Fletchboy's Follies

Guest Blogger Book Review: "Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess"

2011-04-06T21:54:00.001-04:00

"Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess"

A memoir, with a dose (or twelve) of cynicism, that doesn’t live up to it's subtitle.

I picked up "Churched" from the Blogging for Books program with WaterBrook Multonomah, just out of curiosity. It looked like an interesting read, which I will note here, it was.

I started reading the book as soon as I got it. It was very interesting, telling Matthew Turner’s childhood experiences growing up in a conservative church. It’s pretty much his autobiography… with about a tablespoon (or two) of cynicism added to it.

It starts with the author in a sauna, where he meets a guy with a tattoo of Jesus spitting fire out of his mouth. A conversation ensues, which leads you to believe that in the end of the book our author is different than he is in the beginning . Wanting to see the change between the beginning and the end, I read through this book quickly.

It was very interesting with a lot of funny and witty stories. Although these stories are written in a cynical light, there is a very good point in the end, in which he admits that no church is perfect. However, he still hasn’t really recovered from his ‘holy mess’.

I expect this book will be rewritten in a few years with an actual ending that makes a point, because hopefully by then he will be past this, and will have become a more mature follower of Christ. This book almost makes a really good point at the end…but ends up a bit short of a bulls eye.

Disclaimer: I received Churched for free through the WaterBrook Multonomah blogging for books company in exchange for doing a review.

(Today's book review was by guest blogger/avid reader/book reviewer par excellence, Erika Fletcher, my 15 year old daughter.)

Book Review: "Shattered Dreams" by Larry Crabb

2011-03-16T22:33:00.003-04:00

I am a real fan of Larry Crabb. I'll have to admit that the first chapter of "Shattered Dreams" was difficult for me to read. Without the context of the rest of the book, I had the feeling that Larry was spending too much time and space on the pain of the times when God doesn't answer our pleas to Him the way we'd like Him to.

In reality, we often press down our pain with pious-sounding words like, "God knows what's best..." and the like. Crabb is painfully honest about the disappoint that comes from really trusting God with your problems but not receiving the answers you'd like. KNOWING that God knows what is best doesn't necessarily make your painful existence FEEL any better.

Once he has helped us get over our compulsion to "make excuses" for God, he gets to the real meat of the matter. The story of Naomi and her bitter experiences with God present a great backdrop for contemplating our own disappointing experience with God. Like us, Naomi also saw many opportunities for God to "come through" for her come and go without God responding to her prepared script for Him.

It is often not in the *removal* of our painful experiences that we experience God most deeply and intimately. Crabb shows that it is often in walking *through* the dark, lonely valleys that we realize that God is using those very experiences to remove the obstacles to the deep intimacy with God that we desire.

If that is true, then we can't ask God to remove the painful experiences so we can have intimacy. The desired shortcut will ultimately only short-circuit the intimacy we were longing for.

In our painful experiences, when all else is stripped away, we can learn - and Crabb says ONLY then can we learn - that it is God we've longed for all along. It is only after we've walked some painful pathways that we are able to truly enjoy God for Who He is!

While the early pages were hard work, the "meat" in the middle of this book made the early work well worth the effort! I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who struggles to understand why God doesn't "come to their rescue" in their difficult times. Don't give up in the early pages, and definitely don't write Crabb off as a heretic before you've done the work to milk these pages for their full benefit!

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: WaterBrook Press (November 2, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307459500
ISBN-13: 978-0307459503
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches

~I received this book free for review from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Full Body Scan? No thanks!

2011-02-06T10:11:00.001-05:00

OK, when I arrived for my flight to Orlando this morning, I saw that the Full Body Scan (aka "Virtual Strip Search) has now apparently become the standard order of procedure for Richmond International Airport. They only have ONE backscatter scanner, but everybody is expected to go through it unless they protest. When I stepped up to the line, there was a lady patiently standing there. I asked her if she was being made to wait because she had "opted out" of the virtual strip search. She said, "Yes, I guess I have to wait because I have 'a choice'." She was a first class frequent traveler and had been waiting 10 minutes for the exercise of her freedoms. She was a bit frustrated, but was not going to be bullied into relinquishing her freedoms. She was adamant about that fact.

I had the time to talk to her because I was also opting to exercise my constitutional freedoms from illegal search and siezure. In fairness to TSA, I'll have to say that the guy who did my patdown was was sensitive to my rights. When he commented that I'd probably done this many times, I said, "No, I used to be able to be screened without having to opt out of a virtual strip search." He didn't react negatively to my comment and was quite professional in his conduct.

I told him that I was aware that he was just doing his job. He said, "Let's just get you through here." He scanned his gloves in advance to confirm that his gloves didn't create a "false positive" on the explosives test. I joked that if his gloves failed, I'd have to screen him. He didn't laugh out loud, but appreciated the humor. (Wow! That is a change from most of my previous interactions with TSA!)

I don't know if they've backed off on some of the "enhanced pat-down procedures" but the pat-down was not excessively invasive. I've seen others go through the enhanced pat-down before and I don't feel that this one was as invasive as some that I've seen. Maybe TSA is buckling a bit to our demands for our constitutional rights? :-) Read: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tsa-scanners-20110202,0,984304.story

I appreciate that TSA has some professional employees. I appreciate that they seem to have eased up some on the enhanced pat-down. However, none of this makes up for policies that play "fast-and-loose" with our constitutional rights to begin with. I still contend that everyone who walked through the strip-search line this morning were denied their Constitutional right to protection from illegal search and seizure without probable cause. The more we submit quietly to this erosion of our rights, the more the bureaucrats in charge of our "security" will sharpen their knives to whittle away yet more or our rights.

What is tolerance anyway?!

2010-05-12T19:45:00.005-04:00

I've been thinking recently about the subject of "tolerance". Tolerance has become one of the buzzwords of our day. It has taken a few years but tolerance has morphed into a "whole new animal" from what it once meant.

In its original meaning, "tolerance" meant putting up with things that you didn't deem to be correct. In actuality, tolerance - by definition - requires that there be dissonance between the individual's preference and what is being "tolerated".

In today's rendition of the word you must approve of anything and everything or you are deemed intolerant. ...and intolerance is deemed the worst ill of our society. The worst ill, that is, if you are intolerant of certain things. (As I write this, a cross has been removed from federal lands – by apparent vandals – after a court case questioning the constitutionality of the cross, though it is not a religious symbol any more than the thousands of crosses in Arlington National Cemetery. Intolerance toward supposed religious symbols seems to be acceptable.)

Recently, in a men's group meeting I was facilitating, one of the guys chimed in on the topic of tolerance when I mentioned it. He said, "I know about tolerance because I was a machinist!" He went on to explain that from a machinist's point of view, tolerance is the amount of deviation from the assigned specification a part can be machined without it being rejected. The implication is that items outside of “tolerance” are rejected.

In the "good ole' days" tolerance was measured in 100ths of an inch. As long as you stayed within the acceptable range of tolerance the parts were acceptable. If your part fell outside the acceptable range, the part was rejected. So you see, tolerance is the line between acceptance and rejection, not the ability to accept anything and everything.

A machinist must be held to this standard for rather obvious reasons. In the world of machinery, parts must be a certain size and shape or the machine will not function properly. Imagine taking your car to your mechanic and he says, "I don't have the right part, but I can use this bolt and some paper clips and have you back on the road in no time!" Confident? I think not.

However, in our society, we have decided to toss out such standards in every sphere EXCEPT for machinery. We seem to think that we can suspend judgment (and logic) on all matters, tolerate ANYTHING and all will be well. Why do we think this will work in matters of morality, when we know it won't work in any other sphere?

When it comes to morality, we seem to think that the machinist can make the part anyway he chooses and when we try to run the mechanism all will be well. No need to measure, or to verify a good fit. We just dump in whatever we have, and expect that the society will flourish.

I do not advocate intolerance. I am simply saying that if we want to insist on tolerance, we must understand what tolerance actually is. If we want our society to work, we need to understand that there must be some design specification, and there must be a line between acceptance and rejection before we can ever begin to measure tolerance. “Everything goes” is not the order of the day for a tolerant society.

Book Review: 5 Cities that Ruled the World

2010-05-06T15:00:00.004-04:00

5 Cities that Ruled the World
by Douglas Wilson

Belief, thought, self-rule, imagination and commerce; these are key elements that have lasting effect on human culture. Douglas Wilson has taken a unique perspective on the development of these themes and their ongoing effect on modern culture. In “5 Cities that Ruled the World”, Douglas Wilson views these significant elements through the lens of five individual cities.

While there are a multitude of cities that could be seen to have significant effect on modern culture and belief, Douglas Wilson has chosen five specific cities very specific reasons. This is an interesting book comparing and contrasting some of the most important cities in human history. By the time you’ve read through each city, you understand why he chose the cities that he did.

Jerusalem gave us the spirit. Athens gave us reason. Rome gave us love. London gave us literature. New York gave us industry and commerce.

Throughout the book, Wilson points out that these different places have given us the freedom to believe, to think, to rule ourselves, to imagine, and to make money. Along with these freedoms come bad, evil, and undesirable things, but in the long run the truth, the beautiful, and the good will be remembered.

The book was well-written and free from “insider” jargon. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in world history, or anyone interested in cultural trends and their roots. I found the book a pleasure to read and look forward to sharing it with my friends.

“5 Cities that Ruled the World”; each of these cities has good and bad points. Years later, we remember the good, and continue to learn from that good that emanates from these “Cities that Ruled the World”.

Prayer...a civil right?

2010-05-05T21:28:00.005-04:00

Tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer here in the United States. It has been pretty much in the media of late, because of a few political situations surrounding the event. It is sad that a thing as simple as prayer has become a divisive political issue. Politics in the US has become such a polarized affair that just about anything can become a divisive issue.

One of the politically-charged issues that has netted significant attention is the fact that Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, was dis-invited to the National Day of Prayer observance at the Pentagon (HQ for the U.S. military) because of the objections of a Muslim activist group. Many are upset, believing that the rescinded invitation is bowing to a tiny minority, while offending the Christian majority in the U.S.

