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I’m Impressed by Bloggers

Posted on January 5, 2006 by Steve
Posted in This or That

I’m developing some blogs for denominational use, and they’ll be unveiled in the coming months. I’m pretty excited about it.

As I’ve been working on this, I’ve been visiting scores of blogs to get ideas, particularly regarding graphic design. And I’ve been impressed by how many people out there can write well. I thought writing had gone down the tubes. But at least in blogdom, there are lots of really great wordsmiths out there, lurking amidst the huddles masses. Ordinary blokes and housewives and students and what-have-you who decided they wanted an outlet for their thoughts, and phooey on whether or not anyone cares to read their stuff.

Because of my training and experience in writing, I tend to be much more critical of writing. But I tell you–there are a lot of good writers out there. They put words together well, and they even get punctuation right. Many of these are people whose careers do not involve writing; they aren’t professionals. But blogs give them an outlet for developing their writing ability, and in the process they get good practice in organizing and articulating ideas. It’s certainly good practice for me, even though I write stuff as part of my work every day. Blogs give me a chance to be creative, something which a news report doesn’t always provide.

Many bloggers are way to wordy to hold my attention–I prefer shorter entries (a standard I don’t impose on myself, obviously!). And some, rather than creating new content, merely reference stuff they find elsewhere (which bores me). But there are plenty of creative types out there who churn out interesting new content, even if it’s merely describing what they did the day before. A growing number seem to be learning HTML, too, so they can also be creative with their blog design.

Anyway, just thought I’d mention that.

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My Own “Farris Hassan” Moment

Posted on January 3, 2006 by Steve
Posted in It's My Life, World Events

Hurray for Farris Hassan! I think it’s marvelous that this young man was so zealous about nabbing a story that he made his way to Iraq. Yeah, it was dumb. Yeah, I’d be horrified if I was one of his parents. But I find his journalistic enthusiasm and initiative to be energizing. Plus, it reminds me of a very stupid thing I did when I was only a few years older than him.

I guess I was 20. It was my junior year of college, and I was taking the January Term off (you only needed to take 3 of the 4). I spent January working in a grocery store during the day, and then doing layout for the local newspaper in the evening. It was great fun. However, I’d been taking journalism classes at college, had just read “All the President’s Men,” and figured I would become a newspaper reporter. And so, I yearned to get “out in the field.” And that’s a very appropriate term in the San Juaquin Valley of California.

Migrant worker camps, peopled mostly by illegal aliens, could be found in various places around us. Maria, one of our favorite patrons at the grocery store, came every few weeks and loaded up with hundreds and hundreds of tortillas, plus several 100-pound bags of flour. She was a cook in one of the camps.

Anyway, I decided to go “investigate” one of the camps, see what kind of story I could roust up. And so one day I drove my parents’ car many miles through cotton fields and vineyards until I found a camp. I parked by the road, crossed a field, gently scaled the small barbed- wire fence which ringed the camp, and began walking down the dirt paths of the camp. Most of the people lived in shacks of indeterminate age. A woman stood in front of one. I approached, talked to her with highly broken Spanish, and peered through the screen door to find kids playing on the all-dirt floor. She didn’t say anything back.

Meanwhile, a number of Hispanic guys were watching me closely, and others kept joining them. I waved, and continued walking through the camp. It began dawning on me how stupid I was. I didn’t see any stories in sight. I couldn’t converse with the people. And I was beginning to feel a bit afraid. I hadn’t told anybody where I went. I could disappear without a trace. So I turned around, headed back over the barbed-wire fence, across the field, and to the car. I could see camp folks watching me as I drove away.

I don’t think I ever told my parents about that.

Yes, it was stupid. But it was industrious! Like Farris! He’ll be a great journalist someday. If he doesn’t get himself killed first.

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New Years Eve, 1974

Posted on January 2, 2006 by Steve
Posted in It's My Life

Pam and I had a very uneventful New Year’s Eve this year. We just stayed home and did nothing. No parties. No stepping outside to watch the fireworks downtown. Pretty boring. Part of the problem is that I’m still (still!) sick, this time with what seems to be bronchitis. The other issue is that nobody invited us anywhere, and we didn’t invite anyone over.

I was trying to remember memorable New Year’s Eve parties I’ve attended. Last year’s comes to mind, because a good friend came over during the party at our house with the news that he and his wife were done (her doing). I ended up talking to him a long time about that. I remember a few others that were nothing special. But the one that stands out goes clear back to my junior year in high school, in 1974.

