Things To Do In 2004

Let's see.......about that list of things I wanted to get done in 2004. Too late! Time to start partying for 2005.

As much as I will try to party, 2005 will start off on a somber note for me though. The devastation of the tsunami is just so overwhelming. I pray constantly for those survivors. I am also encouraging people to donate funds. I see Amazon has raised over $7 million so far and it is incredible to keep hitting the refresh button and watch the number climb.

Happy 2005

God and His Will

My denomination just voted on several critical issues. Before the vote many prayed, including me, that God’s will would be done. The vote has been completed now and many are saying that God has spoken. But is that a good thing for us?

It is a good thing because I always want God’s will to be done. It is a good thing because in the end I love God and I do believe that no matter what the circumstances God will work it out to be good for me in the end. It is a bad thing because my understanding of how God works is limited and that might mean the result is not what I really had in mind.

It is interesting how quickly we interpret events as God’s will always as a positive. Theologians have long pondered God’s permissive will but I’m not sure it has ever sunk in. We tend to use every single event that has even the slightest evidence of the miraculous as a testimony to inspire the faithful to even greater faith.

Interestingly, every other religion in the world does the same thing. I read yesterday about a family who got stuck in traffic and were late getting to the beach in one of the Asian countries hit by the tsunami. They were just minutes from being in a location that was wiped out and the writer was praising Allah for his miraculous protection.

Of course I conclude that it was my God that orchestrated those circumstances so that family could be saved for some reason. That temporarily solves my dilemma, but I emphasize the temporary. As I try to make sense of the massive numbers of dead my mind short circuits.

The reality is that I simply do not understand how God works and that leaves me rather ambivalent towards our recently completed vote. If the vote had gone the other way I would have been disappointed but in the end I would have simply packed my bags and moved on to what God had in store for me next. I love being a pastor but I would have been willing to give it up if God wanted me to. My wife and I have been through enough changes in direction, disappointments, vicious attacks, slander and uncertainty to believe that we can still be optimistic about the future no matter where that leads. That’s why even though I am ambivalent about the vote I am optimistic about the future.

Failing to Really Comprehend

As I've read many of the first hand accounts of people who survived the tsunami I find myself heart broken and yet I feel at a loss to really comprehend what they are going through. How incredibly tragic to be at the beach with your family, enjoying time together, and have your life turned upside down in a second. How incredibly hard it must be for those who have lost young children. I just can't imagine what it must be like to see the sheer joy of those kids running around on the beach one minute and then find them dead the next. I also can't imagine what it must be like to see some "survivors" still hanging on to floating objects way out in the water with no way to rescue them, knowing that they probably won't make it. I was shocked to see news footage of a group of people clinging to the side of a building when suddenly three or four of them were sweeped away by the current. It was so horrifying I don't think the news commentators really comprehended what was happening. It is so sad. I don't know how to respond.

I have friends who have gone through incredible tragedies. I didn't know how to respond then either. I think the best thing is to simply be there with them, give them hugs and silently help with things that must be done. It never seems like enough but I think it beats making a fool out of yourself and trying to fix things for them.

One of the most moving experiences I have had was when I was in Africa and a young man drowned in the river in our town. I did a lot of spearfishing so people from the community asked me if I could try to find the body in the river. I can't say that I was very comfortable with that but felt it was the least I could do. I found the body after about 20 minutes of diving and brought it to the surface. There were about 200 people on the river bank who started wailing as is typical in that culture. A boy in a dugout canoe paddled beside me and let me and let me hang on as I slowly made my way to the river bank with the body. Several men from the family came down to the water and took the body from me and carried him up the bank into town. One of them turned to me and with incredible grief in his eyes simply patted me on the back and said thank you. It was an incredible jesture on his part but I could never shake the feeling of how unecessary I thought it was. I felt bad that he felt the need to say it, like I was somehow taking something from him that I didn't need. Like I was receiving something from him when I should be giving him so much more.

Unfortunately the feeling of not knowing what to say or do causes many people to avoid friends and neighbors who are going through tragedies. We would rather pretend it is not really happening. Actually it is times like these that bring understanding to "bear each others burdens."

25 Years Ago

I take "Flying" magazine and got my January 2005 issue last week. I'm not a pilot but my brother is and he talks enough about it to sufficiently fuel a passing infatuation with it. So I get the magazine.

On the last page they do a flashback thing where they give a brief description of what was in the magazine 25 & 50 years ago. The 25 year old issue caught my eye. "Entering the 1980's." Are you kidding me? Was that really 25 years ago? I'm not sure I handle getting old all that well.

The God of the Modern Church

Reggie McNeal writes, "The culture does not want the powerless God of the modern church." And that, "God doesn't have to show up to get done what's being done."

Makes me really think. What goes on at our church that we really need God for? It is really frustrating to get a lot of great things going and thnk we are doing well only to find out God isn't even in the picture. It makes all the progress pretty worthless.

I also hate it when people say the numbers are good so God must approve. I just point out all the other religions of the world that are growing. Sometimes it is hard to find the balance between seeking God and learning from others. I mean I do believe that God can inform me through others but I also pray that I won't be fooled into believing I should go in a specific direction just because everyone else is going that way.

Attention Span

In his book "Playing the Future" Douglass Rushkoff has an interesting take on attention spans. The common complaint is that kid's attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Rushkoff sees this as a higher form of taking in information. He says that while they may have a shorter attention span they have a broader attention span.

In other words they have the ability to take in information and make sense of it much faster than many adults. They don't need to see a 30 minute TV show in order to understand it. While an adult will take 30 minutes to watch one show to gain underestanding a kid can watch three different shows simultaneously and get what is going on in all three. He also thinks that kids know intuitively when to switch channels from one show to another so that they capture the important parts of each story.

Part of the way they are able to do this is because they understand the use of icons. What they are doing with these TV shows is turning them into the equivalent of 3 frame comic strips. From those 3 or 4 frames they get the story and figure out everything in between. Everyone knows that a light bulb over someone's head in a comic strip means that person has an idea. How they got that idea is something you have to imagine. Rushkoff says that kids look for similar, though much more subtle, icons in tv shows and that helps them fill out the story. To actually have to sit and watch it all is boring.

I'm not sure about this yet but I'm leaning towards agreeing with him. To my mind one of the stupidest things around are Pokemon cards. I simply do not understand them. However, my 10 year old son and 6 year old daughter can spout off for hours about them. No matter how hard I try I simply cannot figure out what they are talking about. Apparently different cards have different powers. But those powers are "neutralized" depending on the numerous combinations of other cards in play. How they know and keep track of it all is totally beyond me. As Wesley the farm boy would say, "A truly dizzying intellect."

Selling Jesus

A lot of folks have complained about the numerous ways the business world has tried to market Jesus. It's enough to make you feel guilty about your WWJD bracelet. It really does get disgusting when it sinks to a level of cheap and gaudy. Think Jesus bobblehead. But I was surprised to find my dear old mom among those targeted for some of these products.

My mom just loves to buy biblical games for my kids. Does Bibleopoly ring a bell? Okay, so she hasn't gotten us that one but to me they are all the same. I hate them. The ones I've tried are usually difficult to understand, force King James bible verses on kids completely out of context and remove all the competitiveness that makes games fun in the first place. (It reminds me of the guy in my kid's Upwards Basketball program who told the kids that this was a Christian league because they didn't allow stealing. Oh Brother.)

My kids now know that I refuse to play those games but my mom keeps buying them. They think it's funny. I have tried to understand the thought process behind these games and for the life of me I can't figure it out. I only guess that the developers of these games are probably not people I would enjoy hanging around with.

So my kids and I will stick to Monopoly, Old Maid, UNO, Phase 10, Skipbo, Scrabble, Connect Four, Life, Dominoes and of course Euchre with real playing cards!

Letting Everyone Be Heard

I am trying to figure out how I could use Open Space Technology in our church. It has been fun thinking about what that might look like. I think it would be a good experience for us and it would be interesting to see what people come up with.

I am continually amazed at how much I underestimate people. People are simply amazing. Every time I do this I remember one of our members who passed away a few years ago. He had a few strokes which made it difficult for him to talk. He always came to church and enjoyed it but I never looked at him as being an evagelistic tool. His speech was hard to understand. But sure enough he convinced his friend to come to church. It is several years later now and his friend still comes every week.

I think OST would let some of these "diamonds" really shine.

Politics Again

I know I said I would only have one post about the election but I couldn't help myself. Besides, this is really not so much about the elections as it is about policies toward the poor.

