I'm Happier Than You Are

Yesterday while I was speaking about Finding Success At Work, I made a reference to a study that came out recently showing that clergy are happier and more satisfied than people in any other profession. (read about it here) Firefighters are second. Sometimes (when I'm in a particularly strange mood) I like to think of myself as a firefighter of sorts. I sure don't want anyone to have to suffer the flames of hell.

Figured I'd share a few thoughts on how to be satisfied and happy with whatever you do.

Do something you like. Yeah, it seems obvious, but I can't tell you how many people I've listened to complain about their job, do it only for the paycheck or because it will help them in their career. I mentioned on Sunday about a woman I'd heard of who was a successful Wallstreet banker and traded it in to become a trapeze artist. I'm guessing this is the same woman if you don't believe me. So stop whining and figure out a way to get paid to do what you like

Keep it in perspective. You might think you're job is just a job, but it's more than that. It's an opportunity to honor God. Believers are told to work at whatever they do as though we're working for the Lord and not just men. That means that EVERY job matters.

Realize there's more than one way to be paid. I'm not saying we should work for free, but what you do for a living should be about more than the bottom line. I get paid with stories of lives changing and with relationships I build and maintain. Work for satisfaction - personal satisfaction. When I was working construction during summers, I took great satisfaction in watching the walls of a house go up, the roof get put on and the windows get put in. Sure, it may have been a long (14 hour) hard day, but there was something satisfying about it for me and that made my paycheck worth more.

Invite others to join you. You might be thinking about how "misery loves company" if you've got a job you don't like. But if you find something you like, you'll want others to enjoy work too. I can't tell you how great it is to have guys like Claude, Brent, Davey, Randy and Dusty around. This job is hard, but it's easier with good people working alongside me. Find someone and invite them to enjoy work with you.

Portable Churchin'

Ok, it's midnight and I'm bringing God's word to the people tomorrow in about 10 hours. I'm excited about that. Just got back from being up at the Boys and Girls Club where we meet for church. We got there at 9 to start setting up for tomorrow. Had to wait until at least 9 because there was an event there - a Shuck and Pluck. Oysters and chicken. Let me just tell you that there's a strong smell. One of our set up crew put it best...a cross between a gerbil cage and trash. Hope it smells better in the morning - it's being cleaned up right now. I love being portable. And I really love our team of committed people who make this happen. There's still guys up there who probably won't leave until 1 or so and they'll be back at 8. Love 'em.

Retirement...

Lora's got a friend of hers she met when Lora was stationed at MacDill AFB, who's retiring today from the Air Force after 30 years. She just happens to be at a nearby base and so she's asked Lora to present her with her shadowbox (retirement award case) and me to pray for the ceremony. We're both honored and are heading out this afternoon. I've also got some 70's clothes packed because her retirement party is a 70's-attire-required-for-admittance kinda thing. I may even post a picture of my 'far out' clothes when we get back.

Why It Matters

I've been asked before why church membership matters (or in our case, why PARTnership mattes). Considering what I see happening (and not happening) in churches around here and elsewhere, that's a reasonable question. In fact, over the past few weeks, we've been talking about it as a staff.

We realized that we ask people to attend one of our classes, live up to our expectations, serve in our ministries, give to our vision and tell friends about our church. But what do we as a church do for people who PARTner with us? How do we bless them the way their committed participation blesses us?

We thought about that and determined that we're a little weak in this area. We ask a lot, but don't offer much more to PARTners than we do to regular attenders. So here's what we're planning to do about it.

1. Provide more "insider info" to our PARTners. We'll let them know ahead of time about some of the exciting things that will be happening in the near future, share our growth numbers and projections and invite feedback on proposed ideas.. We'll be working on putting together a monthly newsletter just for PARTners where we'll give people a better idea of what's going on (or about to be going on)

2. Spend time together. Every quarter we'll invite our PARTners to join us for a night out. There, we'll share some of the wins we've had, encourage one another, cast the vision, and spend face time with those that are and have been committed to moving us forward. Of course we'll share some food and have some fun.

3. Invest in them. Once a year, right before PARTnership renewals, we'll have a retreat of sorts. We'll get away for a night or weekend, but we'll only take a couple hours of the time to celebrate victories and look ahead to the future. The rest of the time there will be our gift to our PARTners and their families. While we won't foot the entire bill, we plan to subsidize enough to make it affordable and attractive for every family (or couple if you want to leave the kids at home)

We're still trying to nail down details and we hope that our PARTners will feel as valued and honored by us as we do by them.

Hiding Out?

