We live in a nation of discord.  So it was when President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday on October 3, 1863.  The encouragement he found then is the same encouragement available to us today.

Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth, 1914, Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts

One of the things I love to do when we sit down as a family for Thanksgiving dinner is to read Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation.  We live in a culture so distracted by our digital devices that we can no longer remember from where we came or why.  Taking a moment to reconnect with history can do much to clear the fog and help us remember what really matters and why.

Abraham Lincoln made his Proclamation on October 3, 1863.  Just as we are presently experiencing the present strife of Weinstein and Moore so was he experiencing strife, and actually of a far greater magnitude: the country was at war with itself.

The first thing Lincoln does is observe that even amidst the strife any sensible heart will see that we remain under “the watchful providence of Almighty God”:

The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

Another thing Lincoln does is call for penitence and mercy.  These are concepts we’ve almost forgotten but how we need them today as he did then:

And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him that, for such singular deliverances and blessings; they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

Our greatest challenges personally and nationally are neither political, nor even cultural, but spiritual.  May all who are Christians join me today in humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience.  May all who are fellow citizens, Christian or otherwise, join me in reaching out in tender care to those among us who are widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers.

How would you like to stand for our country in penitence?  To whom has God put on your heart today to extend mercy?  Please share your comments below.

I dedicate this post to my good friend and newly bereaved widow Lida Pederson, whose dear husband Doug went home to be with the Lord this week after a prolonged battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Happy Thanksgiving.
November 22, 2017.

Things not working out the way you hoped?  God has given us a nuclear reactor to power change: emotion.

Ivan Aivazovsky, Wave (Волна), 1889, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

I took a course this week called “Managing Corporate Change“.  One of the first questions was, “How much of any change do you think is emotional?”  Consensus: 80%.  The follow-on question: “How much time do we as individuals or organizations focus on emotions when navigating change?”  Answer: 0%.  Zoiks!

A large corporation I used to work for wanted to change it’s culture.  Conventional business wisdom is, “Now let’s not get emotional about this.  Let’s focus on behavior.”  Here’s the problem: if we don’t start with the 80% of any change, emotions, how will the other 20% possibly work out well?  It probably won’t.

“But isn’t this a minefield to be avoided?  I feel all kinds of things about everything that happens to me.  If I go there I’ll just wander around getting blown up left and right.”  Incorrrrrect.  Emotions are not a product of the Fall.  God himself has them.  What did he say after every step of speaking the world into being?  “Ah… it is good!”  Emotions are meant to create positive energy to move forward.  Joy, for example, is an emotion that says, “Keep going in this direction”.  Anger is an emotion that says, “Something needs to change here!”  Our emotions are not a minefield to be avoided but rather a nuclear reactor to be harnessed.

“But, my God, when I start to feel stuff, my heart jumps all over the place.  I can’t even make sense of it!”  No worries.  This jumping around is how emotions are supposed to work.  What you are experiencing is the fusion reaction intended to result in a powerful beam of energy for change.  This is precisely how the Psalms of lament work.  The Psalmist feels the pain, acknowledges it, and is then freed up to embrace the hope that is unfailingly present, because of the unfailing God who embodies it.   “A plan in the heart of a man is deep water, but a man of understanding draws it out” (Prov. 20:5).

I can’t recommend this course highly enough.  I believe it will lead to a 20X increase in my own ability to deliver value.  Please consider it for yourself and your organizations.

What change are you facing that is presently causing you pain?  Have you asked yourself how you feel about it?  Let the reactor light it up.  What possibilities do you then sense bursting forth?

Every one of us is a human story in the making.  There are three simple questions we can ask ourselves to embrace our stories and propel ourselves forward.

Wassily Kandinsky, “Yellow Red Blue”, 1925, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris, France.

Over the summer I visited one of my mentors in Chicago, Jerome Iverson.  Jerome is a Christian and a gifted psychologist.  If the wheels have fallen off your wagon he is the guy who can put them back on for you.  He did for me.

During our summer visit Jerome reflected, “Everyone has a story that consists of the answers to three simple questions: Who am I?  Where am I going?  How will I get there?”  He’s absolutely right!

I am an adventurer, scholar, and entrepreneur.  I am called to advocate for the gospel in all of life (hence the subtitle of this blog).  I am getting there by investing in a flourishing marriage; investing in flourishing relationships with my three dear sons Nate, Karcher, and Noah; and by serving as Executive Director for Pinnacle Forum Chicago and Wisconsin.

These questions apply to organizations equally well.  My friend Greg Marshall was just honored as NeWaukeean of the Week.  NeWaukee is a movement of emerging leaders working to make Milwaukee New.  Love this!  Greg works with companies to help them answer The Three Questions.  Here is how he describes it:

I help companies find consensus on their story and then I help them produce experiences with that story so that customers and employees can feel and act on it. Aligning the imaginations of leaders and then activating that shared story with them is a lot of fun.

Yes!  We need to engage our own imaginations to embrace our own emerging selves!  We will then be activated to become the selves we were always meant to be.  There is a good book I read that puts it this way: “The plan in the heart of a man is like deep water, but a man of understanding draws it out” (Prov. 20:5).

What is your story?  Please share briefly about it here even if it comes with questions.  We’ll embrace it together and you will be on your way to becoming all that God is calling you to be!

