023 / / 0 Comments

There are some words that I call sticky. They’re the kinds of words that you hear and don’t really know how to categorize. You have them. We all do actually. And you might even have an idea what they mean but really don’t have a clear and concise way to explain them.

One of those sticky words that is super prevalent in the church world right now is the term discipleship. Ok so it’s not new by any stretch and it’s actually been one of those sticky words for quite some time. That probably has to do something with the final command of Jesus being for the people of God to focus on making disciples.

Throughout history we’ve done our best to draw pictures, make up definitions, write books, craft bible studies, and have cleverly worded mission statements that are all focused on discipleship. We want so badly to do this but just don’t know what it even really means…much less have a concise way to communicate it to anyone.

I really don’t think it’s quite as hard as we make it out to be. And even more I don’t think making disciples is something that happens in a book, bible study, worship service, or some kind of bible memorization tool. These are all really good things! And I completely advocate all of them as part of the overall life of a person who follows Jesus, but I don’t think it’s quite the whole picture Jesus intends.

Discipleship isn’t some assembly line process where we run a group of 60 people through a program and they all come out looking the same. That’s just not how it works. Put 60 people into a worship service or bible study group and you don’t get 60 exact replicas come out the other side on fire for Jesus.

I really believe that it all starts with a definition. You have to define the term. I’ve defined discipleship the same way for years. Discipleship is the process of being transformed into the image of Christ for the sake of others. Is this your definition? Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. But you need somewhere to start. So either use this one or come up with your own based on your study of the Jesus’ words.

After you have a definition you’ll have some picture of where you’re headed. And for me this definition gives some clarity to what discipleship does and does not look like. It’s not an event in time which is why we call it a process. It’s replicable to an extent which is also part of that process language. There is a change that is expected as you progress through this process, hence transformed. The output of the process is Jesus. If you’re simply trying to make members of a church or denominational clones, then you’re not really doing discipleship. Finally it’s about relationships, for the sake of others kind of talk. It’s about a journey not a jolt in time.

Unlike the assembly line imagery, discipleship is more of a life-to-life adventure. It’s about inviting someone into your life and letting them walk with you through the mundane. It’s not about adding another block to your already too full calendar either. Discipleship is about adding someone else to your calendar. Discipleship is not about tasks or to dos. It’s about people and relationships.

Look. I really hope discipleship stays one of those sticky words, not because we don’t know what it means either. I hope it stays sticky because we’ve finally arrived at some form of clarity on just how important it is to live around people for the sake of a greater mission.

Scrapes, Scars, & Stories

November 20, 2023 / / 0 Comments

If you look really closely, you’ll see thousands of scars all over. Some are nearly microscopic, while others are much larger. Each one of these scars tells a story. None of them are life threatening by themselves. But when you put them all together, their impact adds up significantly.

There’s a method of torture called death by a thousand cuts. The idea is that no single cut will do a lot of damage. The cuts each sting and some downright hurt. Each one brings with it a little bit of blood and some pain. But none of them are intended to kill you. This is the torture part. Over time the pain intensifies as the cuts mount up. One on top of the other until the loss is too much. The body gives up. Death by a thousand cuts.

Ok this is turning kind of dark, I understand that. Keep going and hopefully you get where I’m headed. These scars aren’t physical. They’re not cuts on my arms and such. They are more significant than that and way easier to hide. They’re cuts on the heart, soul, and mind. They’re emotional cuts, relational cuts, and even some spiritual cuts. Each one of these cuts is a part of who I am. And if you’re honest with yourself, they’re part of who you are as well.

I took time recently to look through these scars. Some of them are far more prominent than others. Take for instance the one that seems to be getting my attention a lot more lately. This one kind of surfaced over the past few months and I’m not really sure the trigger. Although I do have some guesses.

This scar is one that started to form about 25 years ago when my grandma died suddenly, and then honestly was opened back up again just a couple years back when my remaining grandparents died within 18 months of each other. If you know me, you’ll know that I’m not a super emotional kind of guy. I don’t wear my feelings for the world to see. Although sometimes they do sneak out, much to my dislike.

As I looked at this scar, I saw all the things that made it so prominent. The scar took me back to sneaking cookies from my grandma’s cookie jar and enjoying swimming days in their pool. It reminded me of delicious authentic German dishes cooked to perfection. I couldn’t help but see the road passing by on my weekly trips through the summer with my grandpa in his 18 wheeler.

