The incident regarding Deadly Viper had set the online world ablaze, and very uncomfortable words of pain festered in the open space [cf. summary]. My prayer was that the key leaders at the core of the conflict would resolve it privately, walking through their respective pains together with each other. This direct conversations has since happened offline in private, and an appropriate resolution is in the works. A public statement has been issued. I commend all involved for giving of their time and energy to walk thru this via dolorosa.

There’s already quite a number of thoughtful reflections about this incident posted::

• Jonathan Brink, who linked to reflections from Dan Iwao, Todd Thomas, Marian Wang, Edward Gilbreath, Dave Ingland, LT Tom.
• Eugene Cho, Charles Lee, David Park, Shaun King, Glennis Shih, Skye Jethani, Rudy Carrasco, Drew Hyun, Ed Cyzewski, Daniel So, Jim Gray, DK Daniel Kim, Kathy Khang, and more…
• [update] more from David Swanson, Church Marketing Sucks, Ken Fong, Joel Hamernick, Benson Hines, Scott McClellan

I want to offer a few more ideas in debriefing, with which I’d anticipate some people would disagree with. Conflict in the open was a good thing for 3 reasons [cf. The Necessity of Open Disagreement by Stephen Shields] ::

• This shows us what conflict resolution can look like. Conflict is not a pretty thing. We’ve all seen how ugly it can get, how destructive it can be, how it can ruin relationships. By being in the open, via social media, we saw how the conflict surfaced and moved towards live offline discussions, apologies, forgiveness, working towards resolution. There is a better way through the conflict. After all, conflict simply is. And I for one am tired of overly-positive spin that’s all too common in evangelical circles; I think the younger generation can smell spin a mile away.
• We heard new voices open up their heart and soul. While I did not read every single comment in the initial blog posts, a wide range of voices from new names spoke up, both Asian and non-Asian. It is not easy for anyone to share their pains, particularly Asian Americans, for fear of being misunderstood, misrepresented, or shamed. Asians tend to be a little more (or a lot more) sensitive than non-Asians because of its shame-based culture. Social media empowers anyone and everyone to speak out. This helps us to empathize with the offended much more than signing a petition. (Now, not every Asian American finds this publication offensive, granted.)
• We’ve got a long way to go with racial sensitivities in the church. A loooong way. Conflict that arose up over a relatively minor incident, in the whole scheme of things, shows how little experience we collectively have to just start any discussion about faith and race. And, yeah, these issues are complicated and messy. They don’t sell books nor increase conference attendance nor make churches grow rapidly in size. It doesn’t fit neatly in the systematic theology section.

Now a personal confession. I knew about an earlier edition of this book back in September 2007. I did not get a copy of the book. I did not look out for the authors to review their book to find out how the Asian motifs were being used, in case it might come across racially insensitive. I did not bear the burden for my fellow Asians Americans (the sensitive ones, not the insensitive ones). For my part in this neglect, I am sorry. [No if and or buts.]

And one of the burning issues we often banter about is raising up minority leaders. People and organizations say they want to collaborate and have more diversity in their leadership, but it’s so hard to find qualified leaders to work with. Why is that?

We had a conversation about that in this wetoku-powered video. Watch it:

I have a feeling this is just the start of an on-going conversation. There are other issues, factors, challenges. On both sides of the aisle – those in the majority and those in the minority, racially and ethnically speaking. Chime in with a comment.

I think that discussing highly-emotionally charged issues in an asynchronous public forum like the online blogosphere is mostly ineffective. One party describes the pain of the impact from the (alleged) offense, while the other party tries to describe the original intent, all sincere and good. To quote Sam Chand, “The difference between reality and expectation is conflict.” Both sides have unmet expectations. Both sides have different perceptions of reality. Conflict ensues. It’s more than misunderstanding.

I’ll confess that I’m rather new to the impact of public communications by influential leaders. I prefer a world of open book open source unfiltered communications, and am learning to filter and edit based on readers’ response. But realizing that words mean things, and sometimes words can be mean things to the listener even though the speaker didn’t intend it.

I’d be curious how other influential Asian American leaders like Eugene Cho, Dave Gibbons, Charles Lee, Ken Fong, would respond. My guess is that a direct conversation between Mike Foster and Soong-Chan Rah, in a safe private environment, will bring faster resolution than any further color commentary.

[update 11/4] Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite have issued a public statement that “some of our earlier messages … were mixed in with some defensiveness on our part. … we deeply regret anything we did to offend our Christian brothers and sisters in the Asian and Asian-American communities. … that is why are we reaching out this afternoon to hear the concerns and the best way to move forward together in a positive way that corrects past mistakes, respects individual viewpoints and, importantly, advances the ministry for everyone.”

