Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Articles

A Vicious Cycle

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Are you familiar with the parable of the rich fool? I’d tell it myself, but Jesus does it better.

A rich man’s land was very productive. He thought to himself, ‘What should I do, since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops? I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there. Then I’ll say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.”

What I love about Jesus’ parables is that they’re as applicable today in the 21st century, as they were in the 1st century. And what’s amazing is that the more you dig, the more you’ll find—this is true for the entire Bible. For example, while the crowds listening in on Jesus would’ve been shocked by the story, it’s likely for different reasons than us. Here’s why.

On the surface, it seems foolish that the man would first tear down his barns before building bigger ones. Perhaps his older barns were dilapidated? Or maybe he didn’t have enough land for additional barns? Both seem unlikely because this man was already rich, even before his year of plenty, which means he likely took care of his property.

And it’s not like we’re talking about Manhattan here, so the fact that he already had more than one barn shows us that he likely had room to build more. So why didn’t he just add on to his additional barns? And if he was already rich, why didn’t he give some of his crops away?

While these are the questions that naturally come to mind for a 21st century reader, Jesus’ initial listeners would’ve been shocked for different reasons.

Try reading through the parable again and counting how many times the rich man uses the personal pronoun. And did you notice to whom he was speaking?

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In Doers We Trust?

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Blank stare. Tossed hair. And a longing to be elsewhere.

If you’re up for it, let’s play a game of “Guess Who?” It’s simple. Just try and guess who I’m looking at right now.

Hangry, irritable, and unable to focus.

Is a picture of someone forming in your mind? Here are a few more descriptors: Piles of dirty laundry, protein bar wrappers in the trash, and a cup of coffee that’s been warmed up one too many times.

If you guessed a prisoner, an executive, or a working parent, you’re close, but not quite there yet. If you guessed yourself, you’re closer, but that probably means one of two things—you’re either sleep deprived or a doer.

Recently, one of the largest online marketplaces for freelancers ran an ad campaign in New York subways plastering up headshots of doers and excerpts from their interviews. They called this campaign, “The Year of Do,” with the catchy tag line, “In Doers We Trust.”

Here’s the excerpt from the ad I’m looking at, “You eat a coffee for lunch. You follow through on your follow through. Sleep deprivation is your drug of choice. You might be a doer.”

Apparently doing has become a badge of honor. A status symbol. And the way to define ourselves.

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7 Lies The World Tells Us, 7 Biblical Truths That God Tells Us

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Did you know that there’s a YouVersion Bible Reading Plan to go along with my newest book?

It’s seven days long and a great way to dig deeper and reflect on the 7 biblical truths that are on the flip side of the 7 lies that the world is shouting at us.

I want to invite you to start this reading plan today, and perhaps you can invite a few friends to join you while you’re at it!

Click here to get started.

A New (or Ancient) Way of Addressing the Lies of our Culture

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The gig economy affects everyone and everything. It’s the new normal and it matters.

But as I’ve been sharing over the past few weeks, it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. The seven lies of the gig economy all hold a critical role in the way that you see yourself, but they are not the way to see yourself because they all come up short.

They’re incomplete precisely because they’re half-truths. As a result, there are unintended consequences behind each and every one of them.

This is why you can’t let any of these lies become the primary lens through which you view yourself, and also why we’re so particularly vulnerable to these lies.

Living according to the lies of the gig economy is like living in chains.

It’s tiring.

It’s a grind and a hustle just to try and keep up. And it’s actually a fool’s game because you will never feel caught up.

Living according to the lies of the gig economy is like living in chains.
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The Unintended Consequences of the Gig Economy

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In our culture today, doing has become a badge of honor.

It’s become a status symbol and the way to define ourselves.

The same is true with the rest of the lies of the gig economy that I breakdown in my new book, You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love.

Doing has become a badge of honor. It’s become a status symbol and the way to define ourselves.
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Our sense of meaning and significance have become tied to our experiences, our relationships, our knowledge, our stuff, our children and our past. However, the thing with each of these lies is that they all have unintended consequences.

  • A life of doing leads to a life of worrying
  • A life of experiences leads to a life of comparison
  • A life seeking acceptance from others leads to a loss of self
  • A life focused on the pursuit of knowledge leads to a life of despair
  • A life amassing stuff leads to a life of imprisonment
  • A life that revolves around your children leads to a life of narcissism
  • And a life lived in the past leads to a life of regret and pain
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Cauliflower, Podcasting, and Amazon Prime

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(The following is an excerpt from the Introduction of my newest book, You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love)

If there’s anything constant in life, it’s change.

Just consider how commonplace cauliflower, podcasting, and Amazon Prime have become—and how quickly it’s happened.

If there’s anything constant in life, it’s change.
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Growing up, no one ever talked about cauliflower, let alone wanted to eat the tasteless and smelly thing.

Yet recently, you’ve probably tried (or heard of) cauliflower rice, cauliflower pizza crust, cauliflower buffalo wings, or cauliflower tots. And if you haven’t, your friends have. Now just to give you a sense of its meteoric rise, in a short span of three years, Green Giant has gone from harvesting five to thirty acres of cauliflower each week. That’s 100,000 heads of cauliflower every single day! And they are just one of the many companies that have hopped on the cauliflower bandwagon.

