Ouch!!!! Give Thanks!

I tried to keep up with some teenagers this past Sunday night playing dodge ball. Well it happened, I was diving for a loose ball and crashed driving my shoulder into the floor with all my weight. By Tuesday morning, I was in the doctor's office having it looked at. Turns out I injurded my AC (short for acromioclavicular joint). Not much can be done except ice, sling and rest. So my typing is now limited. I'm learning to be left handed, and wondering about what this will do with my summer plans, not to mention water skiing.

The Bible teaches that we are to give thanks in all things - which I am doing. There is much to be thankful for. It could have been worse. It could have been someone else. It gives me time to reflect on how I am learning to adapt to this temporary inconvenience. There is so much that we take for granted in this world.

Some Gen X Thoughts By Gen X'ers

This past Monday Morning Insights blog that I have an RSS feed to, had a post by a good friend of mine who has been having a running dialogue with some twenty something age friends. I would love to hear your comments on Earl's blog. You can read the article An Inconveneient Spirituality yourself and the posted comments. Do you agree? disagree? or have some more thoughts about what Earl and his friends have to say? Help me to better understand your world perspective. Talk to me.

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day is the kick off to the summer crunch for many of us. Yes, that's my boat and I am also thinking about my free summer days out on the lake . . . water skiing, wakeboarding, and tubing, or just floating and soaking up the sun.

But there is another Son to soak ourselves in. He is Jesus. Memorial Day is set aside to honor and remember the sacrifices by many so that we might enjoy our freedom. My thoughts turn to my dad, who would turn 100 this October, if he were still living. He passed away in 1989 at the age of 82. He was proud to have served in the North African and Italian campaigns during World War II, with the 85th Infantry Division, 85th Signal Company. So I honor him with my thoughts.

I also honor Jesus with my thoughts too. He sacrificed His life that I might be free from sin. We observe Him and His work on the cross through communion. The cup and bread is a memorial of all that He has given us - abundant life - now and in the future.

So as you begin your summer activities, give thanks and honor, to both the living and dead who have served in our armed forces - and honor and give thanks to God for His Son Jesus.

Heart Beat of God

Sorry about my lack of blogging, again. My travels took me to Cape May, New Jersey for a regional Secretary/treasure meeting. The hotel we stayed at charged $9.95 per day for wireless connectivity to the internet. Needless to say, I was just too cheap (frugal?) to pay the fee. I guess I should also say that I just missed the Jersey shore so much that I couldn't resist walking the beach during all my free time. I spent the first thirty years of my life in Jersey. There's nothing like its beaches. So why bother doing email or blogging?

During one of the devotion times the following was shared by one one of my colleagues. He called the devotional, "The Heart Beat of God." The text was:

Matthew 28:18-20 NIV
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

The points were these:

1. "All Authority." The enphasis is on all! Authority speaks of power. There is nothing or no one who can stand against God and His servants.

2. "Go and make." This is the plan. Methods may change but the plan is always the same. This plan of God will be accomplished.

3. "I am with you always." Always is the emphasis. We do not fulfill God's plan alone. He has all the power, a perfect plan, and keeps His promise.

Financial Advice For 20 & 30 Somethings

Being involved daily in finances and also now associating with the twenty and thirty year olds in Paradigm ( my churches ministry to this age group), I could not help but read this Fox News article about some latest research into Gen Xers latest lifestyle findings. You can click on the link. I have also pasted the article below.

Research Shows Generation Xers Get a Bum Rap, But They're No Bums

"Gen Xers get a bad rap. They're often portrayed as slackers and runaway spenders who don't know how to work or save.
Not so, says new research sponsored by Charles Schwab Corp., one of several financial services companies trying to draw a bead on this age 27-to-42 demographic. Today's 30-somethings are hard workers who have more bills than cash. They also have a healthy distrust of the very financial services industry that wants their cash. Perhaps for good reason.
"They aren't being well served," says Jonathan Craig, who's heading up Schwab's effort to capture Gen X clients.
The new 30-somethings do face some challenges that others didn't. They're making less than their parents were at the same age. According to U.S. Census estimates, the median income for men between 25 and 34 in 2005 was $31,161. In 1975, adjusted for inflation, it was $35,296. The comparable data for female workers was $22,815 in 2005 and $16,247 in 1975.
And, they have much bigger bills. It's not just the school loans, it's the generally bigger lifestyle that hurts their bottom line. Think about the computer, cell phone, broadband service and more that are a necessary part of life now.

