Getting Fired for the Glory of God

I love the life my wife shares with Jesus. It is vibrant, wild, and rumpus. There is nothing she has kept from him, but there is nothing she has taken for granted either. She loves him because she chooses to do so. It is not the faith of her parents, her church, or even her husband. It is her faith in our Jesus.

And I am grateful for it.

I don't know where she first heard about this Mike Yaconelli, but I'm glad for that too. He speaks her language. Beside Brother Lawrence's Practice of the Presence of God and The Collected Works of John of the Cross, I keep his Messy Spirituality. Vibrant. Wild Rumpus.

Getting Fired for the Glory of God is a collection of articles and essays Mike write. They're brief. Each one only a few pages. But like his books, they shake the dust off our nominal faith.

Here is an excerpt. . . .

. . . . I'm beginning to believe that if those called to youth ministry followed the lead of the One who called them, then getting fired is inevitable. Why? Because, in general, the institutional church doesn't get it. The institutional church has become hopelessly corporate. . . . Instead of being the church, it has opted to be a corporation.

You disagree? Why don't you try these seven suggestions and see how long you keep your job?

1. Keep Jesus number one. Make your relationship with Jesus the first priority in your life and expect the same from your church staff. Suggest that staff meetings allow only discussion about everyone's relationship with Jesus. Just pray together and share your struggles with each other.

2. Be still. Require as part of your job description paid time alone with God. At least one day a week of silence, three-day retreats every quarter, and one week a year for the entire staff.

3. Ignore corporate values. Refuse to accept corporate values for evaluating your worth. And what are those. . . .

• Size
• Productivity
• Efficiency
• Speed
• Technology
• Busyness
• Measuring
• Balance
• Power
• Success
• Good Grades
• Sports

Instead. . .

4. Think small. Keep your youth group small and manageable. Work hard to focus on a few rather than many. Don't let your group get larger than you can handle with integrity.

5. Be real. Tell the truth. Tell students when you're doubting, struggling, hurting, and failing. Create an atmosphere of reality. Refuse to edit your meetings so only the polished communications speak and only the positive stories get told.

6. Put your family first. Don't let a workaholic staff intimidate you into becoming a workaholic, too. Say "yes" tp your family first.

7. Seek Kingdom values. What are Kingdom values?

• Time. Have plenty of extra time to spend with students. . . . Refuse to be too busy.
• Awareness. Sensitivity, empathy, noticing.
• Audacity. Risk, courage. . . .
• Intimacy with God.
• Humility.
• Grace.

I'm not all there yet. But maybe one day.