Soon another scar came into sight. This one was a reminder of a good friend. We were so alike and so different at the same time. We don’t talk anymore. Something pretty significant divided us. It was a cut as you can imagine. I remember the times he’d call on his road trips. Or the random texts that were probably less than appropriate but we understood each other. I remember the fire pit talks and beverages shared. But the scar came when he made a choice to walk away to pursue something that was detrimental to his family. It hurt. It left a mark to say the least. It’s a scar that tells a story.

Another scar that’s still pretty fresh came in a totally different way. A very good friend who I was very close to for several years moved away. She and her family made some life changes. I’m super happy for them, but the move was hard on me. And while we still chat from time to time, there’s a scar there. There is a mark left, a tiny cut that, honestly, is still healing. It’s a cut that reminds me they’re no longer here. A tiny cut with a big story.

Every scar tells a story.

I could go on but the point here isn’t about going through each scar. The point is that every scar tells a story. The point is that every relationship and every conversation will leave a mark. We just have to know how to handle the cuts when they come.

A friend recently told me that it’s obvious that I have really thick skin. While that’s probably true now, it wasn’t always that way! I’ve been called some pretty less than stellar things in my life. I’ve been promised things by friends only to have them make choices that benefited them and completely dismissed the friendship we shared. I’ve been let down by people I looked up to. I’ve been cut more times than I can count.

There was a time when these cuts would nearly stop me in my tracks. I’d focus on the pain and the hurt. Like a little kid who scraped their knee thinking it was the end of the world, I’d look at the tiny relational cuts and freak out. I would be like Chicken Little, thinking the sky was falling. But now these cuts heal pretty quickly. That doesn’t mean they don’t hurt. It doesn’t mean they don’t have an impact or leave a lasting mark. It just means that I’ve learned some techniques to let them heal a little quicker.

I share this so that you understand while I’m not super emotional – I am still human. I share this so you understand the cuts you see in your life, no matter how deep, no matter how painful in the moment…they don’t have to be your world. They’ll scar over – eventually. They’ll close up and they’ll heal. You won’t forget the relationship or the conversations. That’s the point of the scar. It’s there to remind you. It’s there to show you that you survived.

I’m surrounded by people for whom I care deeply. Some are family and others are close friends. But honestly some are people I only know nominally. Each one has the ability to leave a mark on my life the same way you have people who can make a mark on yours.

I don’t want you to suffer a death by a thousand scars. During holiday seasons it’s a common thing to remember the people and relationships who aren’t here anymore. It’s a very normal thing to feel darkness and hurt this time of year. Take time to read your scars. Let them tell you their story. Give thanks for the relationship that existed while it did. Ask what you need to learn from that scar. Then look at the rest of the people and relationships in your life that God added to help make that cut into a scar.

Scars are not bad things because every scar tells a story.

Just Too Much To Carry

November 16, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I almost dropped everything.

There are two kinds of people in the world. There are the ones who carry two bags of groceries in from the car, and then there’s me. I tend to load up the arms and carry as much in as I possibly can. Less trips and all. Plus it’s kind of a challenge sometimes.

But it’s not just with groceries. I do this pretty much every time I get out of the car to go into the office or when I get home. I load up with my backpack, gym bag, Yeti, water jug, and often a coat or something additional on the cold days. This doesn’t even account for finding a way to carry my lunch. And yeah you guessed it…I carry all of it at once.

Carrying these things isn’t really a huge issue. The problem arises when I try to open the door. If we had those cool automatically opening doors, this would be a breeze! But alas, I have to dig into my pocket to get my keys. Then turn the lock and open the door. All of this while my hands are loaded and everything is perfectly balance. My wife often jokes that I need a drink carrier to hold all of the beverages I carry around since there’s normally a protein shake and some pre workout somewhere in the mix as well.

When I get to the door I have two options. I can do the weird balancing act or I could put a few things down. Generally I do the funky balancing act, look like a fool and almost drop everything on the way in the door.

I think the church has done the same thing with people and how we teach salvation. For those that don’t know, salvation is that teaching in the Bible that our wrongs are covered and we’re set up for an eternal future with God in heaven. You see we load up all the extra stuff for people to carry before they truly understand salvation.

