Vision Navigator

Ever wonder where the word “lousy” comes from?  It’s derived from the word “louse,” aka the tiny, parasitic bloodsuckers that come in three handy human tormenting varieties:  1) head lice, 2) pubic lice, and 3) body lice (go here for a nice lice overview).

My interest in lice started about a month ago, when my bride and I discovered that a whole colony of head lice had taken up residence in my youngest daughter’s hair.  Which was pretty good for the lice, since my daughter’s long, thick hair is apparently the louse equivalent of a 5-star hotel.

So what’s a louse to do?  Settle down, and start laying eggs, or “nits” - hundreds of them (maybe even thousands - we lost count).  The nits are then conveniently glued (and I mean glued) to individual hair shafts in close proximity to the scalp.  This ensures that newly hatched baby lice or “nymphs” won’t have far to go for their first blood infused meal.  Being well fed then helps the nymphs to grow up, have relations, and then churn out more nits.  It’s the circle of parasitic life! Neat, huh?

Except that my daughter didn’t appreciate the life sustaining beauty of blood sucking and reproducing that was occurring on her head.  Neither did her school.  So we were charged with the task of ridding our daughter of said lice infestation.  Which is much easier said than done, mind you.  Especially if you’re not open to poisoning your child, burning all her bedding/toys,  or cutting off all of her hair…

Short of this, your treatment options include vacuuming and bagging up everything cloth-like that you can’t wash, applying various concoctions to the head to kill the live bugs, and then removing the incredibly small nits by hand.  As in picking them out one by one (aka “nit-picking“).  And literally going over your child’s head with a fine-toothed comb (think unbelievably time consuming).

Fun stuff.  Especially when you spend $150 or so on various commercial neurotoxins (like Rid and Nix) that don’t actually kill the lice, but only tick them off.  Causes you to ponder at times why God allows such creatures to exist.  Seriously.

And then it dawned on me that I had never really experienced or understood how “lousy” being lousy really was.  As in imagining bugs are crawling all over you & biting you all the time lousy.  As in my daughter’s hair is ruined, we’ll never get rid of all these nits, and she’ll never be able to go back to school again lousy.  As in I’m sorry we had to bag up all your stuff, including what you just got for your birthday lousy.  As in “boy I’m glad that’s over,” only to discover they’ve come back and sent an expedition over to your other daughter’s head as well.  Kinda tests the limits of your belief in verses like James 1:2 (Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds…).

But then isn’t that the point of such trials?  To test the limits of our faith, and move us out of the realm of theory into reality.  So I began to see this as an opportunity to experience the power of vision clarity in a new way…seeing how:

• A clear mission (all lice must die!) keeps us focused as a team
• Clear values (preserving our health, hair, and sense of humor) guide our efforts and decision making
• A clear strategy (attack >  assess >  adapt, & repeat) keeps us moving in the right direction
• Clear measures (any nits/lice left alive?) help us track our progress
• A clear vision (lice free living!) compels us to press on and persevere

I know, I’m a freak, but I really do think this way…

Have you had a lousy experience?  What lessons have you learned from lice, or other lousy circumstances?

If you haven’t noticed, I’m quite the fan of Will Mancini and his latest book, Church Unique.  Which is pretty convenient, since as an Auxano team member (a firm founded by Will Mancini, by the way), promoting Will’s ideas and Church Unique also serve to promote the work that I do…

Truth be told, however, it was Will’s unique vision on vision that compelled me to become part of Auxano in the first place.  Seriously.  In fact, I was contemplating starting my own firm to do what I’m doing now when I first came across the Auxano website a couple of years ago.

Will’s own stunningly unique vision for Auxano literally “had me at hello” (to steal a line from the movie Jerry Maguire).  Why?  Because his articulation of the vision God had given him resonated with me at a deep level - and matched in an eerie and unmistakable way with the calling God was giving me.

The importance of “clarity first,” along with these three unique values especially caught my attention:

• Egoless clarity
• Carnivorous learning
• Contagious passion for the bride of Christ

That rocks, doesn’t it?!!  Well - it did for me anyway…

I have to admit though, my first thought was “dang it - somebody’s beaten me to the punch!”  This was quickly replaced, however, with a sense that I was not in fact insane, and that perhaps God was calling me to unite with other like minded visionaries, rather than seeking to blaze a trail on my own.

So why do I tell this story?  To illustrate a point, namely that a unique articulated vision is a powerfully attractive force.

The converse of this is true as well: an unarticulated vision is simply wishful thinking. If your vision is ever to have wings, it has to be articulated!

What are your thoughts?  Have you ever had an experience like I’ve described above?  Do you have a unique vision you feel compelled to tell the world about?  Is it simply a dream, or is it becoming reality?

[Editor's note:  BIG announcement from my firm, Auxano, ahead...so please keep reading...]

So who’s birthday is it? A book’s, namely Will Mancini’s Church Unique, first published this time last year.

Why is this significant?  Because this book does not present simply another model or treatise on the right way to do church.  Rather, it outlines a process that challenges leaders to discover their own God-given, stunningly unique vision.

As Max Lucado says in the foreword:

This book steers us away from the latest conference fads toward innate congregational strengths.  If you are looking for a one-size fits all approach to a healthy church, try another book.  If you are ready to roll up your sleeves and seek the uniqueness of God’s presence in your fellowship, this is your tool.

Max and hundreds of other church leaders have walked the Vision Pathway with the aid of an Auxano navigator like myself.  To celebrate the book’s birthday, we’ve designed a new way for leaders of smaller churches or church plants to realize the benefits of onsite consulting at a fraction of the cost.