Even though I have voted Republican for a long time now I get frustrated when I hear well meaning people view the Republican party as the only party a Christian should vote for. The moral vote that we heard about seems to be about the morality of the abortion and homosexual issues. I understand that but it is amazing to me that so many are oblivious to all the other moral issues that the Republican party doesn't seem to care about.

The biggest one is helping the poor. I am enough of a cynic to think that many on both sides use the poor for their own gain and couldn't care less. I always find it interesting when they release the candidates tax returns and we get to see how charitable they are. But I also know that there are people on both sides who do genuinely care about the poor but have different approaches to helping them.

Having been on the Republican side of this issue I have read about Adam Smith and the like. I have studied Cowperthwaite's ideas and his work in Hong Kong. I have seen first hand the effects of giveaway programs both here and in the third world. The principles are sound have withstood the test of time. We have a history of cutting taxes and then having an increase in tax revenue. It is on this information that I have always stayed the course with regards to the best way to help the poor.

Now I'm beginning to wonder if our world is changing so fast that those principles no longer work. How long do we continue to stay the course trusting that in time we will see fruit? When do we say it's not working anymore?

I also wonder about the effect of dealing with the poor on such a large scale has on me. I read about how Cowperthwaite managed to reduce poverty in Hong Kong by such and such a percentage. I think how wonderful it would be if we could do that here. But in the middle of the numbers am I not looking past the poor right under my nose in my own neighborhood?

I'm not usre exactly what the answer is but I do believe that it is an issue that must become part of our regular conversation. Our church needs to have this conversation. Our denomination needs to have this conversation. The Church needs to have this conversation.

Christian Colleges and the Need for Really Being Creative

I coach at a Christian college that charges nearly $100,000 for a bachelors degree, when you include tuition, room and board and other fees. I am told that this is typical and I know that it is only slightly higher than most of the colleges I compete with in recruiting.

Frankly, I think it is disgusting. It is an obscene amount of money and I think it has just about reached it's limit. I know that the money is spent on getting quality professors that keep us competitive. I know that the money is needed to make sure that we have the best equipment to keep us competitive. I know that the money is needed to maintain state of the art facilities to keep us competitive. But it is time to break the vicious cycle.

We need to become an institution that is dedicated to the proposition of really, not kidding around, I'm serious, reducing the cost of a college education. We need to get extremely creative about making it more affordable. It won't be comfortable but it must be done if we are going to keep Christian as an adjective.

My brother made an interesting comment. He said that probably the average dorm room is nicer than the average bedroom of an American teen. The reason is we are recruiting students based on materialism. That means we have to have nice dorm rooms because those students are going to see nice dorm rooms at competing institutions. I think we need to lower costs and start recruiting on virtue, heart and passion.

Paying Dues

As the son of a full-blooded Dutchmen I find that I hate paying for things. I am very willing to jump through hoops for free stuff. But alas, my favorite media resource, the ChurchMedia.Net, has become a subscription service. You can still read the forums which I think are great and I know the subscription is well worth the price. But it is just kind of sad to lose another free resource.

I'm actually amazed that it remained free for so long. I have to tip my hat to guys like Tim Eason who run sites like this. They do all they can to keep these sites running with their own resources. Everyone should realize that it is not sustainable without some form of revenue. I suppose I'll break down and buy a subscription someitme next week.

On a related note, I also use GIMP simply because it is free and I don't want to pay for photshop. But for the life of me I keep forgetting how to find my way around this quirky program. It seems like within a week after figuring something out I forget and have to start all over again. I guess that has to do with it not being as intuitive as it should be. That's the price I pay for free software. (huh?)

Disconnected From Reality

Jeffery Nielsen’s “lightly adapted version of a fable dating back to the early 1960s illustrates the phenomenon of a progressive disconnection of decision makers from reality.”

The Plan

In the beginning was the Plan.
And then came the Assumptions.
And the Assumptions were without form.
And the Plan was without substance.
And darkness was upon the face of the Workers.
And they spoke among themselves, saying,
“It is a crock of crap, and it stinks.”
And the Workers went unto their Supervisors and said,
“It is a pail of dung, and we can’t live with the smell.”
And the Supervisors went unto their Managers, saying,
“It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide it.”
And the Managers went unto their Directors, saying,
“It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength.”
And the Directors spoke among themselves, saying to one another,
“It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong.”
And the Directors went to the Vice Presidents, saying unto them,
“It promotes growth, and it is very powerful.”
And the Vice Presidents went to the President, saying unto him,
“This new plan will actively promote growth and vigor of the company with very powerful effects.”
And the President looked upon the Plan and saw that it was good.
And the Plan became Policy.
And that is how shit happens.

*

This appears to be true on so many levels.

Telling Tales About Church

In his book, "The Present Future", Reggie McNeal quotes the usual stat that 40-43 percent of Americans attend church. But then he points to another study, that read diaries instead of asking questions, that suggested that only 26 percent of Americans attend church. That happens to be a more believable number in my opinion.

One thing that I find interesting here is the apparent desire of people to lie to pollsters about their church going habits. Why is that? Apparently we have no qualms telling the truth about so many other sordid details of our lives. For some reason it appears that there are a lot of people who want to appear more spiritual than they actually are.

The next thought is who are they lying to. Since the polls are annonymous do people think that God reads the results? And if they do think He reads the results don't they realize that he would know that they are lying anyway?

It's enough to make your headspin. My guess is there is a feeling of guilt that strikes people when they are answering that question and even though it is illogical they get a small dose of relief from lying about attending church.

Phase-Locked Communities

I am currently rereading a book called "Playing the Future" in which the author uses our kids to inform us of what the future will be like. I'm at the beginning of the book right now but I know what is coming. He talks about the surfing community, the skateboarding community, the snowboarding community and the rave community.

One of the interesting things he points out is that some of these communities, especially the rave community, will become phase-locked. Phase-locking is a phenomena that occurs when people are in a close community. They begin to syncronize with each other mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. For example, women who live together have a tendency to develop syncronized menstrual cycles. It is an interesting concept and it is especially interesting to think about in terms of Christian community and how phase-locking effects the spiritual health of the community as a whole.

My One and Only Post About The Election

I am still trying to catch up with the sleep I lost Tuesday night. I think the main reason I watch is because the commentators really struggle to stay on top of things over such a long period of time without a script. I remember late at night in 1996 when Clinton won that an old commentator at ABC(I can't remember who it was exactly.) just ripped into a short rant on how awful it was going to be to have him as president for another four years. Jennings was stunned and they quickly went to a break.

This year wasn't quite as dramatic but I was surprised at how cautious most of the networks were when it was clear that W was going to win Ohio. The facts were there but they still were hesitant. CBS was especially amusing after the W records gaffe.

The biggest goof I caught that night was when Larry King made a comment about how surprised he was that Kerry won Penn. by such a wide margin. The first reports from PA did show Kerry with a huge lead and he was projected as the winner very early. However, W steadily caught up throughout the night and apparently King wasn't paying attention. When he made his comment the PA race was actually closer than the Ohio race. It still is by the way.

I'm Back

I can't believe it has been over three months since I've blogged but I'll probably start up again next week. A lot has happened since July but most of my blogging time has been taken up with soccer which finished last Wednesday. It will be good to get blogging again.

Counting

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."   Albert Einstein
 
"Religion is what happens when the Spirit has left the building"  Bono
 
Both of the above quotes were attributed to the authors in "A is for Abductive." They verbalize to of my things that have been bothering me lately.

Linear Leadership, Promiscuous Practice

Okay, first, let me say that I use promiscuous in the "pro-mix" sense in the title of this post and do not intend to imply anything that has to do with sexual behavior. Please consult a dictionary if you are confused. It is just hard to come up with a word that starts with "P" that fits.

Leadership is becoming less and less linear. Instead it is much more interactive, chaotic, disjointed, etc. This creates problems because it isn't as easy to clarify or visualize as linear leadership has been. People like the simplicity and focus that comes with linear leadership.

Interestingly, though people like linear thinking, they are often non-linear in practice. That's because life in general is much more chaotic and as long as we don't have to think about it too much we can get more done, be more effective and more efficient if we are non-linear.

I was thinking about this after talking with my wife about how we run errands. The gas prices have turned us into the energy conscious beings we should have been all a long. We discovered that we were quite linear in our thinking as we ran household errands. We would take care of each item as they came up during the week. Now we plan differently. We multi-task as much as possible and I think it is safe to say that a typical run to the city is much more chaotic. I know that this isn't exactly what I mean be being non-linear but it is close.

