It is said that Beethoven at one point stopped writing for his generation, for many ignored, criticized or simply did not understand his music and what he was trying to do. He never stopped writing, however, but just wrote for the future and not his contemporaries. That is in some sense what I feel I am doing, especially with my latest series on Changing the Way We Do Church. Most of the church doesn't get what I am writing, or if they do, it has had very little effect as far as I can tell. I am not whining, and I am open to the fact that maybe what I have to say isn't that good or relevant. Or perhaps it is for another time.
Therefore, I am interrupting my seven-part series with one part left to go. I was bored with it, and perhaps you were too. But what I am in tune with this is a question my colleague posed in our staff devotions this week, and the phrase or question he asked is: What Makes You Tick? Having just finished teaching a graduate class on motivation, this was hot on my mind when he posed it this week. During the devotions, I wrote an answer to his question in my iPhone and sent it to myself. Here is what I wrote about what makes me tick:
- Leadership development
- Teaching/Seminars/Speaking
- Writing
- Broadcasting and Publishing
- Coaching - making room for others to do their thing
- Travel to anywhere
- Airports
- Africa
- Diversity involvement - working with people who don't look like me
- Doing new things and creating order from their chaos
- Reading/Study/Learning
- Live events like plays and baseball games
- Colors - For example, I carry two bright orange pens with me everywhere I go
I am not saying that is an exhaustive list, but I wrote those things out in about five minutes. I then turned to two of my colleagues and asked, "What makes you tick?" Neither one had a very good answer if they had an answer at all. So this week, I will ask you: What Makes You Tick? Take five minutes and write down all the answers you can think of. Then carry that list with you for the next week and add to it as you confront something else that makes you tick.
The answers to that question are critical, for you will end up doing what makes others tick if you don't face what motivates you. Once you have the list, don't do anything with it just yet. Simply study it and make sure it's complete. Then I will be back next week to take the next steps from that list. Have a great week!
********************
RADIO: Did you know I have three weekly radio shows? One is Ministry Beat and it is heard online every Tuesday at 4 PM. You can access the show on our church Internet radio site (I have taken four weeks off, but the 100 shows I have done are archived at that site.). Then there is a new Internet show on Fridays at 4 PM called Leadership Talk. I have only done two shows but you can listen live or to the archived shows at that site. Then finally I do a live Saturday morning show here in Pittsburgh called Wake Up To Purpose on WPIT 730AM at 8 AM. You can listen live or via the station's mobile app. I then archive all the WPIT shows on my own website in the archives. I just thought you may want to know.
KENYA: I posted an update from Kenya plus announced a fundraising campaign by one of our team members to raise support for secondary education. You can read about them on my blog.
LEADERSHIP CLASS: I am teaching a history of leadership class this fall every Friday night starting August 30 from 6 to 9. It is a college class, but you can sit in on the class for a mere $200. Let me know if you are interested and I will get you signed up.
Comments