LeaderLines: Passing the Baton with Reverse Mentoring

If you’re in the second half of adulthood, do you have someone in the first half of adulthood who can mentor you?

If that sounds like a strange question, it’s because we typically think of a “mentor” as an older, more experienced person who can guide us into what we need to know. But we should also think of a mentor as a younger, more experienced person who can guide us into what we need to know.

A couple of weeks ago I began a series on passing the baton. It’s one of the most critical lessons a church body has to learn. Two weeks ago we “de-coded” our church’s ZIP code to discover that our mission field is chock-full of those in the first half of adulthood. Last week we looked at how to inspire those in the first half of adulthood to the high calling of life in Christ. But the influence shouldn’t just flow one way. If last week’s LeaderLines was about being a mentor to younger adults, this week’s LeaderLines is about finding a mentor among younger adults.

In an important new book called Reverse Mentoring, Earl Creps introduces the concept. He says second-half adults need to get mentored by younger adults who are proficient in navigating through the trends, the technology, and tendencies of the new century:

The rate of change in our culture puts younger people in touch with things for which their elders sometimes lack even the vocabulary, suggesting the need to go beyond intergenerational tolerance to reconciliation that leads to a new collaboration.

Creps is simply introducing to the church what’s already been promoted in the business world. In the late 90s, General Electric’s Jack Welch mandated that top executives follow his example by learning communication and e-business technology from younger staffers. Other businesses have promoted this kind of interaction between younger and older team members as well. Creps says its something the church has to discover, too.

But two things have to happen for this process to get started. One is an internal state of mind and the other is an external behavior. Internally, it takes humility for mature leaders to acknowledge that younger adults have anything to teach them. “The lack of reverse mentoring in Christian and other organizations,” Creps wrote, “may result from a humility deficit. . . . Taking instruction from less experienced people in a volunteer organization suggests that the insight and capability of those at the top may be eroding or missing in embarrassing ways.” Last I checked, though, humility was regarded as a virtue in the Bible, as well as the gateway to greater learning.

Second, it takes a willingness to ask questions and listen. In an interview about the book, Creps said--

“When I talk with my Boomer peers about this subject, they often seem stressed by the prospect of the core practice of reverse mentoring: listening. This does not come easily to my tribe. Our dialect is declarative, not interrogative. The notion of asking questions but otherwise not talking is almost beyond the imagination of some leaders I meet.”

Of course, Creps believes that reverse mentoring can open the door to traditional mentoring as well. In other words, the flow of helpful information can flow both ways when younger and older adults engage in earnest mutual respect. Creps said--

“Maybe the best part is that reverse mentoring is the best way to engage others in conventional mentoring. Once I have asked enough questions of my mentors (we have dozens), they usually will start asking me things. This exchange allows us to help each other using the assets we both bring to the table. My young friend may be able to explain the culture of Facebook, and perhaps I can talk about what goes into being married for 30 years. Now that's what I call a fair trade, and a good time.”

You can read the introduction and the first chapter of the book here and order it from your favorite bookseller. But the point of this issue of LeaderLines isn’t to sell a book. Instead, I want us to be thinking about what we can learn as well as what we can impart when first-half adults and second-half adults appreciate each other in the Body of Christ.

In The Odyssey, “Mentor” was an actual character, not a descriptive word. Mentor was the man responsible for guiding Odysseus’ son as the father goes off to war. Whether we are in the first half of adulthood or the second half, we have a chance to both find and be a mentor at Hillcrest!
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by over 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Winning Ways: Til Debt Do Us Part?

“That money talks, I’ll not deny.
I heard it once. It said, Good-bye.”

Can you identify? Richard Armour wasn’t the first to observe this truth. “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,” the wise man said in the Bible’s book of Proverbs, “for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle” (23:4-5).

The market meltdown has impacted everyone. A doctor friend recently joked about the status of his retirement plan, calling it his “201K,” seeing as how the value of his 401K investments had been cut in half.

I’ve found six steps to financial security in the book of Proverbs, and I want to share them with you this Sunday. We’re promoting November 2 as “Friend Day” at Hillcrest, so I hope you’ll bring someone with you.

Does it seem odd to think of the Bible as a book of financial advice? I read a survey where only 51% of Americans agreed with the statement: “The Bible contains valuable teachings about the use of money.” That means that, while 80% of our country claims to be Christian, only half of our country says the Bible has anything practical and useful to say about money!

Maybe the other half has just never read the Bible. Did you know that in the ministry of Jesus, 1 out of 6 verses in the Gospels has to do with the right and wrong use of material possessions? Of the 38 parables recorded in the Bible, 16 have to do with the right and wrong use of material possessions. Jesus spoke about how we gain and use money more than any other subject! And that’s just in the Gospels. All total, someone counted 40 Bible verses on “baptism,” 275 verses on “prayer,” 350 verses on “faith,” 650 verses on “love” -- and a whopping 2,350 verses that relate specifically to finances and material possessions.

Could there be anything in those 2,350 verses to help you with your financial anxieties?

This is an important subject especially if you’re married, because we all know the strains that financial insecurity can place on home life. In fact, the latest issue of Time magazine ran a story with the headline, “Will the Market Kill Your Marriage?”

So, this Sunday is a good day to bring friends to a practical Bible study. I want to show you the six steps to financial security that I’ve found in the book of Proverbs! Join us together @ 10!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday October 28

Scientists recommend five simple things a day to stay sane: connect with others, be active, take notice of your surroundings, keep learning, and give.


Killed for being Christian.


Ben Patterson teaches you “Five Ways to Pray the Psalms.”


“Over 150 former Baylor football players have played in the NFL over the years, but until this week, no Bear had ever been an NFL head coach. That changed Tuesday, when Baylor great Mike Singletary was introduced as interim head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.” (Baylor Proud) Singletary played for Baylor during my first two years as an undergrad.


What To Say At Halloween When You Aren't Wearing A Costume.


“The Immortality Institute is an international, not-for-profit, membership-based organization with a mission to ‘conquer the blight of involuntary death.’” I know a better organization with a similar goal.


“People wonder if [Barak Obama] is decisive. It is clear he is decisive in terms of his own career. . . . When it comes to his career, his decisions are thought through and his judgments sound. But when it comes to decisions that have to do with larger issues, with great questions and not with him, things get murkier. There is the long trail of the missed and "present" votes, the hesitance on big questions. One wonders if in the presidency he'll be like the dog that chased the car and caught it: What's he supposed to do now?” (Peggy Noonan)


In last week’s Newsweek, Jonathan Alter, with some triumph in an inevitable Obama Presidency, wrote, “We’re Heading Left Once Again.” He was talking about the country and not his colleagues (How much more left can they head?). In the same magazine issue, though, Jon Meacham warned, “It is easy—for some, even tempting—to detect the dawn of a new progressive era in the autumn of Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency. . . . But history, as John Adams once said of facts, is a stubborn thing, and it tells us that Democratic presidents from FDR to JFK to LBJ to Carter to Clinton usually wind up moving farther right than they thought they ever would, or they pay for their continued liberalism at the polls. Should Obama win, he will have to govern a nation that is more instinctively conservative than it is liberal—a perennial reality that past Democratic presidents have ignored at their peril.”


