Ben Pettit

A big question has risen lately. What does it mean to be Authentic? What does it look like? What does it feel like? How does it act? How does it speak? What does it look like in our churches?

Problem:

Stacy and I were discussing it this morning. We have mutually and separately known people as I know you do, that are truly not authentic. I’ll use two of my favorite generic names Bob and Sally to explain it. Situationally it goes something like this:

Bob: [very excitingly] Hey Sally, what’s up?
[Bob begins to look around the room not making eye contact with Sally]
Sally: Not to much Bob, been really busy with work and family.
Bob: cool, how are your folks?
[Bob continues to look around the room for the next person to talk to...]
Sally: They’re fine. [Sally begins to get bored at Bob's silly small talk...]
[new girl Jane walks up, Bob loses interest in Sally and turns to Jane]
Bob: Hey Jane, what’s up?

So this situation might have happened to you this week. It seems it happens more than we want. Someone ask you a question that they really don’t care about and it’s as if they never really cared if you respond to them. We as people, as Christians and as leaders are sometimes guilty of this. I have a lot of friends in ministry who attempt to go to Pastor mode but instead go to social networking mode. They miss the whole shepherd part and jump straight into small talk. With Facebook, Myspace, and every other web 2.0 service coming everyday, this is our unfortunate result. Shallow conversations and shallow relationships.

Solution:

Have meaningful conversations as often as possible. Avoid the small talk. Talk about things that really matter. Care about the people around you. Life isn’t as much about getting ahead as you might think. It’s about serving the Lord by serving people. Go out of your way to do something special for someone today. I love this thought. If you are feeling down and you need encouragement, get past your self and go encourage someone else first. If you feel like you don’t have a friend in the world, go reach out and be someone else’s friend first. Life sometimes takes some initiative. Other wise, you are just sitting still.