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"Anyone wishing to save humanity
must first of all save the Word."
Jacques Ellul |
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Archived April-May '04 Margins |
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Restoring the weightiness of preaching - Raising
Christian discourse above our fading culture |
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May 31, 2004
Memorial Day
The personal computer and the
Internet have literally allowed
us to reach out and contact
almost anyone in the world. My
stepfather, Jake, has used it to
locate and contact various high
school, college, and army
buddies. My stepdad is 71.
Recently, a good friend from his
army days in France (post-WWII
era) flew up from Florida to
spend a few days together to
reminisce—the old albums were
out in full force. At one point
when I dropped by, the two men
were huddled around the
computer, searching for names
and phone numbers of others who
served in France together with
them. They compiled possible
phone numbers. I was there for
one call: They had lost their
place on the list and placed a
second call to a number they had
already tried, but it had been a
wrong number. Before they
figured this out, my Stepdad’s
friend was briefly explaining
why he was calling—“Hi, this
is….we served in France in the
Army in 19-whatever, and we’re
looking for…” And, a nice lady
on the other end said, “You
already called here. I am sorry
you have the wrong number.” My
Stepdad’s friend apologized.
The lady replied, “That’s ok.
We love our servicemen. Thank
you.” I thought that was a
great moment, especially for two
older gentlemen who had served
their country, worked hard for
their families, and just want to
connect their evening years with
that time of their lives.
The Wall Street Journal,
the Friday, May 28, 2004 edition
reviewed the forthcoming
Ike: Countdown to D-Day
History Channel special. I know
my Stepdad and his friend aren’t
WWII-vets, but Ike’s final
words, a voice-over at the final
moment of the movie, bridged
that nice moment on the phone
and the constant, very divided
rhetoric over Iraq. Ike, played
by Tom Selleck, said, “They were
not great crusaders, but they
went anyway. We may never see
their like again.” Nancy DeWolf
Smith, the reviewer, ends this
piece: Since then, in Iraq
and elsewhere, we have seen
their like again. In the
broader sense, however, that
unity of purpose and willingness
to sacrifice at home are what
elude us.
Happy Memorial Day guys. I
might have my uncertainties, as
Americans, and for myself as a
Christian, about how we should
fight this present war on
terror, but I have no doubts
that there was a generation of
Americans that made it possible
for me to sit in the comfort of
my home, type on my personal
computer, and wage a war of
words and ideas. That
generation made it possible for
arm-chair warriors to second and
third guess every decision our
politicians are making—right
here in the comfort of our homes
and places of business. To
those in Iraq and Afghanistan,
you have my prayers, my
amazement at your bravery, and
my gratitude. Come home safe.
God be with you.
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May 29, 2004
It happened 10,000 years ago and
again on May 28, 2004
I
took my daughter and her friend
to see The Day After Tomorrow,
the movie about global-warming
producing a modern ice age over
the northern hemisphere. I
enjoyed myself. Great visual
affects worth seeing on a large
screen. The drama and
life-story behind it was
enjoyable. Acting was basically
ok—no Oscar nominations I am
afraid. I’ll probably get the
DVD someday for the kids,
despite the eco-politically
correct spin in the storyline.
Some far fetched scientific
license taken for sure. And of
course, at the end of the movie
the right wing, conservative
President of the United States
actually apologizes for being
wrong about global-warming. I
am sure the movie will have
little affect on the debate.
Don’t think too many people will
switch sides on the issue
either. But, as a person who
believes in the “end of the
world,” I actually was pushed to
think about such disastrous
scenarios.
-
As I watched the horrific
flood sweeping through
Manhattan, killing the
millions, save a few, who
were stuck on the island and
in traffic, I thought, we do
live in easy times. We are
lulled into compliancy here
in wealthy, modern America.
I don’t think it would need
a catastrophic ice age event
that freezes the Northern
Hemisphere to radically
change our way of life.
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Since I am a Christian, and
one that takes the
Scriptures seriously, I
realize that somewhere,
sometime, sooner or later,
one generation of people
will face the mother of all
catastrophic events that
will mark the end of time.
However, there seems to be
those who delude themselves
in thinking they will escape
because they hold, in my
opinion, a very unlikely end
time doctrine (and they are
Americans and God promises
us that we’ll not go through
tribulation…tell that to the
Christians who passed
through the fires of the
boxer rebellion in
China…[“In the early months
of 1900, thousands of Boxers
roamed the countryside.
They attacked Christian
missions, slaughtering
foreign missionaries and
Chinese converts.”]). Or,
somehow we’ve convinced
ourselves in thinking, “it
will never happen to us.
This is America, God’s light
on hill.” Nonetheless,
someday, all this comfort,
ease, wealth, opportunity
for the “pursuit of
happiness” will cease. I
personally don’t know when,
but Scripture does indicate
a day of the Lord is
coming. Maybe not in my
generation, but perhaps in
my children's, or in their
grandchildren's...but
certainly one day.
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That day and its possible
soon approach made the early
church clear on its mission
to proclaim Jesus as Lord
and at the same time
“take care of widows and
orphans,” collect weekly
funds (not for pastors’
salaries or church budgets,
but) for feeding those
effected by famine, and
“taking care of the least
among” them.
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I am not an alarmist (for
sure), but I do wonder if I
could handle a
catastrophe—even a small
one, let alone a
world-shocking “end time”
catastrophic event like
The Day After Tomorrow?
Have I prepared my children
to handle it?
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May 28, 2004
Random Friday thoughts
Just some random thoughts for a
Friday. Maybe I should make
every Friday Random Thought
Friday? Well, that’s a
thought!
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Yesterday, I facilitated
another focus group for our
community assessment and
was, again, amazed at the
level of commitment and
insight among my fellow
human service workers.
Afterward I talked to
someone who works at a
family resource center. We
were talking about
qualifications for pre-k
teachers. She wondered why
we have it backwards. We
put those with the highest
qualifications, who are the
most language-rich in the
higher classes, and place
the least qualified and
least language-rich where
it’s needed most—pre-K. She
said if she could, she'd
have it the other way
round. I agree. We all
know, now, that we need more
investment in creating the
best and most language-rich
(print-rich) experience for
our 3-5, pre-kindergarteners
in order for them to begin
well for a successful run at
school—at life!
