Learning to be Present in an Increasingly Noisy World

by: Jeff Goins

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For each of us, there are unique, everyday distractions that call us away from being here—now: The temptation to linger in the past or to hope for a better future; the alluring eyes of a coworker who appreciates you more than your spouse does. And every time we are lulled away from our lives and distanced from the moment, we lose something of ourselves and our purpose.

And we wonder why the abundant life seems so evasive, so distant. Like something just beyond our reach, it seems to taunt us. And we may eventually despair of ever finding it. In frustration, as a last resort, we may turn to an old but familiar lesson: one of letting go, of looking beyond personal ambition and replacing it with something better, the slow growth that happens when we surrender to what all these delays and setbacks are really trying to teach us.

So it seems the antidote to our restlessness is not necessarily another adventure or experience of a lifetime, but a deep abiding in where we are now.

How does this happen? With waiting. Normal, everyday situations that test our patience and cause us to reflect on what really matters. Personally, I wish there was another way. As the world’s least patient person, I don’t like waiting at all. But I’m beginning to see the value—and inevitability—of the times in between the big moments in life.

Maybe, like me, you’ve spent much of your life longing for the next season. Hoping better things would come when you graduated or got married or gave your life to a career worthy of your talents. But now, you’re not so sure holding out for what’s to come is the smartest strategy.

If that’s you, then I have some good news: you are not alone.

We all want to live meaningful lives full of experiences we can be proud of. We want a story to tell our grandkids that will make them go, “Wow!” That’s a given. And certainly, I’m not telling you to be boring or give up on your hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Quite the opposite.

What I am trying to say is this: many of us in search of life’s greatest moments fail to recognize that the best moments are the ones happening right now. The “good stuff” isn’t ahead of or behind us. It’s somewhere in between—right in the midst of this moment, here and now.

This is why many of us fight the quiet and try to fill the void of inactivity with constant busyness. It’s why we sometimes stay up late or can’t sleep. We wonder—and worry—if this is all life has to offer. All the while, we miss the truth: The thing we want to escape is what holds the key to our contentment.

What if, instead of pining for the action of the next frame, we surrendered to the wait, learning to live in those “boring” moments with more intentionality? What if we fell in love with the in-between times, relishing instead of resenting them?

Well, then, we might just learn a few important lessons.

>>Learn more from author Jeff Goins by downloading his thoughts on learning the discipline of being present.

If we reserve our joy only for the experiences of a lifetime, we may miss the life in the experience. Such opportunities are everywhere, waiting for us to see them. But first we must learn to open our eyes, to recognize the gift of waiting.

Tags: In Between Times, Jeff Goins, Leadership Characteristics, Leadership Disciplines

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How to Avoid The Conference Craze

by: VRcurator

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Catalyst East 2013 is over – long live Catalyst!

Over 13,000 leaders have returned to their churches, organizations, and homes filled to the brim with pages of notes, hours of conversations, and ideas aplenty.

Now What?

Having participated in several live Catalyst events over the years, and listened to several more of them via CDs, downloads, and DVDs, I always come away inspired…

…and a little spiritually shell-shocked.

Can so much good, be bad?

In a word, yes.

Auxano Founder Will Mancini refers to this phenomenon as the “conference craze.”

In the conference craze, leaders rely solely on training events (like Catalyst, or Exponential, or Global Leadership Summit, or…) to instill direction and vision for their church. Many pastors in the past two decades have built a model of ministry by borrowing one. This is not surprising when you consider the conference offerings and their glut of photocopied vision prepackaged for import.

Lurking in the wake of the plethora of conferences is the growing virus of unoriginal sin. Most leaders of these conferences would be the first to warn you not to copy their models, but they still sell their DNA-saturated resources to thousands of church leaders.

The dramatic irony is that what happens at most conferences is the exact opposite of what propelled the host church or organization to be effective in the first place.

These leaders once endured a process of self-understanding and original thinking that helped in articulating a stunningly unique model of ministry. But after discovering their Church Unique, these leaders no longer taught the same way they learned.

Where does the conference maze lead us?

The success of these mega-models creates a great temptation for others to copy them.  In that moment, leaders walk into a thinkhole.

A “thinkhole” represents the quicksand-like dynamic where, at certain times and places, vibrant thinking gets sucked beneath the surface to suffocate and disappear from view.

Along the great race of leadership you probably find yourself on, thinkholes are the obstacles, barriers, and danger zones that keep us from thoughtful self-knowledge.

At Auxano, we are certainly not against studying best practices – we had team members at Catalyst last week and several others were following it online; Will is speaking at Exponential West this week, and several of the team will be watching it live. We have Tweeted, posted, and written about learnings we gather at events like these.

Conference best practices are okay to study – we’re just against not thinking in the process!

The reality is that most people – sadly, including many leaders in today’s churches – don’t think; they only rearrange their prejudices. Real thinking can be disruptive to the status quo and requires a great deal of courage.

Don’t get lost in the conference craze – be courageous, think through what you heard, and then struggle mightily to see if it needs to be a part of your Church Unique.

>> Download a PDF of the 6 common types of thinkholes that blanket the church landscape here.

 

Information without application leads to stagnation.
– Steven Furtick

Tags: Catalyst, The Conference Maze, Thinkholes

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