In the pithy words of John Maxwell, “Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.”

Very good. Everyone has influence. Everyone can impact and influence another person or even a group of people, for good or for bad. But does that mean everyone can be a leader? Can anyone be the leader of a company or organization? Who should be the leader of a group if everyone can be a leader? (cf. “Everyone can be super! And when everyone’s super, no one will be.” from The Incredibles)

So what the majority of the books and blogs and programs are not talking about leadership as merely influence. The leadership gurus are implicitly talking about another layer of leadership. Leadership is much more than being faithful, available, and teachable; much more than knowing your weaknesses, pain, or strengths.

The term that’s been suggested to me is: leadership capacity.

So while everyone has influence, each person has a different amount of leadership capacity. That capacity can grow, thus be developed. And some are naturally (and/or supernaturally) gifted with more leadership capacity right out of the womb. A leadership gift is a higher capacity. This means that a person who isn’t a gifted leader will probably not develop more leadership capacity than someone who is gifted.

The better question is: How much leadership capacity does a person have? How do you measure it?

Thank you Sabastian for a conversation that really cleared the air for me.

Question: I am student, studying ministry. Am at the end of the third year and I would like to start my ministry after I graduate. How would you be of help to me — to find material about church planting ?

My Answer: There has been a growing number of resources about church planting in recent years. A quick Google search has many links that’ll get you started. 3 of my favorites are www.churchplantingnetwork.com + www.church-planting.net + www.rcpc.com .

As you can see, there’s lots of information online. The best place you’ll want to be is the Exponenential Conference, April 19-22, 2010, in Orlando. This is the biggest gathering of church planters and church multiplication organizations that can give you the support, coaching, and launching pad for church planting — more resources than you can count!

Todd Rhoades has been counting up the many reasons to be at Exponential — here’s a sample :

• Exponential Reason 39: Check out what bloggers are saying about the Exponential Conference at http://tinyurl.com/6rr245
• Exponential Reason 38: Brian Bloye joins over 60 other national speakers at the 2010 Exponential Conference http://tinyurl.com/6rr245
• Exponential Reason 37: Dan & Shannon Smith join over 60 other national speakers at the 2010 Exponential Conference http://tinyurl.com/6rr245
• Exponential Reason 36: Matt Carter joins over 60 other national speakers at the 2010 Exponential Conference http://tinyurl.com/6rr245
• Exponential Reason 35: 95% of last year’s attendees said they would come back. Will you join them? http://tinyurl.com/6rr245
• Exponential Reason 34: Starting a New Church Pre-Conference with Ron Sylvia http://tinyurl.com/6rr245
• Exponential Reason 33: Obe Arellano joins over 60 other national speakers at the 2010 Exponential Conference http://tinyurl.com/6rr245

I don’t think of myself as the consummate people person, whatever that means. I confess that my personal visceral reaction when I see a person with a big toothy smile is a tinge of suspicion, that they’re hiding something, have an agenda, or out of touch with reality of life that’s a mix of ups and downs.

So I put out the poll to get myself a reality check, because how I see myself is only a part of what’s real via self-awareness. To not be self-deluded, there’s also being open to what others see. And, there’s also what no one sees or knows — what only God knows.

It was strongly suggested for me to read John Maxwell’s Be a People Person: Effective Leadership Through Effective Relationships. I got the book out, again, to learn more of what I may have missed. Now, back to the issue at hand.

How do you describe what is a “people person” anyways? I think the label would have a wide range of perceptions and definitions, as does the labels introvert and extrovert. Extroverts recharge themselves by being with others, while introverts recharge by being alone.

The Myers-Briggs type indicator (MBTI) popularized the terms extraversion and introversion, describing them as follows [nb: and I crossed off the parts of the descriptions that _don't_ fit me]:

The first pair of psychological preferences is Extraversion and Introversion. Where do you put your attention and get your energy? Do you like to spend time in the outer world of people and things (Extraversion), or in your inner world of ideas and images (Introversion)?

Extraversion and Introversion as terms used by C. G. Jung explain different attitudes people use to direct their energy. These words have a meaning in psychology that is different from the way they are used in everyday language.

Everyone spends some time extraverting and some time introverting. Don’t confuse Introversion with shyness or reclusiveness. They are not related.

Take a minute to ask yourself which of the following descriptions seems more natural, effortless, and comfortable for you?

