FYI TO UABCers: Re-envisioning UABC

Throughout 2009 the Church Board set aside a portion of their meetings for "envisioning moments," which included a variety of activities designed to help us start thinking about our future together as a congregation. Healthy congregations are ones that continually do the work of envisioning at some level. How deep the process needs to go depends on where the church is in terms of its life cycle. One of the Board's early "envisioning moments" was a discussion about the congregational life cycle, which is illustrated below.
The unofficial consensus of the Board at that time was that UABC is somewhere between STABILITY and DECLINE (which is at least average for established American churches). The good news is that, like any other human organization, we can change our trajectory through the work of re-envisioning...which can be labeled a "rebirth loop" in terms of the life cycle. The even better news is that we are not just a human organization, but a community of Christ-followers who are gifted and empowered by the very Spirit of God.Rebirth (renewal, redevelopment, revival, revitalization--whatever you want to call it) is not a matter of surviving for another generation or another century; re-envisioning is a matter of thriving as the people of God...by seeking out the will of God for our church family.
The work of re-envisioning continues into 2010, and the Church Board will continue to lead us in this journey. However, it is not only the task of the the Board to re-envision--it's all of ours. If you'd like to chat more about the envisioning process, the life cycle of UABC, or our future together, I would love to sit down over lunch or a cup of coffee with you and hear your perspective.

Sitting Under Scripture

[The following is a condensed version of a 2009 sermon and a draft for a publication submission--feedback is welcome.]

Our relationship with Scripture can be described in one of three ways:

we sit OVER Scripture,

we sit BESIDE Scripture,

or we sit UNDER Scripture.

We sit OVER Scripture when we ignore parts of the Bible--either because we reason that it's too hard to understand or too hard to put into practice. We might not read the Bible or react to teachings because we think, “I already know that.” Or, we sit OVER Scripture when we come across a passage that’s uncomfortable to us, and we reason, “Not everything in this old book really matters to me now.” When we sit over Scripture, we miss out on the Creator’s advice on how to live this life we've been given.

We sit BESIDE Scripture if we respect the Bible theoretically, but don't revere it practically. For example, we may own a Bible, but we leave it sitting on a shelf without picking it up for a private Bible-reading routine. If we’ve been believers for years, but we haven’t learned much about where to find Micah, Mount Sinai, or what Jesus says about marriage—we’re just sitting BESIDE Scripture. Or, we might hear about opportunities from our church to listen and discuss parts of the Bible with other believers, but we front our various excuses for not participating. When we sit beside Scripture, we don’t become better acquainted with Jesus, the One we call Leader & Rescuer, the Author of Life.

However, we’re sitting UNDER Scripture when the Bible is our authoritative influence. We attend worship services and Bible studies expecting to receive an encouraging word or challenging nudge from God. We sit UNDER the authority of Scripture when we care enough to ask questions and wrestle with issues & Bible passages. We give God the chance to have first say-so concerning our decisions, among other means, by checking with the Bible. When we sit under Scripture, we’re nourished with the sweet words of life.

A SHORT 'SITTING UNDER SCRIPTURE' READING: Read Psalm 19:7-11.

A SIMPLE 'SITTING UNDER SCRIPTURE' PRAYER: My God, I am hungry and thirsty for you. I humbly ask for you to nourish my soul today. May your words rule over my life and guide my steps this day. Amen.

Disgusting Christians

This is an awful t-shirt.To know why this is "awful", look up the Bible verse and its context. I don't believe that this cursing kind of praying is not the kind of praying that honors Our God.

I don't need to rant about this. There are some disgusting "Christians" out there who drag my Jesus' name through the evil and the mud of the world. If that's what the adjective "Christian" means, don't describe me with that word.

Lord, have mercy.

Hats off to the "Blue Collar, Orange Pride" Boys

Our beloved ILLINI overcame a 23-point deficit and brought #18 Clemson down (at Clemson!) in the ACC-BigTen Challenge. This was the largest comeback ever for an Illini team. This year was also the first time in the 11-year history that the BigTen won the Challenge, which was capped off with unranked Wisconsin upsetting #5 Duke (hooray!).

Hears the ILLINI highlights:

I - L - L

An Advent Reaction

So we got to visit a different church for worship on Sunday. At one point the pastor made a comment in passing that could've came across differently than I think she intended. And, it caused this Advent reaction in my mind:

Jesus didn't come to make a difference;
Jesus comes to make us different.

