Barnabas Piper's Blog, page 67

New Happy Rant: We Are Frankie

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas hash out the following:

Drisky Business involving speaking in tongues and a college QB
Awkward over-Christian responses to a normal question
Responding to a missile crisis
Ronnie’s love for Francis Chan

Be sure to visit our website to get fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters, order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear, and order your tickets for our next LIVE event – Together for the Rant – to be held in April. TICKETS ARE $10 THROUGH 1/31 THEN THE PRICE GOES UP TO $15. So get yours now.

Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!

To listen you can:

Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.

Episode #179

HAPPY RANT SPORTS EPISODE 2: NFL Playoffs, Blake Bortles, and NBA Books

In this episode of Happy Rant Sports Ted and Barnabas dig into the following sports topics.

Ted plays “Blake Bortles Apologist” in which he tries to defend the Jaguar’s QB and compares him to other current QBs
The Vikings INSANE win over the New Orleans Saints and Barnabas’s roller coaster ride as a Vikings fan
A Brief preview of the NFC and AFC Championship games.
Recommended books on NBA basketball

Be sure to visit our website to get fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters, order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear, and order your tickets for our next LIVE event – Together for the Rant – to be held in April. Tickets are $10 through 1/31 then the price goes up to $15. So get yours asap.

Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!

To listen you can:

Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.

Happy Rant Sports Episode #2

3 Things I Like This Week – January 18

Each week I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.

1. Goodreads

If you are an avid reader or simply someone who aspires to read more or read more widely Goodreads is super helpful. I use it to set reading goals for the year, keep track of what I’ve read, leave ratings and reviews, and pick up suggestions and ideas based on what others are reading. It is a wonderful way to discover new books and share what you enjoy. As a perk, it syncs with the Kindle app so that any highlights or quotes you save while reading on those devices can be shared or posted to Goodreads.

2. Good Poems, collected by Garrison Keillor

Poetry always intimidated me. It was complex. I didn’t understand it. I didn’t really enjoy the poems I felt like a smart person is supposed to enjoy. Then I realized that was all based on an understanding of poetry defined by literature majors and aimed at impressing someone. That meant I could read whatever poetry I liked and just like it. This book is just such a collection. Keillor, the long time host of Prairie Home Companion, is a master story teller and connector with common sensibilities. That’s what what this book represents – poems about real life beautifully written by an array of poets from anonymous to laureate. I loved it.

3. Traveling Alone by Jason Isbell

The man looks like he’s 14 and has an old soul. I can relate. What I can’t relate to is Isbell’s lyrical and musical ability. Both are remarkable. This is my favorite song of his, but he has dozens of others that are fantastic as well.

 

Over-Complicating Accountability

We’ve made accountability way too complicated. Just reading the word “accountability” probably made some of you cringe just a little. Visions of awkward, forced conversations or going through a list of prescribed questions come to mind. Or maybe sitting at a round table with people you sort of know, drinking bad coffee out of styrofoam cups in a church fellowship hall during a men’s or women’s bible study. Some of you think back to college and your accountability group who got together, all admitted to the same sins as last week, limply suggested you all do better, and agreed to try again at the same time and place next week.

Accountability has become a formal word associated with groups and meetings and appointments. We’ve mistaken formality for intentionality. Accountability must be intentional or else it won’t happen. But when it becomes formal we usually stop being accountable. We’ve made it too complicated.

It really only has two main ingredients.

Humility

We must be humble enough to know we need help, to recognize our shortcomings, to admit them to others, and to listen to their counsel. Humility gets us over ourselves, our fear of losing face, our shame. It recognizes our need for others and their contribution to our betterment.

Relationships

We must have trusted friends. We don’t need a posse of them, just a couple. They must be people with whom we are honest and who are honest back, who will tell us hard truths knowing that we’re humble enough to listen. They must be unafraid of our opinions or our wrath. (Of course most wrath isn’t humble, either.) They must be godly and invested, in our lives enough to see the ebbs and flows of emotion and soul. And they must allow us to be for them as they are for us.

This is it. That’s the recipe for accountability. Have friends and be honest.

