Thank you Sunset

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought,
and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~ G.K. Chesterton

I want to say thank you for the generous gift our ministry gave me two weeks ago. I was overwhelmed by the kind words and the gift I was given that Sunday afternoon and couldn’t get my thoughts out through tears, so I will write instead. I want you all to know how very much I have appreciated being part of this community which has always been a generous and nourishing environment for me. My life has been blessed by the people of Sunset.

Ten years ago I was hired by Ken Hickman to serve as the administrative assistant. I had interviewed for a different ministry though my heart was really drawn to the Worship community at Sunset. I understand Ken bartered a bottle of wine for me and then offered me a job. It came at a time in my life when I needed a fresh start and I will always be grateful to Ken for giving me this opportunity. I immediately found a home for my administrative gifting, organizing things and felt a fit providing a structure, an arbor of sorts, for our artists to flourish on. Over the next couple of years Ken, Steve Schroeder and Julie Reid continued to invite me in to more opportunities to discover my gifts and to grow. I was blessed during that time to travel with several teams to the Willow Creek Arts Conference in Chicago and began to find tools and a job description/title for a new role at Sunset that the Worship leadership team and Pastor Ron encouraged me to grow in to.

A couple of years in to ministry we were without a pastor and I was the sole staff person in the Worship ministry. I am forever indebted to the volunteer team that stepped up, surrounded me and led the ministry during that season; Jim Kimsey, Bryce Schroeder, Steve Masters and Wayne Moore, to name a few. At that same time Barbara Feil invited me to join a small group of women leaders from Sunset, who for a season met together to discuss our challenges and our successes. It was an awakening that the fire that burned in me to be involved, to resolve challenges with a bias for action was actually leadership gifting. And that to not lead, in spite of my self-doubt, would be less than what God intended for me… a switch flipped.

Soon after, Jay McKenney was hired and he and Julie led the ministry with a pastoral perspective which God is using to transform me. I am different now, as a result of their influence as genuine truth tellers who are committed to personal spiritual health and growth while maintaining a ruthless commitment to creating services where people have the space they need to respond to the Holy Spirit as we worship God together in community. That’s a mouthful and it is my life now.

When I am asked about Sunset I share that it has been a place where Pastor Ron and others have seen potential in me and challenged me to use my gifts while allowing me to learn and risk making mistakes. I often say I laugh every day here, cry many of them and make a different mistake every week. But these all happen on a team where we love well and build grace together so that we can give our best to glorify God.
I love Sunset. It is not the building or the Senior Pastor, it is the church, the people… each of you, who are generous with your time and talents and resources that make it what it is.
If you have ever wondered how I do what I do it is because of the God in me, the people who have shared this journey with me and in particular my Tuesday night dinner companions Julie Reid and Laura Padur who have sustained my sanity through many challenging seasons. Also, my beloved family, Michael, Chris, Molly and Abby who have selflessly allowed me to serve in this community. My family serves with me as a result of every evening I haven’t been home for dinner, ten December marathons, not sitting as a family in church and no Easter breakfast… among so many other things. If they hadn’t given so open handedly I could not have done the last ten years.

So, thank you so very much for serving with me the past ten years and for the generous gift. I will let you all know what I use it for.
See you in church, Janet

Blame Julie or Julia

Blog Dry for months... but am beginning to think "hey I should blog that..." again- not this in particular, but things like cooking my first steak and checking the temp with the shield still on the thermometer... or Molly leaving last night for Honduras etc. or how do I say thank you for 10 years of ministry to Sunset, so... here we go again and it begins with food. blame Julie or Julia.

Heres' what we had for dinner a while back, and it was simple and scrumptious!

Inexpensive Steak with Mustard-Cream Sauce for Two

One of the things I've learned as I've discovered my love of cooking is great knives and maison plas. Chopping/Measuring it all out ahead of time ala cooking show style. Life changing (giggle).

I recently made steak for Michael and I for the first time. Yep. Strange huh? I grew up with thin tough steak and didn't consider it an option for us at home, til now. Thank you America's Test Kitchen(yet again) and my DVR.

