Long Time Coming

It has been months of work, and The Crucible Project has finally unveiled their new website.
With it come 4 excellent videos produced by a world-class firm. There are other videos, other testimony out there on the site, bringing the ministry to the attention of communities in Chicago, across the US, and in global sites as well.

Here are some links to that content:

Phil's Story

Chris' Story

Will's Story

John's Story

The Problems You Have Left

I was part of a team once where we openly acknowledged that the only problems left were the difficult, complex ones. We accepted that the easy & fast solutions had, for the most part, been addressed. We delighted when something simple & easy crossed our paths, and celebrated wins over complex problems.

I think life outside of work is often the same way: most of the problems we face are complex, and it takes a team to work them out. Whether confronting my own habits, beliefs, or why a friend's email set me off, it is usually more involved than changing a light bulb or emptying the trash.

If it is true that doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result is textbook insanity, why do so many of us keep doing that? Once we know we are dealing with things which are complex, we can prepare for a longer time frame, more effort, etc., and agree that different ideas, methods, & practices are be required.

This upcoming weekend, about 30 men will join us to start work, in different ways, on the difficult problems they have left.

I can't wait!

Frame or polish?

Another of Seth Godin's posts got me thinking about people who frame an idea vs. polish it.

I know guys who say they'll go work on their relationship with God, cross the line of faith, build a community, etc. when they get their house in order. They're stuck trying to polish things up before other see them. I fall prey to this, too: if I can't do things well, I don't try--or I stall & delay.

Polish is beautiful, no doubt

Other men are the framers. They're building things, figuring out how to get things done, how to grow, how to challenge themselves. They focus more on progress than perfection. They're less likely to get stuck--or to put polish on being stuck so people see the shine, not the situation.

We're taught--shamed even--to spend more time & energy on the former. I want to spend more of my time working on the latter: framing things, getting things started--even making mistakes.

TCP Video Project Announcement

Today, TCP announced they are partnering with a world-class video production company to produce & shoot testimonial videos. And they'll overhaul their website to be on par with the quality of the videos.

Check out some other videos done by the Producer they'll use:

Cliff Graham: https://vimeo.com/63268381

Kappa: https://vimeo.com/58144121

Children Of The City: https://vimeo.com/77265855

Carolina: https://vimeo.com/67481779

Here's a link to the crowdsourcing site.

On, and in other news, TCP was mentioned on another site recently.

The Crucible Project: Big Announcement Soon!

The news will *not* involve an old ribbon-style typewriter.

I have it on good authority that there's a big announcement coming soon from TCP. This is a good thing, a step in the right direction, one that has been prayed over for a long time. Stay tuned for more info!

This weekend, there are men gathered in WI to work through the Mission Retreat, looking at what God put them here to do, and why...and a whole lot more.

In another month, TCP staffers will gather in Wisconsin for The Crucible Weekend. I'm staffing with my men's group, and we're all excited for what God has in store for us.

How to Pray Aloud Like a Man, Part II

Last June I wrote a short post about a great piece written by David Murrow, called "How to Pray Aloud Like a Man".

I just found a sequel to that post, dated late last year. In it, he highlights a prayer by Rick Warren, aptly noting that it is well-suited to men. I read it and I like it:

• no Jesus/Lord/God repeated 2,300 times during a brief prayer
• no misuse of the word "just" 37 times in the same prayer
• a simple, direct, bold, scary prayer for God to use him

Food for thought tonight as my children sleep upstairs.

Cursing on The Crucible Weekend

I have a confession to make: I've cursed on a Christian men's weekend.

Um, yeah. I felt like this.

For some readers, this will seem a minor offense, almost silly. For others, it is a bellweather of spiritual discipline and maturity that leaves me...lacking.

One of (many) struggles against sin that I have not yet won is cursing. I know what the Bible says in verses like: Col 3:8, Eph 4:29, & James 3: 6-10, among others.

I've been called out on it by people at work and good friends whose faith, opinions, values, and Biblical perspectives I trust. And yet I've not mastered my tongue in this dimension.

I could excuse it away: pop culture, who I saw do it when I was growing up, culture in differnet companies or social groups or...whatever. I'm not going to do that: I do it, and I own it. I find myself tempted to tell you that jokes with swear words are not my bag, that I've told people to not tell them in front of me. But that is really trying to parse words, to gain favor, to take away the impact of what I say.

So what does it mean when on said Christian men's weekend, upon such an admitedly unGodly utterance, the room didn't empty--that righteous indignation & condemnation didn't rain down from all directions? Does it mean the staff & paricipants justify, nay even embrace cursing as "acceptable"? Let's set aside hysterics and histironics here: it just means the other guys didn't freak out.

Ahhhh, rats

But, you may wonder, didn't someone call me out on my sin? I'm willing to say someone did call me out on it, privately. He did so in a respectful, and challenging way.

I never did go back & poll the other men in the room about why they didn't call me out publicly, shame me, or freak out.

I will say that the issue of profanity is addressed on the weekend. I won't get into details; as I've blogged before, that is confidential.

In my experience, it wan't endorsed. It wasn't encouraged. And it wasn't used as a cudgel to shame me.