As I mentioned in my previous post, I am working with a wonderful organization on an upcoming event entitled SOCAP:SOUL. The event is March 3rd and is for anyone who is looking to find more meaning, purpose, and spirit in their work. Below you will find a longer article I had written a number of months ago. It speaks to the importance of cultivating our souls if we plan on creating lasting organizations, ideas, and even relationships. Let me know what you think. Agree? Disagree? Regardless of what you think about the below, you should probably still sign up for SOCAP:SOUL.

________

On the first day of class I sat in the back row. The fluorescent lights didn’t extend to the back of the room so the shadow hid me from both professor and classmate. On my desk were a white ruled notepad, a pencil, and a Bible. Those tools would not help me. What I needed was a translator and an angelic intercessor. I was a business school graduate in my first day of seminary.

If you were to ask me how I arrived at seminary, I would stutter and stammer through an explanation that would leave you questioning my fiscal responsibility and motivate you to introduce me to a career coach. I left full-time work with a professional basketball team to study the words of dead people. It really makes no sense. As I sat in class that day I knew more about creating a successful business than a vibrant inner-life.

And I think business school taught me a good bit about what makes a successful business. Strong marketing, good financing, and a revolutionary idea don’t hurt. But it was information that I discovered while in seminary that entrepreneurs everywhere need to succeed.

Business makers will face many challenges – social, economic, and political.  These problems can feel insurmountable. Trying to create new models or solutions for old problems—like hunger, health care, and wealth distribution—is incredibly difficult. Most people quit. That is why most entrepreneurs’ LinkedIn pages look more like a graveyard than a resume.

Gideon Markman, an entrepreneur himself, wanted to investigate why some entrepreneurs fail and others succeed. Up to this point, the research pointed to “opportunity recognition” as the key to a successful new venture. Markman was not satisfied with this answer. With his partner Robert Baron they sought to measure the resilience of entrepreneurs. In summary their study found “Investors and creators who pursue new venture creation will perceive higher levels of control over their adversities, sense greater ownership regarding outcomes of the adversity; do not allow their adversities to ‘bleed’ into other areas of their lives; and see adversities as temporary – rather than enduring – set backs.”

Markman found that successful entrepreneurs score significantly higher on that “resilience” measure than those whose business fail and he contends that CEO resilience is the single most important psychological factor when predicting the success of a new venture. What psychologists call resiliency (the ability to bounce back from trauma), Markman and Baron call the Adversity Quotient and they believe all entrepreneurs need it.

Similarly Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat, a mandatory text for any 100 level management course, wrote in his July New York Tmes column that entrepreneurs “have to strengthen their muscles of resilience” if they intend to compete in a global economy.

Friedman writes on the threats and opportunities of globalization, encourages us to be resilient, but stops short of describing how one increases that. Additionally, what Markman and Baron fail to discover in their research is how one increases their resilience or raises their Adversity Quotient. These minds are in agreement that resilience is key to a business’ success, but how do we get this magical resilience?

A non-business woman may have found the answer. Brene Brown, a psychologist and researcher from the University of Houston, has spent many years studying the effects of shame on human “performance.” She too believes that resilience is essential to a successful life. After thousands of interviews she contends, “Spirituality is a necessary component for there to be resilience an in individual.”  Brown’s study showed that “spiritual people” are more likely to overcome adversity, derive positive lessons from this adversity, and do not allow the adversity to bleed into other areas of their life.

This spirituality Brown speaks of is not housed in a particular religious house of worship. Brown describes spirituality as “belief in connection, a power greater than self, and interconnections grounded in love and compassion.” You can imagine how this broadly defined spirituality brings a positive sense of well-being and an underlying belief in our own, and others’ dignity.

A belief in self and a belief in others – sounds a lot like confidence and compassion. Sounds like two things business leaders must have.

Upon moving to San Francisco I met a man. His name was Alex and he was fascinated that a pastor, such as myself, would share an office with non-religious entrepreneurs. This office I work out of is called The Hub – a collaborative work environment for social and environmental entrepreneurs.

I chose to work out of this space because upon entering it for the first time I saw an art installation that was entitled “Why You Do What You Do.” The premise of the art was simple; it was a collection of photos with people holding signs that answered the question “why do you do what you do?” The question is one of inspiration. It could also be worded “what makes you tick?” or “what keeps you up at night?” or “what is your purpose?” or, if I may, “what says your spirit?”