Extraversion (E)
I like getting my energy from active involvement in events and having a lot of different activities. I’m excited when I’m around people and I like to energize other people. I like moving into action and making things happen. I generally feel at home in the world. I often understand a problem better when I can talk out loud about it and hear what others have to say. …

Introversion (I)
I like getting my energy from dealing with the ideas, pictures, memories, and reactions that are inside my head, in my inner world. I often prefer doing things alone or with one or two people I feel comfortable with. I take time to reflect so that I have a clear idea of what I’ll be doing when I decide to act. Ideas are almost solid things for me. Sometimes I like the idea of something better than the real thing.

As you can see in my poll, 14 people rated me at 6.36. According to one online test I took, my score for extroversion was 7.9. So what could all this mean?

Here’s what might be going on, YMMV (your mileage may vary) ::

• People see me differently than how I see myself, because I (sometimes) choose unconventional ways of relating.
• Maybe a “people person” isn’t about being an extrovert, but more about relational skills to better lead and/or connect with other people.
• My highest intelligence being “interpersonal” could mean I do well connecting with lots of people via networking, but don’t have as much inner drive to make things happen or to make people feel good and motivated. So I’m not the class clown, like Rick Warren.
• I have described myself as loving the ideas that affect people. My Birkman scored in the blue quadrant, indicating my preference for a lower key style, indirect involvement, people-oriented, and idea-centered. Thus, I’m much better at using words than non-verbal actions.
• I use blogging (twittering, video chat) as a way for me to think out loud, get feedback, and connect with people, when I can’t be at more than one place offline.
• I do hate being alone in solitude, drives me nuts.
• I’m in desperate need of psychological help and re-assessment.

I’ll be making a presentation in a workshop about next generation Asian American churches. Knowing the audience is primarily English ministry leaders within an ethnic Chinese church, I hope to explore what can be practically applied from what is working among next generation multi-Asian/multi-ethnic churches, adapted from my presentation shared on several other occasions.

This week I got an email with the subject, “Does Asian American Christianity have a future?” for a symposium I can’t attend due to a schedule conflict. The keynote speaker Jon Tran titled his 1st talk: “Why Asian American Christianity has no future: The Over Against, Leaving Behind, and Separation from of Asian American Christian Identity.” That prompted me to think maybe I could re-title my presentation as, “Does English Ministry have a future?” I haven’t titled to workshop yet. But, then again, the conference name already suggests there is a future of English ministries, and we’ll learn and shape what it could look like.

Would love to meet you there offline and let’s learn together. We can even start the conversation online; add a comment below.

View the NACCOWE Conference Flyer and get registered.

People strong in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

Yes indeedy I love gathering information. I’m a data pack rat. No information overload. I don’t keep it in my brain nor on my hard drive. I prefer to save my finds in an online notebook – for access from almost anywhere there’s internet access, including a friend’s smartphone or public library. Here are free online notebooks I’ve found and some of the features that I noticed:

• evernote – this one is robust with tons of features, able to store photos, audios, PDFs, text, Word Docs; has bookmarklet, Firefox add-on, desktop app, iPhone app, so many different ways to post and to access info; paid premium version goes for $45 per year for extras [here's my public notebook powered by evernote]



• ubernote – this looks like a robust online notebook web app, so much so that one user moved to ubernote from evernote; yes, it’s got a Firefox add-on toolbar, and a paid premium version in the works
• diigo – this online notebook can gather notes, make lists, and keep bookmarks, plus has community features to share notes with others in the diigo network, and you can post sticky notes on web pages to add & read comments; Firefox add-on toolbar or bookmarklet; integrates with delicious.com; has an import from Google Notebook function but I couldn’t get it to work
• springnote – this one is based on an editable wiki idea, and developed in Korea, so it can handle English, Korean, and Japanese; personal and group notebook; this has an iPhone app too
• Zotero – this one is more tightly integrated with a Firefox add-on extension, and has a stronger academic researcher feature set to manage bibliography citations; not sure where the actual notes get stored
• springpad – this web app is more than an online notebook, and has all kinds of apps that you can activate to organize your life, like recipes and reviews and lists, more than notes
• Zoho Notebook – gather tons of content, and even has version control to track changes, which is very useful if several note collectors work collaboratively
• Google Notebook – this was a good online notebook, but the software has ceased development is running on cruise control, or as I’ve said on several occasions, put on ice.

Which online notebook web app do you use, and why do you love it? While it’d be great to keep everything in one place, that also means all the risk is in one place.

One way it’s asked is, “Does it add value?” The “it” refers to the idea, be it a product or a service. The assumption is that if the idea has value, then we should find the resources to make it happen. But, who determines the value?

One management guru named Drucker asks 5 essential questions about an organization seeking to fulfill its mission and increase performance. Right in the middle is the question, “What does the customer value?” The inference is that an organization serves a customer base, and if the customer values the organization’s offering, then the customer would pay for it. Value is thus monetary value, or market value, as in what the market of customers is willing to pay.

