As weeks grow...

It's tough, right?  See, I've got this blog that lots of people read and I've got this urge, see? I have an urge to TELL.

But then, sometimes, things happen that you can't talk about.

We had a 'Police Event' at THE WELL on Sunday. It was bad, that's all I can say.

Not enough, right?

Lemme' say this; as a Pastor/Church Planter you have to keep the safety of your people in mind at all times. That means, that when $hit gets 'real' you have to be ready and able to do the right thing in the moment.

This is part of what being a Biblical Elder is all about. Being a 'manly' enough man that you can take strong decisive action when it's needed and being a 'godly' enough man that you know what's right in the moment.

That was Sunday. 9.1.1, cruisers, violence.

At church.

Awesome right?

The upshot of it is we'll have security posted for the next month and we'll be praying like mad (started last night) that things settle down.  

We'll also keep growing.

That's right, growing.  

See, I've found that suffering or trail can either destroy you or it can galvanize action. I'm betting (and feeling) that the latter is going to be the operative one in this case. It's funny, we were in a really good space through the summer then, all of a sudden, in the past two months every key leader we have seemed to get hit with trial after trial after trial.

When it happens like that you sit up and take notice.  You go, "Okay Lord, this feels like opposition. Please help us do what's needed and thank you for what You're already doing and please keep us all safe through this..." and then you keep going.

But it's been strange.

See, we've got big plans for the new year--yes, we're already planning the new year, we're like fashion retailers we church builders--and we're planning big things.  The reason is not because we want to do big things, although we'd be lying if we didn't admit we hope the things we do find their way to being 'successful', but because we want to be effective.

Church is about effectively communicating and embodying hope.  

Yes, that hope is vested/rested in Jesus which makes Church different from all other endeavors, but the urge to do something 'useful' and 'good' for people is surely something you can identify with regardless of the 'creed' that dominates your days.

So we're looking to build, to grow to expand.

And that's going to mean stretching, and hoping and believing and trusting and risking.

Then I ran the numbers today, comparing the first three weeks of our first year together as a church and the last three weeks (starting our second year in existence) and I noticed that our attendance is up 10% which is not anything to get nuts over but is simple and good. Our giving numbers, on the other hand, are off the chain; up 68% year over year.  

Now that's something to get excited about.

Because it speaks to faithfulness, Gods faithfulness to us through His faithful people.

Good things.

So, despite cops and courts and fights and shouting and fear and uncertainty we're feeling good about things over here.

Real good...

T

The Dog Whisperer...

Meet "Molly".

She's our neighbors' dog.  They're in Germany so we're dog-sitting her. "Strange..." you think, "Todd and Niki aren't really 'dog' people..."

Exactly.

But, we like our neighbors and, since they asked, we were happy to do it.

Now, let's be real, they DO drop by my blog once in a while so I'm going to be sensitive but I'm also going to be honest 'cause, man, I've been learning some things.

See, my wife and kids have 'left the building'.  This is due to our house being listed.  As I'm sure you can appreciate, keeping a house 'show ready' 'aint exactly a piece of cake with FOUR kids living in it.

So, she's gone to her Mom's for a few days in the hopes that we sell quick.  "What happens next week?" Each day has sufficient worry for itself we say. We're not thinking about next week, we're hoping the house sells THIS week.  "Good luck with that..." you say. Oh you of little faith I say.  "Religious fanatic..." you say...

Cuss you out, I say.

Seriously, Molly has been making me cuss a lot.

Like when walking her she stops (abruptly pulling on her leash, sitting her stubborn butt down, glaring at me as if to say "Just TRY and move me you big dummy") on some neighbor's lawn 'cause (imagine it) she's spotted a piece of dried poop which she MUST sniff, roll around in repeatedly until she has green stripes of it on her fur, then EAT.

Like I said, I'm not a 'dog person', I don't know if this is 'normal dog behavior' and since her owners are in Germany I figure let the dog do what it wants.  They can bath her when they get back.