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This made me think of a
comment made by my former
College President and
prayer-partner when I was a
professor at Prairie Bible
College: He said, “Why is
it that those with the
higher degrees and most
qualifications never seem to
be called to small Christian
colleges, small churches,
and Bible Institutes?” One
wonders.
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It’s my stepson, Michael’s
birthday today. Happy
Birthday, Michael! On our
way to see his mother, my
wife, Lisa, graduate
yesterday (it took 20 years,
but she received her AA last
night!), I asked Michael:
“What do you think I want to
get you for your Birthday?”
He replied, “That I’d grow
up.”
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I listened to story after
story at yesterday’s
community assessment focus
group and was saddened and
sometimes brought to tears
upon hearing the difficulty
families are having with
juggling 2-3 jobs just to
afford their rent, with
their difficulty in managing
transportation between their
place of childcare and where
their job is located, with
deciding between food, rent,
medicine, their job or
childcare. On the political
spectrum, I am a
conservative, but don’t you
think we could alleviate
some of this for those less
fortunate than ourselves.
Don’t you think it is of
national interest—within
your community’s interest—to
lift everyone’s quality of
life? Don’t you think, my
Christian friends, we have a
Biblical obligation to find
solutions and serve the
vulnerable populations in
our community.
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At our church—which is a
good church, filled with
many good and faithful
Christians—we’re starting a
daycare/pre-school. A noble
and good idea I think. I
just wonder how many slots
are for those who can’t
afford it?
-
On political rhetoric as we
enter our Presidential
election season: The heat
has been turned up and the
political rhetoric is sharp,
mean, and many time
hateful. I wonder what this
does for our children to
hear and listen to? Besides
that, I am not opposed to
pushing the edge. In the
early days of our country
whole newspapers were
started to lambaste,
destroy, and harm the
political opposition. And,
they use to kill each other
in duels (e.g., Alexander
Hamilton and Aaron Burr). I
guess if you can’t stand the
neighborly opposition of
hate-filled speeches and
tomes, the friendly-fire of
those who hate your
political position, or
constant bombardment of
negative ads not worthy of a
civilized nation—you can’t
stand up to terrorist with
dirty-bombs, dictators with
horror-chambers, or
countries with nuclear
weapons. But, still I
wonder what this models for
our next generation.
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May 27, 2004
What our kids do in their idle-time
I’ve been asked, “Don’t you have
time just to do nothing?”
“Yeah, only on vacations when I
can sit in a chair on the beach,
read a book, and do nothing else
for hours at a time.” But even
then, my mind drifts back to my
everyday world of community
action and I can’t help but
intertwine my novel and what I
do everyday. Thinking of new
ideas, programs, better ways to
do what we do. Idle time—what
we do with our idle time is a
reflection of who we are. In a
focus group on community needs
yesterday, we discussed that
kids need something to do after
school, on weekends, and during
the summer. And, that, sadly
those that need activities the
most—the at-risk kids and teens
from economically vulnerable
families—can’t afford much to
do. As a result they do things
that are harmful. I pointed out
that when I was younger and
growing up, it was my free time,
my unstructured, unsupervised
adult designed time that
determined how I’d succeed (or
not) in life--and probably what
I'd be success in doing. One of
the participants in the focus
group said that its not just the
teens who need something to do
that is healthy and
constructive, its kids all
across the board. I agreed,
wholeheartedly. For we start
developing the habits and even
mental capacity when we are kids
in our so-called free time, that
gives us the tools—beyond math,
English, and reading—to be
successful in our adult life.
What we do as kids—and into our
teen years—in our idle time, our
free time—gives us the skills
we’ll need later. I learned how
to develop and organize teams as
we put unofficial ball teams
together in the neighborhood. I
learned how to maximize my
resources as my friends and I
built mini-bikes, clubhouses,
even boats to take out on our
pond in the back. I learned how
to plan for the camping we did
as kids in our neighborhood
woods. What I learned as a kid
gave me the capacity—the habits
and the mental-creative
intuition—to be able to think,
create, and plan, as well as
carryout what I need as an adult
to be successful. Hopefully,
successful as a student, a
husband, father, worker,
co-worker, church-deacon, and
neighbor. This focus group
highlighted the need for
communities—dare I include and
say churches—to invest in
activities to give our more
economically vulnerable and
at-risk children positive things
to do in their free and idle
time. The return on investment,
here too, will be well worth it.
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May 26, 2004
Thanks for joining my journey
Developing a website, a home
freelance writing/consulting
business, being active in our
church and involved in local
politics, and working full
time—and did I mention raising
four kids (which includes
softball and baseball!) and
enjoying building a relationship
with my wife, too—takes time.
Since launching this site in
January—thanks to James, my good
friend—and publishing my book, I
have begun a journey I have been
waiting decades to take. My
tracking software indicates that
I have had 1,249 visits to my
website, of which 549 are unique
visitors. (Thank you to those
who are returning!) For those
who measure in hits, my site has
had 27,247 hits since January.
This is exciting to me. My book
is now on numerous websites—that
you for that! And I noticed
that my ranking (not exactly
sure what that means, accept it
does has something to do with
sales) on Amazon.com went from
2,670,071 to
2,148,313 this week—that’s a
521K change to the better (the
smaller the number, the better
the sales). I am no Chuck
Colson or Phil Callaway, nor Max
Lucado so any sign of sales is
much appreciated and humbling.
Thanks to everyone and anyone
buying my book,
Destroying Our Private Cities,
Building Our Spiritual Life—a
lay-commentary on Paul’s letter
to the Philippian Church. My
goal, for this site and as well
my future writing projects, is
to create a community thinking
about how our Christian faith
should effect the public square
(hence the Christian thinking
part) and a community that will
join me in restoring the
weightiness of preaching. My
target group are average,
work-a-day people and the
countless pastors who toil
everyday to make sense out of
Scripture and translate it
through the regular people of
their congregations so God's
kingdom comes to their
community, their parish, their
city or town. These are my
passions. This is my journey.
For those who have joined me,
thank you.
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May 25, 2004
Community assessment time
It’s begun. Community needs
research time. Yes, this goes
on all year long, but now it is
a daily concentration of my
time. I have moved from a
series of grants—the Feb-May
time frame seems packed with
grant due dates. Now, I can
turn my attention to two more
projects: Developing a Community
Needs Assessment and a Community
Action Plan for the agency. My
office has put together a “needs
assessment survey” and is
distributing it to our client
base. We’re seeing returns
everyday. We have set up focus
groups to discuss the “gaps in
service.” NEON partners and
fellow line staff of other human
service agencies will enjoy a
lunch (or a breakfast) and talk
about what they perceive are
strengths and weaknesses of our
human service network. They’ll
discuss trends they see that
will affect their clients.