Make sure you're not just getting ready for Christmas Day--we have to also make sure we're getting ready for The Day Christ returns.

"Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way,
and may your whole spirit and soul and body
be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again."
(1 Thessalonians 5:23, NLT)

My [overdue] Shabbat Seven v2009.11.28

These are some of the more 'peculiar' (i.o.w. not the obvious) things for which I've been thankful this past week...

• Potluck dessert tables. / No explanation needed.

• That I actually went running over the weekend. / Twice. Outside. Proving once again that I'm in a different shape than I'm trying to be in.

• Fluxx game. / For a guy who likes knowing/playing/living the rules and games that depend on strategy & skill instead of randomness, this low-strategy-required game of ever-changing rules is a blast. (Props to Steve & Nicole for getting us in on this game.)

• Holidays. / Our Thanksgiving (& Christmas even more so) may be hectic, but I like the change of focus to family, relaxation, and giving thanks to Our Heavenly Father.

• JT in his tux AND that he walked all the way down the aisle AND that he stood up on the stage for at least half of the wedding. / He was way cute, but I wasn't too sure he would pull off those last two parts.

• Catching up with an old friend. / Last Tuesday was definitely the longest I've ever sat in a Qdoba for lunch. God be with you till we meet again, Sprock.

• Watching JT play with his cousin-to-be. / We're excited about T & C officially joining the family this spring.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

My Shabbat Seven v2009.NOV.21

These are some of the more peculiar (in other words, not the obvious ones) things I've been thankful for this past week...

• "Elmo's Cow". / This is what JT calls a Mexican Resturant in town officially called El Mezcal. I'm actually not the biggest fan of the resturant, per se. I am, however, amused by my son's rendering of the name.
• The writings of Eugene Peterson. / Some will recognize his name as being the translator of The Message version of the Christian Bible. If I were an author, I'd be Peterson-like. He's a thorough scholar, a careful pastor, a incurable nature-lover, and a true words-smith. In addition to reading Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, I currently use his little Praying with Jesus book to help keep my focused in the middle of my workdays.
• Wi-Fi. / I've realized today how many of my days (100%) are made more convient by this human invention.
• The Saint Louis Zoo. / After JT's followup checkup for his October surgery, we did a quick stop (he got to pick 3 animals to see) at the zoo. We're close. It's free. He loves animals. Gotta love it.
• InterACT, our small group. / All we did was rake somebody else's yard and have lunch together today, but I really like having these friends of ours.
• Making Chili. / Although Alison isn't as much of a fan of it as I think she was in our earlier years, it's still a favorite seasonal activity of mine. I do, however, have to be in the right mood. And ya know, it's really hard to actually mess it up.
• Facebook Thankfulness. / Yes, I normally don't like the chain-letter-like fads that get passed around through email and Facebook. And no, I'm not a participant in the daily posting of thankfulness. And no, I don't even read all of the gratitudinal content. Still, I commend all those who have taken up this November discipline. Good stuff.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

My Shabbat Seven v2009:NOV:14

These are seven of the more "peculiar" (in other words, not the obvious ones) things, I've been thankful for this past week...

• French silk pie. / Thanks to the venerable Karen Wilson, some us had a helping of this heavenly deliciousness last Sunday for A Night of Vision at church. Oo-la-la-love-it!
• Wikipedia. / So my 15 minutes of preparation for the Alton Band & Orchestra Builders Trivia Night included reading through Wikipedia's entry on the number "5." (The Marching 100's show was "5" after Beethoven's symphony, and their trivia night's always have a round that's a spin-off of their show's theme.) I read a few things. Alison said, "You know none of those things will be questions tonight?" I agreed. There were two. "Maroon 5" and how do you notate the number 5 in binary code--"101". I felted smartish.
• Illini basketball has begun. / Sure, they're playing schools whose basketball programs are not an even match right now. But it doesn't matter when it's my favorite sporting venue. Moreover, have heard how the Illinois football team is doing? Exactly.
• Homemade donuts. / Technically, this first try wasn't "from scratch". Still, I made them at home and they were yummy. I have a new culinary muse to experiment on every other weekend or so.
• My big rake. / It's not glamorous. It's not tasty. It's not even fun. Yet, this one single investment has exponentially simplified the autumn ritual of transporting the carpet of chlorophyl-deficient foliage from our yard to the wooded hillside behind our house. As I told a youth while raking leaves for an older member of our congregation, "Big Bertha is not just for raking leaves, it's for throwing leaves."
• Pere Marquette Park. / Getting out into the rawer corners of the American Midwest creation is very much a recentering activity for me...even if I'm towing my 3 1/2 year old most of the way up and down.
• Our Toyota Sienna minivan. / As I was vacuuming it out this past weekend, it was apparant that we really use (abuse?) our van a lot.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

