Holding on for dear life may hasten our death

We had an interesting discussion in our deacon board meeting the other night. Our Wednesday night supper is declining in attendance. Some have opted out of the meal because the meal tends to have what I will call "low nutritional value". Others have dietary concern. There are a few folks who don't like getting out to come to a church meal every week. For others, as the numbers have dwindled, it "just isn't there scene" anymore.

Related to this concern, there is a shortage of people willing to cook. Some folks are not capable of doing all the legwork that is required to prepare the meal. Others were, but are not longer capable of cooking a meal for a large group of people. People want to eat early, which means that working folks have to take vacation time to cook, which they are less willing to do. So, we beg and plead to get people to cover the meal, and it just limps along.

One of our deacons suggested a birthday dinner for folks might draw in more participants. Her idea is not a bad one. I think it may increase attendance slightly once a month, but it is not a long term solution to making a dying traditional program suddenly more relevant.

I commented that in this situation we need to examen the meal ministry, evaluate if the program is meeting the needs it was designed to meet, and then either modify the program, or realize its at the end of its life cycle and discontinue the program.

Some people disagreed. Other agreed with what I said. A few misunderstood what I said and labeled me as "against" the Wednesday Night Supper.

This is what I know about church programs and church development. Holding on for dear life to dying programs, events and traditions only hastens the death of both the program, and sometimes the institution.

In our fast changing world, adaptation in ministry is not a one time process, it is a continual process. We cannot rest on the change we just made in ministry we must have an ongoing process of adaptation and change in nearly all of our ministry nearly all of the time if we are going to be vibrant, growing churches.

I learned this lesson through failure.

In the last church I served I helped to reorganize the youth ministry and move it forward for a bit. For a season, this adaptation worked. We combined two smaller groups into a meaningful program. Kids were connecting with the church, the Lord, and one another. Because most of the ministry was with unchurched kids, it was a challenge for some of our church folks, but they did well. At the end of the first year we had some set backs.

In addition to this, my wife was diagnosed with cancer as I started my second year trying to help it develop. This forced us to adapt again, combining the church youth ministry and the contemporary service. For a season both grew and thrived.

The next year, we started a children's outreach at the same time. That had a good start as well. The kids outreach was going well. The youth ministry, without continuing to adapt and adjust, was struggling a little more, but still working well.

The following year, without being able to adapt and adjust, was beginning to struggle. Before wrong it shrank to nothing. The kids ministry followed suit. Then the contemporary service lost its key leadership due to a move, and everything slowly crumbled.

Here is the lesson I learned from that (among many), if you don't continue to change and adapt you begin to die.

OR

Holding on for dear life may hasten your death.

THOUGHTS???

Book Review for Blue Ocean Shift

Blue Ocean Shift: Proven Steps to Inspire Confidence and Seize New Growth
by W, Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
ISBN 978-0-316-31404-6
Hachette Books
Reviewed by Clint Walker

In this wonderful follow up to Blue Ocean Strategy, the authors of Blue Ocean Shift seek to further plot the course toward reaching undiscovered and undreamed of markets for folks seeking to make their mark on the business world, the non-profit world and more.

First, it may be helpful to understand the language of "Blue Ocean" that the authors have trademarked in their studies of business development and adaptation. Markets that are saturated with customers and sellers are referred to as "red" and "Red Ocean".  Blue Ocean markets are unknown and undiscovered markets that businesses and salespersons can move into.

In Blue Ocean Strategy, Kim and Mauborgne seemed to advocate for the concept of "Blue Oceans", advocating entrepreneurs seek to be in this space. This book, as I understand it, is more about adaptation. How do you adapt your new or established business to move from "red oceans" to blue oceans"

Blue Ocean Strategy is filled with great stories and examples that push the reader toward embracing their viewpoint, and helping people move into open spaces in the buisness world. Thoughtful, inspiring, and smart, many business persons would be wise to read this book and seek their niche.

For me as a pastor, this book applies to church growth as well. In what ways are churches seeking an already saturated market, and in what ways can the church move into new space that are blue oceans full of outreach possibilities? Something to consider...

This blog is coming up on 14 years old. It is not as well read and active as it used to be, But I still love it.

I am going to try and write more here for the following reasons:

1.  I enjoy writing
2.  Thinking through things outloud in this venue helps me grow spiritually
'

In the Morning

I was reading Luke 23 this week as I was leading a small group on "Learning to Fish", which is a class which aims to teach participants some basic tools to study the Bible for themselves.

