Michael's Notes - Thoughts On Worship, Leadership & Fitness

Sabbatical: one more week

For the last eleven years I have served in a leadership position at ClearView Church in Franklin, Tennessee. Just recently it became the policy of this church to award a seven week sabbatical to any minister on the staff who has served for seven years. 

I began my sabbatical on May 27 with three goals: one to relax and unplug from the routine, two take some time to learn from other leaders and three study about some radical disciples in church history..  I believe I have accomplished these goals and still have one more week to go.

In the last seven weeks I have been able to:

• study church history through a trip to England and Scotland lead by two distinguished professors
• visit four churches seeing how God is using them to reach their community.
• interview thirteen business leaders focusing on their thoughts on leadership
• spend some time with my family on vacation

Tomorrow I take the last trip of this sabbatical time. My wife and I will fly to Seattle where we will board a cruise ship that will take us on a tour of the Alaska coast.

The sabbatical is coming to a close. I am grateful I have had this time and I look forward to being back with my co-workers and friends at ClearView on Monday July 20.

P.S. I will not be uploading another post to this blog until at least July 19.

A July 4th story from Kuwait

One member of the worship choir I lead, Rodney Whaley, is just about to finish a tour of duty with the United States Army in Kuwait.  He keeps us informed of the activities of his deployment by sending regular emails. Today he posted concerning about a 'two day late 4th of July' celebration.

Today one of those spontaneous “once in a lifetime” experiences happened.
 
Today is July 6th, two days after the 4th of July celebration.  This morning I got up at 0500 (5 a.m.) and proceeded to the gym to get some exercise.  I got there at 0530 and decided I would exercise on the elliptical machine.  The room has several elliptical and stationary bicycles.  We are also provided with television to watch to help the time go by faster.  This morning, the TV was on FOX News.  At 0600, Mike Huckabee came on.  I think it is called Huckabee and Friends.  He stated, as the show came on, that the program would be a tribute to our country with some interviews and some musical entertainment.  Now, keep in mind that what we are watching at 0600 (6 a.m.) is being broadcast on the east coast at 11:00 p.m., Sunday night, 5 July, and in Nashville at 10:00 p.m. Sunday night.  It also appeared to be a re-run from the night before, so it initially ran on the night of the 4th of July in the states.  I think.
 
So here we are, a bunch of soldiers,, mostly older soldiers, working out on these exercise machines, watching Mike Huckabee and his patriotic show.  He first interviewed an author, then had Lee Greenwood and his band sing and play.  Of course in Lee Greenwood tradition, the song was, God Bless the USA.  As the song began, we just continued exercising.  Beside me was this rather large, jolly man with a strong Spanish accent.  He appeared to be Puerto Rican.  When we got to the chorus, this man started singing to the top of his lungs, “I’m proud to be an American . . .” with this strong Spanish accent.  Then he stopped his machine and stood beside it at attention and continued to sing.  Suddenly, others stopped exercising and joined in.  I did too.  Then this big Hispanic soldier puts his arms around my shoulders in a “man’s hug.”  I sang louder.  So did everybody else.  All of the machines had ceased by this time and we all joined together, arms on one another’s shoulders singing, “I’ll proudly stand up, next to you, and defend her still today.”  These are soldiers who truly were “defending her today, this very day” on foreign soil in a combat zone.  The big guy beside me had tears streaming down his face.  So did others.  So did I.  Maybe not big elephant tears, but my eyes were beyond moist.  This room had a big glass front to it.  Across the hall, with a glass front was the weight lifting room.  By the time we hit the last chorus, the folks over there had stopped their weight lifting and were watching this little band of old soldiers, arms around one another’s shoulders, with tears in their eyes singing, “God bless the USA!”
 
When the song was over, we looked at one another like, “What just happened here!”  We got back on our machines, continued our exercise session, and FOX News went to a commercial.  It is a moment I’ll never forget.

Quiet Strength

On my last day at the beach I read Quiet Strength the story of Tony Dungy, the former coach of the Indianapolis Colts, told in his own words with the help of co-writer Nathan Whitaker. It is a story of leadership and dependence on God.

From the Foreword, written by Paulette and Denzel Washington, you sense the book is going to be much more than a story of a football coach. One of the last lines of the Foreward sums up much of the book: “The reward of remaining patient and obedient to the will of God is that life becomes fulfilling and satisfying…complete.”

A huge influence on Dungy was his parents, who modeled a relationship with Christ, who stressed the importance of education and who insisted on excellence in every endeavor. Here are two quotes from Dungy’s mother that are passed along to us in the book:

“Its always easier to do things the wrong way, but it’s always best to do them the right way.”

“Excellence that feels it has to be proclaimed, by the mere fact of its proclamation admits the doubt of its existence.”

As the football stories are told, Dungy, unashamedly repeats often his reliance on God for the ‘quiet strength.’ He also speaks plainly that winning isn’t necessarily God’s idea of success.  Here is how Dungy states this:

“God’s definition of success is really one of significance – the significant difference our lives can make in the lives of others. This significance doesn’t show up in win-loss records, long resumes, or the trophies gathering dust on our mantels. It’s found in the hearts and lives of those we’ve come across who are in some way better because of the way we lived.”

It is refreshing to see someone who lives his life in professional sports circles so grounded as a follower of Christ, husband and family man.

Dungy concludes the book revealing to the readers his life goal: “My purpose in life is simply to glorify God.” It might only be stated near the end of the book; however, it is perfectly clear through every page.

God saves men...

God saves men to make them worshipers.
AW Tozer

We are never nearer to Christ than when we find ourselves
lost in a holy amazement at His unspeakable love.
John Owen