Getting Things Done

Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-free Productivity, by David Allen, may be one of the most important books you read. I've been living in the GTD subculture for some months now, and the wisdom, biblical wisdom, of his system is manifest.
First recommended to me by a friend (Kyle Wisdom), it struck me, as it no-doubt is striking some of you, as silly to spend time reading a book on productivity. Just be productive! Right? Wrong. Don't believe me? Hear Wayne Grudem on the matter:

Just let me say that I highly recommend [GTD] and it has marvelously increased my peace of mind, clarity of thought, and ability to concentrate on the task at hand as I sit at my desk each day. (HT: Justin Taylor)

Look forward to Christian Meditations on Getting Things Done, but in the meantime, enjoy these links as introductions and encouragements.
David Allen's website: with many helpful charts and articles
43Folders, a must read blog, introduces the GTD method
PigPog, another favorite blog, overviews GTD (just follow the links)
Wikipedia provides another overview
Justin Taylor is a fan, as is Wayne Grudem.
WORLD writer Andree Seu notes how GTD helps us in our fight for faith.
This site might be helpful for ministers and productivity, though it is new to me.
You could always go buy the book too.

Sawatsky's principles

In Asking the Right Questions? we met John Sawatsky, a journalism instructor and consultant who is attempting to single-handedly reinvent the interview process.  His bizzare proposition?  Interviews should reveal the interviewed, not highlight the interviewer.  As his method's been stewing in my mind, these principles emerged as foundational:
1.  Ask open ended questions.  Do not allow the conversant the opportunity to duck into the cave of "yeah," or "no."

Example:  "Do you like being a younger brother?"  "No"  or  "What is it like being a younger brother?"  "It's hard, like when your parents make you..."

2.  To facilitate open ended questions, begin your question with a "What?" or a "Why?" or a "How?"  Use "Who?", "Where?", and "When?" if you must.

Example:  "When did you know?"  "Two weeks ago."  or  "How did you come to know this?"  "It was about two weeks ago.  I was heading over to my buddies when my phone..."

3.  Do not color the question.  Do not load it with your perceptions, either preconceived of the situation, or in an attempt to "understand."  Loaded words include measures of value (good, bad) or measures of quality and quantity (very, extremely, such).

Example:  "What is it like being the younger brother of such a terrible person?"  or "What is it like being his brother?"

4.  Plan ahead.  Don't walk into a conversation (interview) blind.  Know where you want to go with the conversation.  Don't drive it, but have a plan, a roadmap.  The Spirit can take you wherever He wants, but He tends to use preparation.

Example:  "So, uh, how are you?"  or  "What are your thoughts on Lebanon?"

Why?  Why are these principles so important?  Well, what is the goal of a redemptive conversation?  The goal is to listen, to hear the other person, to free them to speak, to coax them out of hiding.  To do so we must be thoughtful, be sensitive, and be helpful.  Think through the conversation.  Strain your speech so that it doesn't color their response.  Ask questions that force them to think and be honest.  And pray.

forget him not

Troy's back in. Be in prayer. Shoot him a "w'ats up."

Attentively Present

Be attentively present.

Asking the Right Questions?

Part of the ministry of reconciliation with which believers in Jesus have been entrusted is entering into "redemptive relationships", wherein a conversation begins to center around Jesus, and helping people find their way out of sin-made labyrinths of sin. How? We ask questions. But asking the right questions is hard. It's easy to beat Joe Stranger to pieces with "Have you ever lied?" "Have you ever had a bad thought?" but it is difficult to introduce the concept of sinfulness without simultaneously turning the other away from their possible Savior.
In addition, anyone who tries to talk with Middle or High schoolers knows that conversation can be frustrating. Apparently, asking the right sort of questions is a skill set most of us don't have. 43Folders, a wonderful website full of common grace, presents the work of John Sawatsky, who has studied the interview process and has learned how to ask the right sort of questions. This article was helpful in getting a taste for what his method is and looks like.

Tagged...by the One Book Meme

Begun by Ben Myers at Faith and Theology, the One Book Meme has swept like wildfire: Over 300 answerers and rising.
Totally off the wire man "tagged" me for some book love.

1. One book that changed your life: The Chronicles of Narnia. My own...personal...wardrobe.

2. One book that you've read more than once: The Human Comedy, William Saroyan. I cannot fully articulate the draw of this childish volume. Think Louis Carol grows up and feels heavy.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island: The Bible (NASB)

4. One book that made you laugh: Dave Barry Does Japan. I can only read 5 pages at a time before I'm shaking on the ground, clutching my sides.

5. One book that made you cry: Gilead, by Marylinne Robinson.

6. One book you wish had been written: Anything further and complete from J.R.R.Tolkien

7. One book you wish had never been written: who can pick?

8. One book you're currently reading: Spiritual Depression, Martin Lloyd-Jones

9. One book you've been meaning to read: Jesus and the Victory of God, N. T. Wright

10. Tag 5 others: CRBlog, Mihelis, Pitchford, KWMc, and Gerald

Life in today's church

Many are the grief's and joys of living and working in today's church. This is now as it has always been, I'm sure. There are few places whereat you'll experience more unexpected anxiety, heartache, and trials; there are few places whereat you'll experience more of the joys of walking with Jesus. God is alive and well in your local church, however hard it may be to find Him there.
If any of you who feel the call to ministry are wondering whether you should go to the local church, or try to nab a tenured teaching post, let me encourage you to consider the words of the Apostle Paul:

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Cor 4:8ff)

You shall certainly save yourself much of the persecution, affliction, and general sensation of being put to death, but you shall certainly also forfeit the manifestation of the life of Christ in your body. Consider this. It isn't pretty, but it is beautiful.

Sorry for the silence. We're out and about.