Most entrepreneurship literature focuses on the personalities of successful leaders. They talk about their open door policies and that they still drive that Hyundai Sonata to work each day. But perhaps the landfill-sized pile of leadership books has missed the point.

Could it be possible that at the center of every entrepreneur is a spirit that can improve his or her work? If that is the case, rather than making the perfect Power Point presentation or listening to another 37 Signals Podcast or attending another pitch contest maybe we should be strengthening our spiritual muscles. Perhaps if you want to be a successful entrepreneur the question is not just your investor’s ROI or social media strategy, but how you can give room for your spirit to flourish.

If I am correct in any of this, we are doing it all wrong.

I know that the issue of religion in the workplace is as dangerous a conversation as both sex and race. I know that people are fired for desk hopping their Jesus bobble head doll and for proselytizing their clients. I am not suggesting an office wide conversion of religious belief. I am not suggesting companies stitch a passage of the Quran into the background of their letterhead or change their email signatures to a sparkly Jesus .gif. I am suggesting that spirituality is required to be a successful entrepreneur. It’s not the only requirement. If you are starting something you need money. You need a Rolodex of venture capitalists. You are going to need a damn good pitch. But we work on all of those things. We have conferences, salons, and more books than we know what to do with on all of those topics.

As I look around my office, The Hub, I see a blinking cursor on the far left of a blank document. I see a woman in worn black sweat pants. She may have slept here last night. I can hear the muffled sound of a man screaming at an investor in one of our office’s “privacy booths.” The material adversity of the entrepreneur is overwhelming my senses.

In my mind, the material is not separate from the immaterial. If resilience requires spirituality then the material things of business (funding, managing employees, metrics for success) are connected with our interactions with the immaterial. We need start-up incubators that require daily meditation. We need MBA programs with spiritual retreats. We need management teams who attend yoga together.

While in Seminary I took a class entitled Essential Community. The circle formation of the chairs permitted no hiding. Each class period a “panel of difference” (race, gender, or otherwise) would be stuffed into the middle of the room. One week it was a large African American Man, a slouched old white woman, a sweatervested ivy-elite, and an Indian lady in a maroon sari. The topic of conversation was religious difference. The southern Baptist preacher’s voice boomed through the room while the hunched woman only sat up to increase the scale of of her eye rolling. The Indian woman, a Buddhist by practice, sat quietly throughout waiting for the theological bickering to subside.

Finally, towards the end of the class she pulled out her necklace. On it was a jeweled lotus flower. She began to explain what it means to her. She said that a Lotus Flower always floats on the top of the water, even through the roots are mired in the mud below. When the water falls on a lotus leaf, it gently flows off like lightweight dewdrops. The class understood this image because we lived in Seattle and owned a collection of waterproof North Face paraphernalia. The message in the metaphor was that we could be involved in life and work without getting mired in it. We can float on the top, remain strong and beautiful, all while maintaining our roots in a spiritual reality that keeps us alive.

I was reminded of the lotus flower while listening to CEO and author Tony Hsieh. Tony, founder of Zappos (which was acquired by Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2009), asks his employees to worship more than the traditional bottom line metrics. He says that his company’s success is more about sticking to their set of “transcendent values” than it is their to-do lists. While Zappos’ core values are not of a specific religious philosophy, Hsieh is emphasizing a way of being more than a way of doing. Is this a sustainable way of business? Heish says yes –  claiming that all managers report at least a 20% increase in productivity by prioritizing culture over tasks. Heish claims that their committable core values connect employees to the unfolding story and larger mission of Zappos. It is the water to their lotus flower.

Alex, the man I met in San Francisco, created a web platform called Changents. It is a website dedicated to telling the stories of world changing entrepreneurs. As he began to get know the people that he represented he found a common theme – they were all engaging their spiritual life. Out of this finding he and I began to discuss a campaign that we called The Faith Amplifier project. The vision of the project was to raise $1,000,000 in one hundred days for ten entrepreneurs who would declare that their faith was an amplifier of their work.

We campaigned hard. Used all of our connections. Every day we were on conference calls and using our international minutes. We found many people interested in the idea. We found very few people willing to be a part of the initiative.

There is a conversation out there. It is a conversation that is being had by researchers, psychologists, CEOs, pastors, and venture capitalists. It is happening in London, San Francisco, and Beiruit. It is a conversation about resilience, success, and the spiritual life that is essential to those things. But few are ready to prioritize it.

