“Was that  e-mail from my boss God’s way of telling me to find a new job?”

“Was the billboard a sign from God, or was it just a sign?”

If you want to know more about how God works, this week only, my publisher is offering Nine Ways God Always Speaks (Kindle edition) for free on Amazon. You can download it here and begin reading immediately.

Co-authored with Mark Herringshaw this is the sequel to our first collaboration, Six Prayers God Always Answers.

What if I don’t have a Kindle? No, problem. Amazon makes it easy to download the Kindle software to a variety of platforms including your computer and many cell phones.

Why would they give it away? Because we’re pretty confident that once you read it you’ll want to recommend it to a friend who will buy a copy. Or perhaps you’ll want to purchase our other book Six Prayers God Always Answers.

Why is this offer only good in certain states? Ha! You’ve obviously found your way here via a blog post by someone who didn’t read the listing carefully. The sub-title of the book is “Offer Only Available in Certain States” which implies you have to be in a certain state of mind to hear God  and it fits nicely with the sub-title of our first collaborative book which was, Six Prayers God Always Answers: Results May Vary.

So the sub-title has nothing to do with the price of the book. It’s still free on the Kindle edition no matter where you live. But have fun emailing your friends in other states and asking them if Nine Ways God Always Speaks is free in their state, too.

Happy Reading!

~Jennifer

Find part one here.

The Themes

As always it was like trying to drink from a fire hose while at Q. But perhaps even harder than drinking in information is trying to catch it  in meaningful pieces so I take it home with me and do something about it. From the stage this year, Q definitely made an effort to talk about fatherlessness as an issue. But for me, the themes that seemed to resonate the most were those that had a formal component (presented from stage) coupled with an informal component (those discussed in private conversations or resonated with other thoughts I was already having).

Here are a few of the themes that emerged for me:

1) Listening - Too often as Christians we’re all about having the answers. There is a need for us to stop and listen to both our brothers and sisters in Christ (both contemporary as well as ancient) and also those whom we are trying to serve. This was demonstrated most profoundly when someone pointed out the conference was called Q and what a different conference it would be if it were called A. Dave Blanchard drove home the importance of listening in business. IDEO’s willingness to get involved in listening to people’s stories helped them to create a billion dollar program for Bank of America that not only served the bank, but also their customers.

Takeaway: Listening is time-consuming and messy but can pay big results.

2) Pursuing the Prodigals - This theme was hit on by Jo Saxton who asked if her life was worth enough for us in the church to go outside of our doors and find her. So often we’re content to sit back and wait for the prodigals to return, but what if we went out and go them? I helped collaborate on a book about prodigals and many of their stories involved someone from the outside joining their story. Mike Foster also drove home this point with his stories about People of the Second Chance. In addition Sean Womack told the personal story behind his very public affair and the grace demonstrated by his wife Shelley. In a private conversation, I learned about a young man with a very troubled life who grew up to be a successful attorney because of a youth minister willing to come after him in the middle of the night. In another conversation, a young business man told me about how his family has opened up their home to a young man who just gotten out of prison. The boy had asked if he could sleep in their garage, the businessman said no, but he could be a part of the family.

Takeaway: How far am I willing to go to give someone a second chance? Am I willing to go after them? And if I find them, what kind of scandalous grave am I willing to offer them?

But…

3) It’s Messy - Getting involved in other peoples’ lives is messy. It takes time and when you join their story, you’re going to get all of their junk all over you. In addition, it’s hard to measure the ROI on relationships.

Takeaway: I don’t like getting involved. I don’t like getting messy. I don’t have time to do it. But most of all, I need to rethink my attitude about all of this.

4) Longevity - We’re all about the ROI, the quick results, the progress, and the success. But often results take years. In a private networking meeting, Charles Lee encouraged us to pursue relationships that seemed purposeless, awkward, or unnecessary and do so for the long term allowing God to use them over time. I agree. Other speakers talked about the number of years it took them to see results but how important it was that they stayed the course.

Takeaway: I need to be less dismissive and more patient when things don’t seem to serve my immediate purposes or return expected results.

5) Arrogance and Superiority - Along with the longevity theme was the theme of getting out of the mindset that we’re the ones doing it right. Whether gospel interpretation, church models, or spiritual practices, we have much to learn from those who came before and alongside us. Our job is to understand what the past can teach us and apply the lessons to the future we’re trying to create.

Takeaway: I don’t have all the answers.

6) Start with One - These things are messy. They take a long time to show results. The problems are bigger than we can fix in our lifetime. But still, we need to start with one.

Takeaway: Do one thing. Fix one problem. Care for one person. It makes a difference to the one.