“For many pregnant women, ultrasounds are like candy—there can't be too many of those grainy black-and-white images of the fetus napping or kicking in the womb. But if you're pregnant and don't want to be and are considering an abortion, an ultrasound image could be an object of dread. It might force you to think about the fetus as having a separate identity or as the baby it could become.” You would think that, with an opening like that, Emily Bazelon of Slate was beginning an article defending the right to life for the little one with the “separate identity,” or at least defending laws that require ultrasounds as important information to a woman before she makes a decision to terminate the being with the “separate identity.” If you thought this is where she goes with her article, you’d be wrong.


“There will always be people, many of goodwill, who do not share my view on the issue of choice. On this fundamental issue, I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield.” (Barack Obama, speaking to the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, making no plans to adjust to the views of pro-life voters who may be considering him.


If you're pro-life and yet planning to vote for Senator Obama, there are three things you need to do.


“They were trying to say that I wasn’t a real Democrat because I am pro-life. I believe they have a narrow view of what a Democrat is.” Kathleen Dahlkemper, running for Congress as a pro-life Democrat. Her story was featured in a must-read article from the NY Times. In this election, there are more pro-life Democratic candidates fielded by the party than at any other time in recent memory.


"Doctors have started using powerful new DNA tests to screen fetuses for a wider range of genetic abnormalities, spotting more problem pregnancies early but stirring fears that the results will increase abortions as well as confuse and needlessly alarm many couples." Read this Washington Post article about the brave new world of fetal tests. And--geez louise--the Baylor College of Medicine is front and center on this ethically-questionable practice according to the article, just like they were at the vanguard of introducing RU-486 (the "morning after" abortion pill) to the U.S. years ago. Isn't it time Baylor University revoked the right of this school to use the good Baylor name?


Famous People Who Have Been Homeless.


*Hoo-boy*: “Thomas White, the vice president for student services at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, created a bit of a furor when he declared at a campus chapel service earlier this month that the use of birth control pills is ‘murder of a life.’” (from the Dallas Morning News religion blog)


The Secret Life of Bees, a film celebrating the feminist divine over the patriarchal Christian religion, is marketing to churches with a Bible study based on the film. Yeah, that’s gonna sell.


“We often seem incapable of seeing ourselves first as gardeners: people whose first cultural calling is to keep good what is, by the common grace of God, already good. A gardener does not pull out weeds because she hates weeds; she pulls out weeds because she loves the garden, and because (hopefully) there are more vegetables or flowers in it than weeds. This kind of love of the garden—loving our broken, beautiful cultures for what they are at their best—is the precondition, I am coming to believe, for any serious cultural creativity or influence. When weeds infest the garden, the gardener does not take the opportunity to decry the corruption of the garden as a whole. She gets patiently, discerningly, to work keeping the garden good” (Andy Crouch, “Why I Am Hopeful”)


Research shows that our brightest ideas come to us at night, not during office hours.


“Do you dream in black and white? If so, the chances are you are over 55 and were brought up watching a monochrome television set. New research suggests that the type of television you watched as a child has a profound effect on the color of your dreams” (article)


This Sunday I'll share six steps to financial security found in the book of Proverbs. To get you thinking about it:

“Undermining our natural strengths are [sic] a viral combination of a record national debt now approaching $10 trillion; a federal budget deficit projected this year at $492 billion, but likely closer to $700 billion; a staggering foreign trade deficit; and exhausted savings accounts. The average American household is now buried under mortgage debt of $84,911, car and tuition loans of $14,414, home equity loans of $10,062 and credit card debt of $8,565—in sum, outstanding debt totaling $117,952. According to other Federal Reserve statistics, average household savings this year are a mere $392.” (AARP)


“Not everyone is married to a financial twin, and that’s not necessarily a problem. There are several ways that you and your significant other can become more compatible, and ultimately more prosperous, when it comes to money.” (from a NY Times article, which outlines seven tips from “the successfully married and from experts on psychology, divorce and finance.”


Financial Tips for Newlyweds

Song of the Week: "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by Jake Shimaubukuro

I just found Jake Shimaubukuro this week. The things this guy can do with a ukelele. Here's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from his 2006 project, Gently Weeps:

LeaderLines: Passing the Baton by Raising Expectations

If you’re over 50, have you inspired a younger adult lately toward the higher call of Christ?

My daily Bible reading plan put me at 2 Timothy 2 this morning. Paul told his young friend Timothy to “be strong” and “endure hardship.” He went on to compare a minister to “a good soldier,” “an athlete,” and a “hardworking farmer.”

Paul used those bracing words to inspire a younger man in the ministry, and he gives us an example in how God wants us to relate to adults younger than us. Just as Paul had high expectations for Timothy, we need to set high expectations for younger adults we know and love.

A couple of weeks ago I began a series on passing the baton. It’s one of the most critical lessons a church body has to learn. Last week we “de-coded” our church’s ZIP code to discover that our mission field is chock-full of those in the first half of adulthood. Now, how does a church pass the baton to the adults coming up?

One way is to inspire those in the first half of adulthood to the high calling of life in Christ. At Hillcrest we use the acrostic H.I.L.L. to define this high calling:

HONOR the Lord of Life: We have not securely passed the baton to the next generation until we see them honoring God through authentic weekly worship, through faithful financial stewardship, through expectant prayer, and through a consistent Christian lifestyle. Our expectation is that worship attendance should be the first thing younger adults think of doing on Sundays instead just one of several options. Our expectation is that younger adults discover the value of the tithe. Our expectation is that younger adults seek the transformation of their lives and their world through prayer. And our expectation is that younger adults live the faith they profess.

INVITE Your World to Life: We have not securely passed the baton to the next generation until we see that their faith is “contagious.” Our expectation is that they will become effective witnesses to God’s glory and grace among the lost and unchurched in their world.

LOVE the Fellowship for Life: We have not securely passed the baton to the next generation until we see them fully committed to the Hillcrest family. Sunday morning attendance at worship is a nice start, but our expectation is that they will plug into a small group in Sunday School or Common Ground. Our expectation is that they will find a place to serve in and through Hillcrest. Our expectation is that they will stay informed about the decisions facing their church and support the valuable work of their church with their time, their prayers, and their offering.

LIVE the Word in Life: We have not securely passed the baton to the next generation until we see them applying God’s practical Word to their issues and struggles. Our expectation is that younger adults will seek marriage (and seek purity before marriage), because “marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure” (Hebrews 13:4). Our expectation is that younger adults will practice good money management instead of falling into the debt trap. Our expectation is that younger adults will seek the guidance of scripture in how they raise their kids.

In the pulpit, in our classes, in our mentoring relationships, within our family, we must be sure we’re raising the bar and setting the expectations high. Certainly, these challenges should be laid out in the context of encouragement and within the nurturing relationship you’re building with those younger than you. But, as Paul demonstrated in his relationship with Timothy, God wants us to pass on the baton of faith. And one way we do that is through prayerful, loving challenge.

