Terry Linhart's Blog, page 17

Leadership Lessons from Cooking

If I invited you over to the house so I could cook for you, I would do that. I’d cook. It wouldn’t be much and I’d probably choose to use the charcoal grill. I do have a mean ribs recipe and I’ve been known to bake coffee cake that people think really good.  For the sake of this analogy, let’s say we will grill up some hamburgers.  If I did that, you could say, “Terry cooked.”

However, if Kelly (my wife) took over and put together the food, you’d have a much better experience.  It would taste better.  To say “Kelly cooked” would mean something different from “Terry cooked.”  Both describe the same experience.  One is much better. Way better.

Everyone can cook. Some can cook for many years and say they are experienced.  Even a “veteran” cook.  However, some just cook better.  Their food tastes and looks better. They not only have the experience of cooking, but there’s something different about what they do and produce.  One of the reasons is seasoning – both in the food and in the cook.

Good cooks have learned how to create food that is amazing … and good cooks have learned.  They don’t just have the experience. That experience has mattered.  Which brings up this principle:

Seasoning is more important than experience.

Anyone can have experience, but it doesn’t mean they’ve learned from it. This is true in most fields of work.  Some coaches just coach better. Some leaders just lead better. Some teachers teach better. What often creates the separation is that they’re seasoned. 

What does seasoning look like?

Seasons = transitions. Those who are seasoned have experienced the up’s/down’s and twists/turns and learned from them. The word season suggests that one has seen the changes of time. I love it when I interview someone for a job and it’s clear that, no matter what he/she will see from us, they’ve handled it before – and well.  Someone who’s parented teenagers until they’re out of the house will write a very different book about parenting than the one whose children are still in their early teens.  They’ve seen the range of seasons.  Knowledge plus experience does not equal seasoning. Seasoning requires wisdom and teachability.
Seasoning = A depth of taste.   We could travel to a nearby Starbucks and order a tea chai latte. It’s good, but it’s basically a few ingredients mixed together and a bunch of sweetener.  If we drove a little farther and visited a Teavana store and smelled their Samurai Chai Mate tea, your sense of smell would recognize the many ingredients that make up that excellent chai.  Seasoned leaders are no different. They possess an array of ingredients as to why they’re successful. They’re not performers, counselors, or dictators.  They give oversight and direction that provides a rich aroma to their work.  And there’s more to them than meets the eye at first glance.
Seasoning = Hospitality.  This train is one I see this often when I’m coaching leaders.  Seasoning denotes a level of hospitality just like a cook desires as she creates her best dishes.  Her goal is to have her guests could enjoy a meal with her.  For the cook, hosting is part of the meal.  Food wasn’t meant to be gulped on the way to a meeting, but good cooks want us to savor the experienced with family and/or friends – and come back for more.  Leadership is no different.  I can tell a leader’s seasoning level by watching how people react when he or she walks into the room. If the response is muted or cautious, that speaks loudly about the flavor of the group.  And of the hospitality of the leader.

We want to lead with such seasoned grace that people want to “come back” for more.

This week, you and I have a wide range of experiences ahead of us.  What if we consciously worked to let those “season” us, to teach us how to see the world in fresh ways, and to savor the diversity in people we encounter?  Let’s not just work to make it through another week, to chalk up another whatever,  but rather let us learn, be curious, develop wisdom, and develop character and practices that are richly seasoned.

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Leadership lessons from TV show hosts.

This week I feature a few posts on other “occupations” that help leaders see their work in fresh ways.  

I always thought I’d be a good game show host (Password seemed to be my favorite, though Press Your Luck was just so outrageous). I grew up in the 1970s, when game shows were common on television. The hosts of these shows were able to keep the interest in the game going while allowing B-list celebrities and contestants to have a good time. The hosts rarely panicked, keeping the game on time yet a lot of fun to watch.

The love for hosts didn’t stop there. I watched Dick Clark host American Bandstand, Ed Sullivan control and orchestrate his variety show (that most of America watched each week), and Phil Donahue elicit an audience into discussing a variety of topics. The host was the smooth person who kept the show moving gracefully while still being meaningful to the audience.