7) Jesus said go out and make disciples – He didn’t say go out and attract disciples. Yet our churches spend a lot of time primping to be attractive.

Takeaway: Do it, don’t waste time figuring out how to display it.

8) Cities as the Center - Two years ago,  Tim Keller spoke two years ago about the importance of being in the city. It’s where the best and the brightest hang out, it’s also where ideas start and spread. It was a compelling talk and at the time gave me a sense of discontent for my safe and isolated home in the suburbs. The cities theme continued this year (perhaps because we were in Chicago?). Only this time, I saw something new–the importance of the concept of city in the Bible. Jerusalem is a city and both physically and metaphorically is at the center of so many biblical ideas. Perhaps Tim is right? More than just a cultural phenomena perhaps there should be more study of the spiritual significance of cities.

Takeaway: My discontent in the ‘burbs grows…but now with a biblical basis for that discontent.

9) Gospel – What is the gospel? And how has the meaning of that word changed over time? We’ve added so many things to it that many of us don’t know what it is. Several people touched on this idea and the importance of stripping away added meaning to words that are important to our faith.

Takeaway: I’ve always tried to strip away the Christianese when writing for mainstream audiences. But now I recognize that even among Christians we don’t always agree with what we’re talking about.

10) “If you encounter the grace of God, you will take care of the poor.” – God’s been working this theme in and through me since last fall.

Takeaway: I am headed to Kenya this summer to learn more about poverty and the grace of God.

11) “What’s your story?” “Can I join your story?” “Can we retell your story?” – Sajan George used this as a way to frame his ideas of educational reform. I found that these questions also worked with Mike Foster’s People of the Second Chance and Jo Saxton’s “Would you come find me?” as well as personal conversations I had with individuals whose stories are being rewritten. In networking meetings where collaboration means joining and rewriting stories this was a particularly apt way to explain it because we can’t join stories or co-labor until we know each others stories.

Takeaway: This is a beautiful model for co/laboration.

12) Co/laboration - This theme was preached from the first pre-Q meet-up to the final presentation. To quote another attendee, “this message sends lighting through my veins.” I love to collaborate and I’m always looking for ways to do more of it and do it better. Considering number nine above, one of the things I’ve always liked about collaboration is that working together helps me to get to know someone at a deeper level than almost anything else.

Takeaway: Collaboration can be messy but the outcome is always better than doing it alone.

Did you respond to any of these takeaways? Or, if you were at Q, what takeaways did you come home with?

Let’s keep the conversation going,

~Jennifer

I just got back from attending Q in Chicago. I have a lot of work to catch up on and my plan was to dive in as soon as I got home. However, after spending the night thinking about the people and ideas I was presented with at Q, I think it’s important for me to spend a few minutes summarizing some of the things I was exposed to. I’d love to continue the conversation, so if something I write here interests you, leave a comment or drop me an email so we can start our own conversation.

The Content

Q is a uniquely designed to foster interaction and participation while you’re at the conference, and with strong accountability for post-conference engagement. In other words, you can’t sit back and drink this stuff in. You’re presented with challenging assertions and speakers who have conflicting ideas. Sometimes the debate is even played out on stage. Usually, there is no right answer. The material presented often appears for the first time anywhere at Q as the speakers are encouraged to present material they’re still working on and haven’t yet talked about publicly.  Q is designed to get you to think and interact with people and ideas, rather than leave with a four-point plan for implementation. Some have described it as a Christian version of TED.

The Presenters

Presenters or presentations that stood out for me this year include:

Sajan George | Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal – He is a former turnaround specialist who now applies his skills to struggling public school systems. He has restructured some of the largest urbabn K-12 and higher education systems in the country. At Q, he presented his model for the future of education. What fascinated me was that it was based on a biblical model for renewal and regeneration. He uses the Christian concept of all people being created equal and uniquely endowed with certain gifts and talents from the creator as the basis of his plan. If he can transform education, he transforms kids’ lives forever, as well as their families and then their communities. This is the first practical and widespread example of biblical renewal that I’ve seen that holds potential for all of our communities. And can I just say, Sajan is truly brilliant. This guy could read phone book and we’d all be more intelligent from his analysis of it.

Jo Saxton | Leadership Coach and Consultant and Mike Foster | Founder, Ethur encouraged us to pursue the prodigals. Leave the church and go find the forgotten, those in need of radical grace, and those who are disenfranchised by our systems and culture. The message that resonated with me was the “go” part. It’s messy work, but if we don’t go, who will?

