All posts in Culture

What Non-Church Workers Think About Church Workers

by Adam Lehman on October 6, 2011 in Church, Culture with 3 Comments

I’ve moved from a professional Church worker to a non-professional Church worker.

My income used to come from the offering plate. Now it doesn’t.

Here are some differences that are important for all you church workers to know about those you interact with that aren’t church employees:

  • Even if you wear a suit & tie, what you do is very, very different from an executive at any similar sized company. Feel good about this, but don’t try to chime in when you’re talking with someone else wearing business attire.
  • You can’t talk to my coworkers with the same influence I can. Treat me to talk to them. Make me talk to them. Refuse to do it for me. This is what I really need.
  • When I say the word “church” most non-church folks seem to think Catholic mass or old-school-Bible-thumpin’-Baptist. If you want different expectations, you’ll have to translate.
  • The only way people will trust you or your church is to talk to people there. A good website or Facebook page IS NOT a substitute for genuinely loving people.
  • Anyone at work will talk about spirituality in general terms. I’d suggest you start there.
  • Most folks don’t seem to view pastors as real people, until the pastor proves otherwise.
  • At the same time, non-church workers seems to view the work that pastors do with some sort of awe. There is an understood devotion.
  • If you try to take 10 hours out of my week for “church activities,” there’s no way in hell anyone I work with is going to show up. (Unless we have no friends or have an insane amount of guilt).
  • But teach us how to find God in the time we already spend and you’ll change our world.
You’re welcome.

Slow, Steady Growth

by Adam Lehman on October 4, 2011 in Culture, Leadership with 1 Comment

At work today, I was commenting about my poor results the past week. I had just got off the phone with a company that was in no shape the buy what I was selling. They’re a large, nationally known company whose product is directly tied to new home builds. Bad time for that sort of business…

Our CEO stopped me and – rather than coaching me on how to smooth talk my way into their pocketbooks, he spoke to me (and my team) about the way he sees America’s current economic climate. He explained how our time is similar – and different – than many times before.

I jokingly stated, “Sound like a great time to start a business.” (Our company was founded in 2007)

He went on to tell story after story of business people who caught economic waves in the 80s & 90s. They made money young. Bought expensive houses. Started new, riskier companies. They’d never failed.

Until now….

In fact, they’d never really struggled for their success.

You see, if your success is directly tied to the economic wave your company has caught, you don’t really have to be good. Or smart. You just have to follow common practice and you’ll be fine. (Examples: Investing in .com before the bubble, taking out huge housing loan in 2006 & calling yourself a social media expert in 2011).

The problem with those people is that they never developed their core. They never had to build the habits needed to weather ANY economy.

Slow growth is golden. Better than golden.

Learn the hard work. Erase entitlement from your worldview. Learn to hunt your food, even if there’s a buffet in the next room (a buffet only slowly kills you anyways…).

In fact, don’t just learn to hunt, get really good at it. Learn to teach others to hunt.

 

What She Could Do for Me

by Adam Lehman on September 6, 2011 in Culture with 2 Comments
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My wife is beautiful.

But like so many wives (and husbands too), she has a hard time seeing it.

Once – while doing a photo shoot – she sent me of a picture of her hair all done up. She looked gorgeous. Stunning. Made me breathe a bit harder. Get the picture?

I text her back, “the best thing you could do for me would be to realize how beautiful you are.”

When someone simply delights in you, they don’t need you to perform, they just want to you be happy.

When looking at us, I’d bet God feels the same way.

The World Thrives When the “Makers” Lead

by Adam Lehman on August 4, 2011 in Culture, Leadership with No comments

At one point, the automobile industry – and her largest companies – was run by engineers who built the cars. At this time, the industry exploded. Companies grew & grew & grew.

At some point in the 70s, engineers were replaced by MBAs. A bunch of finance guys took over and started running companies out of a passion for numbers rather than a passion for car-making. For several decades, America experienced a steady decline in car quality.

Right now, the tech industry is run by engineers. The “makers” of the product are leading the companies. Zuckerberg is driving Facebook, Jobs in Apple, Crabb at Google, Gates in Microsoft.

What industry is growing by leaps at bounds? Tech. What industry has the most “makers” leading its companies? Tech.

The world thrives when the “makers” aren’t content in sitting behind a computer program to design or engineer a product.

If you’re making something, step out and lead. If you’re leading without making, best stay close to the makers and keep an open-channel for feedback.

Tweet or Be Tweetable

by Adam Lehman on June 18, 2011 in Culture, Leadership with 1 Comment

I love twitter. I get loads and loads of value from it. More than half of my friends in Columbus are people I started interacting with on Twitter. I’ve met loads of church leaders in real life whom I’d been speaking with via twitter. It’s awesome. I don’t believe there is a better way to move to a new city and meet people.

When I think about the people who dominate on twitter, two types of users stick out as using twitter best:

1. Tweetable People

This first category contains the big guns of twitter. These folks post remarkably funny, informative, inspirational or hilarious tweets all day, every day. These folks travel the globe, post pictures and leave the rest of us jealous. Celebrities, comedians, news networks etc.

The criteria for being in this category: have a life worth tweeting. When I upload pictures to twitter, it’s usually my dog, some food I’m about to eat, or a myspace-style picture of myself. Not interesting. When Scott Belsky shares a picture on twitter, I get jealous.  Almost everything Tim Ferris writes or posts fits into this category as well.