Like Paul, you can’t be satisfied until you’re seeing younger adults experiencing the benefits you’ve discovered from faithful service to Christ.
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by over 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Winning Ways: Odds-n-Ends

What a wonderful start to our “Together @ 10” effort! And a special welcome to everyone who is receiving this newsletter for the first time! Here are a few “odds-n-ends” you need to know about, in order of their arrival:

Craft Show! Our 18th annual arts and crafts show is this Friday and Saturday, October 24-25! Tour the booths for advance Christmas gifts. Bring your whole office to lunch on Friday for our world-famous enchiladas--and then bring your family Friday night or Saturday lunch again! Yes, Margaret’s famous chocolate cake will be available, and you can buy whole cakes and enchilada trays, too. This is our big once-a-year youth fund-raiser! There’s more information in Jim’s article.

Together @ 10! Remember, we’re not meeting at 9:30am or 10:45am for a while. We’re meeting “Together @ 10.” Someone told me, “I’ll have to get here early to claim my seat!” A nice problem for a church to have, huh? By the way, if you can park on the upper-level gravel lot to the northwest of the MPC, that will free up some paved spaces. We were almost out of parking on Sunday.

Deadline for Golf Tournament! This Sunday, October 26, is the last chance to sign up for the next Hillcrest Golf Tournament. The tournament is set for Saturday, November 1 at Blackhawk. It’s an 8am shotgun start with lunch provided for $49. Remember, you get strokes for non-Hillcrest guests! Sign up online here.

Pumpkin Party! Join us or help us next Friday, October 31. Every year our Pumpkin Party gives families a safe place to bring their small children for a night of fun, prizes, and goodies. We see families from our Mother’s Day Out program and from nearby Hill Elementary School, as well as kids who attend Hillcrest. There’s more information in Karen’s article.

Friend Day! On Sunday, November 2, bring a friend to worship and to your small-group fellowship (Sunday School or Common Ground). Daylight Savings Time ends on that day, giving everyone an extra hour before they should get up for church. Think about bringing someone who doesn’t have a church home, or someone you haven’t seen at Hillcrest in a while.

Cell phone vs. Bible. Finally, a little inspiration for your midweek. Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone? What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets? What if we flipped through it several time a day? What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it? What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it? What if we gave it to kids as gifts? What if we used it when we traveled? What if we used it in case of emergency?

See you Sunday!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday October 21

“I think being able to go to church on Sundays and being able to get in the Word every day has helped me. I always tell everybody that the biggest thing that’s helped me in my life is reading the Bible every day and learning examples in there for us.” (Colt McCoy)


What will an Obama presidency do to the culture of life we’ve slowly tried to build since Roe vs. Wade? To find out, you really should take 5 minutes to read George Weigel’s article in Newsweek and Robert George’s article in Public Discourse. Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center. George is MCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton.


After reading the articles, if you still plan to vote for Senator Obama, I have three suggestions you should follow in this post.


Our church was included in a front-page Statesman story on this issue on Sunday. Read it here.


Reading “Links to Your World” every week is good for you! Studies show that Internet use is good for the brain, especially among “silver surfers.”


*Sigh*, Part 1: “I believe in reincarnation. I believe I've gone both ways -- that I have been here before as a man. I will get flak from Christians who will say I can't be a Christian if I believe this. That's true, and I'm sorry, but this is how I live my life, this is what I believe. I believe I have spent time with my son Shelby before. I believe I have spent time with other people in my life before. Who knows? Maybe I'm part Buddhist.” (Country music star Reba McIntire. HT: WorldMag Blog)


*Sigh*, Part 2: According to an early report on the new film, The Secret Life of Bees, we're about to be subjected to another project about the superiority of the “feminine divine” over the patriarchal Christian religion: “It feels as if these women believe they must reinvent and ‘improve’ Christianity because it, at least as it has been handed down to them, does not contain enough of their own belief in the feminine divine. . . . Those who have read the novel of the same title know that author Sue Monk Kidd delves even further into the realms of feminist spirituality and feminine divinity.”


In Time, David Van Biema asks religious leaders, “Is It OK to Pray for Your 401(k)?”


“It's ironic but I think it's somewhat to be expected in God's work and in God's economy that many times the greatest opportunities for ministry intersect with the most difficult times economically.” (Bill Walter of Church Growth Services)


“Stress: Portrait of a Killer,” from National Geographic.


10 People Who Survived the Impossible


Late-Night Comics Skewer Republicans 7-to-1, Study Finds


Are evangelicals underrepresented in media employment? WaPo reports.


“When David Teater's 12-year-old son, Joe, was killed in 2004 by a driver who was talking on a cell phone, he tried to cut back on his own habit of driving and talking. It turned out to be very difficult. . . . Teater became an advocate for curbing what he calls ‘driving while distracted,’ and now, he's part of a company with a technology that can help. Aegis Mobility, a Canadian software company, announced Monday that it has developed software called DriveAssist that will detect whether a cell phone is moving at car speeds. When that happens, the software will alert the cellular network, telling it to hold calls and text messages until the drive is over” (story)


Related: “Nationwide Insurance has teamed up with the Canadian software firm Aegis Mobility to cut the premiums of customers who install a cellphone nanny called DriveAssist that limits phone use behind the wheel. DriveAssist can tell when a phone is in motion and sends a signal alerting incoming callers that you're driving and won't accept the call.” (Wired Magazine)


Michael Duduit of PreachingNow said: “In his well-read blog, Ed Stetzer talks about the origin of the word ‘megachurch,’ which refers to a congregation with more than 2,000 members. He goes on to cite the relatively new term ‘gigachurch,’ which is used for congregations with more than 10,000 members. It all makes me wonder where the terminology is going, even as churches grow ever larger:
•Whomperchurch – a church of 25,000 or more
•Bazillionchurch – a church of 50,000 or more
•Googlechurch – a church of 100,000 or more
•AverageKoreanChurch – a church of 250,000 or more”


Your favorite worship songs sung by a death metal band.


“’It's not the Baptists suing the Catholic church. We wouldn't want to do that.’” Highland Lakes Baptist Encampment executive director explaining why their insurance company is suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Austin for a fire that burned down the auditorium.


“The Bee Gee's 1977 hit song ‘Stayin' Alive’ has just about the perfect tempo for performing chest compressions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), according to the American Heart Association.” (Wired Magazine)


“Imagine that you stand in the pulpit on Sunday morning and there is a target superimposed on your congregation. In the bulls-eye are the saints, those who know the vocabulary, who know the story, who carry on the mission of the church. The next ring represents the seekers, those who are, as it were, 'in and out.' The third ring represents the people who are there because their kid sings in the junior choir; they are largely marginal to the purposes of the church. To whom do you preach? Some say you preach to the outer ring in order to bring them in. You dumb down the vocabulary of the faith in order to attract people who do not care about the vocabulary of the faith. I would like to say, to the contrary, ‘Preach to the bulls-eye.’ But preach to the bulls-eye in such a way that those in the other rings can overhear and also acquire the vocabulary of the faith.” Thomas Long in The Folly of Preaching. Quoted in PreachingNow e-newsletter).