In another case, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb, of the District Court in Madison, Wisconsin ruled that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. The "Freedom From Religion Foundation" filed the suit, saying that such an establishment of prayer was not legal. (It is interesting to note that their foundation's name is anti-constitutional, since the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of religion...not freedom FROM religion....)

Lately I've been thinking about some of these political issues and contrasting them with what Paul says in 1 Timothy 2. In 1 Timothy, Paul urges us to pray for our political leaders and all leaders. He goes on to say that the reason we should be praying is so that we can live peaceful and Godly lives. Further, he says that the reason we live Godly lives is so that others can come to know Jesus because God is not willing for ANY to live and die without knowing Jesus.

So...do we need a nationally recognized event, one day per year, to fulfill this urgent request from Paul? I say no. Is the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional? I say no. The bigger issue is that we are prone to spend so much energy on preserving our "constitutional rights" that we spend NO energy praying! This cannot be good!

I contend that open prayer - even on government property (gasp!) - is our constitutional right. When the president, a governor or any other public official begins to establish a "National Religion" they are crossing the line set out in the Constitution proscribing as unacceptable any "establishment of religion". The National Day of Prayer is not such an establishment. While I would argue that it is our constitutional right to pray, I would argue more loudly that we don't need the governments permission to pray. More that a Constitutional right, prayer is a God-given privilege paid for and provided by Jesus! I think we need to quite "fighting for our rights" and start praying.

I say don't wait for the National Day of Prayer to exercise your rights! Pray often. Pray every day. Shucks...go ahead....pray without ceasing! And while you're at it, pray for our government leaders. They are facing a lot of adversity and division. They need wisdom beyond their own ability. I know only one source for that wisdom...and prayer is the conduit!

...been thinking about humility...

2010-05-02T10:19:00.003-04:00

I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about humility. Humility doesn't get a lot of press these days. It is a hidden attribute and definitely not something you see displayed very often.

I had an interesting interchange recently with one of the most arrogant people I've ever come across - or at least he used language to seem that way. After a couple of rounds of interaction in which he did all in his power to humiliate me and never answered a simple question I asked, I'd had enough. I wrote a couple of paragraphs in which I took a few sarcastic jabs and then proceeded to point out how juvenile he seemed in his use of words. I really wanted to help this guys see how he was coming across.

...and then it dawned on me. Was I really going to get through? Did my sarcastic jabs do anything to help me reach out to him? Did my references to "Jr. High" to describe his attitude have much chance of helping him get better? No, if I really wanted to reach out to him, I needed to respond in humility. It meant I had to do more than use self-deprecating humor. I had to express real humility to him.

In the end, it meant that I had to delete all the trash I had written - thank heaven I hadn't pressed "Send" yet! - and quietly express humility. I simply said, "You didn't answer my question yet :-)" and left it at that. It felt better than anything I had written to him before, and he hasn't responded to me yet.

Do I have a "right" to not be humiliated? No. (Surprise! Oprah probably never pointed that out to you!) I claim to follow Jesus Christ with my life. Look at a couple of things from the Bible about what we can expect if we actually follow Jesus:

Jesus said:
Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. (John 15:20)

Paul wrote:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Jesus did have the right to be exalted but he chose to humble himself. If I'm going to follow Him, I'll have to follow in His footsteps. (Not exactly the most profound thing I've ever written, I'll admit! But a profound concept nonetheless!)

How about you? How do you battle against humiliation and humility? I'd love to hear about your journey as well!

“You can’t trust anybody…”

2010-03-22T14:11:00.000-04:00

I just got “nabbed” by America’s finest…the TSA. I forgot a bottle of water in my backpack. This water bottle has made the trip through numerous checkpoints, but always empty. This morning, I forgot to empty it.

Well…my water bottle became the proverbial “tip of the iceberg” for my TSA experience. Because I had a bottle of water, they “randomly” tested my bag for explosives…and it tested positive. Once the alarm was set off, one TSA “expert” patted me down while another did the “alarm positive” paperwork, while another checked through ONE of my bags thoroughly. (I have to ask – why didn’t they check BOTH bags of this suspected terrorist? After all, I WAS guilty of carrying a water bottle…)

I asked what types of things would cause a “false positive”. She said, “Heart medication or sometimes even hand cream.” I joked that I had heard a commentator say, “The LAST person that needs to be told they test positive is a heart patient.” (I though the implication was obvious…that the stress wouldn’t be good for a heart patient.) Her response? “Terrorists take heart medication too.”

Huh?! The BROKEN logic of that response is a good sign to me that she should be relieved of her role in screening passengers -- TODAY. Is it heart medication we are screening for here? I thought it was explosives we were guarding against, not prescription medication. Terrorists can have allergies too. Should we start screening for Claritin as well? (I confess…I had some in my bag. Arrest me now.)

The statement upset me was when she said, “You can’t trust anybody these days!” That statement is blatantly untrue. You can trust me. She stands at the checkpoint every day and sees evidence that the MAJORITY of the people passing through the airport can be trusted. (Except that you can’t trust certain conservative Christian guys to remember that they have a bottle of water in their backpack…)

TSA exists to protect the general traveling public against the VERY unlikely “bad guy” trying to get on the plane. I have traveled a lot, and I have never –to my knowledge – met anyone who turned out to be one of those bad guys. I would venture a guess that my “friend” at TSA this morning has never met one either. We can’t buy into the philosophy that “you can’t trust anybody”. If we do, the terrorist have won!

You’ve GOT to trust people. I am about to step onto a plane and TRUST a pilot I’ve never met, but I don’t plan to interview him or put him through a sobriety test. I left my vehicle in long-term parking in Washington, DC when I began this trip. I am trusting literally hundreds of people to leave it alone. And it works! You can trust MOST people for the basics in life. While I understand that TSA can’t just assume everybody is OK, I refuse buy into the philosophy that “you can’t trust anybody”.

Here is some interesting reading I found while I was writing this post.

Voluntarily "bumped"...

2010-03-21T21:35:00.004-04:00

I write this sitting in a hotel in Erlanger, Kentucky. You may or may not know that I am the Board President for Mission Data International. I am on my return trip from a few days of board meetings in Siloam Springs, AR. The travel for this trip has be quite eventful.

When I went to Washington-Dulles Airport to begin this trip, I ran into traffic snags, construction and the lovely folks at TSA have also developed new and improved ways to hinder the flow of people through their checkpoints. I missed making my flight by 2-3 minutes. I didn't get onto the next flight because they changed the aircraft used on that flight...decreasing capacity by about 20 passengers.

This meant that I got diverted to Atlanta to make my connection. While I was waiting for my flight from Atlanta to Arkansas, they were asking for volunteers to be "bumped" for $400 "Delta Bucks". I was wishing I could volunteer, but had to make my meetings. I arrived about 5 or 6 hours later than planned, but we were able to flex and get all of our business taken care of. When I again had the option to volunteer on my flight to Washington, DC tonight, it seemed like a great idea. I get a good night's rest, and a fresh start tomorrow, instead of arriving home at 1 am. The family won't miss me too much because they would have been in bed when I arrived anyway. Win-win.

My next trip will be on Delta's "nickel". I probably won't use the whole credit on a single flight either... I'll take the $400 Delta! Thanks for the nice room too. :-) Think I'll go down to the Jacuzzi for a while now... :-)

Flat tire(s)

2010-01-05T08:29:00.006-05:00

I was thinking the other day..."Boy, I haven't had a flat tire or a signficiant breakdown with the car in ages!"

When's the last time you had a flat? I can't recall a time in recent years where I had to stop on the side of the road and put on the spare tire. About 6 months ago, I had a flat in my parents' driveway and just fixed it right there and used their air compressor to pump it back up. Other than that, it has been a long time since I've had a flat!

On Saturday, we were in town and I noticed a distinct "thump-thump-thump" sound as we were driving. I stopped and checked my tires. One was low, but I couldn't find the source of the thump. I pulled into a restaurant parking lot and used my handy-dandy portable compressor to pump it back up and we were on our way. Later the thumping stopped too... Hmmm....

Sunday morning, I got up and looked out to see a FLAT tire on my truck! Changed the spare and we were on time for church. "Phew. Glad that is over with," I thought.

Monday, I took it to my mechanic/friend/cousin and he said he'd fix it that day. I went and did a couple more things in town and came out from one of the stores to find....guess what....? ANOTHER FLAT TIRE! This time, I saw the outline of the large head of a "cap nail" used for roofing. The nail was gone, but so was the air from my tire.

Haul out the trusty compressor again. Say a prayer of thanks that I am in a big parking lot that has a parts store just a few paces away. Hook up the compressor and go buy a kit to repair the hole. I was back on the road in about 20 minutes.

Because the spare was already on the truck, this could have been much worse! I could have been standing on the side of the road with no spare... I am thankful to God for his oversight and protection in my life. ...even if I did have two flats in two days! :-)

"Happy Holidays" means more than it used to...

2009-12-09T09:47:00.007-05:00

I remember "back in the good ole' days" when you went to the Post Office to buy stamps and found that you had to choose between several Christmas designs. I went to the Post Office yesterday and found a whole new dilemna. There was a poster with SIX options for "Winter Holiday" stamps!

On closer inspection, I found that the first choice was....well, exactly that...a "Winter Holidays" collection. You know...gingerbread man, snowman, candy cane...just "winter" stuff. That one gets TOP BILLING. The lady in front of me was making her displeasure known to the guy in front of her..."So Christmas is SECOND now, is it?! We've got to get Christ back into Christmas!"

Well, needless to say, she got my attention. I look more closely at the poster... OK....what is on the menu this season? You've got your "Winter Holidays" collection, you've got your "Madonna and Child" stamp, you've got Hannukah stamps...the EVER popular KWANZA stamp and...what's that one? EID?? That writing looks Arabic.... Hmmm....