My Shabbat Seven v11.06.2009

These are some of the more "peculiar" (not the obvious ones) things I'm thankful for this past week...

• Family raking day / Not only does this make my job easier this fall, but it was a couple hours of playful fun with my wife and son in the November, 70-degree sunshine.
• Unprompted & random "I-love-you-Daddy's" / Add to the half-pint words of affection the side of a half-pint head pressed up to the side of mine and a slight grin full of half-pint joy...it makes my heart smile. Nearly as enjoyable are the similar "I-love-you-Mommy's".
• Yahoo internet radio / Usually I can deal with the commercial interruptions that I can't skip because I used all my "skips" on the previous 2 or 3 commerical interruptions. And, I can listen to a variety of musical pleasures, like "Best of the 80's"; "Class Reunion 1997"; "Praise & Worship"; "Blues"; "Classical Standards"; "Jungle-Drum & Bass"; or "Oldies"...
• Making Christmas wish lists / It's the feeling of shopping without spending $1. (Yes, there occassionally is an exception to the "without spending" clause.) And, it's just another way that Christmas infects the pre-Christmas (even pre-Advent) season with hope...albeit a hollow, consumeristic version of hope.
• Jumper cables / You know what they're for. Yes, we had to use them this week. Enough said.

• "I don't wanna go home. I want to visit someone else." / This statement of JT's occurred after he helped me do a pastoral visit with an elderly woman who was in the hospital. I was proud that, though he was shy, he wasn't intimidated by her bruises and general hospital-stay disshoveledness. I was proud when it was apparent that his presence and interactions brought an extra amount of joy to her day. But then when I was at the end of my day & ready to do something "for me", I was blessed when this 3-year-old soul said he could do more of it. (BTW, this episode occurred minutes before the previous "jumper cable" episode.)
• Chili's "2 for $20" / We get an appetizer (for us it's always eat chips & dip), 2 entrees, and a dessert to share. Alison always gets two meals out of her entree. Thus, for this Donoho duo, it is actually "3 for $20"!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

My Shabbat Seven v2009.10.31

Seven of the more "peculiar" (in other words, besides the obvious) things I've been thankful for this past week...

• Wii Fit. Even if it's not making me all that more "fit," it at least gives me the feeling that I've done something healthy.
• Preschoolers. My son is one, and of course he's the most adorable little human being on the planet...sometimes. And I'm also privileged to have an office with a door that is 20 feet from a preschool with 15-20 eager-to-be-alive, innocent, curious, & impressionable 3-, 4-, & 5-year-olds.
  
• Indoor S'mores. If you've partook of this delicasy, you know why it's on this list. If you've haven't had this perfect blend of taste & texture pass over your taster, perhaps I'll share a bit of our next batch...maybe. And, yes, this point probably single-marshmallowedly neutralized the first point (Wii Fit) this past week.
  


• Fantasy Football. This probably doesn't make the list if my "ThePastorIsFaster" team wasn't in first place in one league and my "GreenEggsAndRam" team in the playoff picture in the other league.


• Playing "tackle" football with my 3-year-old son in our leaf-laden, sunlit backyard.


• Ideas/Thoughts/Theories. I can easily get lost in thought...which has been known to cause extended moments of indecision and inaction. I take a long time to read books because I like to chew on them with my mind like a cow chews on grass with its 4 stomachs. I like to think.
  


• Friends. Specifically, those rare kind of friends who are so selflessly helpful and caring that you can take them for granted and they selflessly help and care just the same. At different moments in life, it's a different friend. I hope that I could be such a friend to others someday.
  

