The Dixon men take Denver

So Josh and I are in Denver for 5 days of family, fun, sweets, fun, family, sweets and more fun. Here are a couple of shots from the start of the trip:

Because why wouldn't you put a massive red rabbit in your new terminal?

Josh playing my birthday guitar. Thanks Mark!

Coors Field was born on Josh's birthday in 1995

OK Mick...

I made him swear to me that his heart was still Dodger blue!

Perfect end to a super fun day!

A GREAT Father's Day

What a day yesterday! Here's the play by play:

7:00 6 mile run with the boys

9:00 Family yardwork session

10:30 Jamba Juice run

11:00 Veg it up in front of the TV

2:00 20 miles on the bike over to the pool

3:30 Swimming!

4:30 Father's Day shopping at Sports Authority (got a shirt)

5:30 Wahoo's Fish Tacos for dinner

8:30 In bed, worn out

Whew! As I told the kids last night, it's easy to be a good dad when you've got amazing kids. Here's a shot from yesterday:

Our spiritual home!

So we spent the last four days at Campus by the Sea, with the following view from our front door. In other news, I miss being at Campus by the Sea...

Feeling Nostalgic

Amy's working on a blog post right now and she asked me find a picture from our 2003 trip to Guatemala. It's got me itching to go back! Here are three of my favs from that summer:

Why I stay on staff

Yesterday a dear friend asked me a really good question. She wondered why I stay on staff. For me, it's a good question primarily because I don't often ask it of myself. I should ask it more. Because monitoring the state of one's call strikes me as something that's helpful to do on a regular basis (as opposed to something we do once every 4 years or so on staff). So, here are a few reasons why I stay on staff:

1. God's not done working in my soul yet. In a lot of ways, this has been a hard year for me in ministry. Lots of heartache. Believe me, I have my fair share of days when fleeing seems very tempting. But, after I take a breath, I realize that the ups and downs of ministry are shaping me. That is, ministry is about what I do, but it's also/more about how God is forming me. And, right now, it doesn't feel like he's done yet.

2. I have a sustaining passion for our mission. Don't get me wrong, my passion wanes from time to time, but, for the most part, I feel a continual burden for seeing (as IV's vision suggests) students transformed, campuses renewed and world changers developed. Yesterday I got to help a staff team think about their structures and strategies for next year, and I left deeply satisfied.

3. I work with great people. I have friends who tell me that the hardest part of their job are their co-workers. From time to time, that's true for me as well (if I'm honest--and you know who you are!!). But it's likewise true that consistently the best part of my job is my staff community. I work alongside people who spur on my faith, who are interested in who I am becoming, who care about my family and who are a whole lot of fun. I can't imagine working in a cubicle somewhere not knowing my neighbors.

4. It fits our life stage. If I wasn't on staff with its flexible work schedule, I don't know how I would coach soccer, chase a Masters or do the school pick-ups. I don't know how we would manage Amy's writing. Sure, I travel a lot, but a day like today, when I'm home and available, surely keeps me on staff.

5. I think I'm being prepared. Am I an IV lifer? Who knows?!? Maybe so, maybe not. I'm sure on staff long after I would have thought I would have left! But I have a sense that God is right now preparing me for more, whether that's in or out of IV. In other words, I'm not just stuck here. God is forming my character (#1) but he's also galvanizing my leadership in preparation for something different down the road. It feels great to be moving forward.

Thanks, Lord, for continuing to call, and keep giving me the strength to answer.

Highlight of my Spring

So this Spring I tried my hand at head coaching an under 8 girls soccer team and WOW it was awesome. Kudos to the Purple Dragons for letting this newbie coach them up week after week! Here's our season by the numbers:

Pre-season record: 2-1
Regular-season record:  4-1-1
Overall record: 6-2-1
Goals scored: 32 (3.6 per game)
Goals given up: 13 (1.4 per game)
Goals by quarter:
    1st: 5 (we were a slow starting team!
    2nd: 7
    3rd: 7
    4th: 13 (but we finished strong!)
Players scoring goals: 6 (Mackenzie, Madison, Lucy, Ayianna, Melissa and Jessica)

I learned a few things along the way:

1. You can't coach everything. In the beginning, I had visions for teaching the girls advanced soccer theory and practice. Like set plays. Like dribbling moves. Like diving headers. You know, Brazilian stuff. Early on, however, I realized I had to adjust my aim. So, the Purple Dragons got a heavy dose of three things: positions, passing and attacking the ball. Repeat.