By now, the TWO people in front of me were quite animated in our discussion of EID as a holiday. Trust me...in downtown Louisa, VA there won't be a particularly large demand for EID stamps. I won't mention the name of the USPS employee behind the counter who let me know they didn't like it either!

I did some research on EID and I learned that it is the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. ...and now, of course, it is a nationally celebrated "Winter Holiday" since the USPS deems it worthy of a stamp. In the year 2009, EID falls on September 21st. A "Winter Holiday??" In 2013, it will fall on the 8th of August. Hmmm...will it be a "Winter Holiday" stamp then?! How many Muslims will be buying EID stamps in December to celebrate the end of their fast that took place in August or September?! Could the USPS do anything more ludicrous? I guess maybe it makes sense to them....but it is totally lost on me.

I really can't wait until 2015 when EID falls on July 15th. I guess we'll have stamps with EID commemoration on them instead of flags, to celebrate the month of July. That red, white & blue, stripey....starry cloth thingy our ancestors died to honor will be totally out of vogue as a sign of old-school nationalism by then. We're far too inclusive to honor a nationalistic symbol that way any more!

(Edit: It dawned on me this morning that we have made the transition from "tolerance" to "inclusive". The USPS had to stretch to find a way include the Islamic community in this festive season, so they chose EID as their option.)

(I hope you can read my cynicism and still get my meaning. I am really bothered that the USPS is honoring a Muslim holiday on a stamp.)

Book Review: "What difference do it make?"

2009-10-24T11:04:00.006-04:00

Book Review: What Difference Do It Make?
By Ron Hall, Denver More, and Lynn Vincent

Contrary to popular opinion, one life does make a difference. The choices you make will make a difference in your world. That is the core message of "What difference do it make?", the new book by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.

Ron is a white elite Art Dealer and Denver is a black man who was homeless until Ron's wife Deborah decided to make a difference. Their first book "Same Kid of Different as Me" is about the choice that Deborah made to make a difference in the sphere of homelessness in her city. Deborah later died of cancer. This, their second book, is about the difference that Deborah's life made and is continuing to make in the lives of people all across the United States.

The chapters of the book each trace a thread of change that came about as a result of Deborah's life, and - perhaps more importantly - the book that chronicled her choices. While the book is about the effect of one life on the homelessness surrounding her, the more important lesson to be learned is that you CAN make a difference in your world. Each chapter follows the story of someone who was touched by "Same Kind of Different as Me" and how they were changed. It further goes on to tell how that individual chose to make a difference in their world as a result of reading the book.

While there are a few elements of the book that cause me to question individual choices of the people being chronicled, I found the book to be very motivational. Most people I know are moved by the plight of the homeless, but are paralyzed by ignorance. They are plagued by questions about what to do and what not to do in order to bless people and help them.

Denver give a new definition to "blessing" and helping". He says that you "bless" someone by giving them a gift that tells them they still matter in the world. He says that you help someone by stepping down into the pit with them and staying long enough to give them a boost so they can climb out. He would approve of either action as a Godly response to homelessness.

One of the things that struck me as among the most remarkable comments in the book was about "blessing". Denver says that you cannot bless someone and judge them at the same time. He says that you must give your gift to God as you hand it to a homeless person. You can't focus on blessing them if you insist on judging how they might use your gift.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading "What difference do it make?" and would recommend it to just about everyone. I wouldn't say that it will answer all your questions about homelessness and how you should respond. However, it will give you some simple pointers on some things to NOT do, and some ideas on how to begin. Get a copy and read it. I don't think you'll regret it! You definitely won't look at homelessness the same way afterward.

Book Review: The Gifts of the Jews

2009-08-10T13:32:00.005-04:00

Book Review
"The Gifts of the Jews"
How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels
by: Thomas Cahill
ISBN 0-385-48249-3
Paperback, $14.95
Nan A. Talese/Anchor Books

I bought a copy of "The Gifts of the Jews" because a professor highly recommended it as a moving tribute to the Jewish people. Based on who recommended the book, I expected the book to be respectful of the Biblical record, but I soon found that it wasn't what I expected.

Cahill opens the book with a graphic verbal depiction of the nature of worship and the attitude towards gods in the people and culture in the Fertile Crescent prior to Abram's arrival on the scene. He does a good job of comparing various early literature to discern the difference between various forms of belief, and attitudes toward local deities at the time. He spends more time than I thought was warranted giving a graphic description of the sensual worship rituals of the ziggurats with their priestesses - making his book seem more like a paperback romance than a respectable work of historical research.

As you can tell by now, I was not overly ecstatic about Cahill's presentation of the roots of the Hebrew people. However, what I did appreciate was the credence he gave to the idea of Abraham's belief in his personal covenant God. The "evolution" of the belief in a god that Cahill outlines is a decent perspective to read, in order to understand how Abraham's neighbors would have viewed his insistence on belief in a personal Creator God.

At times, you would almost believe that Cahill was a believer. He seems at times, to have great respect for God. However, he shows no great appreciation for the Biblical record, and thereby blows his "cover" in my mind. This man is no believer. He honors his own intellect above any idea of God.

Cahill lost all credibility with me when he said:

It is no longer possible to believe that every word of the Bible was inspired by God. Fundamentalists still do, but they keep usp such self-delusion only by scrupulously avoiding all forms of scientific inquiry. They must also maintain a tight reign on their own senses, for, even without access to modern biblical criticism, any reader might wonder at the patchwork nature of the scriptures, their conflicting norms and judgements, outright contradictions, and bald errors. But even without resorting to modern scientific methodology or noticing what an inconsistent palimpsest the Hebrew Bible can be, we must reject certain parts of the Bible as unworthy of a God we would be willing to believe in.

When you strip away the camoflague, you see that Thomas Cahill, not God, is the final arbiter. God must be judged by the almight Thomas Cahill. The phrase "a God we would be willing to believe in" implies that we are the final judge of all that is right or wrong.

If God is God, then I do not have the right to set standards for Him. I cannot set a certain standard for God and only believe in Him if He performs to a level that meets my satisfaction! If I am the final judge...then I am God. If I am God, then I can cease my search for Him. I have already found him in the mirror!

While Mr. Cahill is a masterful writer, I cannot recommend this book for anyone who truly desires to honor God, or the Biblical record of His work among His people. I can only recommend it to anyone who seeks to have more fuel to fire their belief in "the almighty in the mirror."

All others....move along...there's noting to see here.

Princess Perils for Vanessa Hudgens

2009-08-07T14:41:00.004-04:00

I don't usually pay attention to the scandals that the mass media produce. This time I have to say something. I saw on Twitter a couple of days ago that Vanessa Hudgens was a "trending topic". Trending Topics on Twitter give you an idea of what the users of Twitter are talking about. Sometimes, it is nothing at all, but when a star's name begins to appear, there is usually an event in that person's life that people are talking about and thus the trending topic.

I followed the trending topic to see what the conversation was about and learned that Princess Vanessa has yet another set of risque photos making the rounds of the internet. This happened in 2007, and she promptly apologized for her mistake. It was handily dealt with as a lapse of judgement and Disney didn't even bother slapping her wrist.

From what I've read, Hudgens' lawyers are saying that the new set of photos are from before the first set surfaced on the net. (As if that makes it all better?) The scandals and the reactions of the people around them say a lot about our attitudes toward purity and standards of behavior! It begs the question, "Why?!" Why would she take the pictures? Why would she show anybody else? Why can't Disney react with anything more like guidance? Why is she still a role-model for tweenies?!

I wanted to comment briefly on the "Why did she do it?" question here today. Vanessa Hudgens started acting when she was 8. I am not saying that 8 year olds should not act. I am saying, though, that it is the job of an eight-year-old's parents to keep them grounded in reality. At some point, it became more and more important that Hudgens follow acting. That is when the grounding in reality starts to become more and more important.

I have a lovely 13-year old daughter. She has always been the apple of our eye. From her early days, we have praised her for her intelligence and personality. I never wanted to see her develop the attitude that being pretty is the final measure of a human being. If we are not careful, that is the message we send to kids, and I wonder if that isn't the message that Vanessa Hudgens began to get.

Disney liked her. Zach Efron liked her. The cameras were always rolling. Was that enough? Maybe just a little experiment with the cameraphone. It is a private matter. Nobody will know. *POOF!* Innocence gone.

On the first occasion of pictures finding their way onto the net, her lawyers expressed dismay that a "private matter" was making it into the public arena. Who could control such things?! Well....Vanessa could've controlled the matter. She could have not taken the pictures.

Once upon a time, you had to take pictures on film. You had to have the film developed. You knew that someone handled the photos, and would see them. Now, we think we can take risks that aren't really necessary because, "Nobody will know." Ask Vanessa Hudgens if anybody knows about the photos she took in private.

I am writing this post for parents. Teach your kids values that will keep some degree of purity as a characteristic of their lives! If anybody has a problem with that word "purity" showing up multiple times in this post...then we really ARE in trouble!

Book Review: DEATH by Meeting

2009-08-02T21:22:00.003-04:00

I have decided to try to do a review of the books I read, so you can get a preview of some of the things I read. I hope you find this useful. I will start with a book I just finished, and in a couple of days, I will do a review of a book I finished about a week ago. "DEATH by Meeting", I really enjoyed and think it will be a very useful book to anyone who has to run meetings in their work. The next book I review will be one I loved to hate for most of my reading of it. :-)

"DEATH by Meeting" is by Patrick Lencioni, and is written in the form of a "fable" to teach a new concept. For that reason, it is actually a pretty light read. If you are one who skips to the end to decide if they will like the book or not, you will get a complete misconception, since Lencioni recaps some of the key concepts taught by the fable in a couple of chapters at the end.

I won't steal any thunder from the book by telling any more details that to say that Lencioni advocates through the story, the idea of doing your meeting "on purpose". Don't expect one kind of meeting to be a "one-size-fits-all" affair. Conflict, drama and context are your friends in getting vital information onto the table in your meetings.

