Fall Adventures 2012 - Day One

I appreciated a friend's email today, asking about my blogging silence. He just wanted to make sure I was ok.

I am more than OK... I AM THRIVING!

I did have to shake my head though when I pulled up my blog just now and saw that I hadn't entered anything in just about a month. Yikes. Where did the time go?

So rather than drone on with a bullet list of what I am up to (I know I know, I have too many bullet lists....) I thought I would just share one update per post, and slowly fill things in as to what I've been up to. So here goes!

For this first entry, I don't know what to call it... The words "consulting" and "coaching" both have a negative ring to them for some, and I get a remark here and there at times when I use either one of these words to describe some of what I do now. What can I say? I love it, and it is really keeping me busy.

For lack of a better term, I come alongside pastors for a period of time and work with them on a variety of things. Since June 2009, I have met with youth pastors and directors from thirteen different churches located in Florida, Illinois, Washington, Nebraska, Arizona and California through a great group of people called Youth Ministry Architects. They gave me a chance when I first entered my big transition from day-to-day youth pastoring, and I am forever grateful to them. 

And starting in March 2009 I have done the same thing with pastors in the Free Methodist Church in Southern California, having worked with twenty-one churches so far. I've fallen in love with the people and the denomination. They labor long and hard and often in anonymity. I have worked with churches from 30 to 800 people. I've been translated into Cantonese, preached to an entirely Latino congregation and even went to three different churches in one day. It's an adventure and I love it.

But let's get specific... What does this coaching / consulting / coming-alongside "thing" look like? Honestly, it varies every time because my first question inevitably is, "What do you need?" Rather than crank people through a gimmicky program, I simply try to bring a big toolbox of resources and experience to every situation. I listen a lot, take a whole lot of notes, brainstorm, and pray.

Quite possibly the most interesting part is how it all works out week by week... after an initial on-site visit where I get to know the pastor and the church a bit, I then meet regularly with them via online video calls. I'm at the point where I am on Skype or Google Hangout just about every day. For example, this was my schedule today:

• 9-10am: meet with campus pastor who has launched a new service reaching college students and young adults in So Cal.
• 10-11am: meet with a senior pastor who is leading a church in the High Desert as he ministers to military, Native Americans, retirees, young families, a Christian school and people in recovery.
• noon-1pm: work with a board member in Rancho Cucamonga to keep shaping our Center for Transformational Leadership. We have at least ten different leadership development projects going on with undegrad and grad students at Azusa Pacific and Westmont. But that's another blog post...
• 1-2pm: meet for monthly training with a middle school youth director in a Seattle suburb.
• 2-3pm: meet with an associate pastor in a town near downtown LA.

Isn't that crazy?? Yes, I take breaks to go to the bathroom and eat, but other than that it's a blinger of a day. Yes, I get a little hoarse, and I need a good bike ride after sitting that long, but I consider it an amazing privilege to come alongside these friends. We work on strategic planning, youth ministry, preaching calendars, cross-cultural ministry, staff development, time management, leadership development, new initiatives, spiritual formation, social media, pastoral care, you name it.

I read these verses this morning and they made me think of the churches and people I am working with right now. I praise God for the opportunities before me:

May God our Father and our Lord Jesus bring us to you very soon. And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen. (1Thessalonians 3:11-13)

Thanks for reading... much more to share in the days to come. 

Job Update #3

Yes, there is more to tell. It may sound like I'm taking on too much, but thankfully, all of it still only adds up to 40 hours or so. Each of the pieces are part-time -- though I admit to full-time energy for all of them. This is gratifying time of learning, growth, challenge, and best of all, creativity. I have said it before, but I'll say it again: I am so grateful. God has been very generous, and his provision has been remarkable.

