Change: The New Buzz Word?

Moving beyond clichés and brands into the hard work of the Kingdom

Election night 2008, that’s all I have to say.  Can you go back and describe exactly what you were doing, where you were and how you felt as history etched out another crystallized moment where the significance of the event demanded that you remember?  Regardless of your political preference, everyone knew that a new day had dawned and we were all the witnesses of something big.

I remember sitting in my living room with my family, all of our eyes glued to the TV and distinctly realizing that I was sharing this moment with the majority of the world.  I recall the quixotic feeling of floating: seemingly between heaven and earth, happiness and disbelief, shock and joy.  I neither cried nor shouted I just drank in every second hoping that nothing goes wrong and with every gulp of every second that passed my thirst was being quenched.  Thirst for intelligent dialogue (that leads to good policy) to begin, thirst for the little man (J.J. the apartment tenant who couldn’t afford Joe the plumber to fix his sink so he had to go to Home Depot and do for self) to be heard, thirst for justice (a preemptive war waged upon a country provoked by weapons of mass distraction) to be served…thirst for change.

I must admit that I drank in the moment till I was full that night.  Afterwards I ran out into the middle of the street and started dancing (I didn’t want the ‘Palestinians’ to be the only ones to enjoy this triumph)! But the next day walking through the same streets that I danced on the night before caused me to ponder the idea of this thing we call change.

Obama is a genius.  He ran his whole campaign on one word: change. And it worked! (I told you he’s a genius). But in the day of cliché tossing and hyper branding where political figures are considered brands themselves, we must make sure that we don’t trick ourselves into looking to one individual to give us what we as one nation all must pursue and attain: change.  Change is hard!  It is neither a respecter of person or position.

Change challenges, makes uncomfortable, questions, presses, and finally rewards those who with tenacious resilience hold on to it in the face of its skeptic’s tills it has overcome.  But this is no easy task; you have to be tough to hold on to change. Change requires nothing less than a reckless soul who accepts the thrill and anticipates the sharp turns, tedious straight-aways and pulverizing assaults. But don’t fear change, even a roller coaster ride can be fun if you know when to ‘lean’ and create new balance within the journey. So being the hip hop connoisseur that I is’…please allow me to encourage you to learn how to “lean wit it” as we prepare ourselves for the long road ahead of us into the land of change.

Seth Godin whom I’ve often quoted is a noted author of business books and popular speaker who coined the term ‘permission marketing’ a decade ago wrote a great little book last year called The Dip.  So what is the "Dip"? The author defines Dip as "the long slog between starting something and mastering it". The Dip curve looks somewhat like the graph below.

The initial part of the curve shoots up pretty quick (like dancing in the streets to the idea of change after a historic election); but after that comes a downtrend which lasts for a longer duration compared to the initial upward movement. Once the Dip is over, the curve resumes its uptrend (we change). Seth makes a great word picture in his book of how to survive the dip by simply noting: you don’t avoid the dip…you lean into it to get through it!

The Dip is:
• The point between starting something and excelling at it.
• The low after the excitement, when something new wears off.
• The realization that it takes time, effort, and skill to get better.
• Mile 20 in a marathon, or mile 13 in an Ironman Triathlon.
• The stretch from beginner to expert.
• Years 2-3 in a four year degree.
• The point where you dig deeper.
• The place where many quit.
• A pause point, a battle cry.
• The dip is the work.

So how do we ‘lean into’ the dip of such a low state as a country and press through the disillusionment, discontent and disrespect that we have grown accustom to?

First, realize that we must heal as a nation.  Instead of trying to rub it in if your party won, or look for everything wrong if your party lost, we as the Body of Christ must take the initiative to reconcile political differences, pray for our leaders and move towards unity.  That goes for both sides, we can’t afford to lose time playing anymore political games.  We as the church work for a higher cause so tighten it up and become a healer not a hater! 

Second, amplify the voice of the needy.  With an economical crisis we know that many of the students that we work for will be the ones that will be the last ones to get attention unless we become their voice.  Someone once jokingly said, “When the majority of society has a cold, then it’s like kids in the hood have pneumonia!” If that’s a sad but true scenario, then we can’t slow down when it comes to being kingdom minded advocates.  Jim Wallace said it well, “Even with an Obama administration in leadership, it does not exempt the Body of Christ from doing its job!” We must be the ones who stand for the cause of the poor, help the helpless and defend the outcasts.” 

Third, endure holy tension.  I recently preached a message titled: Holy Tension at Flavor Festival in Tampa FL.  Man I wish I had time to preach this message right here!  Let me share the gist of it: Jesus instructed us to pray God’s will manifesting on earth as it is in heaven. Both individually and corporately we serve as the lynch pin’ the tension point between a heavenly revelation and an earthly realization and that involves tension!  But any tension that God allows us to go through, he gives us the grace to handle it.  As newborn creatures, change is our middle name!  Let change come, we are in a constant state of renewal and change from the inside out, so this is something that we are accustomed to. 

It’s going to take work, but that is what we signed up for!  We are representatives of the Kingdom of God!  To work in the kingdom of God is to identify with the biggest of all dreams. To see God’s kingdom come on earth is to act upon every other-worldly impulse and take every chance we get to chalk one more up for the cause of heaven. 

If you'd like to download a pdf preview of the Dip, click here: www.changethis.com/34.01.TheDip/download

Sharing the gospel from ‘Street to Street’

Fred D. Lynch III
GodStyle Productions

Fred Lynch is the founder of GodStyle Productions. A ministry committed to changing youth culture. For more information on Fred, go to www.godstyle.com or check out his latest project The Script (the gospel of John translated into rap) at: www.gettheepic.com