Lencioni's protagonist in the fable gets the executives to understand that the first 10 minutes of any meeting, like in a movie, will set the stage for the rest of the movie, and will probably determine whether people are engaged or bored by the rest of the piece. Meetings are no different.

The idea of doing meetings in varied ways to match the topic and purpose should NOT be news to any of us, but the fact is that in MOST organizations, a meeting is a meeting is a meeting. They are all the same and most of the participants would give their left arm to have an acceptable excuse to miss the meeting. Lencioni crafts a wonderful story to help executives grapple with some concepts that will help protect their organization from "DEATH by Meeting". I would encourage anyone who needs to run meetings in their role in their organization to read this book and implement as much as possible. It is a good read and makes some excellent points!

As a final point, I would say that my wife commented on the speed with which I finished this book... I usually plod carefully through non-fiction to make sure I get the point. Since Lencioni wrote this like a well-lubed work of fiction, I flew through it and couldn't get enough! :-)

Flag Burning in Virginia!!

2009-06-23T16:01:00.005-04:00

This post was pre-written and I waited until I received Erika's permission before posting it, out of respect for her journey.

Americans have traditionally held a high degree of respect for the flag. It is not, as my daughter lamented recently, "just a piece of cloth". In her defense, I have to remind you that she has only lived as anything other than a visitor in the US for about 18 months. You've got to remember that she is culturally more Australian than she is American. We moved to Australia when she was 3 years old and left Oz when she was nearly 12 years old. Perhaps to the same degree that Americans are overly patriotic, Australians struggle to have a national identity at times. I think Erika is working through the struggles of trying to bridge BOTH of those mindsets!

Yesterday, we visited a camp owned by the Woodmen of the World Insurance Company, during a "Family Fun Day". Evan is going to go to a week of camp there with a buddy from church, so we wanted to check it out. Woodmen of the World is a fairly conservative, VERY patriotic company, so part of the event was an official retirement ceremony for a flag that had become old and tattered.

For those that may be unfamiliar with the etiquette surrounding the US flag, it is pretty specific. At no point is the flag supposed to touch the ground. There are specific ways that the flag may and may not be displayed. An upside-down flag is a sign of distress and a request for assistance. One way that etiquette is commonly transgressed of late is that a flag is not supposed to be made into an article of clothing. And perhaps more important, a tattered, faded flag is to be retired and should not continue to be displayed. ...and there is a very intricate, specific way for the flag to be retired.

I never knew what a flag retirement ceremony was like. I found it so intriguing that I thought I'd write about it here for your interest and enlightenment. The retirement ceremony we observed was carried out by U.S. Army personnel. The first thing that was done in the retirement ceremony was that the field of stars was removed by cutting it out, intact with scissors. This field was then folded and placed in the hand of one of the soldiers holding the flag. With this done, they proceeded to cut out each of the red and white stripes, folding them in half and draping them over the soldier's arm. When the process was complete, they burned the stripes, in groups of 2 or 3 and then, after a kiss by the soldier who was holding the pieces to the field of stars, it too was burned.

It is meaningful that the field of stars never gets cut into pieces. I think it represents unity of the 50 states of the Union that is the United States of America. Each of the 13 stripes of the flag represents one of the original colonies of the birth process of our union. They chose INDIVIDUALLY to become a part of the Union. (These are my personal commentary, and not the official "dogma" of the Flag Retirement Ceremony.)

On the way home, Erika asked why there was such reverence given to the flag. She felt that maybe they were giving a level of reverence to a "piece of cloth" that should be reserved only for God. I hope we did a good enough job of being sensitive to the journey she is on, and also challenging her to think beyond the symbol and reflect on the importance of the object of the symbolism. I found it very moving to spend the amount of effort that was spent to honor a symbol of our unity and a symbol of the freedoms that were bought with the price of much blood and many lives. If you have a chance to attend a Flag Retirement Ceremony, I highly encourage you to do so.

RANT: TSA and Level Orange

2009-06-23T14:50:00.002-04:00

Note: This blog post was originally written several weeks ago while I was on a plane, but the sentiment hasn’t changed much since I wrote it.

If you have ever talked to me about travel, you know that I don't really like the TSA much. Understand me, though - I am very happy to be secure. I do not want a repeat of the events of September 11, 2001! However, the aspect that frustrates me is the willingness our government has to pay whatever expense to set up this vast bureaucracy whether the policies are effective or not.

I am writing this on an Airtran flight from Richmond, VA to Atlanta, GA. At the "sleepy" little airport in Richmond, I showed my photo ID to prove that I was the person who was ticketed to fly on this flight. They I submitted all my articles I was carrying to be inspected and walked through a metal detector. OK. I think we're safe now.

When I got to my gate lounge, I noticed 3 TSA personnel standing around...waiting. "Oh now," I thought, "why are they here?" Well, everyone who was at that gate lounge had just walked through the same procedures I had undergone and were sufficiently screened 30 minutes earlier or they couldn't be there. Two of the agents checked all the IDs of people again as they got on the plane. One just stood and watched. I turned to a fellow traveller and said, "Your tax dollars at work!" :-)

If one security screening is not sufficient, will another make us any more secure? We have air marshals aboard most airline flights these days. Maybe we should have a TSA person on flights to check IDs enroute as well?

We are on Orange Alert in the United States, and have been since August 10, 2006 without any specific threats indicated to justify the heightened level of “alert”. In reality, I think we are not all that alert anyway. Remaining on such high levels of “alert” for extended periods tends to fatigue the system.

Does it occur to anyone else that maybe we have let fear rule the day, and in a small way the terrorist are winning? Again, I am glad that we haven't experienced any further attacks, and some have been thwarted. I just doubt that we have to surrender ALL of our freedoms to live in security. I for one would like to see us go back to at least Alert LEVEL YELLOW unless there is some actual threat that justifies the current heightened level of alert.

Postlogue: Funny reminder when I had dinner in the airport in Atlanta and was given a metal fork and a plastic knife. I feel more secure now since I can’t stab my steak with a metal knife. :-)

Unfaithful Blogger

2009-04-30T20:47:00.003-04:00

I just looked at my archives and realized that I have not been particularly faithful to blogging for the last few months. It can get tricky sometimes keeping track of all the options for communication. Some of the options are so similar, I sometimes blur the lines a bit.

Let's see....there's Twitter, there's Facebook, there's my blog, there's e-mail updates, there's Skype...the list seems endless. Each serves its purpose, but at times I think there might be just too many options. Each comes with its own set of expectations, and something has to give. Hmm...did I mention face-to-face communication, telephones, letters...etc...? I think that is probably what suffers. As we develop the habits of virtual communication, we need to make sure we retain the connections that I like to call "analog" (as opposed to digital).

Do you ever struggle to keep up with your communication? What do you do to keep the tensions in check?

Encounter on a plane

2009-04-22T21:52:00.006-04:00

I flew to Orlando Sunday evening. Most of my trips, I am able to get a non-stop flight, but in this instance, I had to fly via Atlanta. If you know anything about Atlanta airport, you know it is a nice airport, but still not a place you want to go if you don't have to.

There had been some storms earlier in the day and I counted about 40 airplanes waiting to take off on two of the runways as we landed. When an airport as busy as Atlanta has storm issue, it can have a real "domino effect" and mess up your plans. Sunday was no exception.

When I arrived in Atlanta, I made a neat connection with a family that had been on my incoming flight. We looked at the monitor and found that our flight to Orlando was delayed by 2 1/2 hours. Not good news. We looked into what options might exist, but gave up and went our separate ways to get some dinner.

When I came back from dinner, I went to customer service and learned that I could get a slightly earlier flight, so I booked on it. I got a seat near the front, and ended up between a friendly off-duty flight attendant going home, and another weary traveller bound for Orlando.

I had one chapter left to read in "The Shack" so I pulled it out to finish it. When the "weary traveler" next to me saw it, she said, "Hey! My mom gave me a copy of that book this weekend! What is it like?" From what I had discerned from conversations to that point, I sensed she probably wasn't an active follower of Jesus. I was glad she had been given a copy of the book. I told her it was a book to stimulate your thinking about God and what He is like. "Oh, I think about that often already..."

After some mental wrestling with myself, I pulled out my card at the end of the flight to give it to her and she said, "Oh! I'm glad for that...I was going to ask you for one!" We agreed to talk after she had read the book. I look forward to seeing where our conversations go.

I find that, in air travel, there are those who want to chat, and those who want to be left alone. Have you ever had a meaningful on a plane trip? I'd love to hear about it!

Obama, ideology and life...

2009-03-11T09:54:00.006-04:00

President Barack Hussein Obama signed an executive order lifting restrictions on Embryonic Stem Cell Research. It has been interesting to read the media's descriptions of the event. The National Post put it this way:

To wild applause from several scientists, including three Nobel laureates, researchers, people in wheelchairs and members of Congress, Mr. Obama signed an executive order reversing a decision made by president George W. Bush that restricted federal research funding to only stem cell lines that existed before Aug. 9, 2001. Mr. Obama said the policy was driven by ideology and not science.

But there was fierce criticism from social conservatives and right-to-life groups. U. S. Catholic Cardinal Justin Rigali called Mr. Obama's announcement "a sad victory of politics over science and ethics."

Both sides see this as a very black and white issue. Most of the media tend to use words that make it appear that embryonic stem cell research was illegal in the United States prior to this executive order. Mr. Obama took advantage of the opportunity to proclaim that ideology can no longer trump science.

On January 23rd, just 3 days after his inauguration as President, Mr. Obama quietly removed a ban on U.S. Federal funds being used to fund international aid for organizations that fund abortions in developing nations. It must have been a high priority for him to take this step so early in his Presidency.

No, these decisions do not end and era where "ideology trumps science". They herald the beginning of a new era of ideology trumping all things. (It ceases to amaze me that during times of such economic difficulty, Mr. Obama's budget included over 600 billion dollars for a "downpayment" on Universal Healthcare!) The real question for me is this: "When did ideology become bad?" I don't like the idea of someone's will being imposed upon the people, but I feel like that is what is happening NOW, during this period when supposedly ideology is not a trump card!

