Todd's Mindbloggler

I’m Good at Math

toddbumgarner — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 06:29:38 +0000

Meghan has noticed some decent math skills in our oldest as of late. She’s been confirming these traits in her by telling her that her daddy is also good at math.

Today at the breakfast table thus went down like this:

Iris: Daddy, what’s 1 plus 1? (matter of factly like she knows but I don’t)

Me: 2.

Iris: What’s 2 plus 2?

Me: 4.

Iris: No it’s not.

Me: Yes it is.

Iris: (pause….)

Iris: Daddy, I’m good at math.

Filed under: Quotable, Random

Gospel Community, Fight Clubs, & Friends

toddbumgarner — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:33:08 +0000

We talk a lot about Gospel Community at 2 Pillars Church. As we move forward with them, we are beginning to experience the tension that comes with them. Some folks are looking simply for community. Some are looking simply for mission. Others are looking for friends. But a Gospel Community, in some ways, is to be the fusion of all of these – centered around the gospel.

To that end, I’ve found the following helpful from Jonathan Dodson:

“Gospel community takes a lot of time, sweat, tears, repentance, failure, and love. A lot of gospel. It’s a command, for our good, for our collective gospel witness in the city, for God’s infinite glory. However, there’s a way to make progress as a person in community at a more personal pace. Friends. Not just any old friendship. Deep friendship. Real friendship that extends much deeper than shared hobbies, interests, and stage of life.”

Read Dodson’s entire post: “Community is a Command; Friendship Isn’t”.

Filed under: christianity

On Work and Vocation

toddbumgarner — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:49:45 +0000

Recently a man from our church asked me for some recommendations I could make regarding work, vocation, living missionally, and how that all goes together. When I scanned my Evernote files, I found that over the last couple of years I had assembled many more books and articles on this topic than I knew. Below is the list I sent him.

If you have struggled through the combination of work, vocation, and living missionally, perhaps one or more of these resources will be helpful for you as well. I have read several of these and only skimmed others. Chew well and spit out the bones.

Business for the Glory of God, Wayne Grudem

The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence

“A Theology of Work”, Bob Thune

“How Should We Then Work”, Jonathan Dodson (A29 pastor in Austin, TX)

“Roles (Part 1)”, C.J. Mahaney

Redeeming the Time, Leland Ryken

Luther on Vocation, Gustaf Wingren

“Vocation Plans”, Alex Chediak

“Community and the Cubicle”, Jonathan Dodson

“Working Theologically”, Jonathan Dodson

“Working for the City”, Jonathan Dodson

“Working in the Image – and the Presence”, Dave Williamson

“Some Questions to Ask When Considering a Job”, John Piper

“Let it Flow Out: an Interview with N.T. Wright”

“Authority in Vocation”, Gene Veith

“God’s Will and Your Job”, R.C. Sproul (four part series)

Filed under: missional, Work

Leading vs. Managing

toddbumgarner — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:28:50 +0000

I needed to hear this today. My friend Josh Dix (from his blog, Thousand Yard Stare):

I was talking one night with my wife when she mentioned the difference between leading and managing. Something in me pinged and I knew I was about to hear something I needed to learn. I suspected I was managing more than I was leading. So I asked her, “What do you think the difference is.”

She began by saying, “Good managers help maintain the status quo, but a good leader inspires you to do more. They take risks. They understand your situation and context and lead out of that understanding. They’re not just concerned with results but with the overall direction of what’s happening.

Filed under: Leadership

Guest Posting This Week

toddbumgarner — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 01:54:41 +0000

This week I’ll be guest blogging on my friend Zach Nielsen’s blog, Take Your Vitamin Z. Zach is a friend I made while at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. He was a distance student (as was/am I) from Albuquerque. Zach is planting an Acts 29 church with another friend of mine up in Madison, Wisconsin. Their church is called The Vine. Check it out.

Filed under: blogging

Get Out of Dodge (I Mean Ur)

toddbumgarner — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:50:34 +0000

Someone pointed out to me this week that the name of our church plant recently made a Christianity Today blog post list of churches with weird names.

Read the Out of Ur blog post A Church by Any Other Name (we’re #78…and in good company, I might add) then read about why we named the church 2 Pillars Church.

Filed under: Church Planting

Leaders Need a Sanctuary

toddbumgarner — Tue, 25 May 2010 10:39:53 +0000

“A sanctuary is a place of reflection and renewal, where you can listen to yourself away from the dance floor and the blare of the music, where you can reaffirm your deeper sense of self and purpose. It’s different from the balcony, where you go to get a wider perspective on the dynamics of your leadership efforts. Analyzing from the balcony can be hard work. In a sanctuary, you are out of that world entirely, in a place where you feel safe both physically and psychologically. The rules and stresses of everyday life are suspended temporarily. It is not a place to hide, but a haven where you can cool down, capture lessons from the painful moments, and put yourself back together.”

-Heifetz and Linsky, Leadership on the Line. p 204.

Filed under: Leadership

Controlling the Temperature of Change

toddbumgarner — Thu, 20 May 2010 10:36:36 +0000

“If you try to stimulate deep change within an organization, you have to control the temperature. There are really two tasks here. The first is to raise the heat enough that people sit up, pay attention, and deal with the real threats and challenges facing them. Without some distress, there is no incentive for them to change anything. The second is to lower the temperature when necessary to reduce a counterproductive level of tension. Any community can take only so much pressure before it becomes either immobilized or spins out of control. The heat must stay withing a tolerable range–not so high that people demand it be turned off, and not so low that they are lulled into inaction.”

-Heifetz and Linsky, Leadership on the Line. pp 107-108.

Filed under: Leadership

Casualites and Commitment

toddbumgarner — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:32:51 +0000

“If people simply cannot adapt, the reality is that they will be left behind. They become casualties. This is virtually inevitable when organizations and communities go through significant change. Some people simply cannot or will not go along. You have to choose between keeping them and making progress. For people who find taking casualties extremely painful, almost too painful to endure, this part of leadership presents a special dilemma. But it often goes with the territory.

Accepting casualties signals your commitment. If you signal that you are unwilling to take casualties, you present an invitation to the people who are uncommitted to push your perspectives aside. Without the pinch of reality, why should they make sacrifices and change their ways of doing business? Your ability to accept the harsh reality of losses sends a clear message about your courage and commitment to seeing the adaptive change through.

-Heifetz and Linsky, Leadership on the Line. p 99.

Filed under: Leadership

Sloppy Wet Kiss

toddbumgarner — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:32:15 +0000

My buddy Matt introduced me to this song, “How He Loves” a week or two ago during our Sunday gathering for 2 Pillars Church. This morning he sent me this video that provides the story behind the song. This is what I long to see captured through music at 2 Pillars. May we wrestle with God and sing about it.

[Click through to Vimeo]

Filed under: Music