1 00:00:04,771 --> 00:00:06,882 All right, so now what we're going to do is 2 00:00:06,924 --> 00:00:09,075 we're going to start diving into the various 3 00:00:09,075 --> 00:00:10,844 different maps that I have identified. 4 00:00:11,444 --> 00:00:13,891 And the first map that we're going to 5 00:00:13,933 --> 00:00:16,616 talk about is attending to self in world. 6 00:00:17,150 --> 00:00:19,922 So remember, the idea is you're going to map 7 00:00:19,964 --> 00:00:22,589 this out and you're going to try to figure 8 00:00:22,589 --> 00:00:26,125 out how you are interacting with that issue 9 00:00:26,167 --> 00:00:29,662 or opportunity and how others are attending 10 00:00:29,662 --> 00:00:32,198 to or interacting with that issue or opportunity. 11 00:00:32,832 --> 00:00:35,001 So here are the four maps again, all right, 12 00:00:35,043 --> 00:00:37,303 attending to self in world, engaging in first 13 00:00:37,303 --> 00:00:39,928 article insights, discerning theological wisdom, 14 00:00:39,970 --> 00:00:42,308 implementing godly guidance and leadership. 15 00:00:42,609 --> 00:00:44,547 So we're going to focus on the first 16 00:00:44,589 --> 00:00:46,780 one, which is attending to self in world. 17 00:00:47,547 --> 00:00:49,439 So when we attend to self in world, remember 18 00:00:49,481 --> 00:00:51,284 the question that we're going to be asking 19 00:00:51,284 --> 00:00:54,914 is this, what is the contextual issue and 20 00:00:54,956 --> 00:00:58,625 or opportunity and how are we attending to 21 00:00:58,625 --> 00:00:58,858 it? 22 00:00:59,325 --> 00:01:01,149 So what's important here, number 23 00:01:01,191 --> 00:01:02,829 one, is the contextual issue. 24 00:01:03,997 --> 00:01:07,083 Every ministry and congregation is going 25 00:01:07,125 --> 00:01:09,869 to have different contextual issues. 26 00:01:10,503 --> 00:01:12,453 So what congregation A is struggling with is 27 00:01:12,495 --> 00:01:14,441 going to be different than what congregation 28 00:01:14,441 --> 00:01:16,452 B struggles with just because they're in 29 00:01:16,494 --> 00:01:18,445 different contexts of different people. 30 00:01:18,611 --> 00:01:20,146 They have different things going on. 31 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,869 So we're going to think a lot about context 32 00:01:23,911 --> 00:01:27,287 and the context you are in and what particular 33 00:01:27,287 --> 00:01:29,756 is that issue opportunity in that context. 34 00:01:30,523 --> 00:01:32,757 There are some things that I think are important 35 00:01:32,799 --> 00:01:34,794 skills that you need to have that help make 36 00:01:34,794 --> 00:01:37,163 this make this go better. 37 00:01:37,797 --> 00:01:41,510 So the first thing is an exploratory mindset, 38 00:01:41,552 --> 00:01:45,305 being willing to explore, understand, discover 39 00:01:45,305 --> 00:01:47,600 things, because if you're not willing to do 40 00:01:47,642 --> 00:01:49,976 that, you're going to miss all kinds of cool 41 00:01:49,976 --> 00:01:52,162 things and information that's going to help 42 00:01:52,204 --> 00:01:54,380 you to understand how to actually attend to 43 00:01:54,380 --> 00:01:55,548 the thing you've identified. 44 00:01:56,549 --> 00:01:57,584 Active listening is important. 45 00:01:58,051 --> 00:02:00,262 And what that means is you're not just passively 46 00:02:00,304 --> 00:02:02,188 taking things in, but you're hearing what 47 00:02:02,188 --> 00:02:03,089 people are saying. 48 00:02:03,256 --> 00:02:05,426 You're reflecting back to them what you hear 49 00:02:05,468 --> 00:02:07,727 they're saying and really trying to understand 50 00:02:07,727 --> 00:02:08,795 what's going on. 51 00:02:08,928 --> 00:02:10,530 So active listening is important. 52 00:02:11,030 --> 00:02:13,066 Active observing is another thing. 53 00:02:13,867 --> 00:02:16,002 Now, what does that look like to actively observe? 54 00:02:16,536 --> 00:02:18,814 Well, for example, let's use the 55 00:02:18,856 --> 00:02:21,174 Peace Lutheran Church and School. 56 00:02:22,041 --> 00:02:25,100 If you were to go in that common space and 57 00:02:25,142 --> 00:02:28,314 just sit there and watch, you could actively 58 00:02:28,314 --> 00:02:30,693 observe the kinds of people that took advantage 59 00:02:30,735 --> 00:02:32,852 of that space, the kind of people who came 60 00:02:32,852 --> 00:02:35,355 to the space and how they valued that space. 61 00:02:35,421 --> 00:02:37,686 Or maybe you could even observe there were 62 00:02:37,728 --> 00:02:39,926 things about the space that were limiting 63 00:02:40,727 --> 00:02:42,695 and maybe it needed to be improved upon. 64 00:02:43,029 --> 00:02:45,176 So you sit there and you just actively 65 00:02:45,218 --> 00:02:46,900 observe about what's going on. 66 00:02:47,667 --> 00:02:49,589 Actively engaging, there are times in which 67 00:02:49,631 --> 00:02:51,504 you want to engage in things to understand 68 00:02:51,504 --> 00:02:53,273 what is going on. 69 00:02:53,373 --> 00:02:55,696 So, for example, when I was in the parish, 70 00:02:55,738 --> 00:02:58,211 my kids were little at the time, so they were 71 00:02:58,211 --> 00:03:01,376 not in high school, but I would often go to 72 00:03:01,418 --> 00:03:04,551 the high school football game and engage in 73 00:03:04,551 --> 00:03:07,695 that particular environment because that helped 74 00:03:07,737 --> 00:03:10,590 me to understand my community and my people 75 00:03:10,590 --> 00:03:13,449 who had kids that were high schoolers who 76 00:03:13,491 --> 00:03:16,529 actually were participating in this sporting 77 00:03:16,529 --> 00:03:16,896 event. 78 00:03:17,197 --> 00:03:18,698 So those kinds of things were helpful. 79 00:03:19,032 --> 00:03:20,715 It gave me a sense of what was 80 00:03:20,757 --> 00:03:22,535 going on in the world around me. 81 00:03:22,969 --> 00:03:25,538 There are different components of this particular map. 82 00:03:26,206 --> 00:03:28,530 The first one was going to identify 83 00:03:28,572 --> 00:03:30,410 an issue and or opportunity. 84 00:03:30,810 --> 00:03:33,689 Then we're going to determine your position 85 00:03:33,731 --> 00:03:36,583 and your interest in relation to that issue 86 00:03:36,583 --> 00:03:37,350 or opportunity. 87 00:03:38,051 --> 00:03:41,059 And then you're going to think about the position 88 00:03:41,101 --> 00:03:43,723 and interest of other people in relation to 89 00:03:43,723 --> 00:03:44,991 that issue or opportunity. 90 00:03:45,892 --> 00:03:47,797 There's going to be a whole bunch of things 91 00:03:47,839 --> 00:03:49,696 that we're going to pay attention to, such 92 00:03:49,696 --> 00:03:52,932 as assumptions, biases, culture, limitations, etc. 93 00:03:52,932 --> 00:03:55,168 And I'll talk about those more in just a minute. 