Nice Response to "Stay!"

I got a nice comment on last week's Winning Ways post, entitled "Stay!" It was from the author of the article I referenced:

Pastor Goodman,I just wanted you to know that my husband ran across your blog recently. We were heartened to see the reference to the article ("Stay") I wrote for Focus on the Family several years back. It is so encouraging that those words could still be meaningful all these years later! Thanks for passing them along in your blog. My husband, Don, and I are still "staying" and loving life together for almost 35 years now! Our daughter in the story, Jana, is a lovely 25-year-old young woman who is passionate about serving Jesus and reaching those far from Him. I'm still writing and have had the privilege of doing a regular religion column for The Seattle Times on a rotating basis with columnists of other faiths. (You can find my past columns on their website if you're ever interested.) Just wanted to say hello and thanks for your kind words about my article. I enjoyed reading your other blogs, too. Great writing and great content! Keep up the good work for the cause of our Lord! In His grace, Jodi Detrick

What a great surprise! The internet sure makes the world smaller. Thanks for stopping by, Jodi!

Media News

Two things:

* Got a kick out of Sarah Palin's opening of SNL. Had to watch it here since Time Warner Cable can't/won't broadcast our local NBC affiliate.

* Hillcrest shows up in a front-page Statesman story today. Eileen Flynn wrote about what evangelicals are thinking about Obama. My blog post she referred to can be found here.

Update: At the Statesman.com, the story's received a huge number of online reader responses so far. Sadly, most take the "civil" out of "civil discourse." Maybe this has to do with the anonymous nature of this kind of correspondence. Those who won't own their opinions are wimps, and that goes for people whose opinions I agree with as well.

Song of the Week: Mat Kearney's "In the Middle"

Here's Mat Kearney singing "In the Middle"--



Lyrics:

I meant it all and every part
And every word right from the start
I'll never let this love fall in the middle
'Cause you know you broke the hardest part
You know you broke the hardest heart
I'll never let this love fall in the middle
Through it all

Fifteen years old in a sea of blank faces
Swimming bold against a stream that's mocking as it races
In these halls, mountain high under a tangerine sky
Crack a smile just to hide the race that's inside
Eighteen years old bags packed and a pass for the rail
One last look at the past as it drowns in the hail
One in a million, still I keep feeling you keep me from a fall
A world to lose coming back with you tall
Through it all

[chorus]
No parachutes or safety nets here
One foot in the water to face these fears
Coming out strong like I can't be wrong
I said eh, I won't fall in the middle

Twenty five here I am with freshman LPs
One life to write one, two years to repeat
Behind a curtain, uncertain if an encore's in store
Tuck my shoulder like a soldier to knock down the door
Thirty something here I am running with kisses for one girl
These scars upon my sleeve still casting out my pearls
Throw each stone microphone like it's my last turn
With a kiss to the abyss and watch the ripples return
Through it all

[chorus]

And I'm gonna be alright, I'm gonna be alright
With you by my side
And I said I'm gonna be alright, I'm gonna be alright
With you through this fight
Through it all

[chorus]

I meant it all and every part
And every word right from the start
I'll never let this love fall in the middle
Through it all

Obama and the Freedom of Choice Act

William Saletan in Slate compared McCain’s words and Obama’s words when the subject turned to abortion in the last presidential debate last Wednesday. Of course, Saletan—and Slate—favored Obama:

Common ground. Prevent. Options. Help. Reduce. These are defusing and calming words. They fit Obama's personality. But more than that, they're pragmatic. They convey action, progress, solution. Obama has been talking about abortion this way all along, when the subject comes up. He doesn't like us-and-them language. He doesn't like fights. Even on this issue—one of the nastiest, angriest, most polarizing topics in modern politics—he looks for a course most of us can agree on. He tries to turn even moral issues into technical issues. . . . The pro-life movement is betting on McCain-style combat. The pro-choice movement is betting on Obama-style pragmatism.

Well.

I acknowledge Senator Obama’s elegance when speaking of abortion. But he co-sponsored the odious “Freedom of Choice Act” and has pledged that one of the first things he will do as President is sign it into law. This is hardly the behavior of someone who “doesn't like us-and-them language,” “doesn't like fights,” and “looks for a course most of us can agree on.”

No, FOCA will strip away all the pro-life protections we have carefully built up over the last 30 years. FOCA will strip away “conscience clauses” in abortion-related legislation, forcing pro-life professionals to betray their conscience by participating in the abortion decisions of their patients. FOCA will open the door to federal funding of abortion and close the door on parental involvement in a minor’s decision to seek an abortion. FOCA will free abortionists from having to provide alternatives to abortion before proceeding with the procedure.

Saletan is right that we all want to hear someone provide common-ground pragmatic solutions for this deeply divisive issue. But FOCA just isn’t the way to do that. If you’re pro-life and plan to vote for Obama, please write him and ask him to reverse his pledge to sign this disturbing bill.

LeaderLines: Decoding our Church’s ZIP Code

When we send a missionary to live and serve in another land, we expect her to adapt to her new culture in every way that does not compromise the gospel. It’s the same when think about reaching the mission field right around us.

It takes years of observation, training, and practice for a missionary to adapt to her culture. Instead of insisting they learn her language before they can hear the gospel, she learns theirs. She accustoms herself to behaviors that meant nothing to her in America but mean everything to the people she’s called to: In certain parts of Africa, for example, she’s never receiving gifts with the left hand, and in certain Arab cultures, she’d never offend people by inadvertently exposing the sole of her shoe to them.

Just as God sends missionaries across the sea, God sends you and me across the street. We don’t have to learn a new language, but we do have to adapt to a changing culture without compromising the gospel.

You and I will be held to account for how faithfully we carried out God’s mission in our area. To that end, we need to decode our church’s ZIP code. Who lives in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding our church? With the internet, it’s easy to get your fingers on this data. Take a look at these links to the ZIP code of our church (78759) and the four immediately surrounding us:

Zip Code 78759
Zip Code 78727
Zip Code 78758
Zip Code 78757
Zip Code 78731

What can we learn from the information in these reports? Faithfully fulfilling our mission involves four things. I’m pleased to see many ways we’re accomplishing these aims, but God will always nudge us forward to serve him better.

First, to faithfully fulfill our mission we must increase our outreach to first-half adults. Now, don’t get the impression that first-half adults are our only target group! That’s “Either-Or Thinking.” You may remember I did a series on the follies of “Either-Or Thinking” in Winning Ways back in 2005 (Read the first installment in the series here.) “Either-Or Thinking” would say, “Well, if he’s talking about first-half adults, that must mean he doesn’t have second-half adults in mind.” Let’s avoid Either-Or Thinking. Still, first-half adults can’t be ignored if Hillcrest is going to be a beachhead for God’s kingdom in northwest Austin. The zip codes immediately surrounding the church are chock-full of adults in this age-range. Forty-two percent of the population in 78759 was born between 1961 and 1981, while 20% was born between 1943 and 1960, and 6% was born in 1942 or earlier.

