mayo-moyle

Category: UMC

  • Round-up – August 5

    Of interest:

    The true face of Medicare fraud (ie the real “welfare queens” aren’t the people most people picture when talking about Medicare abuse).

    Don’t commit a crime while wearing a FitBit.

    The reason your city can’t have fast internet access.

    The truth is finally revealed: I’ve Been Kenyan This Whole Time.

    Bloom County Returns!

    Seth Godin: Telling, Not Showing

    Semi-related:

    Satanic baby killers are putting dead babies in Pepsi.

    Airlines made $38 billion from extra fees (and it’s only the beginning). For the last couple months, I’ve been doing a lot of traveling (and flying) for work. While most of the associated hassles of air travel don’t really bother me all that much – crowded flights, the herd mentality that surrounds getting on and off planes, TSA checks, etc., the extra fees is the one that really bothers me.

    Who said it? Donald Trump or Frank Reynolds?

    Related: Trump Tells Iowa Dairy Farmers 500 Times Bigger than Theirs

    How experts protect themselves online. This is a really good list of how the “normal” computer users attempts to secure their information differ from how most security experts secure their systems. Glad to see that my strategy has fallen closer to the “security expert” side. Key points:

    • Keep your system updated
    • Use two-factor authentication (ie have Google, Facebook, etc send you a text message when you log into their servers from a new computer so they know it is really you – it is extra work, but makes a HUGE difference).
    • Use unique and strong passwords and use a password manager. The graphic breaks these down into three different areas, but really they are interrelated. Installing a program like LastPass not only lets you store all your passwords in one location but is excellent at generating new passwords – therefore you can have it create complex passwords like: g9xDJisX5F@3 that have an incredibly low likelihood of every being guessed by a brute-force attack (hack), and you can have a different password for every site you use, instead of always using the same password for multiple sites, with something that is a common word or phrase that is easy to guess. 

    25 things you should know about Detroit.

    How to piss off someone from Iowa. Numbers 6-9 are probably my favorite with #9 being a must read.

    Dan Dick: Who are we again? – excellent reflection on United Methodist identity.

    Semi-related: Jeremy Smith’s article: While the UMC was distracted by Covenant, Wesley Church broke the Connection.

    Just stumbled upon this great video by Kalle Mattson, like the song quite a bit too, called “Avalanche”:

    And since it has been a while since I’ve given this blog any love, here’s another song, Yo La Tengo covering The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love”. If there was a KRUI (college radio station I worked at) for old people, I’d have this in heavy rotation.

  • this week’s round-up (april 18)

    Again a couple weeks overdue… I keep promising myself I’ll get back onto a regular weekly update schedule for these things soon. Here’s what has caught my attention over the last couple of weeks:

    Donald Miller has a suggestion for Creating a Personal Life Plan I haven’t downloaded the e-book he recommends yet, but it looks like it could be interesting.

    Seth Godin: The Worst Voice of the Brand Is the Brand – a reminder that our worst experiences usually shape our larger perceptions. Certainly applicable to the church.

    Laurie Haller, a District Superintendent in the West Michigan Conference offers a few thoughts on Love Wins.

    Dan Dick has a couple powerful and convicting posts about the United Methodist Church: Three Little Words, Dead, or in Exile and a MUST READ Souled Out. He hits hard with these words:

    “We perpetually use an anti-gospel of death, decay and decline to manipulate people instead of casting a positive vision to motivate.  We proclaim to the world that we are shrinking, diminishing, poorly funded, rife with conflict — all excellent messages to attract new members.  We do try to counter such witness with some TV spots and webcast videos and some marketing spin, but that’s just slapping a coat of make-up.  Many young people see The United Methodist Church as an old maiden aunt who dresses and paints herself up like a teenager — embarrassing at best, pathetic at worst.”

     Yet there is hope that we can clarify our vision, mature in our discipleship and relationships with each other and be the church Christ calls us to be.

    In a very similar vein, a friend, Steve McCoy, writes how Win or Lose, Butler is Relevant. Are We?

    Last week there was a Call to Action web-conference for the UMC. I somehow missed the advance notice announcement about it, and was on vacation anyway, but some of the feedback that emerged has been interesting to examine. Jeremy Smith looks at the Twitter wordcloud related to the online discussion. Jay Voorhees shares some of his thoughts as well as addressing metrics that matter. Rob Rynders suggests that Cats and Cereal might be the solution (not really). The conference has been archived and can be viewed here; I haven’t seen it yet, but it certainly got people talking.

