• Weekly emailed learning modules
• Process-oriented content i.e. provide tools for equipping rather than just information
• A password protected website of resources, links, modules, etc.
• A conference call system for coaching
• Multimedia content, i.e. video, audio, and text
• Both embedded and downloadable media for easy access.
• Action-the oriented content

 
So how did it go?

Putting together the initial structure was a huge undertaking that I had to pull off in under a week and by-and-large came together  as I envisioned it.  The three college students I recruited were awesomely receptive to the possibilities.   Everyone came out of the gate very enthusiastically, but we all struggled with busyness and how to integrate daily time in the Word.  Busyness was perhaps the single largest obstacle in the whole endeavor and I will say more about that under ‘lessons learned’ below.
 
While I want to revamp a significant portion of the content I feel like the content is solid, helpful and significant.  I did not teach any content about the Bible.  In other words, I didn’t teach any facts, information or lessons about the actual text.  My focus was equipping participants with tools for reading, learning, applying and experiencing the Word so that they would then experience transformation.  I am anxious to receive their feedback on the effectiveness of those tools and/or how much they applied.  Conversationally, I am aware that the participant’s activity level was very diverse.
 
Challenges

I found the biggest challenge in this process is not in creating the content but mentoring students toward application.  I know from my own experience that the tools I shared will prompt significant spiritual growth when consistently applied, but you have to help people apply them first.  As mentioned above, ‘busyness’ was the biggest obstacle for everyone along with the fatigue it produces.  When I revise the program and run a second test group  I am going to make the program longer with more incremental steps.  This will help people move into a more solid baseline of daily reading.  Also, I need to include some exercises for developing greater self-awareness around time management, priorities and self-discipline.
 
I am reminded of a friend of mine who created a fantastic independent study on animal tracking. He quickly discovered people couldn’t really do the program because they lacked basic naturalist skills necessary to understanding animal behavior. He had to create a naturalist study to get people the foundation necessary for the tracking study.   We live in a culture driven by immediate gratification and multi-tasking.   I have to help people tame those time beasts if they are effectively going to study and apply the Word of God in their lives.
 
Where do I go from here?

I have one last module to write to complete the study I started.  I will finish that, then get feedback.  Revise the program.  Then some time in the very near future, I will be relaunching another test group with preferable 15-20 people.   I will be adding a forum to the bible coaching website that will allow for peer mentoring and a place for people to post questions prior to the group conference calls.  I also am working on a series of “mindset” recordings.  There are certain mindsets necessary to being successful at any spiritual discipline.  I am hoping that the audios will inform, motivate and direct the participants toward greater success in the spiritual goals that they set.
 
Your prayers for this important process are much appreciated.  I hope you have taken time to evaluate your Lenten experience and worked on a “where to go from here” plan.  If not, then I encourage you to read my earlier post of questions to help you evaluate.
 
Lastly, I would love to hear from other readers what they did for Lent and any important lessons they learned.
  

Here are 10 questions to consider.

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your fulfillment of your commitment?
2. Was your commitment too easy, too hard, are about right?
3. What factors seemed to make the difference between whether you had successful days or bad days?
4. What do you wish someone could have told you before you tried this?
5. What are at least three lessons you learned?
6. How has this experience affected your relationship with God or your discipleship?
7. Would you do it again and why would you or wouldn’t you do it again?
8. How would you benefit from continuing to do this?
9. What would be the biggest obstacle(s) for you making this a regularly part of your life?
10. Now that Lent is over what next action step could you take that would bring joy to God?

For those of you who struggled or failed to keep your commitment, consider these 6 questions:

1. Did you have a realistic goal?
2. Did you have a written goal?
3. Did you use triggers to help stay consistent?
4. Did you tell anyone about it so that you had support and/or accountability?
5. Did you track your progress in anyway?
6. What 3 changes could you make that would have helped you succeed?

I hope these questions are helpful.  I want to reiterate the value of writing out your answers to these questions.  If you don’t, then you will leave 50% of your learning and growth behind you.  So take even just a few minutes, grab a piece of paper and jot down some answers to these questions.  I will be posting a reflection upon my own experience next week.

Blessings from the Practical Disciple during this Holy Week.