Alister McGrath | Theologian and Author also holds doctorate degrees in the fields of molecular biophysics and theology. He encouraged us to seek out the scientists in our church and bring them together. I envison mini-Q’s in our local churches where a pastor brings together medical and science professionals in the church and helps them to start a dialogue that reconciles their faith to their work. How many more scientists would be involved in your church if you did that?

Charles Lee | Ideation Strategist, Networker and Compassionary This guy is simply amazing. He is everywhere doing everything from pastoring a church, to ideation consulting, to social justice leadership. When Charles speaks, I listen. He is a deep and multi-layered source of wisdom. I feel humbled to call him a friend. Follow him online.

Phyllis Tickle | Author and Editor I’d never met her before, but I won’t forget her now. She gave us a much needed reminder about the rhythms of life and how the ancient Christians lived out those rhythms through. By following their example, we can connect horizontally with all those who’ve practiced Christianity, as well as vertically with Christians across the globe who practice these rhythms now. She painted some beautiful images of transcendence in her presentation.

Mark Regnerus | Sociology, University of Texas Presented a very informative case for why early marriage is a good thing. As a sociologist, he studies relationship formation among 18-30 year olds. In his talk, he described sex as a marketplace with transactions. Very useful and novel way to think about, describe, and quantify what is happening in our culture. As the mother of a fifteen year old boy, there is more for me to explore here. I ordered his book.

In the past, there has always been at least one speaker who fundamentally changed the way I thought about a subject. I have to say this year that didn’t happen. It was more a continuation of themes and ideas from past years. Q wasn’t quite as edgy as it felt in the past. Controversial issues were politely nodded to rather than explored fully. Every speaker had something worth hearing, for me the bigger question was which ones was I willing to fully engage with?

But what didn’t happen on stage, certainly happened in the space. I felt like some of the most interesting conversations were private ones. I loved watching other people wrestle with the ideas presented and struggle with how to put them into a context where they could do something about them.

As always, I invite your conversation! Leave a comment below and let me know and let me know what you want to know more about. Especially if you attended, what conversation would you like to see continue?

~Jennifer

TheCommon.org – In Book Form

~Jennifer

I wish I could write an unbiased review of this book, but I can’t.

Matthew Paul Turner is one of my best friends and a gifted writer and I only have glowing things to say about his newest release. In his last book, Churched, I think he found his voice, in his new book, Hear No Evil, I think he perfects it. Released last Tuesday, he already has readers talking, laughing, and creating playlists. Hear No Evil is his best work yet. (Yes, I know I said that about his last book, but he just keeps getting better as a writer and storyteller.)

Matthew grew up in a fundamentalist church filled with some crazy characters and he wrote about many of them in Churched. In Hear No Evil, the story continues as Matthew heads off to college–Belmont, in Nashville, TN–to become the Michael Jackson of Christian music. Yes, that really was his college plan. Fortunately, things turned out differently and now he writes full-time.

If you have more than a casual conversation with Matthew, he will tell you that he’s spent most of his life trying to overcome his fears. But you can’t tell that from his writing. He writes fearlessly of his past. I know many people (me included) who laugh out loud when they read some of the things Matthew encountered on his journey from extremely sheltered life to, well, conservatively sheltered life.

But when I read Matthew’s take on his childhood, I mostly just want to hug him for being brave enough to write about it and to do so in a way that is both gentle in his treatment of others and raw in honesty.

If you love Christian music or hate it, if you ever felt like living in the Christian bubble is a good idea for your family, or if you want to see why it takes Matthew two pages in his book to acknowledge me, you need to get a copy and read it.

Download the first chapter here.

Buy it from Amazon here.

After you’ve read it, come back and leave me a comment telling me your thoughts.

~Jennifer

Case in point, the Duke vs. Bucknell Lacrosse game I attended last Saturday.

I didn’t understand the rules of Lacrosse. I didn’t know anyone affiliated with either team, and frankly, most of the time I couldn’t even tell where the ball was.  If I looked through my lens, I could see it, but I still didn’t know what I was seeing.

Was it because of my vantage point high up in the stands?

Whose ball is it? And why does it look like six players from two different teams are all going after the Duke guy?

Or this….

I know this is called a “face-off” and I know the goal is for each player to pass the ball to his teammates, but the guy in the white shorts seems to work in opposition to that goal. He blows the whistle. A lot. Sometimes that causes the play to stop, and sometimes the players just ignore him and keep going. It’s all quite confusing. I don’t understand and I get bored.

So  I’ve learned to create a new sport of my own. I bring a camera and my goal is to capture players and their balls in mid-air. The better the action shot, the more points I get. Here’s my favorite sequence from the Duke Bucknell game:

I think in this case Bucknell scored. I can see the ball inside the net, which means I scored, too.

