Emotional and Intellectual Stimulation

I think conferences are usually either emotionally or intellectually stimulating and rarely both. I would also say that most seem to target the emotional side. How many times have you left a convention "all fired up?"

On the other hand, some conferences seem to target the intellectual side. You leave these not fired up but with your mind spinning. It takes several weeks to process what you have been exposed to and while it can be exciting I suppose I'm much more subdued than that.

I wonder if this is by design. I also wonder if the balance between the two plays a role in the longevity of the impact. Or maybe there shouldn't be a balance and planners should either go for one or the other. Maybe personality traits play a role in how a conference is perceived. Maybe one's emotional state at the time determines what is taken away fromthe conference.

First day of conference

Well, went to the first day of conference and it was okay. One discussion on church never really got of the ground. I think it was too big of a group and it seemed like everyone was heading in different directions. I think Doug Padgett should have given it a direction but I think he was trying to let it grow on its own.

I went to McClaren's Beyond Pluralism which was fun because I got to watch the Baptists grill him a little about absolute truth. He did well and I though it was a pretty friendly conversation. I don't agree with McClaren's theology at several points but I came away impressed with him as a person after seeing him live for the first time.

Kim is not feeling well today so I might go it alone for at least this morning.

Into the heart of country

Country music is probably my least favorite kind of music. (Okay, maybe it is second behind southern gospel.) But Kim and I are heading to Nashville today for a few days. We are going to the National Pastors/Emergent Convention and we will be spending most of our time on the Emergent side. I will feel much more out of place there so I think it will be a good stretch for me. As I look at the Pastors side of the convention I keep getting the feeling I've heard it before. That's probably very unfair but...

I'm looking forward to it but my main goal is going to be keeping Kim from talking me into skipping sessions to go wander Nashville. Of course that might be good for us too so I'll probably have an uphill battle on that front. Mom will be stayng with the ids while were gone so it will be good to get away for a few days anyway.

Measuring Success

A reader of "Flying" magazine wrote in the March 2005 edition about the Tuskegee Airmen(Called Red Tails because of the red markings on their P-51 Mustangs.) He explained that they were the target of some hostile reporters and politicians who wanted to see their unit dissolved presumably because they had a low shoot down ratio. But the truth was that their skipper ordered them not to leave the bomber groups they escorted and they did what they were told. Apparently it was common at the time for pilots to break off formation to engage individual enemy fighters and in the process leave the bombers exposed. They knew that numbers of kills would earn them glory so they left their bombers in order to realize their individual dreams of becoming aces. Thankfully the bomber pilots had plenty of respect for the work of the red tails and their unit remained. It just goes to show how success can be misinterpreted.

I walk

I walk

I walk through people’s lives
I enter and pass through
I try to mind my manners
It’s not an easy thing to do.

Sometimes I take an easy gait
That’s born of familiarity
The comfortable steps I do enjoy
Too bad they’re such a rarity

Sometimes it’s stomp, stomp, stomp
I blunder in unaware
Totally lacking sophistication
I ruin a poignant air

Sometimes I run as fast as I can
Not wanting to stay long
It is only out of duty
I know in my heart it’s wrong

Sometimes on tip toe I do tread
For fear of setting off the thing
That’s ready to explode or worse
Give a final offering

Sometimes my steps are softly taken
The mood is right for it
I mingle about among the bruised
And even sit a bit.

I walk through people’s live quite often
And I pray to God as I tread
That I will learn which steps to take
As each situation’s read

The Box

One of the genetic mutations many denominations need to overcome in the future is the one that leads them to believe that they are the only ones that are right. I could go many different directions with this but for now I want to limit my rant to expressions of church. Most denominations have a box that contains all the ingredients of what a church should be made of.

Some denominations do a better job of enlarging that box than others do. No church will do everything or be everything that is in the box but rarely will they actually step outside that box because if they do they will no longer be right. In denominations that have larger boxes you will see a little more diversity in their churches because the churches have more to choose from.

