monvee
I recently blogged about the issues involved in encouraging and “measuring” discipleship in the local church. Several of you chimed in and, while we didn’t solve the problem, it was a great discussion.
At the time I knew about a tool that could revolutionize our approach, both as church leaders and individual believers, but I was sworn to secrecy. Now it’s in beta and I can blog about it!
Monvee is a new tool which some are calling “the eHarmony of spiritual formation.” Despite my annoyance with eHarmony, I’m willing to give this one a try. Monvee first discovers what’s unique about you with a short online survey: how you learn, the ways you grow, and the ways you like to connect with God. After this Discovery phase, it maps out a customized plan, or Roadway, with suggestions for growing in My Time, My Mind, My Experiences, and My Relationships. This plan would be great in itself, but the site also shows you where to start, links you with resources in each area, AND delivers the customized strategy to your email inbox. It can sync with your calendar, you can track your progress and connect with others online, and, if you take time to rate the resources, Monvee learns what works for you and further customizes its recommendations.
Best of all, the program is designed for use in the local church, so a staff team, a small group, or even the whole congregation can participate together and share the journey. Monvee also provides real-time reporting for church leaders so they can track the effectiveness of various programs.
The friends who introduced me to Monvee shared there’s a whole theological “back end” to the site, so it not only avoids generalized pat answers—”you need to journal”—it’s also more than a 2.0 way to sell products.
For years churches have wrestled with the best way to help their members grow. Small groups, church-wide Bible reading plans—despite the great intentions behind them, none are that effective. Even in-depth Bible study classes only go so far.
As John Ortberg says in the video below, disciples cannot be mass produced, they must be hand-crafted. Monvee helps us take responsibility for our own spiritual growth while leaving room for The Potter to work with us individually…….and I really doubt it will recommend you build a relationship with someone who can’t match his clothes.
dead wrong
I know I have an unhealthy tendency toward perfectionism, but mistakes like these reinforce the importance of double-checking:
“In this week’s enews, we made a huge mistake. Under the prayer concerns, we listed ****** as having passed away. This could not be more incorrect! ****** is doing fine and it is actually a praise that he was able to go home from the hospital.”
That’s a serious typo.
all ready
I watched the inauguration ceremony and bits of the other celebrations between meetings with the Christian Standard contributing editors yesterday. While the two events seem completely opposite, they discouraged me equally.
I’m fascinated by the fascination with our new First Lady’s wardrobe. The blog Mrs. O chronicles her daily fashion choices with behind-the-scenes information on designers and stores, and I doubt you were able to pick up a paper or visit a major website today without pics of her white one-shouldered ball gown from last night. Even the New York Times got in on it with a 90-second analysis of Mrs. Obama’s “vigorously stylish” fashion choices.
My parents’ generation remembers the Camelot of the Kennedy years and mine now celebrates the yet-to-be-nicknamed Obama presidency with its own confident young leader, his beautiful and trend-setting wife, and their two adorable young children. Michelle’s degrees from Princeton and Harvard Law School and her prestigious work experiences just gild the Jason Wu-wearing lily, taking the Jackie O. to Mrs. O comparison right up to 2009.
I’m jealous. Of her money, her education, her beauty, her influence, her experiences.
The contributing editors meeting is also fascinating, with challenging brainstorming sessions, extended discussions over second and third cups of coffee, and new insights into old ideas. I always leave these gatherings with books to read, websites to visit, and ideas to ponder; devotions by Jon Weece and Randy Gariss and several encouraging conversations topped it off this year.
And I’m jealous: of these leaders’ opportunities, their influence, their education, their experience.
At age 32, it seems I should be further (farther?) along by now—I should have my own confident and accomplished husband, my own children, my own course to greatness. I should be leading big ministries like my contemporaries Jon Weece at Southland or Kyle Idleman at Southeast. I should have written a book or two, launched my own ground-breaking social justice organization, or mobilized thousands toward a cause. I should, at minimum, know whether it’s “further” or “farther.”
Yesterday I felt inspired by our country’s peaceful transfer of power and discouraged by my own lack of influence…..honored to rub shoulders with our movement’s leaders and frustrated by my own small contributions to our gathering…….ready and eager for something more and unsure what exactly that is.