As game shows faded, talk shows multiplied and Barbara Walters and Oprah Winfrey developed reputations for hosting interesting and timely interviews. 24-hour news channels took over cable, accelerating news-worthy events into voyeuristic never-ending crises (see Seth Godin’s post that real time news “is neither”) and hosts became those who could make events more sensational, provide a single perspective to please an audience, and create either desperation or titillation in the audience.

The latest type of host is the reality show host.  From the first Survivor episode to The Amazing Race and then the home improvement shows on HGTV (and other networks), the hosts keep the “game” going while increasing tension to hold the audience in.  Most of these are quite scripted, but a few are more “live” than others, the most popular having been American Idol with Ryan Seacrest as its host.  A polarizing person, the fact remains that he is a tremendous host with a well-crafted skill set in making an audience feel welcome and keeping an event going.

Photo from: http://abclocal.go.com

One of my newest favorite hosts to watch is Rene Syler of Sweet Retreats on The Live Well Network.  It’s not a show I watch often, but Kelly had it on one evening and I watched Rene take a mildly interesting episode and make it fun to watch. Rene used to host the Early Show on CBS and she is fun to learn from because she is well-mic’ed (via Brian Troy), has a great voice and vocabulary, and demonstrates the positive energy needed in her face while on camera.

Leaders can learn a lot from watching hosts on television, especially those of us who work with youth. Each week a leader will have to use a set of skills that are very similar to those needed by hosts. Whether it’s a meeting, retreat, youth group, conference, interview, or even a worship service, learning how to host will help you lead better.

Hosts are not the focus of the event. Leaders can learn how to make their people the focus of their work versus their own success or position as the focus.  Billy Crystal, one of the best hosts of awards shows ever, had this advice for other hosts:  “Look like you really want to be there,” Crystal advised. “Really love the job and have fun. The moments you can shine, shine, and then get out of the way.”  Leadership is measured by the growth of their people, not in their own promotion.
Hosts demonstrate a positive spirit. No matter what’s happening on camera or on the set, hosts work to stay “smooth” and unruffled, taking the light-heated approach. Haven’t you ever seen a leader, a pastor, a youth worker, or teacher who looked like they didn’t want to be there?  Don’t let that be you, even if it’s the way you feel.  You’re stewarding (or hosting) the event/group/meeting you’re to lead and (point #1) it’s not about us.
Hosts keep things on schedule, without making that obvious.  This is where Ryan Seacrest is so good as a host.  He takes crazy events (American Idol, New Year’s Eve celebrations, game shows) with crazy people (insert name of almost any American Idol judge) and serves as the gel that holds all of the pointy personalities and quirky elements together.  Sounds a bit like youth ministry, doesn’t it?  The same skill set applies to good managers, pastors, and teachers … and even academic department chairs.
Hosts work (and practice!) to communicate clearly, verbally and nonverbally.  Ultimately, hosts communicate information, setup the next person/activity, and have to do so with clarity.  Sure, they usually have cue cards, but they have practiced and considered the transitions (see more in a forthcoming post), they think through what to say about each person/event, and they understand how people “hear” announcements and information.  And if you’ve ever seen a “bad” host in action, when these practices are absent, it’s glaring.
Hosts lead people to some conclusion.  I’ve recently been challenged by other professors to see my role as teacher as hospitality. We welcome people and then help them get somewhere.

For ministry leaders, this is worth some reflection. We’re about more than just communicating information, we focus on a community and then we lead them somewhere.  We foster cohesiveness in our groups, and then help each person pursue Christlikeness while fully participating in the group.

So, the next time you see someone hosting a TV program, big event, or dinner, become a student of their work.  Learn from their practice, and reflect on ways that each of us host others.  You’ll be surprised how often we do!  The skills of awareness, listening, drawing out conversation, and offering hospitality (all with a positive spirit) are skills that are hire-able, marketable, and life-giving.

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Leadership Lessons from Broadway

Leaders, especially those who work with youth, can always learn from watching those in other professions.  Most leaders see the obvious connection to the business world, but other professions can show us examples.  I have always taught my students that sometimes when we teach and lead, we function like a TV show host.  But, I also had an experience recently that caused me to reflect on ways that leaders can learn from those who want to perform on Broadway.

