Langley on Leadership - Part 2

There's difference between a good leader and a GREAT leader. Do you know what it is?

Webcasting 101

This weekend we did a primitive first attempt at a live streaming webcast of our Sunday Morning service. It went okay... some learning curve and things to improve, but great feedback from the 39 people who logged in to watch our beta test.

It's available at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/windward-worship-live if you are interested.

Since the webcast I have had several people ask how hard it was to do. It is pretty simple, actually: 

• You'll need a digital video camera: what we did for our beta test was done with a small, simple, consumer mini-DV camera, like the kind used to shoot pictures of the kids playing sports. 

• A FireWire (Digital Video) cable connection to a computer. 

• A computer. (That seems obvious, but then again...) This is the place where I would I would normally inject a fanboy argument for the superiority of Mac OSX and Apple products in general, but since that also seems so obvious...

• A reliable broadband connection to the internet at the church or meeting venue. 

• A FREE account with ustream.tv or another similar service... if you can find another free one. 

• A carbon-based life form with intelligence above a rutabega. (Our tech guys set up the camera and logged in, and then my dear old dependable Deacon launched the live webcast and archive recording and monitored the whole thing. It's not rocket science.) 

• We patched the sound directly from the sound board to the laptop mic input instead of using the built in mic on the camera to avoid picking up extraneous noise and conversational noise by the tech guys. 

That's about it: plug it all in, turn on the camera, log in to ustream.tv and hit the "GO LIVE" button and you're webcasting live.

Langley on Leadership - Part 1

A one-minute leadership insight from Pastor Gary Langley of Windward Worship Center in Kaneohe, Hawaii. (Okay, it's actually 01:32 with intro and exit tags…)

Using all the FREE stuff

This Sunday we will experiment with yet another free, web-based technology to expand the reach of our church when we video stream our 10:00 AM (Hawaiian Standard Time) worship service at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/windward-worship-live

We live in an amazing time with access to innovative, creative, accessible technologies that are free or very affordable. In addition to ustream, we utilize YouTube, email, Skype, iChat, MySpace, FaceBook and cell phone text messaging to contact, connect and reach out to our constituency -- all free technologies! We also maintain a constantly updated website with a very affordable web-hosting company, on which we inform about coming events, display weekly photos from around the church and related activities, and allow people to listen to each week's sermon online, download it as an Mp3 to share, or subscribe on iTunes.

Even a small to medium-sized local church has the ability to exponentially multiply their impact and expand their footprint without a huge staff, massive budget or lots of expensive equipment; a computer, a consumer model video camera, a digital camera and a broadband internet connection can give your local church an international outreach.

Why Windward?

We asked some people on a typical Sunday morning what they liked about Windward Worship Center and selected some of the best responses.

Leadership Advice: Get Real

It is very easy for pastors and leaders to fall into the expectation trap: because of past experience, erroneous teaching or cultural tradition constituents might place a burden of unrealistic expectations upon their leaders. Don't buy into that!

I am not arguing for rudeness or a lack of tact and diplomacy in dealing with people, but I am suggesting that we all need to get real, and stay real.  A few years ago our local church was very involved in an annual event called "March for Jesus!" We could debate about the appropriateness and effectiveness of such mass public testimony events, but one T-Shirt from March for Jesus made a lasting impression upon me. It read, "A choir of millions for an audience of one." The message for me, for all of us, is that all we do is done for Him, and if we are subject to any performance expectations, we should keep in mind that we don't perform for our church board, membership or community; we perform for an audience of ONE.

The simplest solution I have found is just to be, as much as possible, completely yourself. Drop the pretension, lose the attitude, and refuse to play a role. Don't wear any religious masks or put on airs. Get real. Be real. 

Wheah you wen Grad?

That is the defining cultural question in Hawaii; "Wheah you wen Grad?" (Translation? "Would you mind telling me which High School you attended?") It matters not what you might have accomplished since high school, or what lofty heights you have attained... the defining question remains "Wheah you wen Grad?"