94 00:03:55,301 --> 00:03:57,177 But we're going to pay attention to those 95 00:03:57,219 --> 00:03:59,272 things because they definitely have an impact 96 00:03:59,272 --> 00:04:02,238 upon how we relate to that issue or opportunity 97 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:04,911 or the position that we're taking with it. 98 00:04:05,245 --> 00:04:06,946 And ultimately, at the end of the day, what 99 00:04:06,988 --> 00:04:08,848 we're going to do is create a ministry question 100 00:04:08,848 --> 00:04:11,985 that's going to address the issue and or opportunity. 101 00:04:12,852 --> 00:04:13,253 All right. 102 00:04:13,386 --> 00:04:15,788 So think about this. 103 00:04:15,888 --> 00:04:19,309 What is the issue or opportunity that you 104 00:04:19,351 --> 00:04:22,729 want to be addressing in your ministry or 105 00:04:22,729 --> 00:04:23,630 your congregation? 106 00:04:23,930 --> 00:04:25,641 Or if you're students here at seminary, we're 107 00:04:25,683 --> 00:04:27,433 going to be asking you to think about an issue 108 00:04:27,433 --> 00:04:30,905 opportunity that you want to be addressing, maybe 109 00:04:30,947 --> 00:04:34,107 in the church at large or in your residential 110 00:04:34,107 --> 00:04:35,842 field congregation. 111 00:04:36,576 --> 00:04:39,245 What is that issue and or opportunity? 112 00:04:39,245 --> 00:04:41,914 So the first thing is to try to identify it. 113 00:04:42,315 --> 00:04:45,236 So what you can do, here's kind of a framework 114 00:04:45,278 --> 00:04:47,987 or an outline that will help you to be able 115 00:04:47,987 --> 00:04:49,155 to talk about it. 116 00:04:50,590 --> 00:04:53,719 We are going to address because we want to 117 00:04:53,761 --> 00:04:56,929 find out so that we can give godly guidance 118 00:04:56,929 --> 00:04:57,930 and leadership to. 119 00:04:58,464 --> 00:05:01,473 And this outline will help you to be able 120 00:05:01,515 --> 00:05:04,637 to narrow down what it actually is that you 121 00:05:04,637 --> 00:05:05,672 want to be addressing. 122 00:05:06,172 --> 00:05:07,800 You could also think of this as 123 00:05:07,842 --> 00:05:09,509 kind of like an elevator speech. 124 00:05:10,209 --> 00:05:11,489 People will talk about, you know, you 125 00:05:11,531 --> 00:05:12,712 have to have your elevator speech. 126 00:05:12,812 --> 00:05:15,179 So if you're in an elevator and someone asks you, 127 00:05:15,221 --> 00:05:17,483 you know, what are you doing, your congregation 128 00:05:17,483 --> 00:05:19,549 or what particular like, let's say they ask 129 00:05:19,591 --> 00:05:21,888 you, how are you using the Practical Theological 130 00:05:21,888 --> 00:05:22,488 Framework? 131 00:05:22,789 --> 00:05:25,035 Well, within the time that you are going to 132 00:05:25,077 --> 00:05:27,260 be on that elevator and then get off, it's 133 00:05:27,260 --> 00:05:28,749 got to be a quick way summary 134 00:05:28,791 --> 00:05:30,530 of what it is you're addressing. 135 00:05:31,030 --> 00:05:32,951 So we're going to address because we want to 136 00:05:32,993 --> 00:05:34,867 find out so that we can give godly guidance 137 00:05:34,867 --> 00:05:35,702 and leadership to. 138 00:05:35,868 --> 00:05:37,754 So let's put this in the context then 139 00:05:37,796 --> 00:05:39,672 of Peace, Lutheran Church and School. 140 00:05:40,206 --> 00:05:43,298 We are going to address the conflict between 141 00:05:43,340 --> 00:05:46,612 pastor and church, school and community because 142 00:05:46,612 --> 00:05:49,490 we want to find out what is contributing to 143 00:05:49,532 --> 00:05:52,251 the conflict and how it can be reconciled 144 00:05:52,251 --> 00:05:55,987 so that we can give godly guidance and leadership 145 00:05:56,029 --> 00:05:59,125 to how to live together in unity and be a 146 00:05:59,125 --> 00:06:00,493 good witness of our faith. 147 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:03,996 So this is just an example of how you can 148 00:06:04,038 --> 00:06:07,333 fill that out using the Peace Lutheran Church 149 00:06:07,333 --> 00:06:08,668 and School example. 150 00:06:09,535 --> 00:06:11,558 So take some time amongst 151 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,407 yourselves and work through this. 152 00:06:14,741 --> 00:06:16,075 Use this outline. 153 00:06:16,476 --> 00:06:17,585 And the first time you do it, it's 154 00:06:17,627 --> 00:06:18,644 going to be like brainstorming. 155 00:06:19,345 --> 00:06:19,445 All right. 156 00:06:19,545 --> 00:06:20,847 Every is going to have lots of ideas. 157 00:06:20,913 --> 00:06:23,268 If you do have a board, you can write those 158 00:06:23,310 --> 00:06:25,651 ideas on the board and you may even want to 159 00:06:25,651 --> 00:06:27,737 give it as a homework assignment to people 160 00:06:27,779 --> 00:06:29,856 in your group and say, okay, I want you to 161 00:06:29,856 --> 00:06:31,444 fill this out, bring it next time we 162 00:06:31,486 --> 00:06:33,025 meet and we're going to discuss it. 163 00:06:33,059 --> 00:06:36,328 The more brainstorming you do, the more discussion 164 00:06:36,370 --> 00:06:38,965 you have, then that's part of discovery. 165 00:06:39,065 --> 00:06:43,636 That's part of being open to, to exploring this. 166 00:06:43,636 --> 00:06:45,103 And I want you to explore it and 167 00:06:45,145 --> 00:06:46,606 it will take some time to do it. 168 00:06:46,639 --> 00:06:49,387 But as you do this, hopefully you'll eventually 169 00:06:49,429 --> 00:06:51,811 narrow it down to the specific thing that 170 00:06:51,811 --> 00:06:53,958 you want to address and what you want to find 171 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,282 out about it so that you can give godly guidance 172 00:06:56,282 --> 00:06:57,417 and leadership to it. 173 00:06:57,817 --> 00:06:57,984 All right. 174 00:06:57,984 --> 00:07:01,043 So now that you have kind of your issue or your 175 00:07:01,085 --> 00:07:03,990 opportunity that you're going to be attending 176 00:07:03,990 --> 00:07:06,255 to, now we need to start thinking 177 00:07:06,297 --> 00:07:08,060 about this list of things. 178 00:07:08,227 --> 00:07:11,105 And I know this is a huge list and you may 179 00:07:11,147 --> 00:07:14,133 want to even pause the video in order to see 180 00:07:14,133 --> 00:07:15,649 my brief description of each 181 00:07:15,691 --> 00:07:17,470 of these particular categories. 182 00:07:17,670 --> 00:07:19,878 I'm going to go through each one of these 183 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:22,275 with you and kind of give you a sense of how 184 00:07:22,275 --> 00:07:23,810 to attend to these things. 185 00:07:24,644 --> 00:07:25,866 But this is the only time you're 186 00:07:25,908 --> 00:07:27,246 going to see this particular slide. 187 00:07:27,246 --> 00:07:29,971 And what this is, it's just kind of a summary 188 00:07:30,013 --> 00:07:32,718 of all of them with a brief description under 189 00:07:32,718 --> 00:07:33,619 each one. 190 00:07:34,053 --> 00:07:34,220 All right. 191 00:07:34,287 --> 00:07:36,489 Well, let's look at the first one. 192 00:07:36,789 --> 00:07:38,825 And so the first one is perspective. 