Oh yeah, then there's the whole, "I'm going to just run around in circles chasing my tail and growling..." bit while I'm trying to eat my cereal.  What's that all about?  Reminds me how futile our endless attempts to entertain ourselves are. We're chasing our own tails.  Makes me want to make media that 'matters'.

How 'bout the whole, she sits under my desk while I'm sermonizing licking at her chapped feet until they bleed so much it turns the fur on her face red, bit?  I'm sitting there (smelling wet, bloody dog) thinking, "I don't even know how to help or heal myself. I'm like this stupid dog, totally helpless."

Then, when I'm trying to put her in her house 'cause she likes the smells there and I have to go out to a meeting for a bit and she pulls away from me so hard she pulls the leash right off her head and refuses to come even though I'm commanding her sternly to the point that I get angry and rush towards her, she lifts her paw to defend herself 'cause she thinks I'm going to hit her and I realize that I'm just like her, defenseless in the face of an angry 'god'.

And she misses her parents, like I miss mine. And her 'home' isn't home without them just like my life is empty without Jesus in it and yours is too (even if you won't admit it).

Then I'm walking her tonight (we had a great walk) and she keeps pulling ahead of me and this makes me think, "Man, a dog will ALWAYS take as much leash as you give it..." which is JUST like me, the dude who never has enough, never knows when to call it quits and really struggles with dying to his appetites.

Then she poops (and I've been dreading this part) and I've got to pick it up with the plastic bag and I've NEVER done it (cause I grew up in an age when you just let your dog poop and that was that) and--as I do--I can FEEL the heat and the squishiness of it and it makes me sick and I think, "Man, this is just like my life, running ahead of my Master while He patiently walks with me waiting for me to crap myself so He can stoop and take responsibility for it."

The Gospel.

According to Molly.

Sheesh.  Do I have a lot to learn...

T

One more time...

So we're 'house fluffing'--and *yes* I know that reference might be a bit risque but if you 'get' the reference you're risque enough to deal with it.

This means lots and lots of painting.  Six gallons worth.  I realize there are only four in the shot, but I was just getting started when I took it.

Six gallons.

That's a lot of paint.

And as a result of this fluffing, and the season it means the wife and I are in, you're likely to get quite a few renovation-oriented pithy-truisms thrown at you in the coming weeks on this here blog as a result.

The truism from last night...

Every freakin' time I come back to painting, after swearing I'll never paint again, I start out thinking, "THIS time I'm only going to do ONE coat. One real good coat, but JUST one coat..." Then I let it cure, look at it, sigh and...

Do another coat.

That's the difference (I think and hope) between the 'chosen' and the 'passed over', between the 'elite' and the 'also ran', between the 'doers' and the 'dreamers'.

Do it right, every time, even though you're sick and tired and depressed and stressed and stretched and the LAST thing you want to do is expend any more effort than you have to.

As I stood there looking at the first coat I thought of all the times I walk into houses and can see that the numb-nuts, who calls himself a 'man', who lives there only did one coat and I shake my head, put my shoulders back and resolve not to be a numb-nuts.

That's why I always do the second coat.

Even though (left to my own devices) I don't *want* to.

Happy painting kids.

T

ps: THIS is what I was thinking a year ago today... (just scroll down to Sept 16)

It's the little things...

Like sailing to pick up your coffee for 'staff meeting'.

You're looking at my boys Miki and Jurgens getting the latter dude's sailboat snugged into the visitors berth at the Williams Cafe on the waterfront in the great city of Hamilton after our 25 minute 'beat' (sailing upwind) from the south end of Hamilton bay to the north end where the sweet coffee dwells.

We were scheduled to meet yesterday to discuss our ongoing expansion plans for THE WELL and--since I'm not a guy who really loves meetings--we've figured out a way to do our meetings while doing something I love, which is sailing.

The idea is, if we're going to sail, I won't dread the meeting.

Naturally, I'm not THAT much of a freak about it (winter will eventually come and what of sailing then?) but the reason I'm mentioning it here is because there's a *trick* embedded in the strategy that I use on all fronts of my working life.

Here's tis...