Senator Barak Obama is a presidential candidate who studied at Occidental College, Los Angeles, Calif., and Columbia University, New York City; studied law at Harvard University, where he became the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review, and received J.D. in 1992; lecturer on constitutional law, University of Chicago; member, Illinois State senate 1997-2004; elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2004 -- but in Hawaii he will forevermore be "Punahou Grad Barry Obama." Harvard Law is a great accomplishment, but not as defining to local people in Hawaii as his high school, Punahou.

Punahou is the elite, private school of the wealthy and privileged. Kids who go to Punahou wear designer clothing and are dropped off in BMW's. Kids who go to public school wear clothing from ROSS and ride the bus. Punahou kids are "townies". Punahou kids are all on track to attend major universities, not community college. The Punahou label says more than quality education... it reflects socio-economic status and future expectations. 

When a local person in Hawaii asks "Wheah you wen Grad?" what they are really asking is:

In what community did you grow up?

Who was in your circle of friends?

Who might you be related to that I know?

Where do you fit in the social strata of Hawaii?

So, "Wheah you wen Grad?" 

Got a spare $53,760 I can have?

I have been accepted in the Master of Arts in Global Leadership program at Fuller Theological Seminary, and I did the math today. That degree will end up costing more that $53,760 and that doesn't factor in books and several trips to the Pasadena campus.

It will be worth it.

One of my dreams and desires of my heart has been to complete the education that got interrupted by a little vacation in sunny Vietnam. It would have remained only an unrequieted dream had it not been for a wonderful man who has been an example of leadership excellence, an informal mentor, a friend and great encourager:



Dr. Dan Chun, Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu and, with his wife, Pam, founder of Hawaiian Island Ministries. Dan is a Fuller Trustee, and has been responsible for encouraging and equipping so many Pastors and leaders in the churches of Hawaii.

Thanks, Dan. (I hope to make you proud!)

Blessed at SEARS

If you're reading this in a place covered with snow and ice now, you may find it hard to believe, but many of us in Hawaii have such small houses that we have our laundry area OUTSIDE. Yep. It's true. With a wonderfully temperate climate you can have your washer and dryer on a lanai, porch or patio. They tend to rust out from the salt air (we are very close to the ocean) before they wear out.

We have had a GE Washer (outside) for 16 years. I have patched it up a time or two, replacing some parts, but it did a great job -- until last week. The timer mechanism started messing up and my wife would have to go and press/pull the knob to kick it into the next cycle. I went to an appliance parts dealer for a replacement, and they back-ordered one to the tune of $98. (OUCH.)

Last night it started making a LOUD noise that I finally determined was a failing clutch mechanism. Expecting the replacement clutch to cost even more than the $98 timer, plus it looked like a repair process beyond my limited mechanical skills. It just abruptly died in mid-cycle and refused to cooperate any more, so off we went today to see how much a replacement washer would cost. SEARS had a sale, with a pretty decent simple model for just under $500 -- not bad compared to the higher end models that cost $1,200 - $1,400. (A bit out of our price range AND we just couldn't see a $1,000+ washer sitting outside under a roof overhang rusting out. On the way out to Costco to comparison price, we noticed a washer off to the side. It was similar to our recently deceased one, with a few updates, and it was tagged "USED - $150."

After we made the Costco trip and discovered that the prices there were close to the SEARS sale prices, we returned to SEARS and found the salesman who was helping us.

"What does 'USED' mean exactly?"
"It was purchased, and taken from the store, but the buyer figured out how to fix their old machine and returned this one."

It had never even been plugged in; it had never had water lines connected, but they couldn't sell it as new, so they clearance priced it to move it out quickly, still with a 1 year full warranty!

We saved hundreds of dollars, got a 'new' full-featured washer that we won't feel bad about leaving outdoors, and did it all for $150. What a blessing!

Is my plate getting FULLER?

It seems that I operate with a pretty full plate most of the time. I have often referred to it as "juggling chainsaws." So it is with fear and trepidation that I watch my email and snail-mail boxes for a decision from Fuller Seminary. The applications and recommendations have been submitted for the Master of Arts in Global Leadership program at Fuller, and the Admissions Committee meets before the end of February.