The second unique Lenten discipline that I encountered this week came out of someone’s devotional reading.  A man I know read about the paralytic whose friends brought him to Jesus to be healed  (Mark 2:3-4).  Four friends carried him on his mat to Jesus and he healed the man because of their faith.  My friend took one of his favorite shirts and cut it up into forty pieces each about two inches square.  My friend is giving these pieces to people he cares about and he tells them the story.  When he gave one to me he told me the story and then said, “I just want you to know I am help carrying your mat.”  What a wonderful concrete way to tell someone that you are there for them if they need you.

Blessings to you on your Lenten journey.  I hope in some small way every time I write a post that I am grabbing a corner of your mat and helping you out.

Yay – Lent starts tomorrow!

I am full of anticipation for Lent!  It is an incredible feeling.  :)  There’s this guy I know who’s been talking it up for practically all of 2010!  It’s got me all excited.  :)
Anyway, I need a little help with what I want to do for Lent.  I want to do something along the lines of your 40 days of 40 bags of clutter.  I want to spend 40 days working on getting the basement organized.  That space just upsets me b/c it is so chaotic and things are in boxes and just no organization what-so-ever.  I can’t seem to find the motivation to work on it b/c it seems so daunting.  We’ve just left this space – it’s like we had no energy for it once we got settled into the house.  So I decided this might be the opportunity I’m looking for.  I was thinking about spending 15 minutes each day working on the organization/decluttering of the basement.

My question to you is how do I make sure I keep the focus of Christ in this daily endeavor?  I don’t want to approach this like a New Year’s Resolution but something with more focus and purpose spiritually.  I know it will be bring me peace to have this space less chaotic.  I was thinking about starting each time of cleaning with prayer?  I don’t know.  I feel a little stuck in figuring out how to really make this a spiritual practice without piling a ton of “work” on my plate.  I don’t want to dread this but approach each day with anticipation for it – even if it is challenging.  I’m not trying to make it into something “easy” necessarily but something doable.

Does any of this make sense?

Thanks John.

Your question, “How do I make sure I keep the focus of Christ in this daily endeavor?”, is really a question of,  ”How do I take take something mundane and make it holy?”  When I say holy, I literally mean “holy.”  The words in the Old and New Testament that we translate as “holy” both mean “set apart” or “separated from”.  So when you read about God’s holy mountain or God’s’ holy people you are reading about a mountain and a people set apart for God’s purposes.  They are set apart from all that is around them and they are set apart with a specific godly purpose.  So if you want to make the mundane in your life holy set it apart from other activity for a holy purpose and here is how you do that.

MAKE IT HOLY–SET IT APART

Trust your instinct to start with a prayer.  That is probably a God nudge.  I would also recommend closing with a prayer.  Those prayers will be a boundary marker that says, “Hey, this time is for you God?”  It will trigger your mind out of other distractions and flag your attention to be refocused on Christ.  You may even want to start with the exact same words each time you start and close.  For example begin with, “God I give this time of tending to the things you have put in my care as an offering of thanks for the many blessings in my life.” and then close with something like, “God thank you for providing for me beyond my needs. I pray that I honor you by being a joyful steward.”

REWIRE YOUR BRAIN FOR GOD

Praying the same words is valuable when starting.  After a week or so, shift the words, but maintain the same intentions.  Here is why.   You are actually renewing your mind for God by doing so.  There is fascinating research emergingon how our brains work called neuroplasticity, that Allyson Lewis, author of The Seven Minute Difference,  shared with me during my recent interview with her.  What scientist are discovering is that we actually generate new neurons and neural paths when we practice focused repeated attention.  We literally renew our minds when we choose to think the same thought repeatedly.  As those new neurons and neural paths get laid it becomes easier and easier for us to move into the same thought process.

So, I would recommend that for the first several days you pray the same words as you enter into and out of your time.  Then begin to vary the words but keep the intention identical.  It’s a bit like you are whacking a path through a bunch of weeds in your head.  The same words are an intense effort to just get an open trail where one hasn’t existed before.  The shifting of words broadens the path and makes it progressively easier to move down.  In the case of the opening prayer I suggested, you are conditioning your mind to recognize several truths:

1. All that you have is from God.
2. You have a responsibility to care for it.
3. Your actions can be an offering of gratitude.
4. You are richly blessed.

