Why I’m Still in School
Wednesday mornings this school year I’ll be in class finishing up my MA in Ministry Leadership. I’m not sure I’m the oldest student in class but, if I’m not, I’m certainly near the end of the age curve.
Which is no big deal, but it has caused me to think…
Or when I’m doing homework – reading many pages of theology or writing papers – instead of let’s say, steelhead fishing or working on house projects, I’ve thought more than once….
Why am I doing this?
But it doesn’t take long to fill in the blanks, because I’ve always known the answer.
It’s simply because I love to learn. It’s one of my personal core values.
That’s why I read what I read, it’s also why I’m occasionally taking up new hobbies and it’s why I’ve committed myself to finishing this portion of my education.
I believe learning’s a lifelong pursuit because God and the people and the world He’s created are His gifts to us and the best way to appreciate these gifts (and Him) is to continually learn more about them.
Also, truth be told, I’m a bit afraid of growing stale. I’ve convinced myself that if I continue to pursue learning I can stop the cobwebs from gathering and keep my mind and spirit young even as my body grows old.
Then there’s the stewardship God’s given me here at SpringHill. One of our core values is “we’re a learning and mission-driven organization”. So if this value’s to be a part of the fabric of SpringHill it needs to start with me. We can only be “a learning organization” when I’m “a learning leader”.
So why am I still sitting in a classroom? Well, for all the reasons above and, simply, I just can’t help myself.
9/11 – I Remember Where I was when…
Historic moments burn deep images into the hearts and minds of a generation that witnesses them. That’s why anyone alive when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor or lived through the assassination of President Kennedy remembers exactly where they were when they heard the news.
It’s why a new generation will never forget where they were when harrowing news arrived on September 11, 2001.
I remember where I was when I heard the news of the first plane crashing into the north tower of the World Trade Center. I was sitting at breakfast at a small diner in Midland, MI with a small team of SpringHill staff and volunteers. We were doing our last run through of a presentation for a significant grant we were seeking from a major foundation.
Because I’d been in my role as SpringHill’s President for only 90 days and with this grant on the line I became focused on the task before us. During our discussion one of our teammates received a phone call from his wife saying a plane had just flown into one of the World Trade Center towers.
Frankly, I quickly shrugged it off as a horrible accident and continued leading our team in the preparations for this important presentation.
But then we got the second phone call about the second plane that crashed into the second tower I knew that something significantly more important than our presentation just happened.
In the midst of this unfolding news we made our presentation to the foundation and received one the largest grants in SpringHill’s history.
But truth be told, I will always remember where I was on September 11, 2001, not because of the incredible grant we received, but because of the images of this historic, life altering event, which are now burned into my heart and mind – forever.
The Underappreciated Work of Making Vision a Reality
We’re enamored with strategic thinking and vision casting. Most leaders want to be seen as strategic and visionary thinkers who cruise around at 30,000 feet. We value this skill set so much that we make heroes out of these same leaders.
But I’m convinced that being just a visionary leader isn’t nearly enough. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not minimizing the importance of these skills – creating strategy and vision need to be a part of any leaders work. Too often, though, leaders spend too much energy on vision and strategy and too little energy on tactics and execution.
We often look down on tactical work and the execution of strategy because we misread people like Steve Jobs and credit Apple’s success to his vision and strategic thinking.
But if you’ve read any of the 100’s of recent articles and blogs about Jobs after the announcement of his retirement as CEO you see a different picture. What you find is a leader who spent much of his time in the “trenches” working on the details of new products – in other words doing the tactical work. This is what made Jobs truly visionary. It was his willingness to do the hard, everyday work required to assure that his vision and strategy succeeded.
So as a leader my goal’s to spend only a small percentage of my time on vision while spending most of my time working side by side with our staff, board, supporters and volunteers in the hard work of making our vision reality. Because at the end of my time at SpringHill, if anything’s written about me, I want it to be said, not that I was just a visionary, but that I led an organization that turned its vision into a world transforming reality.
