I’m a choir nerd.  From seventh grade through two bachelor’s degrees in college I was in choirs.  I was even elected president of the choir both in high school and in college.  Apparently, others knew I was a choir nerd as well.

Over the years I’ve heard great choirs and terrible ones as well.  I’ve heard songs [or “pieces” for us musical elites] performed by multiple groups, because they’re the standards many groups perform.  Many had solo parts, which means I’ve heard many soloists perform the same songs over the years.  I’ve heard different approaches to those solos.  Male versus female.  And unfortunately, really good singer versus the kind of singer you laugh at on the first few weeks of American Idol.  

One lesson I’ve learned is to listen to the choir, not just the soloist.  

Soloists are great because they carry the melody and give you the storfy or poetry through the lyrics.  But what they do is fairly simple.  Put it in the right key, and many singers can carry the same tune.

Listen to the choir and you’ll hear the music.

The choir adds the background, the foundation, they add dynamics and color to whatever the soloist is doing.  They provide harmony or sometimes the dissonance needed to bring more beauty or clarity to the solo.  A good soloist can only go so far, but a great choir can make a good soloist seem great.

Listening to the choir and not just the soloist is an important lesson for growing and developing.

There are many solo voices in most every field of thought.  You may be listening to a specific teacher, preacher, author, politician, reporter or most anyone who gives you a perspective.  But if you only listen to the “soloist” in an area of thought you’re being robbed of the “music” of thought.

For getting the full picture, you may need some “harmony” to confirm the voice you listen to the most.  You may need to have some “dissonance” to steer you clear of unhealthy, unfruitful or ungodly thinking.  You may need a chorus of voices giving you varying ‘dynamics’ and ‘rhythms’ of thoughts to draw conclusion from many thoughts over time, rather that repeating the words of the soloist without thought or processing.

3 Ways to Listen to the Choir

Listen - Listen to other preachers/teachers.  There are tons of podcasts for free on iTunes and other sources.  You can find podcasts on just about any topic you can imagine.  I recently heard of a new podcast launching and it’s basically a sports talk show on professional wrestling.  You can definitely find voices on topics far more important than pro wrestling commentary.

Look – Read different books and authors.  Read commentary from political opponents.  There are tons of blogs on the internet.  Use tools like Stumbleupon.com to find areas of interest and read new perspectives.

Learn – If necessary, force yourself to learn from the voices you have avoided to date.  Their voice added to the mix, may give your “soloist” the validation they need, or the confirmation you need that it’s time to change your way of thinking.  Sometimes, you need to hear the other side of the story to make sure you are on the right track.  People who are unwilling to listen to other people who have differing views are typically referred to as cults.

The voices of soloists don’t mean much without the choir.  You can’t simply listen to the solo and expect to have the full story in any area of thought.

So who are some of the “voices” you listen to and what are you learning?

Yesterday and today I’m at another lake house.  I’m with 11 co-workers on our church staff retreat.  We are looking at the past year and looking forward to next year with lots of discussion and self-reflection on making an impact.

Yesterday our staff discussed how to balance daily tasks with reaching into the lives of others to make a lasting impact in relationships and through the leadership we exercise.  It was a type of case study for the purposes of this blog.  We were forced to think outside the box of what is normal or habit in order to think about ways to make a greater impact in the lives of people.

In the discussion two themes kept resurfacing to me as threats to maximum impact.

1. When relationship capital steers wrong turns…  Relationship capital is the investment of time, energy, emotion and interest that moves a person in your life from acquaintance to invested friendship.  Every person has inherent value as a human being, but relationships we treasure with valuable impact, result from hard sacrifices and investing in others.  The problem comes when others use our investment as a way to drive their own agenda.  As leaders we have opportunity and responsibility to determine direction for the people we lead.  While we hate to admit it, some people take advantage of friendships to steer attention, affection and benefits in their own direction.  It is easy to listen to voices of friends asking for help, asking for consideration for their ideas, or permission to pursue their own agenda.  If you lead, you can easily lose focus on what matters for all, because of the voices of a few.  When the voices get too loud, they begin to steer the direction, rather than following God’s leading and sometimes even common sense.
2. When ADD causes too many turns…  ADD is considered a medical dilemma by some and a lack of discipline and resolve by others.  Regardless of the root, the outcomes are the same;  many things are done poorly or go undone because of an inability to focus on what matters.  As leaders, we sometimes discuss, plan and dream.  Before we have a chance to move, another discussion, another dream and another direction takes precedence while we fail to move in a right direction, simply because we move into a different direction of focus.  Sometimes we can’t reach the goals before us, because we are distracted by the next goal.