So how do we get people in our denomination to accept non-linear leadership? I think that most of those who have trouble with this are those who are older or those who have grown up in households with strong lnear leadership. This group has a hard time seeing what non-linear leadership looks like and how it will ever be able to function. They prefer linear leadership even if it is not as comprehensive as non-linear leadership would be.

I have a hard time answering this question. I want to appeal to their practice since I believe that they do often function in non-linear ways but I'm not sure if they would see it that way.

P.S. I'm not going to use the words linear and non-linear for a long time now.

Pound for Pound and Growth

So if a church decides that a certain weight class (size) is optimum for them does that mean that they don't evangelize? No! I believe that evangelism is part of what a church is all about and that will never change. So maybe this is how it works.

A boxer must train hard to be in his best condition. For many that means shedding the fat. In the case of a church it must work hard to constantly build muscle and shed fat. Now the metaphor breaks down here in that to a boxer fat is a bad thing. But in the sense I want to use it fat is something that is very useful but not really needed by the body. It must be sent out to find its place of ministry.

Many rural churches already know about this. The have experienced a large number of people who have been nurtured in their churches and then moved on to greater oportunity. That is why it is often difficutl to determine the health of these churches. They may have maintained the same attendance for the last 100 years but during that time they may have nurtured and sent out thousands.

Developing this metaphor is in process for me right now so it could easily lead to wrong conclusions. I guess the key things from this post is that churches must work hard at evangelism even if they have targeted a certain size. In fact they possible have to work harder because of the added demand of sending people out.

Mission Work Trips as Theological Education

We are getting ready to start looking at another mission trip. We hope to do something a little more challenging this time. Something that will really stretch us.

As I was thinking about this I once again wondered about the value of these short term mission trips. As I thought about it I came to the conclusion that the number one purpose for us is the theological education of the participants. Surprised?

I think one of the most significant things that happens on a mission trip is that the participants are exposed to who they are in the story of the Kingdom. We find out we are not as important as we think we are. We also discover we are not as good at being Christian as we think we are. These are just two of many points of theology that we learn in a way that we just can't match anywhere else.

I wonder if there is any information on how to orient a mission work crew for these theological lessons?

Back to the Pound for Pound Metaphor

One of the key decisions a boxer has to make is what weight division is best for him. It seems to me that he is limited by his frame. Adding too much bulk to a frame that wasn't made for it causes problems.

Determining where a church fits has similar struggles. Factors that would determine a churches ideal size would consider such things as location, personality, abilities, etc. I think this is something that it is important for a church to think through but I don't think they do. The goal seems to be to always become a heavy weight.

Part of the problem is that churches aren't very good at staying in their "weight class". In order to "make weight" churches need to send some of their members out for ministry. This could include starting a new church, helping a struggling church or working in missions. But it is hard. We tend to want to keep everyone even if it is unhealthy for us.

How Will Leadership Function in the Future

I was asked this by a friend the other day and it is a frustrating question because I find difficulty in articulating what I see. I must also say that there are many who will totally disagree with what I say but I'm okay with that.

First, I want to say that I think the level of dysfunction in our current leadership models are drastically under sold. I think that the reality is that leadership has been able to do just enough positive things to make people believe that we actually do have leadership. But vast areas of the organization remain unaffected by leadership.

So what would I like to see in the future? I've been trying to think of this in very basic and practical terms so I'll try to give an example of how I see things now and where I would like to see them go in the future.



Now
Currently we have a leader who either by himself or with a team starts looking at what the purpose is of our organization. They then decide on goals that they believe, if reached, will allow us to fulfill our purpose. Once they have goals they develop strategies that will help the organization reach those goals. Then they try to implement those strategies, hold people accountable in regards to those strategies, evaluate progress, make changes when necessary and generally manage the plan.

This is very much a top down approach which makes sense because we usually try to choose our best and our brightest to be in leadership. It also seems to be very logical. It makes sense and seems workable. And yet we often get frustrated because it only seems to work for a select few within the organization and large numbers remain unaffected by this leadership strategy.

Future
I think leadership needs to look very different in the future. We will probably have a general overall purpose but specific "sub"-purposes will vary. Strategies will develop out of relationship and conversation. Future leaders will take advantage of technology to build relationships and maintain conversation with people across the organization.

Here's how a strategy might develop. While in conversation with people across the organization he shares his passion about what he believes needs to be done. At the same time he listens to the hearts of those across the organization. There is a high degree of "seed planting" going both ways. The leaders then nurtures, encourages, networks, resources, etc. those passions.

For a practical example lets say that the leader is in conversation with a church and the conversation reveals a passion to plant another church. This passion may have originated from a "seed" the leader planted or it may have originated on its own. Because of his position the leader may be aware of another church or churches that have a similar passion so he suggests a partnership. Then perhaps those churches would go on to form an affinity group designed to plant a church in a particular area. The leader may also suggest other organizations that could provide training or other resources. He would also be in regular contact simply to show support and encouragement.



I hope this made some sense in terms of what I would like to see in the future. I still find it a little difficult to articulate and I know that this sounds extremely simplistic. But I think that the future approach needs to affect a much larger portion of the organization. It also needs to have a greater bottom-up or grass-roots feel to it. Two of the keys will be relationship and conversation.

Pound for Pound

This metaphor ran through my mind that I have to work to develop but may have some potential. In boxing it seems that everyone wants to be a heavy weight because that is the glamour division. But the term "pound for pound" has been around boxing for a long time. People who follow boxing realize that heavy weight champs are often not the best boxers. Those in lower weight divisions may be better "pound for pound" but simply can't overcome the reach, height, weight and power of the upper classes. Therefore, we often hear the claim that so and so is the best fighter "pound for pound" in the world.

Churches like to be heavy weights too. That's the glamour division. We often really don't care how good we are just as long as we are in the heavy weight division. But I think churches need to focus on being the best pound for pound church out there. There are extremely good heavy weights out there. But there are also some extremely good light weights too.

Will Merging Really Help Further the Kingdom

On claim proponents of our joining the MCUSA have made is that we will be better able to build the Kingdom of God. I've wondered where they get proof of that since it seems that in almost all areas of society we can see examples of bigger not necessarily being better.

If bigger meant an increased capacity to build the Kingdom it seems that the largest religious groups in the country would then have the fastest growth. If I remember correctly (sorry I can't lay my hands on the stat right now) less than half of those top 15 groups are growing at all and are actually declining instead.

I ran across another piece of research concerning merging congregations. It stated that only 9% of merged congregations grew while most declined (average of -5.7%) faster than their denominations. (Carol Grigg, To Merge or Not to Merge: A Study of the Decision of Congregations to Merge (Doctor of Ministry Thesis, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1995), published in 1996 by The Alban Institute, 7315 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1250W, Bethesda, MD 20814-3211, p. 13.) If this is what happens with merging churches shouldn't we be extremely careful about denominations?

The point is there are a lot of statements that are easy to say and seem to make sense. However research often shows that these statements are false. We need to be very careful about what we accept as truth.

A lot of directions I would like to go with this.

"There is something morally repulsive about modern activist theories which deny contemplation and recognize nothing but struggle. For them not a single moment has value in itself, but is only a means for what follows." Nicolas Berdyaev

Is this what happens when we are so purpose driven we forget our prupose? Does that make any sense?

Innovator's Dilemma

I haven't read this book but the editorial comments are interesting. Apparently the author claims that a great company can fail even if it follows sound business practices, takes care of it's customers and invests in new technology because of disruptive technologies. In other words, innovators have a dilemma. They can focus on their current customers or their future customers. The claim is that often focusing on one leaves out the other. The solution is to create a seperate subsidiary that focuses exclusively on emerging markets and unorthodox customer base.

Interesting to think about this and the church. I think we are getting much closer to the point were we become completely out of touch with the future church because we are so focused on the needs of the present church.

Denominations and Positive Nonintervention

The theory of positive nonintervention was practiced by Sir John Cowperthwaite as he served as the finance minister of Hong Kong. He believed that "In the long run, the aggregate of decisions of individual businessmen, exercising individual judgment in a free economy, even if often mistaken, is less likely to do harm than the centralized decisions of a government, and certainly the harm is likely to be counteracted faster." The result was that Hong Kong was turned from poverty into an economic power and poverty was cut in half.