We’ll set up focus groups from
among three local Community
Centers where parents can add to
the discussion, telling us what
they perceive are the most
pressing needs their families
face. These are a few of the
groups—there will be more.
Combined with the survey results
and other collateral research,
the information shared will
develop into a paper outlining
our community’s needs, the gaps
in services, barriers to
available services, and an
action plan to meet the needs of
our vulnerable area
populations. This is my
favorite project. It’s what I
live for and look forward to
doing all year.
As a Community Action Agency, we
are required by two of our more
significant funders to produce a
Community Assessment once every
three years (with yearly
updates). The findings are to
be used in grant applications,
in agency planning, program
design and development, and in
developing other types of
funding to support meeting the
needs revealed in the
assessment.
Don’t you think Churches should
be doing this? Shouldn’t a
community needs assessment be
part of a church’s planning?
This should be a discipline
facilitated by church leadership
in determining outreach,
programs and services, and
discipleship. They don’t teach
this at Bible College or
Seminary—and they should—but
every church should get away
from the mirror, take a good
look at their community,
discover what people need; then,
prioritize, picking a few that
the church could seek to meet,
and then, utilize and maximize
all available resources to fill
those gaps and meet those
needs. How about this as part
of our church's outreach
efforts?
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May 24, 2004
A nice rest, despite having learned a few things
Can’t believe what can be
learned in a short 48-hour
period of time. My colleague,
Jackie, my wife, Lisa, and I
traveled to Cape Cod for a
conference of the Tri-State
(CT/MA/RI) Community Action
Agencies. The resort was
pleasant. The food wonderful.
Despite the nice perk of a 2-day
respite from the daily office
routine at the Cape, I walked
away having learned a few things
I’d like to pass on: I heard
two speakers, one a Federal
Reserve analysis (from MN) and
the other, a UCONN economist
present data—data folks, that’s
the numbers—that shows investing
our dollars (whether public or
private) in building up the
human capital among the
vulnerable populations has a
good return on investment. The
Federal Reserve analyst
presented a longitudinal study
showing that helping
disadvantaged families to afford
pre-school for their children
significantly saves our public
funds and creates pathologies
among at-risk children that are
more productive for themselves
and society. Another study
showed that Alternative
Incarceration programs (for
non-violent crimes) save the
public billions of dollars each
year ($34,000 p/person to
incarcerate vs. $7,500 p/person
in a program). Plus, studies
have shown that a person who is
incarcerated is more than likely
to return to jail once
released. Whereas, someone
placed in an Alternative program
is more likely not to repeat the
crime and is, economically
speaking, restored to be an
asset (rather than a liability)
to the community. These were
only two areas specifically
discussed, however overall, it
was pointed out that there are
good economic reasons to invest
in human capital and to assist
the at-risk populations to learn
how to build assets. Now, as a
Christian and a committed member
of a church-body, I begin to
reflect and ask, “How does this
fit in to my faith? How does
the kingdom of God relate to
this? Does the church have any
responsibilities?” Furthermore,
“Should the church and
Christians relegate these areas
to the state? Why or why not?”
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May 23, 2004
Compassionate conservatives should be flocking in great numbers
In another blogging opportunity,
someone commented on the
definition of "compassionate
conservatives." They wrote: "A
liberal defines compassion by
the number of people who receive
public assistance, and a
conservative defines compassion
by the number of people who no
longer need it." Now on the one
hand, I don't know this person's
source to say that's how
liberals define themselves (I
suspect the source is
"uninformed perception and
bias," not research and
documentation); on the other
hand, if this is how
compassionate conservatives
define themselves, then how do
they perceive that people get
from public assistance to "no
longer need[ing] it"?
I
couldn't help myself, but I
blogged back. Despite what you
might think, please remember I
consider myself politically a
conservative--a compassionate
one remains to be seen. My
returned blog:
Given the definition above, then
conservatives ought to be
flocking into human services
vocations, if for anything to
make sure we're not counting
heads (#'s served), but ensuring
that people are learning to be
self-sufficient. But
conservatives don't flock toward
building human capital nor
helping vulnerable populations
to learn how to develop assets.
I am indeed a conservative, and
I do work in the human service
arena. I haven't met one person
in seven years as a planner and
grant writer for a Community
Action Agency (and I travel a
lot) who wants anyone poor, who
just wants to give "handouts,"
nor who isn't working tirelessly
to move as many as possible
toward a path of
self-sufficiency. I certainly
don't agree with a number of the
policies of my more liberal
colleagues; but everyday, people
like myself--but with more
intellect and passion--work hard
to help vulnerable populations
to learn how to build assets and
develop human capital. Of course
we can debate the use of
taxpayer-funded programs. Of
course, the public should hold
us accountable for outcomes. But
I have come to realize that the
modern conservative isn't
someone who "counts how many can
help themselves," but those who
just want the poor to stop being
poor and are more concerned
about their property than about
their community. It is a proven
fact of economics, that if
resources are made available to
help vulnerable individuals and
families, communities, towns,
states, and even our country
save money. One would figure
that this would be a hot job
opportunity for conservatives
(no matter the type).
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May 18, 2004
My secular job is changing my
idea of discipleship
It’s done. And, it’s ready to
submit. My staff and I worked
hard to prepare a grant request
to help those on public
assistance (welfare) gain some
marketability, learn some
vocational skills, and move
toward self-sufficiency. My
staff has had good success is
delivering these types of
services in the past, so we
should do well with this
request. We’ve built in
outcomes to move each
participant toward the goal of
independence from public
assistance. Again, this causes
me to rethink my own view of
discipleship and church growth.
A leap between my so-called
secular job and my church-life?
Not really. Think about it.