    Roger Olson with some additional thoughts on universalism.

    Brian Dodd on 12 Warning Signs of Unhealthy Leadership.

    The Love Radically blog personally wrestles with the question of a person’s weight being grounds for being denied (or deferred) ordination.

    Music this week from tUnE-yArDs – I’ve heard this track a few times on the radio and found the use of the looping vocals to be really interesting, the video (as well as the song) is a little strange, but in my opinion enjoyable.

  • On franchise churches and Methodist reform

     A couple days ago Jeremy Smith wrote a great article about his concerns with Church of the Resurrection entering into discussion with another struggling United Methodist congregation about becoming a remote campus of CoR. Jeremy does a great job not only naming the temptations of such a move, but also suggests the ramifications (specifically dangers of theological outsourcing, denominational splintering, and the marginalization of women and minority clergy).

     I think Jeremy’s on-target, but in the early morning hours as I found my mind awake before my body was ready to be, I found myself reconsidering.

     I’m playing “devil’s advocate” to a degree here, but is it possible this (or something like it) is exactly where United Methodist reform is going to come from?

     Is it possible that instead of this being the first step to a Wal-Mart church, this is a step back to what John Wesley was doing by traveling the English countryside preaching churches where he was invited in (and fields where he wasn’t), declaring “the world is my parish” and doing an end run around the (largely ineffective) structures of his day? Could an internet feed of a person’s preaching simply be the modern-day equivalent of publishing a volume of “Standard Sermons“? The reality is: creating a wide-spread movement, observing a set of unified expectations and practices, primarily driven by a single dynamic personality, that generated controversy and divisiveness is largely was Wesley was about.

     Now I’m not saying that’s what Hamilton is after, and he’s certainly not going to accomplish it by entering into a series of adoption agreements that involve studies of things like demographics and debt obligations, and the approval of Bishops, District Superintendents, and Church Councils.

     But it did strike me that Hamilton (and Slaughter) are both in the position to spark that kind of reform if they wanted. It seems to me that they are both very close to having the tools as well as the leverage in place to bring about significant denominal change if they so desired. By design the United Methodist system lacks a single visionary leader, largely to our credit; the system of leadership offered by regional Bishops works well. Yet, I find myself wondering, if we’ve entered a time when we need a new “John Wesley” – someone who can spark a wide-reaching, inspiring vision that is rooted in those unified standards and expectations.

     What if it’s not about building an empire of mini-CoRs, what if it is instead about inspiring a church to reach back to it’s roots (before it was a ‘church’), to be a reform movement once again, reaching out to the people who have been alienated from the institution, and motivating people to live their faith?

     I don’t think that’s what CoR is doing right now, and so in the end, I resonate with Jeremy’s concerns, but I find myself wondering if it could be possible.

  • this week’s round-up (june 11)

    Check out the staycation ideas for churches from UM Communications. One of the things I’m excited about with the congregation I’ll be serving in July is the connection we have with Myers Lake Camp; they already to VBS at the camp, and many people stay at the campground during the week, but I’m already starting to think how else we might be able to utilize the space for mini-retreats that can foster fellowship, fun and spiritual development over the summers.

    Friend and colleague from just down the road, Aaron Kesson offers some nice thoughts on the spiritual practice of confession. Another DAC Metho-blogger has joined the ranks, welcome Sherry Parker!

    Jeff Nelson hits another one out of the park*. Donald Miller also addresses the subject of the Tigers game where Jim Joyce made the wrong call, costing Galarraga a perfect game. Like Jeff, Miller reminds the reader of the power of apology, in part, he writes:

    If you’re a leader and you’re wrong, admit it. People will respect you. Admit it and show remorse. And if you follow a leader who struggles admitting they are wrong, DO NOT FOLLOW THEM. We all make mistakes, and people who admit their mistakes are in touch with their humanity, and those who don’t are simply delusional. And if they are not willing to pay for their mistakes, you better believe they are going to make those around them pay.

    Rick Dake gives a few words on his experience of church as a youth versus the church of today. I’ve occasionally thought about how our “home” church experience can shape and influence our expectations of how we give leadership to the church today, sometimes to a negative degree, wanting to recapture a past imperfectly remembered. Rick’s post is a nice celebration of the positive changes that have taken place. Like Rick, my missional experiences were pretty limited – collecting for UNICEF was about it; the “big trip” we took was to go skiing in Minnesota, but in these last seven years of ministry I’ve led youth to serve others in Alabama, Washington DC, and Mexico; plus had the opportunity to be among the first to bring youth and adults to do flood recovery work in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This isn’t the church of yesterday, and that is something to be thankful for.