I wonder if this is true with regard to the relationship between denominations and it's churches. Cowperthwaite had to resist extreme pressure to support government programs to tackle some of their problems. These programs where well intentioned but against his beliefs in Adam Smith's free market ideas.

I think good intentions can be dangerous. It is easy to find ourselves going along with them when we should actually stick to principles. Is positive nonintervention a good principle for a denomination?

Innovation

A few years ago I was watching a tv show that was discussing the education system in America with ones in other countries. One segment was showing how the Japanese system produced better results. But I was stuck by a Japanese professor who said that in spite of their success he still felt that the American system had something that the Japanese were missing. He pointed to the fact that Americans had won many Nobel Prizes in various academic fields whereas very few Japanese had ever won. He felt that somehow the American education system produced innovators whereas the Japanese system didn't.

This article takes it a bit further. The author points to a ratio of orderliness to messiness. Cultures that are extremely orderly don't seem to trigger the imagination. Meanwhile, messy cultures have glaring needs that inspire people to be innovative in finding solutions.

A quick glance at my desk (and believe me, it will only take a blink of an eye) will reveal that I am one who helps skew the ratio in favor of the messy side. I hope this means I will be innovative or at least inspire visitors to my office to be innovative.

My question now is what affect this has on the church. If a church is extremely well ordered will it have a difficult time being innovative? Is this another advantage of being on the verge of chaos?

Positive Assets

One of the difficult things in thinking about church today is determining what are good qualities to have and which are actually getting in the way. In the past we have looked at size, money, stability and experience as high value qualities. Now we are beginning to see near chaotic complexity (I would be happy to simply use "chaos" here but so many people don't like it I've tried to pc it.), rapid flexibility & adaptibility, and being on the brink of instability as qualities that are actually closer to reality and therefore more usable.

Unfortunately thinking this way gives us the feeling that we are out of control and we don't like that. But as Annie Dillard writes, "We are most asleep at the switch when we think we control any switches at all." You'd think a good look at God's creation would cure us of this.

Dilbert Goes To Church

Scott Adams has made a good living poking fun at corporate America through his "Dilbert" comic strip. Yesterday I was walking down a hallway in the downtown Hilton Hotel and found myself making my way through some well dressed business people playing a game. It seems it was all part of a training program. As I read the title on the adjacent conference room I discovered it was a training program on how to conduct a training program.

The sad thing is that much of what Adams spoofs is applicable to the church. Do we really step back and think anymore? Or are we too pre-occupied with the latest and greatest "answer" to notice how ridiculous we are? I think I'll grab a clipboard and wonder around so people will think I'm busy now.

Expedition

Perhaps we need to talk more about church in terms of expedition instead of some of the other metaphors that draw attention to the individual. Some of the definitions for expedition fit nicely. 1 a : a journey or excursion undertaken for a specific purpose b : the group of persons making such a journey
2 : efficient promptness : SPEED
3 : a sending or setting forth (from Merriam Webster)

The part I like best is the thought about a group of people rather than a solo journey. As I think about famous expeditions I see a lot of great dynamics that are applicable to what I think we should be doing in the church.

Along with expedition I like the word navigation. I think there is something to helping each other navigate the rapids we face on our spiritual journey. Usually we need others to do so successfully.

Church Success

What do most people think determines success in a church? Obviously number one would be numbers. I suppose others would include finances, optimistic outlook, happiness, etc.

How about a group of people making progress on a spiritual journey to become like Christ? Mind you, progress is often two steps forward and one step back and there may be times when you go one step forward and two back. But there is a general direction and progress is made toward that point over the years.

Another metaphor I like, beside the "journey", is farm land. Increasing the quality of the soil is a hard task that takes years to accomplish. Work to improve the soil never stops. There are fallow periods interspersed between years great production. Weeds are a fact of life. New seed thrives in fertile soil. Etc.

One difficulty I have is getting my church to see success in the same way I do. I hear a lot about numbers, facilities, programs, etc. I think so much of it has to do with watching other churches and not really seeking what God wants for us.

Going It Alone

I read Wilkinson's "The Dream Giver" a few weeks ago and rather enjoyed it. I usually get turned off when an author becomes a franchise, which I felt was the case after the Jabez stuff, but he did a good job with this book.

One thing I noticed about his parable is that the main character is basically on this journey alone. Yes, there are people who help him but basically he is flying solo. I also got to thinking about "Pilgrim's Progress" since it is similar and, though it has been a long time since I've read it, it seems that the same can be said for it. It is basically a solo journey.

This raised the question in my mind if this is correct thinking. What role does church, community, etc. play in all this. It would be interesting to see a book written like The Dream Giver that includes a group of people on a journey instead of a single individual. It would be interesting to see how an author would deal with the dynamics between the individual and the group. How would the individuals big dream relate to the groups collective dream? How would the individuals of the group help, or hurt, each other.

I guess I am questioning whether we really do go on journeys like this or if we need to realize that we never do outside of community. Is it possible for our personal relationship with God to become too personal? Is it healthy to look at this as a solo journey?

Articulating Church

ONe of my frustrations is that I have a difficult time articulating what I think a church should be. It should be simple, really, but over time we have added a multitude of complexities and have lost touch with the simple definition. The hazard is that the words we would like to use in that definition have become "loaded" and so I hesitiate to use them. Leave it to the western world to complicate things so.

Some books that I find helpful in this are three books that I think every pastor should read once each year. They are "In the Name of Jesus" by Henri Nouwen, and "Under the Unpredictable Plant" and "The Contemplative Pastor" by Eugene Peterson. I know that those authors will automatically raise red flags for some people but who did you expect me to list, Maxwell, Warren, Hybels, Spader & Schwarz?

UB Conversations

I think blogging is a great way to share ideas and I wish I knew of more UBs who did it. I'm sure there are a few out there but I am not aware of them. Too bad. I think it would be a great way to share ideas and hold conversations in general.

I think some would use time as the excuse but since I think busy people are usually only people who feel a need to appear significant to the world, that excuse won't work for me. Rather, I think many are afraid of saying something in print that someone may quarrel with.

I also think there is a great fear of being misunderstood. Granted that does happen. But I think it is foolish to avoid technology based on that. We better learn how to get along with it because communicating through writing is only going to become even more central to our lives.

Denominations & Churches in the Construction Business

Many academics have the belief that there is no such thing as human nature. What we typically describe as human nature is actually a social construct. In this theory we humans are basically animals and therefore there is really no determining how we might behave except for the environment in which we live. Thus the great struggle to control government and education systems.

Obviously I reject this idea but I wonder if we too haven’t fallen into this type of thinking. In a Christian sense the wildcard here is the Holy Spirit. Just like the social constructionists listed above, many of whom claim to be Christians I might add, the church and denominations seem to have a strong desire to do an awful lot of constructing during the spiritual formation of the individual. Is this because they don’t trust the Holy Spirit? Is it because they are satisfied with external rather than internal transformation?

I suppose I’ve stepped on many toes here. I just get tired of the rush to legitimize our own existence by thinking we have to be in the construction business.

Evaluating and Looking Ahead

It is odd but I am getting tired of people spending so much time on evaluations. I used to rant that we never spent enough time doing an effective evaluation but now I have completely flip-flopped. I guess I'm tired of people evaluating with the premise that something is wrong. The theme seems to be "What's wrong and how can we fix it?"

In the name of balance I think we need to spend much more time talking about what's right and what opportunities do we have in the future. Forward thinking is important because life is always changing and such thinking keeps us from becoming static.

Several years ago Huntington College put a lot of effort into designing their web site. They did a great job and they won awards and received some great recognition for it. It hasn't changed since! IMO it is now hopelessly out of date. It doesn't take long for that to happen with web sites. I normally am very charitable when it comes to out-of-date web sites because most people don't have the resources to keep them current. But HC does have the resources, and the need, so I find it rather sad.

The point is, when it comes to web sites, if you wait for a negative evaluation before you fix it you're too late. If they had been forward thinking they would have started to change it almost immediately after they won the award.

I think the same is true for the church at times. We need to learn to move on. That's why I like the "journey" metaphor when it somes to the church.

UB Alternative and Leadership

As our denomination has pondered joining the Missionary Church it naturally has led to other proposals being suggested. The most notable is what is now known as UB Hope. Or is it UBhope? Though I believe that we should not join the MC I have great doubts that the alternative will really be any better.

One of the things I am looking for is freedom to associate, encourage, learn from and work with other pastors & churches that share a similar philosophy of ministry. Problems would be dealt with as locally as possible. Rather quickly it appears that the UBhope folks are looking to set up committees to address problems nationally. I think some people just feel a need to do something and they have a hard time letting go.