I have an ideology. It isn't my own. It was written for me and "imposed" on me by the will of Another. Have a read. I take refuge in THIS ideology!

Psalm 2

1) Why do the nations conspireand the peoples plot in vain?
(2) The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.
(3) Let us break their chains, they say, and throw off their fetters.

(4) The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.
(5) Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
(6) I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.

(7) I will proclaim the decree of the LORD:
He said to me, You are my Son; today I have become your Father.
(8) Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
(9) You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.

(10) Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.
(11) Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.
(12) Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

It would be easy to be taken up with all kinds of irritation and frustration and I admit I am prone to that! It is a healing balm to stop and remember that God is still on the throne! He may allow us to trounce around on the stage for a time, but He is still in charge and will have His say. Count on it!

How about you? Do you tend to get taken in and begin to "fret" (a good King James word that my grandmother used to use. grin) when you see the things that take place in the world around you? Fret not! God is still on His throne!

What does partnership look like?

2009-03-03T12:46:00.005-05:00

(This post is the text of an e-mail we sent to our distribution list earlier today...)

We have enjoyed the beauty of snow for the last couple of days, and Evan has worn a path down the hills in our yard with his sled. Smoky, our little black puppy has romped, and played and bitten all the snow he can get his teeth on. I have spent some time meditating on just what it means for our sins, as red as crimson to be as WHITE as snow! Wow. God is good!

I often think that a lot of people have a difficult time putting an image to the things that I say I do in my role as a “Church Partnerships Advocate”. My team has boiled it down to a phrase that might help: “Cultivating partnership to reach forgotten peoples” but for some that would be equally ethereal. I have decided to write some anecdotes as they happen, to help you get an insight into what it is that God is doing through my ministry here.

Last week, I had lunch with a missions pastor from a church in Northern Virginia. We had met some months ago at a conference in Maryland, and he had expressed some frustration with the “partnership” that we had with his church. He said, “We talk about partnership, but I don’t even feel like we have a relationship!” at one point. I agreed, and we both heaped the blame on ourselves. I decided I was going to do what I could to make the relationship a reality.

I called and left a voice message. I e-mailed several times. I called again. I looked up another e-mail address on his church’s website. It took some perseverance to get this relationship “jump-started”. Finally, he wrote back. I told him that I would like to drive up and have lunch with him when it was possible. He suggested a date, which turned out to be last Thursday.

We met and had a nice lunch as we got to know each other. At some point in our conversation, I said that before I left that day, I would really like to hear his image of what our partnership should look like. Our conversation quickly turned to the 2 missionary couples they have in Central Asia that have been sent from their church. Then it narrowed in focus to his concern for the wellbeing of one of the couples. He felt that the church hadn’t done a sufficient job of caring for them in recent days.

Interestingly, I had talked to our Member Care Director several months ago about that very couple. She was concerned that we needed to do more in caring for some special needs they had. I was able to share with this missions pastor, how we shared his concerns. We made a plan to meet to discuss the needs with me, the Member Care Director and him around the table together to formulate a plan to do a better job from all sides to care more fully for this family.

I felt tingles up and down my spine as I felt like I was seeing God’s care for this family unfolding before my eyes. He was using me. He was using this pastor and their church. He was going to use Pioneers as well. I found myself thinking, “Now THIS is what partnership should look like.” This church probably doesn’t have all that much expertise in caring for their people in Central Asia. But they are the body that God used to send this family to that place. They have a role to play. We each have a role to play.

I believe that, but for this kind of care – from all who have such a role in their lives – this family would have to cut their time in Central Asia short because of some of the issues they are facing. (Their issues are not marital, moral…etc…more to do with ministry transition and educational issues.) However, given a concerted effort to help them walk this stretch of road, I believe they will continue to serve faithfully for years to come.

Please pray for our meeting next month, that we will understand the best way to care for this family so they can have a fruitful ministry for years to come in Central Asia! …and pray for me that I will see more opportunities to develop relationships that will have this kind of impact…for the sake of unreached people!

A Bible for Rodney

2009-02-27T10:11:00.003-05:00

"Boomer in the Pew" is getting older, I hear. And to celebrate his birthday, he is giving away the ultimate gift...God's Word! Although I'd love to win it myself, I would get more joy out of continuing the gift by passing it on to Rodney. Wanna join in the fun? Add a post that links to "Boomer in the Pew" 's gift post, like I have done and you have entered the contest.

Thanks for giving "Boomer" and Rodney....here's a shout out to you from the "other side"! :-)

Equal time for the opposition

2009-02-22T17:07:00.002-05:00

Well...I wrote a post earlier about Senator Mark Warner's response to a letter I wrote, so I should allow equal time for the opposition, right?? I had written to Eric Cantor, my Representative at the same time. His response took longer to arrive. There is a reason for that.

On both of the matters that I wrote about, Senator Warner wrote back to me, implying that we were diametrically opposed on the issues at hand, but he really valued my opinion. One letter "preached" to me a bit about compromise. I was not impressed.

Eric Cantor, on the other hand, wrote a real, old-fashioned, do-you-remember-when-back-in-the-good-ole-days PAPER and thanked me for expressing my opinion. On both accounts, he expressed views that aligned with my thinking. (And that makes him correct, RIGHT?!) On both accounts, he assured me that he would do all he could to see that inappropriate laws would not be passed.

When Senator Warner wrote to me, I felt like I was being lectured to about why I should take a different stand, and that he didn't really read what I wrote, but that he appreciated my opinions nonetheless. When Rep. Cantor wrote to me, I had the sense that he actually paid attention to my view and responded to the things I had written.

Phew, I am glad I voted the way I did! :-)

Penn Jillette gets a Bible

2009-02-18T21:55:00.003-05:00

My friend Max called my attention to this video by Penn Jillette, of "Penn & Teller" fame. It can say a lot to us about our attitude towards people.

Watch that e-mail, watch what you forward

2009-02-18T11:01:00.003-05:00

I read an interesting article in Christianity Today and it hit a nerve for me. Our actions in the e-mail world probably don't match our actions in the real world. The things we say in an e-mail, we may never in person. It is just so easy to click "Send". Some people forward every little thing without thinking twice. I used to reply to forwarded e-mails with a tearjerker of a story by replying, "Yes, thanks, I'm doing well, how are you these days?" because they seldom bothered to talk about anything related to me or themselves.

However, this story is about something much more hurtful than having to click delete, or having to reply and say, "No Madeline Murray O'Hare isn't trying to get James Dobson off the air..." This couple had to face a court trial, a conviction and now a fine an jail time! All because somebody decided to take matters into their own hands and "help".

After you've read the story, perhaps you'll agree that the mission workers in the story had a bit of culpability in the "poor choice of words" department. Perhaps you'll agree that the person who forwarded the e-mail had a significant degree of culpability as well. Perhaps you will feel the government is over-reacting. If so, you might be missing the most important point -- "What do I do with e-mail?"

As the article points out, information that is shared with you is shared with YOU -- not with everyone in your Address Book. We have to be discreet in the way we handle information. I have known of several people who worked in locations that required they use a lot of discretion in how they talked about their work. They felt safe in talking to churches in their home country, and the church naively put their prayer letters on their website, with their name and picture as well.

Why is that so bad? Well, a hostile government official cannot do a keyword search from his desk on printed prayer letters, the e-mail in a churches inbox, or telephone conversations. He can do a keyword search from his desk and find the letter when the church has posted his letter on their website!

Many churches also list their missionaries' e-mail addresses in plain text on their website, so members can write to the missionaries. This is not the best idea, but not because of hostile governments. In this scenario, the "bad guy" is the spammer who scoops up the address with a little piece of software that scours the web looking for just such a thing. Soon, the workers' inboxes are full of invitations to buy medications they never thought they needed...

Christian workers are supposed to put their trust in God to look after them. This is right and true. However, it would help them a lot of their brothers and sisters would slow down, take a minute and ask their opinion before sharing sensitive information...even if they do it for all the right reasons with a good heart.

Christian workers should also ask God to "set a watch over my lips" so that they don't leave themselves open and vulnerable by words mis-spoken. This couple are paying a very dear price for a mere joke in an e-mail! It was only a lighthearted moment, but it has come back to haunt them now.

God will look after you. He will meet your needs. He will protect you from harm. He wouldn't mind if we joined in the effort with Him, though!

How much is a TRILLION anyway?

2009-02-12T22:15:00.003-05:00

My team leader said today that he had heard a politician say an interesting concepts of how much a trillion dollars is. He said you could give away a million dollars a day from the day Jesus was born and STILL not have used up a trillion dollars. Wow.

Putting aside all implications of bi-partisanship, take a trip over to "Freedom's Lighthouse", a VERY conservative website for a look at CNN's (a very liberal network!) coverage of the concept of a trillion dollars.

Wow....that is two posts in one day by Greg! A record, I reckon!

To: Greg From: donotreply@warner.senate.gov

2009-02-12T21:13:00.002-05:00

What does it mean when your Senator writes to you from a "donotreply" e-mail address? Do you think maybe it means "DO NOT REPLY"? Well that is the message that I get. "Thank you for expressing your opinion. Now, please take your puny little ideas and go away."

I wrote to the Senator that was chosen for me recently. (That is my attempt to avoid calling him "my" Senator!) I told him that I was concerned about the Economic Stimulus plan and that I was particularly concerned about a specific clause in the miniscule print that said NONE of the money from the stimulus package could be used on buildings that were used significantly for "sectarian education". Religious ideas are no longer allowed in the public arena.

I would counsel ANY Christian institution to NOT accept the government's money. However, this didn't apply only to religious institutions. It applied to ANY building on ANY campus that receives money from the stimulus package, if that building is used often for "sectarian education". Enough said about that. What bugs me is Mr. Mark Warner's reply.

In the second paragraph of the response, I was informed that:

On February 10, 2009, I joined a majority of the Senate in approving a bipartisan compromise to restart the economy through a responsible mix of tax cuts and investments that will create jobs.