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Glocalize [an FYI to UABCers]

The first apostles soon discovered that the Great Commission had layers to it. Jesus told them "...you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) Some remained at ground zero in Jerusalem & Judea. Some went on mission trips towards Egypt, some towards India, some towards Macedonia, Rome, & Spain. One thing about this growing movement that was later labeled the Christian religion--the local churches in the "ends of the earth" kept a connection and a kinship to the believers in Jerusalem. And reciprocally, the local churches in Jerusalem and Judea kept in communication with the believers out in the "ends of the earth."


As our world becomes more and more globalized, we will need to become more and more glocal (thinking globally & acting locally). (You can find out about glocalization here. You can read Leonard Sweet's introduction of the term into Christianity in Soul Tsunami.)


Our recent Faith in Action weekend was wonderful...and for sure, our congregation needs to keep growing in respect to serving our own community in the name of Jesus. Still, we need to also grow in our ability to "think globally" about the Great Commission. One tool for doing so as individuals is the website for the American Baptist Churches' International Ministires.

At this site, one can browse through the various works of ABC missionaries throughout the globe. You can also browse by type of mission work being done, including:

• Training Future Church Leaders
• Leading people to faith and starting new churches
• Creating Economic Opportunity and Building Futures
• Opening the mind, empowering the heart
• Promoting health in an HIV-AIDS world
• Abolishing Human Trafficking
• Seeking peace and offering refuge

So if you've got a few minutes and an internet connection, go "think globally" for a bit. And see if you can help think of ways we can be "acting locally".

My Shabbat Seven v10.24.2009

Seven of the more "peculiar" (in other words, besides the obvious) things I've been thankful for this past week...

• Sunshine. Usually, this is an obvious one, but lately it's felt like a rarity.

• Playing Catchphrase with JT.
  
• Basketball. I love the game, but I'm not sure if it really loves me back. I got to play with Jeremy this past week, and Illinois has started practices...ahhh. How's that Psalm go that talks about heaven..."better is one day in your courts"?

• When JT replies to our "You need to hurry up!" with "I'm hurrying upping!"
• Homemade food. When we returned from our hospital stay last weekend, we were greeted with various homemade foods from our church family, plus my mom brought her pumpkin bread and made chicken & noodles while she was her.
• Flavoring for medicine. If it wasn't for grape flavoring, cherry flavoring, or the ever popular bubble gum flavoring, getting the helpful medicines down our son's throat would be a lot more difficult.
• Baseball playoffs. Yes, even if the Cardinals didn't play very well in the first round. Now I'll cheer for anyone but the Yankees.
  

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

My Ministry Age is 37

In a recent edition of the Leadership Journal there was a quiz to determine what generation a pastoral leader best represents. My score of 37 put me in the higher end of the "Younger Leader" (25-41) range. The other two ranges were "Pragmatic Leader" (42-58) and "Traditional Leader" (up to 75).

I usually don't go for the quizzes that litter the Facebook-osphere. But I was...satisfied...with this little diddy.

The premise of the article was that leaders of all generations need to understand each other to better help the church transition into the next era. I wonder, though, if there is actually an assumption that more leaders need to become "younger leaders".

The Nobel Not So Noble To Me Anymore

It's not that I'm anti-Obama. He's our President and I do want him to be successful (on some level, but admittingly not in every respect). In regards to "world peace", I would say "Go, Mr. President!"


However, I don't think he's accomplished enough in this respect to merit the esteemed Nobel Peace Prize...at least, yet. (Read the press release here.) It seems he's been given the award because of his good intentions and clever speaking, which is not what I thought the Prize was for.


I hear the Committee's explanation is that they hope that by naming Obama and his intentions as Prize-worthy, more members of the global community will follow along. I guess I do hope that their hopes will not be disappointed and this will do some repair of the American reputation in the world. Still, the Prize is a little less noble to me.

My Shabbat Seven v2009.10.15

This'll be a combo late-from-last-week & early-for-this-week post of the Shabbat Seven.

• When JT says "Mmm. Tasty."
• U of I homecoming. It was great to see old friends again.
• Mom's pumpkin bread. Mmm--that gooey part in the middle of the top--oh, yeah!
• The "envisioning moments" w/ the Church Board. The present is being enlivened by figuring out our future.
• Preschool Parent Club. I get to be in the Parent Club now...I feel so "on the inside" now.
• Weekday holidays = days with the fam.
• Living so close to the Barnes-Jewish-Christian Children's Hospital in St. Lou.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!

