What do Lebron James and Young Clergy have in common?

If you have been in a cave for the past four weeks, then you have not heard but Lebron James is a basketball player. In fact, he is the most sought after player in a long time. He played for his home team, the Cleveland Cavs, for seven years and his contract expired. As a free agent, he had several offers from all around the league. It was quite the hoopla. While the World Cup was going on (the most watched sporting event in the world) I could not get highlights on ESPN because everyone was speculating "where will Lebron go?"

This 'drama' reached it's apex last Thursday when on an hour long special James declared that he would be leaving his beloved Cavs and head to the Miami Heat.

People reacted as they do.

I was thinking about all this and how it hit me was how much the decision feels like what I am in conversation with my young clergy peers about.

Let me explain.

"King James", as he is called by media and fans, turned down more money and even better teams to play with the Heat. Let me rephrase that, Lebron turned down money to play with friends.

The NBA is a league built around individuals. Jordan. Shaq. Dirk. Kobe. It is known as the "superstar" model. That is, get a "superstar" and your team will go far. Because lets face it one superstar on a team of 5 makes a HUGE difference. So teams go after these superstars. The NBA markets the stars. Show me a time which you saw a team picture of an NBA team other than when they just won the championship and I will show you a picture of the year 1951 and all the players are Anglo.

Lebron moved directly counter to the entire leagues push get a "superstar" to lead a team to the championship and joined up with a team of stars. Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade and Lebron James are all friends. They all wanted to play basketball together. They all were willing to forgo the whole 'superstar' thing and take a pay cut in order to work on a team.

Many of my young clergy peers are tired to churches pushing the superstar model. Olsteen. Moore. Jakes. Graham. Warren. I would be interested to know if most people know what the name of the church (team) these people are connected to. They are superstars and people like superstars.

However, many of my friends in ministry are tired of super-stardom. We, like Lebron, desire to work on a team. We want not only other clergy to let their egos die but also for laity to be willing to take the lead at times. We desire a team of stars not superstars.

It is my hope that the Heat have success and fun as they work together to accomplish tier goal.

I have the same Hope for the Church.

It is official, I am totally into myself

Google has created an application which is designed for E-commerce and the egos of bloggers everywhere: Goggle Analytics.

You install this into your web page and it will track loads of information about your site.

How many hits you average in a day? Goggle Analytics knows.
What is the average time spent by others on your site? Goggle Analytics knows.
How many people are first time visitors? Goggle Analytics knows.
How many are 26-50 time visitors? Goggle Analytics knows.
Where in the world was the computer which accessed your site? Goggle Analytics knows.

Goggle Analytics knows a lot of information and gives you a daily report so you can feed your marketing department or personal ego.

I have installed Google Analytics two weeks ago.

My ego is full.

Here are some of the things I have discovered since April 20th:

142 - visits
225 - pages viewed
56 Seconds - average time spent per visit
40% - visitors only visited one time
11% - visitors visited between 9-14 times
10% - visitors visited between 15-25 times
3 - International visits from Clydebank, United Kingdom
115% - personal increase in nerdiness and self-centeredness

So now that I am international I will be throwing in some local jargon just to make those across the pond more comfortable.

So Google Analytics is Dog's bollocks for this bloke.

My own messiah complex

I was thinking the other day about the many times I take myself too seriously- especially with work in the church.

I often bemoan problems as I see them in the United Methodist Church and you want to know something?

What a wonderful happenstance, all the problems I see with the UMC, I feel I am the solution!

What an ass I am.

I continue to come be baffled at myself. My mind convinces me that my self-prescribed strengths are exactly what the church lacks. I convince myself that if only I were in charge I could 'save' churches.

Is this egoism/messiah complex my own issue? Is it something which plagues ministers of all sorts? Leaders? Just men or all people?

So, I write this as a reminder to myself:

We already have a messiah, and you are not it. Get over yourself.