My first observation is that Julian Gillard looks and sounds like someone desperate to stay in her job, and even if she manages to somehow cobble together a minority government, I don’t think it will work out.  Her desperation to stay in the job can only lead her to make some compromises she will regret later.  I’m sure there will be others who see it differently, but Labor is suddenly talking about all kinds of things they were definitely not thinking about before the election, stuff which smells like expediency and whatever-it-takes to stay in power.

My second observation is that Tony Abbott has, in contrast, seemed at ease and not desperate at all to do whatever deal will get him the top job.  I think this has been very smart, and in the long run he will prevail, in my view.  It may take several months and an inevitable re-run election, but I think he will end up leading the country.  If he does pull together a minority government , I think it’s going to be on very different terms to Gillard, and I think it would have more hope of succeeding.  But, there is no doubt in my mind that a Gillard minority government will fail, based on the way they are going all out to court the Independents.  Abbott has seemed calm and collected, and has portrayed a principled sort of air in the mad scramble, and I think it will pay off for him.

My third observation is that the Independents have screwed themselves over by having no strategic view at all of their potential influence in the Australian political process.  Instead, from a public perspective, they have quickly shifted to looking like a bunch hucksters cashing in on an accidental bit of power they have, and they look anything but principled as the week has progressed.  I think there is very little chance that whatever deal they strike with Labor would end up being stable and effective because it’s going to be built off Labor just trying to get back in whatever it takes, and as soon as possible Labor will shaft them because nobody likes to be shoved into a corner.  The Independents could have actually spoken of some really big picture things they wanted changed in the political process, but instead they have quickly sunk to looking very political and the essence of the very problems our system has.

I’m sure others will have differing views, but this is what I’ve been noticing.  It’s frustrating to watch, and demonstrates afresh how rare great leadership really is.

I hate that question, but it is such a critical question to ask and answer honestly.  Too often , the answer is “no”.  We fritter a huge chunk of our day away on absolute rubbish, activities which add no value at all to our lives.

I hate that question because I, like many people, have the incredible knack of staying busy and filling my day with a bunch of activity, but sometimes finish out a day and wonder what the heck I actually accomplished that would be worth writing home about.

So, how do you make sure that you’re being productive, and not just busy?  Here’s my best quick thoughts:

1. Plan out your day, don’t just let it unfold.  Just letting things happen as they happen is a sure recipe for being busy but totally non-productive.  It’s so obvious, but I’m amazed at how many people don’t start each day out with a game plan, a list of key objectives that need to happen.  Personally, I’m a huge advocate of 90 day goals, and creating structure in my life to stay focused on the big picture.

2. Constantly be asking yourself whether you’re doing what matters most right now.  I used to do some consulting work at a government department years ago where some of the folks would wander over to check out what I was doing, and there was an older lady there who was kind of like an old boarding school matron who would yell at them like kids and tell them to go and sit down and do their work.  I was always a bit shocked at how she kept them from being distracted, but they obviously needed it.  And sometimes we all need that…  and that question pushes us to go back to our desk and do what matters.

3. One of the great steps you can take to getting stuff done in your life is to intentionally stop doing some other things.  Sometimes our most important list isn’t our to-do list, but rather our not-to-do list, killing certain activities and habits which drag our time and attention away from what matters most.  And social media is sometimes one of our biggest enemies.  The key task in our age is to filter all the crud coming into our lives and figure out what is actually worth taking in and what is worth not spending any time on at all.

As with much of life, if you don’t take control of it, someone else will.

Right, I’m off to get some stuff done… :-)

Prior to that, I worked in the business world, and although I was heavily involved in the Church, helping to run youth groups, later involved in lay leadership, etc., my primary time and energy and a good many (not all) of my relationships were outside the boundaries of the Church.

As an aside, some might argue against my depiction of the Church having “boundaries”, given some of the newer paradigms of trying to understand the relationship between the Church and the world, but if you’ve spent much time at all within a church, you just know that boundaries exist, implicit and explicit.

Lately, since having stepped outside the boundaries of the Church and investing my primary time and energy outside of that sphere, and beginning to develop more relationships outside the Church, I’ve been able to view the Church from the outside, after a decade and half of viewing it from within.  And, I have to tell you, it’s not a great sight.

You know how it is with a messy room or a dysfunctional family?  The longer you live and breathe in that space, the less you notice the mess and the dysfunction, and a new kind of “normal” sets in?

Now, I want to be careful to say that nothing I say here is intended as a slam or criticism of anyone or (more specifically) my previous church, which I still love and have much invested in.  BUT, it has been disturbing to me to walk in the world these past few months and realise just how out-of-touch, irrelevant, even perhaps boring, the Church is to those who are not inside it.  And I’m not talking about any particular denomination or movement here…  the people in the world have a rather smooshed up view of all that.  They just have this weird overlapping and confused mish mash of tradition and weirdness associated with “Church”, but they certainly don’t have any attraction or interest in it.  This much is very clear, and to be honest, as I’ve stood with them and looked back into the Church, it’s disturbing to me.  We’re certainly not the salt and light Jesus talked about…  instead we’re gloom and bland, if not actually a little unpleasant to the taste.

