It’s incredibly hard work–this idea of staying centered. Balanced. Finding rhythm.

Within the last year, my wife and I have experienced the sudden death of her father (two days after finding out we were expecting our first child), moving states, changing careers, buying a house, selling a house, having aforementioned baby and taking a job as a pastor.

The last word I would use to describe the events of the previous 12 months is balance.

Life has been more difficult in the last year than I ever imagined. And though I wish there was some magical prayer I could pray to make it more manageable–there just hasn’t been.

And yet here I am, just weeks after finishing the RHYTHM journey with our second group. It wasn’t magical. But it was deep. And true. The movement, relationships and journey with this group of TWENTY men has left me hopeful, inspired and ready to press on. Our time together has given me hope that even amidst struggle, busy-ness, pain, new beginnings and ministry–that a deep RHYTHM is possible. That there is a way to stay centered even in the craziest of times.

I’m once again reminded of the magnitude and need for myself and my peers to lead in ways that hold us steady through the many traverse winters that life pulls us through. I’m reminded of the power found in deep connections to other people and a deep connection to God that we must fight to the death for.

Last week, while in Nashville, I had the privilege of connecting with one of the guys who finished the RHYTHM journey with our first group. His story over the last two years has been written full of adventure, life and hopeful risk. He inspires me. He reminds me to keep going. That even as I help lead the RHYTHM journey, I rest well knowing that I travel not alone. I am led well by the men that I travel alongside.

I’ve been reminded, by the very participants of this wild journey, that no matter how thick the journey gets–I am not alone. I can finish well. I can lead and love my family in beautiful ways. And for the two new groups of RHYTHMinTWENTY that will be launching in the next twelve months–they won’t be alone either.

This journey… it isn’t magical. But it is deep. And true. And every day, it’s making me a better man.

Ben Harms

It is hard to put into words how God is using this RHYTHMinTWENTY experience in the lives of the 20 leaders who just finished our first RHYTHM journey. One thing is for sure, God showed up in amazing ways.

I get a strong sense that TEN and TWENY years from now these guys’ lives, relationships and legacies will be different as a result of what God has done, here.

I wonder what the months ahead will be like in their journeys.  I am filled with hope that life will be different and I’m excited for what is in store as well for the future guys God sends our way.  To explore what it looks like to live with rhythm and balance, to unplug and really listen, to pursue God and the calling he has put into each of our lives—it has been no easy task. But after these last couple of years, I am more convinced that ever that this RHYTHM journey has been life-changing to that end.

I know that true strength in leadership, a leadership that lasts, that others with follow, that will make a difference, that finishes well–is not without struggle and challenge. Thank goodness it doesn’t take perfection and that it will likely be filled with mistakes and adjustments. But I do think it will take a resiliency to hold on through the highs and lows, a hope for the ongoing sacred moments He sends our way and a willingness to step into whatever He has in store for us.

I believe we are all a bit closer to figuring out what that looks like today.

I am going to miss the guys from our first group, but I’m excited to see what God has is in store in the months and years ahead.

Tim Bohlke

The first eighteen months of this RHYTHMinTWENTY journey, has been filled with amazing stories of deep transformation in the lives of leaders from all over the country.  As I have thought about the next two groups of twenty leaders to launch in the months ahead, I get excited for what God has in store.

We hope to deeply invest in 20 young leaders at a time, and invite them into a journey to encounter raw, real, and deep connections with God, themselves and others. It has been a pursuit to chase the dreams God has for them, to live with a greater sense of rhythm, to invest deeply in those they are closest to, and to begin to understand together, what it could mean to finish well.

It is a vision born partly out of the reality in my life and the lives of our team as well that leadership was at times a very lonely, isolated, and difficult walk. A walk that despite the successes carried with it some serious hazards and obstacles that nearly took me out.

As I think about these first two RHYTHM groups, there have been some amazing leaders God has sent our way.  And as a result of quieting down, changing the pace of their lives for just a few days, and listening to God, they are on a new journey, many with renewed commitment to pursue God, their families and new resolve to step into whatever God has for them in the days ahead.

Many times in my own journey I needed that ,“spring in the desert, or the roadway in the wilderness” that is talked about in the book of Isaiah. I needed to enter a harbor, and experience God’s grace and forgiveness. I needed a place to be resourced, restored, inspired, and encouraged to do what it takes to pursue God, to dream big, to run this race, and do my best to finish it well. That is part of what we have hoped for and some of what we have seen in these first months of this journey.

It has been an amazing ride so far, time to hang on and see what is next….

Tim Bohlke

Recently we got a note from Ryan Harmon, a church planter in Madrid, Spain and a recent participant of RHYTHMinTWENTY. He shared a few of his thoughts on our journey and we thought they were quite fitting…. Enjoy.