Shouldn’t discipleship be about
moving people toward
goals—sanctification,
Christlikeness, good works? And
shouldn’t church growth be more
than counting numbers, but
moving a church community toward
being a “City on a Hill”? It
seems to me that church growth
models have revolved around
getting bigger, rather than
getting better. Like my grant
proposal, church leadership
should be asking, “What
resources do we have to assist
our church community—the
individuals, families, and the
whole body—to move toward
improving their lives?” “To be
more Christ-like?” "To be that
‘City on a Hill’?” (Unpacking
these questions--defining these
ideas--will be an interesting
task. But, we'll get to that
soon I assure you.) God is
using my secular employment to
radically change my view of
church ministry. Strange thing
is, it has been there all
along—right there in the pages
of my Bible. I just hope I can,
someday, move back into church
ministry and apply this new
thinking.
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May 17, 2004
Baseball lessons
I
am a sometimes fan of baseball.
I am hardly an expert. But as a
father I was proud of my kids
this weekend. There were notes
of triumph and accomplishments
in their own ball games on
Saturday. And, then again,
lessons for me, too. My stepson
pitched for the first time. His
team was losing, I believe 5-0,
to the best team around (in or
out of the league). The coach
had been promising to let him
pitch—and there Michael was, on
the mound in the fifth inning.
(They only play 6 innings at
this age.) He started a little
shaky—hitting his first batter.
But after that, he was focused
and didn’t appear to let things
distract him. He soon retired
three players, and in the next
inning another three—mostly with
strikeouts—holding the best team
to a 5 run lead. His team
didn’t win, but Michael did.
On the other field, earlier that
day, Amanda had her own
moments. She gets a little up
tight when she has to hit. The
coach evens says, “I worry about
you, Amanda. You have to relax
up there at the plate.” She’s
nervous, but she has caught on
to the idea that she always has
to look at the ball, even seeing
it hit the bat. And she did
it! She got a hit. A solid
hit. And you wouldn’t have
known she was thrown out at
first by the way she expressed
being so proud of getting a
solid hit. At another point in
the game, she made me proud.
There she was, the first time
playing left field. A ball was
popped up, almost right to her.
A catch would have been nice,
but the ball went into her glove
and bounced out. Now comes the
part that made me proud—she
recovered. Immediately after
the ball bounced out of her
glove, she followed it, grabbed
it, and made a quick throw to
second—almost getting the runner
out. Almost, but she was still
a hero and MVP to me. The
follow-up and recovery made it a
great play.
My kids make me proud. Michael
didn’t let his pride distract
him from focusing. Amanda kept
her eye on the ball and showed
me she knew how to recover.
Everyone misses the ball.
Everyone doesn’t recover. My
daughter showed, that despite a
dropped ball, she knows how to
recover. Baseball lessons, life
lessons—free of charge.
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May 16, 2004
I wanted to say something about
worship, but…
Since it was going to be Sunday,
I was planning a comment about
worship. But something got in
the way. Last night, I was on a
date with my wife—at the
Fairfield Stopn’Shop, picking up
milk and cheese and bread. The
town bag lady, wheelchair bound
with plastic bags filled with
her cans and useful collected
items hanging all around, had
knocked over an end-cap of
cookies. She was trying to pick
them up. She couldn’t reach
them on the floor. Perhaps
working where I do, a human
service agency that helps
low-income families, made it
second nature to respond and
help her. But I must confess,
it wasn’t. I still had to think
twice. What bothered me in this
nice super-market on the edge of
Suburbia was that she was being
ignored, avoided by people who
could plainly see she needed
help. I was more angered by
that—so I forgot my discomfort,
my own tendency to avoid such
unbecoming, unkempt,
unpredictable, undesirable
people and picked up the
packages of cookies for her.
She was grateful. Asked
blessings on me. Even told my
wife to give me a kiss for her.
And she smelled. Man, did she
smell. I patted her on the
shoulder and told her it wasn’t
a problem to help and that I was
sure my wife would give me a
kiss. She rolled off. Lisa and
I went to look for some cheese.
My wife commented, "people can
be so mean." I didn’t disagree,
but I replied, “I don’t think
its meanness. I think people
are uncomfortable. They don’t
know what to do with people like
the bag lady. I’d even say they
are scared. Unfortunate people
like this are unpredictable,
messy, smelly…I bet you
anything, that was the first
time she had been touched in a
long time.”
Here’s where my mind wandered as
Lisa and I finished our
shopping: Leviticus 19:9-10
says:
“Now when you reap the harvest
of your land, you shall not reap
to the very corners of your
field, nor shall you gather the
gleanings of your harvest. Nor
shall you glean your vineyard,
nor shall you gather the fallen
fruit of your vineyard; you
shall leave them for the needy
and for the stranger. I am the
LORD your God.” What does it
mean to the Christian community
to worship (see I got to that
subject) in a place where there
are those that are “needy” and
who are “strangers”? How do we
not reap to the “very corners of
your fields”? In other words,
how does the Christian
community, my church obey this
command? Or, do we safely say,
it is the Old Testament and we
are under no obligation? On
this Sunday morning, I am going
to be thinking about this
question and this text. How can
I go before God and not think
about it?
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May 15, 2004
Starting to rethink Church growth--again
I
think we need a new approach to
Church growth—not numbers
growth, but growth in
discipleship, growth in
maturing, growth in changed
lives. In other words rather
than growth meaning bigger, we
should mean healthier, changed
for the better. We should
measure church growth by the
changes in our families, our
communities, and our church
capacity. (Hey, CAA colleagues
and friends, where’d I get these
from?) In fact, I can’t find in
the New Testament a “proof text”
where we are responsible for the
numbers growth of the church.
That seems to be God’s business
everywhere I look. I find it
interesting that the New
Testament seems to place the
emphasis on “doing what’s right”
and improving the Christian
community—i.e., the local
church.
In 1994, our Government changed
its outcome model. Since most
of the newly elected '94
Congress Republicans had
business backgrounds (rather
than previous elected office or
legal backgrounds), there was a
push to stop counting heads and
start asking, "What changes have
occurred in the people that our
programs serve?” In my human
service business, we need to
ask, not how many people we
served, but how many have moved
toward self-sufficiency? How
have we utilized our resources
to move individuals and families
toward improving their lives?
Seems like a good—and actually a
more biblically
defensible—approach to church
growth. At least to me.
Think about it. What are the
usual outcomes, the default
outcomes most Churches seem to
have? How many people attend?
Numbers. How many people
volunteer for Sunday school,
clean-ups, VBS, nursery, etc.?
Numbers? How much is given
financially? Numbers in
dollars. There might be even
the noble (read spiritual)
outcomes of how many more are
praying? How many attend
mid-week prayer meeting? How
many go to Christian college?
