Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Leadership

5 Ways to Find Your Way Back to God

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What happens when you search for God with all your heart?

According to Scripture and personal experience, you find God.

You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13 CSB)

Is there a pattern for this journey back to God? Or is everyone’s journey unique?

The answer is a resounding, yes. Yes there is a pattern, but everyone’s journey is also unique.

In Finding Your Way Back to God, Dave and Jon Ferguson have uncovered five universal awakenings that humans journey though as they find their way back to God. And as you’ll see through the stories that I’ll share from the book here, everyone’s journey is truly unique. So buckle up and get ready. These stories will help you see that as much as we need to find our way back to God, “God wants to be found even more than you want to find him.” [1]

God wants to be found even more than you want to find him.

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1. Awakening to Longing: “There’s got to be more.”

Each of the five awakenings are summarized with a prayer. Here’s the prayer for this first awakening,

“God, if you are real, make yourself real to me. Awaken in me the ability to see that you are what’s missing from my life.” [2]

Let me share with you one of the stories from the book that perfectly illustrate the way that we can find our way back to God through this awakening to longing.

Several years ago I had dinner with my friend and mentor Bob Buford. For much of his life, Bob ran a successful cable television company. After his son, Ross, tragically died, Bob came to a point in his life he called “Halftime.” He wrote a book by that title that tells how he moved from focusing on success to focusing on significance. What Bob said at dinner has stayed with me ever since: “One of people’s great fears is running out of money, but that’s not their greatest fear. Another significant fear people have is the fear of dying, but that’s not people’s greatest fear either.” He paused and said, “Deep down, our single greatest fear is to live a life of insignificance, to come to the end of our life and feel like we never really did anything that mattered. That is our greatest fear.”

Are you feeling like you are stuck in the same old, same old? Do you have a gut feeling that there’s got to be more? Author and theologian Frederick Buechner points us in the right direction when he says, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” [3]

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

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2. Awakening to Regret: “I wish I could start over.”

“God if you are real, make yourself real to me. Awaken in me the possibility that with you I could start over again.” [4]

In this second section of the book, there is a compelling story about Scott and Kirsten, and the changes they chose to make after awakening to regret.

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Are You a Life-Giving Christian?

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After having lived and pastored in six major cities in three countries around the world, I’m often asked the question, “Which is your favorite?”

When I was younger, I’d reminisce about the mountains in Vancouver, the frozen river canal in Ottawa, the International Jazz Festival in Montreal, or the skyscrapers in Seoul. However, after packing and moving for the thousandth time—or so it feels—I finally feel like I have an adequate answer to that question.

It depends. That’s it—it depends.

It depends on whether or not I approached the city with the posture to give or take. It depends on whether or not I came with the desire to bless or an attitude of entitlement. Did I go to harvest or to plant? Did the city exist for my benefit, or did I exist for its benefit?

—— Enter the giveaway at the bottom of this article for a chance to win one of four copies of Todd Korpi’s book, The Life-Giving Spirit: The Victory of Christ in Missional Perspective. ——

Every week, Christians in your city are wrestling with a similar tension.

Should I go to church or to the lake? Should I participate in a small group or watch the game on TV. Should I open up the Bible app or Facebook?

Every week, when people enter the doors of your church, they are either coming with the posture to give or take. They are either coming to serve or be served. They are coming to bless the Lord or be blessed by the Lord. They are coming to give worship or take information and inspiration from the sermon. It’s a subtle difference, but your posture changes everything.

This reminds me of this one particular phrase that Todd repeats in his book, The Life-Giving Spirit: The Victory of Christ in Missional Perspective, “If every breath we inhale is from God, then every breath we exhale should be for God.”

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Music and Your Brain, Worship and Your Heart

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My children love to sing and dance. So oftentimes after dinner, we’ll goof around, turn up the tunes, and sing songs with one another.

No, not like the von Trapp family—albeit, we have sung, “Doe, a deer, a female deer” more than once…

One particular evening, I began singing “A Whole New World” from Disney’s Aladdin. I always loved the melody as a child, but while I was teaching it to my children, I quickly realized something about the lyrics—I didn’t agree with them! And I definitely did not want my children being influenced by those horrible lyrics.

“No one to tell us no? Or where to go?”

I didn’t want my children saying that to me! And I definitely did not want them to leave me…at least not yet.

The thing about music is that it deeply shapes us—often without us recognizing the full extent of its influence.

In one study, three professors from Harvard and Boston College discovered that children who had three years or more musical instrument training performed better than those who didn’t learn an instrument in auditory discrimination abilities and fine motor skills. They also tested better on vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning skills, which involve understanding and analyzing visual information.

What’s interesting about this study is that you would naturally expect someone who is learning an instrument to develop in their fine motor skills, which they did. However, you wouldn’t necessarily expect someone who’s learning an instrument to grow in their vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning skills! It’s amazing how the brain is wired and how music shapes your brain.

Similarly, have you ever considered the way worship shapes your heart?

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How to Improve Your Leadership…Immediately!

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I have three young children, so our house is well stocked with Band-Aids.

Not adhesive bandages, but Band-Aids…you know, the name brand kind that have Disney-Pixar characters on them. Now before you go and think I’m raising entitled children, let me explain the backstory.

When my children were younger, Christina and I refused to buy the over-priced character Band-Aids. We bought the generic kind with no designs. I then would take a pen and draw a smiley face, panda, or bunny on it.

My children loved it. They didn’t think it was cheap, by any means! After all, I was giving them a custom, handcrafted, one-of-a-kind bandage to cover up their cut, scrape, or wound. Unfortunately, that only worked when they were toddlers. Now, the only thing that is acceptable, in their opinion, is a Band-Aid with a character on it.