Business school and seminary are not required for the success of an entrepreneur. However, we do all need to define and cultivate spirituality in a way that inspires us. The success of your business may depend on it.

In October I left my job. The paychecks stopped and then a week later (cover your ears, Mom) Taryn and I did what married people do and conceived a child. No job. Baby on its way. Hooray!

I once read that the average San Franciscan child “costs” $200,000 through their first 17 years of life. That is before college, y’all. Being unemployed (now half employed by SoCap) and bringing a new human into the world is a questionable decision at best. Or so my rational, American, capitalist mind tells me. To recap, a social worker (Taryn) and an ex-pastor are living in San Francisco and bringing a new $200,000 life into the world this July. Looking at this situation from a profit and loss perspective it becomes clear that this is not rational.

I remember facing a similar situation as I finished my undergraduate degree at Arizona State University. Upon graduation in 2006, I had a job offer from the Phoenix Suns ($50k+ right out of school) and plans to get my MBA so that I could launch a career in sports business. Instead I went to a seminary that was eight years old, required group therapy for class credit, and was located in an office complex in the suburbs of Seattle.

The decision was irrational. I received a seminary degree that schooled in me in theology, therapeutic process, and art’s integration in such things. I spent time creating sculptures, studying linguistic origins, and obsessing over attachment theory. None of these things are found on a Fortune 500 job description. But I did it. I spent the money, took the time, and invested in this degree.

It was during this investment at the Seattle School that I studied culture’s silent influence on my values and decision making. I learned that all of us are influenced by our familial, social, geographic, and political cultures. Yet these influential factors are rarely articulated. Like a fish in water we swim in these cultures unable to fathom a life outside of them.

Personally I swim in the waters of capitalism, growth, and competition. Both my personality type (INTJ, 8 on the enneagram) and my family’s hard work have taught me to maximize my profit and production. You will often find me doing back of the napkin math on whether or not adding bacon and avocado is worth the $3.  Like the decision to leave my job, have a child in San Francisco, or attend an unknown seminary I am often asking whether or not I will get a good financial return on my decisions.

But this economic story should not be my primary influencer. For me, as a Christian, I have been invited to live within a narrative that stars a trinity of lovers who give and give and give and give and give and give of themselves until they are empty. It is not a story of competition. It is not a story of hoarding. It is not a story of security. It is a story of kenotic, self emptying love.

And whether you share the Christian story or not, I believe that to view all of life’s decisions as economic ones is to miss out on adventure. When the decision of where to attend college is driven by the economic story, we scoff at the theater degree and go to the university with the most recognized brand. When we land our first job, if driven by the economic story we work 12-hour days and believe that its financial payoff is worth the emotional, spiritual, and relational imbalance. When you sit down to create art, if driven by the economic story you will think first about what is marketable and not about what truth you have to share with the world. To view life as a profitability equation is to miss out on back roads, art degrees, international vacations, great meals, or maybe even the blessing of a child. To obsess over output, production, and scale is to miss out on the nuance of creation, relationship, and the divine.

Is money important? Yes. Do I think that Dave Ramsey should be listened to? Probably. But I beg of you: get degrees in philosophy, take dance classes, go see an excellent (read:expensive) therapist, go home early, write about anything, and invest in the things of the heart. You’ll be richer for it.

I believe that I am richer for the times I have made those decisions.  And that come July I will be even richer.

We were young. So young that I still had a pager. I would page my girlfriend Taryn with 17 31707 1. Turn it upside down and you will see young love at its finest.

Our innocent beeper flirting turned serious quickly. As we graduated high school and went to college we began to talk about the possibility of marriage. This conversation seemed to end as quickly as it began. Her words left her shaky lips and hit me right in the heart. “I don’t think we can get married. Because I don’t ever want to have my own biological child.”

Then, like now, I wanted at least two kids of my own. Growing up in a fractured family I believed that my future nuclear family was some kind of fertile ground for redemption. My kids would both have blond hair and wear Cubs jerseys every game day. They would run to my car as soon as the school bell rang. They would read Kant, Pascal, and Proust before then were 10. But Taryn did not want to give birth to these children. She wanted to adopt.

She continued, “Why would we bring another child into the world when there are so many without homes? There are thousands of foster children here in the US that need a safe home, why can’t we just do that?”