But I wonder, would I care more about what was happening on the field if I actually had some skin on it rather than sitting safely in the stands?  If I had been playing or my son had been playing I probably would have engaged more in the game, learned the rules, and perhaps even cheered.

Sometimes life is like a sporting event we don’t understand. We stay on the sidelines and give ourselves points for watching someone else toss the ball around. And I think that’s fine, for a time. You have to learn the rules, understand the goals, and figure out which strategies work.

But you can’t stay in the stands forever. If you’re sitting on the bleachers, looking through a lens at life, you may score points in your head, but they don’t end up on the scoreboard.

Put your camera down and get down to the field.

Yes, you may get hit by a ball,

or hit by the opposing team,

and maybe even knocked out of the game;

but at least your points will count.

And that could be a game changer.

What situations are you content to look at life through a lens keeping a safe distance between you and the real action? What would it take to get you into the game? And how would your life change if you were a part of the action?

I’m betting I’d never be bored again.

~Jennifer

]]> http://wordstothinkabout.com/picture-taking-as-a-life-sport/feed/ 0 http://wordstothinkabout.com/you-dont-see-this-very-often/ http://wordstothinkabout.com/you-dont-see-this-very-often/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:37:12 +0000 Jennifer http://wordstothinkabout.com/?p=1573 I wanted to share some pictures with the light of day. The snow was melting so fast, it was coming off the trees in clumps–as if the trees were throwing snowballs.

The snow is beautiful in Atlanta. It even covers the potholes in the street.

I can’t remember the last time we had snow on the ground the day after it snowed.

I am headed to Colorado for the week to begin work on a new project. I know the snow will be gone when I return, but perhaps after spending a week in Colorado’s snow, I won’t miss it quite so much.

How much snow is the right amount for you?

~Jennifer

Snow doesn’t come often to Georgia, but we enjoy it when it does. Here are some pictures I took tonight…

Every state except Hawaii has snow on the ground today.  I think I heard it’s covering 80% of the United States. Do you have snow pictures? Post a link to yours in the comments below.

~Jennifer

While being interviewed by George Stephanopoulos she is thrown an incredible marketing challenge–George refuses to say the title of her book and won’t allow her to say it either.

As authors, we’re all faced with marketing trials. We don’t have the time, money, or marketing experience to do what we want to do. Our publisher didn’t support us in the way we thought they should have. Media isn’t interested. The reviews on Amazon aren’t good. There’s always an exscuse.

But if you watch this interview, I think you will see why this woman sells so many books. She doesn’t let anything become an obstacle, even the fact that she can’t say the title.

I really enjoyed watching her in this interview and I learned a couple of things that I can apply to my own marketing efforts.

1) Jackie is confident and proud of her work and it shows. No excuses. No apologies.

2) I think she gets this confidence from knowing who her audience is and why they like what she writes. And she continues to deliver new books into that sweet spot.

3) Her entire interview is aimed at her fan base. She doesn’t dwell on tangents, she keeps hitting on the things that she and her books are about. At the same time, she subconsciously draws in new readers and demographics. Listen to her talk about the next generation of readers who are now interested in her books. If you were in that generation and hadn’t read one of her books you’d want to pick one up and Jackie knows if you read one, you’ll buy more.

4) Throughout the interview she continues to pitch not only her new book, but also past books, and ancillary products like movies. This could become annoying. In fact, George (hard hitting interviewer that he is) calls her out on it. But she does it in such a way that it isn’t offensive. She uses her relational skills to charm George who eventually blushes and laughs every time she does it.

While we all have marketing challenges, for most of us, not being able to say the title of the book isn’t one of them. I’m not going to tell you the name of the book. You can find it yourself online if you’re interested. But I do hope you’ll watch the interview and learn from her masterful marketing and media skills and find ways to apply her best practices to your own obstacles.

What’s the most difficult book marketing challenge you’ve faced and how did you overcome it?

~Jennifer

Watching the Daraja Choir sing, I was captivated by their little faces. Their dark skin glistened as if the stage lights dusted them with glitter. Deep brown eyes shined from the inside, as if that’s where the light came from rather than reflected off of. With each synchronized movement, joy radiated out of every muscle–from the fingers as they swung their arms in time to the music, to their toes stepping out the rhythm. These kids oozed delight in what they were doing. I’ve seen joy before, but it has usually been momentary and unsustainable for long, but these kids had this inexplicable effervescence that kept me spellbound. What was it? And how could I get some of it?