Gen Xers have some unique strengths, too. They are technologically savvy and unafraid to put their finances online or talk about their financial problems and solutions, says Marc Hedlund of Wesabe (http://www.wesabe.com), a social networking/financial planning Web site that is attracting users in their 20s and 30s. And they have that vaunted cynicism to keep them from trusting strangers -- or employers -- with their money too easily. Most are wise to not count on retirement benefits that are loosely promised to be there decades into the future.

So, too little money, too many expenses, nobody to trust.
What's a savvy 30-something to do with that scenario? Here are some tips.

-- Watch your fees. Hedlund contends that huge fees are a trap for this generation: Bank overdraft fees, which can pile up on debit card exchanges, as well as credit card late and over-limit fees. "These people blame themselves," assuming they deserve the fees they rack up because they've behaved badly. But those myriad fees have been ratcheting up faster than bad financial behavior has.

Make sure you keep a cushion in your checking account. Make an automatic payment to your credit card every month so you're never late, and complain if the fees seem to pile up too fast. Just by getting control of the fees you pay for financial services, you can put extra spending money in your pocket.

-- Create an electronics/communications budget and stick to it. Consider cable TV, movie rentals, cell phone service, Internet service, extra wireless fees, and downloaded music, movies and television shows all as one category of expense. Assign a reasonable number to it and apportion it according to your priorities.

-- Save for retirement, but don't beat yourself up if you can't do as much as you'd like. You've seen all the sales pitches aimed at how powerful it is to start saving early. All true. But it's especially hard when you're also trying to buy your first house, build your career (and your working wardrobe) and buy shoes for the kids. So make putting a maximum contribution into your 401(k) at the top of the list. Then look at adding a Roth IRA. Once you've had your Roth up and running for five years, you can break the emergency glass and get at some of the money for other non-retirement reasons if you need to.

-- Take advantage of all the attention. Those banks and brokers are just starting to roll out products aimed at your generation, and it's going to get better. Schwab's latest is a free, no-fee checking account paying 4.25 percent interest. That's a nice deal, even if the rate doesn't last. Bank of America has a new no-fee mortgage, and a policy of feeding customer savings accounts with change from their debit card transactions. Both require careful small-print reading to see if they make sense for you, but are worth looking at. Upromise (http://www.upromise.com) has a constellation of savings deals that can help you build up a college fund for junior painlessly.

-- Learn about financial products that can help with savings, as well as investing. If you're trying to accumulate a downpayment for a new car, you don't want to put all of that money into stocks, but you don't want to leave it all in your checking account either. Learn how to use money market mutual funds, short-term bond funds, certificates of deposit, zero-interest credit card deals, and more.

-- Get more educated. Almost everyone thinks they are bad with money, but they're not any worse than anybody else, observes Hedlund. This generation knows how to access information and use it for their own benefit. Choose a subject: credit cards, mutual funds, retirement savings, college loans or whatever, and start doing your homework -- via educational Internet sites or books, advice from experts and elders, or all of the above. By the time you're 40, you'll know enough to make you, if not rich, than at least put you comfortably ahead of where you are now."

I have found personally that the Gen Xers and even Gen Yers are an incredibly bright and smart age group that really want to make an impact in the world in which they live. They also love coffee shops and socializing. I guess you could call me "wanna be" :-) Have a great week end.

Temple Material

As I read about the construction of Solomon's temple in chapters 5 through 8, I was struck by the detail of materials used and especially by the number of laborers that were conscripted, a 103,300. It took them seven years to build the temple and another thirteen years to build his palace. When the Ark was placed in the temple and the priests "withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple" (1 Kings 8:10-11). The temple was considered sacred and holy. It was the house of God.