How many go to the mission
field? All numbers. Don’t get
me wrong. All of these are
desirable and have a place. I’d
even want the numbers to
increase if I were a pastor.
But this type of outcome
thinking—result thinking—seems
more western (American) and less
biblical. I am surprised that
in this regard our own
Government seems to have it
right and the church is still
counting beans (heads, numbers
served). Now that’s
funny—tragic, sad really.
I
wonder how the church—my church,
any given church—would fare if
the leaders had to write
church-growth outcomes that
measured changed lives rather
than changed attendance? Count
on seeing more of this thinking
in the days ahead. …more to
come...
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May 14, 2004
What I think about has changed
Jackie, who works for me as my
Adult Services Planner and
personal friend from church,
once quipped, “You think about
this stuff all the time.” I
do. I think about the programs,
the grants, ideas to try,
solutions to implement, new ways
to serve people, a new way to do
something—a new system to put in
place… Yes, I can watch my
daughter's and step sons'
baseball games without thinking
about work and I can enjoy
dinner with my family without
talking shop or being consumed
about things at work. That’s
not what I mean when I say I
think about what’s going on at
work all the time. How we at
work serve people weighs on me
and the issues we face in doing
so stays with me—in essence I
think about my call all the
time. I might get an idea on
the ball field, or even from
talking to my kids. I used to
do that when I was a pastor,
always thinking, daydreaming,
inwardly debating ideas on how
to make my church better. Now,
rather than thinking about
church growth, church finances,
and the like, I think about that
without a good preschool
experience low-income children
will have a higher chance of
drop out, drug use, and
incarceration (facts)…I think
about how to create a One Stop
(without funding) to help our
economically vulnerable find
skills to work and enter the
workforce…I think about our
seniors, homebound and whether
they know what to do in the
event of a natural or state of
emergency…the list goes on.
What I think about has changed.
One thought keeps cropping up,
however. When I was a pastor,
why didn’t I think about these
things, too?
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May 13, 2004
Does God care about community action?
From mid-February to the end of
May each year, I sweat bullets,
stay up late, get up extra
early, stay at work past 5:00pm
(past 6:00pm!), drive my staff
crazy, hound people for letters
of support, miss a few ball
games and church events—all for
a series of grant applications
that come due fast and furious.
As you have realized by now, I
write grants and implement
programs that assist the various
vulnerable populations in
Norwalk, CT. This is what
consumes me mid-winter to the
beginning of summer every year.
My staff is the best—they put up
with me and make sure what I
write comes true. I proudly
work for a Community Action
Agency, whose
responsibility—along with the 11
other CAAs in CT and the 1,200
across the country—to help
alleviate the causes of
poverty. Sometimes we have to
do that one person, one family
at a time. A daunting task,
with little thanks, and a
tougher time securing funds
sufficient to do the job.
Despite what some accuse as
wasteful of our tax money and
supporting the welfare system, I
haven’t met one CAA colleague
that wants anyone poor. I meet
more of my own conservative (and
some Christian) friends that
don’t lift a figure and complain
…ok, I’ll stop… Back in January
of 2002, I was at a conference
in Atlanta. The speaker was
recapping the history of
thirty-some odd years of
Community Action History, when
he (seemed to look directly at
me and) said, “Does God care
about community action?” A year
later, my daughter Amanda (10 at
the time) accompanied me to
Washington DC for the CAA annual
legislative conference—she was
the only child out of a 1,000 or
more there. Mid-way through our
Connecticut CAA delegation paid
visits to our own Connecticut
Congressmen and Senators on
Capital Hill. My daughter went
along and even offered her
opinion, as a Head Start
graduate, why it was important
to support Head Start. After a
long day of walking from office
to office, building to building,
Amanda told me, “Daddy, I didn’t
know what you did was so
important.” (Proud father.) I
do think God cares about
community action (i.e., taking
care of and meeting the needs of
the poor and vulnerable around
us.) Do I really need a
proof-text for this! And yes, I
do feel what I do is important.
However, I believe even stronger
that more of my own Christian
community (both here in
Connecticut and elsewhere) needs
to heed the call to alleviate
the causes of poverty—even if
its one person, one family at a
time.
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May 12, 2004
Pulling all nighters
Just read an article, a blog
really, where a lay-person was
lamenting his pastor’s
plagiarism. The author, a
librarian, checked out some
phrases he thought familiar from
a recent sermon preached by his
pastor only to discover that,
not just some familiar sounding
ideas were lifted from another
source, but the whole sermon.
The sermon was fully, in its
entirety, copied, and
plagiarized and delivered as the
pastor’s own. After a little
research, the author sadly
discovered that this was a
common practice and that there
were warehouses full (websites,
books, email services, etc.)
that provide ministers with
full, already produced sermon
manuscripts. I can remember,
when I was a pastor, working
hard, some times pulling all
nighters, just to study and
write out a message, built on a
text of Scripture, that had some
relevance to my congregation and
the time in which we live.
Now I pull all nighters—well,
half nighters—working on grant
applications: grants to help
vulnerable homebound and
near-immobile seniors develop
personal crisis management plans
in the event of a natural or
state of emergency; grants to
move homeless men and women
toward some form of employment,
to save for a security deposit,
and to begin a path that moves
them from the shelter to their
own apartment; a grant to help
low-income children receive a
pre-school experience so they
and their families are better
prepared for kindergarten; a
grant to help at-risk youthful
drop-outs finish their GED,
become more acclimated toward
employment, and find a job; a
grant to help single-parents on
welfare to get off public
assistance, get some employment
skills, and help them fine
work…the weekly, monthly list
goes on. (In fact, my delay in
posting this week and last is
due to being up late and early
writing such a grant.)
What disappoints me is the lack
of serious, biblical exegesis
and study found exposited from
our pulpits. I enjoy what I do
for a living—and despite my more
conservative friends difficulty
with what I do—I know that after
my research, after I have worked
hard to craft a grant proposal,
after the proposal receives
approval (and in this I have a
good record), people are helped,
families are made stronger, men,
women and children are given
another chance. With all my
success as a planner and a grant
writer, I’d give almost anything
to spend my “all nighters”
studying Scripture in order to
help people—once a week—to hear
God’s Word. The preaching of the
inspired text—what an awesome
responsibility and
privilege--that hard study and
patient exegesis delivered each
week will give people second
chances.