Did you notice that little "bipartisan" word nestled comfortably in that sentence?! What does HE think bi-partisan means? The compromise agreement narrowly passed, with only three Republicans signing on to the plan. There were a good number who were crying foul that they weren't allowed to be involved in hashing out the details of the compromise since they weren't in the right party.

Well, I suppose Mr. Warner did the right thing to use a "donotreply" address when he wrote to me. I doubt he wants to hear what I have to say. I doubt that he even cares.

I wrote to him to express my concern of the Economic Stimulus Plan and he drops a bombshell near the end of his e-mail. It says:

The Recovery and Reinvestment Act is but one component of a three-part plan to restore our economy. We still have important work to do to address the foreclosure crisis and shore-up the real estate market and we also must take steps to repair our banking system so that credit will begin flowing again to consumers and small businesses.

Again, thank you for your input. As we move forward in the 111^thCongress, please continue to be in touch with your opinions and concerns.

What?! You want to apply your sovereign expertise in those areas too? I am not surprised, but I am a bit shell-shocked. ...and sticker-shocked! What will this end up costing me in the end?

I like the closing: "...continue to be in touch..."

But DO NOT REPLY!

I get the message, Mr. Warner.

The Gallup Poll of Assigned Opinion

2009-02-07T22:20:00.003-05:00

Have you ever answered an official opinion poll? We got a call a couple of days ago from the Gallup Association -- famous for their polls of public opinion. I have been able to take part in several opinion polls from various organizations through the years. They usually ask several questions that are "throwaway" questions, for the purpose of preparing you to answer the way that is desired. I always enjoy having the opportunity to "skew" the number a bit with my strange take on things. I am convinced that most surveys come to the very conclusions they set out to prove. This one was no different.

When they called, they said that they needed to interview the person in the household with the most recent birthday. They said the survey was about healthcare and a little about politics. Brenda's birthday is 7 days after mine so I couldn't do the survey. Hmph!

Well, Brenda took the survey. There were lots of topics covered, but when she was done I asked her what the real question was. She wasn't sure, but I had noticed she was frustrated with the multiple choice answers to one of the questions. I asked her what that question was. She said it was, "How important do you rate the economic stimulus package?" She was frustrated because she wanted to say, "I don't think it is the right thing to do!" but the closest option was, "Important, but not urgent." BINGO. I think that was the core question.

The Gallup Association is widely respected. Their polls are quoted as valid measures of the opinion of the public. However, they are carefully worded, multiple choice options at best. At worst, they manipulatively "corral" you into the answers they want to show up on the poll results! If you really want to know my opinion about the Economic Stimulus Package that my hopelessly in debt Federal Government wants to send me the $800 billion+ bill for, then -- for goodness sake -- give me the option to speak my opinion!

Hey, anybody want to do an opinion poll about the quality of opinion polls? Pick me! Pick me!

Encounter w/ a hacker...

2009-02-06T09:32:00.002-05:00

I had a new, wierd experience yesterday. I was sitting at my computer chatting on Skype with a co-worker in Kenya when a friend in Japan popped up in a chat window to as a question. This is not new. I often have chat windows open with people from various countries chatting. The next one was the wierd one...

I had Facebook open as well, and a "friend" (my cousin) popped up in a chat window and asked if I could help her. "Sure." She said that she was stuck in W. Africa. Huh?! I have traveled around the globe a bit, but this cousin doesn't tend to show up in W. Africa on a regular basis. I figured she was playing a word, or maybe including me in her experience of some role-play game, and would explain soon. ...so I played along.

Next she says that she's been robbed and wants me to help her. Still chatting away with Japan and Kenya, I say, "Sure, what can I do for you." "Can you send me $700 to help get me out of here? STILL playing along, I said, "What do you need that for, booze and cigarettes?" She doesn't touch either, so I thought she'd see the humor and come to the table with some explanation.

"I already told you I was robbed and need the money to get home." And now, I started to pay more attention to the situation. I picked up the phone and called my cousin. Seeing my number on caller ID, she says, "Yeah, I know. I've been hacked." I told her I was chatting with the hacker and would keep him busy for a while, so he couldn't hurt anybody else.

I chatted with him (while still mainly focusing on my discussion with my co-worker in Africa) for 20 or 30 minutes, keeping him busy explaining to me how to use Western Union...etc...and allaying my "fears" of sending money that I am not sure will get to my cousin. After a while, HE started to get suspicious, so I told him I knew for most of our chat that he was not legit. Then he started to brag about his abilities as a hacker.

When I asked him if he ever felt guilty, he started using foul language and turned on me. "I am a good harker. Your account is next. If you are harked two day be suprised!" At this point, I changed my password to something like, "Mickey Mouse Loves Minne4 Mouse and lives at 123 Elm St., New York N3w 40rk!!" and told him to hack away!

I was really tired at the end of the day...partly because of adreneline and partly because I worry if he really knows where Mickey Mouse lives! Enquiring minds want to know!

This morning, I went to Facebook....to see if I am still there....and the chat window popped up:

Harker: "Hi Greg, are you there?"
Greg: "I am here. Are you there?"
Harker: "OK"
Harker: "What are you saying about this account"

.......SILENCE......Offline.

Umm...I thought this was a non-smoking flight!

2009-01-09T17:49:00.005-05:00

Well, I had a new experience at the airport last Sunday. An evacuation. That sounds all dramatic and everything, but I guess it was considered that.

All passengers were onboard and the entry door was closed. The captain was making announcements about flight time and such as they were cranking up the A/C. I have flown a LOT of times and I am kind of used to the smell of fuel as the Auxillary Power Unit is first cranked up. I am used to a bit of steam vapor coming in the plane as the temperature begins to cool down. This was not that simple. It was smoke.

It started as a trickle and I figured it would clear up pretty quickly, but it just kept getting worse. Soon the pilot came over the PA system and asked people to calmly leave the plane. "Leave all your belongings and simply calmly exit the plane, please." For the most part, everyone was calm and didn't get too irate as they realized they were now in for a significant delay.

The airline offered a free round trip ticket to anyone who would volunteer to take the same flight the next day. Many of the less patient people jumped on that....then I heard one of them complaining, "What do they expect us to do, spend the night in the airport?!" I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, "They don't expect you to do anything except show up for your re-scheduled flight tomorrow! Get a grip dude, they just gave you a free round-trip ticket!"

I actually enjoyed the comaraderie that began to develop among some of the more patient passengers as we stood and talked about our options. The staff handled it really well and no tempers seemed to suffer significantly. (Even when I asked if I could arrange to get a Non-smoking seat on the next flight!) The crew cleared the smoke from the plane, allowed everybody to get their belongings off the plane and then tested the systems to see if maybe we could go after all. No such luck.

We spent 6 hours in the airport and finally the "12:00 noon departure" actually happened around 6 p.m. and we got to Orlando in very good time. The pilot made up as much as he could on the way down and made the 2 hour flight in less than an hour and a half. I only missed one of my scheduled meetings and was able to reschedule that one for another slot the next day, so all in all, I was out 6 hours and gained a $75 credit for my next flight with the airline. ...and I got some reading done in the interim. :-)

When I got back home, Brenda said my parents had seen my flight discussed on the evening news. I guess there wasn't a lot of news in Richmond that day! The "story" is here. In what I consider to be an ironic twist, while there were no injuries, it was a flight attendant that had to be taken off the plane in a stretcher by emergency because of breathing difficulty. I thought she looked a bit on the panic-stricken side when I left the plane.

God's way is.....HUH?!

2008-11-05T11:15:00.005-05:00

(I will not begin with lame excuses or apologies for not writing more. We moved in on September 11th, 2008 and are still working to get settled, but enjoying it. )

Well, yesterday was "Decision Day 2008" for the citizens of the USA. Time to elect a new President. Apparently there were more people who turned out to vote this year than at any time prior, and the percentage of registered voters was higher than virtually any time this century. Apparently some people felt a sense of urgency in the air!

My parents went to vote in our little country polling place and had to wait an hour and a half to get to the voting booth. That was another first. In the past...well...you'd have to get into a deep conversation with the staff in order to have a reason to stay so long. It wouldn't be so odd to get in a deep conversation with the staff because they were always friends and/or relationships....remember I said "rural" and I meant "RURAL"! :-) Some friends in Florida said they had to wait over two hours to vote. Apparently Florida, embarassed about the "hanging chads" of a certain prior election, Florida now has ballots that you fill in and put into a scanner to be electronically read. If you can't figure out how to use a punch ballot, surely you won't be able to run a scanner! hehehe That seemed to be the issue causing such a long wait for my friends. People couldn't get the scanner to accept their ballots.

(As for us rednecks in Virginia...well...how much can you mess up a touchscreen? I'll have to admit that while I was there, they had a slight fiasco when somebody walked away without pushing the "enter" button to tally their vote...)

At any rate...I was headed down the road yesterday and next door to a polling place, I saw the sign at the top of this post. "Gods way is americas way!" I am not quite sure what the message means, but I am assuming it had something to do with the author's preferred candidate. ...hmm...which candidate DIDN'T have God on his side? I thought they both tried to drag him into their camp... Hmm....maybe time will tell. It usually does.

Sorry...I've been absent!

2008-08-19T16:03:00.013-04:00

Well, Rodney scolded me for not giving more updates on our house, but I've been working on the details trying to get it FINISHED and that has taken all my discretionary time. We are almost there, and I'll give a more up-to-date report soon. I wanted to give you an update in preparation for that forthcoming update, so you can be more in the loop when I make it more current...

How much can you accomplish in 3 days? The following photos are a few of the HUNDREDS that my kids took over the 3-day span that they represent.

DAY 1

First of all, you need to know that the basement was already dug and the basement walls were set a couple of weeks in advance. Secondly, you need to know that the house itself arrived in two pieces on two trucks, and the pieces were "set" with a crane.

The halves were set on the basement walls under Brenda's watchful eye.

These guys did a GREAT job of making sure it was all right and in place properly. They certainly wouldn't settle for "almost". They made sure it was right before they let the crane driver set it down and call it "done".