None of this is easy. But neither is it complicated. Do you have godly friends you can trust? If not, start there. If yes be intentional about trusting them and asking them to trust you. Might it help to meet regularly? Yes, but as friends who care not as “accountability partners” who devolve into rote questions and stock answers.

Accountability only works if it is rooted in relational investment. It works if it is not merely a Q&A but rather life lived alongside life, through conversation, meals, fun, crisis, ups, and downs. This is relationship, the kind out of which real accountability grows. The kind where it’s safe to be humble and honest.

Don’t over-complicate things. Keep it simple – humility and relationships. Then start the hard work of growing in those.

This was originally posted at The Blazing Center

Video: What Pastors’ Kids Wish Their Churches Knew About Them

What to PKs wish church members realized and were more aware of? In this short video I recorded with For The Church I do my best break it down.

 

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For more on serving pastors’ kids well and the challenges they face check out my book The Pastor’s Kid: Finding Your Own Faith and Identity. If this blog is all the reading you can handle you can get the audio book which I read instead. I’m no Morgan Freeman, but it’s not too bad.

He Reads Truth: Glory on Display

I have the privilege of contributing to He Reads Truth, a website of whose purpose is “To help men become who we were made to be, by doing what we were made to do, by the power and provision that God has given us to do it, for the glory of Jesus Christ.” They do this by providing scripture reading plans accompanied by reflections that can be accessed for free online or purchased as print books. For those of you looking to engage scripture in a fresh way – either because you are dried up or have been away from it, these studies/plans will refresh your soul and engage your mind.

What follows is one of the pieces I wrote for the Gospel of John plan. You can find the full plan HERE.

John 2:1-25, Psalm 104:14-15, 1 Peter 4:11

I’m thankful for many things about my mother. One of those things is that, despite myriad opportunities, she has resisted the urge to put me on the spot in public and embarrass me. Jesus didn’t have such a luxury. Mary put Him in quite a spot—and at a wedding, no less.

Weddings in that culture were multiple-day celebrations with much feasting and drinking. For the wine to run out early was a real downer. It would shame the hosts and be terribly embarrassing, so when it happened at this wedding in Cana, Mary declared that her son could fix it. She knew something of His capabilities and that He was no mere man. Jesus gently reprimanded her because His time for this sort of thing had not yet come, the time in which He wanted to reveal His power and glory to people. But He helped nonetheless.

By turning water into wine, Jesus did more than save a host from embarrassment or add to the enjoyment of the guests. He revealed, ever so slightly, His power over the natural world. He wasn’t a magician. He was a creator. The Creator. The laws of nature did not apply to Him because He had written them.

The chapter takes an interesting turn here. It shifts from joy and celebration and partying and a miracle, to a more serious, intense, even angry tone. Jesus reveals another side of His glory and identity. At the wedding He revealed His generosity, His creative ability, His power over nature, and His desire for people’s joy and happiness. But in the temple He reveals His zeal for holiness and the perfect glory of His Father.

Upon arriving at the temple during the Passover, a time when Jerusalem was overflowing with pilgrims who had come to worship as the law required, Jesus saw that this holy day of remembrance had been turned into an opportunity for commerce. Merchants lined the temple courtyard, selling animals for sacrifice (likely at a huge markup, as you would find in any tourist trap) and changing currency at a profit. This place was meant to be devoted to God during this celebration of how the Lord rescued His people. But now it was a mercenary’s heaven.

Jesus would have none of it. He drove the sellers out. He declared the temple to be His Father’s house. And, when challenged as to His authority, He prophesied His own death and resurrection by metaphorically calling Himself the temple, the gateway to God’s presence. Jesus declared Himself to be the Son of God, the sacrifice, and the means by which any who believed could enter God’s glory.

With subtlety, generosity, and flare, Jesus showed Himself to be Creator of the universe. With passion, fierceness, and strong (though veiled) language, Jesus declared Himself the Son of God. In both cases people were intrigued, though most found an explanation other than the truth.

Yet those with eyes to see and ears to hear believed and followed.  

New Happy Rant: Top 100 Evangelicals and Carman the Life Coach

[image error]In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas tackle three pressing issues.