At the beginning of the school year, we moved to Pixley, Calif., where Dad began pastoring his first church. I had left a dynamic youth group where kids were getting saved right and left; that was in Lake Havasu City, Ariz. At Pixley, I found a much smaller youth group which was characterized by established relationships and pretty much no spiritual spark. I found it very difficult to “break in,” and that’s a big issue when you’re a self-conscious teen.

The youth group leader, Wayne, hosted a New Year’s Eve party at the church. And that night, especially as we played game after game of Tripoley, I laughed and laughed and mixed it up with the others in the group. And that night, for the first time, I felt like I was accepted into their circles. I went on to develop some really good relationships with those teens, and things of a spiritual nature happened.

Also things of a not-so-spiritual nature, like the kick-butt basketball team we formed for the summer park league–the only church team, and I think we took second place. One night, after I severely outplayed the guy guarding me on an all-black team, mainly because he was half drunk, that guy came at me with a crowbar after the game. He felt like he had been humiliated in front of his friends, even though I was smart enough to avoid any trash talking with this particular fellow. Something kept him from swinging, and considering his rage at me, I’ve always marveled that I got away unscathed. He did kick my car as I finally made my escape. Ah, those were good times!

Anyway, that party was a breakthrough in helping me feel “included.” And that was a really big deal.

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Chronicles of Narnia

Posted on December 29, 2005 by Steve
Posted in Movies

Pam and I finally saw “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” last Saturday. I was very impressed. I actually felt that the religious symbolism came through better in the movie than it did in the book (though, as Anthony Lane described it in a review in The New Yorker, the religious symbolism is as obvious as a rhino in a phonebooth). They kept the violence a little off-camera, too, which was nice.

We’ve been under the weather, and are well behind in our holiday movie watching. I’m battling a cold right now, though I’m at work as I write this. Don’t know how long I’ll last. I couldn’t get to sleep last night, thanks to this malady, so I went out on the couch in the living room and turned on the TV (until 3 am!). Ended up watching much of the Jessica Lange-Jeff Bridges version of “King Kong.” I saw it in the theater when it came out, which seems like it was while I was still in college. I didn’t remember how much they played up Jessica Lange’s sexuality (showing her in skimpy outfits as much as possible), and making it seem like Kong was leering at her with lust in his eyes. Watching it last night, it seemed very silly. Pam and I still need to watch the new version.

And we need to see “Munich,” “Memoirs of a Geisha” (great book, but it woudn’t appeal to everyone), and “Syriana.” “Rent” is already gone, and “Aeon Flux” is probably soon to depart. We’ll probably have to catch them (along with the Edward R Murrow flick) on NetFlix. Think we’ll skip “Brokeback Mountain.” Yeah, definitely skip that one.

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Christmas Eve 2005 on the Rich Side of Town

Posted on December 25, 2005 by Steve
Posted in Religion in General

Last night we attended (with some of Pam’s family) the Christmas Eve service at The Chapel, a megachurch located a couple miles down the road from our house. We live on the “rich” side of town, and The Chapel, from everything I’ve heard, is for the rich. It’s an independent church, conservative evangelical, with a vocally Republican pastor. That sounds negative, the way I put it. Actually, the pastor is a very good guy, and I hear tidbits of good things the church has done beyond itself, particularly in inner-city type things. For instance, I understand they’ve invested quite a bit in starting a new, multi-cultural church on the “bad” side of Fort Wayne. Since I attend an urban church (after having attended for nine years a church akin to The Chapel), I think that’s great.

The pastor once pastored in Fort Wayne, but moved elsewhere. Then he was recruited, probably by some rich people, to come back and start a church on the rich side of town. You couldn’t recruit of guy of that calibre to come start a church in my church’s neighborhood. Such is reality. But if The Chapel didn’t exist, then this new church in south Fort Wayne probably wouldn’t exist, either.

Nevertheless, something in me wants to dislike The Chapel. Maybe it goes back to the first time I was on the property, not all that long after the new sanctuary was built. They were hosting a monthly Bible quiz meet, and my brother was coaching a team (from Ohio) that was competing. So that Sunday afternoon, I stopped in.

When I walked into the foyer, just outside the doors to the new sanctuary, I just about gasped at the opulence. Or at least, that’s how it came across to me, coming from a church struggling on meager resources to minister to a very poor neighborhood. I felt like I was going to the opera. Seriously. If I would ever go to an opera, that is, which I wouldn’t. But with the grand piano sitting in the foyer and all the other accessories of fineness, it seemed to me like what an opera house would be like.

So last night, I prepared myself to go to the opera. I figured I would be turned off once again.