Just saw an article (read it here) about ChristianUTube.com and am sitting here just shaking my head. There was a time when I would have thought that was a good idea, but not anymore. Right on the site it highlights these words "Share your Christian faith with the world on your own terms where you are the Director" You're kidding me right? Is the world going to spend their time at christianutube.com or where they already spend their time - YouTube.com? But hey, at least you get to direct it. Oops, forgot, you can do that on the original site too - and put more than 10 mins of video up without having to pay for it. Arrggghh. If we keep retreating into our own little "Christian" world that we create, how are we going to make any kind of impact on the world around us? That's not a rhetorical question.

My Life

I just got done posting about some thoughts I was having. I was reflecting on what God wants to do with me. Then I see this picture my wife just took of my kids eating lunch outside. It may not mean anything to anyone else, but I don't care - it's my life.

This is my daughter Sarah. You can't tell but she's wearing a mermaid costume over her clothes. She just got the sunglasses from Grandma yesterday, and as I'm typing she comes in and asks if she can eat somewhere else because "the sun is just too bright"

I hope and pray that as she grows up, she continues to do things "her" way and doesn't worry about how silly she looks or what other people might think. I hope she never colors inside the lines, dances to music only she can hear, and loves people that others ignore or put down.

And I promise that I don't care if she wants to wear a sequinned mermaid outfit over her clothes when we go out in public.

Something To Think About

Was reading earlier this morning and I can't get this out of my mind. It's Psalm 86:11

Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.

I keep thinking that David wasn't asking the Chief Priest to teach him, he was asking the Lord himself. It's really got me feeling frustrated and free at the same time, because so often people are looking for churches and pastors that will teach them something. I've got no problem with that...in fact I expect the same thing. The problem comes when people expect the pastor or church to teach them everything. If people aren't learning and growing on their own, no pastor or church will really be that much help, because those are secondary relationships. The primary relationship needs to be a growing one with Christ - where he's teaching, he's challenging, he's changing our minds and hearts.

I'm frustrated, because I get tired of people asking and expecting the church and pastors to provide everything. A lot of parents do it by expecting the children's or student ministry to practically take their place in the spiritual education of their kids. The depth of their involvement consists of "whadya learn today?" Adults do it when they talk about "depth of teaching." I'm not saying don't study the Bible, but I am saying it's not a trivia book where you can learn some cool facts others might not know. It's for life-change and if we already aren't putting what we know into practice, what sense is there in going "deeper"? It'd be like heaping more responsiblity on people who already aren't being responsible.

I'm also feeling free. Free because I can study for ME. Free so God can teach ME, not so I can teach others. So teach ME Lord, that I will walk in your truth and give ME an undivided heart. Keep ME from looking to the crowd instead of looking to Christ. The crowd has problems, for that matter, the crowd is the problem. I can't focus on the problem and make much difference. When I focus on the answer, when I focus on Christ, when I learn from him, I feel free to actually make a difference and free to share what God's been teaching ME.

Good To Be Back

The family and I had a great time in Washington D.C. Even though it was cold and windy the first few days, Friday and Saturday were beautiful. The kids had a blast and logged a lot of miles in their walking shoes.

A lot has changed and been added since Lora and I lived at Andrews AFB right outside D.C. 10 years ago. We checked out the new stuff. Loved the museum and interactive stuff at Mount Vernon (Washington's home). The Marine Corp Museum was impressive as was the new Air and Space museum out near Dulles Airport. Cool part about that one was our docent (tour guide) was a retired three star general! Loved it, loved it, loved it.

I haven't taken time like that off for a while. I do admit that I checked my emails once during the week and answered the phone three times, but other than that I was totally checked out of work mode. I've promised Lora and myself that I'll do that on a regular basis - next break is in June.

And then, not having to speak today was nice too. I got to sit with my wife! Dusty did an outstanding job. You should listen to it. Taught a PARTnership class last night and recognized a couple dozen new PARTners this morning. Heard nothing but great things about Discovery helping out with the Carolina Pregnancy Center's Walk 4 Life - Wagner Fields (the center director) even stopped by the house to say thanks.

I just love that I can be gone and things not only get done, but get done well. It's good to be gone, but it's good to be back too!

D.C.

Usually whenever I see DC I think Discovery Church, but for the next few days it's going to be our address. We're headed to Washington D.C. to visit some friends and visit the nation's capital. Don't know how much I'll be blogging so figured I'd make it plain as to why posts are limited....I'm checking out with my family for some much needed family time.

Sweet Music

Saturday mornings at the Ebeling house are "house blessing" time. Everybody has at least one chore to do to help make sure the house is clean and organized and that mom or dad don't need to do everything. We throw on some praise music and hop to it cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming and dusting. Some mornings go better than others - good attitudes, good jobs. Others not so much.

I'm upstairs and hear the praise music blaring and I'm hearing some strange accompinament sounds. It's my little girl playing some metal bowls like drums using forks. She's banging and singing away. Most people might hear it and pull their hair out thinking it's too annoying, but to me, it's music to my ears to hear my children expressing their praise to God through music - even if it's with mixing bowls and forks.