I noticed something I know I had never read before, but did not pay much attention to. Luke's account has Jerusalem going dark between noon and three in the afternoon. Jesus died before this had happened. Therefore, Jesus's crucifixion and death all happened in the morning. If anyone would have slept in, they would have missed it!

I'm not sure that means anything, but I thought it interesting to meditate on.

The mall, the church and the changing face of the world around us

A couple of weeks ago, while on vacation, I returned to the Kansas City area for a visit. Most of you know I lived in Kansas City for a little over three years in the 90s as I studied for the ministry and began my ministry career.

It was an interesting visit. I have been back to Kansas City a few times since I left school. My most recent visit was in 2006, or about 12 years ago, when I was leading a youth mission trip back to that area. Some things had not changed at all. Other things have changed a lot. New neighborhoods and establishments have been born. Still other establishments have ceased to exist as I knew them. As I observed the changes I began to observe that there was a lesson to be learned in all this.

When we arrived in Kansas City, I began to research a way to visit the "Great Mall of the Great Plains". It was one of the biggest malls in the country when it was built, which was while I lived in the area in 1997. Turns out, the mall was closed and has been demolished.



Earlier that day, I had taken I-635 past where I used to live. I looked out where the Indian Springs Mall was, which was a mall that was struggling when I lived there, supposedly because of the difficulties of dealing with urban youth that wanted to loiter there. Here is a picture of that mall today:



As you can see both malls, one in the suburbs and one in the city, have ceased to exist.

I currently live in a small midwestern city where we have a mall. In the last year, the mall has lost three of its anchor stores. Because of the decline of these anchor stores, several other stores in the mall have closed as well. This has been a disappointment for many folks in our community. And so, the stores, the mall, and some people blame their customer's internet shopping habits, and decry the citizens unwillingness to "shop local".

At the same time, there is a subtle effort to seek to "save the mall". People wonder how we can get new stores in, wonder if we can help them survive, so that we can keep this mall thing going. My question is, "Is it a good thing that the mall survives?" and "Are malls a thing of the past?" You see, I think it might a good thing if the mall is demolished here, and the business community begins to reimagine what consumers need today in North Platte instead of depending on a business structure and model that has been declining in relevancy for over 20 years. The mall has not always been the center of shopping experiences for consumers. Before the mall developed, people shopped in thriving downtown storefronts. Before that, if a community was not developed, they shopped from a Sears catalogue, which is not all that unlike ordering from Amazon.

Why is this important to a Baptist pastor in the middle of Western Nebraska? Becuase I think we are as tied to irrelevant methods of doing church as commercial real estate investors are tied to irrelevant ways of organizing businesses to sell their goods. Furthermore, I think many believers often conflate methods of doing church and living their faith with the real message of Scripture.

So, then, how do we lead communities of believers so that they are not investing themselves in forms and methods of doing church that will lead them to irrelevance and closure? Here are a few of my thoughts. I would love to hear yours.

1.  We need to work hard not to conflate "church" with a brick and mortar structure
A church congregation is a group of people locally covenanted together to fulfill God's mission in cooperation with one another in a particular locality at a particular time. Churches are not buildings. They are communities of believers. Yet, much of our congregation's emotional reserve and resources are invested in caring for and maintaining a building that is occupied for a limited time each week.  If your church has a building, it needs to make sure the building does not define them, control them, or guide their ministry. When the building gets the devotion and care, our devotion for the Lord is lessened and our care for other people is missed.

2. We need to work hard not conflate discipleship with service on committees
A person is not more mature spiritually because they serve on the Executive Board of a congregation. Participation on the property care committee does not necessarily mean a greater depth of faith. No where in the bible does it say that followers of Jesus will grow closer to Jesus by serving as a Women's Ministries officer. As a matter of fact, frequent attendance at church meetings can be detrimental to one's spiritual well being.

3. We need to realize that our commitment to managing church business with more and more meetings is running more and more people out the door
People are not eager to commit to institutions, especially when their primary goal is their own viability and longevity. When we welcome people into fellowship, and then try and encourage them to be involved in a number of groups that debate inessential issues for extended periods of time, we run those folks out of church that love Jesus, but don't feel attached to institutional maintenance. And, people with this love for Jesus and detachment from insitutional trappings is LEGION. Therefore, we need to focus more on gatherings that meetings.  Our committee work should not be as concerned with procedural matters as we are with equipping, training, and planning for effective person to person ministry. There will always need to be folks managing adminstrative details, but this can be done by a cadre of committed leaders with gifts in such matters, not gobs of committees mired in mediocre leadership.

5. We need to understand that efforts on making our churches bigger is not making said churches healthier, more viable, or more effective at reaching people with the gospel.
Malls were a part of the "bigger is better" model of the consumer experience. People have slowly rejecting the mall experience as desirable.  Larger is not necessarily better.