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May 10, 2004
Clobbering the Mind, with the Mind
"It is your heart that God
wants." Certainly I believe
that, if by "heart" you mean the
whole person. I think for the
most part that's what
people--preachers in this
particular case--mean. It is
when they contrast this "heart"
idea with the mind that bothers
me. Such an appeal seems to be
used to clobber the mind: "You
have to respond to God with your
heart, not just your mind" or
"you will not have the fullness
of God's power and life in you
if you only have head knowledge
of Jesus and not give Him your
heart." Of course simple facts,
head knowledge, or a cognitive
nod do not save anyone, nor do
they have the basis for a good
relationship with Jesus (with
anyone for that matter). My
fear is that such an appeal to
the heart is both a way to make
the Gospel appeal better
to the image-based,
feeling-centered, in-touch,
post-modern American and, as
well, an excuse to shy away from
good, sound reason, debate, and
plain old thinking. What I find
the most interesting is that
those who advocate the appeal to
the heart and downplay the role
of the mind clobber the mind
with the mind. They appeal most
often using--Oh, my!--words and
logic (at least the
attempt---"here are three
reasons that its the heart that
matters and not just the
mind"). The appeal is
cognitive. I find this ironic
and amusing actually. I can't
help but recall that God told
Jeremiah, "The heart is more
deceitful than all else and is
desperately sick" (17:9). Now I
recognize that everyone is "put
together differently"--some more
centered on feelings and some
more cognitive in approaching
life. With this said, can we
remember that Paul reminds us
the battle ground, the spiritual
war is over the mind: "For
though we walk in the flesh, we
do not war according to the
flesh, for the weapons of our
warfare are not of the flesh,
but divinely powerful for the
destruction of fortresses. We
are destroying speculations and
every lofty thing raised up
against the knowledge of God,
and we are taking every thought
captive to the obedience of
Christ..."(2 Cor 10:3-5).
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May 9, 2004
Connecting the Past to the Present is Art
Every once in a while I pick up
Leadership Journal. I
know I am not "preaching" or a
"pastor" these days, but the
Spring 2004 issue begged my
attention. Street-Level
Preaching. Can you get
through with the message?
Despite the $7 dollars for
purchase--it was a good buy.
Get it. Overall, some
insightful and challenging
material. Marshall Shelley--who
helped me out as a pastor many
years ago with his book,
Well-Intentioned Dragons, (I
thought a sequel called
"Not-so-Well-Intentioned
Dragons" would have been
appropriate)--the editor starts
with,
These days, preachers can't
assume loyal listeners.
Preachers have to earn a hearing
every time they speak. They
have to compete with countless
other media voices for the
attention and allegiance of
their hears.
How true! However, the problem
is preachers then take on the
same style of the other media
competitors and lose any
distinctiveness, or they seem to
apply the same tactics,
approaches, etc...so they don't
stand as different...they lose
any real prophetic-edge. (You
know...the principle, "If you
are to keep the modern person
interested in your sermon, you
have to do what the secular,
media-centered voices do....)
Whatever trivial issues I have
with most of the articles, the
interview with Rob Bell ("The
Subversive Art") is well worth
the 7 bucks alone (even for the
lay-person, the non-preacher).
Apparently he preaches what I
have been saying since
College--the historical original
occasion of the text is
important and has a place in the
exposition of Scripture (i.e.,
preaching). Go Bell! I don't
think I could be as trendy as
Bell, or as artsy, nonetheless,
I appreciate that he has shared
his approach with the
conservative, suburban audience
of Leadership Journal.
Two quotes are worthwhile:
The true orthodox faith is
deeply mysterious, and every
question that's answered leads
to a new set of questions. A
lot of preaching tries to answer
everything. At the end of the
sermon, people walk out with no
more questions. But if it's
truly proclamation of the truth
rooted in God--
He implies...the hearers of the
sermon should also be leaving
with more questions to ponder.
Here, he quotes N.T. Wright:
"Most people want to wake up in
the morning with a general at
the foot of their bed saying,
'Go do this.' The problem is
there's somebody at the foot of
their bed saying, 'Once upon
a time...'."
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May 7, 2004
Reminders to hold our children
close
"In
a moment largely unnoticed by
the throngs of people in Lebanon
waiting for autographs from the
president of the United States,
George W. Bush stopped to hold a
teenager's head close to his
heart," writes Kristina Goetz, a
Cincinnati Enquirer
reported.
(Click for article.)
While
President Bush was working a
crowd in the that Ohio town he
shook the hands of a father who
introduced his daughter who had
lost her mother on 9/11.
Apparently, instinctively, the
man and father George Bush
hugged the girl and asked how
she was doing. The father
said,
"He changed from being the
leader of the free world to
being a father, a husband and a
man," Faulkner said. "He looked
right at her and said, 'How are
you doing?' He reached out with
his hand and pulled her into his
chest."
This briefly recorded moment
caught me at work while reading
the news of the day. It made me
think how important it is to
hold our children close, and as
well, that we have a God who
knows how to govern the Universe
and hold us close at the same
time. "Make me a better father
for Amanda, my daughter, and my
step-kids, Sarah, Michael, and
Robert."
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May 6, 2004
“I’ll add you to my top ten
list”
A
number of years ago—too many to
count—when I was a college
student, I told Eric Marx, my
good friend, “I’ll pray for you
every day until I die or I hear
you have gone on to be with the
Lord.” Although, I wasn’t
looking for it, he replied,
“I’ll do the same for you.”
Accept for a few days here and
there (I am sure), I have been
praying for Eric Marx everyday
since 1982. Shortly afterward,
Donice, another good friend, had
heard of my prayer-pack with
Eric and asked for the same. I
have been praying for her as
well, everyday, for 22 years.
Thus began my first Top Ten
prayer list. I added the
remaining eight very shortly…my
family, other friends,
co-workers, and of course
missionaries. The list has
expanded from time to time; some
remain as part of a covenant of
prayer I have made like with
Eric and Donice.
