Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

leadership

Why You Might Be Feeling Busy

By

Are you busy?

I’m not asking whether or not your calendar or plate is “full.” I’m asking whether you feel busy, rushed, or hurried deep within?

One researcher discovered that many Christians fall into a vicious cycle of busyness that leads to distraction from God:

  1. “Christians are assimilating a culture of busyness, hurry and overload, which leads to…
  2. God becoming more marginalized in Christians’ lives, which leads to…
  3. A deteriorating relationship with God, which leads to…
  4. Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions about how to live, which leads to…
  5. More conformity to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload. And then the cycle begins again.” [1]

This year, I want to challenge you to actively resist that.

That impulse inside of you, which makes you believe you are what you do. That whisper inside your head, which causes you to think your worth comes from your output. And that voice from our culture, which glorifies the busy and vilifies the idle.

That. That thing. That impulse. That whisper. That voice. In 2021, let’s together resist THAT.

I love how Ruth Haley Barton puts it in her book, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership,

When we keep pushing forward without taking adequate time for rest and replenishment, our way of life may seem heroic, but there is a frenetic quality to our work that lacks true effectiveness because we have lost the ability to be present to God, to be present to other people and to discern what is really needed in our situation. The result can be “sloppy desperation”: a mental and spiritual lethargy that prevents the quality of presence that would deliver true insight and spiritual leadership…When we are rested, however, we bring steady, alert attention that is characterized by true discernment about what is truly needed in our situation, and the energy and creativity to carry it out.[2]

The path to resisting that, is not found in holidays, vacations, or getting away.

Freedom from busyness is not found in holidays, vacations, or getting away.
Click To Tweet

The path to resistance is the Sabbath—one day a week where we are not doing what we have to do, but a day where we get to be. It’s a day to rest, a day to rejoice, and a day to worship.

The Sabbath is that day—once a week—where we are reminded that we are not human doings, but human beings, and that God is God, not us.

The Sabbath is that day where we remember that God did not rest on the seventh day because He was tired, but because He knew how much we needed it. And heck, if HE RESTED, what excuse do we have not to?

The path to resistance is the Sabbath—one day a week where we are not doing what we have to do, but a day where we get to be.
Click To Tweet

I love how Mark Buchanan describes the Sabbath in his book, The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring the Sabbath,

Sabbath is that one day. It is a reprieve from what you ought to do, even though the list of oughts is infinitely long and never done. Oughts are tyrants, noisy and surly, chronically dissatisfied. Sabbath is the day you trade places with them: they go in the salt mine, and you go out dancing. It’s the one day when the only thing you must do is to not do the things you must. You are given permission— issued a command, to be blunt—to turn your back on all those oughts. You get to willfully ignore the many niggling things your existence genuinely depends on—and is often hobbled beneath—so that you can turn to whatever you’ve put off and pushed away for lack of time, lack of room, lack of breath. You get to shuck the have-tos and lay hold of the get-tos.[3]

Wow. Sabbath is that day once a week where we get to “shuck the have-tos and lay hold of the get-tos.” I love that.

Sabbath is that day once a week where we get to ‘shuck the have-tos and lay hold of the get-tos.’
Click To Tweet

Here’s the thing though. It will be nearly impossible to start practicing the Sabbath, unless you first edit the other six days.

Did you catch that? You can’t just add the Sabbath onto your proverbial list of to-dos. If you take that approach, the Sabbath will feel more like a burden than a blessing.

Practicing the Sabbath is a re-orientation to life, a re-orientation to ministry, a re-orientation to priorities, and a re-orientation to grocery shopping, vacuuming, and all the other “have-tos” of life. We must edit the other six days before we can start practicing the Sabbath.

We must edit the other six days before we can start practicing the Sabbath.
Click To Tweet

So this year, what do you need to move to the other six days, so that you can observe the Sabbath?

I’ll leave you with a few words from Ruth Haley Barton on this matter,

Sabbath keeping is the linchpin of a life lived in sync with the rhythms that God himself built into our world, and yet it is the discipline that seems hardest for us to live. Sabbath keeping honors the body’s need for rest, the spirit’s need for replenishment and the soul’s need to delight itself in God for God’s own sake. It begins with the willingness to acknowledge the limits of our humanness and then to take steps to live more graciously within the order of things.

And the first order of things is that we are creatures and God is the Creator. God is the one who is infinite; I, on the other hand, must learn to live within the physical limits of time and space and the human limits of my own strength and energy. There are limits to my relational, emotional, mental and spiritual capacities. I am not God. God is the only one who can be all things to all people. God is the only one who can be two places at once. God is the one who never sleeps. I am not. We can’t remind ourselves of this enough. This is pretty basic stuff, but many of us live as though we don’t know it.[4]

Let’s ensure that this is the year we have a weekly rhythm of being still and knowing that He is God by practicing the Sabbath.