A similar dynamic will soon play out in churches. I know of larger churches that are unhealthy, and smaller churches that have a lot to offer. Four congregations of 100 are more effective at reaching the unchurched and caring for one another than one church of 400, yet we seem to place a higher value on the church of 400.

What are your thoughts on this comparison. What else would you add? As you can tell from reading this, I am a still struggling to bring together this comparison of the mall and the church. I believe that there is a lot to the comparison, but I am still hoping to find more words to it.

Book Review of Best Bible Books by Glynn and Burer

Best Bible Books: New Testament Resources
by John Glynn
Editor Michael H. Burer
Kregel Ministry
ISBN 978-0-8254-4398-5

Best Bible Books is, simply put, a resource that almost every pastor would love to have on their shelves. Many lay folks that love studying the Bible may like having this fine text as well.

When I first picked up this resource, I was a little unsure if I would like it. As many of my readers know, I am on the conservative side of mainline churches, but compared to many more fundamental/evangelical congregations, my interpretation of Scripture and culture may be a little more progressive. The authors clearly hail from more fundamental institutions, especially the editor Michael Burer.

The authors do rank each commentary and resource into categories of "good", "better" and "best" when they are used in the annotated bibliography. When a traditional bibliography is shared with non-annotated resources, commentaries and books that bear special consideration are highlighted. Each Bible book has a chapter, as to books and commentaries that provide studies over sections of the New Testament (Jesus and the Gospels), and other issues (cultural and historical background). This resource is really quite comprehensive. The scholars clearly share what the commentary is like, but aren't pushy toward selling one over the other. For instance, they not that Craig Keener's study on Matthew has over 12,000 references, including 10,000 primary resource references (p. 53). This lets readers know that the text is going to be quite dense, but also academically sound and well thought out.

Although Burer admits the book is "shooting a moving target" (p. 17), I think it will be helpful for me for years to come.

This book is a great idea, and a wonderful resource for many for years to come.

Thoughts on Change: Lessons from failing

"There is a temptation for all of us to blame failures outside of our control: "the enemy was ten feet tall." "we weren't treated fairly", or "it was an impossible task to begin with." There is also comfort in "doubling down" on proven processes, regardless of their efficacy. Few of us are criciticized if we faithfully do what has worked many times before. But feeling comfortable or dodging criticism should not be a measure of our success. There's likely a place in paradise for people who tried hard, but what really matters is succeeding. If that requires you to change, that's your mission"--Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams, p. 8

Don't just embrace change, embrace a continual process of changing

While serving in Hot Springs, I spent about 4 of my 6 school years with hands on involvement in helping lead the youth ministry at United Churches. I was encouraged to do this by some key current and former leaders, and was glad to do it because our youth ministry had a lot of potential but needed leadership and guidance. 

When I jumped in and helped, we had multiple "youth groups". In some settings this is not a bad thing, but in our setting both our kids and our leadership needed accountability and structure. 

The first year we made a change to have the groups meet on Thursday evenings. Since Hot Springs had a four-day school week, this was really like their Friday. It coincided with some other church activities. It was a good fit. The group grew. There was a lot to celebrate.

The next year my wife had cancer, we had to survive sabotage by some rogue leaders (both within and without our youth group), and I gave the leadership team two options. First, go on Thursday without me, or combine our ministry with our Sunday evening worship. I was willing to serve, but I was going to limit my evenings away from family during chemotherapy. The thing is, the church grew during that season as well. The following year the growth slowed. The year after that attendance was virtually non existent. 

There were several things that played into this attendance pattern, some beyond our control, and some in our control. However, one thing I took away from the experience is that if we were to continue to remain relevant we needed to not only change for one or two years. We needed to continue to change over and over again. We needed to be committed to a process of adaptation to keep pace with the missional task of our community youth ministry.

What is true of youth ministry in Hot Springs may also be relevant to all ministry in the coming years as we seek to adapt in order to reach the world around us. Perhaps we need to begin to think of church transformation, not so much as an event or a process with a beginning or ending, but a continuing habit of our lives together. 

Admittedly, this sounds scary. I know when I lead worship if there are changes in the order of service it takes me a while to adapt. Heck, I am still adapting to the folkways of serving the Lord's supper here in North Platte. But, if we don't make continuing change and transition a habit, the changes we recently endured may be for naught.

Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit: Growing in Christlikeness

Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit: Growing in Christlikeness
by Christopher J. H Wright
IVP Press
ISBN 978-0-8308-4498-2
Reviewed by Clint Walker

I am currently preaching through the Fruit of the Spirit. It is not the first time I have done it. However, when I repeat a sermon series, I often go deeper with new resources to freshen up my messages and help me gain greater focus on what I am teaching. Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit has been perfect in that regard for me.

Wright's writing is accessable and easy to understand. He has a lot of solid biblical teaching, but what he teaches can be comprehended. He often roots each of the character qualities in the fruit of the Spirit in the character of God. He researches both the Old Testament and New Testament foundations of each concept explored. Then he digs deeper into the passage, grounding each call to Christlikeness in the person of Christ and our relationship with him.

Although I am using this for a sermon series, it would be great for a small group or a study group wanting to understand how to make room for the character of Christ in their lives.

One of the most thought provoking concepts of the book was the first word in the title. "Cultivating" is a unique word in discussing spiritual growth. God does the planting, the watering, and makes us fruitful, but we are called to "cultivate" our lives to be receptive of his ministry. Good stuff! This is something we all should consider.

Also, look for the links to the videos that accompany this resource!

Book Review of Canoeing the Mountains by Tod Bolsinger

Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory
by Tod Bolsinger
ISBN 978-0-8308-4126-4
IVP Praxis
Reviewed by Clint Walker


Some reviews come quickly, others take forever. That is for different reasons. As far as my interactions with "Canoeing the Mountains" goes, I have been digging into this book since I recieved it nearly three years ago. My interest was then deepened by my local denominational leadership becoming heavily invested in this text. Then, I went to a 6-7 workshop where the information in this book was presented by Tod Bolsinger. He preached the next day at the same training event. Let me tell you, I think this is really good stuff!

The book is about what is called "adaptive" leadership. It uses the metaphor of the journey of Lewis and Clark to talk about the task of ministry leadership in the 21st century. The thesis is this: We are called to lead into a frontier that we were neither trained for or equipped to lead in, so we are going to have to learn to lead people in and through "uncharted territory".

While Bolsinger bases his study in his pastoral and institutional leadership experience, he is also strongly grouned in research. First, of course, he is grounded in research about Lewis and Clark. Furthermore, the book draws heavily on the research and writing of Ronald Heifetz. Heifitz advocates that leaders and organizations face challenges with adaptive solutions instead of "technical" fixes. Quick fixes don't work, but coming to terms with your identity and environment, and then adapting who we are to survive and thrive in a changing world offers promise.

In order to lead "off the map", Bolsinger advocates leading "on the map" to build trust and demonstrate competency to those that you are leading. When one demonstrates that they are skilled and competent in doing the expected work of being a pastor, then the pastor can begin the process of leading them forward to a new place. However, if someone has not demonstrated enough competence to the congregation, the congregation will struggle to trust that leader to lead them into a scary and unknkown future.

Step by step, Bolsinger offers persepective and guidelines for transformational leadership. He leads readers through a process of adapting, of clarifying vision, and of surviving the sabotage and push back that ultimately comes with any effort of transformational leadership.

I cannot say it enough, this book is excellent, and a necessity for most pastor's libraries. I come back to it over and over again.

I have two copies in exchange for an honest review from IVP. The expanded edition has a very thorough and expanded study guide and is in hardback, while my earlier copy is in paperback. I have kept both copies.

Quotes from Canoeing the Mountains by Tod Bolsinger

Conceptually stuck systems cannot become unstuck simply by trying harde. For a fundamental reorientation to occur, the spirit of adventure which optimizes serendipity and which enables perceptions beyond the control of our thinking processes must happen first--Edwin Friedman

Now we are called to minister to a pa. ssing parade of people who treat us like we are but one option in their personal salad bar of self-fulfillment. To do so will require a significant shift in thinking about pastoral leadership.--Tod Bolsinger

It is not so much that God has a mission for his church in the world, but that God has a church for his mission in the world--Christopher Wright

Leadership is energizing a community of people toward their own transformation in order to accomplish a shared mission in the face of a changing world--Tod Bolsinger

Book Reveiw of Sacred Resistance by Ginger Gaines-Cirelli

Sacred Resistance: A Practical Guide to Christian Witness and Dissent
by Ginger Gaines-Cirelli
ISBN
Abingdon Press
Reviewed by Clint Walker

In Christians circles, as a pastor, I am a conservative in my denomination and mainline circles, and I am a liberal in more evangelical circles. I am committed to social justice as an expression of my faith, especially in regard to racial and gender equality. So, when I had a chance to pick up this book I found the title and premise intriguing. Ultimately, however, I was disappointed in what the author said, not because of her position on the issues, but in the way she describes the Christian faith.

