Beyond Church and Parachurch

 

Issue No. 689 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Aug. 28, 2026) celebrates 20 years of busting your book budget. Take the pop quiz below for church leaders and parachurch leaders. Plus, click here for back issues posted at the new location for John Pearson’s Buckets Blog, including my review of Strike Season: The True Story of a Team That Played on When the Coaches Walked Out, by Michael Eck. Plus, check out these bite-sized podcasts (7 to 9 minutes)—perfect for your weekly staff meeting.   Every time I tried to type “parachurch,” my autocorrect typed “parachute.” So I asked AI for some humorous similarities between parachurches and parachutes (see below!).  (Graphic: ChatGPT)   “A Fundamental Deficit in Ecclesiology” (and maybe spelling?) Angie Ward believes it’s time to rethink the whole parachurch thing. But before you delete this review—or question her credentials—read on. Ward is director of the Doctor of Ministry program and associate professor of leadership and ministry at Denver Seminar.  When I learned about Ward’s extensive church and parachurch experience, I was intrigued. Because (and no bias here), anyone who has worked full-time at a Christian camp or conference center deserves a listen. (She served at Fort Wilderness in the beautiful Northwoods of Wisconsin after completing college.) So…I read her book.   Beyond Church and Parachurch:  From Competition to Missional Extension by Angie Ward (May 13, 2025)   First, let me confess. Beyond Church and Parachurch has enjoyed a prominent place on my shelf for over a year now. I shoulda written my review last year—so you could start thinking about her research and insights. Nevertheless, there’s still time to fix this mess. Here are a few thoughts for this 20th anniversary issue of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (too much hoopla?). Ward launches her thesis (or was that an incendiary device?) on page six noting that while church and parachurch leaders pretend we’re all on the “same team”—that’s hardly true. “…the reality is that all of our organizations have their own agendas, and those agendas often contend for the same people and resources.” She adds that “precious little time” is invested in how churches and parachurches currently relate to each other—and how they should relate to each other. Then this zinger:   “I believe this is because the people of God suffer from a fundamental deficit in ecclesiology—that is, a theological understanding of what the church is, what it should be, and what it should do.” I pulled out just five elbows-in-the-ribs for my review. You’ll find dozens more. #1. Parachurch History (Yikes!). Unless you are a student of Christian history, it’s unlikely you know about the roots of God’s work outside of the local church. Ward writes: “While the term ‘parachurch’ is relatively new, the concept has been around for a long time: not just since the twentieth century, the 1850s, or even the Second Great Awakening in the late 1700s, but for as long as the church has been in existence.” Example: monasteries ministered to others in numerous creative ways—and were distinct from the church. And get this: “It should be noted that monasticism, at least for its first eight hundred years, was largely a lay movement.” And this: “Monasticism was especially beneficial for women. Although the number of nuns and abbeys was much smaller, female branches of male orders provided opportunities for women ‘to step free of inherited roles and expectations and opened up new vocations in the church and society.’” Oops! Nonordained monastics were viewed by the church “as a drain on time, personnel, and diocesan finances.” The result: “While monastics often felt opposition from secular clergy, the feeling was mutual, and many monastics held an anticlerical stance.” Been There/Done That! “Then there were questions of authority, not just with the church but among fellow monks of different orders. Conflicts over jurisdiction sometimes caused splits and led to the formation of new religious communities.” (Sound familiar?) All this to say…there is nothing new under the sun, but going deeper into the history and research—and our current church/parachurch “ecosystem”—is both fascinating and productive. Dr. Ward has some ideas and recommendations for us. #2. Parachurch/Parachute? I should note here that every time I tried to type “parachurch,” my autocorrect typed “parachute.” (See the graphic above. LOL!) So I asked ChatGPT for some humorous similarities between parachurches and parachutes. The response:  “Maybe autocorrect got it half right. The best parachurch organizations are a lot like parachutes—they're designed to help people when they're in free fall, but they're never intended to replace the airplane.” #3. Why Read This Book Now? I know. I know. You have a ton of books you lugged with you on your summer vacation—and most of them are still unread. Why this book now? CHURCH POP QUIZ. If you’re a pastor, priest, board member, or on the staff team at a church:    • Are you overwhelmed with requests from parachurches for your best volunteers and most generous donors?     • Do parachurch leaders send you on a guilt trip—or invite you to travel along in what God is doing?    • Does your three-year strategic plan include an intentional blueprint for partnering with parachurches that closely align with your church’s mission? (For more on partnerships, read Phill Butler’s excellent book, Well Connected: Releasing Power, Restoring Hope through Kingdom Partnerships.)    • Have you ever read a book on how to enrich the relationship between church and parachurch? PARACHURCH POP QUIZ. If you’re a parachurch leader or board member:    • Is your current “partnership” strategy with churches more shotgun than strategy?    • Have you ever asked a pastor, “How can we serve YOU?”    • Per Peter Drucker’s five questions, have you ever asked a church leader, “What do you value?”    • Have you ever read a book on how to enrich the relationship between church and parachurch? #4. Staff or Board Retreat Resources. Sometimes…you’re so focused on the day-to-day that you don’t take time to address the big picture—or worse. As the weathered sign from a dirt road in East Texas warns (see page 41 in Mastering the Management Buckets): For your next board or staff retreat, delegate your reading and inspire several people to give mini-reviews of these two foundational books. (See the teasers under #5.)    • The Church & the Parachurch: An Uneasy Marriage, by Jerry White (Read my review.)    • The Prospering Parachurch: Enlarging the Boundaries of God‘s Kingdom, by Wesley K. Willmer and J. David Schmidt, with Martyn Smith (Read my review.) More resources:    • Becoming a Future-Ready Church: 8 Shifts to Encourage and Empower the Next Generation of Leaders, by Daniel Yang, Adelle M. Banks, and Warren Bird (Read my review. View the summary of my review on YouTube.)    • Rooting for Rivals: How Collaboration and Generosity Increase the Impact of Leaders, Charities, and Churches, by Peter Greer and Chris Horst, with Jill Heisey (Read my review.)    • Why Can't Church Be More Like an AA Meeting? by Stephen R. Haynes (Read my review.)     • Eight resources are also listed in the second article here. #5. Teasers. You’ll appreciate the research, the thought, and the boldness to suggest that churches and parachurches can move from “competition to missional extension.” In fact, Dr. Ward suggests we toss the term, “parachurch.” There’s more:    • Why a megachurch in Kentucky has jokingly been called “the biggest Lutheran, Methodist, and Baptist church in the city.”    • The author quotes the late Anglican Bishop Mark Dyer, “About every five hundred years, the Church feels compelled to hold a giant rummage sale.” (See also Mark Matlock’s thoughts on church garage sales!)    • Ward helps convene an annual gathering of church and parachurch leaders to “further the partnership and conversation.” She salutes Jerry White for his groundbreaking work. White wrote this book’s foreword and he also attends the annual gathering (which, apparently, has a limited budget—because the “podium” is actually a music stand!). LOL!    • For your next weekly staff meeting, try a pop quiz on “What is the church?” (See Chapter 5.)    • The author references The Prospering Parachurch (see above) and notes that the authors’ four litmus tests to define a parachurch “can get tricky.”    • Read more about four “bad models” (including “a scarcity mindset”) and five movements (or shifts) including “from empire to kingdom.”    • Read why Sam Metcalf suggests “parachurch” might actually be a “dirty word.” (“Either we’re part of the church or we’re not.”)     • Metcalf again: “No one with a straight face would ever have called Mother Teresa a ‘para-Catholic.’” Thanks for reading. And really, if you’ve been reading Your Weekly Staff Meeting since Aug. 28, 2006, I’m so sorry you’ve spent all that money on books. You could have taken a cruise! For the master lists of books reviewed between 2006 and 2025, visit the Book Bucket. TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Beyond Church and Parachurch: From Competition to Missional Extension, by Angie Ward. (And thanks to InterVarsity Press for sending me a review copy.)     View the new video series, John Pearson's Buckets Podcast, with AI-generated summaries of John's book reviews, including Becoming a Future-Ready Church (8 minutes).   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Who has passion for the issues raised in this book? Maybe we don’t need a committee, but a prayer meeting? 2) Who will read this book—and report back in two weeks with a 10-minute summary and three strategic questions to discuss? 