Author Archives: Steve

Generational Transitions

Posted on March 13, 2006 by Steve
Posted in The Denomination

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

Posted on March 12, 2006 by Steve
Posted in It's My Life

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

Posted on March 11, 2006 by Steve
Posted in Pop Culture

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

Posted on March 7, 2006 by Steve
Posted in Movies

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

Posted on March 4, 2006 by Steve
Posted in It's My 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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Whippersnapper Envy

Posted on February 28, 2006 by Steve
Posted in It's My Life, Sports

Tonight at the table tennis club, I played two teenage guys who haven’t been coming to the club very long. I beat Ben the first time we played, back in October. But he improved very rapidly, and the next time we played, he beat me in a close match. Tonight, he beat me three straight. He zoomed right by me. That’s what the club does. You play guys much better than yourself, learn from them, and improve. Most guys, when they begin coming, experience a burst of quick improvement. That’s what happened with Ben.

Another kid has just started coming. He’s very scrappy, hard to play against. I beat him Saturday, 3 out of 5. But tonight, he beat me 3 out of 5. I’ve been playing much longer. But he’s full of energy, never tires, and has the confidence of youth. He doesn’t realize he’s not supposed to be able to beat me.

This really stinks. Especially since I remember, once upon a time, being just like them.

I went out for tennis in high school, my junior year. I started out as the number 9 player on the junior varsity team, and only the top 8 play in a match. In the first match of the season, I got to play someone from the other school after he had already played his real match. He was the other team’s number 3 player, and he beat me 8-0 (we played a single 8-game set back then). But I improved quickly. I constantly watched the varsity guys to see how they stroked the ball, recognizing that “form” is everything. And it paid off. I quickly climbed up the team rankings, knocking off player after player. And a couple weeks later, when we played that same team again, I was the number one player on our JV team. And in a nail-biter, I beat the other team’s number 1 player. And I just realized I’ve started four sentences in this paragraph with “and.”

The next week, I was moved up to varsity, where we won the conference championship and placed third in Central California. The next year, another championship year, I was the team captain.

Okay, I’m bragging. Reliving glory days. Mid-life nostalgia. But it’s to make a point. I know what it feels like to be able to improve very rapidly. But after you do that, you hit a wall, where improvement becomes very difficult. That happened to me in tennis. And that’s where I am right now in ping pong. I watch these young whippersnappers (at age 49, I qualify to refer to other people as whippersnappers), how they take hold of the sport and zoom right by me in ability. I can stroke the ball better. I have loads more experience. But they beat me. And it’s grossly unfair. God knows it, but he won’t do anything about it.

Churches sometimes grow rapidly, then hit a wall where continued growth is very difficult. New Christians grow spiritually, then experience a period where living the Christian life is suddenly difficult…and it stays that way for the rest of their lives. “Normal” life is hard. And hard is good. It means you put effort into it. If I’m gonna beat these young whippersnappers–and I know I can–it’ll take more than will power. Unfortunately, I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to pray about it, asking God to grant me victory over these immature novices who need humbling. But if I keep losing, I may resort to prayer. Maybe even throw in some fasting. I really really want to beat these guys.

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In the Demonic Grip of American Idol

Posted on February 27, 2006 by Steve
Posted in TV

Okay, I admit it: I’m hooked on American Idol. I started watching in January when they were doing the tryouts. I just wanted to enjoy the “gag” acts, and the performances by people who thought they were good but are actually terrible, the type of act which is what brought fame to William Hung a couple years ago. I’d never watched American Idol before.

In general, I detest reality shows. I watched the first two seasons of Survivor, and then the All-Star Survivor, but that’s the extent of it. I considered myself far too sophisticated to watch American Idol (as if watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer doesn’t, by itself, squelch all claims to sophistication).

But it didn’t take much to get me hooked on American Idol. I read somewhere that the show had been a guilty pleasure, but now, in its fifth season, it has gone more mainstream and people aren’t afraid to admit that they are fans. Well, I’m not exactly bragging that I’m a fan. I’m just humbly admitting that, by letting myself get addicted to AI, I have some deep flaw in my character which merits closer scrutiny.