There was silence in the room, but inside my head it was more like a Metaliica concert. It was a minor cord of emotion that included confusion, disappointment, and a lot of gratitude for the beautiful desires of Taryn’s heart. Finally I found my words and said “I want to make a family with you and I don’t care how that happens…”

“…but I’m pretty sure one day your ovaries will wake up and you will realize you want to give birth to a baby”
____

I’m very sensitive.

I cannot imagine that my ignorant words had much to do with the life we have now created. But like then, there is nothing more that I look forward to than trying my best at fatherhood.

I admittedly do not know what it means to be a Dad. In fact, there is more terror than there is joy most days. But for all that I don’t know, my heart seems to be priming for. While my wife’s body continues to make room for our Shappellian sized baby, I sense my heart making room for all of the newness too. Just one thought of our child arriving causes me to take a deep breath, lean back from my computer, and to smile. These sweet moments are a call to do as much as possible to be there for Taryn and to build a foundation for our child.

Having a baby seems to be the most natural thing that a mammal can do. Still I am ecstatic about this normal miracle and invite you to pray for us and our family as we continue to make room for our newest member.

Standing on a 12-foot ladder building an awning, I accidently dropped one of the quarter-sized washers on the ground. I looked around (like you do when you fart in a public place) to see if my Dad noticed. He did not. So I continued to screw the bolt on without placing the washer between the wood and the bolt. Why would that washer matter?

At a young age my Dad had me changing break pads, building computers, and constructing patios. I paid close attention as he taught me what went where and why. But the one thing that I never understood was the washer. I was certain that our world could do without those flat metal discs.

My Dad told me stories of great tragedy because of a lack of washer (think more about a washer’s importance in attaching an engine to a chassis then to say its role in an IKEA Poang chair). He explained that the washer had two important purposes:

1. To spread out the pressure of the bolt evenly across the face of the object.
2. To provide a smooth and consistent surface for the bolt as it tightens, making it less likely to loosen in the future.

To me the washer was an extra part that got in the way. I have wood. I have screws.  Let’s go. But this small little disc both distributes pressure and promises future sustainability. What I thought was a 1/8” waste of space was essential to building something sturdy.

My life needs washers. Maybe yours does too.

I put myself under tremendous pressure to provide for others and for myself. In doing so I assume that it is best to put my head down and to never show weakness, doubt or indecision. I do not “spread out” this pressure and rather push intensely into complex problems. The result is a solution (project, purchase, relationship) that may soon splinter and is not sustainable.

Also like a washer-less connection, there is rarely a smooth consistent surface for things to sink in to. Rather, I can rush from project to project looking to make an impact. Hoping that whatever it is I am doing now, next, and nexter will be “it.” The result is I am not present and my oversight may cause future damage (to myself, others, teams, and organizations).

I am finding that without these washers, we create impulsive, scattered, and self serving systems that do not take into lasting connection into account.  I (maybe you too?) need washers – space that will help hold life’s pressures and will create a consistent self that prepares us for a full future. Washers are breaks. Washers are space. Washers are pauses. Washers are medical leaves, sabbaticals, therapist sessions, discernment periods, yoga, three hour dinners, naps, a year of being single, unemployment, or a month over seas. Washers may seem “unproductive” but are often the most needed component of building a lasting relationship, career, or organization.

Words I received this morning say it best. When you put on that washer – when you embrace a period of rest, waiting, or personal strengthening “You’re doing the most important something there is. You’re allowing your soul to grow up.”

Now having lived in Seattle, NYC, and San Francisco I understand what a treat it was to see so deeply into the dark.  As a child growing up in Phoenix I could see millions of stars at night. My ability to see into the desert sky (and my Dad’s refrigerator sized telescope) had me transfixed on all things outer space.

One of my favorite things to see was also the most perplexing. So one day, rather than acting like I knew what was going on, I tapped on my Dad’s shoulder and asked, “why would a star ever want to fall?”

My Dad answered scientifically. Something about meteors, dust, the earth’s atmosphere, bla bla bla. He was probably right but the answer was insufficient.

I had a better explanation. These falling or shooting stars were vying for attention. I imagined a sky in which Alpha Major 251 looked across the horizon, pointed a star finger, stuck out his starry tongue and said “I am brighter than you Gama Beta 143!” To which Gama Beta said, “watch this you gassy dumb light ball….”