Focus

I have a condition I call "distraction attraction." It seems like there are times when I'll find anything and everything to work on except what I need to. This happens too often for me. I'll know I need to make a difficult phone call or really invest some energy into solving a problem, but because it's going to be hard, I do something else more enjoyable - read, browse, eat, play, joke, text, email, whatever.

I had one of those moments just now when I was reading Perry Noble's blog andI got smacked upside my head. You can read the blog HERE, but basically I'm being lazy and not performing up to the standard that God's set or even that I'm capable of. The audience of one seems to be me instead of Him and that needs to change. Another of his posts convicted me earlier this week and I just need to be done chasing turkeys. I've lost some focus.

Actually had a similar conversation this morning about focus, clarity and organization and it's clear that I'm lacking in each area to some degree. That's frustrating, but it's something I already knew I tended towards. I also know I need to do something about it.

Somewhere along the line I've messed up and started to make things a little bit more about me. It's not. Discovery Church isn't about me. Being a pastor isn't about me. Seeing lives changed isn't about me. Making an impact isn't about me. There's only two things that Jesus said were the most important and I'm glad I've been reminded to put my focus back on that. God's called me to love Him first. That takes discipline and focus. Then, because I love Him, he tells me to love others. That means I can't do my own thing first and offer leftovers. I need to focus on the the task at hand. Time to focus on the W.I.N. - "What's Important Now?"

All About Impact

Got a nice email from someone today talking about how IMPACT was the word of the day on Easter. It really was and I'm glad they understood that message. Since we're talking about success, we needed to define success in terms of the big picture and we did. Basically, success isn't just about achievements...it's about IMPACT.

It's easy to see. Take Tiger Woods for example. He didn't win the Master's on Sunday, yet nearly everyone considers him one of the most successful golfers of all-time. Why? Because he's made a huge impact in the golf world (and beyond). Of course he's won a few times along the way. Christ is the same way. Sure he was a great teacher, healed people, did other miracles, but the real measure of his success is the IMPACT he's made on this world. It's huge. People's lives are still being changed because of who Jesus is and what he's done. That's IMPACT.

All this has me wondering whether or not Discovery is a successful church or I'm a successful church planter. Some things have been achieved - we've launched, we've grown, I've raised enough support to provide for my family, we've added staff, etc. Success though is measured differently - are lives being changed? What about the community? I think slowly but surely we're helping to bring about change and we're starting to have an IMPACT, but I also think we have a long way to go.

The bottom line is that it doesn't matter how much we have going on and what we achieve in terms of numbers or anything else people might use to say that I or Discovery are successful...what matters is IMPACT.

I Liked It

I think I've recovered from last week...it was crazy! But when it was all set up and we were singing praises out to Jesus, I have to say I liked it. I think it looked good, sounded waaaaayy better than I thought it would and we've gotten positive feedback and comments from regulars and guests.

Since Claude already beat me to the blog you can check out the pictures he posted on his blog. I really think people were suprised at how much like a church and how little like a Boys and Girls Club it looked.

I was really excited about one guest in particular. When we were buying the metal to weld our chair carts together, one of the guys who works there was talking about church and stuff and offered to help with the welding if we needed anything. We called him, he came out and did some welding and showed up on Sunday!! Seems like a great guy and afterwards he said to me, "I think I found a home" Great stuff.

We were talking at staff meeting last night and are working at getting prepared because we think we've got some fresh momentum now and we're expecting things to continue growing. It's a little slower growth than I'd like, but considering we started with just my family, had maybe 45-50 at the theater and have been averaging over 120 this year (not counting Easter) I can say we're growing. We'll be recognizing a new group of PARTners and having another PARTnership class in the next couple weeks. We're also starting something new...PARTner of the month. We want to celebrate those people who've made the commitment to Discovery, to an Outlet and to ministry. I love our first pick. Haven't decided for sure if we'll recognize this week or next...guess you'll have to be there.

Can You Believe It?

Alright, it's the day before Easter and it's April. It's also cold. How cold? Cold enough to SNOW?! Can you believe it? We had snow flurries. And once the wind started whipping up at 25 miles an hour, visibility was down to a quarter mile! That's just crazy.

It's supposed to be even colder tomorrow morning...may even be in the 20's. So much for spring time and all the weather that you typically think about with Easter. Hopefully it won't keep too many people away. We set up a bunch of stuff last night to help with the Minority Business Expo and I have to say, things look pretty sharp. Definitely a transformation. We'll set up most of the rest of our stuff after the expo closes down tonight. I'm excited to see the whole thing all set up. Looks like it will be a great day (regardless of the weather) Just praying for people and receptive hearts.

Butterflies

Have you ever had butterflies? You know, the feeling you get when you're excited and nervous at the same time. I don't usually get too many butterflies, maybe when I asked my wife to marry me and right before our first kid was born, but I've got a lot of them this morning. I always have a few every week before I speak, but not this many.