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Train Track Anxiety

Posted on February 26, 2006 by Steve
Posted in It's My Life

Pastor Tim talked from Matthew 6 today about worry and anxiety. Let me tell you what gives me an anxiety rush, because it happened on the way to church this morning. Again.

We cross two railroad tracks enroute to church. One of them is hidden by trees that come up to the road, so you can’t see down the tracks until you’re pretty much on the tracks. What always freaks me out is getting onto the tracks and then seeing a train parked right there–not moving, just parked. There was one this morning. It’s big light in front was ablaze. This never fails to freak me out. Just the idea that a big train is right there on the tracks, pointed at my car.

Imagine an engineer sitting in the parked train. He’s feeling a bit ornery. As my car drives onto the tracks, he hits the train horn. I’d keel over right there in the car, and my next sight would be the pearly gates.

Trains are parked on these tracks very often. You’d think I’d get accustomed to it. But now, even if I’m expecting a train to be there, it still freaks me out. I’m such a wimp.

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How Many Michael Jordans Are There?

Posted on February 25, 2006 by Steve
Posted in Sports, This or That

I was listening to ESPN radio today on the way to play ping pong. They were talking about the upcoming NFL combine, where draft prospects work out for NFL scouts and try to impress them. The show host asked a guest something like, “So how do you feel about the fact that the Reggie Bushes and the Matt Leinarts and the Vince Youngs will be there, but they aren’t going to work out?”

My question is much more significant: are there more than one of each guy? Why the pluralizing? Can the first two teams each get a Reggie Bush?

When Ron Artest was being shopped around, and some people were calling him one of the best players in the NBA, I heard a different ESPN announcer say, “Artest is good, but he’s not in the same category as the Kobes and the Tim Duncans and the Shaqs and the Lebrons and the Dwayne Wades and the Kevin Garnetts.” What? There’s more than one Kobe? More than one Shaq? Do the alternate Kobes and Shaqs also hate each other?

This is something you rarely see in writing, but you hear spoken all the time. Doesn’t make sense to me why people do it. Imagine saying, “May can be a hot month, but it doesn’t compare to the Junes and Julys and Augusts.” If there’s only one of something, why talk as if there are many of them?

  • “There are many great heroes in the Bible. I’m talking about the Gideons and the Davids and the Abrahams and the Solomons and the Apostles Pauls.”
  • “The King James is a popular Bible, but I’d recommend a contemporary version, something like the NIVs or the Living Bibles.”
  • “After Jesus was crucified, the disciples–the Peters, the Johns, the Bartholomews, the Jameses–hid in fear.”
  • “I enjoy being around the other members of the worship team–the Terrys, Tims, Chrises, Larrys, Jodys, Marshas, Pams, and Daves.”
  • “My two all-time favorite situations comedies are the Seinfields and the Mashes.”

Okay, so this is a silly thing people do. I’ve made my point. I’m trying to figure out why this affects God’s eternal purposes on earth–you know, the world evangelizations and the social justices and the discipleships and the eternal lifes–but I’m coming up empty.

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Those Who Do, Do

Posted on February 24, 2006 by Steve
Posted in Sports

Next fall, ESPN takes over control of Monday Night Football, which ABC has ruled since it began. Tony Kornhiser was recently named as one of the new crew of announcers, and people are criticizing him because he never played football. Howard Cossell didn’t, either, but he was unique. Dennis Miller didn’t play football, and he bombed. But a variety of football players have bombed, too, over the years.

Over the years, I’ve often heard ministers discount other ministers by saying, “He never grew a church,” or, “He wasn’t a successful pastor.” Therefore, I have nothing to learn from that person. My Dad never led a church of more than 120. Therefore, to pastors of larger churches, he has nothing to contribute to them. If we did a seminar on pastoral relationships, and had pastors of churches smaller than 200 lead it, the pastors of churches larger than 300 or 400 wouldn’t attend. They would assume they have nothing to learn. Which is stinkin’ hogwash, because small-church pastors are often great at relational issues. But hey–small equals inferior. Small equals “not as successful as me.”

If they haven’t done it, then they can’t relate.

Which brings us to our President and VP. They never served in combat, and yet they’re leading a war in two countries, exercising authority over real soldiers and real generals. Lincoln never served in combat. Neither did Franklin Roosevelt. But sometimes, you just get lucky when it comes to who’s in charge, I guess.

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