I settled into my balcony chair and scanned the program for Wicked, arguably the most popular staged musical in theater history.  As I looked through the cast members’ names, I recognized Hayley Podschun, the lead

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The Stages of Vitality: Surprising findings on youth ministry effectiveness [Video]

Why do some youth groups seem to be more successful than others?  What separates one youth group from another when it comes to making a difference in the lives of youth within a particular community?  What if you could discover the secret to that growth?

Dave Rahn and I may have stumbled on to some answers during our research.  A few years ago, we got to lead a team of researchers coast to coast looking for youth groups where a vibrant outreach ministry was the norm.  These youth groups were seeing more teens reach other teens for Christ that what was common.  The research from this project fueled the book Dave and I co-authored, Evangelism Remixed: Empowering Students for Courageous and Contagious Faith.

One of the interesting outcomes from the project was perhaps my favorite outcome from the project.  Dave and I talked about this recently on his back patio.

 

See more video interviews with Dave about Teaching the Bible and leading outreach efforts with youth.

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Systems in Youth Ministry – YS Roundtable with Jim Dekker

Jim Dekker is Associate Professor of Youth Ministry in the Center for Youth Ministry Studies and has been teaching there since 2002.  Jim is a dear friend and we share a love of the outdoors and of laughter.  He earned his B.Th in Pastoral Studies at Ontario Bible College (Tyndale College), his M.A. in Christian Education from Calvin Theological Seminary (Grand Rapids), and his Ph.D in Educational Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of numerous articles and book reviews and he enjoys camping, fishing, kayaking and sailing.

Jim’s expertise is in a wide array of topics that inform youth ministry. In this interview on the YS Roundtable, Jim tackles an under-discussed topic that silently confronts our ministries every day. When we can identify the systems in our community, locate others who can help us work within those systems, and then develop more effective strategies for youth ministry, we can see a higher level of effectiveness in our ministry.  But, hey, Jim talks about this much more eloquently, so I’ll leave it up to him:

 

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What happened to evangelism in youth ministry? [Video interview]

In part two of my interview with author, veteran youth worker, and now Youth for Christ Sr. VP Dave Rahn, I asked Dave about the state of evangelism within youth ministry.  Dave provides his keen insight how youth workers take some faithful and effective steps to establish an atmosphere for reaching out to others.

 

 

 

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Youth ministry is becoming more global – even in your community

I was recently asked to write an article on global youth ministry for The Youth Culture Report.  It will come out soon in sync with YCR’s support of The Youth Cartel‘s Open Paris gathering.   As I wrote, I started to smirk to myself that all youth workers will be doing global youth ministry someday. Certainly the global growth of well-organized and structured youth ministry around the world has been phenomenal.  But, now there are few places in the US where youth ministries aren’t confronting issues presented by global dynamics.

David Livermore and I provided a resource that can help youth workers recognize those community dynamics and take effective steps to grow their youth ministry and reach out to more students in the community. What Can We Do?: Practical Ways Your Youth Ministry Can Have a Global Conscience provides practical steps and ideas for youth workers to easily navigate their changing contexts.

Other global youth ministry developments.

Bethel College (where I teach) in South Bend, Indiana is a college with a youth ministry program that prepares and educates men and women who want to minister and lead in various contexts.  In addition to our historic ability to produce dynamic leaders for church contexts, we have course and students focused on urban and camping environments and nonprofit structures exists.  I am now super excited to announce that Bethel is developing a new focus on global youth ministry – for American and non-American students who attend or do not attend Bethel:

The most influential theological school in Scandinavia, Det teologiske Menighetsfakultet, (“MF” in Oslo, Norway) has selected Bethel College as its USA school for undergrad youth ministry students to attend for a semester abroad.  Norway is one of the global contexts where you ministry is exploding (in a good way) and their professors are looking for ways to help their students connect to the issues in global youth ministry.
Not only is Bethel receiving students interested in global youth work, but we’re sending out Bethel students to a wide range of contexts (Poland, northern Africa, Kenya, Amish areas, Pacific Islands, etc.). This Spring a group of Bethel students will pilot our new youth ministry semester abroad program in southern Africa.  And HERE’S THE COOL THING:  Students enrolled in youth ministry programs at most USA Christian colleges or universities can participate each Spring (for more information, click here).  Students would pay their normal tuition to their school, but could participate with the Bethel program (there would be a travel fee).