Don't get me wrong, I believe standing up and being counted as defenders of persons being oppresesed is part of what Micah 6:8 says to "Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." Resistance to power is sometimes necessary as a believer seeking to live the will of God in our lives in an unjust world.

What disturbs me with this book is not the author's stance in relation to the authority of God. This is most evident is the changing of the word "The Kingdom of God" to "Kin-dom" of God. The very language puts human beings as the authority, and the mission the glory of a particular kind of Christian community. The language of "Kin-dom" may remind us to love our neighbor, but it subverts the Great Commandment to that fillial love. A theology that is not grounded in the authority of God, whether one uses the word "kingdom" or the more gender inclusive "reign", is a bankrupt theology, no matter how well intentioned.

Learning to Welcome (newspaper article)

The Lost Art of Hospitality

I went to college and seminary in Kansas. One thing I loved about living in Kansas was the hospitality I experienced there. As a college student in a small town, people in my church and in the community would invite me into their home. I had a family that hosted me through a hospitality program initiated through the football team I played on. I was a part of a church that invited me to sit with them for dinner on Sunday, and a group of about 7 of us that took me out for supper on Tuesday nights. Seminary hospitality wasn’t quite as structured, but it was present as well. Invitations to Thanksgiving dinners when I was away from family. People offering to let me house sit while they were gone for a week. All this was not awfully unusual because I spent my high school years in Alaska, where everyone has a hospitality story of moving north, living with a friend (sometimes someone they just met or hardly knew), and then getting settled in their new home.

After I left school, I moved to Montana. I loved Montana, and have missed it terribly since I left it. However, after living in the Last Frontier and the rural plains, I began to experience hospitality withdraw. I sat down with the denominational leader that helped place me in the church. I shared with her that I was concerned I wasn’t being welcomed. My senior pastor was hospitable, but outside of visits where I invited myself into people’s homes, they did not seem very welcoming. I thought it was maybe something I was doing. I received a little advice, and some encouragement from my friend and mentor. She told me that folks in the Rockies were not generally as hospitable as folks in the Plains, and that I should take my time. She encouraged me that things might change. They did. I found myself around folks at the right time, and I became more welcome in people’s homes without having to feel like I was pushing my way through the door for a visit.

I was a single guy in my twenties then. I am a married father of two young children in my mid-forties now. Regarding hospitality I have grown to learn two things. First, our culture mitigates more and more against welcoming our neighbors and friends into our lives through acts of hospitality. This lack of hospitality with one another and with strangers is, I believe, harming our churches and our society as a whole.

Secondly, I have grown to understand that offering welcome and hospitality is central to discipleship in Christian lives individually as well as in community. The Bible teaches us not to “neglect showing hospitality to strangers” (Hebrews 13:2), and to “show hospitality to each other without grumbling” (I Peter 4:9). The Bible teaches that when we show hospitality to others we show hospitality to Christ (Matthew 25: 34-46), and lists hospitality as an essential character quality for church leaders (Titus 1:8, I Timothy 3:2).

Learning to practice hospitality for our family has been awkward at first, but fun. We are not as tidy as we would like to be, and we are busier than most, but we make room in our hearts and homes to welcome folks in. It has been a great opportunity for us. Missionaries needed a place to stay between stops on furlough, and they crashed at our place for a while. And last Sunday, a friend and colleague was on their honeymoon and coming through town, and we were able to throw some burgers on the grill and share some time together before the continued their journey to the mountains of Colorado. We are growing in this area, but here are some tips for growing in hospitality

1.      If you wait until you have things all together to be welcoming, you won’t do it. So become comfortable with people seeing the messy parts of your life as well as the tidy parts

Come visit us, especially if you do so in a more spontaneous fashion, and you may find dishes in the sink, and dolls on the floor in the living room. Because we don’t have a laundry room, our laundry baskets will often be on the floor by the back door, where the washer is at. If everything looks picked up, it may be because we have thrown our mess in bedrooms and closets. If we wait until everything is perfect before you get into the door, you will never come in. We have learned that if we are going to be hospitable, we have to be willing to be vulnerable enough to let you see that we don’t always have stuff together.

2.      Because hospitality is countercultural, don’t expect your welcome to always be reciprocated

When I was younger, I was the recipient of hospitality, but I could not reciprocate as easy. I was a single guy in a small apartment that I basically slept and watched late-night television in. Other folks have home maintenance issues, or don’t have the means to welcome you into their homes. They can find other ways to be welcoming, but it will take time.