I also think we are having a hard time breaking away from an old idea of what a leader is and does. We are used to a strong visionary leader who "knows" what each church should be doing and tells us how to do it. Unfortunately this era has come to an end. I believe that with technology today it is too easy to hear too many great messages from just about anybody. Things like blogs allow idiots like me to publish their ideas even if only two people read them per month. The fact is leadership must become much more collaborative. We need a leader who makes us think not just tells us what we need to do. Who stretches our minds not just rants about yet another dominational program. Who asks the right questions not just parrots answers and advice from the latest leadership guru.

Ahh well. It is rather depressing watching the wreckage accumulate. Fortunately these things are peripheral to me living out my passion here in Zland.

The Strong Little Church

My friend Dan sent me this article. It is nice to see this coming from someone I would least expect it from. Church planting with this in mind is rare these days. I keep dreaming.

Pray for the Bus Driver

Three of my kids ride the same bus to school each morning. The driver is a wonderful lady from our church. My son Adam is in 5th grade which is the highest grade on the bus.

Someone decided that it would be a good idea to train one of the students on each bus how to stop the bus should the driver become incapacitated. On my kid's bus Adam has that honor.

So let me get this straight. If for some reason the bus driver feints and slumps over the steering wheel Adam is supposed to make his way to the front of an out-of-control bus, move the driver out of the way, and stomp on the break.

Please take a moment and pray for school bus drivers everywhere!

What Does God Think of Denominations?

A question that has been raised many times in the past is "What does God think of denominations?" Usually this question is asked by someone who, at the time they ask the question, is frustrated with denominations. Some see denominations as a direct affront to Jesus' prayer for unity. The thought is that denominations are a response to a disagreement that has brought about a schism which in turn has led to the establishment of a new denomination.

There is also a lot of talk about the post-denomination era. This seems to indicate a growing dissatisfaction with the divisiveness denominations can bring to relationships. However, I think that though that is true more of the discontent stems from the hierarchal authority structures most denominations operate with rather than the lack of unity.

I wonder if we may be headed for a new denominational era. (Though they will probably call them something else.) If we are, the question remains. I think God is grieved when denominations spring up because of division. The Apostle Paul warns about this. However, I think God loves when we are denominated along positive lines such as passion, style, focus, etc.

Look at creation. It was God who denominated the various forms we see within trees, flowers, animals, insects, colors, smells, weather, etc. Somehow there is strength in variety. Different does not necessarily mean disunity. The key to unity seems to be synergy not uniformity. This is what denominations of the future will look like. It will be groups of people coming together because of a like calling but who remain unified with the body. That's a denomination that is formed for a positive reason rather than a negative division. Come to think of it that's how my denomination was started!

The Ringing In My Ears!

It's been 4 days since the "Battle of the Bands" at Anchor and I think my hearing is just now starting to return to normal. I've got to get ear plugs if I ever do that again. It was kind of hard playing guitar on Sunday without being able to hear very well.

Safety First

Poor Gabby. She can hardly move but she's safe! She Got the blades and pads for her 6th birthday!

$2.86 A GALLON - THAT'S OUTRAGEOUS! A gallon doesn't go very far either so it has a big impact on us since we use so much. I can't believe how much the prices have jumped. Someone must be making a ton of money on this. It makes me so mad I could spit.

Fortunately Kim says she can buy milk somewhere else for about $2.00/gallon so that will help. By the way, the gas prices have gone up too.

Here is something I've never thought of until Kim brought it to my attention. One issue with having people in the church invite friends to church is that their friends may be hesitant because they fear hurting the relationship. Huh?

Okay, here's the scenario. Friend A invites friend B to church. Friend B would like to accept friend A's invitation but what if she does and then doesn't like friend A's church. Will friend A be offended if friend B doesn't return.

That scenario got me to thinking about how we could invite people to church without them having to worry about offending us if they don't like it. Mmmmmmm!

A buzz word/phrase that has been around for a long time now is "Servant Leader". I'm beginning to think that we have confused this phrase and we have quickly forgotten what a powerful phrase it is. The common definition is that a leader leads by serving. This sounds good but doesn't completely define a servant leader because a lot of people serve but not all of them are leaders. There is an element of leadership that still must be present to fully define the term.

Part of the definition then has to be in regards to under/over position. The under position reflects the servant aspect in that the servant is under those he/she serves. The over position relfects the leadership aspect in that the leader is over those he/she leads. Determining how these two come together will should bring us to an understanding of the shepherd metaphor that appears to epitomize servant leadership.

My cousin's husband wrote a book about leading from the middle. I read the back cover and a page or two to satisfy my mom's desire for me to read my relative's book but maybe I should actually read it!

I keep coming back to the thought that the typical American Christian faces the temptation of comfort and safety to a crippling degree. So many do not live the life they know God has placed in their heart because they are either spending their time trying to achieve comfort and safety or they are unwilling to risk losing them. I'm finding that this is a big issue for college students too.

Why I Would Rather Do Something Radical Rather Than Join The MCUSA!

Several years ago I recall sitting in an ordination service during our Annual Conference. Bishop Seilhamer was speaking and he was talking about the future. He used words that I wasn't to familiar with like post-modernity and post-denominationalism. I confess I don't recall what he said but I left with the feeling that I had some catching up to do.

Since then I have read a lot about the future. In doing so I have come to some conclusions about what lies ahead. First of all, in spite of the passion with which they predict, no one is really sure about what the future will bring. I suppose some of the writers may be sure in their own minds but most are not so bold and they understand the speculative nature of their work.

A second conclusion is that even though we don't really know what lies ahead we are in the middle of a seismic change in how people think and view the world. As a missionary and a missionary's kid I have always been aware of the difference between modern ways of thinking and pre-modern ways of thinking. I do believe that there has been a rejection, to a degree, of the rationalistic approach of the modern mind and a recapturing of the acceptance of mystery of the pre-modern mind.

The third conclusion is that the modern church is losing its ability to reach a growing segment of society while it maintains its ability to reach a large but shrinking segment. The dilemma here is that the modern church can and will continue to be successful because this latter segment is so large that it could be a long time before a problem arises. But I believe that in the end the modern church will find itself unprepared to be the church.

All of this is simply background information and some of it really has no bearing on whether we should join the MCUSA or not. In a simplistic sense I could argue that joining would simply tie us to another modern denomination that will be difficult to change because it is stronger. That argument is countered with the argument that the MCUSA has its act together and so it will make whatever changes are necessary when the time comes. I believe that my main argument for not joining will fall short of being able to convince anyone to agree, especially a modernist. At best it may give a little understanding to those who share my position as to why they feel the way they do and perhaps it will help the rest to understand me a little better.

One of the incredible gifts that humans have received from God is the spirit of adventure. Since the earliest records we can see this spirit of adventure in men and women as we read about what they accomplished and, just as importantly, how they failed. I think that one of the reasons we are drawn to it is because it is when we are on a great adventure that we feel the most alive.

Some writers have tried to distinguish between adventuring and exploring. The explorers did what they did because they were compelled by very tangible motivations. Queen Isabella asking Columbus to explore a new route to the East Indies is a good example of this. These writers argue that adventurers do what they do simply because the adventure is there. I like to think that explorers wouldn't really be explorers if they didn't also have a spirit of adventure. Nevertheless, the spirit of adventure is evident throughout history.

The fact is, while I believe we all are born with a spirit of adventure, most of us manage to suppress it as adults. Adventure often leads us into danger and failure. Most of us prefer the security that avoiding adventure brings. The spirit is always there, lurking deep down in our souls. It makes us restless at times but we manage to keep it at bay and under control. In spite of that we often live with the regret that we never went for it, that we never (ad)ventured.

Will Steger is probably America's greatest living adventurer. He has logged thousands of miles in kayaks and dog sleds to go to unmapped places. He has taken dog sleds to the north pole and across Antarctica. He writes, "Adventure is natural and obvious to children, and it is rare that I get the 'why' question from anyone younger than 16. (Kids typically want answers to the really big questions, like 'How do you go to the bathroom when it's 50 below?') 'Why adventure?' is an adult's question. When we grow up, our instinctual, go-for-it sensibility is replaced by an analytical, judgmental one. We grow out of the spontaneity that we knew as children."

I believe that joining the MCUSA is the "adult" option. It offers safety and security and a degree of comfort. It allows us to avoid the misery that adventure inevitably brings. Careful analysis and sound judgment lead us in that direction. But it suppresses the spirit of adventure.

