So Who is Better? Club vs. Church VII

Final words. Here is what was impressive about the South Holston Ruritan:

1. Focus - they were about the community.
2. Humility - egos were left at the door.
3. Simplicity - meetings were short, decisions were quick.
4. Accountability - The meeting began with roll call.
5. Resourcefulness - Who can help us? A healthy question, btw.
6. Unity - everybody knew why they were there.
7. Teamwork - everyone had a job and a willing spirit.

Did I just give you an outline for Acts 2? Maybe not. But for now, I will leave the South Holston Ruritan once and for all. A family obligation turned into an unforgettable experience for me. Keep your eyes open today. God is all around you, looking to mentor you into deeper waters.

Great day yesterday with Kermit (not easy being green) Morris and movement makers in the upstate. LSU proved SEC dominance for the second year in a row last night. What a year!

Simple Club - Club vs. Church VI

Geiger and Rainer's book is hot. Geiger http://www.ericgeiger.com/ will be in S.C. end of March . I don't think the out-going president of the South Holston Ruritan has read the book or met the authors. Come on Mr. President. Don't you know that the book Simple Church is:

• #1 on the Church and Ministry National sales list
• 2007 Christianity Today Book Award winner
• Outreach Magazine's Best Outreach Leadership Training Resource 2007?

The members of the South Holston Ruritan Club really do not know this (as most churches). This is the fact that they have kept things simple. Simple Club. Hey, that might be my book.

Clarity (Blueprint) - A calendar year at the club is like a simple dance step. Meetings are brief and organized. Action is the name of the game at the club.

Movement - no congestion here, the process of the club is in place. It took a cool 60 seconds to distribute about 20 assignments to club members.

Alignment - there was a great sense of team at the club. Farmers, A Bluegrass superstar, a retired college professor (my father-in-law) all found unity of purpose and key roles.

Focus - the club was not complicated at all. I am not sure how often they say no, but there was a clear focus on the community.

I hope they don't decide to read Geiger and Rainer's runaway best seller. The Ruritians are who they are because it made sense. I am sure they have their tough days. Their future is an issue. But today they are making things different around them. The environment is different. One reason is they have kept it simple. Simple Club. I like the way that sounds.

Back at World Headquarters yesterday. Change is in the air. I am all for change unless it requires me to do something uncomfortable for me. So, I guess I am all for you to change. Not me. I prefer The Zone.

Google Your Church - Club vs.Church V

I googled the South Holston Ruritan Club. Keep in mind the club would not have a great web presence. No website, etc. Here are some of the top entries:

1. Clean-Up at South Holston Lake

2. Soup Supper (to raise money for college scholarships)

3. My blog (sorry, I couldn't resist the self-promo, thanks for reading)

4. River Clean Up

5. Adopt-a-Stream

I googled a few churches. I mostly got service times and locations. I searched long and hard for churches who were doing things for the community. I would not dare tell you the famous churches I googled and some pretty funny results. Mostly I found: Come support us. I am sure you lost folks are dying to find a church like ours. We are cool and contemporary. We are traditional. We have a bookstore, graveyard, bagels, and potato salad.

An attraction mentality is part of what we need to do, don't let me get carried away. Here are some QBQs: What is our local churches doing for those who are not interested in our attractiveness? What are we giving to the community? If our churches were removed from our communities who would miss them?

Adopt-a-Stream may not be an eternal project, but I saw a lot of fisherman standing in those South Holston streams over the Christmas holidays. Fishermen are eternal. I wonder if God would get their attention by a church that suddenly cared for the things they cared for. They will be in those streams this Sunday morning, no matter how great the show gets at the local church.

Great last day off yesterday. Long walk with Yvette. Football. Vols win! Vols win! Vols win! My football season officially ended at 17-14. Not a pretty picture. Saw Enchanted with the ladies. Very different. Very funny. Romance. Not sure it will make my 2008 top five though.

Club vs. Church IV - Moisture in One Eye

Okay, I give up. The South Holston Ruritan is a writer's gift that keeps on giving. If you are saying, yes, but we love and follow God, we are better than the club, your case gains momentum. If that is what we offer, then starting with me, we need to start loving and following Him into some deeper waters for 2008. Start by reading The Divine Mentor by Cordeiro.

Wait, the club does let a new church use their facilities. Some kids had been messing up the floor with healies. Refusing to let people use their community center, if they will not love their floors like Jesus does, was not a consideration. Neither did club members express concern that the new church could be taking the loyalties and energies of club members (or potential members). I don't think the boys from South Holston were smart enough to figure things out like we Southern Baptists have.