My top ten prayer list
idea—years ago now—was shortly
affirmed as both a good idea and
a blessing. During a
Crown College (it
used to be St. Paul Bible
College) chapel, a Bank
President’s wife shared about a
crisis that had occurred in her
life and how God had protected
her from harm. She had been
kidnapped—obviously because she
was the wife of a Bank
President. She had been locked
in a car trunk for—now I strain
my old brain cells—for a few
days. I don’t remember all the
details, but I do remember what
she thought about:
Locked in that trunk, for hours,
not knowing when she’ll get out
or her fate once it was opened,
she thought about the friends
whom she knew had prayed for her
that day. That brought her
comfort and the strength to know
God had His plan.
Tuesday Morning Ladies Bible
Study in Rome, NY—thank you for
praying for me. All my family
who knew me as “Chippy” and
prayed for me everyday when I
was a child--those prayers
guarded me more than I'll ever
know. To grandma Brodock, now
in heaven for many years—Jesus,
let her know her prayers of
salvation for Judy (my mom) and
“Chippy” have been answered.
Aunt Tudy, your prayers are much
appreciated, still. Mom—for
being my advocate before the
father. Eric—I wonder what
battles I would have lost if you
hadn’t been praying for me each
day.
I'm adding Kenny and Wendy Rudd,
soon to be missionaries to China
(Kenny is a doctor) to my top
ten list. My daughter, Amanda
and I signed up to pray for
them. The mission agency
sending them requires not only
100% funds to be raised, their
missionaries also need to find
100 people who will pray for
them everyday. Along with Eric
and Donice, Mom, Lisa and our
kids, Mom, Dad, brother Brooks.
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May 4, 2004
Carrying on the Endings
T.S. Eliot, in Four Quartets,
penned:
“To make an end is to make
a beginning.
The end is
where we start from.”
Ever look at a book's or story's
ending before you read it? Of
course, we all have at one time
or another. I have been reading
a book by Morna D. Hooker
called
Endings: Invitations to
Discipleship.
Simply, Hooker gives us an
exposition of the endings of the
four Gospels and Acts and how
each ending is a summary of the
content of its respective book.
She suggests that each Gospel
writer, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John leave us "suspended"
endings.
Endings that call the
reader to carry on and live out
the story--the Gospel. In
essence, the hearers of these
Gospels and the story in Acts
would come to the end, the last
verses, hear the main point of
the author, and find an
invitation to discipleship. I
read Hooker's
Endings and I am
reminded of the purpose and
essence of preaching. Every
Sunday morning, for over 2000
years, from the rising of the
sun until its setting, all
across the globe--and now from
almost every language and
tongue--someone stands to
continue the story. Although
not the inerrant Word,
preaching--in as mush as it
faithfully reflects the
intention of the text of
Scripture--is the Word of God.
Elsewhere I have suggested: "The
sermon is a redemptive
historical event where God's
presence invades and the Kingdom
of God is revealed in a moment
in time, in a particular place,
through the proclamation of His
written Word." Sidney Greidanus
reminds us, "God uses
contemporary preaching to bring
his salvation to people today,
to build his church, to bring in
his kingdom. In short,
contemporary biblical preaching
is nothing less than a
redemptive event." The
weightiness of the sermon should
be taken seriously. Each sermon
is a "carrying on" of the Gospel
story. Each sermon ought to be
a call to discipleship--to be
part of the ending.
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May 3, 2004
What is wrong with the world?
Church service was good yesterday. It was great to see a young
man standing before his home
church, poised and ready, along
with his wife, for the mission
field: China, as a
doctor-missionary for Christar.
He pointed to the place in the
sanctuary where he was sitting
as a teenager when he first felt
called to missions. Today, he
was the morning speaker for our
annual mission conference. He
didn't get far into his message
before he began to cry, tears of
passion for missions and
thankfulness. The church, where
he was called, was now sending
him with support, blessings, and
much prayer. He spoke on a
simple theme: How do we measure
success. Without the details:
he plainly explained that
biblically, success =
obedience. Not worldly
prosperity, riches, or
recognition.
Every church service has its serendipitous moment...we had one in
our pew. As part of the mission
decor, the missions committee
placed a rather large, almost a
story tall, balloon-world to our
right. It was filled with
helium for about a week or so,
giving its fullness and shape
and rising up a bit into the
sanctuary. After a week, the
balloon was looking rather
dilapidated, yet still holding
itself up. After the young man
was finished speaking, our
Pastor stood to close the
service, pointed to the globe,
and said, "What's wrong with the
world?" Without hesitation,
more to us in the pew than to
the rest of the congregation, my
good friend Pete Kramka replied,
"Helium."
Now that's funny. I thought how true: The world is losing what
it takes to stay afloat. I
thought it also odd that the
remaining helium made the
Northern hemisphere look
fine...there was the US all
filled out, but the lack of
helium at the bottom made South
American and Africa all
shriveled up, along with the
southern portions of Asia. And
there you have it...the
Christianized west is full and
fine, the unreached (least
reached) and more populated
countries are all shriveled up.
What's wrong with the world? It
needs more helium--Christian
witness. I know, silly
perhaps. But Pete's retort
struck me as funny, ironic,
serendipitous. Nonetheless,
fact is 80% of Christian
resources are used for 5% of the
world's population (that's North
America). (See
Christar.org.)
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May 1, 2004
Connecting the Dots: HIV and Social Systems
Art and Dorothy Helwig should be
entering retirement from many
years of Christian service. But
no. They will spend their time,
not on golden beaches or on a
swing on their front porch. Art
and Dorothy are heading to
Nigeria to alleviate the causes
of the HIV/AIDS plague that has
taken a toll on the people of
that land. More so, I was
impressed that they made a
connection between the health
conditions and the systems and
social structures that support
the country. I asked Rev.
Helwig to drop me a note further
explaining their thinking. He
has given permission for his
email to be included in
Margins:
It was a pleasure to meet you
last Sunday at Trinity Baptist
Church. Our ministry is
beginning to see a launching
date coming into view when we
can finally get to the field in
Nigeria to begin helping people
with the horrific issues of the
day. There are two main areas
of concern for us as we go to
Niger's.
1. The ultimate solution to
the HIV/AIDS pandemic demands
some vital and substantive
changes culturally. There are
several beliefs and rituals that
definitely contribute
significantly to the
transmission of HIV.
Approaching this issue requires
a clear and culturally
appropriate communication and
persuasion strategy. This is
something I can do as I have had
some in-depth experience in the
matter. There is always room
for improvement so if there is
any technique that will serve
the interest of the people, I am
all ears.
2. We need help with writing
grants to secure significant
funding for capital projects.