I do not mean to imply that MCUSA is not on an adventure of its own. Undoubtedly it is. But it is their adventure not ours. People have been extremely critical of denominationalism and the lack of unity it brings. There have definitely been negative outcomes. But I think maybe allowing groups of people to join together on their own adventures produces many positives as well. It is interesting to note that the larger the denomination the more internal movements develop.

I don't believe that we have lost our spirit of adventure in our own denomination. It is still there. But we are trying to go on our adventure in comfort. We don't want to adapt to our environment. We want to travel with all the comforts of our past that we have become accustomed to. It won't work.

There are many examples of adventurer's who have also fallen into this trap. In 1845 Sir John Franklin set off on an expedition to find a northwest passage. He took with him a 5 years supply of food, a 2,000 volume library, an organ, monogrammed table ware and the finest naval attire among other niceties. His ships even had hot water heat in the cabins. It was by far the most luxuriously equipped expedition of the time. Unfortunately their finery did them little good. What they didn't have was clothing suitable for the artic and the tin food they brought caused lead poisoning. The result was that when their ships became trapped in the ice they couldn't survive and they all met a terrible death.

Another example is Robert Scott who didn't like sled dogs and so opted for ponies instead on his quest for the south pole. Admundsen had learned in the artic that the dogs where an adaptation to the environment that insured success. Admundsen won the race to the pole while Scott died while trying to return from finishing second.

I have no doubt that there will be attempts to abandon environmental adaptation with any option we have. There will be those who will want to agree to go on this adventure but they will want to do it from the comfort and familiarity they are used to. I get discouraged even thinking about it. But my spirit of adventure tells me that the attempt must be made.

I warned you in the beginning that this explanation would not satisfy you. You don't read about the spirit of adventure in scripture. But I think a journey of faith is the greatest adventure. Wasn't Abraham exhibiting and adventurous spirit when by faith he left his home. Can't we say the same for almost all of the people in Hebrews 11?

Any worthy alternate proposal will not be easy and it will require a tremendous faith. But maybe we need to stop looking at this through adult eyes. Maybe we need to have the faith of little children. Maybe we need to stop asking the "why" questions and get to the really big questions. We need to understand that to truly be alive as God intended we need to embrace the spirit of adventure.

Henri Nouwen wrote "Your own growth cannot take place without growth in others. You are part of a body. When you change the whole body changes. It is very important for you to remain deeply connected with the larger community to which you belong."

I sense that Nouwen could have been talking about several different communities to which one belongs but when I think of it in terms of church and denomination I struggle with it. I want to take the journey myself. At least I think I do.

The next thing he writes is "It is also important that those who belong to the body of which you are apart keep faith in your journey."

And here lies my problem. I'm afraid that I will be misunderstood if I share my journey. How do you get people to understand without them becoming judgmental. Of course there is also the fear that my journey will lead to decay instead of growth and in that case perhaps I fear being responsible for decaying the whole body.

Kim and I where contemplating replacing my Volvo. After all it is now 16 years old and has over 180,000 miles on her. After looking around a bit, and falling in love with a car to buy, we decided to wait and save the money instead.

Now here is the problem. My car knows all about this as I have talked about it with my son while driving her. The thought struck me that she may respond negatively to my infidelity. I half expect that she will arrange a breakdown at the most inopportune time just to get even.

Unfortunately it is all to easy to burn bridges like that with people. I think I need to concentrate more on being gentle with people no matter how "useless" they may appear to be to me. The way God works I'll probably find that I'll need them in the future far more than I could ever imagine.

Perhaps one of the things kids never really appreciate about their parents are the pets they were allowed to keep. I thought nothing of the dogs, baboons, antelope, chameleon, monkeys, rabbits, gerbils and probably a few other critters I brought home over the years growing up. I now realize why my dad always seemed to have a pained look on his face when I brought home something new.

We currently are providing food and shelter for a dog, parakeet and fish. I must confess that the fish are mine. (One of these days I'm going to have fish that live longer than 6 months.) We've done a pretty good job of weeding out passing urges when the kids suggest they've just got to have a ________. My daughter wants a cat but we have convinced her that they she needs to be older before she is ready for that responsibility. But we are now facing the onslaught of a 9 year old who wants a hamster. I am living in fear because he is determined. I'm afraid we are weakening.

In recent days he has begun to show an understanding of warfare tactics that would have left Genghis Khan impressed. His teacher needed to have someone take care of the class' pet rat over Spring break and he saw his opportunity. He has mounted a diversionary attack on our flank by suggesting that he should be the one to take the rat. In my estimation he is attempting to lure us into complacency. He'll bring home the rat, take great care of it, show us how responsible he is and allow us to reach a level of comfort living with a rodent, if that's possible. Then, when our defenses are down he will return to a full assault with his request for a hamster. After living for a week with a rat how could we resist a cute little hamster. Simply ingenious!!

Having seen through his scheme I countered with the "over my dead body" defense. Shrewd as he is he countered by going to his mother. It wasn't long before I started hearing comments from her like "it's only a week" and "he'll learn how hard it is to take care of a rodent and forget about the hamster."

When I first heard these remarks I drew back in shock that he had penetrated so far in this flank attack. Getting his mother on his side was a major coup. However, I remembered the cockatiel that another son brought home for Christmas break one year. I had had just about enough of the beast scattering its food all over the floor and was glad that it would be returning to the classroom. That's when the big snow storm hit that closed school for another two weeks and left us with the bird.

But alas, I have given in. Today we are also providing shelter for a rat. I know it looks like I caved but I am actually deploying a counter attack. I'm luring him in. He thinks I'm weakening. He has lowered the level of forcefulness with which he has been pursuing his hamster. When I finally tell him no my victory will be decisive and he will learn that he is no match for dear old dad. At least that's what I've been telling myself.

I talk about passion a lot because I think it so important to how we live. I talk about a passionate relationship with Jesus Christ so much in my church that sometimes people joke about it which I don't mind.

I think passion is such a strong motivator. But passion does ebb and flow. Sometimes passion pushes me to speak out vigorously on things that ...well.. that I'm passionate about. But then there are times when I withdraw from the debate. Even though I am still passionate about the cause I just feel like being quiet.

I'm not sure exactly why. Perhaps it is a "lick the wounds" type of thing where I need to withdraw from the fight to a place of safety for healing. Or maybe it is a fatalistic response that concedes that I can never win the fight and so I attempt isolation instead. Or maybe it is a sense of hopelessness that senses that I will never be able to convince people to change and so I simply quit trying. Or, to be fair, maybe I realize that what I was fighting for was wrong and I need to put my tail between my legs and run for home.

I still like passion though! It's what makes me human rather than a machine.

"You have to use things like replication or evolution or self-assembly or self-repair," said Warren Packard, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who has invested in the field. "We need to figure out how to grow systems versus build systems."

This guy is talking about the field of nanotechnology but the thought struck me that there may be a correlation to the church. Several people have long proclaimed the need to be organic rather than mechanical when it comes to the church but how we actually do that is the hard part. In a lot of ways we face the same problems as nanotechnology. We focus on building rather than growing.

Our Family watched "The African Queen" yesterday. The response from the kids was very interesting. When Hepburn and Bogart kissed for the first time they were completely cluless as to why it was a big deal. They can't comprehend that there was a time when such behavior was considered outrageous for a couple who hadn't known each other for very long, was not planning on marrying, and considered ankle length dresses casualware.

It was also interesting to see how closely they followed the story. They were riveted to the story and asked questions the whole way through. It kind of made me feel good that they saw quality in a old movie with few special effects and that I like. I like to think that they are recognizing the quality of the actors and the screen play. But who knows for sure.

I was just thinking what an exciting time we live in. We are surrounded by people who need Jesus and it seems to me that there are a lot of people who are getting desperate for something spiritual in their lives. I also think that a lot of Christians are beginning to understand that outreach is about much more than walking up to strangers and asking if they know where they are going if they die. People want a relationship with God, not an insurance policy!

My very first movie review. I’ve never done one before and I probably won’t again. But I have a lot of thoughts running through my head about “The Passion of the Christ” and I thought I would write them down so I can recall them later.

First of all let me say that I thought it was an excellent and well done movie. Like most people I had heard a lot about it before I saw it and I’m not sure that is such a good thing. If you haven’t seen the movie yet I would suggest that you stop reading now and go see it first.