    Kem Meyer asks, “Are you leading a movement or managing an institution?” It’s a good question to consider – especially within Methodism which was always intended to be a movement instead of an institution.

    Great meditation on transitions from The Art of Non-Conformity, that is especially meaningful given an work transition, now less than two weeks away:

    I say: hold on to the moment as long as you can. Fight for it if you have to. Get up early and stay up late. Be brave. Choose the raw emotion, even the awkwardness if necessary. If we must go on to something else, let’s at least think about what was and what could have been.

    The more intense the feeling, the better. If synchronicity and the feeling of being part of something meaningful comes with sadness, loneliness, and disappointment, so be it. I just know that I don’t want the alternative—mediocrity, routine, the safe and the comfortable.

    Len Sweet on the need to adapt to and adopt the new digital language… “the devil is already learning the language of Google, are you?”

    The Google Language from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

    Lifehacker offers an excellent guide to escaping from office clutter. Much needed advice in my case, hopefully I can just commit to actually following through with it.

    If you have the time (about 16 minutes), I’d also encourage you to check out this TED talk from David Byrne (you can also download it from itunes, for playback at another time). Byrne speaks to how the setting influences the form in the creation of music. Might the same be true for preaching? Is it possible that where we preach, subtly changes how we preach, and where we write influences what we write? I think it was Adam Hamilton who once suggested that if you write your sermon in the church office it will come out sounding like it was written for “church people,” but if you write it outside the church (coffee shop, restaurant, etc.) it will more likely speak better to people outside the church.

    In preparation for the move I’m making in a little less than two weeks, I had to make the difficult decision to part with a part with a portion of my music collection that I still had on cassette tape. Admittedly, they weren’t great works of art, and can be easily replaced with better quality digital versions, but it’s still hard for me to part with those pieces of plastic and magnetized tape. Here’s one of the songs I had to part with:

  • this week’s round-up (june 4)

    Some friends are really bringing it this week on their blogs:

    Not a personal friend, but Jeremy Smith also has some good comments regarding Willimon. While I haven’t gone in-depth on the subject, I have mentioned the dilemma before – I think Willimon does have a point in that in the end you do need some kind of metric to help examine what is happening in the life of the congregation. He also has a point in that we take all this time and energy to collect the data, so we should be using it as well. But, as Steve and Jeremy point out the numbers (of baptism, membership, attendance) don’t always tell the whole story, and even that data can be abused and manipulated. Furthermore, when the numbers are taken to specifically measure clergy effectiveness, with the assumption that all areas are the same, problems will emerge. A congregation that is serving an area facing negative population growth simply can’t be expected to do as well as an area that is growing. Likewise, while the clergy leadership is an important element in congregational growth, it is not the only element and sometimes other factors (resistance within the congregation, “cleaning up” after another person’s mistakes, etc.) will limit growth, at least in the short-term.  Having said all that, though, I will concede that Willimon does have a point that sometimes in the face of the hard numbers before us, all we choose to offer is excuses, instead of actually doing something to bring about change and growth. What also needs to be understood is that the denominational authorities can’t just command this to happen: vision, training, support, and resources are needed for this change to take place – the entire church culture has to change, not just the performance of individual pastors.

    Scot McKnight shares some interesting data suggesting that people who hold to a concept of a benevolent and engaging God are significantly more committed than those who primarily understand God to be wrathful and judging.

    Both Eric Bryant in his post, Seinfeld as a Drama?, and Dan Kimball address the issue of context. The videos they each link to are great, and an important reminder that a story can be told and manipulated, by how it is presented and removed from its original context.

    Similar to Dan Kimball’s discussion, but with different take on the issue, Fred Clark has some interesting things to say about the emphasis Christians give to sexuality versus money relative to the amount they are discussed in Scripture. Clark is writing in a multipart series, check it out: Part 1 and Part 2.

    It didn’t make it in my posting last week, but I did enjoy the piece from David Byrne on The Architecture of Fear. (Warning to the easily offended: Byrne uses some objectionable language).

    Lifehacker posted the recommendations for essential Windows software. Quite a few things on the list I already use and can vouch for (Chrome, Skype, Thunderbird, VLC, Picasa, Microsoft Security Essentials) and a couple I’ve been meaning to check out (Mozy, Dropbox). If you use Windows, I’d encourage you to check it out and download the pack. (Of course I’m considering converting the Windows box in my new office to Ubuntu, just because I am a big nerd).