Having been out of the classroom and academic environment for decades, it is a bit intimidating, but I exemplify the Peter Principle -- ("In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.") -- since my recent selection as Presiding Bishop (Overseer) for my denomination in Hawaii, I have come to a renewed realization of my level of inability! These people deserve a better leader, and I hope to become one.

Podcasts piling up

Do you hate the sound of your own speaking voice when you hear it recorded? It seems that most people do... including me. But we Pastors are professional public speakers, and our vocal presentations are key to our effectiveness. So I am learning to love -- or at least tolerate -- the sound of my own voice.

My weekly sermons are (barely) edited and posted as podcasts at www.windwardworship.com and are available free via iTunes as "The Word from Windward." I have subscribed to my OWN podcast! How egocentric is THAT? It has helped my delivery a lot. Each week, alone in my office, I download and review my own sermon podcast listening carefully for awkward "uh's" and "um's" and other annoying verbal habits. Often I groan and make a mental note to eliminate a phrase from my vocabulary or never use a failed illustration again.

It has certainly helped me become more concise and get to the point faster, and I hope it has helped me refine and polish my preaching skills and made me a better communicator of Biblical truth. You be the judge. Listen to an older one and a more recent one and give me some feedback.

A matter of style

When you hear some of those TV preachers on a roll do you ever wonder where that style comes from? It is often credited to "being anointed." Nobody has ever been more anointed that Jesus, yet somehow I can't imagine him preaching in that revivalist style. Can you?

Jesus said this...

"Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall"

I doubt -- seriously doubt -- that he said...

"EVERYone... did ya hear me? I said EVERYone! Not a few people. Not some people. Not ALMOST everyone. I said EVERYONE. IF YOU BELIEVE THAT TURN TO YOUR NEIGHBOR AND SAY EVERYONE! Now that oughta make you shout HALLELUUUUUUJAAAAHHHH!"

Can you imagine Jesus preaching like that? Me neither.

Pride, in the best sense of the word

My focus as a pastor has been local. Almost entirely local. I have often felt disconnected from my denominational roots because my approach to ministry has not fit our traditional mold and there were doctrinal positions I could not totally embrace. And, yet, it is my heritage, and all I have ever known. I love it.

Having just returned from the International General Assembly of the Church of God of Prophecy in Nashville, I left filled with pride, in the best since of that word. Our church has been an aging movement in transition for the past couple of decades, struggling with divisive issues of doctrine and polity, and this year it seems we may have finally moved beyond indecision and resistance to needed change.

It was such an encouraging, refreshing week that I left proud, for the first time in years, to be part of this church.

Growing pains are the best kind

The church I pastor has outgrown our facilities. With 130 members and a "total population" of about 152+/- in a building designed for maybe 80, we are starting to notice a slight growth plateau. We have been experiencing a sense of Divine discontent ---- kind of "Thank You Lord for all you are doing, and yet we know there is so much more You WANT to do!"

I outline sermon subjects well in advance and preach through the scriptures, but Saturday I experienced such turmoil and disquiet I knew God had other plans. Saturday I deviated from my outlined subjects and wrote a completely different message about the challenge of stepping out by faith when God says move, despite all the negatives and logical reasons why it won't work.

Late Saturday night my daughter and her boyfriend came in from an event and I was still in my office, prepping. They said "There's a big old van we don't recognize in the church parking lot." BF and I grabbed flashlights and went to investigate. A lady we sort of know from homeschooling events pops up... she was sleeping in that van. I asked if she was okay, and she said "Long story, but yes -- is it okay if I sleep here tonight and I'll be in church tomorrow morning?" Sure. We unlocked a restroom for her, said goodnight, and went back in.

She was in service, front row. In the sermon I spoke of how the Lord had been dealing with us-- with me -- about taking the next big step of faith and moving from the comfort zone of our cozy building to a place where He could send us more people. After the service, that lady approached me and said she knew the place for us. She told me that she and her husband manage party/banquet facilities at several City & County golf courses, one of which is just about one mile from the church, on the same street! We have attended events there before -- wedding receptions, parties -- and it is large (maybe 2.5 or 3 times the size of our church), air conditioned, big nice restrooms, ample (even generous) parking. It's on the second floor, and has an elevator for handicap access, and the view over the golf course and adjacent mountains is spectacular. The even have some sound and lighting equipment available, and we can probably get the place for what is, in Hawaii, an reasonable price.