It is our hope that when our
model of approach to the problem
on a holistic basis will demand
duplicate initiatives in Nigeria
and perhaps in other parts of
Africa. All of these things
will require rather hefty
budgets. The grant proposals
have to be written
professionally as the number of
grant proposal submissions is
quite overwhelming. The grant
requests that win are those that
reflect a thorough and well
defined approach to solving part
of the problem.
PS: I will offer assistance in
grant writing to the Helwigs.
Also, if anyone knows of any
grants or funding opportunities
that could help--pass them along
to me, please.
PSS: The idea that some cultural
habits must change in order to
prevent the continued
devastation of social systems
that support a civilization
should be considered here in the
US as well...don't you think?
This is good, sound Christian
thinking applied to a kingdom
task.
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April 30, 2004
Not in Exile, at Home
The New Testament presents the
Christian community as one that
is in exile (1 Pt 1:1; 2:11).
Its home is elsewhere. Its
citizenship, heaven (Phil 3).
Herein lies a conflict for the
modern Christian, and I dare say
contemporary church life. We
feel at home and rather
comfortable in our modern skin,
and do not feel as if we are in
exile. We are like the exiles
of Judah, who stayed in Babylon
rather than returned to Israel
after the captivity had ended.
As a grad-school professor once
said, "They had businesses,
families, and roots in Babylon
now. 'We're comfortable, thank
you'." How a church views its
role in a community can shift
away from Biblical mandates such
as "Go and make disciples of ALL
nations" and "Be in the world,
not of the world." God
instructed Jeremiah, "Seek the
welfare of the city where I have
sent you into exile, and pray to
the Lord on its behalf, for in
its welfare you will have
welfare" (29:7). Perhaps we
cannot seek the welfare of the
city God has sent us as exiles,
because we don't think of
ourselves as exiles and are more
concerned as to how to make
ourselves and our churches more
comfortable, more at home here
and now. Just a thought.
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April 29, 2004
Another way of thinking about evangelism
While on a business trip to
Washington DC, I gave a copy of
my new book,
Destroying Our Private Cities,
Building Our Spiritual Life,
to Senator Dodd. He was gracious
enough to receive it with thanks
and appreciation. As we sat
there in his office, he made
this comment: “We don’t think
spiritually from our faith about
the great issues we face like
housing and economics like we
did in past generations.” I do
not want to read too much into
his statement as if he is a
Christian or making a
confession—that wasn’t the
conversation nor my privilege.
But it did underscore a very
interesting neglect among us—and
here I speak of Christians in
fact. How do we, as the
Christian community and as
individual Christians, think
through the weighty public
issues that our country and
neighbors face? What is the
Christian response (the Biblical
response) to the issues of
affordable housing, workforce
development, homelessness,
low-income childcare and early
childhood development, the
problems of modern urbanism,
at-risk youth, HIV, teen
pregnancy, substance abuse, I
dare say even terrorism…the list
goes on? Every three years, as a
Community Action Agency Planner
I develop a written document on
our service delivery area’s
community needs. After
collecting demographics and
survey data, along with focus
group discussions and collateral
research, I highlight the top
ten greatest needs and the
barriers associated with having
those needs met. I conclude by
developing an action plan,
answering the question: How will
we meet these needs or attempt
to alleviate them? I now ponder
the crazy thought: why don't
local churches do the
same--develop a community needs
assessment of their own service
delivery area (as it were), and
then ask: how will our church
meet or alleviate these needs?
Now that’s a novel approach to
church growth, evangelism, and
community witness. Smacks of
genuine Christian discipleship
and faith (e.g., James 1:27;
Jeremiah 5:28d).
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April 28, 2004
Curmudgeon
I
have been called a curmudgeon. I
can live with that. What bothers
me, however, is the sound of the
word. Worse, those that know
what curmudgeon means. Worse
still, those who know how to
spell the word. But for those,
like me who need a dictionary,
curmudgeon means, “An
ill-tempered person full of
resentment and stubborn notions”
and the word is associated with
“a crusty irascible cantankerous
old person full of stubborn
ideas.”
See what I mean. Now, doesn’t
the word bother you? I am not
ill tempered (grumpy at times
perhaps), nor am I an “old
person.” I was charged because I
disparaged an element of our
culture that a fellow pastor was
enjoying because his church was
benefiting and growing as a
result. Like I said, I can live
with the charge. I tell you this
as a warning: you will find
herein plenty of evidence to
agree with those who called me a
curmudgeon.
Don’t misunderstand me. Although
you will read much criticizing
the damaging aspects of our
modern culture, of contemporary
Christian (mindless) thinking,
and of fashionable church life,
these musings do not suggest
that I don’t love the Church nor
that I do not enjoy my culture.
Sometimes wish I didn’t think
the way I think. Sometimes I
wish I could find a simple place
to live, work in a quiet job,
find shade, and watch the
sunrise and sunset. Though I am
sure shepherding is no mere walk
in the field, animals do seem
easier than people to tend.
Problem is, God likes to call
shepherds out of their fields
and away from their animals.
Amos was once a simple shepherd,
unqualified as a “schooled”
prophet and ill-suited as a
critic for the decision-makers
of his day. But, he was called
away from his sheep and made
into a voice on the outskirts of
the city. It was said of this
shepherd turned prophet, “Amos
is raising a conspiracy against
you in the very heart of Israel.
The land cannot bear all his
words” (7:10).
Far from any imagination I could
possibly have or
self-aggrandizement, I realize I
am no Amos. Just ask my kids.
There are much smarter, more
articulate, and godly people
than me, who are more talented
and better able to offer
substantial critiques and
observations about our
contemporary fix. I will rely
heavily upon them. (Their words
will appear in
Listen & See
from time to time.) I am not
cleaver on my own. But I do wish
to stir up our culturally
comfortable thought-life. I do
desire to drive us to think
deeply (at least more deeply)
about issues and ideas that
surround us. But mostly, I seek
to raise Christian discourse
above our fading culture.
Some might find me a curmudgeon,
a spoiler, but more so, despite
disagreements toward my thinking
and conclusions, I hope you find
that it is my burden here in
Words’nTone
to struggle with the
text of Scripture and how our
faith should inform our thinking
in order to alleviate the
Christian tendency to imitate
our culture, and thus share in
its dying, its fading.
For those willing…thanks for
joining the journey…
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