The scholar and theologian Erasmus said, “The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is.” I’m confident I’m not going to be the president’s wife or a megachurch pastor……..but I’m ready to be more than a bored freelance writer.
south bound
It’s probably not cool to mention that tomorrow I’m headed to Florida, because it is cool—no, it is gird-your-loins COLD—pretty much everywhere else today. But I am, and I’m super excited for a day at Disney, good seafood, and some warmer temps. I’ve had cold feet since October, and I don’t mean that metaphorically.
I’m just as excited to head to my fourth or fifth Christian Standard contributing editors meeting, which is the real reason for the trip. This meeting has become such a fixture in my Januaries that I honestly can’t remember whether this is year four or five. Either way, I hope it’s not the last. Many of the contributing editors have served on the team as long as I have, and catching up on each other’s personal journeys is as meaningful as the annual planning we do for CS.
We’ll be meeting Monday-Wednesday of next week, and as always we’d love your feedback about the magazine, the weekly online edition, the website, or all three. Leave a comment here or email me (buzz@standardpub.com). Meanwhile, I’m off to choose between pink and red toenail polish. I don’t care if it is only 65 in Florida this weekend—you better believe I’m wearing sandals.
playing The Price
Congratulations to Brian, who serves as the high school pastor at Crossroads Christian Church’s Lake Elsinore campus, about 20 minutes from the CCC main campus in Corona, CA.
Now the question is, will he tithe on it?
desk job
Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com with nothing—he quit his job in New York, wrote a business plan for Amazon on the drive west, and rented office space in one of Seattle’s worst neighborhoods. His first desk was a wooden door perched on two sawed-off two-by-fours. From this humble location he created the largest online retail company and changed the way we think about the Web, about customers, even about books (anyone used the Kindle?).
He also created a culture; because the boss’s desk was a cheap door and scrap lumber, Bezos’ employees followed suit. Even ten years after the company’s 1994 launch, you could find Amazon employees using these desks. Frugality, efficiency, and focus on work instead of perks….one choice and one tangible object communicated, well, volumes about Bezos’ expectations.
Our small actions as leaders leave indelible imprints on the ministries we’re building—staff meetings promoting collaboration fall flat when every executive returns to an office with a closed door, and paying lip service to teams won’t counteract complicated reporting lines or hierarchical org charts.
“Cultures, for better or worse, are very stable,” Bezos says. “Over time, you build up this momentum around a culture that is self-perpetuating.” This means our organizations and churches—especially the start-ups and church plants—must be very intentional about creating the culture they want. How are you doing this—or fixing mistakes from the past?
read letter
I’ve already written about the scolding note I received in response to a recent Buzz column, and the magazines that appear even though I never subscribe. (I now receive Fortune magazine, too, for no apparent reason. It’s like there’s a contest among publishers to send the periodical with the least relevance to my life. Next I’ll start getting Bowhunting World.)
Yesterday the mail-pattern-weirdness continued when I returned from Christmasing and found a two-page letter hand-addressed to me and signed by someone named Olu.
“I am a brother here in Nashville,” he writes. “My motivation for writing you today is simply to pray for you. I am a member of a prayer team and I’m inspired to pray for three people this month. I am glad you are one of them. God knows your every need, sees your circumstances and is aware of your every burden. Please let me pray for you and I believe God will surprise you.”
He then invited me to email him with my prayer needs, call him on a Sunday morning to pray together over the phone, or visit his church. “Once again, let me say that God loves you and whatever you are going through is temporary,” he concludes. “If you can pray, He will answer you for there is nothing too complicated for Him. God bless you. Olu.”
It’s a bit unnerving to receive this kind of letter at home from a stranger, and I have no plans to contact the guy, but something about the note made me smile. It was well-written, it asked for nothing, and I’ll take all the prayer I can get. Besides, God really might surprise me. If not, the mail probably will.
Jennifer Taylor
My Other Sites
Twittering @seejenwrite- seejenwrite: As I get older my capacity to deal with other people’s "issues" increases, and my willingness decreases. Not proud, just saying.
- seejenwrite: Well, there goes the rest of Monday afternoon. http://www.sesamestreet.org/classicclips
- seejenwrite: Hope: (n): continuing to list your old furniture on Craigslist.
- seejenwrite: I don't think God has one "will" for each person's life. Here's why. http://ow.ly/CLxd