*My article here was originally published on January 27, 2021 on Impactus.

[1] Ruth Haley Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, 118.

[2] Ruth Haley Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, 120.

[3] Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God, Location 1443.

[4] Ruth Haley Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, 122.

Before Changing Things In Your Church, Read This First!

By

Everything has changed.

Okay, maybe not everything, but doesn’t it sort of seem like everything’s different?

Sure, there are the in-your-face differences like masks, social distancing, online school, and the run-for-the-mountain reflex when someone sneezes, but more than all of that, I find it’s the subtle differences that scare me the most. Things like that subtle anxiety when someone gets too close or the crowd is too large, or that subtle knot in your stomach when you wonder whether your church auditorium will ever be full again. Subtle things like that…

Now at some point in the future, I’m quite certain the in-your-face differences will come to an end and life will return to some semblance of normal, but what about those subtle differences…?

We’re in the middle of some permanent changes to the way we feel, think, and live.

Culture post-COVID is not going to be the same as culture pre-COVID, so what can we do today, since we’re in the middle of it all?

What can we do today to better prepare ourselves to reach our neighbourhoods and cities tomorrow, once COVID is a thing of the past? Especially if you’re a church leader?

What can we do today to better prepare ourselves to reach our neighbourhoods and cities tomorrow, once COVID is a thing of the past? Especially if you’re a church leader?
Click To Tweet

Isn’t the answer to introduce change?

Yes, it certainly is. But where to start?

In my book, No Silver Bullets: Five Small Shifts that will Transform Your Ministry, I talk about change this way:

Any change you try to implement in your church has one of three fates. 1) It’ll never get off the ground because it will be seen as a bacteria, virus, or foreign matter and subsequently be rejected. 2) The change will happen, but because it doesn’t fit into your vision, strategy, and values, you will inevitably end up changing things again. 3) The change will move you closer to the vision, strategy, and values that God has called you to embrace because you started with discernment by using the three steps for introducing change.


Here’s where most church leaders get things wrong.

We get so excited about the change—or some program that we’ve seen work elsewhere—that we completely forget that we’re introducing this change into a living, breathing, organism (the church) made up of living, breathing, organisms (people).

What I don’t want to do is tell you what you need to change, or even give you a few suggestions on things to change. Instead, I want to advise you to pause, take a step back, and assess what kind of culture your church currently has: Are you a Copy Cat Church, Silver Bullet Church, Hippie Church, or an Intentional Church?

Once you figure this out, your path forward will be abundantly clear.

Pause, take a step back, and assess what kind of culture your church currently has.
Click To Tweet

In the first chapter of No Silver Bullets, I’ve included a full explanation of the Influences Matrix (above diagram), and also a few assessments that will help you discern where your church is at, so that you can figure out where you need to go.

Instead of trying to copy and paste all of that into this post, I thought it’d be better just to give you all of that for free. So if you click here, you can download the first chapter for free to discern where you’re at and what needs to change as we adjust to our new post-COVID reality of life.

Friends, don’t waste this pandemic.

Please see it as an opportunity to be a student of your church, so that you can prayerfully discern what needs to change moving forward, in order for your church to be a sign, instrument, and foretaste of the kingdom of God in your neighbourhood, town, or city.

Don’t change things until you first start here.

Don’t waste this pandemic. Please see it as an opportunity to be a student of your church.
Click To Tweet

The Role of Mentors in Healthy Leadership Succession

By

Two years ago, Christina and I started our journey back to Edmonton by first praying and seeking God’s face for His will and His ways.

In addition to saturating this entire process in prayer, we also sought the counsel of others who had gone before us in making similar transitions. After all, it says in Proverbs 15:22, “Plans fail when there is no counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”

While this might seem like I’m just name dropping, I want to take the time to publicly acknowledge and thank those who have invested in us through prayer and wise biblical counsel, as we sought God’s will and ways to enter into this succession process at Beulah Alliance Church.

I know I’m going to miss some people, so I apologize in advance, but a huge thank you to Todd Adkins, Ed Stetzer, Eric Geiger, Kevin Peck, Josh Patterson, Kevin Queen, TJ Tims, Chris Freeland, Ron Edmondson, Matt Boda, Brent Trask, Phil Kniesel, Sean Morgan, Carey Nieuwhof, Bill Willits, Gregg Matte, and Brent Dolfo.

This past year in particular though, Dave Stone has been instrumental in my life.

As a humble and godly leader who has been on both ends of healthy succession, I couldn’t think of a better pastor to mentor me and guide our church and leadership through this process. At Southeast Christian Church, he followed Bob Russell, a 40 year founding pastor, then, after 13 years, he passed the leadership baton to Kyle Idleman.