—————————————————————————-

“So, here’s the conference that finally calls me to the carpet and doesn’t just tell me what I need to be doing to keep my walk with God vibrant but actually makes me do it. Everything here is pretty low-key but there is a subtle intensity to it as well. No one here is shouting at me or trying to get me all excited but they are letting me know that if I’m unwilling to enter the quiet then I’ll be the odd man out – everyone else here will be on that pursuit, I’d be stupid not to join them.

That said, six hours on a cold windy mountainside is not easy. Solitude is not for the meek. That’s the beauty of this gathering though, they’re asking us to step into solitude but you’re doing it alongside twenty other guys; we walk into the quiet anticipating our unique encounter with God, together.

In an atmosphere where ministry often feels so lonely, where community seems to be the unreachable goal, I feel like I’ve found it here, with these guys, in only a few short days.”

—————————————————————————-

Here is something I wrote while we were in Colorado during year one of RHYTHMinTWENTY. I gave Tim a copy so he may have it. I look back at this and it still rings true months after our time together in Estes….The context of this writing came after I spent some time in solitude close to the river, close to the RHYTHM. I later moved to a place higher up on the mountain. A new vantage point shed some light on something that I would have never thought of had I not changed my location that day….

From a new location, a new perspective; the RHYTHM sounds different.  A stage of life or a season may sound different from another season. It may even feel different altogether.

As I admire the river from an elevated view I wonder if we sometimes gaze at you, GOD, in all your beauty from an elevated view. We admit you’re beautiful and will give you our gaze from a distance. But as your RHYTHM, the river, gets nearer we become more tentative. The sound and sight are more intense. We no longer have the whole picture in view. There is fear in the movement, in the danger of stepping literally into the RHYTHM. We remain unsure of the RHYTHM and ourselves so we retreat to the perch above where we feel safe, where we see the big picture and claim some sort of control and assurance is us knowing what is going on. From this elevated view we can see the movement, even hear the RHYTHM if we pay close enough attention. But something tells me it’s just not the same as standing in the midst of the current, feeling the RHYTHM pulse through you. The place where every heartbeat matters, the place where the unexpected can happen, the place your soul feels alive and free. What is holding me back from leaving my comfortable elevated view and engaging the RHYTHM?

—————————————————————————-

In September I had the opportunity to travel to San Diego for the second gathering of our RHYTHMinTWENTY group. My first experience with RHYTHM was in October 2008 and it was literally indescribable. Part of me worried that our time together in San Diego could only do one thing; fall short. Fortunately, I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was a life giving, challenging, inspiring time filled with deep and authentic connection. There were moments I’d look around me, moments I’d take a second to pause and realize what was happening between the twenty of us. And without little doubt I knew I was experiencing a piece of Heaven on Earth.

I apologize: This post is long overdue. It’s been a few weeks since I reconnected with more than 20 of the best friends I could ever have in this season of life.

I’m part of a group of men from across the country called RHYTHMinTWENTY.  The premise is simple: find a better balance between life, love, passions and pursuits in the midst of a community of commonality. This trip, this year, for me, was simply amazing.We spent a lot of time in San Diego talking about the nature of a harbor. The definition we started with stirred something significant deep within my heart throughout the four days:

Harbor.

A place along the coast with deep waters so vessels can drop anchor, so situated with respect to coastal features to provide protection from winds, waves and currents.

A place of refuge and shelter; rest, to weary refugees.

A place to maintain, entertain, contain, hold and capture thoughts.

An asylum, sanctuary, retreat.

A haven; a place of safety in a time of storms.

That discussion of ‘harbor’ led to a deeper discussion: We spent a lot of time trying to rediscover what causes us to be deeply connected to God and to the present moment.

WE spent a lot of time thinking, praying and brainstorming with my friends how we can be deeply intentional and deeply engaged.

For me, I’m convinced it means creating more margin for those things that bring me life.  I’ve spent time in the past few weeks, since returning to Nashville, dreaming a little bit about what that’s going to look like, given the challenges of life.  Simply put, I think it’s going to mean a few changes, a little bit of re-prioritizing and a lot of new adventure.

I think it has to mean a few changes.  I refuse to float, burn out and otherwise, live a ’status quo’ existence.

Yes, the harbor had its lessons, its rest and yes, its play. (I tried surfing for the first time and failed horribly!)  But the thing about the harbor is that we weren’t made to live there.  We were made to live on the high seas: the ups-and-downs, the ebbs-and-flows, the challenges and the successes.

I’m back on the high seas with fond memories of the harbor and grateful for the lessons I learned there.