3) What role, if any, do national and international associations and alliances, and others, have in fostering greater “missional extension” between churches and parachurches? (Examples: CCCA, CCCU, Citygate Network, CLA, CMA, ECFA, EFC, GLN, Missio Nexus, NAE, NRB, WEA, and perhaps the Babylon Bee?)        SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #57 of 99: The Unnatural Act of Management For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #57 of 99 in our series, “Second Reads.” The big idea: REREAD TO LEAD! Discover how your favorite books (and articles) still have more to teach you and the people you’re coaching and mentoring. The Unnatural Act of Management:  When the Great Leader's Work Is Done,  the People Say, "We Did It Ourselves" by Everett T. Suters (1992)   While it’s true that you only have a 50/50 chance of success every time you hire a new team member, the interviewing and hiring process does not have to be an anxiety-ridden exercise in Russian roulette. It’s likely this book slipped past you in 1992, but its unique and comprehensive management “story” (complete with a plot, interesting characters, and a company turn-around timeline) is a worthy addition to your reading list.    • Read my review (Issue No. 43, June 25, 2007).    • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #17 of 20: The Operations Bucket. In his story, Everett T. Suters cautions managers to watch for any of the 17 red flags during the interview process. His cautionary warning signs include: 1) being late for the appointment, 2) no resume, 3) disturbing appearance, including poor eye contact, 4) poor communication skills, 5) cannot name any personal weaknesses, 6) no evidence that the person takes initiative—on their own time—to improve themselves, 7) unexplained employment history gaps, 8) low level of formal education, without a legitimate reason, 9) frequent job changes, yet little if any career progress, and 10) overqualified. Other red flags include: 11) unsolicited criticism of former employers and managers, 12) unable to verbalize realistic personal goals, 13) little interest in the scope of the job or the future state of the company, 14) personal problems that could affect performance, 15) inappropriate concern about compensation and benefits, 16) openly expresses radical opinions, and 17) the person does not need to work. I would add these questions:    1. What is the best question you have ever been asked in an interview?     2. Why is life-long learning—improving yourself on your own time—so important to an employer? CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN      View the AI-generated summary of the introduction, “Q&A With Son and Pearson” from the workbook, Mastering Mistake Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—and What I Learned (10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning Workbook), by John Pearson with Jason Pearson. NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here at John Pearson's Buckets Blog. 30 Days Unplugged! VIEW the AI-generated summary (9 minutes) of John’s review of the book, 30 Days Unplugged: How a Catholic Priest Turned Off His iPhone and Took a Call From God, by Father Darrin Merlino. Read John’s review.  MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  • WEBSITE: Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations • PODCASTS: John Pearson's Buckets Podcast Church Competitor? Almost 30 years ago, Wes Willmer and David Schmidt shed light on the parachurch movement with The Prospering Parachurch. Even Billy Graham read their book! Read my review here and more book reviews at the Pails in Comparison Blog.

Chasing Francis

 

Issue No. 213 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (April 5, 2011) features a novel about a washed up megachurch pastor and his new hero, Francis of Assisi, who said, “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”  And this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings. Chase, the megachurch pastor, recalls: “I remember telling our architect that I wanted all the technological goodies you’d find in a world-class performing arts center. Looking back, I realize that what I had asked for was ‘lights, camera, action!’ rather than ‘Father, Son and Holy Ghost.’” (Graphic: ChatGPT)   Defrosting With Francis So this guy walks into a bar. I mean, into a church. A megachurch. In the Sunday morning service, he announces, “My faith is gone.” He’s the senior pastor. (Oops.) He’s also the founder. (Oops again.) The elders attack. He hustles out of town. All the way to Florence, Italy. Hunkers down with caring and fun-loving friars, including Uncle Kenny, who departed his conservative Baptist upbringing to become a Franciscan priest. So embracing the Italian countryside and cappuccinos, this evangelical New England megachurch pastor, Chase Falson, embarks on a spiritual pilgrimage.  He follows the footsteps of Francis.  Chase sees his new hero, Francis of Assisi, as the first postmodern Christian.  