Be Careful What You Say About Yourself
“The whale that spouts first gets harpooned first” was one of the first things I learned in 1984 as I started in the management training program at Steelcase, Inc. A quote attributed to its then CEO and chairman, Bob Pew.
The message was clear – we shouldn’t talk about how good we are as a company. We just needed to demonstrate it through our superior products, service and value. The need to “spout” indicated more serious issues, issues that would eventually lead to being “harpooned”.
Being understated was a strong value of Steelcase’s and it permeated the entire company’s culture. It’s a value that continues to influence my career and as a result influences SpringHill.
It’s so integrated into my own values that I hadn’t thought much about the quote until one day, late in July, I drove by this sports bar in a small town near Marion, Indiana.
The sign on the side of the building read “Best Damn Sportsbar Period”.
As I went by the front of the bar I said to myself “it doesn’t look like the best one – period” and then noticed the “for sale” sign in the window which confirmed my assessment of the place.
The owners surely hadn’t gone through Steelcase’s management training program. Because if they had, they’d had known not to spend money spouting off on signs. But instead they would have invested that money and energy into the service and experience they provided their customers with the result being that they wouldn’t have needed that final sign I saw in the window.
On Having the Best Summer Yet
Dave and one of his two fish he caught It has taken five summers for Dave Lynema, our Michigan Food Service Director, and I to find a day to do some fishing together. But we finally accomplished our goal this past week. I’ve looked forward to fishing with Dave because he’s an excellent fisherman and I appreciate him as a person and as a friend.
Because it turned out to be a slow fishing day we ended up talking “shop” while trying to figure out what we needed to do to catch some fish. At one point I asked Dave, “How did your summer go?”
He replied (as I heard a number of times in the past couple of weeks), “It was the best summer I’ve had at SpringHill.”
Of course I couldn’t let it go at that so I asked, “What made it your best summer?”
Dave provided two reasons that I could have anticipated, if I had only taken time to think about it.
First he said, “We did a better job in our pre-summer planning.” Then he explained, “We also had great people working on the food service team.”
Good planning, preparation and great people working together as a team? Not necessarily a “high level strategy”. But as in any great day of fishing, it’s an absolutely necessary formula for a team, or a leader, who wants to have their “best summer” ever.
I didn't catch a fish but it didn't matter because of good conversation and this sunrise What’s been the “formula” for your best work experience yet?
Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship
“God has used this book and Bonhoeffer to show what my life needs to be as a disciple of Christ. As a result of God’s call through this book I am committed to obey and follow (adhere to) Christ with single-eyed focus. I will obey before I worry about faith. I will do this in context of the visible believing community – which is Christ’s Body. I want the costly grace and not the cheap grace and I pray that God will call me to Him and I will follow. Michael Perry 11-21-1991”
As part of a seminary class I’m taking we’re reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship.
So I went to my bookcase to find the copy I read back in 1991 and as I opened it I discovered the above note I had written on the back cover.
The note reminded me of the impact this book had on me twenty years ago. As I have had the chance to re-read it I realized it continues to have a significant influence not just on my thinking and philosophy of ministry but more importantly on how I live.
Here are a couple of the questions I wrestled with after reading The Cost of Discipleship twenty years ago and am again challenged with as I re-read it.
First, Bonhoeffer’s concept of “costly Grace” verses “cheap grace” raises an important question that is relevant for us today. How do we share the Gospel with people without gutting it of the difficult parts? How do we tell the good news that we can’t earn our salvation and yet, to be a follower of Christ, will cost us a lot – maybe everything?
The second question is how do we assure we do not fall into the trap of believing that being a Christian is just simply making a decision (or multiple decisions) in a single moment in time instead of accepting that being a Christian means following Christ in every moment of time?
Both of these questions are as relevant (or more relevant) today than in the days Bonhoeffer wrote The Cost of Discipleship.
So if you are looking for a challenging, thought-provoking book about what it means to be a follower of Christ this classic maybe just the book. It’s not perfect but it will have you asking yourself questions like the ones I dealt with above.