Cheap Steak for two with a mustard cream sauce

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 boneless strip steak about 1 pound and 1 1/4 inches thick
1 small shallot , minced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 1/2 tablespoons dry white wine
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons whole-grain Dijon mustard

Instructions
1. Heat oil in heavy-bottomed 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Meanwhile, season both sides of steak with salt and pepper. Place steak in skillet; cook, without moving steak, until well browned, about 2 minutes. Using tongs, flip steak; reduce heat to medium. Cook until well browned on second side and internal temperature registers 125 degrees on instant-read thermometer for medium-rare (about 5 minutes) or 130 degrees for medium (about 6 minutes).

2. Transfer steak to large plate and tent loosely with foil; let rest until internal temperature registers 130 degrees for medium-rare or 135 degrees for medium, 12 to 15 minutes.

3. While steak is resting, pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from now-empty skillet. Return skillet to low heat and add shallot; cook, stirring frequently, until beginning to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add wine and increase heat to medium-high; simmer rapidly, scraping up browned bits on pan bottom, until liquid is reduced to glaze, about 30 seconds; add broth and simmer until reduced to 2 tablespoons, about 3 minutes. Add cream and any meat juices; cook until heated through, about 1 minute. Stir in mustard; season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Using sharp knife, slice steak about 1/4 inch thick against grain on bias. Arrange on platter or on individual plates, and spoon sauce over steak; serve immediately.

I cooked the canned green beans with bacon and tossed them in the pan with the dripping from the meat and mustard cream sauce.

thanksgiving peeps

"It is therefore recommended... to set apart , for solemn thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor..." SAMUEL ADAMS: FIRST OFFICIAL THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION:

In Belgium I had the chance to explain where Thanksgiving comes from, and why we celebrate it. Apparently there were no pilgrims and Native Americans there...

2009 will be remembered for a year when I discovered how grateful I am for a new level of living life in community through joy and sorrow.
So, today I am grateful for...
people who make me laugh.
people who challenge me to think differently, to continue to grow.
people who can cry in front of me.
people who when I cry, still listen to my words through my tears.
people who remind me to do the right thing.
people who love my family, like their family.
people who are consistent amd faithful.
people who forgive me when i hurt them.
people who trust me with their truth.
people who make me feel enough to cry.
new and old (not chronologically speaking) people.

This year, I think I discovered at a new level that I am a “people who needs people.”
Thanks friends!

Producing a Global Leadership Summit

Jarrett, Willow Creek Conference Manager, Gary, Exec VP Intl WCA, Johan and Karin Klein, the heart of the Belgium Summit

So people have asked what do I do when I produce a Summit.I thought I’d write some of it out…

I arrived in Belgium on Wednesday and meet a couple who had been pleading Willow Creek to bring the Summit to Brussels for about a decade. This couple, Johan and Karin, lead a small house church of 20 people. They are passionate about leading Belgium to Christ and use events like the Summit to challenge and mobilize the churches in their cities.

This is Brussels second year of the Summit. Last year they had Joe Horness, formerly a worship leader at Willow producing (read: big shoes) and this year, because Willow thought they still needed a little coaching they sent me.
I will work with them, to deliver this (Summit) baby. It is like a baby… because it takes months to get here… and then in a few short hours of labor and delivery it is here… and then the real work begins. It's also a little like delivering a baby because we are strangers to one another, for the most part, but we have to get to know one another quickly, they have to trust my experience and I have to get to know them quickly, and know when to "push" (tee hee pardon the pun).

Belgium is a spiritually dark country.
2% of the population consider themselves proestant and 7% Catholic. This compares with 78% of Americans who consider themselves Christian.
The summit is 6 sessions on video tape of teaching focused at mobilizing church leaders to make a difference in their community and world.
The six sessions
Friday night
1 Bill Hybels- senior pastor Willow Creek Church - practical advice for managing the church during an economical crises. financial, HR and personal health guidelines
2 Tim Keller- pastor of a NY church- a message on the prodigal son analogy Jesus used. Tells the story in a way that I've never heard it. A great challenge to the stale church.
Saturday
3 John Ortberg- my favorite teaching pastor and my favorite talk ever. What prevents us from leading to our full potential.
4 Gary Hamel- business scholar and believer. Is the church changing as fast as the rest of the world? We must if we are going to reach people.
5 Bono- Three years ago Bono and Bill Hybels sat down and Bono challenged the sleeping church because it wasn't doing enough about global poverty and health crises. This year they sat back down again and reviewed how the church has made a diffference. Stories were shared from churches around the world who are doing something....
6 Harvey Carey- Detroit (black baptist) preacher who took a 50% paycut to move from NYC to Detroit to pastor a church there. Kick in the pants talk on what we CAN do in our communities. His church does things like... when you come on Sunday we go out and pray for people in the community right then. Every house, ring the doorbell, pray for people kind of stuff. Or an overnight camp out in front of the drug houses in the neighborhood. They've shut down or moved 8 out of their neighborhood.