193 00:07:39,459 --> 00:07:42,281 The perspective is the place then from which 194 00:07:42,323 --> 00:07:44,931 you're going to attend to yourself and to 195 00:07:44,931 --> 00:07:45,364 the world. 196 00:07:46,732 --> 00:07:46,933 All right. 197 00:07:46,933 --> 00:07:48,000 So I love this picture. 198 00:07:48,935 --> 00:07:50,369 How deep is the mud? 199 00:07:50,670 --> 00:07:52,672 Well, it kind of depends, right? 200 00:07:52,805 --> 00:07:54,607 It depends which dog you are. 201 00:07:54,607 --> 00:07:57,135 If you're the small dog, you're going to get 202 00:07:57,177 --> 00:07:59,745 a different answer than if you are the larger 203 00:07:59,745 --> 00:08:00,246 dog. 204 00:08:00,546 --> 00:08:03,919 And we have to pay attention to the perspective 205 00:08:03,961 --> 00:08:07,019 that we have and the perspective that other 206 00:08:07,019 --> 00:08:07,854 people have. 207 00:08:08,287 --> 00:08:11,691 So let's take Peace Lutheran Church again and School. 208 00:08:12,525 --> 00:08:15,628 The pastor has a particular perspective on things. 209 00:08:15,795 --> 00:08:18,740 He may have received that perspective by his 210 00:08:18,782 --> 00:08:21,767 seminary education or by some conference that 211 00:08:21,767 --> 00:08:22,602 he went to. 212 00:08:22,602 --> 00:08:25,647 In fact, that's how he got the idea of putting 213 00:08:25,689 --> 00:08:28,774 pastor as CEO and also pastor as superintendent 214 00:08:28,774 --> 00:08:29,475 of the school. 215 00:08:29,842 --> 00:08:31,953 He went to some conference that encouraged 216 00:08:31,995 --> 00:08:34,146 pastors, especially in large congregations, 217 00:08:34,180 --> 00:08:35,948 that this is the best approach. 218 00:08:36,315 --> 00:08:38,665 Getting rid of the elders, having a small 219 00:08:38,707 --> 00:08:41,153 group that he called his board, all of that 220 00:08:41,153 --> 00:08:42,188 was part of this conference. 221 00:08:42,355 --> 00:08:43,956 So he had a particular perspective. 222 00:08:44,757 --> 00:08:47,327 Now interesting enough, the principal of the 223 00:08:47,369 --> 00:08:49,862 school had a whole different perspective on 224 00:08:49,862 --> 00:08:52,431 how to do church governance because guess what? 225 00:08:52,431 --> 00:08:54,893 Because of his education and a conference 226 00:08:54,935 --> 00:08:57,436 that he had went to, that he was told that 227 00:08:57,436 --> 00:08:59,038 it's not good to have the pastor 228 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:00,473 that involved in the school. 229 00:09:00,907 --> 00:09:03,300 Pastors should be involved in the theological 230 00:09:03,342 --> 00:09:05,511 education, but it should be the principal 231 00:09:05,511 --> 00:09:07,613 who makes decisions about the curriculum. 232 00:09:07,613 --> 00:09:09,216 And it's the principal who should 233 00:09:09,258 --> 00:09:10,950 be the one evaluating the teachers. 234 00:09:11,250 --> 00:09:13,351 So they had different perspectives and they 235 00:09:13,393 --> 00:09:15,388 have these different perspectives because 236 00:09:15,388 --> 00:09:16,738 of some of the education, the 237 00:09:16,780 --> 00:09:18,457 conferences in which they went to. 238 00:09:18,457 --> 00:09:20,445 So you have to pay attention to what 239 00:09:20,487 --> 00:09:22,461 is the perspective that people have. 240 00:09:22,628 --> 00:09:24,091 Now the congregational members, 241 00:09:24,133 --> 00:09:25,731 they have a different perspective. 242 00:09:25,898 --> 00:09:28,267 The teachers in the school have a different perspective. 243 00:09:28,834 --> 00:09:30,604 Everyone has a different perspective 244 00:09:30,646 --> 00:09:32,505 because they sit in a different place. 245 00:09:32,972 --> 00:09:36,542 I remember when I was a kid, my mom was an organist. 246 00:09:36,542 --> 00:09:39,045 So often we sat in the balcony. 247 00:09:39,779 --> 00:09:42,737 So my perspective of worship on Sunday morning 248 00:09:42,779 --> 00:09:45,585 was always from a balcony perspective, which 249 00:09:45,585 --> 00:09:48,159 was very different from sitting in the pew, 250 00:09:48,201 --> 00:09:50,756 which is also very different from being the 251 00:09:50,756 --> 00:09:52,625 pastor up front who's leading worship. 252 00:09:52,892 --> 00:09:55,011 So when I became a pastor and was up front 253 00:09:55,053 --> 00:09:57,263 leading worship, that perspective of worship 254 00:09:57,263 --> 00:09:59,332 was different from sitting in the balcony. 255 00:09:59,999 --> 00:10:01,899 And that perspective was different from my 256 00:10:01,941 --> 00:10:03,836 wife who had three young kids that she was 257 00:10:03,836 --> 00:10:05,705 trying to take care of and I couldn't help her. 258 00:10:06,072 --> 00:10:08,074 Her perspective was different from worship. 259 00:10:08,307 --> 00:10:11,319 And I realized that especially the first time 260 00:10:11,361 --> 00:10:14,213 when I left pastoral ministry and went into 261 00:10:14,213 --> 00:10:15,674 a different kind of ministry, now 262 00:10:15,716 --> 00:10:17,216 I was sitting in the pew with her. 263 00:10:17,516 --> 00:10:19,367 That's a whole different perspective, 264 00:10:19,409 --> 00:10:20,753 worshiping with three kids. 265 00:10:20,753 --> 00:10:23,097 And it is being the pastor up front 266 00:10:23,139 --> 00:10:25,191 worshiping and leading worship. 267 00:10:25,524 --> 00:10:29,095 So perspective, pay attention to what is your perspective? 268 00:10:29,161 --> 00:10:30,129 Where do you stand? 269 00:10:30,162 --> 00:10:33,142 And because of where you stand, what are you 270 00:10:33,184 --> 00:10:35,935 able to see and realize that other people 271 00:10:35,935 --> 00:10:37,786 have different perspectives and you need to 272 00:10:37,828 --> 00:10:39,805 have an understanding of what that perspective 273 00:10:39,805 --> 00:10:40,606 is for them. 274 00:10:41,574 --> 00:10:41,774 All right. 275 00:10:41,874 --> 00:10:43,142 Let me read this to you. 276 00:10:43,676 --> 00:10:46,138 New beginnings, a one bedroom apartment with 277 00:10:46,180 --> 00:10:48,848 stainless steel appliances in a gated community, 278 00:10:49,281 --> 00:10:51,250 fitness center and meals included. 279 00:10:51,951 --> 00:10:52,051 Okay. 280 00:10:52,084 --> 00:10:54,754 What immediately comes to your mind? 281 00:10:54,787 --> 00:10:56,802 What's the picture in your head 282 00:10:56,844 --> 00:10:59,091 when you heard me read that to you? 283 00:11:00,860 --> 00:11:01,527 Was it this? 284 00:11:03,429 --> 00:11:05,907 You probably weren't necessarily 285 00:11:05,949 --> 00:11:07,933 thinking of a prison cell. 286 00:11:08,334 --> 00:11:08,968 All right. 287 00:11:09,769 --> 00:11:12,209 But what this illustrates is the 288 00:11:12,251 --> 00:11:15,408 assumption sometimes we make about things. 