The rule to get into this category: be interesting.

2. Connectors

Habit #5 of Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is this: seek first to understand, then to be understood. Most people communicate in the exact opposite way as this principle. Twitter is no exception.

Read the twitter timeline of Gary Vaynerchuck. He responds to tweets about 10 times more than he posts about himself. He’s using twitter to talk to real people, not show folks how sweet he is.

The criteria for being in this category: give a rip about others. Anyone can play in this game, just talk to others. You’ll soon find that some people on twitter are jerks and won’t reply to your conversations. Who cares!?!? There are about a bizillion other people on twitter to chat with.

(This is what I did when I moved to Columbus, OH. I created a twitter account that was dedicated to following and connecting with people in this city. I explain all that in this post.)

The rule to get into this category: be interested.

*note: sadly, most twitter users are in neither of these categories….

People Love to Believe

by Adam Lehman on March 28, 2011 in Church, Culture, Faith, Ramblings with No comments

In a post-modern world, we’re told that everything is relative. That words only derive their meaning relative to their context and society as a whole is much more fluid than it was years ago. We’re told that today’s world is no longer persuaded by definitive statements and meaningful verbiage is drowned out in a flood of “like,” “ya know,”  & “I feel.”

People of faith have been told that their choke-hold on society is loosening & that soon they’ll be the minority. It’s been presumed that churches have less & less relevance in society.

Yet I can see that people still love to believe. People love to believe so much they’ll will for Butler to continue to win. People love to believe that that new car will make them happy. People love to believe that purchasing those new workout DVD’s will finally make them want to be healthy. And most importantly of all – :) – people love to believe that Steve Jobs is either a saint or satan.

People love to believe, they just HATE to be coerced into it.

They hate making a decision between turning their brain off and being accepted in a faith community. If I am to be accepted at your church, can I still ask questions? Can I ask deep questions ? Can I voice them openly?

I’m not saying I don’t believe in the atonement, I just want to be able to talk about the atonement without assuming it’s meaning or position in our faith. I’m not saying I think hell isn’t real, I just want to be able to talk about the idea that hell might not last forever (or exist at all).

Many years ago, Christians thought it a good idea to hold swords to the necks of “non-believers” and ask them to believe in Jesus. Today, there is a brand of Christian who thinks it a good idea to hold ask “What do you believe?” while waiting for a reason to judge & label as “heretic,” “

Why Isn’t It Happening in America?

by Adam Lehman on January 7, 2011 in Church, Culture with No comments

As I read through scripture, I’m reading stories of the apostles sharing the Gospel with thousands and thousands of people at a time. I can listen to reports of the church in the east growing at exponential numbers (on a FAR, FAR smaller budget than the US church).

But for some reason, that doesn’t happen in America. Or maybe I’m just not seeing it….

It’s frustrating.

WHY IS THAT?

January 1st is Another Day

by Adam Lehman on December 31, 2010 in Culture, Leadership with No comments

My eyes have grown tired of reading blogs and websites tell me list after list of top whatever of 2010.

And I get tired of the hype of the “new year” with fresh opportunities. Sure, years are epic timespans and decades are even moreso, but really….

Try this, instead of drinking your mind black or staying up till 3 am on New Year’s Eve (isn’t that about the worst way possible to start off a productive and meaningful January 1st?), read a book. Study something new. start writing a blog, start growing a business you’d like to start, workout, write a thank you letter to your 7th grade english teacher, whatever.

The best way to get into a habit in 2011, is to get a jump start on the last day of 2010. Start your diet today. Write that email today. Go for a run today.

On Momentum

by Adam Lehman on November 3, 2010 in Culture, Leadership with 1 Comment

Building momentum is frustrating. It’s the hard work that keeps lots and lots of people from doing significant stuff.

  • How many of you have started working out and weighed yourself after your first day of healthy living?
  • Have you ever spent an hour getting really excited about a project and then did nothing with it since then?
  • Ever wanted to start recycling, reading, volunteering, writing or traveling, but that’s about as far as you got?

You experienced momentum. (or lack of it).

You know the phrase “the rich get richer?” That’s about momentum. Have a hard time trusting people who flake out? Momentum.

Every single action, thought and move of your life is building momentum.

“A road well begun is the battle half won. The important thing is to make a beginning and get under way.” Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855)

When I’m Not Sure What to Do

by Adam Lehman on October 20, 2010 in Culture, Ramblings with 3 Comments

I use several different tools to catalog tasks I need to accomplish. I use a product for project management, another for calendering, another for my to-do list.

But when I don’t know what to do, I end up sleeping in, checking facebook a lot & watching a lot more TV.

Those are not things that lead to a meaningful life. In fact, they’re things that can get in the way of one.

Some call this natural tendancy toward meaningless pursuits “The Resistance” and others have called it our “Lizardbrain.” Regardless of the name, we all feel it. When we’re not on a mission, we seem to sink into a couch and do very little.

So to keep myself on pace to continually dominate my life, I do this simple activity when I’m unsure of what I should do.

I think, what things are leading me into mediocrity right now? I write down a handful of simple tasks that directly combat those temptations. I do them. After repeating that process for a few days, I find myself tackling bigger issues. I find myself taking on more ambitious projects. A handful of simple tasks aimed at battling mediocrity can build momentum.

Just thought I’d share.

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