I don’t go to movies much for no other reason than it takes a lot to coax me to spend the money. Kim and I went to an 11:30 AM viewing so it was about lunchtime. It just seemed natural to stop by the concession stand to get some food so we bought a big soda to share as well as a big bag of popcorn and some reccees pieces. Then we went into the theater and I was struck by the thought that I had just purchased food to enjoy while I watched Jesus being tortured and killed. I felt like a Roman going to the coliseum to watch the gladiators. I didn’t eat much.

The movie started straight off without any previews. I wasn’t expecting that. I’m curious if it is because of the demographic of the crowd or the content of the film. There were only about 50 people in attendance so it was a sparse crowd.

So here goes. I’ll just list the items that struck me and then leave a few comments:

THE CARPENTER: The idea that Jesus invented the modern dining table was too hokie. It was a little bit humorous but was totally unnecessary and it causes a slight loss of creditability for the whole movie. I don’t know if there is a basis for that scene. Maybe it is pseodopygraphic.

GARDEN SCENE: I liked the garden scene and thought the representation of Satan was well done. I also like the snake scene as it brings the viewer right back to Genesis 3. I also liked the use of Aramaic. I had heard one reviewer say he thought it would have been better with out the sub-titles. That would be interesting to see.

PONTIUS PILATE: I had heard from someone that they thought Pilate was seen in too positive a light. I thought he was represented like I had imagined. I have always thought of him as a man who lived in tension with the Jewish leaders and keeping the peace of Rome and who was unable to make a firm decision.

ROMAN SOLDIERS: I have thought of the Roman Soldiers as being ruthless and cruel but not undisciplined or inefficient. I thought the movie portrayed them as a little too undisciplined at times like when they had to be ordered to stop the scourging because they had been ordered not to kill him. I also thought the procession to the cross was agonizingly slow because the soldiers were inefficient. I would have expected them to be brutal but I think they would have kept things moving. Of course I suppose they had to slow it down somewhat to fit in all the Stations of the Cross.

SATAN WITH CHILD: This one leaves a lot of questions. Some have said that the intent was to show something as beautiful and innocent as a mother and child that can then be portrayed as ugly much like evil. Evil often looks good, innocent and enticing until it is then found to be something entirely different. I have heard a few other theories on this one so I will have to study it further.

THE BEATING: Some have said that it was too much and that no one could have survived it. I didn’t get that feeling. Though horrific I never had the sense that it was impossible.

THE CRUCIFICTION: I thought the crucifixion scene was very well done. It didn’t bother me that the crow was not biblical. My favorite part of it was the tear from heaven. It did an incredible job of reinforcing the Father/Son relationship.

EMOTIONS: I wasn’t too emotional during the movie. I think there are a lot of factors that make it that way but there were two scenes that impacted me the most. Interestingly they both involved Mary. The first was when Jesus past Mary on the way to the cross and a Roman soldier asks another soldier who she is. When the soldier then explains that it is Jesus’ mother I thought it was powerful. I suppose it was because it reinforced the relationship with Jesus. I also was emotional when Mary grabbed the rocks during the crucifixion. I suppose that was because that was something I wanted to do right then.

SUFFERING & DEATH; Some have complained that the film focuses too much on suffering and death rather than the resurrection, life and hope. They say that the important thing is the resurrection rather than the death. But the Bible Includes the thought that he suffered and died for our sins and I thought it was entirely appropriate.

All in all I think this movie will impact people in various ways. I felt a little bad because I was told that seeing this movie would dramatically change my life. While I don’t think it is possible to not be changed to some degree by the things around you (for good or bad) I’m not sure that I would say that this movie will have a “dramatic” impact. As I said earlier I wish I had not heard much about the movie before I watched it.

They should do this for every movie.

I just love the look of this site. I am jealous. I wish our church web site was like this but I know nothing about flash. I've got to find someone who can build one for me.

Submission can be so hard!
"he who attempts to escape obeying withdraws himself from grace. Likewise he who seeks private benefits for himself loses those which are common to all. He who does not submit himself freely and willingly to his superior, shows that his flesh is not yet perfectly obedient but that it often rebels and murmurs against him." Thomas a' Kempis

Andrew Jones writes
"Although i have to say, in the area of missiology and overseas development, which is where i often hang out, women traditionally have outnumbered men, in some cases 7 to 1."

In my experience this has been going on for a long time. Why? Why is mission work seen as women's work?

Media
Shower Slate
Notes under water


Ever have an idea in the shower and have no way to record it...and then it's lost forever? I use a "Dive Slate", a small (4"x6" ) sheet of sturdy white plastic with a plain old fashioned golf pencil attached. They're cheap (around $5--$6), available on the net at various dive shops, fit nicely behind the soap holder or hung in the shower and work well; they're meant to be written on underwater by divers, so unless you shower under Niagara Falls, your thought will be captured until you erase it.

-- Vincent Crisci


I'll be taking longer showers now.... if my kids don't use all the hot water first!

Another sign that I'm getting old -

I went to the Winter Jam concert last night and found myself asking myself, "Why couldn't I have found a seat in the section where everyone sits down while the bands are playing?" I also was thinking how great it would be if there was a hockey game going on instead.

Oh well, at least the kids liked it!

"We are all called to be Christs to each other like that, I think. Like Peter, like Thomas, the Marys, Joanna we are called to be not just human beings but human beings open to the possibility of being transformed by the grace of God as it comes to us who knows how or when - ... We are called by the good God to be the hands and feet and heart of Christ to each other." - Frederick Buechner

Also, we must be open to the possibility of others being transformed by the grace of God. Unfortunately one of the hardest things many face is having been rebellious at one point in their lives but desire to follow Jesus now. Too many so-called Christians apparently fail to believe in transformation by the grace of God.

"I have fallen into the great indignity I have written against - I am a contemplative who is ready to collapse from overwork. This, I think, is a sin and the punishment of sin but now I have got to turn it to good use and be a saint by it, somehow." Thomas Merton

One of the great sins of our time is our failure to rest - mostly due to the belief that our busyness somehow means we are significant and relevant.

One of the greatest and most underdeveloped technologies in the church.... FOOD! Now there is an interesting thought. I'll have to think about that for awhile.

Christ. My son, do not take it to heart if others think ill of you, and say unpleasant things about you. Consider yourself to be even worse that they imagine, and regard yourself as the weakest of men. If your inner life is strong, you will not pay much heed to passing words. A wise man remains silent when beset by evil; he turns to Me in his heart, and is untroubled by man's judgments.

Do not let your peace depend on what people say of you, for whether they speak good or ill of you makes no difference to what you are. True peace and joy is to be found in Me alone. He who is neither anxious to please nor afraid to displease men enjoys true peace. All unrest of heart and distraction of mind spring from disorderly affections and groundless fears. - Thomas a' Kempis - "The Imitation of Christ"

Thomas a' Kempis seems to build a lot from the John 15 passage and especially the "if a man remains in me and I in Him" line of verse 5. I'm not sure that I agree totally with the last line of his quote above (It seems Christ could be described as having 'unrest of heart' in the garden) but the rest I find difficult but assuring.

Well, I have been a bit disappointed today. I thought that I would be able to have deep thoughts. That I would ponder great mysteries and have enlightened ideas. I thought today I would sense an intellect within me that would rise above it's usual pitiful output. But alas, it hasn't happened.

I turn 40 tomorrow. According to my kids my brain cells will now start to die as I descend the far side of the "hill". Today I am at the peak of my mental abilities (several other abilities left several years ago) and it just isn't that impressive.

Oh well, according to my elders I now get to enjoy a diminished capacity to remember things. I believe that will be a blessing. To be wronged, cheated and abused by others and not be able to remember it is a beautiful thing.

How important is innovation in the business world? David Pollard gives the data of what businesses said.

20% said innovation is the top priority
69% said is was part of their top three list
90% put innovation in the top five

I wonder what would happen if the same survey was done in churches.

It is not difficult in such a world to get a person interested in the gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest. Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. In our kind of culture anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religous experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christinas called holiness. -Peterson "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction"

This is why I think it is helpful if pastors stay at one church for a long, long time.

I finally got my digital camera and I am thoroughly enjoying it. If I can only keep Kim's hands off of it! It is a 3 megapixel camera and I am pleased with the resulting photos but I came across an article that kind of ticked me off.

I have been under the impression that the more pixels the better. I couldn't afford a 4 or 5 megapixel camera so I settled for this one. Then I read this article that talked about the great pictures the mars explorer is sending back. Guess what! The rover camera only has 1 megapixels.