Now, you’re expecting me to reverse directions, say that the Christmas Eve service was a wonderful experience which shattered all of my previous negative impressions. Stop about half-way in between. The service was nice, nothing fancy. The place was packed, and we had to sit on chairs leading into the sanctuary, and frankly, I didn’t see much of the service. A truly lousy vantage point. But they started right on time and ended in exactly 45 minutes, a period which included some wonderful music, a children’s time with the pastor, a superb message to the “adults” from the pastor, and communion. Very efficient. I came away neither hot nor cold, just nicely warm.

Something deep within me really really really wants to dislike churches like The Chapel. Churches for the rich, and which spend hordes of money on themselves, particularly on their appearance. But The Chapel isn’t always easy to dislike, unless you’re a purely knee-jerk type of person. I guess I could criticize the pastor for his crack about tattoos, something which would have turned off the teens who attend our church, but which was probably okay for lilly white Republican territory. But that was a petty thing, and I need to contort myself to take his actual words wrong.

A church like The Chapel offers wonderful programs for all ages. It would be a good place to raise children. But I serve in a church located on a corner in a depressed neighborhood, on a street that has two convicted rapists and three convicted child molesters, and in a neighborhood inhabited by really messed up families. Our needs are great, and our resources are few. So forgive me if I have a hard time going to the opera.

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Wondering About People

Posted on December 21, 2005 by Steve
Posted in This or That

Tonight I was shopping at Kohl’s, finishing up what I’m getting Pam for Christmas. As I got into a checkout line, I recognized the fellow at the front, who was just finishing checking out. He was a United Brethren minister in another town. I saw him, but he didn’t see me, and we didn’t speak.

Do you ever wonder about people you encounter? You know–what’s their line of work? were they athletic in their younger days? did they have a happy childhood? did they serve in the military? are they rich or poor or struggling? I do, more and more. Particularly of older people. I wonder what they were like in their prime. And I wonder if, when I’m “old,” if people will have any curiosity about or interest in the life I lived.

Anyway, this minister seemed entirely ordinary. You wouldn’t know he was a minister. The checkout girl, and the people in line behind him, had no idea that he was a leader, that he had been through the ringer as a pastor, that he had experienced thrilling days but also some of the very toughest of days. That he counseled youngsters getting married, and comforted people who were grieving, and earned the appreciation and gratitude of these people. All of this packed into one ordinary guy buying clothes.

A multitude of stories lurk just beneath the surface of everyone we meet. Everyone, in one way or another, has led an interesting life–some more exotic or successful than others, but all interesting in their own way. And it’s nice when someone takes an actual interest in them.

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Reinventing My Denomination

Posted on December 19, 2005 by Steve
Posted in The Denomination

Keith Drury, over at the Wesleyan Church, spoke on his blog about the “reinventing” going on in my own denomination. His post was titled “Re-inventing the Denomination,” and he got it nearly all right. He expressed some admiration that such a radical change for decentralizing the denomination came not from the grassroots, but from the denominational leadership.

I hadn’t really thought about that. That’s why it’s always interesting getting an outsider’s perspective.

A year ago–Dec 16, to be exact–I wrote about “The Denomination of ‘No,'” referring to the defeat of the referendum to join our denomination with the Missionary Church. That one capped a whole year’s worth of sporadic writing on Whatever about the issue. Just a few days before that, I had written “Let the Purging Begin.” None of that dire purging has happened. In fact, after killing the idea of joining the Missionary Church, the church put back into leadership primarily people who had favored joining the MCs. Go figure.

Many of us still feel that joining the MCs offered the best future for our churches. But you don’t always get what you want, and you deal with it. We’re dealing with it as a denomination. The fact that we explored something as radical as giving ourselves up created an openness to change, which we’re now capitalizing upon. Most of our annual conferences (districts) are disbanding in favor of a cluster system, and we’re seeing practically no reisistance. That astounds me. Clusters are forming, and while some of them will no doubt be dysfunctional, I’m sensing some real excitement among a number of ministers about this approach.

Anyway, Keith Drury’s observations were interesting. But even more interesting were the comments people made concerning his post. It sounded like a bunch of United Brethren people talking. They were raising all the same issues we raised among ourselves. Maybe we should consider joining the Wesleyan Church.

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Cell Phone Urgency

Posted on December 18, 2005 by Steve
Posted in This or That

I went to Applebees for lunch. Got their Oriental Chicken Salad. Sitting in the next booth were a young couple, he in a business suit, she in bluejeans. My expert analysis: husband and wife, he was free for lunch, they got together. Then he got a phone call on his cell. I noticed, because he was talking louder than normal. Everyone talks a little bit louder than normal on a cell phone. It’s annoying, sticks out like a rhino in a phone booth.