Today, God chooses to dwell in people. Our bodies are living temples in which His Spirit resides. Paul wrote:

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a fool so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: 'He catches the wise in their craftiness'; and again, 'The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.' So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 NIV

Paul wrote again in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

We have a responsibility to honor God in the way we live.

Seek Wisdom

I continued my reading this morning in 1 Kings. These words described Solomon:

"God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and breath of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdomof all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Eqypt. He was wiser than any other man . . . He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom." (1 Kings 4:29-34)

Wisdom is greatly needed in this world today - wisdom that goes beyond man's thinking and understanding. James wrote, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5). The book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom for the reader:

"My son. if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it asfor silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." (Proverbs 2:1-6)

It was God, through Chist Jesus who gave spiritual gifts to the church. The gift (or ministry) of wisdom is given to the body of Christ. This is just one of nine spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12.

Seek the wisdom of God in His word and in Spirit. "Be very careful, then how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:15)

Wisdom to Lead

Here's another one of those Monday Morning Insight blogs that provoked my thoughts:

Is There a Correlation Between IQ & Pastoral Success?

In her article “Why Smart People Make Bad Moves,” Yahoo! Financial columnist Laura Rowley examines a recent study from Ohio State University on the relationship between a person’s IQ and his or her financial situation. She summarizes the study this way: “Smart people can be boneheads when it comes to accumulating wealth, and the average Joe can become the millionaire next door.” According to the study each point increase in IQ test scores raised income by between $234 and $616 per year. But this didn’t protect higher IQ people from financial woes. In fact, higher IQ people had just as high, if not higher rates of late bills, maxed-out credit cards, and even bankruptcies. The bottom line: Just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you’re smart in using your smartness. (Obviously, I didn’t rate real high on the IQ test myself!)...

I guess that’s the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Scripture pointed this out long ago: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” (I Corinthians 1:25).

That got me wondering…is there a correlation between “smart” pastors and “success in ministry”? Would a pastor with a higher “spiritual” IQ have a more vibrant and growing church than someone with a lower, more normal level of intelligence?

According to Rowley, here are some reasons why your average next-door neighbor might be a millionaire while you sit in your living room paying off your maxed-out Visa bill. I wonder if any of these “average millionaire” traits could correspond to the “higher than average” church leader?

Let’s investigate.

They Make Their Own Rules: Rowley quotes Loral Langemeier, author of The Millionaire Maker: “Many wealthy people didn’t do well in school; it was too structured for them. But they’re creative, intuitive, and have street smarts—they understand how things work, and how to get business done.” I see this same quality in many pastors of vibrant churches. There’s a high value on creativity and innovation. Their leadership is usually very entrepreneurial… they actually like to try new things. And they’ve set up their church leadership to allow things to happen, and happen quickly.

They Get Knocked Down, But They Get Up Again: “It’s hustle,” says real estate magnate Barbara Corcoran in Rowley’s article. “Hustle is being too stupid to know that you should lay low when you keep getting slammed.” There seem to be two different types of church leaders that I see. I’m over-simplifying here, but there are leaders who always seem like they’re being beaten down, and there are other leaders who always seem to be ahead of their critics and above all the conflict. I really think part of this has to do with the ability of the successful leader to get right back up after being knocked down (rather than laying on the ground and allowing people to kick you.) Sometimes the higher your intelligence level, the more time you take to qualify and logically remedy a situation. Sometimes that quality allows you to stay on the ground longer, getting beaten up in the process.

They Succeed Through Social Intelligence: Another characteristic of average people who become millionaires is that they surround themselves with teams that compensate for their weaknesses. While this is mostly in a business setting, I also see this in the church with pastors who have effective ministries. They don’t rely on their own intelligence to make everything happen. They know their weaknesses and gather smart people around them to help them in these areas. They also aren’t afraid to let others around them lead.

