FredMcKinnon.Com

2 Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
(Lev. 19:2, ESV at YouVersion.Com)

I think almost every Christian you talk to will agree that God has called us to be “holy”.  I tend to immediately start thinking of “do’s and don’ts” … legalistic things … law.

But God is a God of grace, and we are not under law.  We agree there, but this is the thing we use to forget about holiness.

One Christian has no problem entertaining themselves with a movie where the “f-bomb” is dropped a dozen times, along with non-stop usage of the Lord’s Name in vain and sinful acts.  Another one feels this is sinful, and by engaging in that, they are not being holy.  It’s as if the standard is “whatever I deem the standard to be”.

So … what does “holiness” mean to you?  Let’s discuss in a non-judgmental, friendly way, shall we?

You see this guy …

It could be you … trying to get customer service.

Good luck.

Or … it could be how the person on the other end feels, who is trying to resolve your issues.

Today, I worked from 8:30 – 5:15 in Customer Service for my e-business, HPP Enterprises.  Nikki usually handles the bulk of our customer service and returns issues but she’s off having fun.

Let’s just say that I have a greater appreciation for what that poor girls deals with on a daily basis.  At one point, I spent 40 minutes on the phone with what seemed to be an elderly man who relentlessly insisted we never sent him a return label; while, reading back to the the exact emails and even the FILE NAME of the attached return label from his email box.

I have to stay away from this stuff.  It fuels a nasty attitude in me.  I’ve learned that you can expect certain responses from certain demographics, consistently, which creates a stereotyped form of “consumer racism” in my heart that is disgusting – to me, and to God.

So, for all you folks who tend to get frustrated and demand certain things from customer service, whether it be the online store you purchased from, your cell phone carrier, your insurance agency, your waitress, or “___ insert service provider here ____” … here’s how it feels from the OTHER SIDE:

1.  If you’re polite to me, I’ll be polite back to you.
2.  If you come across professional and spell words correctly, use proper capitalization and grammar, I’ll take you more seriously.
3.  If you start out by demeaning me and making demands, you’re already at the back of the line.
4.  Refer back to #1.
5.  Don’t demand.  Ask.  With courtesy.

Granted, I have gotten to the point where #1-5 didn’t work, I was completely exasperated, and lost it.  (Visions of the Circuit City logo float through my mind and a hideous scene I caused in the store … still have a hard time regretting it, though!).  But for the most part, be as gracious as possible.

Case 1:
We are allowed to charge a restocking fee if we choose.  Many of our suppliers charge it to us, so we can recoup that.

Person 1: this product is worthless.  I’m offended you wasted my time sending me such a worthless product.   I hope you’re happy you got your money.  I should file a lawsuit for consumer fraud.  We were not happy with this at all – i am returning it and I demand you send a return label and give me my money NOW.

Person 2: Thanks for getting the product here so quickly.  Unfortunately, we weren’t happy with the quality of the product.  I’m sure you are only the reseller and have no control over the quality of the product.  I just felt you should know how poorly this is made – maybe you could pass this along to your manufacturer or supplier.  Regardless, we’d like to return this if possible.  Any help you can give us on the restocking fee or return freight would be greatly appreciated.

Resolution:

Person 1: stick it to them.  They pay return postage.  And by golly, we’re deducting the 15% restocking fee.  They are going to leave a negative review anyway.

Person 2: thank the person for being so gracious.  While you’re at it, send them a prepaid label, and no matter what – waive that restocking fee.

Conclusion:

I suppose it’s common sense – but there’s this thing we call the “Golden Rule” – remember learning it as a kid?  “Treat others the way you’d like to be treated”.

Discussion:

Nothing profound here, but I’m curious – how does this relate to you?  Are you the demanding person, or the courteous one?  (Does anyone really confess to be the jerk?  I do.)  How can this apply outside of business customer service?  Leave some comments and discuss.

Welcome to the final post in my series on “What Regimen Training Taught Me as a Worship Leader”.  If’ you’ve missed the series, back up and see these other entries:

Part 1: What is Regimen
Part 2: R.A.N.
Part 3: Change It Up
Part 4:  Teach the Why

Part 5:  Encouragement Matters

In the last entry I talked about teaching.  The teaching is critical but it’s not enough.  You have to have encouragement.  In the trenches when the sweat is pouring, the body is resisting, and the mind is telling you there’s nothing left, it’s that encouraging word that pulls you through.