He talked for probably 15 minutes, stuff about mortgages mostly. Meanwhile, the poor gal (I kept glancing her way) sat there bored, looking into the air, probably wondering why she gave up part of her day to be with her husband, when he let a phone call push her aside. I felt sorry for her. And I wondered about the ways I let work or personal projects or websurfing or blog-writing push aside time with my own wife.

Not to mention the fact that I’ll allow just about anything, no matter how trivial, derail time with God.

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Barbara’s Heaven Can Wait

Posted on December 17, 2005 by Steve
Posted in Religion in General, TV

As my denomination’s Communications Director, I field calls from organizations wanting to promote themselves to our member congregations. Call me Gatekeeper. A couple of weeks ago, I received a call from ABC’s publicity department telling me about an upcoming Barbara Walters special called “Heaven.” I was told that Babs had interviewed Ted Haggard, and that our member churches would probably be very interested in the special. I told the lady to send me info by email or regular mail, and I would decide what to do with it. Though mentally, I had already deep-sixed it. They made it sound like the whole program would give an evangelical view of heaven, thus the mention of Ted Haggard, but I knew that wouldn’t be the case. Been around the block enough. And my master’s in Public Relations counts for something.

Yesterday, I finally received an email about the program. The show is airing next Tuesday. My suspicions were right. The email doesn’t even mention Ted Haggard. The piece is titled: “Heaven: Where it It? How do we get there? The answers may surprise you.”

The part “The answers may surprise you” just slays me. Yes, certainly, I’m totally excited about hearing Barbara Walters, theologian extraordinaire, reveal to the world the mysteries of heaven. I’ve heard low-lifes of the calibre of Billy Graham talk about heaven, but now, finally, I’m gonna be treated to real answers that may surprise me.

The piece continues, “Is heaven simply a myth dreamed up to give lives meaning, or is it a real place? Anchored by Barbara Walters, ‘Heaven. Where Is It? How Do We Get There?’ explores the meaning of heaven with religious leaders of the major faiths, scientists, people who say they believe in heaven because they’ve been there, celebrities who are vocal about their beliefs, and even with terrorists.”

Oh joy–celebrities get to tell me about heaven. Celebrities always display superior knowledge. And terrorists. Finally, some insight into the whole 72 virgins thing. I’m sure we’ll hear some New Age gurus telling us that heaven is all around us, and scientists who will say, “There’s nothing beyond. This is it.”

Sorry, Barbara, I’m really not interested in your theological revelations. But it’s nice that you included Ted Haggard as a token evangelical. You’re so balanced.

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Bummer Days

Posted on December 16, 2005 by Steve
Posted in Family, It's My Life

Pam and I are not well.

I’ve had vertigo issues for about a month. For several years, in fact, on a recurring basis, but this time it’s come and stuck. Driving me nuts. One day at work, I went into the bathroom in our warehouse area, locked the door, laid down on the tile floor, and tried to sleep it off. A coworker found me. I relocated to my office, where I closed the door and curled up on the floor with my jacket (a pillow! how wonderful!).

So I set up a doctor’s appointment, and that came on Thursday morning. The doctor thinks I have Miniere’s disease, an ear disorder that seems to defy treatment. Just have to live with it.

Meanwhile, Pam headed off to Redimed with her dad. She’s been off work all week. Had what seemed to be back problems, then on Monday became very very warm, just burning up with fever. That broke the next day, but she’s still felt lousy. She threw up all Wednesday night, so it seemed wise to try Redimed in search of a solution.

Well, she’s got a bladder and kidney infection, bad one, and if she hadn’t gone to the doctor (and gotten shots and medication), I’d probably be visiting her in the hospital right now.

What a pair. I’m actually doing okay right now (this thing hasn’t hit REAL hard for a couple weeks, at least not like that aforementioned day at work), but it’s vexing nonetheless. Pam should be okay by Monday, the doctor says. Meanwhile, I’ve got a balance test scheduled, and have to cut down on salt and caffeine. No more morning trips to Starbucks, unless I can learn to like decaf. Which I’ll probably need to do.

What a sorry pair we are.

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Author Archives: Steve

I’m Impressed by Bloggers

My Own “Farris Hassan” Moment

New Years Eve, 1974

Chronicles of Narnia

Christmas Eve 2005 on the Rich Side of Town

Wondering About People

Reinventing My Denomination

Cell Phone Urgency

Barbara’s Heaven Can Wait

Bummer Days

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