We have 6 sessions, music, creative elements, announcements, french, dutch and english translations for each session etc. to fit in to Friday night and Saturday.
Thursday we spent the day reviewing the plans for each of the six sessions.
What is the best flow of the session, what songs should we sing, when should the worship leader speak, is the energy of the music right for the moment... Friday night after work... Saturday morning after a late night, or after a lunch break...
If we do this, does it mean we can't do that? Should we start early or on time? Is there enough time for a dinner break? How long does that take?
When should the tech team and band/vocals arrive for rehearsal? How should they prioritize their rehearsal time? Run soundchecks. If they dont get to everything before we open doors to the conference in the morning, can we add another rehearsal during a break?
The band/vocals/tech team had 12 people drawn from 8 different churches in the area. They dont know one another well, but have had a couple of rehearsals together. Who is in charge here? Problem solve when things dont go according to plan. We plan, God laughs. When the technical director is laid up for 4 days and now can't come, help figure out how we are going to do it without him. Who is most capable in what roles (strangers to me and one another) and how can we roll up our sleeves and get it done. Encouraging and coaching all along the way, knowing that 1. they dont do this level of programming week in and week out like we do and 2. that they need to be equipped to do all of this in their own way themselves next year. Watching constantly for who has the right mix of gifts for leadership next year.
Remembering I am an American woman and a stranger with all the baggage that goes with that.
Remembering that because I am from Willow (which is like the Mother ship ) if i suggest something, in most cases all energy and effort will be given to that rather than it just being an idea or a discussion. It's too much power in some cases.
Always keeping the values of team work and serving and excellence (the best with what we have) in mind.
Doing all of this where English is the second or third language.

And then there are the technical aspects.
For this conference that's 4 vocalists, 5 musicians, 2 lighting rigs, 2 dvd players playing simultaneously in case of a failure, 2 facilitators, a mime, some late additions of video/programming elements projected on to 2 large screens in a funky shaped room, none of which was really set up or in the room when we got there.

We set everything up on Thursday, make sure it all works, then decide at every moment of the conference what will be heard, seen and how the lighting will affect each moment.
Should it be dark while we're singing, how dark? Should it be a little lighter during the messages so people can take notes? How light? In a rented room where house lighting is funky i.e. everytime you change the lighting up or down, half the lights do this major twinkling thing which is distracting so is the lighting change worth doing or not?
Oh and the mime, with props on saturday morning. How will we clear the musicians off the stage and transition to her mime quickly. Is a mime appropriate in Belgium?
What can we minimize on stage so that she is the focus, with physical stage transitions and lighting? Oh and there's a video clip at the end of her mime. let's decide if we want to have sound, or not for the mime clip, since it's a mime, afterall.
Oh and your trumpet teacher who is not a believe is coming to play Amazing Grace… where and when makes the most sense?
Get them up and running in rehearsal and leave the room to go print something downstairs and come back and of course, there’s something wrong with sound and we’ve screeched to a halrt. And now rehearsal is running late and it's time to open doors now... whats the greater value, rehearsal or open doors? The answer… preparation for when the most people are in the seats… so we apologize for opening late, offer people a cup of coffee and continue to get ready.

These kinds of decisions are made all the time. Competing values is what we call them. There's a value to everything and a cost. Keep the big idea in mind... weigh the costs vs. the benefit and make a decision, communicate the why because it's really just a choice. All the time choices. There's rarely a right or wrong in my world. A producer looks at the big picture and makes the decisions.