I'm looking at the list of all that still needs to be done and get a little nervous. Then I get a phone call from someone who got one of our mailers who wants to know what time we meet and I get excited. It's a bit like a roller coaster. At least for the most part I'm enjoying the ride.

I think anytime we're trying to do something bigger than ourselves, we should feel the butterflies. If churches and Christ-followers don't have that butterfly feeling on a regular basis, I'm thinking there's a problem. I mean, butterflies are attracted to flowers - their color and scent. If people and churches don't have butterflies it's a good bet that their color is fading and their fragrance is all but gone. They're like a tulip or daffodil that looks and smells so good for a bit and the rest of the time is just a plain old plant that blends in and doesn't really matter much. I don't ever want to be like that. I hope Discovery is constantly in bloom, trying new things, taking risks, making our corner of the world a little brighter. If we are, we'll have that butterfly feeling a lot more.

I Need This

Still working on the final details for the message on Easter and I know I need this message. We're starting a brand new series called "Finding Success" and I'm here to tell you...with all the energy I'm using this week, I'm definitely trying to find whatever will make this move, this series, this message and this entire Easter experience a successful one. I have to pull back and think about what success is. I'm filtering it through the paradigm and definition that we'll be using for the whole series, and that makes it a little harder for me to measure success.

Will hundreds of people coming be a success? If everything looks and sounds good will it be a success? If I'm "on" when I speak will the message be a success? If people show up and think "wow" is that a success? I just don't know and it's not because I don't want all of the above to happen.

True success is just so much more than a singular event. The event still matters. The accomplishment still counts, but true and lasting success comes later. For example, if we resist temptation once - we succeeded, but I don't believe we should consider ourselves successful yet. We should still fight temptation of course, but real success comes much (sometimes much, much) later.

So I'll continue to work hard and put everything I've got into succeeding this weekend, and we'll know in a few months and years if I can be considered successful.

Going Out Tomorrow

Made a HUGE mistake that we didn't detect until too late on our mailers. Would you believe we didn't put a time on it?!?! What a bunch of amateurs we are.

Either way, nearly 20,000 more will hit the mailing routes tomorrow (even without the times) and we'll be praying that people will go to the website or call if they don't know when we meet (which is 10:10). Considering I've seen our little yellow road signs at a number of the major intersections, people who get the cards may have already seen those and gotten the time of 10:10 from them. I guess those signs are staying out all week long this week. Usually we pick 'em up Sunday, but we're getting a lot of drive by traffic so that's a good thing when it comes to marketing.

I'm excited about our series too - Finding Success. Too often people define success in the short term, but it's more than that. It has to be. How else could you define a since it covers so many years? I can't wait to successful lifeshare what I've been learning. We'll be rolling out the red carpet (same stuff they use at the MTV music awards!) for our first week. I'm so glad we can get into the building to semi-set-up on Friday night and Saturday, because I'm still stressing over how it's all going to work out. But hey, God's in control (when I let him).

Coming Together

It's so encouraging when people pull together to make something happen. Preparations for moving to the Boys and Girls Club are in full swing. All the chairs are here and Claude and I have been doing grunt work - specifically working on welding up some carts for moving the 20 lb padded folding chairs we'll be using. Since welding isn't my thing, I didn't know about "flash burn," but I do now. I was up Tuesday from 2-4 in the morning with my eyes hurting and watering and feeling like I was gonna go blind. I guess I burned my eyeballs when I was helping Claude do the welding. Won't do that again.

We put a proto-type cart together and took it up to the BGC to make all our measurements were correct and it's a good thing because we discovered a little issue that we needed to fix before we went and made all 5 carts. While we were reworking the design, I got my "24 hour notice" phone call that our stage was going to be delivered. . . now! So with 10 actual minutes of lead time, I had them deliver it to the BGC and we offloaded it from the truck. Man, that thing looks great. Only one problem. Those carts won't fit through the doors either. Don't know what we're going to do about that yet. Replacing the non-standard doors isn't an option though. So with 400-500 pounds of steel to cut and weld up, Claude's busy working on the other 4 carts, while I'm off to the post office to send out our second direct mail piece. It's only Wednesday and I feel like it should be Friday.

Moving On

Just got back from packing everything up and I have to say I had a little moment standing in the empty auditorium of South Central for the last time. I thought about how much has happened in the last year and all the people we've been able to connect with. I thought about the lives that have been changed...

And now I just got back from what turned out to be a very long interruption while I when I started typing this. Yeah, I'll miss the school, but I'm looking forward to the Boys and Girls Club and what's going to happen there. There's just something exciting about moving. I think it creates momentum, gives people a reason to invite people, and keeps us from getting stuck in a predictable rut. See you next Sunday.