289 00:11:16,308 --> 00:11:19,145 We make tons of assumptions every day. 290 00:11:19,712 --> 00:11:22,085 And we kind of have to because if we attended 291 00:11:22,127 --> 00:11:24,383 to every little detail that was going on in 292 00:11:24,383 --> 00:11:27,053 our life, we would be overwhelmed by that. 293 00:11:27,386 --> 00:11:29,178 So our brain naturally is going to make 294 00:11:29,220 --> 00:11:30,823 assumptions and fill in the blanks. 295 00:11:30,923 --> 00:11:33,384 But sometimes when we fill in the blanks, we 296 00:11:33,426 --> 00:11:35,761 do it in such a way that it's not correct. 297 00:11:36,495 --> 00:11:38,993 I remember one time I was on an executive 298 00:11:39,035 --> 00:11:41,634 team at a district office and our executive 299 00:11:41,634 --> 00:11:43,002 team met every month. 300 00:11:43,035 --> 00:11:45,441 And then for lunch, we would always go into 301 00:11:45,483 --> 00:11:47,873 town to a restaurant to eat together as the 302 00:11:47,873 --> 00:11:48,174 team. 303 00:11:48,741 --> 00:11:50,946 And on this particular time, we had 304 00:11:50,988 --> 00:11:53,045 one female on our executive team. 305 00:11:53,212 --> 00:11:56,115 So her and I went in a car together to go eat. 306 00:11:56,148 --> 00:11:57,947 And then because we had to get back to the 307 00:11:57,989 --> 00:11:59,785 district office for something else that we 308 00:11:59,785 --> 00:12:00,252 were doing. 309 00:12:00,853 --> 00:12:02,655 And so that's what we were doing. 310 00:12:02,655 --> 00:12:05,143 Well, I was at another event and my 311 00:12:05,185 --> 00:12:07,993 wife was with me and she was in earshot. 312 00:12:08,294 --> 00:12:10,196 She could hear the things I was talking about. 313 00:12:10,496 --> 00:12:12,374 And someone I had not met before 314 00:12:12,416 --> 00:12:14,333 I was having a conversation with. 315 00:12:14,533 --> 00:12:17,119 And they said, oh, yeah, I saw you and your wife 316 00:12:17,161 --> 00:12:19,572 yesterday walking into the Chinese restaurant 317 00:12:19,572 --> 00:12:20,106 downtown. 318 00:12:20,372 --> 00:12:22,420 Well, my wife immediately perked up 319 00:12:22,462 --> 00:12:24,376 about that because it wasn't her. 320 00:12:24,610 --> 00:12:26,045 She wasn't eating lunch with me. 321 00:12:26,178 --> 00:12:29,013 Well, he had made an assumption that the that 322 00:12:29,055 --> 00:12:31,617 the gal who was actually walking into the 323 00:12:31,617 --> 00:12:34,286 restaurant with him was my wife, which was not correct. 324 00:12:34,854 --> 00:12:36,055 And this happens. 325 00:12:36,455 --> 00:12:38,631 But realize sometimes the assumptions we make 326 00:12:38,673 --> 00:12:40,793 are the reasons why we're having some of the 327 00:12:40,793 --> 00:12:42,636 problems, the conflicts or the issues 328 00:12:42,678 --> 00:12:44,363 that are taking place in our life. 329 00:12:44,530 --> 00:12:47,492 So pay attention to the assumptions that you 330 00:12:47,534 --> 00:12:50,469 have and then try to figure out what are the 331 00:12:50,469 --> 00:12:52,149 assumptions that maybe other people 332 00:12:52,191 --> 00:12:53,672 are having about the situation. 333 00:12:54,006 --> 00:12:56,083 And that might clarify a lot of 334 00:12:56,125 --> 00:12:58,043 things for you and your team. 335 00:12:59,145 --> 00:13:01,881 Another thing I want you to think about is bias. 336 00:13:02,882 --> 00:13:06,144 Now, I know the world when it talks about 337 00:13:06,186 --> 00:13:09,488 bias, it talks about it in a negative way. 338 00:13:09,755 --> 00:13:11,312 So often you'll hear people say, 339 00:13:11,354 --> 00:13:12,758 oh, well, you're just biased. 340 00:13:13,292 --> 00:13:16,896 But I don't think bias is always has to be negative. 341 00:13:16,996 --> 00:13:17,897 It can be. 342 00:13:18,130 --> 00:13:18,330 All right. 343 00:13:18,531 --> 00:13:19,632 That does happen. 344 00:13:19,632 --> 00:13:24,221 But often we are biased in certain ways because 345 00:13:24,263 --> 00:13:28,507 of our upbringing, because of the influences 346 00:13:28,507 --> 00:13:30,409 other people have had in our lives. 347 00:13:30,910 --> 00:13:35,014 So looking at this this picture here, what is my bias? 348 00:13:35,214 --> 00:13:36,916 This is my family members in the picture. 349 00:13:37,116 --> 00:13:38,284 OK, these are not random people. 350 00:13:38,450 --> 00:13:40,452 This is this is my my immediate family. 351 00:13:40,653 --> 00:13:42,421 What would our bias be? 352 00:13:42,421 --> 00:13:46,217 And you have to understand with bias, it's 353 00:13:46,259 --> 00:13:50,095 usually an opinion or devotion to something 354 00:13:50,095 --> 00:13:54,086 that is not easily changed, even 355 00:13:54,128 --> 00:13:58,404 if other people are challenging it. 356 00:13:58,404 --> 00:14:00,573 So let's use sports as an example. 357 00:14:01,674 --> 00:14:04,349 Some of you may be big sports fans and you 358 00:14:04,391 --> 00:14:06,979 have your team that you root for, even if 359 00:14:06,979 --> 00:14:10,683 that team is losing and not doing a very good job. 360 00:14:11,283 --> 00:14:13,652 If you're really biased toward that particular 361 00:14:13,694 --> 00:14:16,155 team that you support, even when they're losing, 362 00:14:16,355 --> 00:14:17,623 you will defend them. 363 00:14:17,690 --> 00:14:19,024 You will support them. 364 00:14:19,091 --> 00:14:20,726 You'll still go to their games. 365 00:14:20,759 --> 00:14:21,627 You'll encourage them. 366 00:14:21,627 --> 00:14:22,828 You'll talk about them. 367 00:14:23,395 --> 00:14:25,564 And so that's not necessarily a bad thing. 368 00:14:26,432 --> 00:14:28,467 Just realize what it is and what's going on. 369 00:14:28,534 --> 00:14:30,870 So bias is usually a difficult thing to change. 370 00:14:31,303 --> 00:14:33,674 Sometimes the biases we have are negative 371 00:14:33,716 --> 00:14:36,242 and they may be based upon false assumptions 372 00:14:36,242 --> 00:14:38,611 or particular perspective in which we have. 373 00:14:38,611 --> 00:14:39,951 So notice how all these are 374 00:14:39,993 --> 00:14:41,680 going to start working together. 375 00:14:42,047 --> 00:14:44,769 But bias is something you need to pay attention 376 00:14:44,811 --> 00:14:47,286 to in yourself and also pay attention to in 377 00:14:47,286 --> 00:14:48,053 other people. 378 00:14:48,354 --> 00:14:50,551 What are the biases that they have and why 379 00:14:50,593 --> 00:14:52,725 do they have that particular bias for the 380 00:14:52,725 --> 00:14:54,159 things that they're trying to accomplish? 381 00:14:55,327 --> 00:14:56,756 Another thing I want you to think 382 00:14:56,798 --> 00:14:58,397 about is culture, race and ethnicity. 383 00:14:59,365 --> 00:15:03,028 So if we go back and think about Peace Lutheran 384 00:15:03,070 --> 00:15:06,772 Church and School, they had a particular culture 385 00:15:06,772 --> 00:15:09,046 there that was really established by 386 00:15:09,088 --> 00:15:11,277 that previous pastor, Pastor Davis. 