Monthly Archives: March 2006

The Chains of Yesterday’s Successes

The Anchor church board meets every two months on a Monday night, and last night was one of them. We have a small board–the pastor, three elders, treasurer, several others. It’s pretty much a business and policy group, as opposed to a visioning type of group. I think a lot of church boards are that way.

At the beginning of the meeting, Pastor Tim led us in a brief leadership study using some writings of Henry and Richard Blackaby. It was good stuff. We’re trying to “re-engineer” Anchor into a church focused much more strongly on outreach. The last seven years, since we started, have been a flurry of activity. New programs and activities have arisen, but not usually around any central plan. But now we’re standing back, taking a deep breath, and saying, “What should we do during the next seven years?”

Let me comment on some sentences from the Blackabys.

  • “Because an opportunity presents itself, the leader assumes it must be God’s will to move forward. But mistaking an open door for an invitation is an undiscerning approach to leadership.” We’ve been guilty of some of this, I suppose. Doors open, and we plunge through. But there will always be doors. You have to be intentional about which ones you decide to walk through (while leaving room for God to open a door that you never in your wildest dreams imagined in your strategic plan).
  • “The easiest course of action is often the one taken previously, especially if it was successful….Yesterday’s successes always linger on long beyond their productive life.” Our annual carnival and Halloween maze have been successful events. Does that mean we must continue doing them every year? No. But once something becomes “institutionalized,” it’s real hard saying no to it.
  • “Churches are remiss to assume that because God once worked mightily in a particular way, he will contiue to work in exactly that way.” We recently discontinued our separately-incorporated youth ministry. There were financial reasons, but also practical ones. We’ll still do youth ministry, obviously. We just won’t do it like we did in the past, despite its successes. I’m glad we were able to make that decision, painful though it was (especially since it goes against the “original vision,” which can get unduly idolized).

It was an interesting discussion, and fodder for good reflection as we look ahead.

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The Joy of the Little Guy

I’m rooting for the Cuban baseball team to win the World Baseball Classic. Not the country of Cuba. Certainly not Father Fidel. It’s the players on Cuba’s baseball team that excite me. They are tremendous players, and may be the Cuban version of “professional athletes,” but they lack all of the benefits (and huge salaries) of pro players in the USA. In quality, they measure up to our pros. In attitude, they are more like college players–exuberant, smiling, thrilled to be there. Watching them is like watching any of the NCAA college teams in March Madness.

Okay, I guess this qualifies me as a communist sympathizer. Go dig up Joe McCarthy and smear me.

I enjoy watching the worship teams from small churches. A local Alliance church played at our church a few years ago, and it was clear that those guys were a close team who loved playing music together. Likewise for a UB church I visited in Kokomo, Ind. I saw them play, watched them interact with each other, and they reminded me of the Anchor team. A bunch of guys engaged in a common mission around something they love doing, and are gifted to do. There is a group from Huntertown which plays at the Seekers coffeehouse frequently, and I sensed the same thing with them.

I don’t see that when I watch polished teams from big churches led by professionals. I don’t sense the team-ness, the cohesion, that I see in little-church teams. The commaraderie we have as a team at Anchor goes lightyears beyond what I experienced for years at a much larger church. It was still fun there. But it was nothing like what we share on the Anchor team.

Go Cuba. Go Anchor. Go little guys.

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Green Day

Today, grown adults across America are examining each other’s clothing for traces of green, and pointing out people who aren’t wearing green. The same scene is occurring in every grade school classroom in the country. Ministers in pastoral meetings are doing it. We did it this morning in our office. Amazing.

I’m wearing bluejeans, and a maroon sweater with a maroon shirt underneath. I am green-less, and unapologetically so. What a spoilsport.

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What I’m Reading

I’ve long been a fan of Robert Parker’s “Spencer” novels, having discovered him back in the early 1980s when he was on his 5th or 6th in the series. Now there are over 30, I’m sure, and he’s added two more detective series, starring Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall. Not as interesting as Spencer, but still good.

Parker has been called the successor to Raymond Chandler, a 1940s-era fellow known for writing “The Big Sleep.” I started reading “The Big Sleep” some years ago, but for whatever reason, I lost interest early on and never finished the book. But a couple years ago, I read one of Chandler’s short stories and was absolutely enthralled. What a masterful writer! I’ve since read several of his books, including “The Big Sleep,” and several more sit on my bookshelf.