This last year has been an amazing journey. It was a little over a year ago that I was in Quito, Ecuador at a leadership conference, when the vision for Harbor ministries and Rhythmintwenty came into focus. Through an amazing set of circumstances (which I would love to tell you about in the future) God brought me to a place of brokenness, then readiness to take a risk, and seek God like never before. It has been a humbling experience, as an amazing group of people, was willing to step into the unknown, come around the vision of seeing young leaders connect with their calling, and the dreams God has given them, and to seek God about what it means to start and finish well in their families, ministry, work, and their journey with God.

It is even more humbling, that people from all over the country, would consider joining us on this 2 year journey, as we pursue God together. For 20 people, the pursuit, the listening, the dreaming, and the relationships starts this fall. But that is only the starting place! We want to engage far more than 20 a year in this dream. We will have ongoing blogs on this site, monthly news letters for you to track what is going on, we want to  connect you to resources, that we hope will encourage you in your pursuit of God,and your hope of living a life of rhythm and balance. And next year, a NEW group of 20 will start the journey! So this really is just the beginning.

“do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past, behold I will do something new. Now it will spring forth, will you not be aware, it will be like a road in the wilderness, and springs in the dessert”  Ps 43:18-19

Here’s to pursuing those roads, and springs together ……

I look forward to talking to you soon,

tb 

            I’ve been on sabbatical for the last month and one of the goals of my sabbatical time is to get out in the world a bit more.  During my normal life it is very easy for my whole world to revolve around home and church with only occasional exertions out into the rest of the world.  I have friends who are pastors who regularly work local coffee shops, one who probably is at his caffeine haunt MORE than his real “office”.   I had always viewed such habits as peculiar.  After all I have a wonderful office.  My assistant makes coffee for me.  I have all my stuff there.  My chair is comfortable – my office is comfortable but the problem is that I can get so isolated that I forget that there is a world out there beyond the doors of Westwood Church that God intensely loves and is desperately trying to save.   

So I’m trying to do some writing in places like Barnes and Noble and Shirley’s Diner and Burger King (any place with free wireless J).  While I write I’m trying to look around and listen without being nosy.  I’m trying to pray for people I encounter, like a waitress the other day who was having a very tough morning, like a fast-food server headed home after his shift.  I’ve learned a lot during these “observation” times.  One of the things I’ve learned is that people are hurting, the lack of God in their lives shows like a giant weed patch in a garden plot.  Another thing I’ve learned is that people hunger for community.  In every single place I’ve haunted I have seen “regulars”.  At Burger King it was the FedEx guy who eats lunch there every day (skinny as a rail of course – I eat a double whopper and gain 10 pounds) and knows all the crew.  At Shirley’s it was the regular breakfast guys who hassle the waitress and never tip.  At Barnes and Noble it was a group of retired folks who come in to swap stories about loved ones lost, recent troubles and the news in town.  In just listening to them talk (again I’m trying not to be nosy but it is hard J) it is obvious they occupy those chairs about every single day.  And I wonder, why Barnes and Noble and not a church?  Is it that the coffee menus is larger?  Is it the books and magazines to be read?  I doubt it. 

I don’t know the answer but I suspect it has to do with authenticity.  How can we touch the waitress, the FedEx guy, retired coffee drinkers?  I wonder what a whole generation of men and women filled to the brim like a coffee cup with authentic life, genuine compassion, an honest faith released into the drinking holes, the coffee shops, the bars, the clubs would make on this world of ours.  I can’t help but dream….

Where does one go about cultivating authentic life, genuine compassion, honest faith?  Those are 3 of the questions we will gather together in Colorado in October to get face to face and eye to eye about.  Hope to see you there. 

Until then “Excuse me, can I get a refill on my coffee?” 

Scott

the beautiful thing about RHYTHMinTWENTY is that it isn’t an attempt at a one-stop fix your life type of event. it’s far more of a journey than a conference.

hence the multi-year aspect.

and up until now we’ve been talking about it being a three-year journey. well… we sort of suck at math. sort of. but not really. it’s actually three events that take place during three different calendar years (hence-three year journey).

but in reality the journey that we will be on together will span right around two years. (from the fall of ‘08 to ‘09 to ‘10). two year journey happening during three calendar years.

this doesn’t change anything. we haven’t changed our curriculum, or plans…. just a small tweak in language (here and on our website) that hopefully sounds a bit less intimidating.

so thanks for risking to come with us on this crazy adventure—we hope you’ll think about joining us in estes in ‘08, san diego in ‘09 and back to estes in ‘10.

here’s to starting new adventures,
b.h. and the RHYTHM crew.