387 00:15:11,610 --> 00:15:13,456 He had established a culture there 388 00:15:13,498 --> 00:15:15,114 where people were very social. 389 00:15:15,948 --> 00:15:17,349 They're very friendly. 390 00:15:18,350 --> 00:15:20,879 He encouraged people to take risk and 391 00:15:20,921 --> 00:15:23,422 be creative when they take that risk. 392 00:15:23,422 --> 00:15:24,890 And if it failed, that's all right. 393 00:15:24,924 --> 00:15:26,592 We just found out that that didn't work. 394 00:15:26,692 --> 00:15:28,127 He was OK with failure. 395 00:15:29,128 --> 00:15:33,107 When Pastor Taylor shows up, he's now 396 00:15:33,149 --> 00:15:37,803 coming into a culture that he's not used to. 397 00:15:38,103 --> 00:15:40,526 But because he didn't take time to do the 398 00:15:40,568 --> 00:15:43,208 theology from a below approach and understand 399 00:15:43,208 --> 00:15:45,596 the live faith experience of people, he took 400 00:15:45,638 --> 00:15:48,013 a theology from above approach and just came 401 00:15:48,013 --> 00:15:49,915 and insert himself there. 402 00:15:50,516 --> 00:15:54,236 The problem is he had culture shock because 403 00:15:54,278 --> 00:15:58,123 he didn't know and understand how things were 404 00:15:58,123 --> 00:15:58,791 operating. 405 00:15:59,024 --> 00:16:01,835 He was biased toward a certain way of doing 406 00:16:01,877 --> 00:16:04,663 ministry and church governance and all that 407 00:16:04,663 --> 00:16:05,698 created problems. 408 00:16:06,432 --> 00:16:08,509 So culture is how it is that we 409 00:16:08,551 --> 00:16:10,469 operate and how we do things. 410 00:16:11,103 --> 00:16:13,182 Race and ethnicity are also things you need to 411 00:16:13,224 --> 00:16:15,207 pay attention to because that may be playing 412 00:16:15,207 --> 00:16:17,943 a factor as well and what's going on in your ministry. 413 00:16:18,610 --> 00:16:22,147 So first of all, what is how do you think of culture? 414 00:16:22,281 --> 00:16:23,115 What is your culture? 415 00:16:23,215 --> 00:16:23,916 What is your race? 416 00:16:24,016 --> 00:16:25,117 What is your ethnicity? 417 00:16:25,117 --> 00:16:27,953 And then what is that of other people? 418 00:16:28,087 --> 00:16:31,390 And when that comes together, what does that look like? 419 00:16:31,390 --> 00:16:33,735 And if it's clashing or there's tension there, 420 00:16:33,777 --> 00:16:36,061 it may be something that you need to address. 421 00:16:36,161 --> 00:16:38,953 Or the reason why people have particular biases 422 00:16:38,995 --> 00:16:41,767 or perspectives and the like may be as a result 423 00:16:41,767 --> 00:16:43,569 of culture, race and ethnicity. 424 00:16:43,769 --> 00:16:45,629 This will just help you to get a better 425 00:16:45,671 --> 00:16:47,239 understanding of what's going on. 426 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:50,075 Another thing I want you to think about is personality. 427 00:16:51,043 --> 00:16:52,984 We all have personalities and 428 00:16:53,026 --> 00:16:55,280 our personalities are different. 429 00:16:56,115 --> 00:16:59,469 And those personalities sometimes can be the 430 00:16:59,511 --> 00:17:02,755 result of issues or the result of not being 431 00:17:02,755 --> 00:17:05,297 able to take advantage of opportunities in 432 00:17:05,339 --> 00:17:07,860 ministry because we're coming at something 433 00:17:08,527 --> 00:17:09,895 with different personalities. 434 00:17:10,496 --> 00:17:13,504 So for example, Pastor Davis's personality 435 00:17:13,546 --> 00:17:16,168 was very much engaging with everyone. 436 00:17:16,602 --> 00:17:18,971 Now he wasn't very good about details. 437 00:17:19,371 --> 00:17:19,571 All right. 438 00:17:19,571 --> 00:17:21,795 So he had this big idea about this common 439 00:17:21,837 --> 00:17:24,209 space, but he really didn't know how to pull 440 00:17:24,209 --> 00:17:24,743 it off. 441 00:17:25,344 --> 00:17:28,037 So other people in the congregation who are 442 00:17:28,079 --> 00:17:30,749 more detail orientated actually had to make 443 00:17:30,749 --> 00:17:33,752 it happen, but he had the vision for it. 444 00:17:34,186 --> 00:17:36,688 Now Pastor Taylor had a little bit different personality. 445 00:17:36,922 --> 00:17:39,595 He was very detail orientated and he wanted 446 00:17:39,637 --> 00:17:42,227 to be involved in things and he knew a lot 447 00:17:42,227 --> 00:17:42,661 of stuff. 448 00:17:43,028 --> 00:17:45,553 Now he wasn't good at socializing and creating 449 00:17:45,595 --> 00:17:47,833 that social event, but he was really good 450 00:17:47,833 --> 00:17:50,536 at the details of things and making things take place. 451 00:17:50,869 --> 00:17:52,504 So they just had different personalities. 452 00:17:53,172 --> 00:17:55,153 We shouldn't demonize people because they 453 00:17:55,195 --> 00:17:56,975 have a different personality than us. 454 00:17:57,576 --> 00:18:00,012 Just be aware of it and be aware of how it 455 00:18:00,054 --> 00:18:02,414 is that you can work with those different 456 00:18:02,414 --> 00:18:05,469 personalities to attend to that issue or 457 00:18:05,511 --> 00:18:08,454 to engage in that ministry opportunity. 458 00:18:09,388 --> 00:18:11,657 Another thing I want you to be aware of is limitations. 459 00:18:13,358 --> 00:18:16,594 Sometimes we are not able to do things 460 00:18:16,636 --> 00:18:20,165 just because of a limitation that's there. 461 00:18:20,165 --> 00:18:22,002 Now this is a picture of my 462 00:18:22,044 --> 00:18:24,269 son when he was in high school. 463 00:18:24,369 --> 00:18:25,971 He was involved in wrestling. 464 00:18:26,672 --> 00:18:30,280 And if you know anything about the wrestling 465 00:18:30,322 --> 00:18:33,645 culture is that you are like gone all the 466 00:18:33,645 --> 00:18:34,913 time for wrestling meets. 467 00:18:35,180 --> 00:18:39,051 And especially Saturday meets last all day long. 468 00:18:39,051 --> 00:18:41,938 So I think we had probably already 469 00:18:41,980 --> 00:18:44,990 been to a midday duel that happened. 470 00:18:45,390 --> 00:18:47,158 Probably was on a Wednesday or Thursday 471 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:48,827 and then we were at a Saturday meet. 472 00:18:49,328 --> 00:18:51,582 At some point during the whole day Saturday 473 00:18:51,624 --> 00:18:53,866 meet he comes up and sits next to me and he 474 00:18:53,866 --> 00:18:55,200 was just exhausted. 475 00:18:55,634 --> 00:18:57,202 He was at his limitation. 476 00:18:58,137 --> 00:18:59,671 What are your limitations? 477 00:19:00,105 --> 00:19:01,406 What exhausts you? 478 00:19:01,740 --> 00:19:04,543 What are the limitations of other people around you? 479 00:19:04,710 --> 00:19:05,811 What exhausts them? 480 00:19:06,245 --> 00:19:07,846 We can't do everything. 