LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS – APRIL 2001 Paul Arnott Leading in an age of information overload

I’m sure that the amount of information that comes to you each day, via TV and radio, your electronic inbox and your letter-box, is no less than I receive daily. It may even be more. Some days it’s overwhelming. Occasionally I feel like emulating Peter Finch in Network, by flinging open the nearest window and insanely screaming to anyone who will listen, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!”

What can we do to practically cope with this deluge of information that seeks to daily drown us? Kevin Miller, writing in a soon to be published article for Leadership Journal suggests that the first thing we have to do is to dethrone information in our lives:

“At least one day a week, we must rest from gathering information just as the ancient Israelites rested from gathering wood. We must still our racing minds and rest our information-soaked souls. By so doing, we declare that humans cannot live by information alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Miller quotes Ken Myers who recently suggested that “we should regularly practice media fasts: days or weeks during which we reduce the flood of information we receive to the merest trickle. Not only will such a practice enable us to set our knowledge in perspective, it also will help us recognise the love/hate relationship we have with information overload. We say we are frustrated by having so much to respond to, but we still carry cell-phones everywhere and check our e-mail every 10 minutes. It makes us feel important to be so busy. Media fasts should help us become more honest about our motivations.”

Kevin Miller says that if we read at all during a media fast, we limit ourselves to something that nourishes the soul — slowly, meditatively:

“In the presence of God, we really must lose our insecurity about knowing everything, our anxiety about not being able to keep up. In God’s presence, we develop the peaceful spirit that is of such value in his sight, the quiet wisdom that orders knowledge. Jack Trout, in The Power of Simplicity, writes, “… the comparative advantage shifts from those with information-glut to those with ordered knowledge, from those who can process vast amounts of through-put to those who can explain what is worth knowing, and why.”

Kevin A. Miller is executive editor of http://www.PreachingToday.com. To reply, write .

8 URGENT QUESTIONS OF TODAY’S GENERATION Starting with people’s real concerns gives our message more credibility By Rick Richardson, author of “Evangelism Outside the Box”, 2000. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press

Here’s a summary of some of the new questions we must face if we wish to connect with this post-modern generation. 1. Questions of power and motive. Even our logical answers can feel like an exercise of colonialising power. To many people we’re just another tribe, using logic to gain power. Post-modern people have redefined truth as “whatever rings true to your experience, whatever feels real to you.” There’ s no grand story to inspire people. Any attempt to claim that one has the truth for everybody is heard as an arrogant attempt at domination and control. 2. Questions of identity. Who am I? Who will I listen to for help in developing my identity and sense of self? How can you Christians think you can tell other people who they are? Who do you think you are to invalidate my sense of self and identity and my group’s definition of who we are? 3. Questions of pain and suffering. Why do I hurt? Why did my family break apart? Why is there so much hatred and violence in the world? People are crying out not so much for philosophical answers as for a way to give meaning and purpose to personal and corporate suffering. 4. Questions of character, trust and attractiveness. Why should I trust you? Look at what believers have done: racism, sexism, homophobia, the Crusades, religious wars. Intolerance and narrow hate seem to mark your institutions. Your character is no better than the character of the society you live in. I can trust you just as much as I can trust other leaders in our society-which is hardly at all. 5. Questions of love and meaning. How can you reject the homosexual lifestyle? How can you say you love people when you reject who they are, how they define their very identity? How can you question living together when people love each other? How can you be rule-oriented in your ethics when the situation has to determine what is really loving? 6. Questions of interpretation. Isn’t the way you see the world completely dependent on your community and place of birth? Can’t you interpret Scriptures any way you want, and haven’t you? I don’t care about the Bible’s reliability. I am concerned about its integrity and moral value. After all, it was written by patriarchal, ethnocentric people. 7. Questions of relevance and relativism. Does your belief change lives? Does prayer really make a difference? Does your religion help you with your pain? If it works for you, why should it work for me? What does it matter what you believe as long as it works and helps you? The question of the uniqueness of Christ is not primarily philosophical as it is utilitarian. Don’t all religions help people equally? If a religion works and feels real to a person, then it is true for that person. People are not looking for theological comparisons but for attractiveness and relevance. 8. Questions of impact. Does your religion help society? Does it help me, whether I’m in your group or not? Or are you just another self-serving group?

To reply to Rick, write . Adapted from “Evangelism Outside the Box” by Rick Richardson. Copyright 2000 by Rick Richardson. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. To read more excerpts, go to http://www.ivpress.com and browse the IVP card catalog. To order “Evangelism Outside the Box,” go to http://www.christianbook.com.

Some ways to run more efficient meetings by guest columnist Phyllis Ten Elshof, former editor of Your Church magazine

DO YOUR HOMEWORK Panicked paper shuffling, tardiness, and/or missing necessities (pen, note paper, etc.) are a give-away that you haven’t prepared for a meeting. Anything you contribute from that point will be interpreted as “winging it.” By contrast, thoughtful reading through agendas and pre-meeting notes will boost your confidence and credibility.

OBSERVE FIRST — TALK LATER Every meeting is different, depending on its leadership and participants. Some leaders welcome discussion; others expect only respectful attention to speeches from a select few. Keep your mouth closed till it becomes clear what’s expected of you.

PARK EXTREME RESPONSES AT THE DOOR Anger, impatience, or rambling put people on edge and divert attention from what you’re saying. Too much passion will lose your case every time, especially if you’re a woman in a roomful of men. Win your way with well-researched, concise presentations.

DON’T CHALLENGE — ASK QUESTIONS Some meetings are inherently confrontational. Arguing in such a setting, however, violates the spirit of a meeting, which is to help one another understand opposing views. The hotter the meeting, the more necessary it becomes to stay cool, rational, and respectful.

STAY TUNED In a group seated around a table, everyone is in full view. That means every yawn, sigh, grimace, twitch, or doodle you make could be interpreted as signs of boredom.

Phyllis Ten Elshof is editor of CTI Resources for Christianity Today International. To reply, write

Intriguing results on leadfrom US Survey of Faith The most comprehensive survey of faith communities ever conducted in the United States has just been undertaken. It was conducted by a team of researchers from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research includes responses from over 14,000 congregations representing 41 denominations and faith communities. Those surveyed in Protestant churches included liberal, moderate, evangelical and historically black congregations. In addition to Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, the study also included Jewish, Mormon, Muslim and Baha’i faith communities.

Congregations with leaders who have a seminary education are, as a group, far more likely to report that, in their congregations, they perceive less clarity of purpose; more and different kinds of conflict; less person-to-person communication; less confidence in the future and more threat from changes in worship. For more information about the study or to download a copy of the complete report, visit the project web site at http://fact.hartsem.edu/researchfindings.htm

“Used with permission of Leadership Network, 800-765-5323, http://www.leadnet.org”

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