My Shabbat Seven - v2009.10.03

• My "Small Engines I" 4-H project. Taking that small Briggs & Stratton engine apart, identifying, and labeling all those parts helped me figure out why the mower stopped running. (That project went to State, btw...and I never did the "Small Engines II" where you put the motor back together.)
• Fresh apples and everything Alison is doing with them. Mmmmmm.
• Paintballing...in the woods.
• NBA Live 2009 All-Play for our Wii. It gets me pysched up for the basketball season AND helps me veg-down before beddy-bye.
• When JT says "What?" with a rapidly increasing pitch and an equally rapidly increasing grin. Thanks to Nicole for reminding me how much the little guy's predictable blurts bring me joy.
• The Planets by Gustov Holst. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just know it's a music thing. After the Trivia Night I listened to The Planets all week. Mars--The Bringer of War, Jupiter--The Bringer of Jolity, & Mercury--The Winged Messenger are my favorite movements.
• Smores. Graham crackers, roasted-just-to-flame marshmallows, solid chocolate. Whomever did this first should get profit-shares from all sales of Hershey's, Jett-Puff, & Honey Maid June through October.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

My Shabbat Seven v2009.09.26

• Our annual family trip to Eckerts in Grafton. JT's favorite part is the animals.
• Columbia Bottom Conservation Area. It's one of my spots for my mini-retreats to the woods. I went there for a bit on Friday for a spiritual checkup.
• Fried Zuchinni like my mom used to make. Ah--but she was the one who made it this time!
• Teaching my son how to play dominoes. Friday was family game night, though there wasn't a lot of "game" due to a tired "family" and a late supper making the evening a short "night."
• Google calendar. I've been experimenting with different calendar tools. I'm thinking Google's gonna be the winner. Sometimes our family calendar, my work calendar, and the church calendar make for colorful days.
• My mp3 player. Whether running, working, going to sleep, or just trying to refocus, I love having portable tuneage! Often, it really does help me be me.
• Free, extended babysitting by Grandma Donoho...again. She's getting in her "grandma fix" before harvest begins in central IL. It's so nice.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!

The Shurtleff Fund [An FYI to UABCers]

UABCers would be interested to know that the legacy of Shurtleff College, which was a huge part of the life of our church for decades, continues to advance the name of Jesus in the environment of higher education...and your pastor gets to be part of it.


On Monday I drove up to Springfield for a meeting of the Board of Directors of something called the Shurtleff Fund. This Fund is a non-prof effort made possible by the sale of Shurtleff College to SIU back in 1957. Every year we give money from the Fund's interest income to various campus ministries in our Region and to two Regional scholarship programs.

Unfortunately, we're never able to give anyone as much as they'd like of course, and this year the decision-making was compounded by the investment performance of our economy this past year. Still, it is good to be able to give significant amounts of money to several groups, including the Baptist Student Foundation at UofI where Alison and I met and the Shurtleff Campus Ministry at SIU-Edwardsville where my friend and UABC's own Rob Kirbach is the University Chaplain.


I realize that not a few in our church family are acquainted with our connections to our denomination or know much about what it means to say we're "American Baptists." So I hope that this helps connect a dot or two.

My Shabbat Seven - v2009.09.19

For For those of you who follow my wife's blog (http://alisondonoho.blogspot.com/), you know she has her "Favorite Fridays" postings. Well, I'm going to imitate her good idea and call mine 'My Shabbat Seven.' (For now, you can read more than you want to know about "shabbat" here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat)

• Free, extended babysitting by grandmas! Thanks, Jan, for Monday! Thanks, Mom, for the last couple of days!
• My flexible job...so when my son gets sick and my wife has critical meetings, I can adjust my schedule temporarily without creating a lot of major issues for my employer.
• The first place St. Louis Cardinals and getting to go to games with the fam.
• The spiritual growth campaign we're doing with church, Outflow. Already seeing how people are responding to God's grace!
• That we paid off the student loan! We highly recommend Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University to help motivate you to do with money what most of us know on some level we should do with money, but don't.
• Diet Mountain Dew Ultra Violet. Thank you Pepsi-cola for this diet drink that this pre-diabetic will actually drink.
• This weather is awesome! The only thing better would've been if I'd been able to work & play in it more.
  

