Month: February 2026

‘ve been running into a lot of adjectives and modifiers recently, and it has really been irritating my sensibilities. It is an old marketing mindset: instead of actually changing the product with improvements or new features, just add adjectives about the product that make it seem better. The famous nostalgia scene from Mad Men starts off with a description of this:

My first job, I was in house at a fur company with this old pro copyrighter, a Greek named Teddy. And Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is “new.” Creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of… calamine lotion. Mad Men Season 1 Episode 13

I like adjectives and modifiers, but what I am trying to describe here is when they get used to the point that they are just jargon. It makes it seem like something is different when it isn’t really. If you look around, you will see examples everywhere—or just go to a training session where they bring in a leadership expert—there will be jargon about every fourth word.

Here are a few examples that I found in two minutes of searching:

• Viral
• Authentic
• Engagement-Driven
• Human Centered

If you look around, you see tons of them—phrases that seem like they convey deep meaning but don’t actually add much to your understanding. The phrase I have been hearing the most recently is things being “omnichannel.” This is a word that has a definitive meaning, but it is being used so much to modify things that it is beginning to become meaningless jargon. It sounds like you are doing something, but you aren’t really.

It always reminds me of a scene from the TV show How I Met Your Mother.

As Barney states and shows in his video resume:

Because that’s who corporate American wants– people who seem like bold risk takers, but never actually do anything.
How I Met Your Mother, The Possimpible

That’s what most of these words do. They seem like something entirely new without actually doing anything. They make it sound like you are introducing a new concept that pushes boundaries when, in fact, you haven’t done anything.

• Authentic Engagement
• Purposeful Design
• Radical Transparency
• Aggressive Hospitality

If you remove the modifiers from the above phrases, nothing really changes. You’re still engaged, the design is still there, the conversation is transparent, and hospitality is still given. It just makes it seem new, but it isn’t really.

C.S. Lewis wrote the following in a letter with some of his thoughts on writing.

“In writing. Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, “Please will you do my job for me.” [Letter to Joan Lancaster, 26 June 1956]”

I expect businesses to do this. I know leadership influencers and speakers will continue to do this because they are forced to stay novel to survive. They have to appear original, even if they are simply using new words to describe the same old things. Think about it: how many leadership books do you actually remember a year later? Most are so bland they are instantly forgettable, sounding exactly like everything that came before, just dressed up in new modifiers.

Jargon replaces action and innovation—which makes sense, because jargon is neither costly nor dangerous.

So, while I expect this behavior in the marketplace, it drives me nuts when the Church does it. And it does happen. The Church isn’t about branding and buzzwords. It isn’t about claiming a concept or making it yours through clever phrasing. It is about being the Bride of Christ. That requires action, not jargon.

There’s a scene in Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man that may be the single best depiction I’ve seen in media of what ministry actually feels like. You’re busy doing what you believe is important—focused, intentional, maybe even in a rush—and then suddenly an interruption occurs. In that moment, you face a choice:
Do you keep doing the thing you thought mattered most, or do you respond to the thing you’re actually called to?

When “Important” Isn’t the Same as “Calling”

In the film, Jud is a suspect in a murder investigation. He has every reason to be focused on finding the information that will clear him. What he’s doing is important, time‑sensitive, and good. As Jud himself says, it’s a priority.

But then his calling interrupts him.
And calling outweighs most urgent tasks.

That dynamic—being in the middle of something significant and suddenly needing to pivot toward someone who needs you—is the core tension of ministry. We rarely get to choose the timing. We only get to choose how we respond. Do I respond to the perceived important task or the interruption that is in line with my calling?

Shepherd and Servant: What Our Titles Really Mean

The word pastor comes from the Latin for “shepherd.”

The word minister comes from the Latin for “servant.”

These are two titles I love because, at their core, both point toward caring for people. That is, I believe, the primary role of a pastor. Yes, many important tasks fill a minister’s day—administration, planning, teaching, preparing, managing crises, handling details—but caring for people is what we are fundamentally called to do.

And most times, calling trumps everything else.

When Life Interrupts You

I’ve lived this out more times than I can count. Important tasks on my list, things I want to finish, things that really do matter—and then someone sees me, calls, or reaches out in a moment of need. Ministry happens right then, not later.

I hope that in most of those moments I have responded the way Jud does in the movie—with a willingness to set aside the “priority” in order to live into my calling.

Because that’s the work:
Shepherd. Servant. Care for people.
Even when it interrupts everything else.