So we have a (potential) opportunity before us, but there are some logistical challenges. There is no logical, workable place for Children's ministries at the proposed new site. Anybody have experience with split-sites? One suggestion that came from a brainstorming session was to maintain our children's groups at the original site (our building) as a "drop off/pick up" place, while the parents continue down the road a mile to the Golf Course.

Any feedback? Good, bad. or ugly?

Hawaii Graduations

Graduations in Hawaii are unlike anything anywhere else. My daughter, Tori, just graduated from high school. We have a home schooling network ministry that issues diploma, provides transcripts and produces a huge cap and gown ceremony. We had 13 grads this year, and a crowd of about 800 packed out Hope Chapel Kaneohe Bay for the event. Each of the grads had a 4 minute block of time to perform, and the talent displayed was awesome. After the ceremony there was a huge catered outdoor reception with lots of food, and the grads get heaps of beautiful flower lei and cards full of cash. In this picture Tori has only about 1/3 of the flowers she ended up with. The count was over 80, I think. It was an amazing night, and we were blessed with perfect weather, the nice folks at Hope Chapel were wonderful to us, and it was such a wonderful testimony to hear these 13 young adults honoring their parents, speaking well of their siblings and making the name of their Lord famous.

An early Birthday Gift of the best kind.

I received an email tonight from a young family in my congregation. The man grew up in a very traditional Baptist church and his young wife grew up Lutheran. They are now members of my church and He is really gifted and called to be in some form of Pastoral ministry. After our service this weekend, with an emphasis upon the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, Ryan & Julie sent this note. It took me a long time to read, since the tears kept blurring the words!

Gary,

I just wanted to email about this past Sunday, and just in general. First, to thank you for the message you gave this past Sunday. You know that I have heard messages about the gifts of the Holy Spirit in many places, and your message was the more Biblical than any I have heard from any Pentecostal, Baptist or whatever. I truly appreciate what it meant for you to say what you did, knowing the responses of some of those that heard it.

I more generally wanted to thank you for your dedication to my and my families souls and lives. If you only knew the amount of times I have said "I hope that I am like that when I am a pastor" in reference to you. I have learned so much in the last 2 years, that I am afraid I will forget it! Gary, I know that the Lord has a calling on my life, and I know even more that I have soooo much to learn between now and then. I would especially ask that you pray for my boldness. I know I don't seem like the kind of person that needs help with boldness, but there are so many times that I have backed down and not proudly said the name of Jesus when I should have. Lets just say that the cock has crowed more than 3 times for me. I also struggle daily with arrogance, though I think that the Lord has been helping me with that. I honestly believe in the power of prayer, though I have no clue how to pray, and still feel weird when I do. I have not even begun to be faithful with my devotions and the failures keep adding, but I know that the Lord will still guide me and help me.

I have hated being so distant from the church compared to the way we were, but I have so many responsibilities now that I sometimes feel overwhelmed. I need to become much better at balancing my time.

With that said Gary, having grown up in the baptist community, singing out of a psalter hymnal with a piano for every song, being able to smile, laugh, dance, clap or just listen and enjoy the worship of our creator is something to be appreciated and longed for. After traveling recently, and visiting several churches whose form of "worship" was more like gregorian chant then a "getting back to the heart of worship", Julie and I missed it so much. It is like having your feet nailed to the ground when all you want to do is run. There were no butterflies in our stomachs afterwards like we get when we hear brothers and sisters around us crying as they sing because they don't know any other way to express the emotions inside them. Gary, I honestly believe that it doesn't matter it every little detail is right or not, it is the heart, or the love behind the worship that counts. It is like a star struck lover. When you are madly, deeply, truly in love, you find yourself saying and doing things you never thought you would. You look back and think "I can;t believe I did that, or "I can't believe I said that". The wonderful thing is, that no matter how many "left feet" you have when you dance with them, or how many times your voice cracks as you try to whispers those sweet things in their ear, they love every moment of it because it the love behind the act, not the act that touches the heart. God almighty "bends down his ear" to his children, because it is the love behind our worship that touches His heart, not the mode of delivery. If, by how loud, long or weird I worship my Lord is done so because I am so madly, deeply, truly I am in love with him that I am all left feet, cracked voiced, too loud, to soft, dancing in the aisles, or simply bowing my head and raising my hands, then I don't care. My Lord will hear the love behind my voice or the steps in my hula.