2. Under 8 girls can be squirrely. First few practices, I was trying to wrangle all 12 girls through practice drills solo. Can you say, "frustrating?!?" Big shout out to Amy for stepping in and adding Assistant Coach to her Team Mom duties.

3. Parents matter. I was beyond blessed this Spring with GREAT PARENTS (and I'm not just saying that in case one of them reads this!). My parents (and grandparents, aunts, uncles, family friends, siblings, etc.) were terrific. Not so on other sidelines. I heard parents berating coaches, refs, our girls and, most troubling, their own kids. I suspect that in some ways parents can make or break a season. Again, glad to have good ones this time around.

4. Communication counts. I tried hard to make sure that our parents were in the loop, which is perhaps partly why they were so positive throughout the season. So I would cook up a handout describing what we were working on and what I would like for the parents to cheer for at that weekend's game. And it worked. It's the little things.

5. I like to teach... It was fun to teach the girls a game that I'm passionate about. Seeing progress from week to week was terrific.

6. ...and I also like to win. You know how sometimes you hear coaches talk about how it's about the journey not the destination? I like the notion, but it's not totally true. Because losing SUCKS. One weekend, because of a rain out, we played the same team twice, once on Saturday and then again on Sunday. We came out on Saturday and got absolutely SPANKED, 4-0. It was our first (and worst) lost of the regular season and it stung. Coming back the next day, I was nervous that we'd get drubbed again. Still, I came with one agenda: ATTACK THE BALL. I preached that and only that during warm-up. And you know what? The girls did it. They were aggressive and we eeked out a hard fought 2-1 win. Afterward, I was a very happy Coach Rob. Winning rules.

Here are a couple of shots from the pizza party, and a team pic from our last game. The plaque is a beautiful piece that one of the dads made for me of a purple dragon and all of the girls' signatures. 

On trotting out an old worship leader

In another ministry life, I lead a lot of worship. As in weekly. It's sort of weird for me to reflect back on that because it's been years (wow, almost 10) since I did it regularly, and in my current line of work, I almost never have opportunities to lead. But, once upon a time, it was the biggest part of my job on staff, and for 7-8 years, I was the worship guy.

So when I was invited to come and lead worship at the Cal Poly IV Large Group meeting last Friday night, I jumped at the chance. How could I not? To be back in the Business Building silo leading the people of God into the presence of God? It's a no brainer. Couple of reflections on the experience:

1. It was like I never left. Don't get me wrong, I was nervous and I'm sure I missed more than my fair share of chord changes, but wow it was fun. All of the sensations were the same: the sound of the students, the temperature of the silo, where I was standing, the lights, and, yes, the smell of my drummer's sweaty pits....

2. It was like WE never left. Because for this thing, we got the band back together.That's right, one comment on facebook and the team came out of the woodwork. How fun to lead with dear friends! At one point, during Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?, I looked over to cue the band to replay the chorus only to find them...looking right back at me waiting for that cue. 10+ years later, we were still tight! I chalk it up to the unifying Spirit of God and to a lot of hours leading worship alongside one another.

3. I've come a long way. There was a time when I first started leading where I would almost invariably sit down after the main set wracked with self-doubt. I used to call it "I suck mode" and I lived there a lot. Too much. On Friday, taking my seat after the main set was over, I had nothing but appreciation for the Lord and for how far He has brought me in this area. Those missed chords? Who cares?!? (if you were there and you care, go ahead and sound off in the comments...but I won't read them!)

4. Worship leadership is a super complex thing. So much to think about! The worship leader needs to consider (in no particular order):

a. Playing the right chords.

b. Singing the right notes.

c. Where the song is going next.

d. What the next song is and how to get from this one to that one.

e. Should I stick to the plan or is it time to do something different?

f. What the rest of the band is (or isn't) doing. (especially missed notes from certain keyboard players...)

g. What's happening with the congregation.

h. What the Spirit of God is doing.

i. What's for dinner after the meeting.