    Interesting article suggesting we can all expect an increase in traffic tickets as state and municipal revenues remain tight. It especially hits home because I just received my first ticket after 20 years of driving, just two months ago.

    If anyone wants to send me to Portland so I can hang out with Donald Miller for a couple of days, sign me up here.

    My friend Eric mentioned how he just discovered The Black Keys this week, so in Eric’s honor here’s they are:

  • this week’s round-up (may 27)

    Come to church, win some cash…

    Nice thoughts on the Lost finale here, here, here, and here. Overall, I thought the finale was good. While I agree that the idea of the “sideways world” is problematic from the perspective of Christian theology (to me it seemed to be something more than “purgatory” – I saw it as a place they chose to go, rather than “had” to go to work out their redemption – to me it was more of a “mini-heaven”), I did like the idea that in this place (which was beyond time) the connections remained. I was also glad to see that Hurley became the protector of the island, Ben was redeemed, and the conversation the two shared about how Hurley now had the power to change the rules and be a different kind of leader.

    Speaking of leadership, in Leading Ideas this week, Lewis Parks writes on A Better Script for Small Churches. There is also a great article from J. Clif Christopher on What Report is First on Your Church Council Agenda, which is something Lovett Weems talked about in the conversation I was a part of last week. How we tell the story influences how we live the story, and something as simple as moving the Finance Committee report to the end of the meeting can send a significant message about our priorities.

    There’s an article this week from the United Methodist News Service about United Methodist clergy job security. It’s a tough topic. As some suggest in the article, I find myself feeling a little nervous about how “ineffectiveness” might be defined, evaluated (and possibly abused) and my own sense of perfectionism keeps telling me in the back of my mind that I won’t measure up. At the same time, I know there are clergy out there who are hurting congregations; who consistently make poor choices and haven’t received or responded to the personal, professional, or emotional help when it’s been made available. Furthermore, when I read quotes like this one:

    “After being assigned for the last 30 years to clean up behind broken colleagues, suffer abuse at the hands of clergy-killing congregations with no intervention from the superintendent, questionable appointment practices, and never once complaining or requesting reconsideration, making multiple salary concessions and living in substandard housing that I would spend up to six years renovating, I am now … serving a system that has NO reciprocal obligation to care for or support me.”

    I find myself wondering about the bitterness and the level of effectiveness of the person making the comment. I understand occasionally following pastors who have made poor decisions, I understand that occasionally there are congregational systems with unhealthy dynamics, and I even understand the occasional frustration at the lack of denominational support, but if a person’s experience is that these things have been a constant for 30 years, surely at some point they need to start questions if they might be part of the problem, too. I can confess that I’ve had that same mindset of “Ok, I’ve paid my dues, now where’s my reward?” but I know that’s not a healthy attitude toward ministry, and I’ve been working hard at developing an attitude on focusing on today, and letting go of tomorrow.

    The reality is we need more accountability AND we need more grace, and both those things need to be extended in both directions. If the Cabinet and Boards of Ordained Ministry are going to get serious about clergy effectiveness, they also need to have programs and systems in place for healthy mentoring, training, and vocational re-direction. Likewise, clergy need to be better at trusting each other, stop expecting the system to automatically reward them, and develop systems that keep them accountable and fit for ministry. I believe some good things can come out of this study, and I’m excited by the possibilities it has to offer.

    Jeremy Smith posted an interesting article about “breaking up” the United Methodist Book of Discipline into much more manageable parts. Although I’m not sure about the idea of juggling three different books instead of just one, I think there is some merit to the idea. I especially like the idea of a small volume with core doctrine that people could use without having to get bogged down with all the administrative rules that govern church life.

    On a similar note, I’ve been interested in the idea of bi-vocational ministry and found this article to be a interesting look on the subject. I tend to feel uncomfortable with my salary being such a large part of the church budget. I like the idea that bi-vocational ministry provides some financial freedom for the congregation, as well as gets the pastor into the community in a significant way. At the same time, I’ve give a lot of thought to the downside as well – that is reduces time and energy that can be devoted to ministry. Bi-vocational ministry limits opportunities to schedule things like mid-week funerals or other emergency pastoral care situations if the person is committed to another job.

    Scot McKnight shared some interesting data on mega-churches which suggests that aren’t as bad as some of us might think.