You need to figure out what you're *good* at and do that, BUT, there are going to be things you're not good at that will still need doing so you need to learn your areas of weakness and figure out how to *manipulate* yourself into the situation where you have no choice but to do what's needed--ideally making that situation as pleasant and oriented to your areas of gifting as possible.

Trick yourself into self-discipline.

Go sailing.

(it builds great 'team togetherness' at the same time)

The more you do it, the more it becomes second nature.

So, go buy a sailboat, and get to that meeting on time kids...

(and send me a picture when you do)

T

Hanging with a legend...

Sir Bobby.

(as shot on the set of UNSCRIPTED, August 2010)

Interviewed him a couple weeks back, for the second time.

First time, back in 2008, was a bit of a rough go. I'll take responsibility for that to some degree. I'll place the responsibility for the rest of it on all the dumb-ass interviews he must've done to that point in his life; interviews that led him to expect my time with him would be more of the same.

I got him to open us a bit back in 2008, but nowhere near as much as this last time.

Here's (I think) why...

I started the interview IN REVERSE.  See, usually, a celebrity guest allows themselves to be interviewed in a kind of 'exchange'.  They give you their time and *some* access into their lives and in exchange you give them a platform to rant about whatever cause it is that they're most passionate about.  Typically, the bigger the celebrity the more likely it is that the only reason they're doing interviews at all is because they're obligated (either contractually, or because their livelihood is on the line) to do it.

Which means, typically, that most celebrity interviews aren't that great.

A BIG part of it, is because (often) the interviewers suck.  Straight up.  Many interviewers on 'mainstream' pop-television are mostly 'pretty faces' who can chat but who lack any real intellectual or spiritual depth. This means that, much of the time, the interview questions are prepared in advance for them by a writer or producer or even piped right into their earpiece from the control room as the interview is happening.

Sure, there are *great* interviewers but you'd know them by name (and could count them on two hands) because their greatness has given them a deserved place on the pop-culture pedestal.

Sad truth is, there are hundreds of interviewers in the World conducting thousands of interviews per week.

And it's making Bobby (as an example) grumpy.

Imagine it from his perspective...

He's spent his life doing what he loves, he's had success, but he's just a human. People are interested in him but he doesn't really want to talk to people about 'him'.  He feels a responsibility to his audience though, feels like they've given him a lot but how much is enough?  How much of himself does he need to keep putting out there until he can call it a day and just live out his life?

Does a 'public person' have a responsibility to their 'public'?

What if it was you?  Would you want to sit under the hot lights and have some inane barbie doll ask you another inane version of the same question 'ken' asked you last week?  How long 'till you'd get sick of it?

So, my job, is to break through those expectations, set them at ease, help them realize that this (moment with me) is 'for real', that I respect them and their life's work and am possessed of a GENUINE interest in what drives them, motivates them, gives them hope, causes them fear and sees them through.

So, with Mr. Barker I started with his causes.  We started with the animals and the activism that's driven him all his life, and because we started there (with passion) I was able to turn the corner with him (and he graciously turned with me) into some of his life lessons and he didn't begrudge it, or resist it or get mad.

The result? A good interview.

Thanks Mr. Barker.

You lived up to your billing.  This kid who grew up watching you left an hour in-person with you liking you more than before.

And that's a rare gift.

T

What to say?

My boy had his first football game on Saturday.

That's him, in red, in his three point stance, at nose-tackle, ready for the first play of his football career.

Pretty neat experience.

Nik and the three other kids and I were on the sideline with a couple hundred other 'football parents' hootin' and hollerin' and carrying on.  Yes, I was the loudest.

It was our first trip into the world of 'normal' suburban parenthood, where you're up early on a weekend, coffee in hand, to go watch your progeny get 'ahead' in life.

At 10 years old.

Later that day, me and the boy went to a Ti-Cats game.

Gotta' admit the flag and anthem ceremony got to me a bit more than usual.  I chalk it up to advancing years and increasing life-pressures.

