They Aren't JUST Quirks

These days, we've been having a lot of talks with our staff about the way "we" do ministry at Westwinds. A lot of our talks have come out of discussions and reflections on plumb lines. Identifying plumb lines is a concept we first heard about in Larry Osborn's book, Sticky Teams.

In construction, a plumb line is used to measure verticality, depth, and the center of gravity. We like to think of plumb lines in terms of our personal bents, preferences, and even quirks in regard to "doing" ministry. And, David and I (my partner in Coriolis—our shared leadership team) have a few of them.



Larry Osborn says, “Plumb lines don’t represent the only way to do ministry. They represent your way of doing ministry. So don’t worry if they seem somewhat narrow or controversial or even if they thin the herd… if forced to choose between a great mission statement and a clear set of plumb lines, I’d choose the plumb lines every time. That’s because the devil and most disagreements are in the details." 



I lead a group of artists, scholars, entrepreneurs, and monks—to name a few. They all have individual style. They all have ideas. They have their own way of getting from here to there. Some are processors. Some are busy bees. Some are mellow. Some are prepubescently hyper. I love all my staff and volunteers. A lot of diverse personalities.

Then there is me. I am my own brand as well as everyone else on staff. I have a lot of deep-seated beliefs about art, ministry, leadership, style, aesthetics, church life . . . I have a 20+ year history in professional ministry and a lifetime of stories where things worked or didn’t work. And, my job—along with David—is to look forward, change, take the temperature of our church, read the signs, be aware, influence momentum, point the way, and cast vision. Besides the more lofty leadership things, in large part, we are paid for our taste.

We've recently realized not everyone on our staff knows our plumb lines. Some beliefs about ministry are lodged deep within us and they influence our decisions but they don’t always translate well in our decisions. So, sometimes we might passionately make a decision about something that seems trivial to someone or like a little quirk someone might write off as “That’s just John. He’s opinionated.” Or, “That’s just David. He’s a dork.” When in reality, there is deep meaning behind even the little decisions.

At best, our plumb lines are inspiring, influential, exciting, educational, and everything you would want in a leader. But we are also aware that some of our plumb lines can be interpreted as silly quirks unless you know where they come from.

For instance, if you come to me with a homemade poster you drew with magic markers and you want to tape it up on the bathroom wall at church, I will tell you no. I have a deep-seated rock solid opinion that this is very tacky. On the surface, this seems trivial. No one is not coming to Jesus because of homemade posters. However, this is all part of a plumb line I have that is very meaningful and well-seasoned.

On our list of plumb lines, homemade posters fall under #16 on our list which is:

#16 EVERYTHING SHOULD BE DONE WITH EXCELLENCE AND CARE
We work toward version 4 of every idea (an initial concept, plus 3 rounds of revision). Everything is subject to peer review. Every first-draft gets push back. We don't like things that look like they didn't take too long. This is why we steer away from things like clip art, crafts and craft-y things, clutter, homemade flyers, crayons and markers on posters, etc. Excuses are not acceptable here, though people will often try to make them.

If we were on a group road trip and had a deadline and destination we couldn’t just leave each to his own way or we would eventually get separated, give up, get lost, change course, and maybe end up hating each other. On a group road trip someone needs to herald this route and this schedule.

That's the role of Coriolis (shared leadership) at the Winds.

Plumb lines. They are more than mission, vision, and values—they are the ‘rules of the road.’ We told our staff over the last month, “We are hoping these will help us ensure that our ministries, decisions, and initiatives line up with the core values and priorities we claim to have. And they let everyone know how we're supposed to do things around here . . . these don't represent the only way to do ministry, or even necessarily the right way to do ministry, but they do represent our way of doing ministry. Their purpose is to clarify how we plan to shadow God, build the church, and heal the world right now.”

We originally came up with a list of over 100 things. Yep. But, after closer examination we were able to see patterns and group our sound bites into categories. Over the next few posts, I will share some of our plumb lines here and toss them around a bit. I am hoping it generates discussion and you can identify your own.