481 00:19:08,347 --> 00:19:12,117 And if we try to do everything we can definitely burn out. 482 00:19:12,351 --> 00:19:14,653 But be aware of what our limitations are. 483 00:19:14,653 --> 00:19:16,764 So there may be really cool things we want 484 00:19:16,806 --> 00:19:19,057 to do but maybe we can't do them just because 485 00:19:19,057 --> 00:19:21,527 we are limited in some fashion or some way. 486 00:19:21,827 --> 00:19:22,928 It doesn't mean you can't do it. 487 00:19:23,128 --> 00:19:25,556 You just got to strategically plan for that 488 00:19:25,598 --> 00:19:28,066 so that we don't ignore the limitations that 489 00:19:28,066 --> 00:19:28,467 are there. 490 00:19:29,001 --> 00:19:31,370 Another thing I want to talk about is obstacles. 491 00:19:31,970 --> 00:19:34,341 Sometimes there are things that are simply just 492 00:19:34,383 --> 00:19:36,542 getting in our way to be able to accomplish 493 00:19:36,542 --> 00:19:37,809 the thing that we want to do. 494 00:19:38,744 --> 00:19:41,038 A standard one for example, and Peace 495 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:43,782 Lutheran Church and School had this problem. 496 00:19:44,149 --> 00:19:45,384 They were landlocked. 497 00:19:46,251 --> 00:19:50,022 And even if they wanted to build more or have 498 00:19:50,064 --> 00:19:53,792 more parking lot space, they were landlocked. 499 00:19:53,825 --> 00:19:55,775 And that was the obstacle, one of the things 500 00:19:55,817 --> 00:19:57,763 that they were struggling with and wrestling 501 00:19:57,763 --> 00:19:58,230 with. 502 00:19:58,497 --> 00:20:00,679 They were always opening to buying up new 503 00:20:00,721 --> 00:20:03,101 land that came available around them but that 504 00:20:03,101 --> 00:20:04,403 didn't happen very quickly. 505 00:20:04,403 --> 00:20:06,671 And there was another business on the other 506 00:20:06,713 --> 00:20:09,074 side that probably wasn't going to be selling 507 00:20:09,074 --> 00:20:10,642 off that land anytime soon. 508 00:20:10,842 --> 00:20:13,278 So that's an example of an obstacle. 509 00:20:13,845 --> 00:20:16,487 Sometimes there's just things in your way 510 00:20:16,529 --> 00:20:19,084 and there's nothing you can do about it. 511 00:20:19,484 --> 00:20:22,178 But being aware of it is important because 512 00:20:22,220 --> 00:20:24,890 when you're not aware of it, so if you had 513 00:20:24,890 --> 00:20:27,584 some big plan that you wanted to let's say add 514 00:20:27,626 --> 00:20:30,128 an early childhood center at Peace Lutheran 515 00:20:30,128 --> 00:20:31,679 Church and School, alright, 516 00:20:31,721 --> 00:20:33,665 that'd be more preschool nature. 517 00:20:33,665 --> 00:20:35,167 And you want to build this building. 518 00:20:35,267 --> 00:20:37,449 Well, that's great and wonderful, but 519 00:20:37,491 --> 00:20:39,771 we have this obstacle being landlocked. 520 00:20:39,905 --> 00:20:41,340 How are we going to do that? 521 00:20:41,473 --> 00:20:44,082 It's just we would have to think very creatively 522 00:20:44,124 --> 00:20:46,178 maybe about what that would look like. 523 00:20:46,178 --> 00:20:47,812 So there's just certain obstacles sometimes 524 00:20:47,854 --> 00:20:49,414 that get in the way of doing what we want 525 00:20:49,414 --> 00:20:49,815 to do. 526 00:20:50,315 --> 00:20:51,650 There are also distractions. 527 00:20:53,452 --> 00:20:55,787 Sometimes things are distracting us. 528 00:20:56,555 --> 00:20:59,168 I found this picture because some of us will 529 00:20:59,210 --> 00:21:01,627 remember going through the COVID days and 530 00:21:01,627 --> 00:21:03,595 being at home and trying to work from home. 531 00:21:04,263 --> 00:21:06,668 And sometimes there are a lot of distractions 532 00:21:06,710 --> 00:21:09,101 at home that prevented us from actually doing 533 00:21:09,101 --> 00:21:09,801 our job. 534 00:21:10,335 --> 00:21:11,917 My children were older at the time, 535 00:21:11,959 --> 00:21:13,672 but the distraction for me was my dog. 536 00:21:13,772 --> 00:21:15,805 He always wanted to participate in all the 537 00:21:15,847 --> 00:21:17,776 Zoom meetings that I was trying to have. 538 00:21:18,243 --> 00:21:20,989 But sometimes we have an idea of what we want 539 00:21:21,031 --> 00:21:23,515 to do or attend to something, but there's 540 00:21:23,515 --> 00:21:25,450 other things distracting us. 541 00:21:25,651 --> 00:21:27,989 And so all of a sudden we end up going over 542 00:21:28,031 --> 00:21:30,355 here and doing this and we forget about the 543 00:21:30,355 --> 00:21:31,523 thing that we started with. 544 00:21:32,090 --> 00:21:34,493 And sometimes personality has an impact with that. 545 00:21:34,893 --> 00:21:36,973 So Pastor Davis struggled with that because 546 00:21:37,015 --> 00:21:39,231 he was very engaging with people, very social. 547 00:21:39,364 --> 00:21:42,312 He had grand ideas, but sometimes when the 548 00:21:42,354 --> 00:21:45,203 details came that he had to attend to, he 549 00:21:45,203 --> 00:21:46,697 would just go after another grand 550 00:21:46,739 --> 00:21:48,273 idea and kind of leave it hanging. 551 00:21:48,473 --> 00:21:50,568 He got distracted and didn't always follow 552 00:21:50,610 --> 00:21:52,744 through with some of the ideas that he had. 553 00:21:53,478 --> 00:21:55,681 Another thing I want you to think about is stereotypes. 554 00:21:56,515 --> 00:21:59,996 So we do have particular stereotypes 555 00:22:00,038 --> 00:22:03,655 of congregations, of ministry context. 556 00:22:04,323 --> 00:22:06,819 We have stereotypes of what a pastor should 557 00:22:06,861 --> 00:22:08,994 be or what a pastor should look like. 558 00:22:09,261 --> 00:22:12,349 We have stereotypes for what a principal, 559 00:22:12,391 --> 00:22:15,667 DCE, director of Christian education, school 560 00:22:15,667 --> 00:22:16,068 teachers. 561 00:22:16,368 --> 00:22:18,570 We have stereotypes. 562 00:22:19,304 --> 00:22:21,446 Now again, it's not necessarily 563 00:22:21,488 --> 00:22:23,875 evil and wrong to have stereotypes. 564 00:22:24,843 --> 00:22:27,243 It's just that if we make assumptions about 565 00:22:27,285 --> 00:22:29,614 people based upon those stereotypes and we 566 00:22:29,614 --> 00:22:31,651 become biased against certain people, 567 00:22:31,693 --> 00:22:33,552 that's when it can be problematic. 568 00:22:34,186 --> 00:22:36,652 So be aware of the particular stereotypes 569 00:22:36,694 --> 00:22:39,558 possibly that you have and how those stereotypes 570 00:22:39,558 --> 00:22:42,265 are impacting what you're doing in ministry 571 00:22:42,307 --> 00:22:44,930 and be aware of the stereotypes that other 572 00:22:44,930 --> 00:22:47,757 people have around you as well and 573 00:22:47,799 --> 00:22:50,502 how that impacts what's going on. 574 00:22:51,169 --> 00:22:53,324 So one of the things I can remember when I was 575 00:22:53,366 --> 00:22:55,374 in ministry, I was in a rural congregation, 576 00:22:56,274 --> 00:22:59,774 and it was a very important thing that when 577 00:22:59,816 --> 00:23:03,115 you're driving around the rural area, you 578 00:23:03,115 --> 00:23:04,846 kind of do the one finger thing, 579 00:23:04,888 --> 00:23:06,551 you know, when you see someone. 