In the last five years in your community, where have you spotted new developments related to global dynamics?

 

 

 

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Car wrecks, broken bones, and flat tires

This past May, Kelly and I dropped our daughter off at Youth Works‘ east “ramp up” in the Philly area and then spent a lovely evening on the New Jersey boardwalk.  The trip home was going well until we came to a small downpour in the Cleveland area and the car next to us began hydroplaning.  We were in the middle lane, a semi to our right, and the swerving car to our left. The car swerved violently and hit my van behind my door, sending us spinning down the the toll road at 70 mph.

We slid toward the meridian, a concrete barrier thankfully off the road a bit, and I looked over to watch my wife and her side of the car heading for that concrete barrier.  Too fast.  We slammed into it in the front right and then spun around and hit hard in the back right. Kel’s head hit mine and then it was still.

Ten seconds is all it took.

21 hours of care-free driving until that moment. Lovely conversation. One car on the entire interstate system has a spin-out and it took place next to us.  One second earlier or one second later, one extra moment at the restroom hand dryer at the prior stop… and none of it would have happened to us.

But, why not us?  Why would we think we’re exempt from accidents?

Kel and I both “walked away” from the accident, so did the two folks who were in the car.  None of us should have. It was a high-speed accident involving a car, a van, and a semi. Our Town and Country van’s 5-star accident rating shown through. Well, truthfully Kelly went to the hospital on a backboard due to being bounced around and they wanted to be cautious. I went with her in the ambulance with a broken knuckle in my left hand (I didn’t let go of the steering wheel at impact), which still produces pain, the ongoing daily discomfort/”present” I get to keep from the incident.  Nothing too serious. Happy that we walked away.

But what about those for whom things are more serious? What about those for whom tragedy strikes, the unexpected and unexplained loss suddenly happens?  How do we deal with issues that are more than a flat tire, a broken bone, or a car accident?  What about when car accidents are deadly?  Why do some people get cancer despite healthy (and “good”) living? What about the sudden brain aneurism?  Drowning?  Stroke? A spouse suddenly changing in personality and values and leaves the family?   (All things that have happened to friends recently)

One of the perennial problems for Christians is being able to develop a working theology for the evil and bad things in this world o for themselves and for others who don’t understand why or how an all-powerful benevolent God would let evil persist. Especially when it does so in our lives.

This was the topic of conversation I had with Chad Meister on the YS Roundtable video show with Youth Specialties. It’s the focus of the well-discussed blog post on the trite phrase (often used in Christian circles) that “God will not give you more than you can handle.”

Kel and I have been discussing this topic lately. We’ve encountered people who have been going through difficult circumstances and confessing they’re not doing well with it.  They’re struggling.  And we have others who are going through even worse suffering – more painful, more unexpected – and handling it well. Why do some struggle so much and others do not?

We in America aren’t used to suffering. We bubble wrap our children to avoid pain, keep knives out of their hands as long as we can, and we’re conditioned consumers of comfort-seeking.  I don’t have all of the answers for the suffering issue, but I can’t help but think our culture and affluence has shaped us to expect to get our own way and to have our comforts.

But life interrupts.  Random accidents happen. Our bodies are not immortal. We’re not meant for this world as it is.  We’re not guaranteed comforts.  Our future is not going to go as we envision it today.

This I do know:  God met the problem of pain and suffering by suffering himself. Jesus is the great sufferer and through Him all things will someday be made right. That day is not today. Or (most likely) tomorrow.

One of the beneficial practices Christians can do is to not ignore the Church fathers and mothers.  The legacy of Christian martyrs provides a balancing perspective against the current Christian culture’s theme where we can follow Jesus but it really won’t cost us our lives.  Following Christ IS a surrender, a moment where we confess to God that our lives our not our own anymore.  That requires an abandonment that is measured when we get a flat tire, have a car wreck, or break a bone. Sure, I can ask why did that happen to us.  But, why not have it happen?  Why is it that I/we have been conditioned that avoiding pain and suffering is the pursuit of our lives?