This formerly black-and-white, got-all-my-theology-systemized-and-sanctified pastor then learns and experiences a ton of stuff by studying and walking this 13th century priest’s path. A radical path: “It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching,” preaches Francis. This novel novel is a joy to read. It’s part turn-the-page-what’s-gonna-happen-next; part devotional, and part transformational. I tried really hard (I mean really hard) to just read it. No pen. No underlining. Just pray and drink it all in. Impossible. I underlined. I read sections aloud to my wife—even though she had already read it. Joanne really appreciated it (except for the ending). Ditto. Chase journals his thoughts throughout his pilgrimage.  “Looking up from my journal, I stared out at a group of old men feeding pigeons and thought about the condition of God’s house in the twenty-first century. As far as I could tell, it was the only thing in the universe duct tape couldn’t fix.” “Time in Italy has a different symmetry. Days came and went, drawing little attention to themselves; sometimes I couldn’t say if it was Tuesday or Friday. I took walks, ate, spent time with Kenny or one of the guys, and read and wrote in my journal. The deeper I plunged into the heart of Francis, the more courage I found to dive into my own. The more I saw his love for the church and the world, the more inspired I was to follow his lead. I was defrosting.” Should you also plunge into Francis, you’ll experience wide-grin insights (the author could do stand-up comedy) and Holy Spirit nudges around every cobblestoned narrow street: differentiating between beauty and Beauty; peace-loving and peace-making (the story about Rwanda will break your heart); community, communion and the Eucharist; art, architecture and Architect. Friar Peter: “Augustine said the human mind was particularly delighted when truth was presented to it indirectly, like in symbols and sacred space. Unfortunately, most churches today are designed without any sense of the iconic because moderns like straightforward, unambiguous communication. We want ‘worship centers’ where hominess is more important than holiness.” Chase: “I remember telling our architect that I wanted all the technological goodies you’d find in a world-class performing arts center. Looking back, I realize that what I had asked for was ‘lights, camera, action!’ rather than ‘Father, Son and Holy Ghost.’” Warning!  Reading this book brings on sudden and uncontrollable yearnings for Italian food and wine. “Gelato is what heaven would taste like if someone froze it and crammed it into a paper cup.” To order from Amazon, click on the title for Chasing Francis, by Ian Morgan Cron.  (Note: the author was senior pastor of Trinity Church, Greenwich, Conn., and is an ordained Anglican priest. NavPress published the book in 2006.  And special thanks to Bryan Guthrie for recommending this gem!) The latest edition of this book, Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale, was just published on August 11, 2026. Ian Morgan Cron is also the author of The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery.    YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) When it was time to head home (and back to reality), a priest admonished Chase with this reminder: “The pilgrimage is never over.” What would a life-long pilgrimage look like for you? 2) Chase journals: “As long as Christians and the church continue colluding with the powers of consumerism and materialism, our witness is impeded. I won’t be giving any lectures or sermons on it in the near future, though—I’m still the worst of sinners.”  Are 21st century Christ-followers deluding ourselves about having an impact?      Vertical and Horizontal Accountability Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit One of the big ideas in the Budget Bucket, Chapter 15, in Mastering the Management Buckets is to keep your financial house (and people) in order by being accountable. Is financial accountability important in churches and nonprofit organizations? In 2 Corinthians 8:19-21, the Apostle Paul writes, “…taking every precaution against scandal. We don't want anyone suspecting us of taking one penny of this money for ourselves. We're being as careful in our reputation with the public as in our reputation with God.” When you lead and manage your ministry with integrity—and that integrity is affirmed by those outside your organization (like ECFA)—you demonstrate a heart for accountability that honors God, safeguards your staff and board, and provides comfort and confidence to your donors. Don’t be a spiritual Lone Ranger.   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN      NOTICE! As of Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to this blogsite. MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  • WEBSITE: Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations • PODCASTS: John Pearson's Buckets Podcast View an AI-generated summary of my review of Chasing Francis.