They Take More Risks and, Consequently, Reap More Rewards: People with average brains may be more naive and willing to jump in—start a business or make an investment—than their high-IQ counterparts, who ponder every angle and know too much about the potential downsides of a proposition to take a risk. I’ve noticed that highly intelligent people are many times more adverse to risk. If you look at church leaders involved with growing churches, you’ll find that they risk frequently. They try new things. They fail consistently. And they reap the rewards of their risk.

Is it a leap to make a correlation between IQ, millionaires, intelligence, and pastors? Possibly. My only point is that God is in control of the church and its leaders. And your intelligence, many times, is not one of God’s key qualifiers.

So if you’re reading this today thinking about how smart you are… get over yourself. It really doesn’t qualify you to do better things for God than your sub-genius counterparts.
And, if you’re reading this today wishing you had a tad bit more intelligence… be encouraged that there are many things other than your IQ and training that figure into a successful, fruit-producing ministry.

Let’s learn what we can from the millionaires next door. After all, what we’re striving for in our work is much more significant than mere dollars.

My thought is this:

This morning before reading thie above blog, I was reading from 1 Kings 1:1 - 3:28 in my early morning devotions. Solomon asked not for riches and power as the newly anointed King. He asked God for "a discerning heart to govern" the people and "to distinguish between right and wrong." (1 Kings 3:9 NIV) Effective pastoral leaders seek God's wisdom and understanding. Time and again, I find pastors who are not using common sense in their decisions or a dependence upon God. Solomon recognized his greater need to be an effective ruler over the people. It was not human knowledge,riches, or worldly power.

Exhilerating

Here I am sitting at Maine Bean, sipping my coffee, and looking forward to this day off, after a very busy three days in Manchester, NH, earlier this week. I was at our District Council, an annual meeting for business, fellowship, and inspiration for ministers and delegates of the Northern New England District.

Our District celebrated its fiftieth anniversary as a district. It was in 1957 that Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont Assembly churches separated from the three southern New England states to form its own District. That division resulted in the growth of many more churches in both districts over the course of half a century.

Many of our former leaders were present to celebrate together what the Lord has done. I had the opportunity to sit with one of these precious men who was ordained in that very first Council and later became Secretary and Treasurer at different times (separate offices at the time) for the Northern New England District. Having read the minutes of that first Council, I could not help but ask Keith Terry what the atmosphere of that Council was like as they met to adopt a Constitution and Bylaws and to elect its officers. Brother Terry eyes lit up and responded with enthusiasm with one word, "exhilerating!"

I think that's a pretty good description for our faith journey - exhilerating! That doesn't mean that life is not withouts its challenges. However, it does mean that in spite of life's challenges, there is excitement and fullfillment. I look forward with anticipation as to what God will do in the next fifty years (Lord willing) with our District, congregations, and ministers. May we carry on with the task God has called each one of us to, with faithfulness and enthusiasm. Serving God is exhilerating!

Extended Your Hand to the Next Generation!

Another great blog by my friend Earl at Monday Morning Insights. You can click on the link to go directly to his blog and also read the comments or you can read a copy of the blog below.

Having been working with teenagers forever and also assisting at our local church as often as possible (180), and the twenty and thirty somethings (Paradigm) on a regular basis, I can strongly relate by personal experience that age (I am on my way to being 56 this July.) does have its advantages. They thrive on mentoring and even more so when I allow for reverse mentoring . . . that is as long as I am open, honest and authentic and will accept this younger age group as they are and allow them space and opportunity to grow in their own spiritual journey on their own terms. This younger generation is definately loaded with talent and possibilities. They are extremely interested in making positive changes and impact on the world that we live in. We should do everything pssible to invest ourselves in them. I am a believer in them!!!

“We Live in a Circus”: The Culture of Pre-Adult Women

Today my wife Janet and I spent two hours at a Starbucks (that’s a whole ‘nother blog) in Illinois interviewing three young women. All were Christians living in the seam between their late teens and their early twenties. Our new friends answered one question after another fueled by the caffeine and sugar supplied by ‘Bucks. It was heartening to know that Trisha, Debbie, and Lisa (their new code names) recognized that their responses were conditioned by their Christian experience. They did not regard themselves, or their answers, as necessarily typical, and that made them all the more credible to us. Here are some of the key words and concepts that I distilled from our Q&A session...