These are great mindsets to sustain as you address mundane tasks.  When I think about neuroplasticity I think of Paul’s instruction to the Phillippians,

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” (Phillippians 4:8 NASB)

The word translated as “dwell” actually means to ruminate, like a cow chewing its cud over and over again.  Dwell upon means to repeatedly focus upon.  Dwell upon means take advantage of the God-given neuroplasticity of your brain.

Once you have entered your time of cleaning ruminate on these things:

GRATITUDE

“Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Colossians 3:17)

One time I was bemoaning mowing my lawn on an extremely hot Arkansas Summer day.  I was wretchedly hot and exercising a mindset that was very biblical, “weeping and gnashing of teeth”, when I realized how absurd it was for me to complain.  I suddenly thought, “How can I complain about mowing my lawn?  Mowing my lawn means I own a lawn.  I have a home.  I am blessed beyond my needs and have far more than other people even dream of having.”  It changed my heart and mind around what I was doing and the chore then became a prayer of gratitude.  I shifted to a different biblical attitude, an attitude of gratitude.  Mowing became an opportunity to be thankful  for all that God gave me.  This experience often comes to mind for me as I do my chore cards.  More frequently now I am finding that those mundane tasks are becoming times of thanks and praise.  At times these are almost sacramental moments.  You may think I am nuts, but recently as I dusted our china cabinet I found myself singing a simple improvised refrain, “I am blessed for I am dusting.”

DO IT AS IF YOU ARE SERVING CHRIST (because you are)

“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” Colossians 3:23-24.

The spirit in which you work is a testimony to people around you and it is a statement to God.  Do what you do heartily and for the Lord.  One way to trigger this mindset is to imagine as you organize that you are in Jesus’ house.  That these are his things and that he has asked you to organize it.  If that were the case, how would your attitude shift?  Adopt that attitude.

One thing that will happen is that the mindsets you are developing will naturally seep out of the confines of your fifteen minutes.  I suspect you that by the end of Lent you will reflexively begin bringing gratitude to tasks  like doing laundry, loading the dishwasher or cooking a meal.

SOME PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

First, don’t work ahead.

I would highly recommend setting a timer for 15 minutes and stop when it goes off no matter what you are doing.  At first, this will be very difficult.  You will think, “Oh, I’ll just finish this area over here.” or “I’ll just do one more box.”  DON’T DO IT.  What almost inevitably happens is you get sucked into more and before you know it you have grossly cut into time you need for something else.  You will almost surely sow resentment and set yourself up to start skipping later because you did so much on an earlier day.  DON’T DO IT.

I have found that whether it is Bible reading or bagging, there is a tendency for some people to jump on board enthusiastically at the front end and rapidly burn out.  This happens almost 100% of the time to those who work ahead. So, DON’T DO IT.  I am not sure exactly why, but it is an extremely reliable phenomenon.  As I mentioned above, I think when people work ahead they begin to give themselves permission to skip on other days. Once they start skipping the discipline unravels. Sometimes people also skip and then get in a mindset of “I’ll catch up later.”  Catching up becomes hard and soon impossible.  So, people quit.  So, if you are thinking about working ahead, DON’T DO IT. If you haven’t caught on I can’t over emphasize this enough.  Well, may be I can.  Four bold print all caps repetitions is a bit extreme, but I can’t tell you how many people I have shared this with who have ignored it and then failed.

The other commitment that you want to be inflexible on is-Never Make an Exception.  Do your fifteen minutes no matter what it takes?  If it’s 3 in the morning and you have to be up at 6, so what, do your fifteen minutes.  It won’t kill you, but not doing it will kill your discipline.

WHAT IF YOU IGNORE ALL THIS GREAT ADVICE AND BLOW IT?

Don’t play catch up.  This is another death blow to your discipline.  Just pick-up where you left off and keep moving forward.  Once again, this is true for any discipline whether it be for Bible reading or bagging.

To Angie:  I hope this is helpful to you and my other readers.  To everyone else:  If you are not adopting a discipline like Angie’s for Lent, I would encourage you to adopt the mindsets above for the mundane tasks in your life. I would also encourage you to apply the principles of “Don’t work ahead” and “Never make an exception” to whatever discipline you are practicing.

Blessings to you all during Lent.  I love questions like Angie’s.  Anyone, please feel free to email me questions or post them in a comment.

John

A word to Pastors and people wanting to share these disciplines.

