Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. Lao Tzu

Rainbow or Cutthroat? Maybe Cuttbow??? I have trouble from time to time figuring out what is on the end of my fly line. You may struggle with that in the heat of the fly fishing battle as well. So, I have gathered Trout pictures to help you identify what kind of trout you are catching. Check out the pics and video.

Genie and I hosted our three pastors and ten laymen at a men's leadership retreat for City Church Eastside-Atlanta out at our cabin, Eagle Peak, Colorado. In early May, the weather at 9000 feet is iffy. We were blessed with wonderful weather, warm and sunny through the weekend.Then, on Sunday, right after everyone left, it started snowing. By the next morning, we had over 8 inches of fresh snow. Take a look at pictures of hiking and fishing, climbing mountains and completing Manmaker Challenges. See the rest of the story and pictures here.

In a recent blog post, Mike Breen articulated the three temptations of Jesus as Appetite, Affirmation and Ambition. For some reason, I had never thought of Jesus' temptations, and how drawn I have been to them in my life. Are these three a primary strategy of the evil one to derail us from God's faint path? Are you tempted by these three temptations of Christ? The picture above is a Coat of Arms passed down through my family for hundreds of years. It proved to be a lot to live up to in my life. Trying to led me down the road of appetite, affirmation and ambition. How about you, do you feel the tug of these temptations? Read more here.

Our mental models are paradigms we hold about how the world works.  They are like eyeglasses.  The world looks differently when I put on my glasses, but I soon forget I’m wearing them. We look at the world through our paradigms, not consciously aware that what we are seeing has been shaped by our lenses. We take what we perceive as reality, and don’t know how much previous experience distorts the picture. Our worldview becomes self-reinforcing.  We begin to filter out any information that doesn't support what we already believe. There is great power in mental models, because behavior, both conscious and unconscious flows out of our mental models. Mental models reside at the bottom of the Iceberg. Like the Titanic, the hulls of many organizations and churches have been torn out by the part of the Iceberg below the surface. See the rest of the post here.

Great post from Mike Breen on how to think about career opportunities as a follower of Christ.

“Churches need both pioneers and settlers,” Mike Breen said, “The problem is, the mainline denominations have distilled off most the pioneers into parachurch organizations.” 

Breen describes the Apostles, Prophets, and Evangelists as the pioneers, while Pastors and Teachers are settlers. Thinking about his assertion, I came to see that indeed many of the Pioneers in denominational churches have gotten frustrated and moved into parachurch organizations to do their ministry. Even in my work, I sought to create my own parachurch organization to equip discipling leaders, since the denominational Seminaries weren’t attending to this work. Read the post here.

Photos of a Robin feeding chicks in the nest in a crook of a large oak tree in the front yard. See more photos here.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I first heard the term ‘Core Process’ fifteen years ago in the business world. When you asked, “What is your core process?” of a business executive, you would hear about the one thing that his firm must do with great excellence, to set themselves apart and gain a sustainable edge. Steve Jobs’ cutting edge design work emerged as the core process at Apple. Walmart built the most cost-effective supply chain to consistently maintain both profits and low prices.

What would you say was the core process in your church? What is the central facet that is most critical to the ongoing health and impact of the church? Most of the churches I’ve seen in the Lutheran tribe would name worship as the core process. It is clearly the central focus. If that is the core process at your church, I would invite you to think again if discipleship is not at the core for you. See the post here.

Having spent the first 25 years of my Christian walk in the mainline church, I can relate to what Rachel Held Evans articulates in this blog post. I was not nearly as artful in articulating my sentiments in Entering my Post-Denomational Phase or, more recently, in the post Circling the Drain: is your church among the living dead? Read Rachel Held Evans piece here.

This is a fascinating analysis of the factors that could bring the American Church down. Mike Breen traces them back to the same temptations Jesus faced: Affirmation, Appetite, and Ambition. Find the rest of Breen's Obituary here. Breen gives us a look from another angle to the story I wrote called Circling the Drain: is your church among the walking dead.

I read a fascinating article in the NY Times Travel section entitled, Where Heaven and Earth Come Closer: Cultured Traveler, by Eric Weiner. Weiner describes these places in this way:

I’m drawn to places that beguile and inspire, sedate and stir, places where, for a few blissful moments I loosen my death grip on life, and can breathe again. It turns out these destinations have a name: thin places. They are locales where the distance between heaven and earth collapses and we’re able to catch glimpses of the divine, or the transcendent or, as I like to think of it, the Infinite Whatever.

