Issue No. 213 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a novel about a washed up megachurch pastor and his new hero, Francis of Assisi, who said, “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” And this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.
Defrosting With Francis
So this guy walks into a bar. I mean, into a church. A megachurch. In the Sunday morning service, he announces, “My faith is gone.”
He’s the senior pastor. (Oops.) He’s also the founder. (Oops again.) The elders attack. He hustles out of town. All the way to Florence, Italy. Hunkers down with caring and fun-loving friars, including Uncle Kenny, who departed his conservative Baptist upbringing to become a Franciscan priest.
So embracing the Italian countryside and cappuccinos, this evangelical New England megachurch pastor, Chase Falson, embarks on a spiritual pilgrimage. He follows the footsteps of Francis. Chase sees his new hero, Francis of Assisi, as the first postmodern Christian. This formerly black-and-white, got-all-my-theology-systemized-and-sanctified pastor then learns and experiences a ton of stuff by studying and walking this 13th century priest’s path. A radical path: “It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching,” preaches Francis.
This novel novel is a joy to read. It’s part turn-the-page-what’s-gonna-happen-next; part devotional, and part transformational. I tried really hard (I mean really hard) to just read it. No pen. No underlining. Just pray and drink it all in.
Impossible. I underlined. I read sections aloud to my wife—even though she had already read it. Joanne really appreciated it (except for the ending). Ditto.
Chase journals his thoughts throughout his pilgrimage. “Looking up from my journal, I stared out at a group of old men feeding pigeons and thought about the condition of God’s house in the twenty-first century. As far as I could tell, it was the only thing in the universe duct tape couldn’t fix.”
“Time in Italy has a different symmetry. Days came and went, drawing little attention to themselves; sometimes I couldn’t say if it was Tuesday or Friday. I took walks, ate, spent time with Kenny or one of the guys, and read and wrote in my journal. The deeper I plunged into the heart of Francis, the more courage I found to dive into my own. The more I saw his love for the church and the world, the more inspired I was to follow his lead. I was defrosting.”
Should you also plunge into Francis, you’ll experience wide-grin insights (the author could do stand-up comedy) and Holy Spirit nudges around every cobblestoned narrow street: differentiating between beauty and Beauty; peace-loving and peace-making (the story about Rwanda will break your heart); community, communion and the Eucharist; art, architecture and Architect.
Friar Peter: “Augustine said the human mind was particularly delighted when truth was presented to it indirectly, like in symbols and sacred space. Unfortunately, most churches today are designed without any sense of the iconic because moderns like straightforward, unambiguous communication. We want ‘worship centers’ where hominess is more important than holiness.”
Chase: “I remember telling our architect that I wanted all the technological goodies you’d find in a world-class performing arts center. Looking back, I realize that what I had asked for was ‘lights, camera, action!’ rather than ‘Father, Son and Holy Ghost.’”
Warning! Reading this book brings on sudden and uncontrollable yearnings for Italian food and wine. “Gelato is what heaven would taste like if someone froze it and crammed it into a paper cup.”
To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for Chasing Francis, by Ian Morgan Cron. (Note: the author was senior pastor of Trinity Church, Greenwich, Conn., and is an ordained Anglican priest. NavPress published the book in 2006. And special thanks to Bryan Guthrie for recommending this gem!)
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) When it was time to head home (and back to reality), a priest admonished Chase with this reminder: “The pilgrimage is never over.” What would a life-long pilgrimage look like for you?
2) Chase journals: “As long as Christians and the church continue colluding with the powers of consumerism and materialism, our witness is impeded. I won’t be giving any lectures or sermons on it in the near future, though—I’m still the worst of sinners.” Are 21st century Christ-followers deluding ourselves about having an impact?
Vertical and Horizontal Accountability - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit
One of the big ideas in the Budget Bucket, Chapter 15, in Mastering the Management Buckets is to keep your financial house (and people) in order by being accountable.
Is financial accountability important in churches and nonprofit organizations? In 2 Corinthians 8:19-21, the Apostle Paul writes, “…taking every precaution against scandal. We don't want anyone suspecting us of taking one penny of this money for ourselves. We're being as careful in our reputation with the public as in our reputation with God.”
When you lead and manage your ministry with integrity—and that integrity is affirmed by those outside your organization (like ECFA)—you demonstrate a heart for accountability that honors God, safeguards your staff and board and provides comfort and confidence to your donors. Don’t be a spiritual Lone Ranger.
April 26, 2011 (Tues.) – CEO Dialogues Roundtable with John Pearson and Bob Kobielush at CLA Dallas 2011. Register at Christian Leadership Alliance.
[ ] June 18, 2011 (Sat.) – Nonprofit Board Governance Workshop, Orange County, Calif.
[ ] June 28-29, 2011 (Tues. & Wed.) – The Rolling 3-Year Strategic Plan Workshop, Orange County, Calif.
[ ] Sept. 17, 2011 (Saturday) – Nonprofit Board Governance Workshop, Orange County, Calif.
[ ] Sept. 27-28, 2011 (Tues. & Wed.) – Mastering the Management Buckets Workshop Experience, Orange County, Calif.
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