Then. Zooooooom. A falling star.

I imagined this battle has gone on for all of time.

My image of this space age contest made me sad. Why would a star need to fall in order to prove itself? Why does it want more attention? Doesn’t it know that everyone is looking up at it? Does it not already believe that it is impressive?

________

For thousands of years philosophers have been discussing the difference between our true self and our conscious self. What the majority of them concede is that our conscious self is not the same as our true self. The internal dialogue that your mind is generating at this moment (your conscious self) is not who you are. Rather, it is who you want you to be.

We often hear that social media and other gadgetry give us the ability to manage our “public self.” While this is true, what I believe to be more dangerous is the management of our conscious self. We create stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves. These are the dangerous for they have tricked our hearts and minds into believing that we (on our own, created in the image of God) are not impressive.

Do you believe you are impressive?

If not you probably tell yourself that you are a great artist, a flawless singer, a deserving CEO, or the best friend anyone could have.  If not you probably brag about your skills as a mother, write a blog about your organic lifestyle, or lead “three of the best” small groups at your church. These things are not bad (or incorrect), but they are not your true self. They are your attempts to prove to yourself (primarily) that you are impressive.

What if we let all of that go? What if we believe that we – without awards, titles, blog traffic, applause, and financial reward – are impressive? I imagine we would be that much more so.

After three weeks of class and lots of Venn diagrams, I was still unsure if I had actually taught anyone anything. I recently (and ironically) taught a class on vocation. At the end of the three weeks I asked those in the class if they had any remaining questions about their life’s callings.

Immediately someone shouted out, “So WHAT? WHAT job am I supposed to do?”

We had spent three Wednesday nights trying to answer two weighty questions: “Who am I?” and “How do I uniquely impact others?” In my mind it is essential to answer these questions before we move towards the big question of WHAT we are supposed to do. As I said throughout the class, great work stems from having a clear purpose.

What work exactly? Everything I mentioned in the last post.

Being a mom is hard work. Being a boss is hard work. Prayer is hard work. Being a therapist is hard work. Saving money is hard work. Being present is hard work. Being a good friend is hard work. Eating good is hard work. Getting a laugh is hard work. Dating is hard work. Writing a book is hard work. Grad School is hard work. Marriage is hard work.

If you start by answering “WHAT” to do as a boss, therapist, mom, or Christian without considering the WHO and HOW (your clearer purpose) you will inevitably find yourself exhausted. And I would bet that your “hard work” has hurt yourself and others. What feels like striving is actually just you running your car into a brick wall, over and over again, without considering turning to drive around it.

In my previous post we talked about the hard work of life. We considered that anything worth having is worth working for. But some of us are doing the wrong work hardly and hardly doing the hard work.

To me the hard work is uncovering WHO you are and HOW you impact others. Rather than remaining abstract, here is a list of things that I believe help us uncover the WHO and HOW. This is the hard work.

WHO you are:

+ Self assessments: Take the Enneagram. For me, this is the best test for getting to know your dynamic, complex self. What I love about this assessment is that it gives language for your unhealthy, average, and healthy self as well as tips on how to move towards health. Studying this will help you learn how to make sound decisions, interpret your feelings and responses, and interact well with peers. If you lead any kind of team please familiarize yourself with this material.

+ Go to therapy:  Few things have helped me understand myself more than an hour locked in a small room with someone I don’t know. An intentional hour for your own self assessment and discovery is essential for anyone looking to become a more whole hearted self. Additionally, most of us are unaware of how life’s tragedies (and victories) stay with us as we move into the future. Therapy helps you see your actions for what they really are.

+ Prayer / Silence : Psychology without spirituality is a science project. As a Christian I believe there is need for the collaboration of both. To me then there is nothing more important to finding our WHO then by sitting before our Father. One of my favorite meditation practices (borrowed from Henri Nouwen) is to take a morning walk and with each inhale say “I” and then exhale “am” then inhale “beloved.”

+ Be in community: There is the self you see and then there is the self that others see. You wouldn’t do your hair without looking in a mirror, would you? We all need interpersonal mirrors that can accurately portray who we are. If you do not have a mirror in your life, do the courageous work of asking for it.