I have no problem with you reproducing these materials for non-commercial purposes.  Set them out in your church, Sunday school classrooms, youth ministry areas or hand them to strangers.  It doesn’t matter to me as long as these lenten activities handouts are used to help people grow in their faith.  I hope that if you do not use them as they are published here, but adapt them, that you will give credit were credit is due and list the URL for The Practical Disciple on the materials, not because I need credit, but so that people will be directed to even more resources to help them grow in their faith.

In the spirit of wanting to see these materials used more broadly I have edited many of them to eliminate any first person language. When I originally drafted these exercises it was for my congregation and they knew who “I” was.  I realized the other day that I need to strip that language out for those of you who are reproducing them for another context.  I think I have adapted all of the handouts with the exception of the “40 bags in 40 days.”  I will get to that one when time permits.

Encouraging One Another

Communicate–At my church I will be setting out handouts one week prior to Lent and I will briefly introduce each of those opportunities verbally in a Family Night Supper Event and the Sunday prior to Lent.  We will have handouts available in three different locations around our church, as well as plugging these opportunities in our bulletin, newsletters, and website.

Partner up–You may want to encourage your whole church or a Sunday School class to adopt a common discipline regardless of what other disciplines they may do.  Last year I distributed small prayer “tents” and asked every member of our church to participate in at least doing that one discipline together.  If you are in a small group, then you may want to ask everyone in your small group to covenant to do one together.  A shared discipline can be a powerful experience.  My experience has been that people are far more likely to succeed if they are not going it alone. I would love to hear lenten activities that are going on in your church.

Blessings from The Practical Disciple

Last year a member of my church took on reading the Gospel of Luke in 40 days. That discipline got him start reading daily.  If you have wanted to read the Bible daily, but have yet to succeed, then reading either John or Luke in 40 days could be a great opportunity for you to get started.

Ash Wednesday is just two weeks away now. Tonight, our church launched a new discipline for people to adopt during Lent that I am very excited about.  We have 17 members who are homebound or in nursing homes.  Our Evangelism Committee asked people to consider adopting one or more of these members during the six weeks of Lent.  We have a very distinct mission for our adopters.

At the beginning of Lent we are giving each family in the church a decorative handmade wooden table cross that is about 12 inches tall with a devotional guide.  Each week during Lent we will give out a symbol to add to the cross.  The symbols are relate to Jesus last hours and crucifixion. There is a devotional thought for the week associated with each symbol explained in the devotional guide.  We want to include our homebound members in this congregational activity.  So some people are adopting a shut-in and bringing him or her a cross and then returning each week with the next symbol.  We hope that the symbol will be a tangible reminder throughout the week of God’s love for them and our love for them as part of our church family.

Even if your church isn’t doing anything like a cross project it doesn’t mean that you couldn’t adopt an elder in need of some companionship.  Lent runs from Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17th until Easter Sunday, April 4th.  During those six weeks imagine the joy that a visit would bring someone.  You may enjoy it so much that it continues far beyond those six weeks.  Or perhaps, you could just decide to visit a different person each week.  You could be the grace of Jesus Christ to them.  You could be the love of Jesus Christ to them.  It’s something to consider.

If you want to know how we set it up at our church it was quite simple.  I printed out a half sheet that explained the project and at the bottom it said, “Yes, I will adopt….___________________”.  We put the name of a different shut-in on the blank line of each sheet.  We grouped some together that stayed in the same nursing facility that we thought people may want to adopt together.  People just picked up the sheet of the person they wanted to adopt.  We recorded the names of the adopters next to their adoptees on a list we had of our shut-ins.   We did that to make sure that we didn’t miss anyone and also if we have to recruit a few adopters I didn’t want to be needlessly asking a bunch of people who already had someone.  I think we only have few left but we have two weeks to find someone willing to adopt them.

I placed a two copies of our handout on the Lent Page.  If you would like to see or adapt one just click here.  I saved it both as a PDF file and as a Word Document.  The PDF is to make sure that anyone could access it.  The Word format is for anyone who would like to adapt it.

I have a couple more ideas for Lent that I am working on posting before the weekend.  I would love to hear from other people about things they give up during Lent or spiritual disciplines that they take on.  Even if you are from a church or denomination that does not observe Lent I would encourage you to look at the disciplines on the Lent Page because they are all spiritual exercises that benefit someone at anytime.