    Donald Miller wrote on loving your enemies where he included this great video.

    No significance to this week’s music selection, the White Stripes just sounded good this evening, as I was putting the final touches on this post.

  • this week’s round-up (may 20)

    A few days late because of Annual Conference. Time to bask in some introvert time, and watch the end of LOST (hoping, hoping, hoping not to be disappointed – which means, I for one, DON’T want all the questions answered – leaving us with a little mystery is absolutely necessary to the beauty of the story, in my mind).

    Of interest this week:

    Cigarette vending machine repurposed to sell books.

    Creating community spaces.

    Wendell Berry – The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

    So, friends, every day do something
    that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
    Love the world. Work for nothing.
    Take all that you have and be poor.
    Love someone who does not deserve it.

    Guy Kawasaki on Mission Statements vs. Mantras:

    Watch it on Academic Earth

    Ed Stetzer has a great article on embracing the congregation’s unique identity. It’s a good warning against the temptation to create “copycat” churches where you just try to do whatever the flavor of the month is doing. Overall, I think I do pretty well, but I understand the temptation to try and be more like Mike Slaughter, instead of being the best Mike Mayo-Moyle I can be.

    Falwell: Measurements in Ministry Success are Messed Up interesting data: 50% of pastors would quit if they could, 70% are fighting depression, 90% can’t cope with the challenges of ministry. Those numbers seem high to be, but his larger point is good – success isn’t about building the next mega-church, our focus needs to be on just one person at a time.

    I’ve mentioned my friend Marcus, and his family, before – he’s an amazing guy (in general), but what I really appreciate is how he genuinely lives out his Christian faith. One of the ways he’s been doing it has been by opening his home to a group of students had when he taught in Mississippi. This past week the last of those students moved back. As Marcus notes in his blog this has been a tough week as he’s had to face the seeming insurmountable obstacles of poverty, culture and poor education. It’s hard reading, but it’s honest, and reminder that the change we hope for doesn’t always come.

    Another Annual Conference is finished. Good times “holy conferencing” especially outside the spaces of sessions. I had the chance to have lunch with Lovett Weems who is both funny and insightful. I need to add his books to my reading list. One of his presentations on change can be found below. (I’ll also plan to add video of a spoken word piece I collaborated on later this week).

    In a similar vein, I liked this reminder to Get Excited and Change Things.

    Music for this week – Jonsi Go Do. This one is a little on the strange side, Jonsi is from Iceland (also the lead singer of Sigur Ros), and his music isn’t in the realm of mainstream pop, but I enjoy it.

  • this week’s round-up (may 13)

    Fairly slow week, in terms of stuff that caught my attention…

    Lifehacker offered up their Top 10 Motivation Boosters and Procrastination Killers as well as a nice peek into a tiny office arrangement – that’s pretty relevant to me because my new digs are probably close to 1/2 the size of my current office, so utilizing space will be a priority (and I have no need for that triple monitor arrangement).

    Adam Hamilton offered some brief thoughts on the 10 Largest Churches in the UMC. His note about worship attendance vs. membership is important, but I also appreciated how he explained that the membership-to-attendance ratio varies significantly between the churches. He doesn’t go into it, but I know the membership philosophies between Resurrection and Ginghamsburg are differ in some key ways, and I’d be interested to see Hamilton comment more on that.

    Scot McKnight posted a quick comment regarding Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s book The Wisdom of Stability. As someone serving in a denomination that embraces itineracy rather than long-term stability it’s a question I wrestle with.

    Wil Wheaton posted some thoughts today on the Space Shuttle launch. What hooked me was his mention that he was home sick the day of the Challenger disaster, and on that day I happened to be home sick, too. I also appreciated his comment at the end, where he says:

    We humans are a flawed species, to put it mildly, and I think we could do a much better job taking care of our planet and each other … but when I see what we’re capable of doing, it gives me hope that the future I pretended to live in twenty years ago will actually arrive some day.

    Thinking about the small office space thing in Lifehacker, made me think of this song:

  • General Conference

    I’ve been trying hard not to get too hooked into the politics of General Conference this year; there is just too much for me to fixate on and agonize over in terms of where the United Methodist Church might be headed. At the same time, I don’t want to ignore the reality that like it or not, this is an important time in the life our the church. To that end, I’ve found Adam Hamilton’s reports from GC to be helpful and insightful, and for those interested in the General Conference, I’d encourage you to check it out.