Thank you for everything that you have meant to our ohana Gary. We will truly miss WWC, and your family, scratch that, our family. Good night Gary, and if there is ever more that I can do, please don't hesitate to ask.

Love Ryan, Julie and Aiden Hobson

Blessed with favor, twice in one day!

God blesses people with favor. Favor with Him, and favor before men. Now and then things happen that reveal God's favor in my life in ways that just amaze me. Today it happened. Twice.

Hawaii has endured rain of Biblical proportions -- it has literally rained for forty days and forty nights with only brief hours of respite. I had a small, annoying leak in my office ceiling, with plans to repair it after the rains stopped. While I was away in Singapore that small leak was overwhelmed by the volume of the rain water, and I called home to learn that the ceiling had caved in destroying my desk, carpet and some paperwork. One of the young men in my congregation took upon himself the task of repairing the office. He ripped out the ruined carpet and sheetrock, and started the repairs. Often alone. He goes to college in the daytime and delivers pizzas at night. He has shown up night after night at ten or eleven o'clock and worked until the wee hours. A local construction man who doesn't attend my church showed up last week to volunteer to work on the floors. Today he came back to help tape and sand the walls. While he was here, volunteering his time and skills, he came over and handed me a check for $200. "The Lord laid it on my heart to bless you!" he said. Well, he had already been blessing me.

Today was also my daughter's 18th birthday, a very big deal in our house. We invited a group of her friends to join us at Dave and Buster's for dinner, birthday cake, and some games. We had a total of 14 people there, and had a great time. When it came time to pay the bill the manager told us "Someone in the restaurant has already paid your entire bill, and asked to remain anonymous." $300. Paid. Wow! (It's so awesome I'll say it again backward - !woW)

In one day, God gave me favor with a construction tradesman and his skills, with a $200 gift from that man, and a free birthday party for my daughter that saved me $300. Favor. It's a wonderful thing.

Conflicting views of China and the Church

At a recent Christian conference in Honolulu I met a group of representatives from Christian (read: protestant) churches in China. They were not from the unregistered, or underground, church we usually hear about. My friend, Dan Chun, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu took at trip to China a year or so ago, and preached in a 4,000 members church in Shanghai. He told me "they sang the same hymns we use, in Chinese, and raised their hands in worship and prayed fervently and spoke passionately about their love for Christ."

These representatives were from the "Three Self" movement, a uniquely Asian way of expressing the concept of an Indigenous Church. Three self... 'self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation' is intended to remove foreign influences from the Chinese churches, theoretically removing most of the government's objections to religious groups in China. It is also a post-denominational system, in which no differences can be promoted, so you will find staff members from varying denominational traditions serving together in a single congregation. This, of course, does not go over very well with most church organizations since they can have no control and can't even send in outside leadership. In the Three Self view, the Bible calls us to be both good Christians AND (to the extent that there's no conflict) good citizens also. That is why the group's formal name is "China Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee."

So I find myself torn.

I met these folks, spoke directly with them, listened as they talked of their love for Christ and their desire to see more Chinese people reached with the message of the gospel. I believe they are the real deal. And yet there's this:

I have friends -- dear friends -- who serve in China among the unregistered church movement. They avoid using the name of Jesus in communication, and seem cautious and covert in their approach. Could this because they violate the Chinese government-preferred concept of self-propagation? I am aware of people smuggling Bibles in China, when the Three Self representatives avow that Bibles (NIV in Chinese) can be purchased openly in Beijing bookstores for $2-$3 U.S. and are being printed and distributed, with government knowledge and approval, by the hundreds of thousands.

