This weekend, we launched a new site design for Brighten Photography. This was a collaborative project where I occupied more of a development role that I usually do. I was able to sneak in a few design points, but mostly it was a customization of an existing professional theme with some design work that Brighten’s own Ben Harms had prepared.
Ben was a lot of fun to work with, which you’ll be able to tell by spending time on the site. Looking at all those pictures made me want to go back 15 years to have Ben and Whitney shoot my wedding…but I don’t think they were even teenagers then.
Never accept and be content with unanalyzed assumptions, assumptions about the work, about the people, about the church or Christianity. Never be afraid to ask questions about the work we have inherited or the work we are doing. There is no question that should not be asked or that is outlawed. The day we are completely satisfied with what we have been doing; the day we have found the perfect, unchangeable system of work, the perfect answer, never in need of being corrected again, on that day we have made the greatest mistake of all.” — Vincent Donovan, quoted by Brian McLaren in A New Kind of Christianity
A few months back (hard to believe it’s been that long, by the way), I wrote a few posts about my double life. It’s becoming more common to do a church start-up bi-occupationally — a portion of time for the church and an portion of time to the church and a portion of time to feeding your family. I’m learning about this on the fly, and working it out here in hopes it will be beneficial to others.
The last post was about the rhythm of my double life. Splitting time between two different occupations takes some structure and discipline in my schedule, but I think I manage that part pretty well.
In spite of maintaining a somewhat defined weekly rhythm, there is one challenge that extends beyond my ‘work time’. Neither of my jobs is a put in your hours and be done. I don’t go to an office; there isn’t a time clock. When it comes to pastoring, most are aware of this. But it is similar with my design work — as with any creative work, my brain keeps working out ideas long after I’ve let go of my mouse.
What I find is that both of these jobs compete for brain cycles in ways that a defined schedule doesn’t regulate. It goes through seasons where one might be more prominent than the other. The amount of ‘work’ time given to each might be the same, but one dominates the other in mind in the idle times…as I’m driving someplace or waking up in the morning.
Late in the fall, I went on a few different trips related to the pastor side of my life — smaller conferences exploring church mission in differing contexts. At one of them I was even a presenter. Along with this, design work was slower, and I was able to take some time to rework our church website. In other words, my extra brain cycles were able to swing toward my church work.
So far, 2010 has been a different story. I’ve had lots of design work come in, which has been a great relief after a slow fall. I still do design work in the afternoon, but it has taken a lot of energy. (I’m learning just how much the creative side of design takes out of me.) Most of my extra brain cycles so far this year have swung toward design work.
I enjoy both of these jobs, and they interact with each well in terms of flexibility and crossover. It may be that I’ll learn to regulate the pendulum better. But it also may be that this is just the nature of maintaining two roles. I’d be curious to hear how this has been for others.
I have a mild obsession when it comes to historical Jesus studies. So when I was looking through the IVP catalog last fall at potential books to review, The Historical Jesus: Five Views was one I couldn’t pass up.
Many in the Evangelical church world have been suspicious of academic efforts to recover the Jesus of history. THis is based on assumption that there is a gap between the true history of Jesus and the Jesus of the Christian faith. And it’s true that voices from both sides have propelled that argument.
Personally, I’ve found that diving into the history of and around Jesus has led to a much fuller understanding of who Jesus was in his time, and therefore what he means for our time. Our understanding of Jesus’ time has exploded in the last century, and especially in the last few decades. Yes, many scholars draw different conclusions based on their research, but learning how they see Jesus challenges and expands how I do.
The Historical Jesus: Five Views is a helpful introduction to the breadth of perspectives about Jesus. Five different scholars, representing a broad stream of thought, write introductory essays to who the Jesus of history was. After each essay, the other four write their responses. It is helpful to see not only how different scholars view Jesus, but also how others respond.