You can simply say, “You have to keep the main thing, the main thing.”  Such bumper sticker phrases simplify the encouragement, but don’t always reveal the symptoms or even give practical help.

To say these two themes “destroy” impact may sound a little overdramatic.  But my challenge to all of us it not to let the obvious creep in to our places of influence and impact.  Maybe you haven’t considered these two, but stay alert to how these two things creep in and negatively affect our leadership and impact.

Questions for you today…

• Have you ever had a person use your friendship to get their own way?
• Have you ever found yourself distracted from accomplishing your goals, because you’re thinking ahead too much?
• What are ways to stay alert to these distractions and be proactive in avoiding them to impact your relationships?

Today our staff discussion continues.  I encourage you to use today to consider these principles and how you can continue to make a greater impact.  Work. School.  Family.  All relationships.  People need the difference you will make in their lives, when God uses you.

Featured in the book Cash: An American Man… Source: Neatorama

I love the above To-Do list from Johnny Cash.  It makes life simple.  Workable.  Doable.  Livable.

How many of you make lists? 

Johnny Cash was really on to something with his list.  It was about staying healthy, focused and showing love to people that mattered most to him.

You can see my to do list in the sidebar.  When it comes to this blog, my goals are for all of us to think outside the box and have better Relationships, more influence in Leadership and make a greater Impact in the world around us.  Three focal points.

Continue Reading…

My friend Paul sent an email with some information about the movie, “The Help.”

Have you seen it?  It’s the movie that so far has earned $154.4 million at the box office.    I’m no economist, but I understand that $154 million is a pretty good sum of money.  I just checked my last paycheck stub and I fell a little shy of that amount. Continue Reading…

Life is moving fast.  Very fast.  What is different in your life compared to 10 years ago?  Here are a few of my examples.

• I rely on my iPhone as an organizer, for email, multiple social networking accounts for personal and work use, camera, camcorder, news, entertainment, and much more.  (I also send more text messages than phone calls)
• I do most of my learning and reading through the internet and other digital delivery.
• In the past, I used ISP specific email addresses.  (AOL, Earthlink, Comcast etc…)  Now I use Gmail to not only serve as my email client, but my Google account allows me to share documents, streamline information, stalk followers of my blog and much more.

There are many more tools that I use as well.  There are two significant observations about these items.

Age

• The tools listed above (among others) are no more than 5 years old.
• Gmail was released to the public in 2005, with many more Google apps following
• Facebook came along in 05, with baby brother Twitter joining in late ‘07.
• The iPhone came along in ‘07 but paved the way for other such smart phones making the Blackberry irrelevant and the debate goes on which is the best of the many devices available.
• Don’t forget there are tons more tools, social networks and devices available, all of which are infants in their introduction to both nerds and normal people around the world.

Cultural Shift

We cannot deny cultural shift.  How much have you heard about how young people don’t know how to communicate anymore unless its through a text message or Facebook status?  Now we “LOL” when watching funny Youtube videos.  Schools use digital textbooks and apps for education.  I heard of a church that hired a new minister through listening to podcasts, reading his blog, and watching streams from his church, rather than the old parade of candidates.

Churches have online broadcasts, with small groups forming around the broadcast for teaching, then living out Christian community.  These groups are in different cities, states and even countries.  You can be a part of a service online, but belong to a house church that gets “sermons” online.  A house church can get the best teaching, then use their money for Kingdom work without paying a staff or funding a building and utilities.

All of this to say, where will we be in ten years?  Life and culture has shifted tremendously since 2001.

I work in a church of about 1,200 people.  I lead contemporary worship in a casual dress environment that includes lighting and other visuals.  Not what I expected to be doing 10 years ago.  But as I think of that simple change, much less cultural shifts from technology and communication, I can’t help but wonder, will I be out of a job in 10 years?  Will my role be irrelevant?  Will church settings and methods used now be a dying dinosaur then?

Not that any of this is bad.  I’m trying to imagine what things could lie in store.  I also wonder what changes should I make in coming years?  Do I need to consider education that would allow me to move and think outside of my current box?  Yes.  What?  I have no clue.

The Holy Spirit will continue to move and lead the people of God.  But where will head lead us?  As companies and churches leverage Facebook and Twitter more so than the dinosaurs of web sites, what could possibly lie ahead?  What mediums will carry the gospel to people?

Don’t be fooled.  As much as you enjoy Facebook now, in 10 years current elementary students will laugh at such an antique.  What’s on the horizon?  Where will I be working in ten years?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Grace & peace,

jon