Travel to thin places does not necessarily lead to anything as grandiose as a “spiritual breakthrough,” whatever that means, but it does disorient. It confuses. We lose our bearings, and find new ones. Or not. Either way, we are jolted out of old ways of seeing the world, and therein lies the transformative magic of travel.

Our place in Colorado has always been a 'thin place' for us. See the thoughts and pictures here.

As I walked the path near our house a few days ago, I was listening to Sara Groves new album, Invisible Empires. One particular song stopped me in my tracks.

The first verse of her song, Mystery, brought a question to mind. The image that she plants with these words, “I can no more own it than I can own the road I’m on,” was intriguing. Who owns my faith? Take a look as I unpack this question.

I have been involved in small groups of various sorts for the last twenty years or so. They have been wonderful experiences, some of them in mixed gender groups with husbands and wives, and some in same gender groups with other men. These groups have been affirming, inspiring, and places of deep community where we could share life’s challenges and know friends would walk with us and pray for us. Whether reading a book or studying the Bible together, these groups create settings where we can be inspired by the faith journeys of friends and mentors.

Yet, despite the wonderful good that came from these groups, the friendships, the support during tough times, the learning and wisdom gained, I found one thing lacking. The groups were very low in accountability. See how the Learning Circle changes the equation in a powerful way.

My wife, Genie, has been an environmental educator volunteering at Zoo Atlanta for 15 years. She is a docent and animal handler. She also does tours for donors, and has led tours for a couple of visits from Make A Wish kids. In October, 2010, Genie went trekking for Gorillas with a group of Atlanta Zoo friends. It was an incredible trip with several close encounters high up on the mountains in Rwanda. Here is a video of the gorillas. See video and pictures.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Some time ago, I was listening to a podcast of a Shane Hipps sermon from Mars Hill in Michigan. He was preaching on this verse:

Luke 11: 9- 13  So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Hipps said, “I don’t know about you, but I have found this verse a challenge. I’ve seen many of my prayers seemingly go unanswered. How about you?” Read about what happens when we pray for a scorpion.

Last fall, I was part of a group supervisory session with a counselor who does a lot of work at City Church. For two days, those of us who do some form of counseling ministry at City Church did group work with Lottie Hillard, a counselor who teaches at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. In the course of helping us process our stories, a continuum emerged that I had not thought of before. As each of us took our turn, this continuum became more obvious. Some have a tendency to deny their pain, while others tend to wallow in it. Neither response is healthy. Read the post here.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I've spent twenty years reading and studying what is going on in healthy, thriving churches. For the last dozen years, I've coached pastors and church planters, consulted with churches and denominational officials, and spoken to hundreds of groups grappling with how to create churches that are built to last. Out of this journey, I have seen much that does not work, met some wonderful Kingdom leaders, and discerned five themes of healthy Christian community that are common to churches that are thriving in this new millennium. I've also reached the conclusion that much of the mainline denominational world in this country is circling the drain, with the majority of their churches among the walking dead. So, come along as I share the shapes in the mist that I've discerned from the Spirit's work in my life and across the church. Find Chapter 12: Shapes in the Mist here.

This is the conclusion to the conclusion, the final part of my Themes of Healthy Community. Find the rest of the posts here:

Community built on trust, not fear

Community built on discipleship and mission

Community of transformed hearts and souls, growing mature in Christ

Community built on shared leadership

Community built on multiplication and sending

Based on everything I’ve seen, read and heard from Lutheran leaders across the country, I have reached a conclusion. Mainline denominations in general, and the Lutheran church in particular, are circling the drain. Given that dying congregations can persist for years, and sometimes decades, the denomination will likely persist for 20 more years. But that doesn’t change the long-term trajectory. See the post.

In Colorado, coyotes often send a female up close to a house to draw out domestic dogs. When the dog follows the female into the woods, the pack will attack and kill the dog. On the night before we left for Atlanta, we put Smokey out just before dark. He took of barking, and down the hill he went, after a coyote. Knowing their tricks, I yelled myself hoarse trying to get him to turn around. Finally, just before he got to the lower meadow, 500 feet below the house, he turned back, and got home safely. The experience got me thinking about Wild Dogs we've seen. So, I put this set together showing coyotes and red foxes in Colorado, wolves in Yellowstone, jackals and hyenas in Kenya and Tanzania. Enjoy the pics.