Apparently the key is in how good the lens is and how good the sensors are. NASA can afford lenses that I couldn't even think about being able to afford. Oh well, I'm happy that Canon makes fairly decent lenses.

It got me to thinking though. How many times do we not take into account all the factors that bring about a desired outcome. Some folks think happiness is all about the amount of money they have. They are frustrated when people with less money seem to have a better happiness. Apparently there are other factors involved!!!

It would be a great tragedy if I were in the bathroom when the UPS man came seeking my signature for delivery of my new digital camera. Oh the stress it causes.

I am hollow man. I am shallow man.

I just got off the phone with one of the biggest whiners I have ever heard. He seemed so needy and he seemed really upset that I didn't want to continue a relationship with him. It seemed he was willing to do anything to get me to stay. But I saw through it all and was resolute. How come he never acted that way before I threatened to end our relationship?

Oh well, that's what happens when you cancel your wireless service I guess.

"...the working environment of pastors erodes patience and rewards impatience. People are uncomfortable with mystery (God) and mess (themselves). They avoid both mystery and mess by devising programs and hiring pastors to manage them. A program provides a defined structure with an achievable goal. Mystery and mess are eliminated at a stroke. This is appealing. In the midst of the mysteries of grace and the complexities of human sin, it is nice to have something you can evaluate every month or so and find out where you stand. We don't have to deal with ourselves or with God, but can use the vocabulary of religion and work in an environment that acknowledges God, and so be assured that we are doing something significant.
With programs shaping the agenda - not amazing grace, not stubborn sin - the pastor doesn't have to be patient. We set a goal, work out a strategy, recruit a few Christian soldiers, and go to it. If, in two or three years the soldiers haven't produces, we shake the dust off our feet and hire on as captains to another group of mercenaries. When a congregation no longer serves our ambition, it is abandoned for another under the euphemism of "a larger ministry." In the majority of such cases, our impatience is rewarded with a larger salary. - Peterson, "The Contemplative Pastor"

I'm taking our leadership team through this book. Sometimes I feel that I am pressured to do exactly what Peterson is saying here. Sometimes by my church because it is the default way church is done in America but mostly by those higher up the conference and denominational chain. They don't do this directly but it just seems this is what we are organized to do.

Go where you may, you will find no rest except in humble obedience to the rule of authority. Dreams of happiness expected from change and different places have deceived many.

Everyone, it is true, wishes to do as he pleases and is attracted to those who agree with him. But if God be among us, we must at times give up our opinions for the blessings of peace.

Furthermore, who is so wise that he can have full knowledge of everything? Do not trust too much in your own opinions, but be willing to listen to those of others. If, though your own be good, you accept another's opinion for love of God, you will gain much more merit; for I have often heard that it is safer to listen to advice and take it than to give it. It may happen, too, that while one's own opinion may be good, refusal to agree with others when reason and occasion demand it, is a sign of pride and obstinacy.

Imitation of Christ - Thomas a' Kempis

I think we often find long term obedience boring. When we think of perseverance we often think of enduring suffering. But perseverance in long term obedience is severely lacking in today's Christian.

It has been facinating to listen to people across our denomination discuss the potential of us joining the Missionary Church. On the one hand there are those who feel that they have been left out and that they should have equal say in the matter. On the other hand there are those who say we have elected leaders and therefore we should submit to their authority.

This is a classic demonstration of the tension that has existed since the reformation. We evangelicals insist on a personal relationship with God. This creates a tension when we add "middle men" who tells us what is right or wrong in the form of denominational authority. Do we allow ourselves to be informed of God's will by these men or do we revert back to our personal relationship with God to seek God's will?

Various individuals have some down on both sides of this argument and I think some are not even aware of the tension I just described. I think the rest of us find the tension a little overwhelming to deal with and so we spend much time in prayer.

The world is obviously filled with all sorts of people. Recently I came to the conclusion that some people just tire me out way too easily. I wish I had more compassion and grace for them.

The ones that I usually struggle with are those who are strict rationalists. They insist on measuring everything and truth consists of only that which can be objectively proven.

I guess I lack the patience for those who probably could not enjoy the luxuriousness of a great cup of coffee or the delicate nuances of wonderfully prepared fish!

Yet these folks are deserving of my attention as much as anyone. I pray for grace.

It has been a few days so I'll try to catch up. Our flight leaving Montego Bay was late departing but our pilot promised to make up time. We flew with a German crew, as we did on the way down, which provided us with some amusement. Every time the pilot would speak I couldn't get the picture that Arnold Sh. was flying the plane out of my head. We arrived in Detroit a half hour late but there was a plane still our gate so we waited. After the gate was cleared the lady who runs the jetway disappeared so we waited some more. After the jetway was moved in postion immigration held us on the plane because it was too crowded in the terminal. We finally got off the plane an hour after landing.

We ground our way through immigration and customs with little difficulty and then we waited for the guys to get the vans. We finally got under way for the trip home just before 6:30. The rest of the trip was uneventful but as Bob said our road rage returned in no time at all. Jamaican drivers are crazy but for some reason even their car horns, which they use almost constantly, seem to have a more accomadating and conversational sound than ours do. Our horns seem to be associated with yelling and threatening.

Yesterdays church service was basically a time of sharing about our trip. I really enjoyed it and I hope everyone else appreciated it too. It is good to be back in spite of the awfule weather.

Today I'm just trying to catch up on things. Fun!

The Bus was 30 minutes early this morning so we left Mandeville shortly after 7 AM. That got us to Montego Bay around 10 Am. After dropping our stuff at our hotel we all went to Pizza Hut for Lunch. Basically just like home. Then we went back to the hotel to actually check in and then we were free to roam the area. Most of us are at Doctor's Cave Beach. The snorkeling here is fun and everyone seems to be having a good time. Ben and I will do a little shopping now and then find something for supper. We will head to the airport at 8:30 in the morning and then we take off for Detroit around 11:30. Can't wait to see you all.

Last evening we went to the Salem Church in New Green, which is basically a suburb of Mandeville, for the watch night service. The program started with a time of praise songs and testimonies. The song leader was a man in his fifties that had more energy than anyone that age has a right to have. He had a good voice and he can really DANCE! The testimonies were also great. Most of them were presented with a lot of excitement and it made you just want to applaud.

After about an hour it was our turn. The quartet sang Glory Train that went much better because Sharon had a useable keyboard this time. The quartet has given Kirby the job of “playing” the train whistle so he was up on stage too. After that Kristy did her clown routine. This time the kids just wouldn’t respond to her very well. I’m not sure if it was because it was 10 PM or if they are just a stricter church and the kids are reserved but we had fun watching poor Kristy trying to get even a smile out of them. After Kristy was done we sang a few songs and then handed the service back to them. The next part was when the people of the church formed groups to give specials. The idea was to form new groups and to write original songs if possible. Some of them were very good. The bass player was also quite good and he was one of the masons who helped us at the work site so we felt so0me good unity with him.

They knew that we had been working hard all week so they arranged for us to return early. We got back around 11:45 but we heard the service went on until 1:30. Back at our dorm we waited until the New Year came and then headed off to bed.

This morning we had another great breakfast of cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs. Thank God for Francis! We only worked half a day today so we finished building a few more “cages”, did some more plastering, painted, move stone into position for mixing and mixed mortar. We got a lot accomplished but as usual we wish we could have done more. The women of the church provided lunch again and this time we had jerk chicken, rice and peas, dumplings, and slaw. It was very good.

After lunch we returned to the dorm for a quick shower and then went on a sight seeing trip. We went about an hour away to Malvern where the Jamaica Conference has it’s campground. The camp was started back when my dad was superintendent down here in the 1960’s. There is a very old British Colonial style building there and then some new buildings that a lot of other work teams have worked on.

From Malvern we drove another 10 miles to Lover’s Leap. It is basically an observation point at the top of a large drop off that goes down about 1,700 feet to the ocean on the south coast of Jamaica. It was beautiful and it was good to get out of Mandeville a little bit. We got back just before 7 PM.

Supper consisted of rice with a bean soup on top, slaw, cassava & fried sweet potatoes. I’m not sure what the bean soup actually was but it was delicious. Thank God for Francis! We followed supper with devotions and we are now packing for our departure.

We leave at 7 AM in the morning for Montego Bay. We should get there around 10 –11 AM and then we can kind of relax for the rest of the day in Mobay. Then we head on home on Saturday morning. We miss you all and can’t wait to see you.