3.      Step beyond your comfort zone in welcoming people into your homes, lives, and churches

A lot of times it is easy to welcome folks just like us, but it is harder to welcome folks who live a different lifestyle than you do. I still remember the moment where we hosted a small group in our home, and the wives/girlfriends had run upstairs. As we kept visiting, I realized I was the only guy in the room without a criminal record and had not spent time in jail. I felt honored that each of the families felt comfortable enough to be at our place, eating our food, and seeking to learn about walking with Jesus.

4.      Being hospitable doesn’t mean not having boundaries

We got to know a family in one of our previous churches, and became friendly with them. We talked with the parent about their kid coming over for about an hour after worship. When the parent wouldn’t answer phone calls and showed up three hours later, we began to rethink how we shared hospitality with that family.

5.      When we offer hospitality, especially in our homes, we are better able to deal with hostility and conflict

I had a friend who hosted leadership meetings around his kitchen table. It was amazing how folks had better manners and were more willing to listen to each other, even in vigorous debate, when they sat around a table instead of in a boardroom. One time we experienced a difficult conflict with people in our congregation. They invited us over, and shared their concerns. Reconciliation was much easier in that context.

My friends, God commands us to be hospitable. We are blessed when we receive it, and when we offer it. As we welcome others, we welcome the Lord as well. Find ways to welcome others into your homes, yards, lives, churches, and community. You will find your world becoming a better place.

Fleeting Thought: Giving to and Investing In.

I was in a conversation with a peer in ministry today. I was describing the nature of missional efforts in ministry and I said this sentence without really thinking about it. "There is a difference between giving and investing in ministry. Missional ministry that works is more about investing in that giving to.."

As I am unpacking this reflexive statement in my head, I like it more and more. My peers understood what I meant, but I am not sure every church person will.

Giving is a good thing. God commands it. We should do it. A lot. But giving is more transactional. You have a need. I help you with that need. I am homeless and hungry. You take your turn serving at the Salvation Army. You need gas, and our deacon helps fill up your tank. I need help moving my mother to a nursing home and I don't know where to turn so I come to a church for help, and the youth group reaches out in service by helping load my mother's belongings into a storage unit. This kind of service is generous and compassionate. It is an important in expressing God's compassion and grace to the world. However, because of its easy detachment from ongoing relationship and its limited opportunity for partnership and mutuality, and its inability to be highly formational in the spiritual life of both the giver and reciever, it is not truly missional in any sense of truly being contextual, or in equpping churches for the growth and transformation as a community that they need.

The most effective missional ministries both give to and invest in people and communities. When I was a pastor in Colorado, we did a project called a Backyard Mission Project. We thought our primary impact was going to be in serving needs in the community. We started by "giving to" in a powerful way. The larger impact though, came through investing in the community for its own benefit. Six months of interviews and planning allowed us to invest time with our city council and staff, the chamber of commerce, school clubs and the fire department as well as businesses that we eager to make their community a better place and make a difference in people's lives. The church began to attract folks that wanted to be a part of a church that was eager to be active in their faith and not just talk about faith as an idea.

How that exactly will manifest itself in our ministries going forward in North Platte is still to be revealed. But now I have a little better language for the journey.

Book Review of Commentary on Hebrew, James Volume of Reformation Commentary on Scripture

Hebrews, James
New TestamentVolume XIII
Reformation Commentary on Scripture
ed. by Ronald K. Rittgers
ISBN 978-0-8308-2976-7
Published by IVP Academic
Reviewed by Clint Walker

As readers of this blog know, I have been blogging on the Reformation Commentary on Scripture since its release began several years back. Recently, I recieved a new volume in this stellar series to review, and this particular volume is not a volume that you want to miss!

This particular volume of the series is collated and edited by Dr. Ronald K. Rittgers. Dr. Rittgers is both a theologian and a history scholar. His historical work specializes in studies late medieval and early modern European history, with a special emphasis on the Reformation. There are few better choices to introduce us to the Reformers approach to James and Hebrews.

This volume is enjoyable because there are some issues that the Reformers had to work through, that many Christians also have to consider in our time. For instance, there is a variety of opinions regarding the authorship of Hebrews. Some people think it was Pauline, including Zwingli. Others, such as Luther and Calvin, did not think the writing in Hebrews was Pauline, and had some good arguments to present for that view.