And maybe like 10 more things! Oh, and you want to try to worship as well!

In the end, I hope they have us back. It was a blast. I think it'll be the highlight of this ministry year. Here's a shot from practice of me and part of the crew:

Let's beautify this blog a bit!

Update: Running

I can't believe it, 'cause it's been such a big deal around here, but I don't think I've blogged at all about the saga that has been my quest to run the 2012 ING New York City Marathon. With an eye to potentially hawking Amy's book and with 15 years of marriage needing some serious celebrating, we've been talking about going this Fall with our good friends the Clearys. Anyhow, here's the word on the marathon...

I'm in. 

Now here's the story.

To begin with, along with hundreds of thousands of my dearest running buddies, I entered the marathon lottery. You had to plunk down some dinero for an 8% (or less) chance of making it into the race. Imagine that! A bajillion people paying (and praying) to put themselves through the torture of 26.2. Destination marathoning at it's best I'd say!

So then there was this wait, of maybe 3 months. Then, about 3 weeks ago, they did the drawing. I waited all day and then the news came...in the form of a big, fat NO. 43,000 runners, but no room for me!

From there it was on to plan B. Plan B was to consider racing for a charity. Every year the New York Marathon raises a truckload of money for selected charities. Many of these charities are ones you've heard of. There's Lance's charity, UNICEF, the American Cancer Society, the Red Cross, etc. Then there are a slew of groups that you haven't heard about. What happens is that the race gives these groups a certain number of spots and the group recruits runners who will do fundraising in exchange for a spot. In most cases, the target fundraising number is $3K.

After some deliberation (do I really want to do MORE fundraising?) and consideration (we could always try this in future years...is now really the best time?), I/we opted to give it a go. Looking through the list of marathon charities, I picked out a good one called Camfed. I applied and my application was accepted. Holy cow, I'm going to New York to tackle this.

More on Camfed in my next post. For now, rejoice with me! The Dixons are taking New York!

Some Reflections on Zinsser

Now that I've processed On Writing Well here, here, here and here, and with some time to reflect and digest, here are five of my personal takeaways:

1. Keep it simple. One of Zinsser's repeated admonitions is a call for writing simplicity. I appreciate that call and would like to heed it more. In particular, fewer commas and more periods. Also, fewer adverbs. Recently I invited some writing feedback from an editor that I respect, and he told me that I can go overboard with my adverbs. Who knew?!? Truly, I was sincerely and completely surprised by his totally keen observation.

2. Make every word count. Zinsser is manic about every word doing "useful work." And since anything else I could add to this would be superfluous, I'll stop right here.

3. Writing as discipline. Zinsser starts out describing a picture of the writer E.B. White sitting at a desk typing, and what I love about that image is that it's a picture of consistency and discipline. That is, writing is about both striking while inspiration hits AND honing your craft through disciplined work. My pledge is to write more regularly, as I've already begun doing for Fuller.

4. Write what you're passionate about. Another Zinsser-esque idea that was affirmed in my meeting with the editor. Of the three writing samples that I sent him over email, he could tell which one I was most passionate about. I'm committed to engaging my passions through writing.

5. It's OK to let myself be seen. The only formal writing training that I've received is through my undergrad program, in a class on historical writing. And one of the points of emphasis in that course was the principle of keeping yourself out of the piece. "I" is strictly (wait, would that be an extra adverb?) verbotten! Zinsser presses against that strenuously, even (especially?) when he's talking about business writing. So, my resolve is to put myself out there more in my writing in an effort to humanize my pieces. More stories, more illustrations.

Anyhow, thanks Zinsser. You've been terrific. Anyone know any other good books on writing?!?

If any of you writing saints from that lunch today find your way to this blog...

...thanks. And, Eric, thanks for the ice cream.