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Adjusting

It’s been a difficult adjustment. My three-year-old son has been going to preschool for two weeks now (3 days/week, am & pm sessions). And I have had a hard time adjusting.
Thanks to going to Busy Bears twice a week this past year and already being familiar with the teachers and setting, JT has adjusted well to preschool from all that we can tell. I, however, do not have a new routine yet.
4 ½ of the 6 days he’s been in preschool, I have been close to ticked-off-at-the-world by 3:30pm. I recognize that it’s no one’s fault except my own, and I’ve tried to not displace my anger towards anyone (though Alison might disagree with that assessment).
Since his preschool is across the hall from my office, it makes a lot of sense for me to take him and pick him up from school. However, that means my workday gets chopped down to 6 hours from the pre-preschool level of 8+ hours. At 2:30 I go sign him out, help him gather his stuff, talk to the teachers, give him a snack, and talk with him about his day. Then, unless he takes a nap (happened once) I become 50% (at the most) effective…which gradually turns my insides into a raging, resentful jerk.
Now, legalistically, I’ve managed to get an appropriate amount of work hours in due to a lot of evening meetings. Yet, I still don’t feel I’m giving my vocation what I should. My Jesus and my congregation deserve better.
So, Thursday I went into the office early (and sent our Preschool Director into shock) and Alison brought him to school. This worked much better for me, though it inconveniences Alison. I think we’re gonna try that a few more times. And if that doesn’t work, we might be looking for an afternoon sitter and/or changing my day off. For now, if you read this, say a prayer for me.

Get Those Knees Up!

Today our family got back out to the park for what I hope will be a fall routine. Alison & JT walked a bit then went to the playground; I ran. Though my body complained, my shoulders were tight, and my form was out of whack as evidenced by my upper appendages flailing across my chest…it felt good to get back out there running.
While scuttling up and down and around the pedestrian path at Glazebrook Park, I realized how often I recall one of the few pieces of running wisdom I picked up back in the day: “when going up a hill, get your knees up higher to maximize your stride.” Racers who know this actually can pass other racers while going up a hill. Even now when I run and approach an incline my mind begins repeating the mental mantra, “Get those knees up! Get those knees up!” Now, I’m not gonna be running any races anytime soon (maybe a mini-marathon before I’m 40 or away from a mountain lion while hiking), but that mentality is part of me.
So I continued to scuttle up and down and around and another dimension of this principle occurred to me. When life gets tough and everything seems to be going uphill, we have to change our stride. This doesn’t mean it gets easier necessarily—it’s still requires concerted effort. Our stride—our pace of work, the extracurriculars we choose to do, our spiritual habits, the time we spend with which people—has to adjust how our energy gets applied. Now, I’m personally not going up any hills right now…at least nothing more than the one-day climb occasionally, but this was what I thought about while trying to figure out how to run again this evening.

"Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, NLT)

LOST - Sense of Urgency

It has faded from my memory—the circumstances that were in play when a slight epiphany hit me during my workday last Thursday.
I feel a large part of my work is leading our congregation towards and through change. (BTW, I believe change will be better & more stable if accomplished gradually and by multiple members of a congregation instead of an authoritarian pastor.) A well-appreciated professor from Harvard Business School, John Kotter, wrote an influential book called Leading Change. One of the pieces of his thinking that has influenced my thinking is that one of the primary tasks in leading change in an organization is to stir up a “sense of urgency.” If people don’t feel an urgent need for change, our default human nature is to not (or, more accurately for some of us, resist) change.
The slight epiphany last week was that my own personal “sense of urgency” for change had faded. I don’t doubt that my sense of urgency will soon be fired up again—especially since the Holy Spirit pointed out my deficiency so point-blankly. A question that soon followed the ah-ha moment, though, was, “what does it look like [or should it look like] for a leader to have a high sense of urgency?”
Any thoughts are welcome.