A list came out of the Top 100 Evangelicals, so of course we had to judge, parse, and otherwise discuss it.
Carman, the iconic CCM artist, has moved into life coaching.
Why do pastors love the phrase “moralistic therapeutic deism”?

Big thank you to our sponsor this week – Renae and Kevin Adelsberger. Renae has written a wonderful Bible study on the book of James – A Study of James: Mature in Every Way. You can download it entirely for free and Renae has also recorded a 15-episode podcast to walk students and leaders through each lesson. Check it out today!

Be sure to visit our website to get fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters, order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear, and order your tickets for our next LIVE event – Together for the Rant – to be held in April.

Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!

To listen you can:

Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.

Episode #178

3 Things I Like This Week – January 11

Each week I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.

[image error]1. Prince’s Hot Chicken

“Nashville Hot Chicken” is a term so ubiquitous even Kentucky Fried Chicken has usurped it. (FYI: Nashville is not in Kentucky. I know some of you Yankees were unclear on that. Also, KFC is gross.). Prince’s is the original Nashville Hot, and in this case original also means best. Other restaurants do it well, but Prince’s does it best. To be clear the “hot” in Prince’s chicken is en fuego. The original recipe was developed as revenge for Mr. Prince’s misadventures after all. Any how, visit Prince’s when you visit Nashville. The level of hot your order should be inversely related to how far north you reside.

[image error] 2. Sling TV

As I write this I am watching a basketball game on ESPN. I am not an ESPN subscriber. I have the trash cable package that was bundled with my internet which means I get all C-Spans and an array of stations endlessly hawking jewelry and Sham Wows. What I do have is Sling, a streaming service that allows me to get all the major cable stations I want at a really reasonable price. It is as simple as it sounds – select the cable package you want and subscribe. Then stream away. It works great with the Amazon Fire Stick, on a computer, or on mobile devices.

[image error] 3. Night Train by Oscar Peterson

My favorite jazz album of all time. Every single track is fantastic. Peterson is a genius. Go get it. The end.

Why Curiosity Matters So Much in the Workplace

When you think of curiosity – if you think of curiosity – you might picture exploring the mountaintops or reading books or exploring new places. But how does curiosity fit and, more importantly, why does it matter in the workplace? In productivity? In business and commerce and trade? Since most of us spend the bulk of our waking hours in these contexts it is worth considering.

The best workers are learners, those discovering new and better ways of doing things. The best leaders, the only leaders who last long, are learners. Specialists can thrive for a bit, but change out paces specialty, so we must be learners and adapters. We must be able to think on our feet and thrive in a variety of environments. The only businesses that survive in our rapidly changing world are those that can adapt. And these things can only happen if people are curious. They ask questions like how can we do this better? What challenges will we face? Who might be able to help us with this? How can our work support other people’s work? What’s next? Why? Why not?

A lot of leaders stop in their growth because they lose their curiosity.

– John Maxwell

The temptation, when things are going well in the workplace, is to keep repeating what worked before. The problem is that, while this will provide good results for a while, it never looks ahead at what’s coming next. Curiosity does. It wonders how might things change and how can we prepare for it. This isn’t change for change’s sake but rather necessary adaptation based on discovery.

Every successful entrepreneur has been curious. What if we try this? Why isn’t there one of these kinds of widgets? What if we created one? What are people’s needs or desires that we can meet? Question after question leading to results.

Think of Steve Jobs, probably the most celebrated and respected creative entrepreneur of our day. What drove him to create such brilliant products, items unlike anything to have hit the market previously? Curiosity. How did Apple come up with the interactive graphic user interface that replaced the need to type commands into DOS or some other program and completely reinvented personal computing? Curiosity.

How did the design of Apple’s products stand out with such elegant simplicity from every other design? You guessed it, curiosity.

How did the iPod become the device for “carrying a thousand songs in your pocket”? Curiosity about customers and marketing – the same thing that turned the iPhone into the standard for smart phones.

And not just a spark of curiosity, a discipline and culture of it. A spark of curiosity gets you one good idea or product. But only rigorously fostered and defended curiosity turns one good product into a series of subsidiary excellent products.