But Chandler also aroused my interest in other old-time detective writers, like Dashell Hammet and Jim Thompson and Patricia Highsmith. I’ve fallen in love with the whole noir genre, books starring hard-boiled detectives and set earlier in the century, and written in the first-person with sarcasm and wit deluxe. Part of my attraction to these books is that writers in those days couldn’t freely use obscenity or write sex scenes. Thankfully, plenty of people still get killed. But there’s an innocence to the mayhem.

MarchViolets.jpgMost recently, I discovered Philip Kerr’s “Berlin Noir” series, three books set in Berlin circa WW2. He’s a more contemporary writer, so there was some language and other stuff. But it’s still a period book in the same genre. Last night I finished the first book in the series, “March Violets,” which occurs in 1936 at the time of the Berlin Olympics. The plot is a nothing-special murder mystery, but it’s set in the context of Hitler’s consolidation of power. You see people disappear, you see concentration camps arise, you see Jews and others persecuted, and you catch the mood of a city and of a country which is still unsure of what exactly is happening. So while this murder investigation unfolds, a huge drama is occurring all around you. Fascinating stuff. I’m looking forward to the next two books.

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Generational Transitions

A retired minister was in my office this morning, and during the conversation, he injected some subtle hints about what he thinks should happen in the church. This same fellow (a minister I respect, by the way) was highly involved in fighting the initiative to combine our denomination into the Missionary Church. He is of my parents’ generation. And he, like many of them (and probably like I will be) has difficulty entrusting his church’s future to the next generation. These good folks (some of them) still use their connections and knowledge of “how things work” to influence the church’s direction, even though they no longer hold leadership positions or are necessarily active in ministry. They are unable to “let things go.”

The cold fact is, today our denomination is firmly in the control of baby boomers. I understand that this is the case with nearly all denominations. Just as the Lord of the Rings ended with the dawn of the “Age of Men,” and the departure of the elves, we are now in the Age of the Baby Boomers. The boomers have been influential for some time now. But today, they pull the strings. They call the shots. They are in charge.

But a question we’re asking is, “Who will be the next generation of leaders?” As we look across the denomination, there are some bright young leaders…but not many. Certainly not as many as there were among the baby boomers at that age. We can look at the young crop of ministers and wonder, “Who will be the bishop in 20 years?” And it’s difficult to guess.

Regardless, we need to be grooming some of these young ministers for eventual (or current) leadership. Because they are our future. So we baby boomers are being pulled from two directions. On the one hand, we have the older generation which doesn’t fully approve of the direction the boomers are taking and still wants to try to control things. Then we have the younger generations who are most certainly out of tune with the older generation–the baby busters and GenXers–but whom we boomers realize need to be developed for–and even pushed into–leadership roles. It’s an interesting dilemma.

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Notes from the Sick Bed

Some kind of flu thing hit me during the night. Not a fun night. I ended up skipping church, which I hated to do, because the worship team was doing some good songs. But I didn’t think it would enhance the atmosphere of the service if I collapsed at the keyboard. Might have alarmed the kiddies.

Anyway, I’ve been on a Saltines and 7-Up diet all day. This is one of the things–one of the MANY things, I should say–that I’ve learned from my wife. When you’re sick, nothing tastes better than Saltines and 7-Up. I went through 35 years of life without knowing that. As proof of my morning delirium, after finally waking up, I watched an hour of James Carville and Paul Begala speaking at a Harvard forum about their new book. I’ve actually come to appreciate James Carville, in the same way that I’ve come to appreciate, say…well, absolutely nothing is coming to mind. So I guess that puts Carville in the class of “gulity pleasure.” But Paul Begala–sorry, but in all Christian love, I must say that I can’t stand the viper.

My wife takes good care of me when I’m sick. That is not an incentive for getting sick. But it does make the ordeal more endurable.

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The Internet Non-Adopters

Interesting article in BusinessWeek about how the growth of the internet has slowed to a crawl. In the US, 64% of households are connected to the internet. And that percentage is expected to increase to only 65% in the coming year. The explosive growth of the 1990s and early 2000s seems to have hit a wall.

Why? The article sites several factors.

  • Setting up a computer and getting connected is just too complicated; many people don’t want the hassle.
  • Some people (but not a whole lot) still live in areas where internet access isn’t possible or is difficult.
  • People are afraid of it. They hear the stories about identity theft and rampant viruses, and don’t feel capable to figure out how to protect themselves. I resonate with that.
  • They see the internet as unncessary. About 6 million peoplehave a computer, but not internet access, and say they won’t subscribe at any price.
  • About 31% of non-users say they have internet access at work, and that’s sufficient for their needs.
  • Then there’s the senior citizen segment. I know plenty of seniors who use the internet. But according to the article, 60% of people age 65 or older don’t use the internet at all. That surprised me.

