Confessions of a Church Video Director: Run Over

This post will start with a visual aid, a moment from my career as a TV camera operator back in 2003 when I was covering an NBA game in Phoenix, AZ.

(Embedded video HERE)

That was my job. Right on the court, just inches from large athletes moving at top speed.

This clip shows just one of the many times that I got run over while on the job.

My hat and glasses went flying. I rolled backwards like a turtle. But the show must go on… so I dusted myself off and got back to work. Just another night at the arena.

Here is where I spin that story into a blog post:

3 years ago, I was working at a church that had hired me to “take them to the next level“. Early on everything was fine; the next level often means changes and the folks there seemed to embrace the changes I was making; sometimes reluctantly, others with a little more vigor.

Taking the job was not easy for my family as it meant moving about 2,200 miles… Moving my wife away from her mother, sister and friends… Moving my daughter away during her junior year of high school.

And then I got run over.

I didn’t realize that I was being run over until about 8 months into the assignment. My character began to be  questioned, my work was minimized, and all of my next level thinking was rebuffed. It was much different than being plowed by a point guard… Rather than being struck, I found my self stuck.

Stuck in a job that was giving me ulcers.

Stuck in a job that was making me seriously question my faith. My calling. My ability to lead my family.

I was completely run over.

One big problem here: This wasn’t the sidelines of a major sporting event, this was a church. A place where people are supposed to be gracious, kind, and supportive. Perhaps I will go into more of the details of all that happened there another time, just understand that by the time that I knew I had to leave, I was near ready to call it quits with church-work and do something else. Fortunately, I found a new job with an amazing church that I love to this day.

My confession: While I love God’s Church with all that I am, some of the wounds that I incurred in my previous position still sting a bit. Much the way an old injury will leave you with a scar or a slight limp, I wonder if I will ever be able to shake all of what happened to me. I want to be all that God wants me to be and I don’t want my past to define my future. People let me down, God didn’t… I can’t ever lose sight of that.

Rather than this muse being just another indictment on the inner-workings of the Church, I’d rather have it be a step in the direction of healing and forgiveness. Maybe you have been hurt by a church’s leadership… maybe you’ve questioned God’s calling…

Maybe you’ve been run over too.

Be encouraged; You will heal. You may lose your hat and your glasses, but you can dust off and go back to work.

For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. Romans 11:29

Production and Purpose – 10/5/10

This is a gem!

Great communication, clicking on all cylinders! Great writing, shooting, editing… and what I want to point out most about this clip is the location; even with the great production value, this piece would not have the same impact without the old church as a backdrop… it almost becomes the main character in this story!

(embedded video HERE)

This is a great example that even in marketing, a well told story can be the key to a great video. Anyone else want to read this book now?

Same Team

I remember when I first started playing basketball; I was in the sixth grade and had just started hanging out with some guys who loved to play… all the time! We were obsessed! It didn’t matter if it was recess time at school or in our driveways at home, all we wanted to do was play basketball.

Interestingly, the more players that got involved the more competitive the games got; We would play hard! Pushing, shoving, diving onto the concrete… win at any cost! At times we would all be so overcome with the brawl of competition that two guys from the same team would come close to killing each other fighting over a loose ball or a rebound, until one of them would finally yell, “Same team, same team!“

In a recent conversation with some co-workers, our casual chatter evolved into an interesting discussion about how some ministers, or people in ministry, will spend an unbelievable amount of time and energy bashing other ministers and ministries. This is a part of the church-world that I really don’t like to talk about much, if only so I don’t get lumped in with any of that mentality. Today, I just feel like blogging my mind a little about this.

It just comes down to one thing: SAME TEAM, SAME TEAM!

In Christian churches, aren’t we all trying to lead people to the same Son of God? …if yours is different, you’ve got bigger trouble than being a snarky-loud-mouth! Stop looking at all of the things that you think some one is doing wrong in their ministry and learn to celebrate the things they are doing well! Don’t get so caught up in the battle that you start to lose sight of who is fighting with you… to win at any cost! When we are taking shots at each other, the world looks at us (all of us!) and just shakes their heads and walks further away from ever darkening the doors of ANY of our churches.