A good fitness trainer will challenge you in your routine, correct you when you’re wrong, and encourage you when you are doing it right. But how can we apply that to worship leading?

So far these teachings have primarily applied to how we (as leaders) interact with our congregations.  Today I want to focus on how we interact with our teams.  How often do you encourage them?

Keep in mind that the majority of us work with volunteers who have already been bossed around all day and have endured stress and anxiety at the work place.  The last thing they need as they volunteer in the band or tech team is to feel the same way.  Encourage your team.  Build them up.  When they play well, acknowledge it.  When they seem frustrated or overwhelmed with a part, encourage them.

Take this beyond words.  I’d encourage you to have a box of stationary in your desk so that you can mail a letter from time to time … you know, write it, stuff it in an envelope, place a stamp on it, and put it in that old thing called a mailbox.

Don’t let this stop with your band.  There is a tech team that makes everything work; yet, they are usually acknowledged only when something goes wrong.

Can this apply to our congregations as well?  Of course it can.  As you notice those who seem to really connect with the worship, make a point to encourage them.  Tell them that seeing them worship and engage encourages you and spurs you on as a leader.  In the same way, with sensitivity, you may approach someone who is obviously struggling.  Pull them aside and give them an encouraging word – tell them how glad you are they came and ask if there’s anything you can pray with them about.

I know this.  When I’m on my last pushup … and my body screams it can’t do another … all it takes is Eric or Matt standing over me saying “c’mon Fred, you can do it, one more” and I push it out.  You can too.

That’s a wrap for this series.  I hope it’s been helpful for you.  I’d love to see your comments, so chat it up!

About the Photo:
Another shot by Chris Moncus Photography, who was hired to take some pictures in Summer 2009 during some of our East Beach workouts.  This is a great group, many of whom are still attending the regimen workout classes on East Beach.  For more info on the “Regimen” training, visit Taylor Made Training.

Hey Gang,

In the vein of “Follow Friday” … I’d like to introduce you to a couple of new sites that I’d recommend:

www.churchleaders.com – a new site for, well, you guessed it … Church Leaders!  This site is already packed with incredible content and has a slick look and feel.  You never know, you just might find some worship articles from me in there soon!

www.patrickeades.com – This is a local guy .. the Executive Director of our local Care Net (aka Crisis Pregnancy Center).  But Patrick is new to blogging, but not new to ministry, leadership, and vision.  He’s a great friend, an incredible leader, and visionary.  His blog will be in your top blogs for leadership and family insights.  He and his family are very close to our hearts … Patrick will stir you with insights into leadership, the pro-life movement, family matters, and more.  Plus, the guy is hilarious.  I mean, really … who else has “The Sex Man” as his nickname?

Yesterday I blogged about two incredible football quarterbacks and how the strengths of their entire TEAM impact their performance.  No matter how talented the leader may be, the need for a solid team is obvious.

The same rings true in worship ministry, business development, and visioneering.

Today, a group of us from SSCC met at my favorite off-campus-office, WakeUp Coffee Company.  This is a group comprised of our main worship leaders and one of our church elders (who also participates and leads with our team).  I’ve dubbed this group of people the “Worship Synergy” team.

Synergy, in general, may be defined as two or more agents working together to produce a result not obtainable by any of the agents independently.
The term synergy comes from the ancient Greek word syn-ergos, συνεργός, meaning ‘working together’. [1] .
In the context of organizational behaviour is the view that a cohesive group is more than sum of its parts. Synergy is the ability of group to outperform even its best individual member.

Our purpose is to discuss:

• our philosophy of worship
• how we practically “walk out” our philosophy
• conflict resolution and prevention
• creative input, ideas, and feedback on crafting encounters where we worship in spirit and truth

It’s important to bring some diversity to this table.  You’ll get some perspective from a female that won’t even be considered by a male (and vice versa).  You’ll miss some great insights when you try to do this by yourself.  By creating a space where people have the liberty to express their ideas, creative input, and their concerns or grievances, you head off potential conflicts.

One thing that is often overlooked in a situation like this is the protection that comes from a unified team.  As the Worship Pastor, I no longer have to fear that people will hold me accountable for every situation.  If you have some conflict about song choice … you can say, “well, I appreciate your input, but I don’t make those decisions on my own – we have a group that prayerfully discusses and considers this”.  Maybe there is an element missing in your worship services that is recognized by every person of the team … you have a lot more leverage when you approach your leadership with a request.

Do you have anything like this in place?  Ideas?  Thoughts?
Let me hear back from you!