There’s also a big segement of younger folk (under age 44) who view the internet as a time-waster, or just don’t want the hassle.

The article says computer and internet companies have failed to make things simpler. Instead, they keep adding new features which will appeal to the early adopters, and that just further intimidates nonusers. The “simpler” argument doesn’t work for me, since I set up a dozen Macs in the past six months. Take it out of the box, turn it on, the machine walks you through a few routine steps–and you’re ready to go.

At the same time, I’ve got a Dell laptop at work, which I use only so I can check to see how my websites look on a PC. That laptop drives me nuts with all the things that keep popping up. It’s hugely intrusive. For my PC readers: I know, there’s undoubtedly some setting I can turn off. But I’d rather just be able to gripe about PCs, if you don’t mind.

In my work, we are doing more and more on the internet, at the expense of print media. This is valid. We’re in survival mode, and we’re looking to the future of the church. But it’s good to know that 35% of our people probably aren’t connected, and it’ll be a number of years before that number drops even to 30%. Our demographics would skew more toward the “middle class” end of things, where you could expect to have more people connected. But we’re also a somewhat rural group, so we’d have plenty of people who only get dial-up, if anything (though in actuality, we’re more of a smalltown denomination, and small towns are connected for the most part).

Anyway, it gives me, as Communications Director, some things to consider.

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Let’s Do Some Oscar Debriefing

The only nominated movie I saw was “Crash.” However, I went to bed before the Best Picture Oscar was granted, because I was sure it would go to “Brokeback Mountain,” and something in me just didn’t want to be paying attention. So I enjoyed hearing the next morning that “Crash” won.

I loved “Crash.” The language was a bit strong, and with most movies, Pam and I would have turned it off. But I was absolutely fascinated by the multi-faceted takes on racism and prejudice that the movie explored. The film attacked all kinds of stereotypes. I just loved the movie. I had no idea it was Oscar caliber.

I didn’t see “Capote,” but I did read “In Cold Blood,” the book on which the movie is based. That was a ground-breaking book in its time, and is credited with creating a new form of journalism called literary journalism, or progressive non-fiction. Capote delved into the minds of his subjects, something which journalists aren’t supposed to do because it’s subjective. But the book was superb.

Now, many people write in that style. Paul Thoreaux’s travel writing, in which he injects himself as the writer, is a form of progressive non-fiction. John McPhee, writing in the New Yorker, became the Gold Standard for this type of writing. But Capote was the pioneer (though if you read A. J. Liebling’s World War II writing, especially his wonderful article about an American soldier called “Mollie,” you have to wonder whether Capote was a pioneer, or just got credit).

Philip Seymour Hoffman won the Oscar for portraying Capote. I approve, because I loved Hoffman’s character in “Twister.” A loud, scruffy, fearless tornado chaser.

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Caffeine and the Abundant Life

I’m supposed to cut back on caffeine and salt. Both can aggravate this condition I have that causes vertigo. I used to drench french fries in salt, and dump salt on spaghetti and everything else in sight. But during the past two years, I’ve learned to eat french fries and other foods without adding salt. It’s been difficult. Not exactly equal in difficulty to, say, overcoming the loss of a limb or dealing with epileptic seizures, but for a wimpy guy like me, it’s significant that I conquered my magnetic attraction to salt.

Salt was do-able. Even in the past few months, when I had to take my salt-avoidance to a new level. I’m learning that joy can exist even in the absence of excessive amounts of salt.

But caffeine…how could I possibly live the abundant life God desires for me without consuming vast quantities of caffeine-saturated liquids? Well, I’ve made progress. My morning ritual has been to stop at Starbucks on my way to work. That’s the only coffee I would drink all day, with rare exceptions. I learned to stop drinking coffee throughout the day. I guess Starbucks is strong enough that the buzz would sustain me without periodic injections of additional caffeine.

But with this latest bout of vertigo, I realized the need for more drastic measures. Even that one cup, on a regular basis, was too much. But this cross seemed too much to bear. Help me, Jesus. For I am weak and helpless and in need of feeling the jitters.

Well, turns out it’s not so difficult after all. I tried Starbucks decaf–and liked it. I really didn’t notice the difference in taste, though I certainly did notice the buzz-lessness. However, it’s been a pleasant surprise that I can continue my daily pilgrimage to the Starbucks Temple. I even discovered that you can get all the other drinks–lattes, machiattos, etc.–in decaf. I tried a couple lattes that way–and liked them, too.

So, God has provided. Life will continue to be worth living.

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