Club members did celebrate God's healing of their new president's daughter of serious illness. The club did pray and offer prayer requests. They brought fruit to the poor and widows and reported the progress of the sick. A quick vote decided they would give a financial donation to a group of doctors who gives free medical care to the poor. Barna might say (Revolution) that the South Holston Ruritan is church for a lot of the club members. Maybe not.

Happy 2008! I saw the new year in with my eyes shut. No, I was not terrified, only sleeping in front of ESPN. Poor Clemson Tigers. They let another one get away. Go Wisconsin Badgers! Yvette, Anna, Abby, and I celebrated New Year's Eve by making our own pizza, making our own Sundae, and watching The Christmas Blessing on DVD. Not a bad family movie for a tear jerking, chick flick. I think I felt slight moisture in one eye. What a girlie man!

Club vs. Church III - Back in S.C. via Ocala

I was squirming my way through a Jerry Springer-type church business meeting in 2000. A Cincinnati church was fed up with getting along so they decided to slug it out, in public. I was relegated to sitting silently to witness the massacre. My request to speak was met with a firm no thank you, we don't need anybody to help us screw this thing up, we are doing that on our own.

A humble, thirty-something man came to the mic for his 60 seconds in the midst of flying hymn books and offering plates (embellishment mine). He said to the effect, I work for a corporation in downtown Cincinnati. They would never let things happen this way at our office. Sometimes the church gets accused of running itself like a secular organization. For our church, if we ran things like a secular organization, it would be an upgrade. We do not run our church like a secular organization, we are sub-secular.

Not sure if sub-secular is a word. The statement was the most powerful I have ever heard in a church business meeting gone bad (I have obviously seen a few). So, maybe we can learn church from the South Holston Ruritan Club (see 12/21, 22). More tomorrow.

West Columbia. All is good. Normally the Christmas break is a bit slower. My world tour included Tennessee, South Carolina, and Florida. Movies: Hairspray, Mr. Bean's Holiday, Alvin and The Chipmunks, and High School Musical II. Nothing of note. Books in process of note: Divine Mentor (Cordeiro): Microtrends (Penn) - you will hear more about both. Carl Martin slammed a tape measure, bases-clearing, walk-off, grand slam at WRC yesterday morning: Xtreme Living from Joshua 5. Glad to be back.

From Tennessee - Club vs. Church

Reggie McNeal always bemoaned the fact that the church often demonstrated a club mentality. I understand what he meant. No question the 50 year-old South Holston Ruritan Club faces challenges in the future.

Some churches, however, would benefit from the South Holston Ruritan approach. For other churches, a club mentality would be a step up. Here are my observations of the club mentality:

1. Humble Leaders - I witnessed the outgoing president's last meeting and the installation of a new one. They presented the former president a lapel pin and a basket of fruit for his one year of volunteer service. He seemed genuinely grateful. The new president stammered as he looked at the floor of the platform. He said, uh, I will do my best, that is all I can promise. Uh, you guys are going to need to help me and when I mess up, tell me. Neither of these guys demonstrated my greatest strength, false humility. They meant it.

Jim Collins, in Good to Great, said the leadership in Great organizations demonstrated two traits. One of them is professional humility. Percept, the demographers for World Headquarters, estimated that 80% of South Carolineans, prefer the style of leadership that, works with them on deciding what to do and helps them do it. In comparison, roughly 4% preferred a leader who tells them what to do.

You can start an argument about the need for strong leadership. You might add that biblical leadership is uncompromising and bold if you want. First, however, you might consider the model of a healthy, balanced, in tune with the Father-type leader, like er . . . uh . . . Jesus. Oh, maybe that's not fair to play the Jesus card. Paul? We see elements of strength and even a prophetic vein in their leadership. We also see humble, servant leaders.

Much of what we give to churches under the guise of strong leadership is flesh. Leaders think we are being strong, when we actually lead like we would without Christ. Selfish, self-promoting, uncaring, and manipulative are not the ways of Jesus. A club mentality may help here. At least the club mentality demonstrated in the last two presidents at the South Holston Ruritan . . .

Live Christmas Jazz in E-town last night with Randy (b-i-l) and Debbie (beloved sister). Rick Simerly is a Jazz legend in East Tennessee. Eat your heart out Steve Carmel Frappichino Scudder. Great pictures and a long, hard walk/run around the lake was also happening. Fun abounds. Merry Christmas!