WARNING - church mumbo-jumbo

Back in late June, Alison & I went to Pasadena to attend the Biennial Convention of the American Baptist Churches denomination. It was an enjoyable trip. (You can read more about the lighter side of the trip on Alison’s blog.) One of the main events was the vote on the proposed restructuring of the denomination. To be brief, I’d sum up the goals of the proposal with two phrases: streamlined organization and mission agility. The vote failed by a close 2%, and I was disappointed.
I perceived at least three factors that prevented the proposal from passing. First, I believe the primary problem was not with the content of the proposed by-laws but a communication gap between those who drafted the changes and the voting delegates. Second, there seemed to be significant misunderstandings about the effects of the changes. (Yep, this is related to #1.) Finally, there were certainly some who just plain didn’t want anything to change—they felt no sense of urgency for changing the current organization. (Yep, this one’s also related to #1.)
And here are some bytes of my reflection. #1 – This doesn’t affect our day-to-day life much…even if it would’ve passed. #2 – How many more years will the denomination be viable without some restructuring & refocusing like what was proposed? #3 – How many Sunday morning attendees ever see any value of our denomination anyway? Will we see more and more denominational churches become either nonexistent or nondenominational? #4 – I think there is a fundamental hypocrisy afoot: that it’s more important to speak truth than to live truth. #5 – If the restructuring would’ve passed, I would’ve been more interested in going to the next Biennial (in Puerto Rico!), which would have centered around a Mission Summit. #6 – Maintaining a religious institution is no fun (and sinful?); trying to keep large numbers of us American believers agile and sensitive to what God is doing in our backyards—that sounds like an adventure I’d sign up for.

Was I Judgmental?

My brother, Ryan, and I took Dad to the Cardinals game last Friday for a late Father’s Day gift. (Great game—Cards won 6-1. Saw 2 Albert Pujols HR’s!) We parked in the Macy’s parking garage and were briskly striding down to Busch Stadium just before game time. I think we were almost to Mike Shannon’s Restaurant when we passed a young lady holding a sign…I can’t remember exactly what it said, but something about being homeless and wanting help. Besides being a beggar, the first thing I noticed about her was that she was wearing a good amount of makeup (not too much, but certainly noticeable).
A few more strides down the sidewalk I turned around to Dad & Ryan, “If you’re gonna be homeless and ask for money, don’t put on makeup." Then, another couple strides and, "I’m not saying she isn’t homeless or need the help, I’m just saying that if you’re gonna do it, you gotta play the part.”
Now my thought process was that her chances of success might be better if she didn’t wear makeup…that if someone (like myself at least) sees her in makeup would justify not helping by thinking ‘she’s wearing makeup so she must not need help that badly.’
But then I thought later, ‘What if someone else gave her that makeup and she’s wearing it because it makes her feel better, or what if it’s her makeup and she’s wearing it because it salvages a little bit of a sense of dignity for her. Am I being judgmental?’
Then, this morning, while I’m meeting with a youth who wanted to know more about the habit of giving offerings, we read Proverbs 19:17 & Proverbs 21:13.
It was a great game, a great evening with the three of us Donoho boys, but not without another reminder that I’m still a wretched man in need of a Savior. Thank you, Jesus!

Two Leftover Pieces of Pizza

While attending the American Baptist Churches Biennial Conference in Pasadena, CA, we tried out several resturants in Old Pasadena. On Saturday, we ate at The Kitchen Italian Café & Pizzeria. With a coupon we shared a small salad, a cheese bread appetizer, and a medium, 2-topping (Italian sausage & mushroom), New York style pizza. There were two large slices leftover.

Now, we’re staying in a hotel—we don’t have a fridge. And we’re not even going back to the hotel until later that afternoon. We’d planned to walk several blocks to a Starbucks for coffee & internet access next. Still, within a four-sentence exchange Alison & I decided to have our leftovers boxed up. If we saw a person along the way begging, we could give it to them. If we didn’t, we could just throw it away at that time since that's what the resturant would do anyway.

So we walked 4-5 blocks. No such people in need like there often had been during previous walks. Alison suggested we cross diagonally (is California the only place that does these diagonal crosswalks--who knew?!). We walked another 2-3 blocks and saw a young couple dirty and seated on the sidewalk. “Spare change for travel money?”

“Want some pizza?”

“Sure.”

(There was a sense of relief and satisfaction as we kept walking.) Then not a full block later, a young lady, who while we were handing off the pizza had passed us, turns back around and asked, “Do you know where a Starbuck’s is?” We then explained that there were two Starbucks on the street and she was closest to the one straight ahead just a few more blocks. She thanked us and walked on ahead of us.

::: Being recognized as helpful people is an important prerequisite for helping people find their Way. :::