I don’t have all of the answers, of course, and I have sat with people who have experienced the darkest of evils in the world and much of what I’ve written here seems trivial.  But, I’m also surprised at how the most basic of life’s regular events and elements can cause one to shake his/her fist at God as if they’ve been intentionally wronged and the pain/loss they feel unjust.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

 

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Teaching the Bible with Youth: An Interview with Dave Rahn [video]

I love interviewing people who possess great insight and can clearly articulate it. For over 30 years, Dave Rahn has been doing that for youth ministry leaders. I had the privilege of sitting with Dave on the back deck at his house and have a conversation about teaching the Bible with teens today. Any question I posed, Dave was ready with sage advice and I think you’ll be surprised by some of Dave’s perspectives on teaching Scripture.

The critique of studies like Sticky Faith, Orange, You Lost Me, and National Study of Religion has shown that students really aren’t familiar with what they believe and can’t articulate their beliefs well. These studies have prompted youth workers to revisit their teaching and in particular how they teach the Bible with teens.  I think you’ll find Dave’s advice helpful and easy to immediately apply to help teens establish a biblical basis for their faith.

 

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The benefit of doing service projects in your home community

I’ll never forget that moment when one of my youth group students went around the house we were painting, a common short-term mission trip service project, and began to work on the west side wall. He came back quickly with a look his face like he had seen a huge lizard or snake.  He found me and quietly said, “You need to come see this.”

We went around the corner to the house wall and he pressed gently on the side saying, ‘This siding on the west wall is …. duct tape.” Surprised, I too pressed against it and felt multiple lays of duct tape stretched across the studs. Someone had added some roof top coating and then painted over it, but the paper-thin shield and the insulation behind it would hardly be an effective barrier in winter.

This experience of seeing a teenager encounter deep poverty for the first time might seem common to those who lead short-term mission trips.  What made this so significant (and shocking to the teen) was that it took place less than a mile from his house. Our group hadn’t traveled to another country or an abandoned neighborhood in some city.  We had hopped in a van for a 3-minute ride to what looked like a suburban setting much like the one my students lived in.  Except the realities for folks here were very different.

I sent the teen inside to just get to know the stories of the family members inside. I knew he needed to discover the realities of his community and perhaps participate more deeply with our church to find ways to help at home. The family were delightful people and their story of difficulties was heart-wrenching – full of serious and debilitating injuries and difficult circumstances. There was hope as one adult child had come back to assist, but at deep sacrifice to her own occupational aspirations.

Dave Livermore and I co-authored What Can We Do?, a book that prepares youth leaders for the way their worlds will change in the coming years and how they can navigate those changes. The communities where we lead in youth ministry are changing. Our youth are interacting with a global world now, their economic futures are shaped by a larger global market. Our communities are welcoming new youth every month who don’t share a similar heritage to the youth in our youth groups. And some of our teens come from homes that may have a west wall that needs siding instead of duct tape. We don’t often notice what’s going on… even in our own communities.

Dave and I wrote that on mission trips and service projeccts, we try to get our students talking with and learning from the people we’re visiting and serving. Three things happen:

We often learn a way of seeing the world that differs from our own. 
We observe the world’s issues, problems, and hopes first-hand. 
We can become more aware of how our culture shapes our own pursuit of faith.  

What if we could also with students in our home community.

Read through those three points again and imagine what they might learn.  Do they know how many people in your area live at the poverty line or below?  How many people have immigrated into your area in the last six months?  What is the economic future of the youth at your local high schools? What social divisions in your area exist and, based on the Gospels (i.e. tax collectors, Samaritans, lepers), how do they think Jesus would’ve navigated those with his disciples?

By its very origin, youth ministry as we know it to be currently, is missional.  Let’s not relegate that to a trip a year and walk around those who are hurting and in need in our own community.  It’s why I’m involved in a ministry to homeless families here in South Bend.  And, if you’re going to be at either of the National Youth Workers Conventions this fall in San Diego or Nashville, be sure to attend the Sunday 11 a.m. Theological forums, led by Andrew Root, where we’ll discuss “Short-Term Mission Trips, Youth Ministry, and Eschatology.”

I would love to hear stories from you of similar moments of discovery you’ve had within your own community. And it’s definitely worth considering how to get your students serving within your home community.

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