The Sovereignty of God at Ventura College

Need a reminder that God is at work? Enjoy this story, from a recent prayer update:

On many community colleges, there are students that, well, stand out. They're memorable. They're unique. They're, ah, interesting. Ventura College is no different, and one of the most notable students on campus at VC is a fellow who regularly cruises the campus…on a unicycle…playing an accordion. He’s an institution at Ventura College. 

Recently, InterVarsity almost killed him. Allow me to explain.

As they’ve begun their planting ministry on campus this Winter, staff workers Matt and Bekah Meyer have been setting up each week on a central lawn on campus. They have an easy-up tent canopy and they set up lawn games and a big tarp where they host Bible studies. It’s become a regular and popular piece of campus life.

About 3 weeks ago, there was a windstorm, and it picked the tent up and blew it right over Bekah’s head and out onto the lawn. Picture the tent rolling end-over-end with Bekah frantically chasing after it. After rolling across the lawn, it headed straight towards a path and…toward our accordion-playing unicyclist. Ultimately, the tent just barely missed him.

Bekah, catching up, ran over to the student and apologized profusely. Unbothered, the student paused and said, “Do you know where I can find a group called InterVarsity?” 

It’s a profound joy when searching students, gifted staff workers and the sovereignty of God intersect. Praise God that the new ministry at Ventura College is off to such a great start.

On Writing Well, part 4

On a blogging roll today, I guess. Part 4 of Zinsser's epic is about the attitude of a writer. My favorites:

"Don't alter your voice to fit your subject." (231)
"For writers and other creative artists, knowing what not to do is a major component of taste." (233)
"Taste chooses words that have surprise, strength and precision." (235)
"Never hesitate to imitate another writer." (235)
"After verbs, plain nouns are your strongest tools; they resonate with emotion." (238)
"With each rewrite I try to force my personality onto the material." (244)
"The fixation on the finished article causes writers a lot of trouble, deflecting them from all the earlier decisions that have to be made to determine its shape and voice and content. It's a very American kind of trouble." (253)
"The hardest decision about any article is how to begin it." (262)
"Now, what do your readers want to know next? Ask yourself that question after every sentence." (264)
"Banality is the enemy of good writing." (266)
"No writing decision is too small to be worth a large expenditure of time." (267)
"Readers should always feel that you know more about your subject than you've put in writing." (269)
"A crucial decision about a piece of writing is where to end it." (278)

On Writing Well, part 3

Part 3 of Zinsser is about "forms," and he takes you through a variety of literary types, from sports writing to memoirs to writing about science. Here are a few of my gems:

(with quotes) "His (or her) own words will always be better than your words, even if you are the most elegant stylist in the land." (100)
"Never go into an interview without doing whatever homework you can." (105)
"Never let anything go out into the world that you don't understand." (110)
"When you use a quotation, start the sentence with it." (110)
"The mere agglomeration of detail is no free pass to the reader's interest. The detail must be significant" (117)
"If you're a writer, give yourself permission to tell us who you are." (134)
"Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly can write clearly, about anything at all." (147)
"Countless careers rise or fall on the ability or the inability of employees to state a set of facts, summarize a meeting or present an idea coherently." (166)
"Just because people work for an institution, they don't have to write like one." (166)
"My four articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity." (171)
"The way to warm up any institution is to locate the missing 'I.' Remember: 'I' is the most interesting element in any story." (175)
"Critics should like--or, better still, love--the medium they are reviewing." (195)
"We like good critics as much for their personality as for their opinions." (198)
"What is crucial for you as the writer is to express your opinion firmly...Take your stand with conviction." (205)

Before and After

Dixon Royalty

Did I mention that our match today took place in a cold, driving rainstorm?!?