I’ve directed enough musicals with kids to know when they’re performing and when they’re actually enjoying it. The best, of the best, of child performers can appear to enjoy a rehearsal but mostly they’re just really good at acting like they do–their authentic joy comes in a performance. Usually the first performance, occasionally the last, rarely in th the middle of the second week. Believe me a Wednesday night crowd rarely feeds an actors energy.

But even child actors who are there because they have to be, those who don’t enjoy the process or the performance, event they find a moment or two on stage where they enjoy themselves. When it happens, they  can’t hide it. You see it cross their face right after the audience laughs at their joke or when they finally nail that tricky dance step.

None of this was what I was observing in these Kenyan kids. They sang and danced their hearts out as if it was the first time and last time they’d ever do it in front of a live audience. (It was actually their 80th-something performance.) In fact, the audience response didn’t seem to pump up their performance. They were already at a peak energy level and even the crowd’s enthusiasm couldn’t take it any higher.

As I watched Eddy, Kevin, and Moses, the boys who were staying with me, I tried to understand what was happening. We’d only been together for a half a day or so, but I’d already learned a lot about  their personalities and had been a student of their expressions. I thought perhaps by understanding what they were feeling, I could make sense of, or somehow explain the joy I saw onstage.

Eddy was sick so he was mostly quiet and his most frequent expression while he was with us seemed to be the glazed eyes of one who was running a fever and the clenched lips of one whose throat hurt to swallow.

Kevin’s expression at my house varied from a blank slate to a smile that made everyone who saw it involuntarily stretch their own lips in reciprocation.

Moses was the moodiest of the three. His expressions ranged from scrunched up and crying features when he hurt his lip (in a skateboarding accident) to wide-eyed excitement when something intrigued him.

But as I sat in that cushioned chair watching the boys sing and dance I realized that none of these expressions were on their face now. Instead, it was as if their faces were transformed by the very act of singing and dancing. What is going on? I asked myself. Surely they couldn’t have been taught to fake it this well.

Then I remembered the previous night’s dinner. As the boys sat around the table, I tried to make conversation by asking questions.

“Of all the places you’ve performed, which was your favorite?” I asked.

Kevin and Eddy quickly agreed, “BigStuf.”

Of course. BigStuf is an incredible camp for youth held on the beach in some popular Florida destinations–Panama City and Daytona Beach. Jordan had attended for two years and couldn’t wait to return.

“Charlotte,” Moses answered.

“Charlotte?” I asked. I couldn’t possibly imagine what a kid would enjoy about singing in Charlotte.

In his Kenyan accent Moses spoke slowly, clearly articulating each word.  ”I liked it because the pea-pull at the church screamed and clapped.”

“Ohhh,” I said knowingly. “You like it when people scream and clap for you.”

He quickly corrected me, “Not for us. For Gawd.”

I wasn’t sure what to say.  I could feel my cheeks growing hotter. I had assumed it was the attention that he was responding to and I was embarrassed that it hadn’t even crossed my mind  he would like the church’s response for any other reason.

Here’s a kid who lives in a third-world country, who daily experiences a life of poverty that not only will I never experience, I will likely never even comprehend. When he is put on a stage and people respond with enthusiasm for his performance, it doesn’t even occur to him that the accolades may be directed at him. Instead, he interprets it all as a response to worship–their response in his mind could only be directed toward God.

As I focused on Moses on stage his eyes caught mine and he smiled a little bigger as if he knew what I was thinking. And that’s when I understood.

What I was seeing on stage wasn’t a performance, it was an act of worship.

When has a church worship band had the kind of joy and humility in worshipping that these kids did? What would our worship be like if all of us could go where these Kenyans went when they praised God? And when is the last time I worshipped with such joy–using my body, mind, and voice with such abandon that the only thing left on my face was a glittering reflection of God’s light?

As the song ended and I heard the applause around me, I realized that what I had witnessed on the faces of these children was the same thing the people saw on Moses’ face as he came down from the mountain. When you’re in the presence of the Almighty, your face changes and it reflects a joy not found anywhere else on earth. That’s why these kids looked the way they did, they were in the presence of the source of that Joy. They were worshipping with their entire being.

Hearing the applause around me, I wanted to jump up and scream for Moses, for the choir, and especially for the Gawd who had sent them to us. But I was afraid of what people would think.

I didn’t jump up. I stayed seated and politely applauded. And once again, the blood warmed my cheeks–not from the radiance of seeing God–from the shame, because now I knew better and still I did nothing about it.

Have you ever had a chance to worship in a way that was out of your comfort zone? Did you take the opportunity or let it pass you by?

And what would you do the next time that opportunity comes up?

~Jennifer