Oh how things change…

Alright, design aside, I’ve found that Band-Aids do actually work better than the generic kind. They last longer and do a better job keeping the water out, which is actually part of the problem. Since the cheap ones often come off within the day, my children will remind me that they need a new one. However, with Band-Aids, if I’m not paying attention, days might pass before I remember to change it.

This is fine if I remembered to clean the wound and treat it with an antibiotic before covering it with a Band-Aid. But what if I didn’t? What if I just put the Band-Aid on immediately after, and didn’t take time to clean or treat it? And then I left it on for a few days without checking it?

My children would likely get an infection at best. At worst, they’d need surgical debridement and antibiotics.

This is because Band-Aids are just that…they’re an aid to the healing process. They can’t do it alone.

Have you ever been given a “stretch” assignment?

Something that you’ve never done before? Something that you had to go get help to complete? Something that you had to research and develop new skills for, in order to get it done?

Leaders use “stretch” assignments to challenge individuals on their team. They know that it’s extra work and that the team member might not be ready for it, but it’s a way to discover potential and build capacity. Essentially, it’s a real life test of an individual’s competency, character, tenacity, and grit.

Stretch assignments are a real life test of an individual’s competency, character, and grit.

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However, it’s important to note that completion of the assignment, in and of itself, is not the only goal. The way the team member reacts to the assignment, prioritizes it, and works through it is just as important:

  • How did they react when given the assignment?
  • Did they ask clarifying questions immediately? Or later?
  • How did they prioritize the assignment in light of their existing workload?
  • How did it affect performance in their other work?
  • Did they recruit others to help?
  • Did they delegate it, dump it, or do it?

“Stretch” assignments, when used appropriately, will move your team members out of boredom and comfort, to a new level of effectiveness and productivity. When overused, however, they have the potential to lead to burnout.

So use them…with caution.

Are “Stretch” Assignments Band-Aid Solutions?

When used by themselves, yes they are.

“Stretch” assignments aid the development of leaders, but they’re not the way to develop leaders. They’re not a silver bullet solution.

If you’re serious about “stretching” the individuals on your team and in your church, you need to think about competencies and culture. More specifically, I’m referring to the people development competency and a developmental culture.

After all, which would you rather have? Hirelings or owners?

When your team members are engaged in their work, they’re more likely to own what they do, go the extra mile, and do one more thing.

If your team is engaged in their work, they’re more likely to go the extra mile.

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In fact, in Gallup’s extensive research on engagement, they discovered that there’s a correlation between being developed at work and an individual’s level of engagement. In their Q12 survey, there are several statements focused on measuring an employee’s development, such as,

  • There is someone at work who encourages my development
  • In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress
  • This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow

How would you answer these questions for those on your team? How would people on your team answer those questions?

In order to “stretch” individuals to greater levels of performance, productivity, and potential, yes, you can leverage “stretch” assignments, but first, you need to clean and treat the wound, so that it doesn’t become a Band-Aid solution.

In other words, you need to create a culture of development and identify what proficiency looks like in the people development competency.

When you do this, “stretch” assignments cease to be one-offs or Band-Aid solutions to problems. Instead, they become a part of a larger framework devoted to developing every team member to their fullest potential for kingdom impact.

Share the Good Stuff

In conclusion, use “stretch” assignments. They’re good and they work well in light of the caveats above. But when you do hand out “stretch” assignments, resist the urge to delegate what you don’t like doing. Share the good stuff. Share something that you love doing.

Who knows? They might discover a way to do it better. And the whole team would be better for it.

Stretch assignments can move you out of boredom and comfort, to a new level of effectiveness.

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Mass Gatherings and Movements

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The year 2011 was the year of social media, mass gatherings, and movements, or as we now know it, The Arab Spring.

It’s believed to have all started in Tunisia when a 26-year-old man, who was trying to sell fruits and vegetables in order to support his widowed mother and six siblings, had his cart confiscated and was slapped by a policewoman. Humiliated and full of rage, he set himself on fire in front of a government building. This wasn’t the first time an instance like this had happened, but when it was captured by cellphone cameras and shared on the Internet, everything changed. This act of injustice, which led to the President of Tunisia fleeing the country a month later, awakened a sleeping giant across the Middle East. Just consider what else happened that year:

  • January 14, 2011: Government overthrown in Tunisia
  • February 11, 2011: Government overthrown in Egypt; President Mubarak resigns facing charges of killing unarmed protestors
  • February 15, 2011: Anti-government protests begin in Libya, and on October 20, Gaddafi is killed.

And the list goes on and on with Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, and Oman.

Mass gatherings, riots, and movements are nothing new.

Just consider when over 200,000 people gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to hear Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech in 1963. Or what about the L.A. Race Riots of 1992 and the Ferguson, Missouri, riots of 2014? Then there are the riots that I am personally most embarrassed of—not because I was there, but because this was my home city—when, in 2011, the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup 4-0 against the Boston Bruins.

Fans went insane. Police cars were set on fire, shops were looted, glass was broken, and cars were overturned. It was chaos.

And at the end of 2016, let’s not forget the massive movement where millions came out protesting and calling for the impeachment of Park Geun-Hye, then President of South Korea.

We remember moments like these because people gathered. And when they gathered, they did something together they wouldn’t have been able to do by themselves. They saw both the dificulties and possibilities so clearly that they were able to visualize a different reality. This vision for a golden tomorrow has fueled movements in the past and is what will spark a church multiplication movement today.

Vision has fueled movements in the past and is what will spark a movement today.

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A Golden Tomorrow: Planting 1,000 Churches

Subtract your age from the number 80. Now take that number, and add it to this year’s number. What year do you get? 2050? 2070? 2090?

What if I told you that it’s possible to plant 1,000 churches before you get to that year? 1,000 churches in your lifetime? Would you believe me?

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