HOW you impact the world:

+ Ask others: One of the most surprising and powerful parts about leaving my last position was the flood of kind words. With each letter, email, text, and gift I heard a little bit about the difference I made in people’s lives. Do not poop on these words. Do not brush them under the rug. HOLD ON TO THESE WORDS. Buy a box. Create an email folder. Collect any data you can find about how you have made a difference in the lives of others.

+ Journal: Most people journal about their internal dramas. That’s fine. But what if we used times of reflection to consider our impact? This week, in the evenings, take twenty minutes to ask “How did people respond to me today?” Also ask “what made me come alive today?” After a week, review these pages and try to find correlation.

+ StrengthsFinder: Another assessment. Buy the book. It’ll help.

We are CEOs, parents, job seekers, presidents, and teachers that believe the hard work is in the everyday tasks. We think the work is fundraising, phone calls, resume writing, research, cooking, laundry, meetings, and lesson plans. There is no doubt that those things are difficult but that is not the hard work. The hard work is finding your clear purpose (your WHO and your HOW). The hardest work is staying centered there, reminding yourself that you are not what you do but you are in fact a beautiful WHO with a bag full of tools for HOW to impact the world.

This is the work.  This is my work.

For the comments: Other things you would add to “the work”? Questions in regards to the details of work? What makes this work so hard for us? 

I sat at the doily-covered table trying to remain engaged. My eyes were heavy and the cubes of beef I just consumed were quickly making their way towards my small intestine. But I had to seem interested because it was time to flip through a year’s worth of the photos. Real photos! Printed at Wallgreens! On paper!

The 90-year-old woman exposed each new photo like a garage door unveiling a sports car. As it came into view she would say, “Now isn’t THAT something?”

Grandmas love catch phrases. I try to emulate Grandmas by instituting my own phrases (“that makes two of us”, “supreme me”, and “wacka wacka wacka”) but they never really catch on.

A friend of mine has a catch phrase of sorts. He is always talking about “the work.” What I love about this little phrase is that it reminds me of my responsibility in life’s outcomes.

As a person without a job it is very easy to talk about how hard it is to find a job. There is no doubt that our economic conditions, San Francisco’s cost of living, and a master’s degree in theology are not helping my odds. However, to say that finding a job is hard is to discount the opportunity I have to make it happen.

“_________ is hard,” makes you the victim and delegates responsibility to someone other than yourself. It gives you the opportunity to rationalize difficult circumstances. It inspires you to take a nap more than it does to up the intensity.

“__________ is hard work,” shows that you understand your development, success, and failure are in your hands. It invites you to rise above challenges. It reminds you that all things worth having are worthy of our tireless work.

Being a mom is hard work. Being a boss is hard work. Prayer is hard work. Being a therapist is hard work. Saving money is hard work. Being present is hard work. Being a good friend is hard work. Eating good is hard work. Getting a laugh is hard work. Dating is hard work. Writing a book is hard work. Grad School is hard work. Marriage is hard work.

Are you willing to do the work?

When I am 90 I want to flip through the photos of my life very slowly because each photo, is in fact, something – evidence of opportunity given and hard work completed.

Next post: But maybe not the work you expected….

I love accomplishing things. I love final drafts, finishing touches, and the thrill of scratching something off of my to-do list.

CAN I GET AN AMEN?!

In my love for accomplishing things I often forget that the process shows up in the outcome. I forget that the heart of the producer shows up in the product. I forget that the fingerprints of the creator are all over the created.

I become more concerned with output than outcome.

When focused on output I turn hasty, impatient, and aggressive. I forget about the impact of process and fail to maintain a place of centeredness and lose awareness of the world around me. This head down approach may lead to better output, but it does not mean better outcomes.

So whether you are trying to write a novel, outline a sermon, prototype a product, or find your next job please remember that it’s not all about output. It is about outcome. And if we want to focus on outcomes we need to focus on process.

I mentioned previously that I loooooove being asked what I am going to do next. Do you think it is a coincidence Rob Bell (a megachurch pastor who is leaving Grand Rapids, Michigan for LA to create a TV show with the producers of Lost) and I announced that we were leaving our churches on the same weekend? The rumors are true. I’m going to be the boom mic guy on his new TV show!

Jokes aside, I am a pastor who has resigned from his position and I am not alone. Lots of pastors are doin’ it. This has people familiar with these situations asking, “aren’t pastors supposed to be different? Aren’t pastors, nuns, priests, and monks supposed to have a life long calling to the ministry?”