We call it the Church Unique Vision co::Lab.  More specifically, it’s a continuous laboratory for your team packed with focused learning and collaborative coaching.  The cool part is that we’re rolling this out to eight cities this Spring (including Atlanta), and eight more in the Fall.

Interested?  For more info, visit the Church Unique website here.  Or, if you’re in or around Atlanta, feel free to contact me directly via email at me[at]visionnavigator.com (replacing the [at] with the @ sign of course).  Or you can always tweet me on twitter.

Have a favorite quote from Church Unique, or something unique about you or your church you’d like to share?  Leave a comment - I’d love to hear it!  Or if you’re a twitter fiend, add the #churchunique hashtag to your tweet to join the conversation.

I heard a great quote yesterday from a friend and mentor:

Man’s disappointment is God’s appointment.

With today being St. Patrick’s Day, it struck me that this quote was borne out in the life of St. Patrick himself.

For although St. Patrick’s name has become synonymous with all things Irish, he was not a native Irishman.  In fact, he was born in Wales, where he grew up on a farm.  At the age of sixteen, he was captured by raiders, who took him back to Ireland as a slave.  For six years he lived there in relative solitude - separated from family and friends, living the rather lonely life of a shepherd.

During this time, however, he began to pray, and hear from God.  Eventually he heard a voice that told him he would soon be going home.  Later he heard that a ship was being made ready for him.  This prompted him to flee his master and travel to a port 200 miles away, where he found eventual passage back to his home.

A few years after his return, Patrick had a vision.  In it, a man coming from Ireland brought him a letter representing the “Voice of the Irish.”  Patrick also imagined that he heard the voices of Irish natives calling out to him to come and walk among them.  Patrick saw this vision as a call from God to return to Ireland to serve as a missionary.

Note the significance here?  God was calling Patrick to leave the safety and comfort of home to return to the land of his enslavement.  And not only return there, but adopt it, and embrace it as part of his own calling and identity.

And Patrick did return - allowing this vision from God to transform his own view of Ireland - from a place of slavery and personal disappointment, to a place of calling and divine appointment.

During his ministry in Ireland, Patrick took on a second name, becoming known as Patricius Daorbae.  This second name, Daorbae, was a Gaelic word, meaning “he was enslaved.”

Rather than denying or becoming bitter about his bad luck then, Patrick embraced it as part of God’s unique vision for him.  His work as a missionary led to his eventual recognition a few centuries later as the Patron Saint of Ireland.  Ironic isn’t it, how God could transform a seemingly insignificant foreign slave into a revered Saint and native son?

What’s your story?  How do you view the disappointments of your past?  Do your own failures or weaknesses disqualify, or uniquely qualify you to serve God?

After a crazy week of migrating, tweaking, waiting for outages to clear, retweaking stuff messed up from outages, “finding my patience and using it” (as my bride likes to say), etc., I’m pleased to report that the new Vision Navigator blog LIVES!!!

Still have a lot a crazy tweaks and other ideas that I’ll be rolling out, but thought it might be good to actually create a blog post to remind myself what “blogging” is all about

FYI, I’m in the process now of pointing the VisionNavigator.com domain to my new self-hosted WordPress platform, and away from this blog on blogger. Hopefully, this will be a relatively seamless process…

If not, and I somehow manage to blow the whole thing up, well, you can always see what I’m up to on twitter

[Adding this text on the WordPress post for test purposes]

On the heels of this post on validation, and our need to be seen and recognized for who we are, I was reminded of an incredible quote by a new friend on twitter, Jason Mitchener:

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” - Michelangelo

This is a powerful metaphor for God’s redemptive work, isn’t it? Seeing beyond the exterior, and peering deep into the very heart of our being to see who we were created to be. And then chipping away at the barrier that encases and enslaves us - the time hardened exterior we erect that separates us from our Father/Creator and the life we were meant to live.

The only catch is that carving isn’t very pleasant. And neither is being exposed to the light, when you’ve been safely tucked away in the dark for some time. So do we allow ourselves to be carved? Do we expose ourselves to the light to be reshaped in the image of God?

To do so takes trust. Trust not only in the artist’s skill and ability, but also in his heart and vision for us.

Do you have that kind of trust? Do you find yourself moving towards the light, or maintaining your barriers?

Ran across this short movie called Validation…funny, intriguing, touching, and a great story that illustrates the power of words, and the fundamental human need for recognition and affirmation. If you have 15 minutes or so to invest, it’s definitely worth your time:

It got me thinking about the way I use words - and how I might take advantage of the opportunities I’m given to recognize and call out the beauty and God-given strengths of those around me.

What’s your response to the movie? Have you experienced this sort of validation in your life? What prevents you from being validated, or validating those around you?

FYI, I’ve decided to change blogging platforms, moving from Blogger to a spiffy new self-hosted WordPress account. This should be a relatively seamless transition, culminating when the VisionNavigator.com domain is switched over to point to the new WordPress account. Operative word here is should

Will keep you posted on the progress. In the meantime, please pray for my sanity, and that all will go smoothly.

Feel free to offer any tips, advice, pearls of wisdom, etc. you might have as well…

What’s the last major move you’ve made in your life?

Watching Super Bowl commercials yesterday reminded me of one of my favorites from last year - the ETrade “Bobo the Clown” commercial.

Not only does it strike a chord with me, it also reminded me of one of my most embarrassing moments…

Back in my seminary days, I was at a party talking with another student who had a gift for clowning. Not clowning around — literally being a clown. He was also a talented mime.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that It’s just not my cup of Earl Grey…

He could see it in my eyes as well. I really do hate clowns. Hate mimes even worse. The fact that he was not just one, but both of these things was hard for me to get my arms around as well, since he was otherwise a very likeable guy