As far as the book of James goes, most people familiar with any Biblical studies during the Reformation have heard about Luther's dislike of the book as a "straw epistle" (p. 200). For me, it was interesting to see this comment sourced, and the quote put into a little bit deeper context. Also fascinating for me was the quickness that the Reformers had in connecting the teaching on faith and works in James 2 with the teaching on love in I Corinthians 13 (pp. 202 (Zwingli), p. 230 (Erasmus), p. 232 (Calvin))

Hebrews and James are two of the most lively books in the New Testament in their theology and call to living the faith boldly as a believer. Reading the Reformers in this volume will at once help the reader step outside of their own cultural context, and yet at the same time see that many of the same challenges that were presented to them interpreting and living the Scripture then are still with us today. Pick this up, and add it to your library, especially if you are one who teaches or preaches the Word!

Book Review of Faithful by Adam Hamilton

Faithful: Christmas through the Eyes of Joseph
by Adam Hamilton
ISBN 978-1-5018-1408-2
Abingdon Press
Reviewed by Clint Walker

Abingdon Press puts out a handful of Advent studies every year for their Methodist constituency and other folks who want to have a special study during the Advent season. Each year, Adam Hamilton is contracted to do one of these studies. In 2018, the study that they came up with has to do with looking at the events of Advent through the eyes of Joseph.

Much of this study has what you would expect from such a study: reflections on raising a child that is not biologically yours, the leadership Joseph provided as a husband and a father and more. But Hamilton does a good job at throwing some other things in such as the importance of fathers in faith development, and the correlation between absent fathers and the rise of the "nones", among other things.

Book Review of Short-Term Mission by Brian M. Howell

Short-Term Mission: An Ethnography of Christian Travel Narrative and Experience
by Brian M. Howell
ISBN 978-0-8308-3973
IVP Academic
Reviewed by Clint Walker

Short-term missions is a fairly recent phenomenon in the history of the church. A number of factors play into the development of this phenomenon, most notably, the proliferation and relative affordability of persons in more affluent countries to travel to more and more distant and culturally diverse places. At the beginning of the modern missions movement, people left to the mission field, and they were lucky to return to their sending churches once or twice in a lifetime. Today, people can fly across the world in less than 24 hours.

Brian Howell is an anthropologist by trade, and has put his knowledge to work studying short-term mission trips, their effects, and the narratives that they create among those that participate. He concludes that short-term missions are "not exactly tourism, pilgrimage, or mission, but a hybrid of all three" (p.229). Through his study, he uncovers narratives that emerge from these short term mission trips. While a few narratives that come out of these experiences are healthy, there are many others that are not.

The book exposes the narratives that are often created by short-term missions, and seeks to find ways to modify or tweak the short-term mission, training, and debriefing so that people can have an experience that is meaningful, and brings HEALTHY transformation for participants and is also a positive experience for those served.

When this book was released several years ago, it created quite a splash in Christian evangelical circles. Half a decade later, this text needs to be considered and reconsidered by churches and missions organizations, and integrated not only into how we do short term missions, but how we engage our local communities.

Book Review of Political Church: The Local Assembly as Embassy of Christ's Rule

Political Church: The Local Assembly as Embassy of Christ's Rule
by Jonathan Leeman
IVP Academic
978-0-8308-4880-5
Reviewed by Clint Walker

As soon as I received Political Church, I knew two things. First, with endorsements as diverse as Hauerwas and Albert Moeller, I knew that this was a book full of powerful ideas worthy of thinking deeply about.
Second, after beginning to read through this book, I realized that it was rightly classified in the academic line of IVP. This book is dense, thought-provoking, and intellectually weighty.

Many people want to separate the church from the public sphere of life, or to define it "organically", and in doing so, they seek redefine the church as apolitical. Jonathan Leeman confronts this view of the church. As much as the church tries to get away from being an "institution", it is by nature institutional. And, because it has a role in the public life of society and communities, it is by definition political.

Leeman puts it this way: The church is to "represent the king's name before the nations and their governors as an ambassador" (p. 24) of Christ and his kingdom. This may call the church to be separate from the political concerns of the day in that it is not beholden to a national political party. However, because we are an outpost of the kingdom of God, our actions, positions, and beliefs should have a political impact in whatever nation or culture we are a part of.

There is much more to read, be debated, and discuss with Leeman's wonderfully well-considered work. Today, it is sufficed to say that I am challenged as a person that waivers between Anabaptist and Reformed sentiments and convictions.

The Blame Game

UPDATE: After I wrote this, the person in the office with Kids Klub did go back to work, call the school, and the food company, and tracked down how the mistake happened. She then offered to work with them to transfer the money from the lunch account, but that would leave us owing nearly as much to the school to pay for kids lunches. I am keeping this up because I think it something good to think about in human relations and business practices, as well as just the way our world is going.  I also want to say that the Kids Klub gal really proved herself to be top notch.