The Boys in the Boat

 

Issue No. 313 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Nov. 29, 2014) includes a hot contender for my 2014 book-of-the-year.  Don’t skip this one—it’s an extraordinary read on team-building and leadership. And this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Can't Put This Book Down!" Oh, my. How do I describe this book—and the extraordinary value of reading it together with your team? If I write a dull, been-there-read-that review, you might surmise the book is equally dull. It’s not! What if…I bet the farm and predicted that The Boys in the Boat will be my 2014 book-of-the-year pick? (Would that get your attention?) What if…I said this true story of “Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics” included my pick for the most exquisite description—I’ve ever read—of what a high performance team looks like? What if…I told you that Bill Butterworth, author of On-the-Fly Guide to Building Successful Teams, and a top-rated national speaker, wrote me recently after I reviewed Unbroken? He noted, “Unbroken is the best book I've read in the last couple of years! Wanna know what comes in at Number Two? It's called The Boys in the Boat.  I couldn't put it down."  "Everybody I've recommended it to hates my guts because they can't put it down once they start it.” Bill Butterworth, by the way, was awarded The Hal Holbrook Award by the International Platform Association, whose past and present members include Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, Bob Hope, and Elizabeth Dole. (I’m just throwing that in. See my "P.S." below.) Now…back to the boat book.  Author Daniel James Brown writes narrative nonfiction books and his primary interest as a writer is “in bringing compelling historical events to life as vividly and accurately” as he can. Trust me, he can! Back before American football owned it all, sports fans in the 1930s (a tough time) embraced university rowing teams with remarkable fanaticism. In Seattle, the lake shore crowds at the eight-oar crew races between the University of Washington and the University of California, Berkeley, rivaled the “12th man” stupor over the NFL 2014 Super Bowl champs, the Seattle Seahawks.  What if…I were still leading a team? Here’s how I would leverage the power of this book:    • Buy one book (or Kindle version) for each team member—and provide a “read and reflect” learning tool.    • Plan a team-building retreat in the next 30 to 90 days.    • At the retreat, invest time every morning and evening—listening, listening, and more listening as our team talked about “Elements of Teamwork,” as described in The Boys in the Boat.    • Enjoy every afternoon in an experiential team-building activity: Rowing (if possible), ropes courses, zip lines, climbing walls, confidence courses, etc. (Here’s a resource if you live in Southern California.) Really—the insights, the drama, the real life stuff-in-the-trenches, is so, so insightful. Some, like Butterworth, will read the book non-stop. Others might enjoy slowly savoring each chapter—including the PowerPoint-worthy insights from George Yeoman Pocock, the master craftsman and leading designer and builder of racing shells in the 20th Century: “To be of championship caliber, a crew must have total confidence in each other, able to drive with abandon, confident that no man will get the full weight of the pull…” “Pocock-built shells began to win U.S. Intercollegiate Rowing Association championships in 1923.” According to Wikipedia, “he achieved international recognition by providing the eight-oared racing shells which won gold medals in the 1936 Summer Olympics and again in 1948 and 1952. In this era, nearly every collegiate and sport rowing program in America used wooden shells and oars built by Pocock.” (Check out the mission statement of Pocock Racing Shells--still in business, 100 years later.) Trust me—the reverential side trips down historical alleys are stunning.  Brown excels in fluid detail. One media interviewer called the book "goose-bump-inducing." He skips nothing: Hitler's pre-war propaganda machine; the puff pieces at the 1936 Olympics; the mindset of a 62-foot, hand-built racing shell designer; the post-Depression era--and how families coped; how the homeless survived. And the heart-thumping collegiate races--from inside the boat: The writing: elegant. The insights: elevating. Here’s a keeper from pages 234-235.  Listen to the wisdom as Master Boatbuilder Pocock coaches Joe, a young rower with promise and dreams—but a nasty childhood: “He suggested that Joe think of a well-rowed race as a symphony, and himself just one player in the orchestra. If one fellow in an orchestra was playing out of tune, or playing at a different tempo, the whole piece would naturally be ruined. “That’s the way it was with rowing. What mattered more than how hard a man rowed was how well everything he did in the boat harmonized with what the other fellows were doing. And a man couldn’t harmonize with his crewmates unless he opened his heart to them. He had to care about his crew. It wasn’t just the rowing but his crewmates that he had to give himself up to, even if it meant getting his feelings hurt. “Pocock paused and looked up at Joe. ‘If you don’t like some fellow in the boat, Joe, you have to learn to like him. It has to matter to you whether he wins the race, not just whether you do.’” Then this clincher: “He told Joe to be careful not to miss his chance. He reminded him that he’d already learned to row past pain, past exhaustion, past the voice that told him it couldn’t be done. That meant he had an opportunity to do things most men would never have a chance to do. And he concluded with a remark that Joe would never forget. “’Joe, when you really start trusting those other boys, you