It is difficult for me to reconcile these two perspectives, and I am sure I have an incomplete understanding of the situation. For now I will praise God for my friends who work outside the system AND those who work with the system.

Prophylactic paradox

(Sounds a little more spiritual than "condom conundrum" I suppose.)

I have boundary issues. Admitting that helps me deal with it
constructively. The church I pastor is a fairly tight-knit community
of about 150 people. My family has attended this church for more than
20 years and it is the only congregation my kids have ever known.
These people are our friends, our extended ohana, and our support
system. Coming up through the ranks from layman, to Associate Pastor,
to Senior Pastor and District Overseer I have felt it necessary to
reinvent myself more than once. As the titles and roles change, the
relationships inevitably shift and change, too.

For the past five years we have lived in the church parsonage...
small but adequate housing provided by the church, located on the
church property. "On the church property" is not really accurate.
Because of the way this facility has grown and evolved, often without
a master plan, the church, office and parsonage are interconnected.
The front door of our residence is accessed by going THROUGH the
outer office! That leads to a lack of family privacy and a sense of
living in the fishbowl, on display at all times. If there's any kind
of meeting or activity going on in the office and we come home with
bags from WalMart we feel that people are checking out our purchases
as we walk past. As you might imagine, there are few secrets here and
it can be stressful being on display as the model family at all times.

Hence the title -- Prophylactic paradox (or condom conundrum).

Prophylactics are designed to encourage and facilitate intimacy,
while they prevent the kind of real physical contact that is the
intimate ideal. They are a barrier that consumers of the product
accept as an acceptable trade-off -- in exchange for the 'benefits'
of the barrier, they are able to achieve a measure of intimacy,
albeit incomplete. (I am getting there... stay with me.)

What we have tried to nurture is a kind of prophylactic intimacy
among our church family. We want to be close, but need a barrier to
preserve our own family life and privacy. It is a tightrope. Let that
barrier become too thick, too obvious, and the warmth and intimacy we
need to be effective is lost. Remove the barrier, and intimacy can be
dangerous. In practical terms, how do we keep our home as open as it
would be if we lived elsewhere, while keeping a workable boundary to
preserve our family life? How do we invite in those who have been
long-time friends and make them part of our life, while not allowing
our home to be simply an extension of the church facility?

A word to church boards everywhere. Do yourselves and your Pastor a
favor. When planning to provide a home for your Pastor, do NOT make
it on the church property. Give that Pastor's family the distance and
privacy you enjoy in your home, and you will be rewarded with better
leadership.

A meaningful mantra.

Guy Kawasaki had a tough job in the early days of Apple Computer. I use Macs and love them, but back in the late 80's, when the first Macs were developed, they were pretty primitive; tiny monochromatic screens, no hard drive and hardly any software. Guy's title was Macintosh Evangelist. He went out spreading the good news of this crazy new kind of computer. He went to software developers with a mission -- he was to convince them that the Mac was the future of computing, and they should get on board and write software for this new machine. One result was Aldus PageMaker, which was the primitive beginning of the desktop publishing revolution. The rest, as they say, is history.

In his book, The Art of the Start, Kawasaki gives real world practical advice to start-up entrepreneurs. I recently went to hear him speak on that subject and one of his points really registered with me.

He explained the futility of writing a complex mission statement that few read and even fewer understand. Instead, he suggests that companies and organizations develop a mantra. In this context a mantra refers to "a statement or slogan repeated often." Kawasaki used the example of Wendy's. Like most companies, Wendy's has a formal mission statement: To deliver superior-quality products and services to customers and communities through leadership, innovation, and partnership.

According to Kawasaki, Wendy's would do better with a mantra: Healthy fast food.

I have been giving that some thought. My church has a mission statement, because everyone else had one. I dare say if a first-timer asked anyone at the church for our mission statement few, if any, would have a clue what to tell them -- including our staff members! What we should have is a mantra. We need a simple, brief, memorable way to identify what we are all about to those who ask. It is still a work in progress, but at this point I have arrived at a 3 word mantra:

Real. Relevant. Relational.

What do you think?