As I’ve been preparing to step into this Lead Pastor role, Dave has been a deep well of wisdom who has been walking with us closely. One of the things that he graciously agreed to do was to speak to our broader church family to help us understand what healthy leadership succession looks like.

Here’s his message:

https://youtu.be/aOpA0ZgMm4w?t=2260

Thank you for praying for Christina and me, and our broader church family as we continue this succession process over the next few months.

The Gift of Reading

By

This Christmas, what would it look like if you gave the gift of reading?

Through a few of my favorite quotes, here’s why a book sometimes makes the best gift:

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” – Margaret Fuller
Click To Tweet

“Reading maketh a full man; speaking, a ready man, writing, an exact man.” – Francis Bacon
Click To Tweet

“Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.” – Napoleon
Click To Tweet

“If a man is known by the company he keeps, so also his character is reflected in the books he reads.” – Oswald Sanders
Click To Tweet

“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: They feed the soul.” – Anne Lamott
Click To Tweet

To make it easy for you, I wanted to share a few of my favourite books from this past year, who you could possibly give them to, and why:

1. Stop Taking Sides by Adam Mabry

This book is for the person in your life who sees everything as black and white. It’s for the person who struggles with the tension of living and being in the middle. This book is an incredibly insightful treatise on today’s biblical and cultural tensions.

2. The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb: Searching for Jesus’ Path of Power in a Church that Has Abandoned It by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel

If you know a pastor or a leader who has been troubled by the recent implosion of other pastors and leaders, this book is for them. It’s simultaneously insightful, timely, and a good wake up call for anyone in leadership

3. Future Church: Seven Laws of Real Church Growth by Will Mancini and Cory Hartman

This is for all of your pastor friends. Post-quarantine and post-pandemic, this book will give the pastors in your life insight into the future of the church.

4. BLESS: 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World by Dave and Jon Ferguson

If you are wondering how to love your neighbours and easily share the love of Jesus with them, look no further. There is no simpler way to normalize the Great Commission and sharing the gospel than B.L.E.S.S..

5. You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love by Daniel Im

I know this might seem like a selfish plug, but I really do believe that my newest book has an incredibly timely message for today. This book is for the mom who’s rediscovering herself as her children are growing older. For the dad who’s wrestling through the tension of being present for his children, while also trying to make ends meet and provide for his family. For the student who is not convinced that a traditional nine-to-five job is right for them. For the individual who wants clarity around their purpose and identity, since there’s such cultural confusion about who we are and where our worth comes from. And for anyone and everyone who is tired of the hustle, grind and go of life and wants to experience something different.

What book would you add to the list?

Kings, Kingdoms, and the Election

By

This week before the U.S. election, I wonder what would happen if every follower of Jesus began praying, “May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Because doesn’t it seem like there’s a kingdom conversation going on? Where as humans, we’re asking, hoping, expecting, and trusting an earthly king (or president) to do what only a heavenly king can do for us?

When the children of God rejected God as their king and instead demanded for a human king, God clearly warned them what would happen. See here in 1 Samuel 8:4-22 CSB,

So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.” When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand wrong, so he prayed to the LORD. But the LORD told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king. They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods. Listen to them, but solemnly warn them and tell them about the customary rights of the king who will reign over them.” Samuel told all the LORD’s words to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “These are the rights of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and put them to his use in his chariots, on his horses, or running in front of his chariots. He can appoint them for his use as commanders of thousands or commanders of fifties, to plow his ground and reap his harvest, or to make his weapons of war and the equipment for his chariots. He can take your daughters to become perfumers, cooks, and bakers. He can take your best fields, vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He can take a tenth of your grain and your vineyards and give them to his officials and servants. He can take your male servants, your female servants, your best cattle, and your donkeys and use them for his work. He can take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves can become his servants. When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you’ve chosen for yourselves, but the LORD won’t answer you on that day.” The people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us. Then we’ll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.” Samuel listened to all the people’s words and then repeated them to the LORD. “Listen to them,” the LORD told Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.” Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Each of you, go back to your city.”

Did you notice the pattern?

God clearly warned the Israelites that human kings will take, take, take, and then take some more.

In asking for a human king, the Israelites were basically saying that they wanted to go back to the kind of life that God rescued them from back in Egypt.

They were rejecting a King who gave them manna to eat in the desert, who gave them water to drink out of rocks, who gave them their daily bread, and who gave them deliverance from a life of slavery under the nations around them. And instead, they wanted to replace that King with another king who would take their food, take their water, take the fruit of their work, and take their sons and daughters for his own use.

What a stark difference.

[Read more…] about Kings, Kingdoms, and the Election