Blessings to You

Heifer Int. Cow and Child, Rwanda

I mentioned in a recent post that my daughter, Ruth, is going to be raising money to purchase a cow for a needy family via Heifer Project International as a Lenten project. I am really proud of her for taking on something so ambitious. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 17th, but she is already up and running.  She actually cleaned someone’s workshop today in exchange for a gift to her project.  She has started delivering collection jars to local businesses and she has setup a website called DifferentTomorrowToday.com. Her site is enabled to take credit card and paypal donations.  Wow!  How inspiring.

Ruth is sixteen and doing this unprompted by anyone. Imagine how different this world would look if we all passionately adopted a single mission like this.  I hope her efforts inspire you to make a difference.  She will be posting her results regularly to her website  if you want to track her progress or are inspired to make a donation you can check it out at DifferentTomorrowToday.com.

Check out my Lenten page if you are looking for ideas.  I will be adding more soon.  Ruth’s project has inspired me to consider creating some adopt a mission suggestions.  One that I am putting together for our church is an “Adopt a Shut-in” project.  I explain more about that in a future post.  Blessing to you.

p.s.  So far Ruth has collected $86.54, including her very first online contribution.  She has pledges for significantly more, but I don’t know how much.  A cow is going to cost $500.  You Go Girl!

You could be a physically fitter you who saved money for 40 days. Last year I wanted to work on what I call body holiness and simplicity.  I realized that I hadn’t been the best steward of my health.  So, I gave up using my car except for when I had to transport other people.  I road my bicycle to work.  On rainy days I road the bus.  The lessons I learned were many.  To read about them click here. That could be you.

You could be sleeping better at night, better able to focus, and growing in your love of prayer and God. A couple of years ago, I adopted praying for one hour a day.  During that 40 days God brought great peace into my life.  You can read about my experience by clicking here. That could be you.

You could be a more grateful person with stronger relationships. That is what others experienced when they took on writing forty “love notes” for forty days. That could be you.

You could trim excess and clutter from your life. That is what happened to me when several years ago I decided to attack clutter and excess in my life by getting rid of forty bags of stuff in forty days.  I set aside forty grocery sacks and then filled one every day and gave it or threw it away.  I cleaned every closet and drawer in my home and office, my car and my garage.  It changed my relationship to material objects and deepened my gratitude. That could be you.

So how could this or even something better be you?

Look closely and you will notice a couple of changes to The Practical Disciple homepage.  Over in the right columns you will see a countdown until Lent. At the time I am writing this there are just 27 days until Lent.  You will also notice at the top of the home page there is now a “Lent” selection that leads you to a Lent page.  Currently, I am making available 7 handouts on the Lent page to help people like you have an amazing discipleship experience during Lent.  More will come over the next 27 days.  Pick one before Lent which begins Ash Wednesday, February 27th, and you are on you way to becoming a better disciple.  You will be on your way to being a better you for God.

I am posting access to these handouts NOW for two reasons…

First, I am encouraging people to prayerfully consider taking on a spiritual discipline during Lent.  Without a doubt my greatest discipleship strides have occurred during Lent every year for the past 5 years.  Mainly because I am extremely intentional about what I do and spend days ahead of time prayerfully discerning a discipline that will transform me as a disciple.  I guess that has rubbed off on my kids.  One of them, my daughter, last week announced at our dinner table, “I know what I am going to do for Lent this year.  I am going to raise money to buy a cow from Heifer Project.”  For those of you not familiar with Heifer Project , it is a christian ministry that provides needy people with live stock to increase their standard of living.  She is off and running toward that cow.  In fact, she is pursuing businesses to place out collection cans for her.  I am extremely proud of her.  She is a sophomore in high school and came up with this completely on her own.  Lent is not only going to make  a difference in her life, but the life of a family deeply in need.  That could be you.

Second, I want these free resources available for Pastors who would like them as handouts for their own congregations. Pastor’s please feel free to reproduce the handouts on The Practical Disciple for your own church members.  It can really make a difference.  If you are not a pastor and would like to see these handouts made available in your church, then copy and paste the following link into an email and send it to your pastor:  http://thepracticaldisciple.com/page_id126

If you have questions or Lenten discipline suggestions that I can share before the season begins please comment or email me.  Blessings from The Practical Disciple.