As I get older and more weighed-down by all that life demands I find myself appreciating my home country more and more.  I found myself, standing there in the sunshine singing, feeling very thankful to be alive, to be doing what I do, to have my wee family to be raising, a fun and friendly wife to be raising them with, in a great twin-city setting in a province with great potential in a country that's one to be admired around the World.

"Rah, rah..." you're thinking, and I get it, but I gotta' say it was a 'real' moment for me.

Today is Monday, post-Sunday, and it was a bit of a rough one at THE WELL for a couple reasons that I can't get into here.  It was our one-year anniversary and I was really hoping for a ballistic week.  Instead we got a tough one.  You get weeks like that in church planting.  It just takes time for the thing to stabilize and for you to get to the point where the ups and downs aren't radical and you've got enough momentum and people-power in the system to keep things humming at a consistent rate.

A church planter friend of mine in Miami had his 2nd anniversary and another friend in Omaha had his 10th. I was thinking of them and missing them a bit.

There are some exciting things looming at THE WELL.  I'll speak more about that in the weeks to come.  The trick is to follow the Lord's lead, with hope, tenacity, courage, thanksgiving and perfect love that casts out fear.

For today, I'm going to go see about a boat for a bit (next season stuff) and enjoy the sun and the breeze and get me a 'terminator' smoothie to try and stave off the cold that has taken last weeks stress as an invitation to lay me low today.

T

Overawed...

I've been a little less-than faithful to this here blog lately.

Yes, me...

The smiley dude on set.

Shooting season two of UNSCRIPTED in Los Angeles CA.

(that's why I've been writing less...)

I gotta' say a few things.

1) It's a great privilege to be able to do it. Many people work very hard to help make it happen and if you're one of them I thank you very sincerely.

2) It's a pretty tough thing to do.  We typically shoot 10 interviews a day, yes ten, and that's about as exhausting as it gets in this biz.  You're thinking, "What, sit on a stool all day and just talk to people? Easy work."  Not so much. The concentration required to give someone everything you've got, all your empathy, all your interest, while conversing with them in a way that 'fits' the show structure, while staying 'out of the way' so your editing team doesn't kill you, while helping the guest feel like we're just 'talking' while doing your darndest to wring something redemptive and (hopefully) life changing out of each interview?  Not easy work.

3) I remain, all these 36 years later, shy of and a bit overawed by the rich and famous. I still don't feel like I 'belong' there. My biz-partner tells me this is a good thing, tells me that if I ever start feeling like I 'deserve' this, that's when I need to really start getting worried.

4) Yes, I'm further along than I was, say seven years ago, filming six episodes a night of a show I wrote, produced, assistant edited, hosted, craft-serviced, and associated guested all in a windowless studio suite in mid-winter Winnipeg (don't ask...) but I still don't feel like I'm where I 'want' (or feel compelled) to be.

Which is why I keep working.

I remember reading that if the 'thing' you're trying to do doesn't overawe or outright scare you, you're not doing the 'right' thing.

Well, I'm good and scared people.

T

In the land of Giants...

Yup, Me and Carl Reiner.

What a guy.  A Hollywood legend with more experience and talent than most people I'll ever meet, and a 64-year old marriage to boot.  Interviewed him yesterday.  I'm shooting 30 interviews in 3 days this week.

Lots of work.  Lots of stress.

I was so horrified yesterday morning it took a real act of will to get myself downstairs to start working.  Once I got the first interview done I started feeling better, started remembering that I can 'do' this, starting feeling like this is a good thing to do, something worthwhile in a small simple way.

I was talking to my business partner and another friend with me (our DP on this shoot) and mentioned that I think, deep down, I--in some way--don't feel 'worthy' to be doing this, to even *be* here. I think I still feel like a little Pentecostal boy from Israel who shouldn't be rubbing shoulders with people like Mr. Reiner.

My biz partner looked at me and said, "Well, if you ever feel like you've got a right to be here, that's the time you need to start getting really worried..."

I think he's right.

It's a very humbling deal being here, doing this.

Gonna' go get my 'interviewer outfit' on and go do my best.

Again.

T