Facilitation. Because we are in Belgium, the conference videos are in English with both French and Dutch subtitles on the screen.
Oh, the subtitles are at different positions every talk, so let's think through how we need to test/adjust the screen each time so that the best image is projected for this session.
We have a French and a Dutch translator who do all the announcements. What should they bother to say and when is it too much talking? They also spend time following each session pointing the attendees to a list of questions in their conference notebook and give them time to discuss what they have heard. How much time should this take each session? What should the facilitators say to spark discussion but not repreach the message. Is this more of a personal time of reflection or a team discussion time? What should the lighting in the room be during this moment? What is the mood at the end of the message, is it upbeat- go change your world, or reflective, challenging, introspective and how does that affect the tone of the facilitation. Oh, and what do the 20 or so English speaking people do while the French and Dutch facilitation is going one, how about side screeen announcements for them, ok what's the script? Oh, so the event managers dont like the french or dutch subtitles for two or the sessions, ok, how will we distribute a couple of hundred headsets to people who speak two different languages for those sessions, get them back and charged and back out. Does the translation system work this morning? Oh, the Dutch translator is late, hmmm what shall we do? Oh, and when those lights are on it creates a buzz in the translation systems for the Dutch speaking people. Who can solve this and how quickly?

This is... what I did.

It's event management, volunteer coordination and decision making all the time.
I absolutely love it. I make mistakes every time and learn more every time.
This was my eleventh Summit to produce. Nine at home, 1 in Honduras last year and then Belgium. In most ways, this one was easier primarily because it's my second time doing it so I felt like I better understood what was expected of me and how I fit in and, speaking of understanding… the people i worked with spoke more English so that helped me to be more engaged in the moment and decision making.

I absolutely believe in the content of the conference, in equipping leaders to see their potential and do more with it, this kind of teaching and resources which are so prevalent in the States is so much harder to get there. And, a lot of pastors have teaching and shepherding gifts but may not have a lot of training in team building, equipping and mobilizing volunteers or business management. So any way we can help them is a good good thing.

But, personally my favorite part of producing a Global Summit is the opportunity to work with an individual team on the ground in a new place, the 1:1 conversations, listening to their ideas, why things matter to them, talking through how one thing affects another and reaching, in most cases, a decision together, and occasionally in some cases- making an unpopular call from the gut, for the greater good. I love thinking through every detail, juggling alot at one time, watching people use their gifts to build the church around the world.

On the way to the airport Karin said, “we used to be Sunday Christians but then we heard Bill Hybels talk about the mission and importance of a vision and then we knew we must do something.” Today, just a few years later she and her husband and a small network of Belgium believers are making a difference equipping church leaders through events like the Summit. It's really incredible.

I am unbelievably grateful to my family and team for the opportunity to go and serve and have front row seat.
Every trip I come home realizing how fortunate I am to serve with my team week in and week out at such a resourced church. And the question always remains, are we doing the best w3 can with what WE have…

Global Leadership Summit - Belgium

The longer you are in the trenches the easier it is to mistake the edge of your rut for the horizon. - Gary Hamel

Wondering how to put the past few days in to words and phrases. I am so grateful for this opportunity, to be here, to learn and to serve and to expand my own horizon.

I will remember this place because of the joy of Johan, who deeply cared while smiling his way through every detail, because of Karin who has instincts and passion for the Belgiums people WAY beyond the 20 people in her home church, for Audri who is a humble, calm, work horse who I would want in any trench with me, for Daniel, the young Belgium producer who answered a last minute call and served with excellence beyond what I could expect, for the reminder of what a priviledge it is to be here when others like Jeroen are too sick to come, for young beautiful Jemima- a sensitive capital A storyteller, for Yo who is tender and in pain and still serving every moment, for the warmth of young love, for Peter the drummer who is also a sound guy and a guitarist and the list could go on, for Henri and Janet who were sensitive and bright in their translation,for a great arrangement of More Love, More Power and getting to sing You are My Hiding Place again, for David, for yet another coooool bass player, the grin of a percussionist, the young piano player who worships at the keys, for Rebekkah who led with passion and authenticity and whose “L” is most present on the platform, for Joke (pronounced Yoko) for the beauty of her flowers, for a team who understand we are better when we all contribute, for kindness, for crummy internet, sandwiches, sleeping in a bunk bed with Molly, for parking tickets and mostly for a community that understands that church is not about a building and longs for its community to know Christ.