Philosophy + Implementation + Review = doing what we say we do

We’re talking about ministry, though I think these ideas could be applied to any non-profit organization. This is what I use as a grid for “doing” ministry. It works pretty well and holds me accountable in a very simple but firm way.

Philosophy: That which decides what’s important. This could also be described as Theology, since whatever God deems important so should we.

Implementation: Putting hands and feet on your philosophy. Implementation is subservient to philosophy.

Review: Carefully checking to see if what you’ve implemented supports your philosophy.

Philosophy + Implementation + Review = doing what we say we do

If your mission statement says “We make fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ”, then that’s your philosophy. Everyone agrees on this, gets behind it, says that it’s doctrinally sound. This is a very difficult thing to implement — to put into place. This is where the how hounds. How do we make fully devoted followers of Jesus? It is philosophically great but if it doesn’t have arms and legs, it’s dead.

Usually we take what we’re already doing and dub it as something we do for mission. But if these things were birthed from different philosophies, then how can it possibly be subservient to a new philosophy? When it comes to review time, we get really frustrated because it’s just not working. The review stage is meant to reveal cracks in implementation first, trusting that your philosophy is pretty solid. But what typically happens is a change in philosophy (or the wording of philosophy) which is quite exciting because it’s new but will prove useless because it’s just a stirred pot of the same stew.

We establish a philosophy. Why not use what’s already laid out in Scripture — the Great Commandment and Great Commission — and make it your driving philosophy? Then, in a different and subservient category, lay out the implementation. If Matthew 28 is your philosophy, then the book of Acts (etc) is a great example of Implementation. Sure, you see some development of the church along the way, but only after implementation and review. Why is Paul cleaning the clocks of the Corinthian church? Review after implementation. He’s saying “you missed it here, friends”. This is where things get off the paper. You’ve already got things on a piece of paper in your philosophy. After you’ve implemented, it’s time to let it hum its way to the first review. Are we fulfilling our philosophy? No? Then check what you’ve implemented… NOT your philosophy. Implementation is flexible; philosophies are sturdy and require little tuning. We usually flip the treatment of these around and start tinkering with sub-points of philosophy, all the while as we keep doing what we’ve always done in terms of implementation.

Implementation keeps you geared to the times. Philosophy keeps you anchored to something solid that is untouched by trend. Review keeps you introspective and honest about the state of your organization.

Why do we hesitate to toy with implementation? It’s a lot tougher and makes much bigger waves. Philosophical shifts tend to upset philosophical people. The other 95% see it as a blur because they learn your philosophy by what your ministry does — not says. Establishing a philosophy is like playing with a train set. Implementation is like playing with life size trains. Which is more dangerous? Which makes a bigger impact?

And THIS, my friends, is why we need courageous leadership that is willing to step out and implement and review a philosophy. It is much easier said than done.

RadHow

RadHow is now online! RadHow is a place to find out how to do simple things in this complex world. It is a sidecar blog, in that I will take it even less seriously than RadBlog.

Kazoo

My friend and intern pal brought me a Kazoo from a certain coffee place that tends to use a single letter in their signage.  It’s a large letter B, or, simply, a “Big B” if you will.  Anyway, they’re handing out kazoos to their employees for some reason — or maybe it’s customers, I don’t know. And now I have an official coffee kazoo that tells us to “B happy”. And I am, because these things are better than your typical dollar store fare but not quite as nice as what you’d get here. Kazoos are fun and friendly to the environment. They also make great gifts for the people you love. Last but certainly not least is the music, which will go as far as your humming and breathing abilities will take you. It’s the poor man’s recorder. And I don’t mean reel to reel.
This thinking about kazoos led me to start thinking about how to hook one up to a guitar amp, since kazoos on their own just aren’t distorted enough for my taste. Lo and behold:

You can read about how to electrify a kazoo here.

Dealerships

I’m sitting at the Ford dealership in Chelsea, MI. We ended up buying a Ford Expedition 30 miles from our home for a variety of reasons, including the fact that they had what we wanted for the right price.  Plus, being outside of bubble county did seem to bring some benefits, including a bit of anonymity.  There are a few times where it’s more difficult to be a Pastor and for people to KNOW what you do for a living, and buying a car is one of those times because no one wants to pay sticker price, even Pastors.  Yet for church leaders — men of the cloth — to haggle, well,  just seems unfitting.  We always preach Christ, and this call is especially vital for Pastors.  But it’s strange to say “Jesus Loves You” as well as “You must throw in floor mats for free”. To some, this may sound like “Jesus wants you to throw in floor mats for free, and to feel guilty for not throwing in free mugs for the kids”.  This is the conflict of spiritual leadership — a call to be different while  sharing the day to day functions of life with everyone else.  I’m a human being that does human things and yet I am called to serve other humans by doing godly things.  This is the bizarre dichotomy of ministry.  It also makes the whole Priest thing look pretty good sometimes.  You don’t have to worry about making an offer on a house — you live in the basement of the church.  You don’t have to worry about marital issues — you’re not married.  And you don’t have to haggle the price of a car because one is already provided.  Sure, its the 15-passenger Parish van, and everyone in the grocery store parking lot knows that you’re Father so and so from Sacred Heart, which stops you from swearing out loud  when a shopping cart hits the right side of the van, where you have the mural of the virgin mary waving, waving at other drivers on the road and the population in general.  I’d rather get my van mural touched up than have to ever buy a car again.
And here I sit, at Palmer Ford in Chelsea, waiting for them to do two things.  First, to change the oil.  That’s just basic maintenance that is given to me for  the low low price of $9.95 (plus 30 bucks in gas).  The second thing to be done today is to check a “knock” sound in the engine that shows up whenever you start it.  I’d love to think “oh, that’s what them trucks do- they knock” but I fear it may be slightly worse.  And the dealer is the first one to make it right, since the truck is still under its used car warranty.  Chances are good that, in their eyes, everything is fine and will be fine until approximately 15 seconds after the warranty wears out.
Oh, to be driving a Catholic van right now.

Indianapolis

 Emily and I spent an afternoon walking around Indianapolis last week.  I gotta tell ‘ya — we had a grand ol’ time.

Indianapolis is between Detroit and Chicago –

• In size
• In mass transit
• In geography
• In having places to walk before concern for personal safety grows

How great is it, though that they turned the old union station into a hotel? Pretty great. And how cool is it that they have a 4 story mall downtown with up to 17 Starbucks (on every floor)? Very cool. They even turned an old bank into a Border’s books. Mmm… finance books for sale in a former financial institution. Delightful.
It was the first time we’ve been in downtown “Indy”. That’s what they call it there, though you could never call Detroit “Detty” or Jackson “Jackie”. D-town and Jack-tucky are more common. Indy-tucky or “I-town” doesn’t work for me, either. Just as I live in Spring Arbor, frequently mistaken as Spring Harbor. Like we do shipping here, or that Lime Lake has a harbor.
I love sweet downtowns. Just as the song says:

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city,
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose? The lights are much brighter there…
You can forget all your troubles; forget all your cares, and go
Downtown — things will be great when you’re
Downtown — you’ll find a place for sure
Downtown — everything’s waiting for you

Downtown

Let’s pray…