Consider Pixar and they work they have done over the decades with animation and story telling. Even their bad movies are good. The only reason we think they are bad is because they aren’t as good as Pixar’s best films. They have set the bar so high that we expect genius. Why? Because they have a culture of curiosity that takes story telling and graphics and technology to places nobody else ever considered going.

Curiosity makes us better co-workers too. It connects to the work of others as we understand what they do better and how our work supports it or it supports us. Curiosity leads to personal relationships and friendships that turn a work environment into a team environment. People work better when they are happier and they are happier when they connect with and identify with co-workers and bosses. We ask questions and understand others and find new ways to work with them. Curiosity helps us overcome conflict or differing work styles because it doesn’t stubbornly stick to its guns.

Emotional intelligence, EQ, is the measurement most smart organizations use to measure a persons ability to effectively understand and interact with co-workers. Simply put, people who have it are curious whether they realize it or not. They are curious about how to understand others, what others are thinking, how to communicate more effectively, and what type conflict resolution will connect best. EQ measure a person’s interpersonal curiosity, and people who rate poorly are simply not curious. They don’t think about others. They can’t picture how another person thinks, feels, or will react in a certain situation. They don’t care to understand how to handle conflicts better or can’t even see that they need to. EQ isn’t just a personality trait. It, like curiosity in general, is a practice and discipline that helps be better employees, leaders, and teammates.

Curious people create more, find better solutions to problems, overcome challenges, meet needs that arise, make connections, and prepare better for the future. These traits are in no way tied to work style or traits like introversion or extroversion. They are not dependent on a particular work style or position in an organization either. A curious custodian can make a noticeable difference in the work environment. A curious accountant can save a company thousands or millions of dollars. A curious sales person can build fantastic relationships with accounts. A curious editor can make a publication shine. A curious CEO can connect with employees at every level and take a company to places nobody ever considered.

Curiosity can be boisterous and verbal or it can be quiet and determined. It can work out questions in the quiet of solitude or in an open work area with a team of people. (Though, to be frank, not much can really be accomplished in an open office set up.) Regardless, the results will be the same: a happier and more productive work environment producing and creating at a higher level.

[image error]This post is adapted from an excerpt in my book, The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life. If you are interested in seeing what kind of curious person you are (or are not) visit CuriousChristianBook.com and take the short assessment.

3 Things I Like this Week – January 4

Each week I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.

1. The Lowe Post Podcast

[image error]I tend to listen to podcasts for a few months or even a couple years then get bored with them and unsubscribe. Not so with The Lowe Post, Zach Lowe’s NBA podcast. He has a murderer’s row of fantastic guests who combine to be entertaining and insightful. He balances being a fan of basketball who loves the game with a basketball nerd who loves to break it down. He rants sometimes, but not in an obnoxious Skip Baylessy way. Lowe is an expert on basketball and its minutiae but succeeds because he lets his guests shine and presents his expertise in a winsome way. It’s simply the best podcast for NBA fans I’ve run across.

2. MyFitnessPal

[image error]I’m almost 35. I love to eat. And I used to drink somewhere between 2 and 6 cokes per day. That means that about 5 years ago I realized that my desk-sitting, restaurant-eating, coke-drinking lifestyle was really sticking with me. Mostly as love handles. (BTW, the phrase “love handles” makes me chortle a little bit every time I hear or say it. Also “chortle” is an underused word.) In talking to my over-40 friends it seems this condition, known as “getting pudgy,” doesn’t resolve itself. So I had to figure out how to fix it. MyFitnessPal is an app (and website) that allows users to track all the food they eat, set goals for caloric intake, track and calories burned. Mostly it is a source of eating accountability as you see numbers attached to donuts and cookies and coke and whatnot. For me, it has been a really helpful tool for keeping my own bad habits in check.

3. “30 and Up 1986” by Sho Baraka

Sho Baraka’s album “The Narrative” is one of my favorites from recent years. It is as creative musically and lyrically as anything out there and heand spits so much truth. This just happens to be the most fun song on the whole album and gives a sense of how he samples styles and music chronologically throughout the album.