This is a good question but comes from a bifurcated view of the world. It sees the position of pastor as something set apart ONLY for the church rather than seeing industries such as education, art, business, and design as places in need of this same “pastoring”.  It would seem that many Christians have a narrow view of the role and would prefer that pastors only seek peace and beauty for its Church members. The expectation of pastors then is to only use their talents within the four walls of the church organization. This furthers the view of those who are not Christians who see the work of a pastor as “too holy” and irrelevant to the grittiness of life’s everyday issues.

Let’s be clear. Is the church important? Yes. Is participating in a local community vital to the health of a person of faith? Uh huh. But I believe that our expectations influence pastors to merely build strong organizations when they should be advancing God’s story of redemption and beauty into the world. Rob Bell and the other pastors who have left their church organizations are not terrible men and women gone astray, chasing money and fame. Rather, I think that they understand like so many others, that humanity needs pastors as much (or more) than a room full of Christians. Leaving is not a negative judgment against the church. In fact, if we abandon our bifurcated view of pastoral work, the Church will see that it is actually proof of the diverse and beautiful body of Christ. We should be celebrating those who are moving into other ventures.

…especially Rob’s move to Hollywood. Have you watched TV? It’s terrible. Hopefully Rob tells a better story that is beautiful, gritty, and mysterious.

I know plenty of former pastors; people who have resonated with and applied this expanded view of their role in the world. I know pastors who are now writers. I know pastors who are photographers. I know pastors who are sculptors. I know pastors who are soux chefs and gardeners. I know pastors who are coffee roasters. I know pastors who are music supervisors. I know dozens of pastors who have started their own non-profit. All of these people are living out a unique calling they feel deep within them. Am I going to tell them all that they should return to an office with a bookshelf and a name placard? Nuh uh.

Author Skye Jethani recently wrote that we should be ordaining, “believers for the good work God has called them to in business, education, government, arts, entertainment, media, the social sector, or the household. And celebrating the good things they produce in each of these areas–not simply when they behave like a pastor or missionary in them.”  What he is getting at is that we have an incomplete view of a vocation. We have expectations that the pastors and missionaries deal with the “spiritual realm” and the rest will deal with the “worldly” issues. With this view of work it is inevitable that a pastor leaving a church for different work would confuse us.

But again, this is an incomplete view of work. We must deconstruct and overcome the thought that there are “spiritual” and “worldly” tasks. We must see each moment of life as both deeply human and deeply divine.

I do not believe the only call I (or Rob Bell or anyone other ex-minister) have is to be a pastor. I believe the call is bigger than that. We are called to be alive – bringing together the human and the divine in all of our creative work….even if that means holding a boom mic.

I am unemployed and many people have asked me what I am going to do next. Just so you know, unemployed people loooooove that question. Actually, go ahead and keep asking me that. When you ask, I’ll just imagine that you are a poorly programmed robot with no human sensitivity and on a mission to shame us all!

The only question that I have received more than that is, “Jarrod, why did you leave your job?” The simple truth is that I want to be the best version of me and the current version needs to do some work to become that.  The primary work (for me) is to risk more. Thus, I have left a good job and journeyed into the unknown.

Why would I do that?

Martin Luther King, a pastor to a country and a people, gave me inspiration when he said:

“If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well. If you can’t be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. Be the best little shrub on the side of the hill. Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.”

I think MLK is saying two things. First, be faithful and excellent with what you are given (“your lot”). I hope I was the best pastor I could be. I hope I was the best speaker, writer, and counselor that I could be. I hope I was faithful with my lot. But then, MLK suggests that we should stop the comparisons and discover who we truly are. In order to be the best of whatever I am, I must know what I uniquely am. I believe that God hates homogeny and that finding our uniqueness is essential to living whole hearted lives. This is my quest.

I know that this quest is not unique to me. I know that there are people in Chicago, London, Phoenix, and New York who are asking these same questions. I know that some leave work every day unsure if they made a mark. I know that there are people who are searching job sites 6 hours a day. I know there are people who are looking for an open position that doesn’t exist. We are on a quest to be the best of whatever we are and we don’t want to stop until we find it.

I hope that we would come together around this quest and that as I continue to move into the uncertainty of my future, you would as well. And along the way perhaps we can hold to the words of Job, who after his own quest for meaning confessed to God “Truly no plan of yours can be thwarted.”