Well, try and hold back your enthusiasm.  But 7 days into 2011, i’ve managed to hold onto several of my resolutions.  So far, so good.

• MONEY STUFF: Every day so far I’ve entered our daily expenses into my family budget.  This is amazing cuz I didn’t do it at all for the last 4 months.  I also started a monthly automatic withdrawl for my tithe at church cuz I kept getting to church without my checkbook in the Friday service Shannon and I attend.  I’ve resisted this forever since it seems to take away the act of actually giving when it becomes automatic… but at this point, it will keep me from letting it pile up for too many months.
• EXERCISE:  I ran on my treadmill or elliptical for at least 25 minutes every day this week. 
• SLEEP:  I actually got at least 5 hours of sleep a night. Usually closer to 7, but no less than 5. 
• READING: I kept up with my Bible reading plan every day. 
• BLOG: I updated this thing daily.

Hey, if you’re in youth ministry, here’s a shout out for some bonding in Chicago this March at SYMC.  But hurry, cuz the conference is 80% full and time is a wastin’.  Cost goes up after January 15 too.

It’s 4 amazing days….

Great Atmosphere- think laughter, training, like minded people, relaxed, refreshing.
Great People- limited to 2500 of your closest friends.
Great Weather- if you love cold and sleet and snow in Chicago 🙂
Great Training and music and yeah….
Great Times.

I’m teaching two workshops this year.  You should come and join me and check em out.  I’m really stoked about both of them.

• Moving from Leadership to Ownership: Creating a Student-Owned Ministry.
• You Suck! Enduring, Learning from, and Responding to Conflict and Criticism.

See you There.

The internet has leveled the playing field, but it hasn’t changed the reality of the game much.

Yep, you can create a wikipedia article or write your own blog or publish yourself on youtube, but you still are a nobody in our culture until your article/blog/twitter/video goes viral.  Until 4 million people watch or read your stuff, your influence is subpar.  You have to be “found” before you’re valued.

I started writing daily or so for this blog for 2011 because I miss the outlet and the challenge to write and think in this venue. Not because it makes me valuable.  As far as blogs go- this small space of the internet a nobody really.

So yesterday I saw this video of a homeless guy with a radio voice.

He was interviewed by the Early Show crew on CBS here when he was at 3 million hits. (worth watching by the way).  Now the original video I linked to above is at almost 9 million views at the point of my publishing this- and is likely old news to you by now.  Bottom line: he went from being a nobody “homeless man” with a sign in Ohio on Monday to being “Ted Williams”- a highly sought after radio voice in a matter of like 3 days.  Amazing…. and ridiculous.

Ted was no less unique or valuable 3 months ago than he was 3 days ago than he is today than he would be if he never was featured in a youtube in the first place.  This man’s value is not based on his performance, but his nature as an image bearer of God (Genesis 1:27).  This image of God reality is one that our culture only validates when someone has a marked contribution.  However there are hundreds of thousands of homeless men and women around the world who have “no voice” but are very valuable nonetheless.

Proverbs 29:7 reads “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.”

I love Ted’s Story. I however believe that there are Ted like stories all over the world.  I believe that as a believer, it’s my calling by God to be a voice for the voiceless… for the millions of orphans around the world, for the millions of people in villages all over this globe who have no “official record of their birth” and will never make a history book, for the quiet, overlooked, and neglected in our society.  It is our collective responsibility to speak on behalf of those without a voice.

May the children, the poor, the discriminated, and the abused always have a voice among God’s people, regardless of how many people ever know their name or story.

On Saturday, I went to a soccer game with TJ.  He was supposed to be playing, however because he pulled a muscle in his leg at practice, we were just watching.  And since I was not coaching, I was more of an observer at the game than I’ve been in a long time.

At the end of the game, like literally in the last 5 seconds of the game, the other team scored the tying goal and in the process, pushed TJ’s team one point out of the finals.  This resulted in one parent yelling to the ref his frustration and claiming there was 4 minutes left.

The Ref’s response?

He walked to midfield, looked at our sideline, and yelled, “What did you say?”  The man repeated his claim of time left and the ref then screamed while moving his hands as if he was declaring a base runner safe, “THE GAME IS OVER. DONE. OVER!!!” and then scowled at the sideline.

The Parent’s response?

He went over to the head quarters for the tournament to leverage his complaint.

The Sideline Ref’s response?

He loudly asked the entire group of parents if we heard what he said when the game was over and just kinda pitched a fit, claiming he said the game was over too.

The Commissioner of the Tournament’s Response?

She came down to the field and yelled at the coach and one smart mouth kid on our team, “DO YOU WANT ME TO CANCEL THIS TEAM?  DO YOU?”  Someone on the sideline, heard her rant and yelled “Who are you?”  She screamed back “I’m the commissioner.  I’m the one who puts on this entire tournament.  I’m in charge!”

My Response?

I just walked away and shook my head at the ridiculousness of it all.  I asked TJ what he thought of the fiasco.  He said people were mad and acting dumb.  I told him, “That my son was an exercise in unilaterally bad leadership.  You can’t lead from position.  All of them demanded the right to be heard by yelling and claiming position. All of them. Positional leadership is an oxymoron.”

SO, I REMINDED MYSELF OF 3 THINGS: 

#1. If I have to yell to gain power, I’ve lost all authority.   Sure, there are exceptions (like a fire or something),  but for the vast majority of the time, if someone in “leadership” has to SCREAM at their audience to be heard, they’ve only proven they have no leadership in the first place.

#2. When someone in a position of power says, “Because I’m the______________  (pastor, boss, parent, coach, president, ceo, etc.) and therefore I make the decisions”, they’ve actually reached for the very last leadership card.  When they throw that card first, they only prove they’re desperate for power.  It’s not the fastest way to gain it, it’s the fastest way to prove they never had it and what little they do have, will quickly be gone. They have no credibility cards left.

#3. Positional leadership is not leadership.   It’s power wielding, not follower gaining.  True leaders earn the right to be heard and work to gain influence.  Dictators don’t lead, they dictate. I don’t want to be a dictator as a parent, a pastor, a coach, or any other environment I’m in.  Positional leadership is cheap and weak sauce. If I never have to pull that card another day in my life, I’ll be way ok with it.  I need to work hard so I don’t lead like this.

If you’re like me, you’ve started and stopped more Bible reading plans than you care to admit.  I’ll probably get fired for that sentence.  But the truth is, I read my Bible, just not very faithfully to any plan.  However, I also know that without a plan, my reading can be more recreational than devotional and more haphazard than directed.