I just got off the phone with a gal working for Kids Klub with the school district. She insisted we were owing them nearly two hundred dollars. In the end she was right. We do owe her two hundred dollars. We owe the money because our payment of the bill was applied to the wrong account.

Each month we are given a little copied and printed 1/4 page voucher with our kids' names and how much we owe Kids Klub, and after school program of our school district. We are told to bring payment into the office at the school, or hand it in to the staff person when we pick the kids up. Last year they provided us with a yellow envelope to insert our payment into. This year, we have had no envelope. This fact will be important to understand later.

So we have brought our money into the office, stated it was for Kids Klub. It has Kids Klub on the check. However, some of the checks, having cleared the bank, did not show up in the accounting for the Kids Klub with their Quick Books. What happened to the money we gave them? Was it embezzled by the twentysomethings that lead the group. Was it lost in space?

Finally, an idea came to me. Our kids have been getting a lot of hot lunches lately. (The wife is a hot lunch fan. I prefer the kids eat cold lunches. So the kids choose what they want instead). Perhaps, when the secretary got the money, even with kids klub on the front of the check, it got applied into the wrong account. The accountant for Kids Club suggested I look at the stamps on the back of the envelopes placed there by school district accounting when they deposited the checks. Sure enough, the money was applied to the "cafeteria fund" by the school district instead. I had to spend $4 chasing down old checks to figure this out, and looking six lines down the endorsement stamp for which fund it went to. 

What was frustrating was at the end the woman in the office told us that we needed to go into the office and tell them to give us the yellow payment envelopes for their fund. It became very obvious that they were working to shift blame to us for the problem. I said we would be glad to use the envelopes, as we had done last year, but they were not provided. (I was countering that they need to accept the blame and correct their accounting system.) I was told two more times that the yellow envelopes should solve our problem. The conversation ended amicably enough.

Now, I have been in the shoes of the woman on the phone, and I am not upset with her. She is doing her job. But perhaps she could have said something like, "We want to do things better for you, and it would really help us out if you went to the office and requested the yellow envelopes." instead of putting all of the responsibility and blame on me for their misallocation of funds.

I think in our overly contentious and litigious society we scared to take responsibility and shoulder some of the blame when problems come up. We are afraid we are going to be taken advantage of. So, instead of saying that the district accounting made an error, that they can't correct the error at this point, and we are going to have to pay what we owe their particular fund, they try and shift all the blame for finding the fund, and forcing their staff into procedural compliance to me. Again, not uncommon. But, perhaps in a lot of different areas of life we need to do better.

Returning to what strengthens me

It has been a while since I really invested myself in the discipline of blogging. Too long.

There were several reasons that I began this blog over 13 years ago. One was that I had a bunch of thoughts and ideas that would creep in my head, and then make their way out from my conscious memory. I needed a place to journal insights, thoughts, and such.

Another was that I wanted to write. Ever since I was little I have wanted to write. I have dreamed of publishing something for decades. Although I had some minor forays into published writing, this blog has been the venue where I have done the most work in this regard. As I wrote before, I saw that my communication skills and my writing skills both improved. Now, after not writing for a while, I feel they have atrophied a bit.

So, I am going to start this blogging journey again. It is a different world that in was back in 2004, but I think I still have a lot to say.

Please join me, visit with me, and help refine me as a writer, communicator, pastor and leader.

Book Review of the Radical Pursuit of Rest by John Koessler

The Radical Pursuit of Rest: Escaping the Productivity Trap
by John Koessler
ISBN 978-0-8308-4444-9
IVP Books
Reviewed by Clint Walker

Often, among circles of recovering workaholics you hear the phrase, "I am not a human doing, I am a human being". While most of time when I hear quips like this I think the person has spent too much time in therapy or reading self-help books, this particular phrase has a ring of truth to it.

There is a certain percentage of our congregations and our society who are literally working themselves to death, trying to do everything they can, and not taking time to rest, to have Sabbath, and to remember that our lives are about relationships and not what we produce.

It is to this group of people that John Koessler brings his book The Radical Pursuit of Rest. He argues that the church has uncritically adopted a culture of productivity, anxiety, and activity that runs counter to God's message of grace, peace and rest. He addresses some of the roadblocks to the healthy rhythm of rest and work head on. If you read this book you will discover how you often deceive yourself, thinking you are resting when you are really continuing to hurry and hustle. You will also see that Koessler addresses some of the impediments to rest head on, and with sage wisdom. He will show you how the theme of rest runs through Scripture, and how it is part of God's promise for his people. Radical Pursuit of Rest speaks directly to our hurried, frazzled souls, and seeks to show us another way.

I recommend reading this book highly, both on your own, and perhaps in a book club you are a part of .