I don’t write this with any huge answers in mind…  perhaps that’s a later post when I have my head around this, but it’s been bothering me a lot lately…  the Church from the outside is far too different from the Church I was looking at from the inside, and although there will always be a degree of difference for a variety of good reasons, mostly I’m disturbed at how big the gap is from where I’m standing at the moment.

PS:  I should just add that (to torture Twain) the rumours of my loss of faith are highly exaggerated…  :-)

I often think about that memory when I think about leadership, whether it be on the line in a combat situation, or running a non-profit organisation, or the captain of a sports team, CEO of a multinational, a general in the war room, whatever… so often, one of the key functions of leadership is all about holding a line. In a number of ways we define certain kinds of boundaries through our leadership, sometimes in the form of progress made in certain areas, or conquering chaos and dysfunction in others, and then a good deal of our efforts become about holding the line, keeping the hill, repelling the enemies (direct and indirect) who desire to take back what we have gained. The attacks may be subtle and sneaky, and sometimes they may be full frontal assaults, but you spend a lot of energy motivating and cajoling your people to stand firm and hold the line.

It’s exhausting, and sometimes even feels futile. Sometimes, it’s very exciting as we progress forward rapidly and take new ground. But always, at the end of the day, there comes a line that must be held again, and in many respects, it seems to me that great leadership is defined by how well we are able to hold the line.

Perhaps, to put it another way, if you’re in a leadership role but there don’t seem to be any lines to be held with urgency, any progress to be guarded at all costs, any new territory to keep, then whatever you are doing, you’re not leading.

I believe that one of the most important things any organisation can do is develop a culture of experimentation, where there is an openness to trying out new things and freedom to experiment and play outside the box. I often encourage leaders to move quickly to start pushing the box out by suggesting a variety of experiments, often with a time limit, a stop point to evaluate success, and the clear intention to keep what works and kill what doesn’t.

I see three huge strategic benefits to this approach:

1. You open up the door in a non-threatening way to try stuff and begin to shift your organisational culture to one where change becomes the norm. Putting change in terms of experiments often provides a freedom that is simply not there when it sounds like the change might be permanent. Insisting that success will be evaluated at a set point in time gives people comfort that they may not be stuck with something that doesn’t work. This can be a crucial cultural shift.

2. You open the door in your organisation to measuring things. Many organisations have created protectionist cultures that eschew measurement and evaluation because it’s safer and easier to avoid that kind of critique and feedback (another part of the human condition), and yet every effective leader knows that measurement is crucial to forward progress. Measurement is a huge question (what to measure, etc.), but until you can get your people used to the idea that measurement is ok, then everything will continue on in a vague fog of feelings about how we’re going rather than any serious metrics. So, when you pose an experiment which will be explicitly evaluated, you begin to introduce measurement into your culture, and that’s a huge step forward in itself.

3. You open the door to killing things that don’t work. Most well-established organisations have an enormous momentum towards maintaining “the way we have always done it”, ensuring that change is very unattractive. Some things may be abject failures to the external observer, and yet will be clung to with an amazing tenacity, often quite irrationally. When you begin to experiment with a stated openness to killing something that doesn’t work, you begin to create a culture that says failure is ok because it teaches us things, and it’s ok to stop things if they’re not accomplishing or contributing.

These three benefits alone make creating an experimental culture a no-brainer… it’s surprisingly easy to get people to try stuff if they sense that it is just a trial or experiment, and the changes that ensue in your culture can often be life-changing. You will be a more effective leader if the word “experiment” becomes a regular part of your vocabulary. Give it a go… try it out… :-)

It’s always amazing to me how fast news travels, and so this is my attempt to get ahead of the jungle drums and let you know about an important change happening for me and our family.

WHAT’S THE BIG NEWS? The big scoop is that, as of 28 March 2010, I will no longer be serving as Senior Pastor of Warnbro Community Church. I’m sure that this will come as a surprise, and perhaps even a shock to some, but in recent months I have felt certain that God has been calling me step down from this role that I have held for almost 10 years. It’s a huge decision, but one we feel is totally right for us at this time.

I want to be quite clear about this…. I am NOT leaving Warnbro because of some issue or big problem.

Stop, and read that again.

