okay not to be a senior pastor

Heeding your personal calling can be hard work to find for some people, especially those who are pastoring. This Leadership Journal article, “From First Chair to Second Fiddle: Your calling to ministry may lead from senior pastor to associate” gives gracious and practical wisdom towards discerning a pastorate fit:

The senior pastor role is typically equated with the greatest opportunity for authority and impact. But is it?

A recent online poll by a major newspaper found that, in the business world at least, an overwhelming 75 percent of respondents did not want to be the boss in their work setting.

Here are the stories of three ministry leaders who had a taste of life at the top but realized that not only did they not want to be the boss, they were actually better suited for a supporting role. As a result, they took a step down the ladder, and ended up where they felt God wanted them.

Read the full article over at LeadershipJournal.net >>

youth marketing insights

This recent marketing research piece is making the rounds, originally from SnapDragon Consultants: Ten Things Every Brand Should Know About Asian American Youth [ht: Docuticker, MediaPost's Asian-American Youth Seek Edgier Image, Hyphen]

What are the implications for better reaching and engaging Asian American youth with the Gospel?

1. Many Asian-American youth feel excluded and misunderstood by most brands. It’s made worse by the fact that they see advertisers actively wooing the African-American and Hispanic markets.
2. Mixed race kids are proudly identifying as Hapa, a once derogatory word in Hawaiian to mean “half.” Hapa is also slang for marijuana in Japanese (spelled Happa). Hapa is supplanting terms like Amerasian, biracial, and blasian.
3. Asian-American youth are secret fans of “easy listening” adult contemporary music. Lite FM is a hidden passion.
4. There’s a “hero gap” among Asian-American kids, which is being filled for many by activists from other cultures. Martin Luther King is a role model and hero to many young Asian-Americans.
5. Most Asian-American kids refer to white people as “white people” the same way African-Americans do.
6. Underage gambling is huge. The “new” American poker obsession is nothing new to Asian-American kids and gambling has a long history in Asian culture. Many students Rigg spoke with are avid online gamblers and cardplayers. Many organize private online poker tournaments.
7. Asian-American kids want an end to the hyper-nerdy images of themselves on TV and want to see more punked-out skater and graffiti DJ images which reflect a different energy. The feeling is: Enough with the math geeks, future doctors and violinists. Asian-American kids crave street credibility—not just academic accolades.
8. Asian-American kids universally hate the question: Where are you from—especially since the answers are usually something like “Westchester” or “Boston.”
9. All things Korean are hot and getting hotter. Fashion. Foods. DJs. Online communities. Korea is the new Japan.
10. The 15 minutes of seemingly benign American Idol fame for William Hung had a surprisingly negative effect on Asian-American students. There’s a feeling that Hung perpetuated the worst stereotypes about Asian people and gave non-Asians permission to indulge in two years of racial stereotyping and mocking.

Christian resurgence among Asian Americans

Tim Challies’ noted the presence of Asian Americans at the recent Resolved conference in his post-event reflections:

There is clearly a resurgence of Christianity among the Asian-American population. As John Piper said yesterday, God is clearly doing a work and is preparing to do a great work in and through these people. And I pray He does. I very much enjoyed meeting many of these people and rejoice in new friendships. (Here is what is no doubt a politically-incorrect aside, but I hope someone, and hopefully one of my Asian-American friends, can help me out. Why do Asians move in groups? We Caucasian folk tend to move and to hang out in twos; maybe threes. Asians seem to roam around in packs of six or eight or ten. What gives?)

I won’t make a social commentary on the social migration patterns of Anglos vs. Asians, but it is encouraging to hear of Christianity’s growth among Asian Americans. I’d like to see how that plays out in the development of Asian American Christian leaders and how we’ll see more Asian faces on the platform at mainstream Christian evangelical conferences.

Crisis in Asian American Church Leadership

According to this news release from Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity (ISAAC), there are now more than 4,000 Korean and 1,300 Chinese Protestant churches in the United States and Canada. The news release goes on to describe a recent summit that brought together directors from Asian and Pacific North American (APNA) Christian centers at theological institutions and seminaries. Their work on addressing the leadership crisis will be invaluable.

God heals Asian family tension

On the last evening of Urbana 2006, the triennial student missions convention, Tom Lin shares his testimony about the true reality of how obeying God’s calling is hard but God is good and He does provides for our needs. One listener of the testimony felt like it was a powerful story that addresses the common struggle many Asians face in following the Lordship of Christ that seems to oppose values of their parents. (Tom is a former executive team member of L2 Foundation and currently remains an advisor to L2 Foundation.)

You can listen to the 4-minute testimony above or watch the video at the Urbana website.

[update] You can also read the manuscript of this testimony online, posted with permission from Tom Lin.