will feel a power at work within you that is far beyond anything you’ve ever imagined. Sometimes, you will feel as if you have rowed right off the planet and are rowing among the stars.’” To order from Amazon, click on the title for The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown. Note: As of this review, the book has 6,273 reviews on Amazon—a stunning number! Even more stunning—97% of the reviewers rated the book with either 5-star or 4-stars. It's on both the NY Times (#2, behind Unbroken) and Wall Street Journal best-selling lists again this week. P.S. Bill Butterworth was not (to my knowledge) in that 1936 boat, but he is a championship speaker. In his youth, had someone put a coxswain’s megaphone in his mouth…just imagine! Butterworth also added this LOL note in his email to me: “No payment to me is necessary although I know you'll be using it as one of your newsletter books and so please include my name, website info and short bio of how I can be of help to all of your mailing list through my speaking, writing and ghostwriting.” Sure, Bill! Here you go:     BILL BUTTERWORTH - Website     Keynote Speaker, Author, Ghost Writer,     Personal Coach for Speakers While I’m cranking out the promo copy, I’ll add another review of a great Butterworth book: The Short List: In a Life Full of Choices, There Are Only Four That Matter. (No charge, Bill.) Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Unlike most other sports, says the author, “One of the fundamental challenges in rowing is that when any one member of a crew goes into a slump the entire crew goes with him.” How do individual slumps affect morale on your team—or in your family? 2) One of the University of Washington coxswains would often shout to the eight oarsmen, “MIB! MIB! MIB!” Brown writes, “The initialism stood for ‘mind in boat.’ It was meant as a reminder that from the time an oarsman steps into a racing shell until the moment that the boat crosses the finish line, he must keep his mind focused on what is happening inside the boat.” What acronym could your team use to keep everyone focused? Your Team's Time: Focused or Misaligned?   Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit In my cycle through the 20 buckets, here’s a time-leveraging tool from the Team Bucket, Chapter 9, in Mastering the Management Buckets:  What’s holding your team back—from experiencing extraordinary results and harmonious relationships? Sometimes…it’s a lack of focus. Other times…there’s a misalignment between results and focused time. If time is an issue, download the worksheet, “The 21 Time Blocks Toward a God-honoring Balanced Life,” from Chapter 9, the Team Bucket. This tool will help each team member affirm a commitment to limit work hours to "x" times blocks per week (out of a possible 21). MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  • WEBSITE: Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations • John Pearson's Buckets Podcast NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here at John Pearson's Buckets Blog.         ECFA BLOG on “Governance of Christ-centered Organizations”  - Add your thoughts to John's latest blog post for boards, "We Don't Eliminate--We Help Our Competition!" PLUS! View the short video on the ECFA Governance Toolbox Series: No. 1: Recruiting Board Members and No. 2: Balancing Board Roles (DVD and Viewing Guides).

Let Your Life Speak

 

Issue No. 312 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Nov. 22, 2014) notes that acclaimed author Parker Palmer spent years imitating heroes—instead of listening to his heart. He says that if leaders “are to cast less shadows and more light, we need to ride certain monsters all the way down.” And this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Clearness Committee Creates Chaos Yikes. It’s almost December—and then we’ll blink and raise a glass to the New Year, and do it all over again—expecting different results. Yikes, again. So…before you grieve another year of unfulfilled promises to yourself (career-wise or other)—invest 109 pages in your calling. Read. Reflect. Listen. Pray. Discern. Jump. Parker Palmer’s stunning quick-read, Let Your Life Speak, will help you think backwards and forwards.  And his confession—that he failed to listen to his heart and squandered valuable years—is a warning to all of us (no matter how many candles on our last cake)…that vocation and calling matter. He begins:    • “…a funny thing happened on the way to my vocation.”     • He was guided by Frederick Buechner’s inspiring insight: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” He confesses:    • “I had simply found a ‘noble’ way to live a life that was not my own, a life spent imitating heroes instead of listening to my heart.” He learned:    • “Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you. Before you tell your life what truths and values you have decided to live up to, let your life tell you what truths you embody, what values you represent.”    • “My youthful understanding of ‘Let your life speak’ led me to conjure up the highest values I could imagine and then try to conform my life to them whether they were mine or not.” He adds: “If that sounds like what we are supposed to do with values, it is because that is what we are too often taught. There is a simplistic brand of moralism among us that wants to reduce the ethical life to making a list, checking it twice—against the index in some best-selling book of virtues, perhaps—and then trying very hard to be not naughty but nice.” He explains the book’s subtitle, “Listening for the Voice of Vocation” with this:    • “Vocation does not come from willfulness. It comes from listening.”    • “Vocation [rooted in the Latin for ‘voice’] does not mean a goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.” Parker Palmer’s Quaker roots add color and authenticity to this remarkable little book—a collection of essays, edited into a book-length gem. It’s tough to narrow down my favorites stories—I read most of them to my wife, Joanne—but certainly these two: Favorite Story #1: The Clearness Committee. A presidential search committee for a small educational institution invited Palmer for an interview. “So as is the custom in the Quaker community, I called on half a dozen trusted friends to help me discern my vocation by means of a ‘clearness committee,’ a process in which the group refrains from giving you advice but spends three hours asking you honest, open questions to help discover your inner truth. (Looking back, of course, it is clear that my real intent in convening this group was not to discern anything but to brag about being offered a job I had already decided to accept!) Gulp! One stunning question rocked his world (see pages 44-46)—and he said no to a career-enhancing opportunity. Favorite Story #2: Outward Bound. Hanging from a cliff, 110 feet above ground in his first Outward Bound rappelling experience (more like “Outward Down”), Palmer had a profound moment (pages 82-85). Later he reflected, “I chose the weeklong course at Hurricane Island, off the coast of Maine. I should have known from that name what was in store for me; next time I will sign up for the course at Happy Gardens or Pleasant Valley!” He describes five shadow-casting monsters: First, “insecurity about identity and worth.” Next, “the belief that the universe is a battleground, hostile to human interests.”   The third one is a real poke-in-the-ribs. “A third shadow common among leaders is ‘functional atheism,’ the belief that ultimate responsibility for everything rests with us. This is the unconscious, unexamined conviction that if anything decent is going to happen here, we are the ones who must make it happen—a conviction held even by people who talk a good game about God.” The fourth shadow is fear, “especially our fear of the natural chaos of life. Many of us—parents and teachers and CEOs—are deeply devoted to eliminating all remnants of chaos from the world.”  The fifth shadow that leaders project is, “paradoxically, the denial of death itself.” He’s savvy! “Leaders who participate in this denial often demand that the people around them keep resuscitating things that are no longer alive.” If you’re working on a strategic plan right now, you must read pages 89 to 91! Why should you read this 109-page treasure?    • It’s never too late to let your life speak.    • You may be coaching someone who needs this eye-opening touch.    • Sibyl Towner, co-founder and spiritual director of oneLifemaps, LLC, named Let Your Life Speak as a book-of-the-month selection for Sibyl's Book Club in July 2013.    • It’s a perfect companion book to The Joseph Road: Choices That Determine Your Destiny, by Jerry White, International President Emeritus of The Navigators.    • I asked Steve Macchia for his favorite quotation from Palmer’s book. As the founder and president of Leadership Transformations, and author of Crafting a Rule of Life: An Invitation to the Well-Ordered Way, Steve shared this: Considering our vocation “not as a goal to be achieved but as a gift to be received,” Palmer encourages his readers that, “self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.” Therefore, we need to become authentic leaders, who “in every setting—from families to nation-states—aim at liberating the heart, their own and others’, so that its power can liberate the world.” To order from Amazon, click on the title for Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, by Parker J. Palmer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Palmer describes the fourth shadow: “In families and churches and corporations, this shadow is projected as rigidity of rules and procedures, creating an ethos that is imprisoning rather than empowering. (Then, of course, the mess we must deal with is the prisoners trying to break out!)” So…does our culture embrace or eliminate chaos? 2) Palmer notes, “We will become better teachers not by trying to fill the potholes in our souls but by knowing them so well that we can avoid falling into them.” Who is helping you identify your potholes—and how might that impact your “true self” vocation? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes! We Actually Read Books!   Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit In my cycle through the 20 buckets, here’s the core competency from the Book Bucket, Chapter 5, in Mastering the Management Buckets:  “We believe leaders are readers! We create a culture that embraces a healthy appetite for leadership and management books, journals, articles and audio resources. We mentor team members with thoughtfully selected titles and chapters to help them leverage their strengths, grow in their faith and serve others with passion. We don’t just talk about books—we actually read them!” As you’re thinking about Christmas gift-giving, consider giving books. For ideas, including a list of over 300 books that have been reviewed in this eNews—categorized within the 20 buckets—visit the Book Bucket. MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  • WEBSITE: Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations • John Pearson's Buckets Podcast NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here at John Pearson's Buckets Blog.            ECFA BLOG on “Governance of Christ-centered Organizations”  - Add your thoughts to John's latest blog post for boards, "We Don't Eliminate--We Help Our Competition!" PLUS! View the short video on the ECFA Governance Toolbox Series: No. 1: Recruiting Board Members and No. 2: Balancing Board Roles (DVD and Viewing Guides).