Yet not every product and service can be financially sustained by market value. There are things that should happen because they’re a kingdom value.

Many activities with Kingdom value will bear fruit and show forth results. It’s easier for donors to see the value of financially supporting these activities, because they can see the results. This is where market value overlaps with kingdom value — donors want to see results.

But, there are also kingdom activities where there are no measurable results, no investment return, no visible fruit. At least not in the short-term time-frame of a quarterly or annual report.

Yet, these kingdom activities should be done because it’s the right thing to do, it’s a good thing to do, it’s an intrinsically valuable thing to do. Researching to find a cure. Experimenting to discover new possibilities. Prayer. Prophesying. An idea that would bear fruit in a future generation.

So how can an idea of Kingdom value become reality when (financial) resources are scarce because it doesn’t match market value? Might take more than a leap of faith.

—
Photo credit: cohdra from morguefile.com

There are some topics not good for small talk: “… it is not safe to discuss subjects that society deems controversial such as religion or politics.” Yet, politics get lots of air time, even though it’s controversial. Lots of mainstream media and social media time at that.

One British etiquette website describes what’s safe and not safe for small talk conversations:

Which topics are safe for small talk? …

- The weather, eg “It’s a lovely day today, isn’t it?”
- Sport, eg “Have you been watching Wimbledon?”
- Hobbies, eg “What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?”
- Work, eg “What sort of work do you do?”

… Which topics are best avoided for small talk? …

- Money, eg “How much do you earn?”
- Politics, eg “Who did you vote for at the last election?”
- Religion, eg “Do you believe in God?”

Yawn.

What about philosophy and religion? Now these two topics make for much more INTERESTING conversations!

One thing that’s nearly gone for being an adult is spontaneity. There’s no more going on a whim and doing something with someone else. Sure, I could do something by myself pretty freely any time. I have a choice to make every moment of my waking hours. I don’t get to call up a friend at random when the spontaneous urge surfaces. Life is good when the muse shows up and inspiration flows oh so freely…

No more being spontaneous. That’s a bummer. I personally don’t like having a scheduled and planned life. Interruptions are okay by me. But I’m a responsible guy. So I’ll do the planning stuff, the calendaring stuff, the scheduling phone calls. And so the work day goes on.

There you have it. Sounded to me like just do it, and start the conversation. No magical how-to. How have you talked about this subject with your peers? Your children?

• [slides] the multi-site church revolution (overview)
• [papers] Leadership Network’s resources about multi-site churches — free downloads
• [book] The Multi-Site Church Revolution: Being one church in many locations by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, Warren Bird
• [book] A Multi-Site Church Road Trip: Exploring the New Normal by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, Warren Bird
• [book] The Big Idea: Focus the Message- Multiply the Impact by Dave Ferguson, Eric Bramlett, Jon Ferguson
• [blog] the Multi-site Church Road Trip blog — the ultimate multi-site church blog
• List of churches with an internet campus
• [video] Why Multi-Site? with Mark Driscoll at the 2008 Multi-Site Exposed conference
• [video] What are the key issues in thinking through the multi-campus church movement? with John Piper
• [video] North Coast Church: How we do multisite

Back story :: my pastor friend Ray Chang (Day 1 video) is in Taiwan on a vision trip with Ed Stetzer. Ray’s teaching a church planting couse at Talbot Seminary this semester. He graciously invited me to substitute-teach his class tonight for 3 hours. I didn’t think I could use that much time, and turns out, we did. Lively discussion ensued after I gave an overview of what a multi-site church is, 5 basic models, and examples of what it looks like. We explored why a church would use a multi-site strategy, how it could complement (or compete with) a church planting strategy, and ended the evening talking about internet campuses.

And, I see that there’s a new interview video of Ray Chang by Ed Stetzer about second generation Asian Americans and God’s global mission.

I hope the conversations can continue — add a comment below.

Charles Lee (of New Hope South Bay) lists 5 reasons for why he’s going to Unleashing Beauty.

Daniel DK Kim (of NewSong) lists 8 reasons why you should attend the world-changing event – Unleashing Beauty.

The above are commentaries from key leaders at the 3 partnering churches collaborating on this event. Yes, Unleashing Beauty is 100% free + streamed live online. While there will (always?) be conferences where the costs are shared by sponsors and registered attendees, it’s fascinating to see high-quality conferences that are free to attendees, both in-person and online.

I’ve got it on my calendar and I’ve registered. Hope to see you there! Wonder what the #hashtag on twitter will be?