There are NO leadership disputes or disagreements. Far from it! This is an awesome church, and has been a wonderful place to serve. This has been one of the most difficult aspects of leaving… it’s not because some issue or problem. It’s about a sense of God’s leading in our lives. I have been very privileged to serve and lead Warnbro Church, and it has been a huge part of my family’s life for this past decade. I believe that the church has a huge future ahead of it, and I have done my best to lay a platform for what is next, but I also firmly believe that I’m not the one to lead it there. I believe that God has someone better suited to take on that task. My skills and gifts lie elsewhere, and I am stepping aside from this role to allow God to guide me into what is next for me. The church has some very exciting directions and projects for the future, but I just don’t sense I’m the one God is calling to lead Warnbro into those things. It’s really that simple. It was a fairly recent revelation to me, and I’m stepping out in obedience. If that sounds crazy to you, I’d have to agree… seems a little crazy to me too, in many respects, except for the fact that I’m quite certain this is what God wants.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR ME? I have no idea! I’m not leaving to take up some other position. There is no “better” job in the mix. No other church or ministry under consideration. We’re just going to trust God that he’ll provide as he always does. I’m ready and feel strongly the time is right for me to begin the transition to the next thing. What is that? I’m not 100% sure to be honest, but I believe that faith is about small steps in the right direction, and I’m taking this one step now and we’ll see what is next. We’re open to wherever God takes us, even if that means a role outside of a formal church or ministry role. In fact, I feel that our next stop may well be in the marketplace or a non-church role.

WHEN DO WE FINISH UP? We have committed to being here until Sunday, March 28 to assist as much as we can with the preparation process for transitioning to another senior leader. That’s the weekend right before Easter. That’s 8 weeks away, and I’m sure it will be a busy time for us all.

SO… I would appreciate it if you would continue to pray for the O’Brien family and the Warnbro Church family – it’s a scary, interesting, unexpected place for us all to be. God will provide and guide, as only he can. But, it’s also kind of exciting. We’ll keep you posted.

Our world is being consumed by consumers. They’re everywhere. And the Church is not immune to the effects of consumerism. Tragically, in many respects, one of key approaches to growing a local church is centred largely around figuring out what people think they need, and then developing programs and facilities to meet those needs. Spiritually, those of us in church leadership are acutely aware that felt needs are seldom our real needs, but we pragmatically recognise that we need to gain an audience to discuss deeper things, and that audience is gained through connecting with shallow things.

I love the quote above… I came across it through Michael Hyatt, and I love the picture it paints. Whether you’re talking about eco-issues or whether you’re talking about the Church, it’s a profound word of wisdom.

I see one of the greatest challenges in the contemporary churches quickly becoming the grip that baby boomers have on the shaping of what church looks like. Baby boomers grew up in a world that they built and shaped for their own purposes, and they were good at it. They are used to things being made to suit them. They helped create the consumerist mentality that has now been taken to new heights by the Gen Y lot (Gen X-ers seemed to rebel a little against their parents in this), but the boomers still have the power because they have the resources, even as they quickly move into retirement.

In churches, boomers have the power to plant for the future or to consume until their last moment. It’s a tough choice. Consuming is more instantly gratifying and enjoyable. Planting for the future often means I won’t get to enjoy it, and I may not even like it. But a great society is built when we unselfishly realise that we either leave a blessing or a curse to the next generation through the decisions we make now.

I don’t think these issues are new. I think they’re just more sharply recognisable in our fast-moving and dynamic world. Personally, I feel very strongly that if I am going to a church when I am eighty that is doing all the stuff *I* like and love, then we’re probably in big trouble for the future. I know I will struggle with being a part of something I may even intensely dislike at a personal level, but I’ve made the commitment to be a planter and not a consumer. I want to be part of something great, not just something that lives as long as I prop it up.

And then we get to vote…

I love democracy, but it seems to me (on a purely rational level) that a bunch of ignorant people making decisions can’t possibly be the best way to go on some issues. This is why referenda are very poor decision-making tools.

Dunno… just saying…

1. The devil really did do it

2. God is disciplining us (we don’t like to include this one much, but it’s there in the Bible)

3. We’re dumb and did it to ourselves

4. Someone else was dumb and did it to us (directly or indirectly)

It was interesting to see the Sydney Anglicans wrestling with their crisis at a theological level (very Sydney-Anglican-like, I guess!). Beyond all that, I can truly say that I fully understand the emotions of Peter Jensen… I know exactly how he feels. One of the few times I can say that I’ve been exactly there, and I know the grief he is talking about.

As a leader, you may not have caused it or had a direct hand in it, but you own it at a deep level, sometimes more than the people who caused the havoc. I guess that’s what makes leaders different. Ownership & responsibility… a deep sense of stewardship.

There’s always a smart alec somewhere who will tell you in the midst of your valleys that “it could always be worse…”

And you usually just feel like smacking them in the snoz.

Last year, we had a very tough year financially as a church, and we really had to dig deep in the faith well to ride the storm. Well, I think I could truly say, things could have been much worse!