A similar thing has happened with podcasting.

When I started listening to podcasts in 2008, it was a multistep process that required a computer. Today, however, with the ubiquity of smartphones, listening to podcasts has become so commonplace and normal that the question has shifted from “Have you heard of podcasts?” to “Which podcasts do you listen to?” In fact, in the last five years, close to half of all Americans and Canadians tuned into their first podcast episode.

And let’s not forget the explosive growth of Amazon Prime.

Now that more than half of all American households are subscribing members, isn’t it odd to meet someone who doesn’t have it? It’s definitely become the exception, rather than the norm.

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The New “Normal” and Why It Matters

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Our definition of “normal” has changed—seemingly overnight.

For example, working a steady nine-to-five job isn’t normal anymore. And waiting until you’re retired to explore the world, try new experiences, eat delicious food and enjoy life isn’t normal either—if retirement is even a thing anymore.

What’s now “normal” is this desire that we all have for freedom and flexibility, which conveniently is exactly what the gig economy promises.

A desire for freedom and flexibility is the new normal—and this is exactly what the gig economy promises.
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And contrary to common belief, this is not just something that affects those in their 20s and 30s. According to the research, there are people in every generation who have side hustles because this desire for freedom and flexibility has become our new oxygen. It’s the air we breathe and the water we drink. In fact, it’s become so commonplace that it’s no longer the exception—and it’s affecting everything and everyone.

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You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love

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Two years ago, the editors from B&H Publishing Group sent me a text message:

That’s it. That’s your next book.

I wasn’t planning on writing another book this soon, nor did I ever envision writing one on this topic, but once they sent me that text message, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head.

I was at a conference speaking on the implications of the gig economy for the church and for church leaders.

And that’s all it was supposed to be—a talk that was birthed out of research that I stumbled onto.

But once I started to think through (and research) the implications of the gig economy on everyday life, I was convinced. This book had to be written—and I guess it was going to be by me.

In the last few years, there’s been a significant shift in the way that we approach work, life, and love.

And it’s all because of the rise of the side hustle—or the gig economy as experts like to put it. It’s become the new normal. In fact, these days, if you don’t have one, you’re likely funding someone else’s.

The side hustle—or the gig economy—has become the new normal.
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But here’s the thing, this is not some sort of neutral and harmless shift in culture. There’s actually a complex and fragile web of lies holding it all together, leading to a devastating pile of unintended consequences.

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Church Leader! The Gig Economy Matters and This is Why

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The gig economy is the new normal and it’s changing everyday life.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can read last week’s article for context. But last week, I addressed seven ways the gig economy is affecting everyone in our culture today—especially those in your church.

In short, the gig economy is changing the way that we view ourselves—and it’s not for the better.

Here’s the thing though. The gig economy not only affects everyone in your church—whether they’re Christian or not—but it also affects your leaders and how you should approach leadership in the church.

Let’s start with your changing congregation.

On a practical level, since the gig economy is the new normal, this means that close to half of your congregation is probably working more than one job.

Close to half of your church is probably working more than one job.
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So have you considered how this should affect:

  • Your approach to streaming your service?
  • Attendance patterns and measuring engagement in your church?
  • Preaching on and discipling your church on issues of faith and work?
  • When and how you offer leadership development and training?

On a side note, if you haven’t read chapter three of my book, No Silver Bullets, where I talk about the shift that we need to make “from being the sage on the stage to being the guide on the side,” you’re going to want to pick it up. In that chapter, I illustrate how you can flip the classroom and offer both a high tech and high touch approach to leadership development

There’s also the issue of money and multiplication.

If you’ve read anything on movements—particularly church planting movements—you’ll know that money and education are two massively stifling factors to movemental energy.

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The Gig Economy and Leadership in the Church

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When I moved to Nashville in 2014, I noticed something.

I didn’t realize how critical of a trend it was going to become, the extent that it was going to impact everyday life, the rapid rate at which it was growing, or how it was going to become the new normal, but it seemed like everyone had a side hustle or a gig.

Okay, maybe not everyone, but close to half of the people I met.

And for the majority of them, these gigs weren’t their main source of income—a lot of them were hustling, contracting, and moonlighting on the side to earn some extra cash, pay down debt, or save up for a vacation.

It was kind of like cauliflower, podcasting, and Amazon Prime—no matter where you went, it was hard to miss.

Heck, even I was a part of this trend with all the writing, podcasting, consulting, and speaking I was doing on the side.

At first, I thought this was an American thing, since I had just moved to the States, but after talking to friends in Canada, reflecting back on the time my wife and I lived in Korea, and doing some research, I quickly realized how much of a global trend this was becoming—and how rapidly it was growing.

Have you seen it? Do you know anyone with a side hustle? Or gigging?

Where they’re working multiple jobs? Where at least one of those jobs is them working for themselves?

  • Perhaps they’re selling things on Facebook Marketplace?
  • Doing a side job as a contractor?
  • Driving for Uber or Lyft?
  • Freelancing?
  • Delivering food for Grubhub or Skip a Dish?
  • Renting out their place on Airbnb?
  • Or how about someone who has quit their full-time job, with guaranteed salary and benefits, to start their own thing?

It’s called the gig economy and it’s become the new normal.

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