Many of us think deep down that we’ve lost the culture and there is nothing we can do about it. Nothing could be further from the truth.  Every Tower of Babel stood against the truth will fall.  What is required is for us to steward our cultural influence together.

Peter Bruegel the Elder, “The (Great) Tower of Babel”, c. 1563, oil on panel, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.

I serve as Executive Director for Pinnacle Forum Chicago and Wisconsin.  Our tagline is “transforming leaders to transform culture”.  One question I’m often asked is, “So what does success actually look like?”  Perhaps like this:

• a national network of leaders each of whom is clear on their personal calling
• nurturing relational connections within this network
• a collective commitment to steward personal and institutional influence together

A National Network of the Called

The first criteria for success is a national network of the called in which each leader is clear on personal calling.  Within our national network leaders connect in peer Forums of 6-12 leaders that meet regularly for encouragement, equipping, engagement, and execution on their respective callings.

With respect to calling, let’s define it here as the set of commitments that uniquely reflects an individual’s personality, spiritual gifting, and life history.  As Os Guinness points out, we each have a primary calling to follow Christ.  We then have a set of secondary callings in which we live this out in the realms of family, work, and community.  For me, engaging culture for Christ is a compelling interest.  I pursue this thru reading and writing (as here), thru my family, and thru my work with Pinnacle Forum in Chicago and Wisconsin.

One resource to help us get clear on our callings is The 210 Project.  The Project is named after Ephesians 2:10 which says, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.”

What other resources would you recommend?

Nurturing Connections

The second criteria for success is that leaders with similar interests can find and help one another.  Within Pinnacle Forum nationally, we offer leaders the opportunity to connect in the following ways among others:

• Monthly National Teleconferences on topics of interest.
• Private Facebook Groups for each of what we call Seven Mountains of Culture.
• A Transforming Leaders LinkedIn Group.

In what ways do you most like connecting with other leaders?

A Collective Commitment

The third criteria for success is a collective commitment to steward cultural influence together.  We are all called as Christians to this: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).

We replace passive conformity with active renewal.  We turn off the TV, take care of our bodies, read, plan, and move strategically in everything we do whether in the spheres of our family, friends, co-workers, or community.

This kind of living gets noticed more readily than we realize.  I sat down this morning for a Pinnacle Forum we hold at the Hudson Business Lounge here in Milwaukee.  My friend Jenny brought my coffee over and said, “Is your group meeting this morning?  Good!  There will be some positive energy in here.”  This is a pointer toward “what is good and acceptable and perfect” and these pointers keep me coming back for more.

So What?

Just as the Clapham Sect transformed the culture of 19th Century England so is there a similar opportunity for us today.  Are you with us?  I plead with you as a fellow leader to do something, whether thru your local church, thru Pinnacle Forum, or thru that collective effort to which God is calling you.

What has God put on your heart to pursue for his glory?

Gen. 32:22-31
For Sunday, August 6, 2017
Year A, Proper 13

Do you ever wonder if you will prevail in life?  Jacob’s encounter with God at Peniel in Gen. 32 shows us how it’s done.

“Jacob Wrestling with the Angel“, Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Musée du Message Biblique Marc-Chagall, Nice, France.

I had a rough week.  In June I took on the Executive Director role of the Chicago Chapter of Pinnacle Forum in addition to my existing role as Executive Director of the Wisconsin Chapter.  This really puts time at a premium.  Our CEO said to me, “You will be stretched.”  He was right.  A situation came up at the end of this week that while representing a minor request in and of itself felt like the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of my capacity.  Fortunately, I was able to work thru the situation with the person in question and then process further with a trusted mentor.  The anger inside me had much more to do with me than with this other party.  So what does this have to do with Jacob at Peniel?  It’s the story of moving from striving to prevailing.

Jacob wrestles with God and prevails.  There is deep symbolism here.  Jacob’s name literally means “grasping the heel” and refers to him grasping his brother Esau’s heel when the twins were born.  Jacob was a striver.  So am I and so are many of you.

Jacob wrestles with God all night.  Finally, God wins by giving Jacob a limp.  He says to Jacob, “Your name was ‘Jacob’ (striver) but it is now ‘Israel’.   ‘Israel’ means literally “struggled with God and overcame”.  What’s the point of all this?  Was God unable to defeat Jacob in this cage match without putting his hip out of joint?  No!  The point is that Jacob would prevail despite himself  because of God’s commitment to him.  None of us will prevail because of the force of our wills or the brilliance of our wits.  We will only prevail when we connect with God and his calling on our lives.

So what’s the next step?  The keys to a prevailing life are God’s Word and prayer.  First, do you have a regular Bible reading rhythm?  If so, please share about it briefly below for the benefit of the rest of us.  If not, why not join me in reading the Revised Common Lectionary weekly?  Feel free to post questions and comments on the passage you are reading below and I will respond.  Second, do you have a regular rhythm of prayer?  If so, again, please share what’s working for you.  If not, put a 10 minute a day appointment on your calendar, find a good place to journal, and start praying this way:

• (P)raise
• (R)epentance
• (A)asking for others
• (Y)ourself

The point is not for us to prevail with God.  The point is that God has offered to prevail through us.  All we need to do is put him first each day.