Second, to faithfully fulfill our mission we must increase our outreach to families. Again, this does not mean we ignore seniors, empty-nesters (like me), and singles without kids. “Either-Or Thinking” will get you in terrible trouble. But since our church facility shares a property line with Anderson High School, we have to pray for ways to reach the families who send their sons and daughters to Anderson and the schools that feed Anderson. Two thousand students attend, with another 1200 in Murchison Middle School. Four elementary schools feed Murchison and Anderson: Hill, Summit, Davis, and Doss. Hill, a block away from us, has 750 students. Many of their parents pass right by our facility on the way to school. Nineteen percent of the parents in our ZIP code are single parents, by the way. Remember these school names in your prayers--even if you don’t live in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the church, and even if you don’t have kids at home. Ask God to help your church impact the families who send their kids to these schools.

Third, to faithfully fulfill our mission we must improve the quality of our facilities and programming. In the neighborhoods surrounding our church, 63% are college graduates; the average household income is $87,000; and home values stand at about $350K on average (I wrote about this here). In light of this, the culture we’re called to reach expects a certain level of quality in the programs we offer and in the facilities we invite them into. Improving our campus isn’t “spending money on ourselves.” Instead, it’s one way we fulfill the mission God has charged us with.

Fourth, to faithfully fulfill our mission we must welcome neighborhood newcomers. Did you know that 60 percent of the population in 78759 moved here in the last 5 years? Fully 70 percent of those in the 78758 area have come since 2003. And in 78757 it’s 53 percent, in 78727 it’s 60 percent and in 78731 it’s 54 percent. People are much more open to hearing from a church when they’re new to an area. They’re looking for friends, they’re looking for activities for their kids, and they haven’t settled into a Sunday morning routine. I think that’s one reason our Connection Campaign has been so successful these last two years. We have to keep looking for ways to welcome newcomers to the church’s neighborhood.

As I said at the start, I’m pleased to see how well we’re doing in these four areas. But I pray that God will set within us a passion to do even better!
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by over 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Winning Ways: Stay!

I love the story Jodi Detrick told in Focus on the Family magazine a few years ago. She had just put the teakettle on and settled in to watch a Boston Pops concert on public TV with her 11-year-old daughter, Jana. Her husband, Don, lounged in the recliner across the room with a book in hand.

“Anne Murray was the guest soloist with the orchestra,” she recalled, “and I reminisced as she sang songs popular in my youth.” When Murray began to sing “Can I Have This Dance for the Rest of My Life?” her eyes met Don’s and they smiled. Spontaneously, she rose from the couch and, with a comic bow said, “Would you care to dance, Sir?” Don played along and came to meet her in the middle of the living room.

“We giggled as we tried to assume a waltzing position and swayed to the music,” she wrote, “I began to laugh as we stepped in a pattern that would cause Fred Astaire to roll over in his grave--gracefully, of course.” Jana watch quietly from her chair as her parents continued their clumsy dance.

Suddenly, the teakettle began to whistle over the music, and Jodi breathlessly turned away from Don to go to the kitchen.

“No . . . stay!” insisted Jana. Her arm went up “like a traffic cop halting an oncoming truck,” and she hurried to the kitchen to tend to the kettle while her parents swayed and stumbled through the rest of the song.

Reflecting on that moment, Detrick wrote,

I understood. ‘No, stay!’ was a plea to us. It really meant, Please stay in love . . . stay committed to each other and to our home . . . keep laughing together . . . stay partners even when you step on each other's toes in the crazy dance of marriage. It meant, No, don't let the busyness of your lives, the whistling of other teakettles, pleasure in other places, separate your embrace . . . no, don't be too tired and too preoccupied to hear the music of young love . . . keep lighting up when you look into each other's eyes across a room. Just . . . stay.

This Sunday we begin a study on “staying.” The marriage enrichment series is called “Pulling Together When You’re Pulled Apart.” Join us at our combined 10am service this Sunday, October 19!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday October 14

Kansas City-based artist Dylan Mortimer combined a telephone booth and a prayer station into an art piece titled Public Prayer Booth. If you ever came across one, you can pull down the kneeler and pray on the spot. See the pics here.


“Like most [American League Tampa Bay] Rays’ fans who have suffered through a decade of folly at Tropicana Field, [Baseball Chapel director Gio Llerena] has been riveted by the Rays’ about-face. And, while sports talk pundits scrutinize the reasons for the Rays’ success, Gio has a unique take on it. “They took the ‘Devil’ out of the name!” (Read the Fellowship of Christian Athletes story.)


“It seems the ability we're so fond of calling talent or even genius arises not from innate gifts but from an interplay of fair (but not extraordinary) natural ability, quality instruction, and a mountain of work.” David Dobbs in New Scientist (HT: 33 Things)


. . . and Malcolm Gladwell wants you to know that some of the greatest geniuses accomplished their best work in the second half of life.


“Chosen for a random NCAA drug test after one game, [Mike Flynt] quips he might test positive for Geritol.” From a review of the new book, The Senior, about Mike Flynt’s return to complete his final unfinished year on the football team at Sul Ross University in Alpine, Texas—at 59 years old. As the blurb on the back of the book puts it: “It’s Never Too Late to Tackle Your Dreams.” (story)


“Professionals call it elderspeak, the sweetly belittling form of address that has always rankled older people: the doctor who talks to their child rather than to them about their health; the store clerk who assumes that an older person does not know how to work a computer, or needs to be addressed slowly or in a loud voice. Then there are those who address any elderly person as ‘dear.’ . . . Now studies are finding that the insults can have health consequences, especially if people mutely accept the attitudes behind them” (NYT article).


“The idea of ‘not dignifying a rumor with a response’ reflects a deep misunderstanding of what rumors are, how they are fueled, and what purposes they serve in society.” The author of this Boston Globe story acknowledges the Bible’s warning that ‘A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor but a man of understanding holds his tongue,’ but suggests that modern research has found that rumors are a helpful way to sift for the truth. H-m-m.


5 Expenses To Cut Right Now If You're In Debt


“As the financial crisis takes down some of the richest houses on Wall Street, the effects will ripple out to the charities that rely on them and serve the poorest in America's big cities and the rest of the world. . . . Ultimately, though, Americans will need to depend on the generosity of Americans. And the hopeful surprise is that in past recessions, donations to human services, like hunger, fell the least; in some downturns, they even rose. . . . We'll need a bull market in goodness.” (Time article)


“‘First-time guests, they don't come with mercy, they come with judgment. They're looking for a reason to leave.’” (from the president of a consulting company that hires out “secret shoppers” to visit churches and report first impressions. The WSJ article here. HT: Eileen Flynn’s “Of Sacred and Secular”)


In India, a mutant breed of catfish is said to have developed a taste for human flesh after feeding on corpses thrown into the river after funeral ceremonies. Locals think it has moved on from scavenging to targeting live bathers who swim in the Great Kali, which flows along the India-Nepal border. (From London’s Telegraph)


We can have a lively debate about Governor Palin’s readiness to be President, or even Vice-President. But she’s right and clear and consistent on one of the most important subjects of our day. Everyone should read her speech on how her prolife convictions contrast with Senator Obama’s record on abortion.