I think the denominations with the largest boxes are the ones that will fare best in the future. This creates a dilemma because it is very difficult to organize a denomination like this. Most of the things that are done at the denominational level are geared toward a box with a select group of parameters. If there are other parameters in the box that don’t fit this select group they are simply ignored by the program. This creates a great deal of angst because churches who function within those ignored parameters don’t like paying for something that is of no value to them. And since these programs are at the denominational level they are obligated to all churches. Therefore, churches who do fit the select parameters feel frustrated when resources are wasted on churches that don’t fit the parameters. The result is a smaller box.

In my denomination we call churches that don’t fit within our box unhealthy. I think that is a very dangerous thing to judge. I prefer to leave that up to God for the most part because I don’t know exactly what He might be doing in those churches. I grant that many of those churches are unhealthy but I think God will deal with them.

At the same time I think God may have brought together some of those churches (the ones we put on the unhealthy list) for purposes I don’t and never will understand. Perhaps they are existing now for a specific purpose that only God and the core people of the church know about. What I don’t want to do is get in the way of God at work.

This is why I think denominations should stick with the basic essentials and create an environment where associations form to carry out any programs that churches feel are necessary. Churches that felt a strong desire to be part of a box with a specific set of parameters could associate with like minded churches for cooperation. They could even hire their own personnel or resource other infrastructure to support their effort. They would know that their money is being spent only on what they want and they could develop a high level of accountability because everyone within the association has opted in.

Churches that are unhealthy would be pulled toward health rather than the expensive habit we have of trying to push them that direction. To survive they will have to move or slowly die. In the meantime they will not be a drain on other churches because there will be no denominational programs obligated to them. They would need to opt in to an association for such help and that means accepting change and accountability.

Finally, we would be able to say to those churches that we don’t necessarily understand that we respect them and pray for them as God does his work in them. They don’t need to spend their resources on programs that they don’t use or desire. They still fit within our bigger box and perhaps they will be able to connect with other like minded churches and form their own associations. Perhaps they are part of something that God is just beginning or maybe they are simply serving a temporary purpose that will soon pass. In any case they are loved and welcomed as part of us. Afterall, I think God's box is far bigger than we realize.

Relating Rushkoff to a Denomination?

One of the interesting things to see in denominations today is how they handle the rise of technology. I don’t mean technology in a specific sense but how technology has changed our world and what it allows us to do.

On the one hand we have the fragmentophobes who fear that unless we enforce a strong central leadership structure we will face disaster as the denomination fragments into small isolated groups who no longer desire any connection because they feel no need for it. These folks see technology as providing a centrifugal force that will hurl us apart. It won’t be long until we become disjointed and in the worst case develop extreme views that lead to fundamentalism or worse.

On the other hand we have the monoculturephobes who see great danger in the ability of individual parts of the whole being able to communicate with each other without having to go through official channels. This group will choose what is worst for them because they don’t know better. It is a view most common among the leadership elite who are afraid of “the masses” because they are likely to do something stupid and at the same time throw the elite out on their ears.

The result of these two extremes is a desire to continue with an organizational structure that has never been really effective. (We hear that it has worked for others when in reality it is not the structure that produced the goods for others but a mix of known and unknown factors. This is often illustrated when the “savior” CEO from one company cannot produce the similar result in his next company.) In spite of this we continue because at least it is safe.

The reality is that the capacity technology gives us actually prevents both scenarios from happening. Networking provides the exposure that prevents the former from happening while the rapidity of change prevents the latter (Too much, too fast to ever really build denomination wide consensus.). Instead we should create an environment that understands that we do not direct, only God does. That means creating an environment that not only deals with the issues we face today but also with the unknown issues we will face tomorrow.

In my opinion this is done by minimizing the backbone to basic essentials and allowing structures to form and dissolve within the organism as the need arises. These temporary structures will form naturally and will not necessarily affect the entire organism. The difficulty has to do with power as some fear too much while others fear not enough.