1. 50-year old youth pastors?: The notion of telling young women not to do things because the Bible says so just doesn’t wash in this culture. Pre-adult women are looking for a real live person who can demonstrate the wisdom of biblical concepts from the story of their own life. Interestingly, our friends commented that a 23-year old youth pastor simply may not have lived enough life to be able to supply this kind of credibility. Their comments made me wonder if we need a generation of youth ministers in their 40s and 50s who have enough personal history to be witnesses to the truth they proclaim.

2. It’s all about the power: We spent considerable time discussing sexuality, relationships and eating disorders. Debbie summarized some of our dialogue by pointing out that the mania to control body image among younger women is really about power. Perfecting a certain look gives them power with men and peers, and, if my world is out of control, at least I can regulate what I eat and how much I weigh. She even drew the parallel to Eve offering Adam forbidden fruit—something to eat—as an illustration. I found this description heartbreaking. Our message to the young must offer them a new form of power that is achieved by surrender, not manipulation. We should raise the bar, not lower it.

3. Life as a laboratory: The word that really jumped out at me during our talk was “experimentation.” Lisa pointed out that, especially in middle school, young females are now sorting out their ethics and morals by trial and error. This includes “friends with benefits,” and being what I would call omnisexual, neither gay nor straight, but a fully functioning sexual being. In three to five years, this critical mass of experimental behavior will arrive in high schools and colleges, although the leading edge of it has already been there for some time. Rather than deduce principles of good conduct from authoritative sources like scripture and parents, some Millennial women are using an inductive approach in which they simply try things out until they find a combination that works—for now. This model of ethical development is doubtless fueled by the failures they observe in conventional institutions like marriage. The platform for Christian teaching is a credible Christian life.

4. Mentors as parents on “turbo”: Our three interview partners were unanimous in the view that young women are looking for mentoring relationships with older women. They often compared this sort of person to a spiritual “mom” and noted how much different their lives would have been had that person been around during their teen years. We were cautioned, however, that perseverance is absolutely essential. The mentor has to seek out the mentee, then stick with it, sometimes for a year or more, until the relationship solidifies. Often, the young women will prove resistant to a commitment simply because other commitments have proven disappointing. Perhaps we have made a lot of this much more complicated than it needs to be. Are we willing to set aside some other things to learn how to be a spiritual family, a “household of faith”?

So I heard Trish, Debbie, and Lisa saying of young women: “We live in a circus” (Debbie’s words)

They were asking us, not for more high-tech programming, but for something else:

If what we believe is true, we should be able to demonstrate it in someone’s life

The young have to get in touch with the power of God

The older should be intentional about teaching the younger

The older have to live the kind of lives the younger will admire and emulate

Imagine. Christianity."

Faith and Faithfulness

Yesterday, I attended the funeral of a fifty-three year old wife of one of our pastors. Her name is Linda. Some of you who read this blog probably do not know her. However, had you been able to attend the celebration service of her life, you would quickly have decided that this would have been an individual you would have wanted to know. In fact, I suspect that had you been to her funeral you would have walked away wishing you had had the opportunity to have gotten to know her. And those of you who do know Linda and attended the celebration service, as I did, would have been surprised to have discovered just how little we really did know about her life. We all discovered how greatly she impacted her husband, her six children and three adopted children, her sisters, the church family, and the community. It was truly an inspirational two hours. Linda suffered from a terminal cancer for a couple of years. However, her faith in God and her faithfulness to God through out her journey has impacted many people around her. She wanted her death as well as her life to be a celeabration. It was.

The Hebrews writer wrote:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 NIV

He also wrote:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV

Linda's life was a testimony of faith and her faithfulness. She is now among the cloud of witnesses who are now observing our journey of faith. Will we remain faithful? I encouraged you to walk your walk of faith with hope and perseverance. For we will reap a harvest if we faint not.