The Bible teaches that there’s only one way to heaven. His name is Jesus. Salvation comes through no one and nothing other than Jesus. That’s a very clear message we read on just about every page of the Bible. Yet I’m seeing so many churches talking about so many other things as if they are prerequisites for understanding Jesus.

It’s like we’re piling all the extra bags onto people’s backs making it hard to carry any of it. The Bible teaches that we shouldn’t make it hard for people to believe, but that’s exactly what we’re doing. We load up worship styles, version of the Bible, doctrines and teachings of our particular denomination, how we dress, how we talk, where we go and don’t go, should we make the sign of the cross or not. Man there’s a ton of baggage that we’ve attached to the whole Jesus is the only way to heaven truth.

I’m not saying that any of those conversations are bad. As a matter of fact many of those things are good in their own right. But we can’t treat them as if they are Jesus. We need to stop loading people up with all of this extra baggage before they even know Jesus.

I’m part of a church tradition that values its heritage and its position on many topics, what we call doctrines. And I’m seeing more and more pastors in my church body making people know all of these supporting truths with minimal focus on Jesus. Sure they teach that Jesus died and rose but there’s so much more to Jesus than that one piece of his life.

If you’re a follower of Jesus, perhaps it’s time to realize who Jesus really is. He was a person with some amazing characteristics. He was a man who really walked on the earth, who dealt with some pretty nasty stuff. There’s a lot we can learn from Jesus without heaping up all the extra baggage that we have come up with over time to differentiate us from the rest of the world.

When we load people up with all of these extra doctrines and focus on our churchy jargon it’s often at the expense of Jesus. It’s at the expense of people really learning to live like Jesus. Jesus teaches that his teaching is easy and his burden is light. He doesn’t load us up with all these theological terms and churchy ideas. The Bible gives us Jesus. That’s the one thing we need for heaven. If more followers of Jesus would worry as much about following Jesus as they do about their doctrines and confessional stance on everything, we just might realize that the world doesn’t have a problem with Jesus. They have a problem with how hard we make it to follow him.

Consider thinking through what bags you make people carry on their way into church. Rethink the loads you’re putting on the men and women who really want to know Jesus. If we’re not careful, they’re going to drop everything…including Jesus.

Don’t Strive For Success

November 10, 2023 / / 0 Comments

In a culture that is bent on getting ahead and being the best and coming out on top, this is not a very popular idea. But if you hang with me for a bit hopefully you’ll come around and see things a little differently.

Success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.

At face value success isn’t really a bad thing. Actually there’s nothing really wrong with success in and of itself. Being successful simply means that we’ve done something the way it was expected of us.

But there’s a problem when success is our aim. When all we care about is success at all costs things go off the rails quickly. And just like a train that goes off its rails, when we go off the rails people get hurt. Innocent and unexpecting people get hurt.

When we strive for success it will quickly overcome us. Success isn’t the problem. We are the problem. When we let success become the driving force behind what we do, it quickly takes over. If you’re in it for yourself then success might take you a decent distance. But it will always have a ceiling. Success can only take you as far as your achievements allow.

I’d like to encourage a little different approach than mere success. Instead of success strive to be a person of value. The difference between striving for success and striving to be a person of value is that a person of success will never surpass their talent, but a person of value builds on the success and value of the rest of the team or organization.

Being a person of value means that you’re not just in it for yourself. Being a person of value means that even when you don’t succeed you still don’t fail because you maintained value for the team or organization.

Striving to be a person of value is something lacking in so many aspects of the world today. Instead of getting ahead at all costs, perhaps we could stop and find how we can add value to the group granting us an even better chance at long term success.

Context and Culture

November 2, 2023 / / 0 Comments

There’s something to be said about knowing your culture and context. Whether you’re in marketing, sales, public speaking, an author, a song writer, or even a pastor we need to know the culture and context into which we’re speaking.

For some these two words might seem the same but I see them as two sides of the same coin. Both are needed and both are important. Culture is who we are. It’s the systems and ideals with which we’ve been raised and that define our character and personhood. Context on the other hand is the lens through which everything we see is filtered. Our culture is more consistent than our context.

My family of origin and my current household structure are not likely to change a whole lot through the years (aside from the age of my children). But my context is all the other stuff like my neighborhood, financial status, job title, and all those things that can and often do change frequently.