In case you missed yesterday’s post, here’s a link to “Three Things that Prolife Obama Supporters Must Do.”


Ouch. “Over the past few decades, the Republican Party has driven away people who live in cities, in highly educated regions and on the coasts. . . . What had been a disdain for liberal intellectuals slipped into a disdain for the educated class as a whole. . . . And so, politically, the G.O.P. is squeezed at both ends. The party is losing the working class by sins of omission — because it has not developed policies to address economic anxiety. It has lost the educated class by sins of commission — by telling members of that class to go away.” (David Brooks)


"There's an old saying that a man who no longer believes in God is ready to believe in just about anything, and it turns out our data suggests it's true." —Dr. Rodney Stark, researcher and author of the Baylor Religion Survey, which points out that self-identified theological liberals and the irreligious are far more likely than Christians to believe in Bigfoot, UFOs, haunted houses, communicating with the dead and astrology [baylor.edu, 9/18/08] Now that’s Religulous!


Photos of tiny animals in people’s hands.


Heresy! “In 1984, the Soviets of Red Dawn represented, well, the Soviets, and the Wolverines represented both the Americans and also the plucky Afghan mujahideen then defeating the Red Army in a guerilla war. But on re-viewing, Red Dawn isn't a stark reminder of Cold War fears. Rather, it's a pretty good movie about Iraq, with the United States in the role of the Soviets and the insurgents in the role of the Wolverines” (David Plotz in Slate). Gasp! I can hear director John Milius shouting, “Avenge me, boys! Avenge me!”

Three Things that Prolife Obama Supporters Must Do

Younger evangelicals are more pro-life than their elders and they are also more interested in Barack Obama than are their elders, according to this Beliefnet story.

This is a dilemma, considering that, as the Washington Post put it, Obama has “never supported a single measure that would curtail access to abortion -- even under controversial circumstances.”

If you’re planning to vote for Obama November 4, I want to suggest three actions you can take so that your vote isn’t mislabeled as an endorsement of his pro-choice convictions.

If you’re an Obama supporter who is also pro-life, it’s important that you find ways to support his candidacy while also expressing your disappointment with his stance on abortion legislation. And there’s a lot to be disappointed with. NARAL loves the Senator, giving his voting record on abortion a 100% rating (Joe Biden, by contrast, only got a 33% rating from the group). He supports late-term abortions, including the partial-birth procedure. He opposes laws that would require parental notification for minors seeking abortion. He has pledged that one of the first things he will do as President is sign the “Freedom of Choice Act” into law, canceling every state, federal, and local regulation of abortion and abolishing all state restrictions on government funding for abortions. And in the Illinois Senate, he opposed legislation that would have protected infants that survive abortions. Twenty months ago, when he began his run for the presidency, CBS news said that this would come back to haunt him.

Still, Obama has reached out to pro-life Catholics and evangelicals. He has acknowledged that the Democratic Party has been wrong to elbow out pro-lifers from their ranks, and his invitation to Senator Robert Casey as a speaker at this year’s Democratic National Convention was hailed as an example of the new kind of openness he wants from the Party (Casey’s father, a pro-life Democratic Governor, was snubbed by the Convention in 1992). In addition, he supported changes to the abortion plank in the party’s platform. While committed to Roe, the platform calls for ways to reduce the need for abortion and offering help for mothers who want bring their child to term, providing support so the mom can either keep child or place it for adoption.

These are hopeful signs that a President Obama may be willing to listen to pro-lifers like you. So, I suggest three things you should do if you’re planning to vote for Obama:

First, join “Democrats for Life.” It is vital that you go on record as a pro-life citizen--and that won’t happen by doing nothing more than pulling the lever for a candidate with a 100% approval rating from NARAL. Democrats for Life exists to “elect pro-life Democrats to office, support pro-life Democrats while in an elected position, promote a pro-life plank in the Democratic Party platform, achieve pro-life legislation with the help of national and state pro-life democrats, and participate actively in Democratic Party functions and offices.” I’m particularly intrigued with their “95-10 Initiative,” designed by the DFL to reduce 95% of abortions in the next 10 years.

Second, write Senator Obama. Let him know that you appreciate his outreach to pro-life voters like you, and that you hope he will continue to take your pro-life views into consideration in return for your support. Send your note in a #10 envelope to Obama for America, P.O. Box 8102, Chicago, IL 60680.

Third, should Obama become President, monitor his actions on this issue and base your re-election decision on what you see. Certainly, you should keep an eye on his Supreme Court nominations, but he will also have a chance to select federal judges. These positions last long after a President leaves office, and they have a huge impact on what kind of “culture of life” we see in our country. What kind of life-ethic legislation from Congress will he sign or veto? Also, watch for his selection of Attorney General, whose Department of Justice impacts how laws are enforced that advance abortion or limit it. Watch for his choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services, who oversees all kinds of programs that could either encourage or discourage the frequency and availability of abortion. Keep up with his foreign policy. President Reagan established the Mexico City Policy which bans the flow of aid to agencies that provide or promote abortion. President Clinton refused to follow this policy, so watch what President Obama will do with that. In short, a United States President has a major influence on whether our country makes advances or setbacks on creating a culture of life--much more than you may have realized. So, if you help put Obama in the White House and he proceeds to ignore your pro-life convictions until he needs your vote in the next election, refuse to give it to him.

Certainly, there is another option: the Republican ticket has come out clearly on the side of defending life. But if there are too many other things about a McCain-Palin administration that concern you--or too many other things about an Obama-Biden administration that attract you--then take my three suggestions as you pull the lever for Barack Obama. My hope is that we will continue to build a life-affirming nation, regardless of who is in the White House.

Song of the Week: Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover"

Here's a fun one: Austinite Eric Johnson's 1992 Grammy award-winning "Cliffs of Dover." You may have heard it first on Guitar Hero III:

LeaderLines: Passing the Baton

Long-established churches need to learn how to pass the baton from one generation to the next, and Hillcrest can set the example.

One of the most painful moments in the Summer Olympics was watching Team USA drop the baton in the 4X100 relay. And not just the men’s team; the women failed the handoff in their race, too. What’s more, the drops in both races came on the exchange to the critical anchor (story).

Props to my Jamaican friends for amazing races from their national team, but 2008 was the first time in the history of the 4x100 that the USA failed to medal when they’ve competed.*

The men’s and women’s teams didn’t lose for lack of good running: the men had earlier swept the top three medals in the 400-meter race, won silver and bronze in the 110 hurdles, and the women bagged a silver in the 200. Both teams were on their way to gold at the last leg of the relay.

But that’s where I find a lesson for Hillcrest and other churches like ours. Those in or near retirement need to keep this in mind: Your generation may be running the race of faith well, but no one wins if you can’t make a good handoff to the next generation.

I love what David said in Psalm 71. The whole poem is a stubborn declaration to run the race of faith well into the senior years. But at verse 18, he looks to baton-work:

(17) Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.

(18) Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come.

Translators are divided on whether verse 18 should be translated “even when I’m old and gray,” or “now that I am old and gray.”