I've mentioned some consulting projects these past couple of months, and they have come from two sources:

Youth Ministry Architects (YMA): You've heard me talk about this group already - what a tremendous team of people. I have learned a ton from them as I have tried out many different things:

• I represented them at the National Pastors' Conference in San Diego and met hundreds of pastors;
• I analyzed assessment data for them that had been submitted from churches all around the country;
• I assisted in some searches for youth and family pastors;
• I wrote a couple of articles for them addressing specific issues related to youth ministry;
• I went on-site to churches in Nebraska and Illinois.

From all of that, I am now in ongoing consulting relationships with the churches in Nebraska and Illinois, and I have also picked up another project in Arizona (plus one or two potentials in the hopper). With these 3 churches I will be video-conferencing with them once or twice a month, coaching them in some of the specifics of YMA's comprehensive approach to youth ministry. They have a really solid, systematic method for assisting a whole church in renovating their entire infrastructure for youth ministry. I will also visit periodically (maybe two more times) to do some work onsite. I am really impressed with what YMA offers -- and I'm not just sayin' that!

Free Methodist Conference of Southern California: this has bubbled up unexpectedly -- but as I said, God is cool. I won't go into boring details, but out of one relationship with a former student where I offered to help him work through his "stuckness" in some areas I am now coaching two other lead pastors in Southern CA every week. I use a bunch of tools I've used in the past in training interns & staff during my years with both Young Life and the church. This coaching is rather different from YMA in that I am focusing my work solely on the lead pastor to maximize his effectiveness, whereas with YMA I work more comprehensively with a church's leadership team, in partnership with another consultant.

You know me -- I love to assist folks in thinking through needs, ideas, challenges, and so on, and then coming up with a plan for how to move forward. For this consulting work I meet with each pastor in person for our first meeting, and then we meet weekly after that through video conference. I love technology.

I will soon post about one last sliver of my job pie soon. Thanks for reading.

Job Update #2

Hello! Thanks for your emails, comments, and encouragement about my latest work stuff. I sure do appreciate your support. Lots. It's a real gift.

If you haven't read Installment #1 of the Job Chronicles, please look at my post from July 4. I am still very excited to fill you in on Eden Reforestation Projects...

Another big piece of the puzzle is my new part-time position at Providence Hall High School. I taught there for several weeks from January through March of this year. I spent a few weeks in the Book of Philippians, exploring various qualities of true leadership. Then the school asked me to spend five weeks teaching doctrine through a study of the Apostles' Creed. Out of that time at the school, Providence Hall approached me last month and asked to be the Campus Pastor as of July 1, for the 2009-2010 school year.

My energy will be focusing on 3 areas:

1. Teaching the Foundations of Christianity class. The student body meets two mornings a week for studies in the history, beliefs, and applications of the Christian faith. Occasionally I will also have others come in to teach short-term series.
2. Expanding Community Service at the school. I've already contacted a couple of ministries in Santa Barbara for the students to serve with. This has always been a passion of mine, as you know, so it will be wonderful for me to get to continue guiding students in what it means to be a truly selfless servant.
3. Organizing a new community-wide series called "Providence Presents..." Providence is in a unique position to cross denominational boundaries and offer larger-scale parenting seminars. Over the years I have had a few topics come up consistently with parents, and I want to explore those. I am very excited about this! Stay tuned for specifics on this - we hope to advertise in the paper and get the word out. This will be a great resource for folks to bring their neighbors to as well.

I will also do my best to represent Providence Hall in the community: at the monthly youth pastors' fellowship that I have been involved with since the beginning of my Young Life days, with community service organizations, and in the schools.

As I have said to many of you, I am really impressed with the staff and the mission of Providence Hall. I also really love the students! They are earnest in their faith, diverse in their backgrounds, and incredibly fun and welcoming. A surprising addition to all of this is that my housemate & best friend's brother, Tim Loomer, has just been named Academic Dean at Providence. So it's going to be even more gratifying to build my relationships within the staff and student body. It is a wonderful family.

Check back in soon for more details on other projects in my pipeline. I'm having a great time!