DAY 2

Early on the second day, there were about 8 guys running around on the roof like ants! They quickly attached three dormers (small roof section with a window attached) and got ready to raise the roof.

Once the dormers were attached, it was time to raise the roof! At this point, Evan was quite excited, and yelled, "NOW it looks like a Cape Cod!" He had been waiting for this moment!

In this photo, the roofing crew is bracing the roof up. The horizontal boards you see here are nailed into place and they become the basis for the interior walls in the kids' bedrooms.

We are nearly there now! Both sides are raised, but I think there are still some leaky spots in the roof. :-0

At the end of Day 2, it is looking a lot more like a house! It is amazing how much can be done in a couple of days. On Day 3, they finished the roof, and some other aspects to make it fully weatherproof.

The job isn't yet done, but you are now much more up to date on this whole process. I will bring your up to the most recent progress in my next update, but suffice it to say that we are just a couple of weeks from our final inspection and having the "right" to move in! We are getting excited!

"Do they deliver houses where you are??"

2008-05-05T22:07:00.004-04:00

Well, I wrote somewhere that it was only two weeks until our house would be delivered. Ahem...that was a MONTH ago! Hmmm....

Anyway, I was in town today (town is about 30 minutes away) and came back by our property. Guess what I saw?! You can see it here too!! There is a crane there, sitting ready to set our basement walls, and we are STARTING to get excited again.

Several people had the sense that I was confusing houses and pizza! "Greg, they deliver PIZZA. They build houses!" Yeah, I know. It sounds wierd, but if you haven't ever read about modular homes, you should have a look on the net and see the benefits of building a modular home. I HOPE that maybe I can post pictures tomorrow, of a completed set of basement walls and MAYBE the outside of our house...if they deliver (yes deliver) the house tomorrow! WooHoo! Starting to get excited! :-)

He's ba~~~~ack.....

2008-04-04T21:05:00.002-04:00

OK...so that's is a quote that many may not remember. It comes from a 70's horror movie. ....AHEM....."You had to be there..."

No, seriously, I wanted to preface what I am about to write by saying that we have been really busy with a MAJOR international move, and resettling, so I have been "out of the loop" for quite a while. Here is an update that we sent by e-mail last night, that will fill in some of the blanks. Wanna know more? Ask!

...and I quote:

Greetings!
We wanted to take some time and share with you some of what we have been thinking of late, and where we are at this stage in our journey. Please take a minute to read this and stay in touch with where we are. The theme for this update will be "TRANSITIONS..."

All of our belongings were packed into a 20 ft. container in Perth and shipped to Norfolk. Here, the kids are saying goodbye to their stuff!

We visited Sydney and friends in the area a couple of weeks before we left Australia. Here we are seen standing near the Opera House, with the Harbour Bridge in the background.

After Sydney, we drove to Melbourne (via Canberra -- can't leave Oz without visiting the War Memorial and Parliament House, can we?) In Melbourne, visited the Pioneers of Australia office and also caught up with a number of good friends there.

Once back in Perth, we stayed with some good friends for the few days before our flight from Oz, via KL, to Japan, then the US. Here, I am in Perth at Douglas and Ming Ming's, and Douglas and I are having a "chat". (Not REALLY, of course!)

On the way back to the USA, we stopped in Japan for a few days. Here Brenda catches up with a very good friend in Shimonoseki after many years. Our daughters also made a special connection!

Once we got to Virginia, the kids were ready to see some SNOW! Thankfully, there was a LITTLE...

Erika is good friends with the camera...(Like her camo jacket she bought at a discount store in Japan?)

TRANSITIONS

GEOGRAPHICAL TRANSITION

Our transition out of Australia, and back to the U.S. for a season has been an interesting time for us. We knew that a transition back "home" is always something that cross-cultural workers struggle with. However, we had not realized how complex this move would be. God has blessed, and we have managed well, but it hasn't all been easy. We would appreciated your prayers as we continue to "re-learn" how to live in America.

A CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

Part of our desire for this phase is to build a house that will add another layer of stability for our family. Specialists say that "Missionary Kids" (and other TCKs if you know that phrase) succeed much better in later life if they have enjoyed the stability of knowing where their "roots" are, and have a place that they can consider "home" even as they live on another part of the globe. Since our kids (and their parents, of course) are getting older, and we have always been renters, we have decided - after prayer and consideration - to "take the plunge" and build a house. This has been a significant challenge as we are trying to do as much as possible ourselves, and save money. This does not signal our intention to live in the U.S.A. for the long term. Rather, it is a part of our strategy to build a plan for our future, and to consider the needs of our children at this stage. We would love to think that God will allow us to return to service on a foreign field in the near future, and this is just an interim assignment. At this stage we cannot discern His longer term plan. Please pray for the myriad details surrounding this important construction project. (UPDATE! I got a call today, 4 April, saying that the house will be delivered on the 23rd!!)

A NEW ROLE FOR GREG

After the family is well settled, and we have visited most of our churches, Greg will, Lord willing, be taking on a new role with Pioneers. He has been asked to join the Church Partnerships Team. In his new role, he will be able to work from Virginia, and will see a long-time desire fulfilled. He has long wished he could encourage and impact a wider circle of churches in their involvement in the Great Commission. His new role on the Church Partnerships Team will give him a much wider circle of churches that he will be able to assist and encourage in their work for the sake of the Gospel around the world. He will be connecting by e-mail, phone and in person with many churches who are partnering with Pioneers in sending and supporting missionaries. The idea is that churches will be challenged and encouraged to take an increasingly active role in their partnership with Pioneers for the sake of the harvest. Please pray for wisdom as Greg approaches this, yet another transition.

THANK YOU

We would like to take this opportunity to, once again, say "THANK YOU!" to all of you who faithfully pray and those who also faithfully give financially to see this work go forward. Without your partnership, we could not do the work that we do. As we approach a new role, we will continue to seek God's provision for our daily needs. He is faithful! While there have been times when our pledged support was well below what we needed to meet our requirements, we have never lacked what was required each month. At times, we have been astounded by unexpected gifts that have arrived "out of the blue" to fill a gap. Please pray with us that God will continue to supply our financial needs so that we can continue to do the work that He has called us to do.

If you are a financial donor, you may continue to send your gifts to Pioneers and they will go to our account. If you are NOT a financial supporter, and would like to do so, you can send gifts to: Pioneers, 10123 William Carey Dr., Orlando, FL 32832. Attach a note to your gift specifying that it is for Greg & Brenda Fletcher, and it will get to the right place. After your first gift, you should receive a remittance slip each month to send with your gift.

If you have any questions about our transitions, please write and let us know. Please know that we would also like to hear how things are progressing in your life. Please take a moment to jot us a note. We'd LOVE to hear from you!

CONTACT DETAILS

We will be making contact with all of our churches in the coming days, if we haven't already. If you would like us to visit your church, small group or your family, let us know, and we'll do our best to make it so!

Address:

Greg & Brenda Fletcher
9513 Lawyers Rd.
Spotsylvania, VA 22553

Phone:

Greg's cell - 540 845 5577
Brenda's cell - 540 850 9939

We look forward to hearing from you!

Blessings,

Greg Fletcher, for the family

Young Adults and Word-of-Mouth

2007-09-24T22:28:00.002-04:00

On another blog, I have been musing about word of mouth, young adults and how to promo events. This year, I made a decision to NOT do a print brochure for a young adult event that I have been chairing for a couple of years. It wasn't particularly popular with the Baby Boomers who help to facilitate the event, but I was (and still am) convinced that the cost-to-benefit ratio for a full color glossy brochure just didn't justify the brochure.

Then Michael sent me this post from an unrelated-yet-related blog, with this quote, which was quite insightful:

MySpace is over, it's just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That's how they hear about music, bands, everything."

If the conclusions drawn by these high-powered, high-paid "gurus" is correct, we have some homework to do, in order to understand how to get the "word" out about events for young adults. What do you think is the way to infect the word-of-mouth machine with info about new and upcoming events and the like?

A good belly laugh in the morning....

2007-09-06T20:20:00.001-04:00

Today, I saw a funny YouTube clip that Paul put on his Facebook account. I clicked on one of the related links and got a real belly laugh out of this one! Have a look!

hahahahaha.....I hope you enjoy as much as I did this morning!

Genealogy in the comics!

2007-09-03T23:19:00.002-04:00

Some of you would know that I have Genealogy (Family History) as one of my hobbies. Erika, my 11 year old daughter, has also taken a fair interest in my research as well. A fellow genealogist made note of the above "For Better or Worse" comic strip yesterday. I enjoyed reading it because it reminded me of the enjoyment that Erika and I get out of doing genealogy together. :-)

Like the family in the comic strip, I find that far too often there is more than we can fit in a day. It is really encouraging to have something that Erika joins in with me, and says, "That's OK, Daddy. I've got time."

Nostalgic for WA already -- the mourning process...

2007-09-02T10:32:00.001-04:00

I had my last concert today with A Cappella PRAISE and have started to feel quite nostalgic about our life here. We are mourning the fact that we are going to be leave Western Australia, and it is really coming home to me of late! This morning, at the concert, the Director asked me - on the spot - to introduce a song.

It was "Ride the Morning Winds", and it was fitting that I should introduce the song because of all the upheaval in our lives right now. I cried right through the song, having introduced it based on our situation at present. We have so many things to do before we hand over the keys to our house in late October....so many unknowns, so many goodbyes, so many plans to make....well, it is overwhelming at times. Most times, actually. The song talks about the fact that regardless of WHERE we are or WHAT we are doing, we are not alone, God is there with us. ("I can ride the morning winds and you are there, I can sail the farthest seas and you are there...I can never be lost from you.")