If we take the first option, David would be thinking about a soon-coming time of seniority, and his thoughts could apply to the age range of our Adult-4 Department (roughly 50-65 years of age). If we take the second option, David would already be in his senior years, and his words would apply to the age range of our Adult-5 and Senior Adult Departments (roughly those 65 and older).

In the end, though, does it really matter how the words are translated? The point is the same: David wasn’t just interested in a “personal best.” He wanted to run his race faithfully, but he also wanted to see the next generation embrace the faith that meant so much to him. He said, “God, I’ve got one more task before I’m done, and that’s to commend you to younger generations.”

Across the next few editions of LeaderLines, I’ll share some observations about this work, and some commitments I think Hillcrest must make. Here are some subject titles to look for:

* Decoding our Church’s ZIP Code
* Meat-and-Potatoes Teaching
* Surprises in Multi-Generational Worship
* Steps to Baton-Passing

Watch for subjects like this across the next several Thursdays. Wherever you are in life’s race, be sure you end it well by seeing the baton of faith in the hands of the next generation!


*Team USA did not compete in the boycotted 1980 Games.
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by over 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Obama to Maher: "You're Not Helping"

Bill Maher discusses why Senator Obama, whom he calls "our boy" (whoo-boy!), is his pick for President. He says that Governor Palin's faith disturbs him (Clip #1), but Senator Obama's just faking faith for the votes (Clip #2). From the Department of "You're Not Helping"--




By the way, on the subject of "Religulous": Maher insists he's agnostic and despises atheism because it mirrors the certainty of belief, and he's not certain. Yeah, he sounds pretty uncertain about the Christian story in Clip #1, huh?

Winning Ways: A Spiritual Pedicure

___________________________Together @ 10
Watch the promotional video here!______________________________
Every March, Montpelier hosts a very unusual contest. Challengers arrive in the Vermont town to compete in the International Rotten Sneaker Contest.

Sponsored by the Odor-Eaters company, contestant’s athletic shoes are judged in such categories as frayed laces, floppy soles, tattered body, and, of course, stench. This year’s winner was fifteen -year old Benjamin Russell, who took home the grand prize with a pair of two year-old sneakers that nearly caused the judges to pass out.

I guess you could say that, among all the contestants, he “out-ranked” them all.

Sad to say, but a lot of us in here would be hot contenders for that prize, because our feet aren’t very beautiful. At least, not the way the Bible defines beautiful feet.

Isaiah 52:7 says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.” According to that passage, it’s not what your feet look like or smell like that make them beautiful. Instead, it’s what your feet are doing that make them beautiful. Feet that bring good news are beautiful feet. In ancient days, there was no way to phone, fax, e-mail, or text. Messages were taken by runner.

In his imagination, Isaiah sees a messenger speeding across the hills toward Jerusalem, shouting the news that God was on his way to reign from Zion. That was good news in Isaiah’s day. When Isaiah 52 was first recorded, Jerusalem was in ruins, the temple was destroyed, and the leading citizens had been marched into exile. Into that gloom came this message of hope: “I see a messenger who does not walk with plodding steps bringing bad news. No, but his feet are beautiful -- they skip, they dance, they race excitedly across the hills carrying a messenger with the good news of salvation!”According to Isaiah 52, then, those who share the glory of God with others have beautiful feet.

This Sunday, we’re offering a spiritual pedicure for anyone who wants his or her feet to be a bit more beautiful for God. Come this Sunday to learn how to be more effective at communicating God’s Good News to your friends. We meet at 9:30am and 10:45am for one more Sunday!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday October 7

“Has the so-called Prosperity Gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants — and hence, victims — of the current financial crisis?” Time magazine explores the question, suggesting that “a decade's worth of ever-easier credit acted like drug in Prosperity's bloodstream.”


My sister sent me People’s exclusive link to "A Baby Changes Everything," from Faith Hill's upcoming Christmas album, Joy to the World.


Susan sent me a link to "The Gift of Doubt," about singer/songwriter Sara Groves and how her dark night of the soul led to a better understanding of God, his kingdom, and our role in it. Susan wrote, "I could just see it in your blog, which I enjoy so much. I sometimes spend an hour reading it, going to links, that perk my interest in other links, leading me to google other subjects, reading on and on. So, I thank you for sending me the Winning Ways with your blog and the links to your world in particular." Thanks for the good word, Susan!


Top 10 Everyday Things People Do To Ruin Their Cars.


YouTubevangelists: Faith leaders of all flavors have discovered the video pulpit: Time magazine featured eight popular YouTube videos to show how various faith communities have used the web to spread their faith.


“Perhaps the most intriguing thing about this series is that, if you watch the films in sequential order—the second film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), is actually a prequel that takes place one year before Raiders—you can chart a spiritual journey of sorts from paganism to Judaism to Christianity and, now, alas, to some sort of post-religious, pseudo-scientific, New Age sensibility. In a strangely microcosmic and presumably unintentional form, the spiritual journey of Indiana Jones happens to match that of the civilization which produced him.” (In Books and Culture’s “Indiana Jones and the Deadly Blather”)


Sensible Units will convert measurements into practical items. (HT: 33 Things at Culture 11)


“Dr. House is concerned about Vicodin addiction. No, not the neurotic physician from the medical drama House on Fox, but rather a real doctor, Dr. William House, who says that the series fails to show that the fictional House's addiction to Vicodin might well cause the doctor to lose his hearing (a documented side effect of abusing this prescription painkiller). He's also concerned by how frequently people are taking their health care cues from TV these days. ‘New research released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation indicates that people are receiving important health information from prime-time television shows,’ William House wrote in an essay for ABC News. ‘Although the study looked at the storyline of another medical drama and not House, M.D., the important finding is that 45.6% of the audience surveyed remembered the key medical information six weeks later. So what is the weekly message to the millions of viewers of House, M.D. on the safety of an addiction to Vicodin?’” [abcnews.com, 9/20/08] (HT: Plugged In Online’s “Culture Clips”)


Health? “No one can really articulate what the word means; no two people understand the concept in exactly the same way. And that includes you and your doctor.” (From a doctor, in the NYT piece, “Healthy Right Up to the Day You’re Not.”


Though this article is aimed at pastors, everyone should watch out for Facebook phishing scams.


“A woman can run the White House, just not her own house.” That was the Associated Press summary of what they see as the contradiction among many Southern Baptist leaders between their view of women in general and their support of Governor Palin’s candidacy in specific. Bill Leonard, often quoted when the press is looking for an opposition voice in stories on Southern Baptist life, said that support of Governor Palin is "something of a retraction of their old view." That needs a footnote to some dependable sources. "The SBC is so rooted now in the Republican Party that their theological judgment on this becomes an issue," he opined.


How to Speak Christianese:

Help with Ike Recovery

Galveston-area residents are still recovering from Hurricane Ike. You can help the Texas Baptist Men in the following ways:

To do clean-outs (mud-outs), you can volunteer without training. On-site contact for this is: Ernie Rice 830-534-1211.