580 00:23:06,585 --> 00:23:08,772 And if you didn't put the finger up when you're 581 00:23:08,814 --> 00:23:10,856 driving by someone, the stereotype might be, 582 00:23:10,989 --> 00:23:14,259 well, that person is a bad person. 583 00:23:14,693 --> 00:23:17,295 That person isn't sociable. 584 00:23:17,729 --> 00:23:19,231 That person is whatever. 585 00:23:19,231 --> 00:23:21,332 And it may just simply be that they're from a 586 00:23:21,374 --> 00:23:23,468 different culture where they don't understand 587 00:23:23,468 --> 00:23:25,074 what's going on, and that's part of 588 00:23:25,116 --> 00:23:26,671 what this particular culture does. 589 00:23:27,005 --> 00:23:29,307 So you see again how these things can overlap. 590 00:23:30,509 --> 00:23:32,529 So if you're not aware of the culture, you 591 00:23:32,571 --> 00:23:34,679 may be stereotyped in a certain way that may 592 00:23:34,679 --> 00:23:35,814 not always be appropriate. 593 00:23:36,848 --> 00:23:38,750 Another thing I want you to think about is scripts. 594 00:23:40,085 --> 00:23:41,853 So I'm a big theater guy. 595 00:23:41,953 --> 00:23:43,288 I love the theater. 596 00:23:43,455 --> 00:23:44,823 I was involved in theater. 597 00:23:46,191 --> 00:23:48,152 My undergraduate degree was speech and 598 00:23:48,194 --> 00:23:50,195 drama, so I did lots of theater things. 599 00:23:50,695 --> 00:23:52,548 And in the theater, you have a 600 00:23:52,590 --> 00:23:54,666 script and you follow that script. 601 00:23:55,066 --> 00:23:56,535 You also have blocking that you do. 602 00:23:56,635 --> 00:23:58,265 You block out where you're going to stand 603 00:23:58,307 --> 00:23:59,938 on stage, what that's going to look like. 604 00:24:00,505 --> 00:24:03,668 Well, every ministry setting you are going to 605 00:24:03,710 --> 00:24:06,912 be in has a script in which they're following. 606 00:24:08,046 --> 00:24:11,313 So for example, when I go to church now, I 607 00:24:11,355 --> 00:24:14,586 go into church, I sit in a pew, and I have 608 00:24:14,586 --> 00:24:16,721 kind of my pew, my area I sit in. 609 00:24:16,888 --> 00:24:19,074 And when other people are sitting in my spot, 610 00:24:19,116 --> 00:24:21,293 oh my goodness, they've messed up the script, 611 00:24:21,460 --> 00:24:21,827 you see. 612 00:24:22,093 --> 00:24:26,164 They don't understand that that's my spot. 613 00:24:26,164 --> 00:24:29,067 That's where I'm blocked to sit, at least in my mind. 614 00:24:29,668 --> 00:24:32,647 It's amazing how even where we sit in church 615 00:24:32,689 --> 00:24:35,707 can be a huge issue sometimes because someone 616 00:24:35,707 --> 00:24:37,275 has taken our spot. 617 00:24:37,576 --> 00:24:38,882 When we go in church, there's a 618 00:24:38,924 --> 00:24:40,312 particular script that we follow. 619 00:24:41,112 --> 00:24:43,073 If you're not the pastor, you don't 620 00:24:43,115 --> 00:24:45,116 go sit down front in the altar area. 621 00:24:45,183 --> 00:24:46,751 That's the pastor's spot to sit. 622 00:24:48,086 --> 00:24:49,684 There's certain things like in my 623 00:24:49,726 --> 00:24:51,556 church, we stand during the last hymn. 624 00:24:51,690 --> 00:24:53,801 And when the last hymn is done, we have a 625 00:24:53,843 --> 00:24:55,994 time of prayer and we wait until the organ 626 00:24:55,994 --> 00:24:56,828 starts playing. 627 00:24:56,828 --> 00:24:58,293 And once the organ starts playing, then 628 00:24:58,335 --> 00:24:59,764 we all know it's time to leave and go. 629 00:25:00,932 --> 00:25:01,933 Now, that's our script. 630 00:25:01,933 --> 00:25:04,138 You go to a different church, they may have 631 00:25:04,180 --> 00:25:06,271 a different script for how they do things 632 00:25:06,271 --> 00:25:07,172 in worship. 633 00:25:08,073 --> 00:25:10,242 Pay attention to what the scripts are. 634 00:25:11,142 --> 00:25:13,712 And these scripts are not like written down anywhere. 635 00:25:13,879 --> 00:25:17,682 They just naturally fall into this way of doing things. 636 00:25:18,049 --> 00:25:20,311 So pay attention to what those scripts are 637 00:25:20,353 --> 00:25:22,654 for yourself and also the scripts of people 638 00:25:22,654 --> 00:25:23,488 around you. 639 00:25:24,723 --> 00:25:26,012 Another one I want you to think 640 00:25:26,054 --> 00:25:27,259 about is how we frame things. 641 00:25:27,893 --> 00:25:30,638 Whether we are aware of it or not, we and 642 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,532 other people frame things in a certain way. 643 00:25:34,132 --> 00:25:38,069 So for example, frozen yogurt, 20% fat. 644 00:25:38,570 --> 00:25:40,472 That's one way to frame it. 645 00:25:40,906 --> 00:25:42,374 Now here's another way to frame it. 646 00:25:42,774 --> 00:25:45,777 Frozen yogurt, 80% fat free. 647 00:25:46,845 --> 00:25:50,169 How you frame it makes a huge difference in 648 00:25:50,211 --> 00:25:53,652 especially marketing as how people, if people 649 00:25:53,652 --> 00:25:54,819 are going to buy it or not. 650 00:25:55,186 --> 00:25:58,331 So if you wanted to sell a lot of frozen 651 00:25:58,373 --> 00:26:01,092 yogurt, which one would you choose? 652 00:26:01,826 --> 00:26:03,761 Which framing would be the best 653 00:26:03,803 --> 00:26:05,964 way to sell a lot of frozen yogurt? 654 00:26:06,064 --> 00:26:07,766 Or another way that we could flip it the other way. 655 00:26:07,966 --> 00:26:10,443 If you didn't want to sell any of this frozen 656 00:26:10,485 --> 00:26:12,837 yogurt because they're your competitor, how 657 00:26:12,837 --> 00:26:15,407 would you frame it so that people wouldn't buy it? 658 00:26:16,441 --> 00:26:18,510 So how we frame things is important. 659 00:26:18,610 --> 00:26:20,545 We might frame it in such a way 660 00:26:20,587 --> 00:26:22,747 that's either positive or negative. 661 00:26:22,914 --> 00:26:26,217 So pay attention to how you do it and how other people do it. 662 00:26:27,218 --> 00:26:27,552 All right. 663 00:26:27,886 --> 00:26:29,982 So I want you to think about, we're 664 00:26:30,024 --> 00:26:31,923 going to tend to yourself first. 665 00:26:32,757 --> 00:26:35,939 Whatever the issue or opportunity is, where 666 00:26:35,981 --> 00:26:39,130 do you stand on that issue and opportunity? 667 00:26:39,631 --> 00:26:40,532 That's the position. 668 00:26:40,565 --> 00:26:42,033 What position do you take? 669 00:26:42,367 --> 00:26:45,103 And then I want you to think about the interest. 670 00:26:45,570 --> 00:26:47,739 Why do you hold that position? 671 00:26:48,807 --> 00:26:51,734 And these are great conversations that you 672 00:26:51,776 --> 00:26:54,813 can have as ministry leaders and as students 673 00:26:54,813 --> 00:26:57,127 who are trying to figure out how to use the 674 00:26:57,169 --> 00:26:59,684 Practical Theological Framework is not everyone 675 00:26:59,684 --> 00:27:02,789 is going to agree on the position that 676 00:27:02,831 --> 00:27:06,057 they take on that issue and opportunity. 