Well, as I said, I was feeling nostalgic, so this evening, I asked the family if they would like to go watch the sunset over the ocean. We rode out to Coogee Beach (the one on the WEST coast, for you Sydney-siders!) and watched the sunset. It was so beautiful, and it is one thing I will DEFINITELY miss! It was neat because Erika -who tends to live in denial at the moment - said, "Can we do this a lot more before we leave?" It was a special time for us, and we look forward to doing it more because we will be HOURS from the coast in Virginia, not minutes! ...and it will be the East Coast too, so we won't get any sunset over the ocean.... I wouldn't say that sunsets over the Blue Ridge mountains aren't spectacular, but we will sure miss the Indian ocean!

An interesting thing happened while we were on the end of the jetty...like the people in the photo. A guy came up from the lower deck to speak to us. He wanted to give us an invitation to his church. I think it is probably the first time we have had that happen in our time in Australia! He was very personable, and didn't shy away at all from the "unique" nature of his church. He talked about the miracles that happened there all the time. The brochure they are handing out is a bit overboard about the supernatural, but I would be interested to know how many people respond positively and end up a part of the church. The guy gave a very positive reflection of the church, I thought. :0)

Who Am I? v.1.0

2007-08-29T10:37:00.002-04:00

OK, I had seen so many other people do it, that I decided to join in. I cruised on over to mypersonality.info and did a personality test. (No! I didn't fail!) The trouble I have with Meyers-Briggs is that, about halfway through, I feel like I want to answer BOTH answers on some of the questions! :-) Ever felt that way? Maybe I am just a confused person...

Kinship Project

2007-08-15T08:32:00.002-04:00

I just finished a kinship project for my Anthropology class. I was to chart my family back at least to my great granparents. Since genealogy is a hobby of mine, it wasn't so much work to come up with the data to work with. The hard part was working within the space constraints that I was allowed. I had to fit the whole chart on a single 81/2 X 11 sheet of paper.

Now...for the clincher. I had never counted the number of my first cousins before. When I finished the chart, I counted the cousins and came up with 53! That is just my 1st Cousins! No wonder it was so hard to fit them all on the page.

Is 53 cousins a lot of cousins? How many do you have?

Mind Dump: 12 August 2007

2007-08-12T20:43:00.002-04:00

Wow. Yesterday was a pretty full day. I spoke at two churches, and facilitated a "Speed Dating" event to help my church get to know the couple who are serious candidates to take the role of Interim Pastor. It was a lot of fun, and I was feeling so good last night, about the way the day had gone that I didn't want to go to bed. :-)

In the morning, I spoke at our church. I spoke on something that runs deep in my veins. Ephesians 2 talks about the work that God does in us to prepare us for the work He wants to do through us. I don't know what everybody else got, but I was quite moved by what the passage had to say! :-)

Charles Dickens penned the words, "Marley was dead; to begin with." as the opening line of "A Christmas Carol". What a funny way to open a novel that will go on to become one of the best known of his writings! A significant character in the drama is dead in the first sentence of the book!

Well....Ephesians 2 opens by saying something very similar. Only the opening line of this chapter is, "You were dead." HUH?! I really enjoy the jolt of the paradoxes that Paul lines up in this chapter. You were dead...but God made you alive. You were an object of wrath....but God loved you so much he showed mercy. You were going in a direction 180 degrees away from God's plan for you.....and he chose YOU as the one to continue His work in the direction He is going! Is that not ironic?! Fun stuff!

God brings stuff across your path that He either plans to use to prepared you for the work you were designed to do, or because it is the work you were designed for in the first place! There is something about being told that God has chosen--in advance--something good for you to do that is quite motivational. Especially when you realize that this means you are a unique part of the work that God is doing in this place. What if you are the ONLY one who could play that role?

Think about Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob...etc... There are times when God seems to be unwise in His choices because He narrows the plan down to the point that it depends on the obedience and faith of ONE person! Awesome thought!

So. That was my topic on Sunday morning.

Immediately after the service, we played A Game Similar to the Game from 'Fill in the Blank Network -- Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". (PHEW! Avoided the copyright infringement issue there....I hope!!!) We had 10 questions. 5 about the couple we were getting to know, and 5 about our church...and we answered them about each other. It was a fun way to approach a serious task. I think it helped to "defuse" the possible tension over the whole matter of finding an Interim. I had fun anyway... :-) (BTW, I found a GREAT Powerpoint Template if anybody needs one for an even, I can give you a pointer to it... )

Sunday afternoon, I crashed for an hour or so, in order to have some of me left for the evening service where I was to speak.

Sunday night, I spoke on Romans 10, at a church where I knew some people, but had never attended. The message was very well recieved, and I think it helped them to think about mission in a whole new way. I use an illustration for the whole series of events that Paul outlines, and put a chair at the "end" of the series. So it is Sending > Preaching > Hearing > Believing > Calling on the Lord....and sitting down. The PROBLEM is that Paul wouldn't put a chair at the "Calling on the Lord" position like we do. He would make it a cycle, I believe.

Who better to fan the flames of those who are passionate about reaching out than those who have just been reached with the message?! And that will sweep them into the process as they learn to share their faith, and the cycle runs again. This is not a linear process....though we often tend to think, "The Gospel is about me not going to Hell." No, the Gospel is about me coming into relationship with God, and bringing others to that relationship!

So...you have had the "opportunity" to sit through two sermons of mine back-to-back! Exhausted? I know I was, but it was a very good exhaustion. :-)

GO! Reachout 2007!

2007-08-07T23:34:00.002-04:00

For the third year running, I am involved in the day-to-day operations of GO! Reachout. GO! Reachout is a special mission event for young adults in Western Australia. I enjoy the event, but I must admit that some days, dealing with the logistics of day-to-day planning and the occasional "committee-style" meetings can be grueling. What I *LOVE* about GO! Reachout is the opportunity to spend time with Young Adults who just love Jesus and want to find the opportunity to serve him to the fullest! This year, we are also going to be the Premiere Opening event for the "Voices Tour". I am looking forward to the event, and to how it can be used to encourage young adults to consider their response to the Great Commission. Drop by the website and have a look! Let us know what you think... Thanks!

Want traffic bad enough to pay $2500???

2007-08-05T22:03:00.002-04:00

Bloggers will go to great lengths to get traffic to their site. Ashwin is will to pay big bucks! Ashwin is offering a contest where the winner will receive $2500 for simply posting a blog entry about the contest. So...if you have a blog, cruise over and see if you want to help "relieve" Ashwin of $2500!

Have a read here:

Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!

Enjoy!

...we now return you to your regularly scheduled entertainment....

Do we need vocational missionaries or laymen??

2007-08-02T19:38:00.003-04:00

Hi Y'all. I was reading this morning and came across this, which I enjoyed reading, but it tweaked a thought for me. Why do we always chase after some extravagant or extreme and miss the nuance in our understanding of ministry. I really enjoyed reading that article, but I was bothered that they felt it necessary to sort of put down the idea of trained, professional missionaries in order to raise the profile of short-term, layperson centered mission work.

I am not one to advocate the importance of "professionals" as more highly valued than "lay people". I don't make that distinction very strongly at all. However, it isn't necessary to go to the other extreme either! You don't have to devalue career missionaries in order to make the amazing potential of short-term lay ministry visible. Each has their place. Neither will function as it should without the other being a part of the picture.

The other thing that bothered me about this article was when Bob Roberts, Jr. seems to be taking a stab at "Business as mission" and summarily dismissing it as "an insult to the businessman". It would seem to me that either Mr. Roberts doesn't understand business-as-mission, or at best has been given a misunderstanding of what business-as-mission is.

In my experience, it is the business people who are EXCITED about business-as-mission, because it validates their role AS A BUSINESS PERSON in the whole mission endeavor. It doesn't leave them in the position of "financier" that they have been relegated to for so many years. It welcomes them to the front-lines of ministry. Why would that be an insult?

There are many things I don't understand. I try not to dismiss them based on my lack of understanding. I wish Bob Roberts, Jr. would have done as much in his treatment of business as mission. I wish that we could develop a vision for mission that would embrace the value of career missionaries without devaluing what laypeople can bring to the picture. Can we also raise the profile of short-term and lay-involvement without devaluing the career missionary?

I agree HEARTILY with Dr. Roberts that the Great Commission was given to the WHOLE church! We each have our role to play. Let's not make it a competition.

EDIT:
I need to add something here. :-) It is funny how you can write something and create (or be the victim of??) a tone that you never intended to inject into your own words. It seems that sometimes Dr. Bob Roberts, Jr. is misunderstood. I guess when you make a seemingly negative statement regarding a "time-honored" institution, emotion charges forward and the backlash can be unexpected. I found this post on Dr. Roberts' site that reads like a script for what was running through my mind when I wrote this post earlier! So....Dr. Bob....we agree, I think. :-)

What should church look like?

2007-07-30T22:17:00.001-04:00

WOW! I just finished reading something for my Cultural Anthropology class that was a wakeup call! I have been baffled for some time about the issues facing "small churches" as I have been a part of MANY small churches and the only thing that changes seems to be the nametags! :-9 The issues seem to transfer from country to country, denomination to denomination, and only the actors playing the different roles change.

Today I was reading Charles Kraft and some words lept off the page at me! Here is what he said:

When large extended families are a major part of the local society, as in many parts of Latin America and elsewhere, any given church may appropriately be made up largely of a single family. In rural United States, we often have churches comprised of associations of families. In urban areas, where our associations tend to be more of individuals or nuclear families, our churches reflect this. This is right and good, for there is not a single pattern for churches in all parts of the world. God uses whatever the culturally appropriate practices of groupness may be to provide the social basis for His local churches. This is the point of the so-called homogeneous unit principle that has been a part of church growth theory from the start

What do you think? I KNOW I should have seen this AGES ago, but I guess when you live in the forest, you don't pay much attention to trees. I grew up in a church that is basically an association of families. We always denied it because we thought it was bad. But maybe it is OK?
The bigger issue is that the population growth in this traditionally rural, farming area tends to be people from a more urban perspective, running from the ills of the urban society they came from, for the "peace and safety" of rural life. Is it possible for this rural church to have an influence in the development of another church more appropriate to the urbanites who are moving into the area? Or does it have to be a whole new organism...grown from scratch?