The pie baking has begun. I have a system that makes it possible to bake five 
different pies and get them safely over the river and through the woods in time for Thanksgiving. This year, I’ve added two kinds of muffins. I feel like a Baking Machine – in a good way.
It isn’t always like this in our home. We still have boxes to open after moving here almost seven years ago. And my closets could use some help.
A few weeks ago, a colleague told me that her church was almost like a machine – but not necessarily in a good way. Every Tuesday this happens. Every Sunday morning that happens. Nothing much changes but nothing is setting souls on fire either.
The whole manager/visionary juggle is real. Yes, we need the proverbial trains to run on time. But we also need – even more – for someone to ask the What If? questions. We need creativity and authenticity and humor and wonder. We need both relational leadership and managerial leadership actually – working in tandem rather than in opposition.
My pie-baking chops could be flawless. But if I don’t love the people who gather to eat them, if I don’t remember that the point is not perfect pie – we are all missing out.
What is running like a fine tuned machine in our lives and could that machine use a tweak? Or an overhaul? Are our souls on fire to be who we were created to be? (It’s a good time of year to ponder this.)
A Church for Starving Artists 