To work with the chainsaw crew, you should have Yellow Hat and chain saw training. Sometimes they offer on-site training for the chainsaw. If you want to assist the chainsaw folks and drag limbs, you don't need to be trained. On-site contact is: Duane Bechtold 469-387-9915.

Local (Austin) Yellow Cap training:
Date: October 25, 2008 - Saturday Time: 9:00am - 12:00pm
Location:
Westoak Woods Baptist
2900 Slaughter Ln.
Austin, Texas

Click Here for map to location
Registration Contact: Chris Sanders
Phone: 512.292.6800 (church office)

Together @ 10

For 2-1/2 years we've had contemporary and traditional services at Hillcrest (we call them our "Bold Blend" and "Smooth Blend" services--blame it on too many trips to a local coffee shop). On Sunday, October 19, we'll combine at 10am for six weeks.

What will happen? Check this out:



I created this video clip and showed it yesterday (October 5), to applause in both services.

Song of the Week: Ruthie Foster's "Hole in My Pocket"

From her 2003 project, Runaway Soul, here's "Hole in My Pocket" by Austin resident Ruthie Foster:

Universal Health Care?

Should the government be responsible for ensuring everyone gets the health care they need?

On my workout one morning this week, I listened to the recording of the debate on this subject at NPR's "Intelligence Squared." Take an hour and listen to this, too.

At the beginning of the Oxford-style debate, 49 percent of the audience agreed with the motion that the government is responsible, 24 percent disagreed and 27 percent said they were undecided. After the debate, the "undecideds" split almost equally. Fifty-eight percent of the audience agreed with the motion (a gain of 9 percentage points), 34 percent disagreed (a gain of 10 percentage points), and 8 percent remained undecided.

The room jumped from 49% to 58% in favor of universal health care. And this was even with this hilarious goof by Paul Krugman. Krugman points to the Canadian health care system as a model for the U.S., and touts Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA hospital in our own country as demonstrations of how well-run government-controlled health care systems can be. (No, seriously.) In the Q&A time, he wanted to use the Canadians in the room as Exhibit A. He asked for a show of hands (ABC News' John Donvan was the moderator):

Krugman: --and I wanted to ask, actually two questions, to the audience. First, how many Canadians, would Canadians in the room please raise your hands. [One person applauds, laughter]

Donvan: We have about seven hands going up—

Krugman: OK, not as many as I thought. OK, of those of you who are not on the panel who are Canadians, how many of you think you have a terrible health care system. [pause] One, two--

Donvan: We see—almost all of the same hands going up. [laughter]

Krugman: Bad move on my part

Along with the Canadians Krugman wanted to use as an example, I don't think socialized health care is the answer. Still, we need better collaboration between the market and the government to improve our nation's health coverage. I worry for my sons and their future families now that they are just a few years away from being out from under our health care plan. It's looking pretty shaky out there. This NPR debate should give you food for thought.

LeaderLines: Win-Win, Part 5

As a leader, sometimes you’ll see conflict between those you lead, and sometimes you will face conflict with those you lead. God wants us to enter into every conflict determined to find a win-win solution. Philippians 2:4 says, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

To find this kind of win-win solution, I’m using LeaderLines to introduce you to four concepts from a book by Roger Fisher and William Ury called Getting to Yes:

Relationships: Separate the people from the problem.

Interests: Focus on the interests, not the positions.

Creativity: Brainstorm creative options for solving the problem.

Standards: Agree on the standards you will use to solve the problem.

We’ve already looked at the first three concepts. Now let’s look at the last concept: standards. We must agree on the standards you will use to solve the problem.

My brother and I are only a year apart, and when we were little, I remember an argument we had over who would get the last piece of cake on the cake tray. So, my mom gave me the knife and said, “You choose where to cut the cake and your brother will choose which piece he wants.” You can bet that I made sure that piece was cut right down the middle.

The two parties in a conflict have to agree to what exactly constitutes a satisfactory resolution to their issue.

So, let's wrap up this 5-week LeaderLines study. According to the book, Getting to Yes, there are four things we must focus on in conflict resolution—and in this order: relationships, interests, creativity, and standards.

All four principles can be found in one story in the Bible: the time when Daniel was faced with a situation that would have compromised his obedience to God. As a young Jewish man, Daniel wasn’t living in the Promised Land. Jerusalem had been destroyed and Daniel was among a great number of Jews who had been taken into Babylonian exile.

There the king ordered that some be set aside for training in Babylonian literature and language so that they would be equipped for leadership. Part of this training involved food rations from the king’s own table.

This was a great honor, except eating some of that food was prohibited in the Old Testament laws. Daniel brought this up to Ashpenaz, the king’s chief official in charge of this project. The Bible says that God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, but nevertheless, he was reluctant to give Daniel’s request special consideration. He said, “Why should my king see you looking worse than the other young me? The king would have my head.”
So Daniel suggested a test: for 10 days Daniel would be given nothing but vegetables and water instead of the rations from the king’s table. Then the official could compare how they were progressing up against the other young men in the training. This was done, and after 10 days the official and his guard found Daniel looking even healthier and better nourished than all the others, and so they continued to Daniel the food he requested.

Now, in that story you can see all four of the principles we’ve talked about these last five weeks in LeaderLines. Daniel already had a favorable relationship with Ashpenaz and he focused on the relationship. This led him to identify the interests behind the positions. Daniel’s interest was to obey God’s law; his guard’s interest was in keeping his head! This led Daniel to propose a creative solution that set a standard: give us the food we request and evaluate us in 10 days. After 10 days, you be the judge. Daniel focused on Relationships, Interests, Creativity, and Standards.

God has provided a way for our conflicts to result in beauty. He wants us to look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others. As leaders, he wants us to find—or help those we lead to find—a win-win solution.
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by over 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Winning Ways: The Power of Your Forgiveness

The world watches in stunned amazement when believers practice our Lord’s command to forgive.

Tomorrow is the two-year anniversary of the tragic shooting of 10 Amish girls—five of them fatally—at a one-room schoolhouse in Pennsylvania. The gunman took his own life as police stormed the building.

It was the Amish response as much as the murders that grabbed the world’s attention. They forgave the gunman, and some even attended the man’s funeral in support for his widow and three children.

“Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need,” the killer's widow wrote the Amish later. “Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world.”

In truth, though, the Amish story convicts us as much as it inspires us. “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea,” C.S. Lewis wrote, “That is, until they have something to forgive.”

Do you have something to forgive? Jesus said that forgiven people forgive people.

But that’s not just a stern command: it’s filled with promise! Because of God’s amazing grace to us, we have the ability show some amazing grace of our own.

The late Corrie Ten Boom discovered this. Churches often invited her to speak about how her Christian family suffered in Nazi concentration camps for their resistance. After one church service in Munich, however, one of her former guards came up to her, beaming. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein,” he said. “To think that, as you say, he has washed my sins away!”

He thrust his hand out to shake hers, but she froze. “I tried to smile,” she wrote later, “I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. And so I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness.”

And then it happened: “As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on his. When he tells us to love our enemies, he gives, along with the command, the love itself.”

Join us this Sunday as we examine this profound truth!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.