Leadership

Routines, Busyness, and Change

June 5, 2018 By Thom Rainer

I have routines. You have routines. We all have routines.

Whether it’s the way we start our days, commute to work, go to bed, or anything in between, we all have a certain way of doing things. In fact, a recent book on this topic outlined the fact that geniuses—both ancient and modern—tend to live and die by their routines.

Geniuses—both ancient and modern—tend to live and die by their routines.

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Charles Dickens took three-hour walks every afternoon, Mozart had a regimented daily schedule, and Charles Schultz, creator of nearly eighteen thousand Peanuts comic strips, had a ham sandwich and glass of milk almost every day.

So yes, we all have routines. But why? Is it superstition? Laziness? Why is it that we do things the way that we do?

Routines exist because they are the best, most effective, and efficient way to do the things that need to get done. Well, at least, at one point in time they were the best. At one point in time they were the most efficient. And at one point in time we saw first hand just how effective they were.

The same is true for the church. At one point in time, those programs made sense, but do they still today?

When’s the last time you evaluated them? Or have they just become routine? How much of your church is driven by mottos like, “Well that’s the way we’ve always done it,” or, “Don’t rock the boat,” or “What would dear sister Sally do if you changed things? Her deceased husband basically built this church.”

Change or die.

The Mighty Have Fallen. Don’t Join their Ranks.

May 24, 2018 By Daniel Im

My heart is heavy as I write this.

Although we’re all sinful and broken, seeing the mighty fall is painful, heart wrenching, and incredibly sobering.

It makes me want to throw up.

Especially when it involves individuals in the faith who have gone ahead of us, paved the way, ministered locally and globally, and seemed to be living a life of faithfulness to the Lord.

I guess God wanted to shine the light and reveal what was hidden.

And this time, he didn’t use a flashlight; he went for the jugular and used those outdoor flood lights you see at baseball fields.

This declaration by the prophet Daniel seems to be quite fitting for this time,

May the name of God
be praised forever and ever,
for wisdom and power belong to him.
He changes the times and seasons;
he removes kings and establishes kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to those
who have understanding.
He reveals the deep and hidden things;
he knows what is in the darkness,
and light dwells with him.
(Daniel 2:20-22, CSB)

Jesus puts it another way,

For nothing is concealed that won’t be revealed, and nothing hidden that won’t be made known and brought to light. (Luke 8:17, CSB)

Though sin might feel like a personal thing that you can hide, it will eventually come to light.

AI, Google Assistant, Robotics, the Church, and Your Faith

May 15, 2018 By Daniel Im

Are you paying attention to the rapid advancements in AI?

We often joke that Siri, Alexa, or Google are listening into our conversations to gather data and serve us up with targeted advertisements, but they know better and would obviously never admit to that (ask any one of those assistants if they’re spying on you to see what they say). So if they aren’t, then why does the internet increasingly feel personal and up in our business?

AI, or artificial intelligence

Recently, Google stunned the tech world (and everyone else) with their new Assistant. You can watch it in action here, but here’s basically what they showcased: the ability to call a human being and have it intelligently make an appointment for you!

Can you believe that? That wasn’t a human making the appointment for you!

Have you heard of Move 37?

A couple years ago, Lee Sedol and AlphaGo faced off in a historic Go match where the 37th move made history. If you’re not familiar with Go, it’s “an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent.”[1] It was invented over 2500 years ago in China and is exponentially more complex than chess (fun fact: it’s one of the few games that I’ve yet to beat my dad in).

This match was partly so historical, not just because one of the world’s best Go players (Lee Sedol) lost, but because he lost to a bot. Okay, maybe “bot” isn’t the right word to describe AlphaGo, but the fact of the matter is that AlphaGo is not a human—it is an artificially intelligent machine designed by DeepMind, a London AI lab owned by Google.

Change or Die: A Few Steps to Effectively Introduce Change

May 8, 2018 By Daniel Im

“It takes courage to be a change leader in the church. Opposition and resistance often come frequently and fiercely. But too much is at stake to do otherwise. . . . The choice is simple: change or die.”

Thom Rainer, in his book Who Moved My Pulpit?, couldn’t be more right in his statement here. The fact is, if there’s anything constant in ministry and in life, it’s change. (I wrote an article here on Leading Change in the Church).

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

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When it comes to introducing change, your change initiative will face one of three fates:

Thinking of Starting a Podcast? Don’t! Until you read this…

April 24, 2018 By Daniel Im

I love podcasts. They’re informative, inspirational, (can be) fun, but best of all, they’re FREE…

…well, that is, they’re free to the listener, but they are actually quite the investment (time + money) for the host.

And that’s something that I can personally speak into.

According to a 2017 survey from Edison Research,

40% of Americans had ever listened to a podcast, which is up significantly from 11% in 2006
18-34 year olds are the largest group of listeners, making up 44% of the group, with 35-54 year olds coming in a close second at 33%
Average listeners typically tune into five podcasts per week, are subscribed to six, and mostly listen at home or while driving

Though it’s been 10+ years since I first entered the world of podcasting as a listener, I’ve actually been recording my own podcasts since 2015.

I’m the co-host of three:

And as of April 2018, I’ve recorded more than 350 episodes on the three I co-host, as well as other ones I’ve been interviewed on as a guest.

In other words, I know the cost of starting and maintaining a podcast, and it’s definitely not free for the host!

But if you’re committed to it for a certain length of time, and have determined a clear purpose and reason for doing it, then it can be a fun endeavor to undertake.

I’ll talk about equipment options below, but let me get to the reason I’m writing this in the first place.