677 00:27:06,191 --> 00:27:06,891 And that's fine. 678 00:27:07,092 --> 00:27:09,194 We're in the discovery exploratory mode. 679 00:27:09,294 --> 00:27:10,428 That's fine to do that. 680 00:27:10,762 --> 00:27:12,263 I mean, eventually we'll have to narrow it down. 681 00:27:12,263 --> 00:27:15,233 But right now we just need to understand what's going on. 682 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:19,771 And then why is it that you take that particular position? 683 00:27:20,238 --> 00:27:22,466 Is it because of the assumptions you've made, 684 00:27:22,508 --> 00:27:24,776 the perspective you have, the biases you have? 685 00:27:24,776 --> 00:27:26,811 The particular culture you come from? 686 00:27:27,412 --> 00:27:28,631 Is it because you followed a 687 00:27:28,673 --> 00:27:30,248 particular script for a long time? 688 00:27:30,415 --> 00:27:32,550 You don't want to change. 689 00:27:32,751 --> 00:27:33,785 You just don't like change. 690 00:27:34,452 --> 00:27:37,889 So we go back to all those things I just talked about. 691 00:27:38,089 --> 00:27:40,428 And that will help you to determine why it is 692 00:27:40,470 --> 00:27:42,694 possible you take that particular position. 693 00:27:43,328 --> 00:27:45,063 So the first thing you do is tend to yourself. 694 00:27:45,263 --> 00:27:46,097 Understand yourself. 695 00:27:46,331 --> 00:27:47,065 Be self-aware. 696 00:27:47,766 --> 00:27:49,906 The next thing then you want to do is 697 00:27:49,948 --> 00:27:52,070 you want to be aware of other people. 698 00:27:52,737 --> 00:27:55,206 So what is the position that other people are taking? 699 00:27:55,306 --> 00:27:57,142 And why are they taking that position? 700 00:27:57,242 --> 00:27:58,777 What's the interest behind that? 701 00:27:59,144 --> 00:28:01,701 And pay attention to their perspective, their 702 00:28:01,743 --> 00:28:04,115 assumptions, biases, culture, personality, 703 00:28:04,315 --> 00:28:05,984 all these things we talked about already. 704 00:28:06,384 --> 00:28:09,113 How does that play into the position that 705 00:28:09,155 --> 00:28:11,990 they take and the reason why they're taking 706 00:28:11,990 --> 00:28:12,691 that position? 707 00:28:13,692 --> 00:28:15,675 And this then provides great opportunity 708 00:28:15,717 --> 00:28:17,295 for conversation and discussion. 709 00:28:17,996 --> 00:28:20,216 You get to better understand and know what's 710 00:28:20,258 --> 00:28:22,467 going on and why people think a certain way. 711 00:28:23,068 --> 00:28:26,604 This is, again, the theology from a below approach. 712 00:28:27,205 --> 00:28:30,021 We need to understand the lived faith experience 713 00:28:30,063 --> 00:28:32,744 of people and where they're at before we start 714 00:28:32,744 --> 00:28:35,447 making decisions about how we move forward. 715 00:28:36,047 --> 00:28:38,116 Okay, so now you've attended to yourself. 716 00:28:38,249 --> 00:28:39,584 You've attended to others. 717 00:28:39,651 --> 00:28:41,486 You have the issue in play. 718 00:28:41,820 --> 00:28:44,055 We're talking about Peace Lutheran Church and School. 719 00:28:44,756 --> 00:28:47,125 Now what you can do is you can develop a ministry question. 720 00:28:48,226 --> 00:28:52,197 So a question's going to focus you on these things. 721 00:28:52,330 --> 00:28:53,908 It's going to help you to understand what 722 00:28:53,950 --> 00:28:55,567 you don't know, what you don't understand, 723 00:28:55,834 --> 00:28:57,836 and what you don't know how to respond to. 724 00:28:58,269 --> 00:29:00,905 A ministry question can be a question of understanding. 725 00:29:01,306 --> 00:29:02,173 It starts with why. 726 00:29:02,607 --> 00:29:05,110 And it also can be a question of application. 727 00:29:05,543 --> 00:29:07,746 And usually it's best if you start it with the word how. 728 00:29:08,513 --> 00:29:10,749 All right, so this is possibly what it might look like. 729 00:29:11,449 --> 00:29:13,001 So conflict between pastor and 730 00:29:13,043 --> 00:29:14,686 church and school and community. 731 00:29:14,853 --> 00:29:15,787 That's the issue. 732 00:29:16,654 --> 00:29:19,223 The question, a question of understanding, 733 00:29:19,265 --> 00:29:21,025 what has caused the conflict? 734 00:29:21,292 --> 00:29:22,727 Or we could use why. 735 00:29:22,894 --> 00:29:24,295 Why has this conflict happened? 736 00:29:24,929 --> 00:29:27,565 And application, how can we have reconciliation? 737 00:29:28,633 --> 00:29:31,446 And so I take those two questions of understanding 738 00:29:31,488 --> 00:29:33,838 and application, put them together to have 739 00:29:33,838 --> 00:29:37,351 a final question of how can we understand 740 00:29:37,393 --> 00:29:40,945 what has caused conflict so that we can be 741 00:29:40,945 --> 00:29:42,914 reconciled with one another in Christ? 742 00:29:44,149 --> 00:29:48,282 So you need to narrow down up to a particular 743 00:29:48,324 --> 00:29:51,589 question that you want to deal with. 744 00:29:52,190 --> 00:29:54,495 If you're dealing with too many questions, 745 00:29:54,537 --> 00:29:56,828 you're never going to accomplish anything. 746 00:29:57,595 --> 00:30:00,873 So take one issue at a time, take one opportunity 747 00:30:00,915 --> 00:30:03,835 at a time, narrow it down to a question that 748 00:30:03,835 --> 00:30:06,760 you're going to ask and everything else you're 749 00:30:06,802 --> 00:30:09,641 going to do as you're mapping everything else 750 00:30:09,641 --> 00:30:10,175 out. 751 00:30:10,408 --> 00:30:13,117 This question should always be in front of 752 00:30:13,159 --> 00:30:15,780 you and say, OK, we need to map this out, 753 00:30:15,947 --> 00:30:18,343 but we're mapping it out to help us understand 754 00:30:18,385 --> 00:30:20,251 and answer this particular question. 755 00:30:20,351 --> 00:30:21,979 So I talked about how sometimes 756 00:30:22,021 --> 00:30:23,688 we can get distracted by things. 757 00:30:23,922 --> 00:30:26,440 Well, if you have a particular question that 758 00:30:26,482 --> 00:30:28,927 your ministry leaders are going to work on, 759 00:30:28,927 --> 00:30:31,095 that will keep you from being distracted. 760 00:30:31,596 --> 00:30:33,817 That will keep you from wandering off and 761 00:30:33,859 --> 00:30:36,067 doing other things, and you'll be able to 762 00:30:36,067 --> 00:30:36,868 measure this then. 763 00:30:37,068 --> 00:30:38,636 Did we actually answer the question? 764 00:30:38,903 --> 00:30:41,151 Were we able to understand things and were 765 00:30:41,193 --> 00:30:43,374 we able to find a way for reconciliation? 766 00:30:44,309 --> 00:30:47,596 So having this final question will be helpful 767 00:30:47,638 --> 00:30:50,748 for you for moving forward to be able to do 768 00:30:50,748 --> 00:30:52,750 the Practical Theological Framework. 769 00:31:01,092 --> 00:31:01,259 Thank you.