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12 (NLT)

Simple Steps of Leadership

Leader’s Seven Essential Behaviors

According to Ram Charam and Larry Bossidy’s book Execution, the leader’s seven essential behaviors are:

Know your people and your business
Insist on realism
Set clear goals and priorities
Follow through
Reward the doers
Expand people’s capabilities
Know yourself.

As a leader, what areas do you need to work on?

Final Leadership post of ’08

As I ponder all that has happened in the past year, my head starts to spin! Not that I’m claiming to have been through things that others haven’t been through, just in awe of how it all came together. A few things come to mind for me in the category of leadership:

1. I’m amazed at how much I learned about good leadership after experiencing bad leadership. I recall a situation from a long time ago when I worked in a manufacturing plant… I had to deal with some one from another department on a regular basis who seemed to have no concept of good communication or problem solving skills. In trying to find a solution to the ongoing woes between myself and the other individual, I went to my boss to see if he had any insight on how to deal with the daily conflicts. To my surprise, he didn’t offer a great answer to that particular problem, but the wisdom he shared that day comes ringing back to me now:

“You can’t change how people treat you, but you can learn about what kind of leader you want to be and how you want to treat people when you’re in similar situations”.

Wow. I really can’t believe how those simple words have come true! While I don’t want to be perceived to be dwelling on the negative aspects of the year, I can truly say that I have learned the most about good leadership via bad leadership. I can honestly say that I feel well armed to deal with many things now because of what I have seen in the way of poor leadership.

2. Good leadership is practiced every day. Just like being healthy in your mind and body requires daily attention, so does good leadership. I firmly believe that good leadership doesn’t take days off… not to say that there isn’t “down time”, but truly good leadership leaves evidence on a daily basis… it becomes who you are, not merely what you do. I have had an incredible privilege of working around some amazing leadership in my current job! People that strive for excellence in all that they do, professionally and personally. I am blessed!

3. Good leadership is easy to follow. When a passionate leader lays out a map and a time-line, the followers have little opportunity to stray from it. The plan becomes the “thing” and the filter by which everything is judged. Any additions or subtractions can be quickly weighed by how they affect the plan… to me, this means that we are able to remove the emotional decisions without diminishing any of the passion of the project.

4. Good leadership thrives on good communication. In Seth Godin’s book, Tribes, he states,

“Great leaders create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate. They establish the foundation for people to make connections, as opposed to commanding people to follow them.”

With poor communication comes mistakes, misunderstandings and loss of motivation. Good communication has great benefits: a clear understanding of the tasks, ongoing encouragement, and ultimately, high praise for achievements.

5. Good leadership is contagious! With good leadership calling the shots, I firmly believe that your organization will thrive at unthinkable levels internally… and will continue to attract the attention of others externally who want to learn how to improve their own organizations. Good leadership is also ready to dispense their wisdom for the betterment of anyone who asks.

I’m thankful to so many people who have poured so much into my life in the past year… you will find many of them listed in my blogroll and quoted in previous leadership posts… these are amazing people who realize that leadership is not a position, but a great responsibility… it’s who they are, not what they do. Thank you all!

What have you learned about leadership in 2008?

Friday Funny – 12/26/08

While I find the following clip quite funny (and hope that you do too), I also see this installment of the Friday Funny as a bit of an object lesson for those of us who work in churches; If you have flown on Southwest Airlines, you know that they rarely do the pre-flight safety orientation with the same boring cadence that all of the other airlines do.

What I appreciate about that is that when I fly on Southwest, I actually pay attention to the safety briefing! As churches, do your services look much the same each week, so that most of the people in their seats just tune most of it out? Or, are you changing things up to keep the feeling fresh and engaging?