If we don’t understand the culture and context of our audience, we’ll never speak in a way that they hear much less understand. I’m going to take this conversation to my context. I’m a pastor so this applies to me in a very specific way. I need to know how to contextualize the message I preach.

Now some out there will get all bent out of shape by hearing me say something about contextualizing the gospel. They likely think I’m talking about changing the gospel to meet the scenarios of the people around me. But they couldn’t be more wrong. As a matter of fact I don’t change the message, or in your case the product you sell. We do however need to change the way we communicate the value of that product or message.

Take my role again as an example. I need to be able to speak in a contextually applicable way. That is not making the gospel fit into the lives of my hearers by any means. The idea of contextualization of the gospel is about helping my hearers find the end of their current, and future, story in the gospel of Jesus. It’s about helping people see how their lives already are impacted by the message of the Bible.

If you’re in sales or marketing it’s the same thing. You’re not forcing your ideals, product or message onto someone else. Your goal is to help them see themselves and their problems being cared for by the message or product you provide. When I was in car sales I did this all the time. Someone would come with a problem. My car has a problem, doesn’t run, is old, needs replaced.

I didn’t have to convince them to buy the car. I just had to show them how the car I had on the lot actually was the answer to the problem they presented to me in the first place.

As pastors we tend to get stuck in a rut of Jesus loves me this I know, blah…blah…blah. Yes that message is really important and it’s very true! But it’s only part of the story. If we don’t contextualize the message in a culturally relevant way, then people aren’t going to be able to hear the message much less be impacted by it.

Take time to understand the culture around you and the context into which your message or product will be presented. You’ll be far more effective when you do.

Costumes and Caricatures

October 26, 2023 / / 0 Comments

As Halloween approaches and our kiddos prepare to dress up as their favorite hero or villain, princess or paw patrol character, I started to think about the way we deal with one another in community. I think there are way too many costume wearing men and women. And I’m not talking about at Halloween time.

I have some friends who love to do the whole dress up and be crazy themed out kind of people. And more power to them! That’s not my style at all but that’s not at all what I’m talking about here. I’m not referring to going to a costume party. When I say that far too many people wear costumes in life, I’m referring to the costumes we wear on a daily basis.

Now some of you are likely will disagree, but I’m pretty sure that all of us wear a costume at one point or another in our day to day life. We wear the I have it all together costume when our life is falling apart but we’re too ashamed to let people see the unraveled mess on the floor around us. We wear the I’m good costume when we feel anything but good. We tend to wear the Oh I understand costume when we really have no clue what’s going on.

I could go on and on here but I think you get the point. I’ve been wondering lately about these costumes we choose to wear and what they’re doing to our relationships. Honesty I think the more we wear costumes in life, the more distant and fake our relationships become.

Why do we think we have to wear costumes?

I think a lot of this costume wearing is about insecurity in the person we really are. Look I’m not the most confident person in the world. As a matter of fact, I used to be extremely self conscious. Now I’m a bit less this way partially because my give a darn muscle finally broke. I really believe we all need to learn to exercise our give a darn muscle a bit more. And by exercise it, I mean learn to shut it off!

We care far too much about what others think. This is why so many feel the need to wear a costume. It’s like they think putting on this costume will make them more popular or make their friends like them more.

News flash friend – if you need a costume to make your friends like you, then you don’t have friends like you thought! The people who care about you will do so whether you wear a superhero facade or let the true colors of oh crap I failed come shining through.

In the past 20+ years of my life, I’ve had to fight this ridiculous costume craze in my mind. I’ve wrestled with the same thoughts most people wrestle with. Am I good enough? Will people accept me if they know the real me? I’m not as strong as he is.

These sick costumes comes with voices that haunt you. They echo in your head when you’re least expecting them to sound off. They start with a whisper and then slowly increase in volume. They do this until we either answer their call or give in to their belittling.

The more comfortable we are wearing these ridiculous costumes, the less our real appearance will mean to anyone – including ourselves. The more comfortable we are adorning ourselves with fake facades of other people’s lives, the less our real self will fit right.

Please do yourself a favor. Lose the costume. Be real. Be genuine. Be you. Stop trying to be something or someone you’re not. If the people around you can’t accept you for who you are, then they’re not people you need to be near at all.

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