On Writing Well, part 2

This book is the gift that keeps on giving! What a delight. Zinsser's second section is about methodology. Here are a few fun quotes:

"The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis." (49)
"All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem." (49)
"As for what point you want to make, every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that he or she didn't have before." (52)
"Writing is no respecter of blueprints." (53)
"The most important sentence in any article is the first one." (54)
"Take special care with the last sentence of each paragraph--it's the crucial springboard to the next paragraph." (55)
"Narrative is the oldest and most compelling method of holding someone's attention; everybody wants to be told a story." (61)
"When you are ready to stop, stop." (64)
"Surprise is the most refreshing element in nonfiction writing." (66)
"The difference between an active-verb style and a passive verb-style--in clarity and vigor--if the difference between life and death for a writer." (67)
"Verbs are the most important of all your tools." (68)
"Again and again in careless writing, strong verbs are weakened by redundant adverbs." (68)
"The adjective that exists solely as decoration is a self-indulgence for the writer and a burden for the reader." (70)
"There's not much to be said about the period except that most writers don't reach it soon enough." (71)
"There is a 19th-century mustiness that hangs over the semicolon." (72)
"Don't start a sentence with "however"--it hangs there like a wet dishrag." (73)
"Don't inflate an incident to make it more outlandish that in actually was." (77)
"Short paragraphs put air around what you write and make it look inviting, whereas a long chunk of type can discourage a reader from even starting to read." (79)
"Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it's where the game is won or lost." (83)
"Writing is like a good watch--it should run smoothly and have no extra parts." (84)
"People will write better and with more enjoyment if they write about what they care about." (89)
"There's no subject you don't have permission to write about." (91)

A true friend

For my money, a true friend sends you a note like this:

"Just to have your back, you have used the phrase 'for my money' in consecutive posts."

Thanks Chipper!

The Unlikely Disciple

On a lark, I picked up a copy of The Unlikely Disciple a few weeks back off of the Barnes and Noble bargain rack. It's the story of a non-believing student/writer who transfers from liberal, Ivy League Brown University to conservative, uber-Christian Liberty University. Yes, that Liberty, Jerry Falwell's baby. 

At its core, The Unlikely Disciple is a fascinating story of displacement. Displacement is the act of putting yourself into an atypical or uncomfortable situation. In our campus ministry context, we talk about displacement as a vehicle to serve other people (as when an American college student goes to Bosnia to teach English to Bosnian college students) and as a way to experience God's transforming touch (as when that same American college student is confronted by their cultural biases and internal brokenness). To take it a step further, in his book Being White, writer (and IV staff buddy) Doug Schaupp writes: "Jesus makes it clear that to be his follower is to follow him into crosscultural displacement and love." For the Christian, then, displacement is both a practical tool and a Biblical mandate.

But what about for the non-Christian? The Unlikely Disciple's author is named Kevin Roose, and for my money, Roose does a fair job engaging his displacement experience. A couple of observations:

1. The Christians he meets are friendlier than he anticipated. Knowing Falwell's rhetoric, Roose was anticipating a judgmental group of people in his dorm. Instead, on the balance, he found them to be nice, real and far less dogmatic than he imagined. Same is true for the Liberty professors and even for Falwell himself. In fact, Roose became the last person to conduct a print interview with Falwell before he passed away, an interview where he experienced a humanized Falwell. 

2. At the same time, he encountered a fair amount of disconnectedness. As Roose observes this brand of Christian culture from the inside, he notices that the community has an unfortunate ability to disconnect. For example, he experiences students who are serious about protecting their physical virginity on one hand but indulgent in their lustful comments on the other. Or, there are students who publicly espouse the "Liberty way" but privately berate it. This disconnectedness (bordering on hypocrisy) was for me the saddest part of Roose's experience at Liberty.

3. Displacement is more than an intellectual thing. Roose does not become a Christian after his semester at Liberty, but he's not unchanged either. For instance, he heads back to Brown actually enjoying time in prayer. In this sense, Roose experiences real displacement. Spend enough time immersed in a different context and you'll find your values, behaviors, yourself, changing. I don't have the same faith experience as the Liberty Christian community, but I'm glad that they influenced him toward Jesus, at least in some ways.

Three weeks ago, we put on a weekend conference centered on the theme of displacement. Our aim was to convince students that Doug is right, and that a lifestyle of displacement benefits others as well as our souls. It was a hit. Students went back to campus motivated to engage people who are different from them, be they athletes, Greeks, students from different ethnicities and cultures or the GLBT community. As Roose would no doubt attest, displacement is a powerful thing!