Disability and Government Budgets

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article how the high costs of caring for the seriously disabled are clashing with the budget crises of most states and the Federal Government. The Journal notes that it is easier to cut money that have been budgeted for home care than to cut money budgeted for institutional care. The WSJ does not take sides in the debate but concludes that it is much more expensive to care for the disabled at home than it is to place them in an institution.

Some of the comments by readers disagreed with the WSJ on that point,arguing that many people receive care from each employee and only one receives care per employee at home. That needs to be examined very closely by people who understand these issues well.

We at Sweeten Life Systems are completing the first year of a research study on how to best support families with severely disabled children. The results have been very insightful and somewhat surprising to us. Many of the most pressing issues focus on the needs of parents to receive very practical support. Things like:

House work
Ironing
Painting
Lawn care
Transport to the Doctor, grocery shopping, etc.
Food preparation
Respite care
Spiritual support

Now we need to find churches, schools and individuals willing to volunteer to help these families with those practical and important areas. Are you willing to help? Does your church already have a program of support for shut ins, the elderly, etc?

You Can Make a Difference

"When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and
healed their sick." - Matthew 14:14

Heinrich Himmler was the head of the Nazi SS and the mastermind of the Holocaust. During those blood-filled days between 1940 and 1945, the second most powerful man in Germany sent millions of Jews to their deaths. Himmler suffered from intolerable psychosomatic pains and the only person who could relieve these pains was a Doctor Felix Kersten, a Finn, who was a massage therapist.

During Himmler’s massage sessions, he would tell Dr. Kersten about the concentration camps. In 1942, Kersten intervened with Himmler to save Finish, Norwegian, and Dutch Jews. After moving to Stockholm in 1943, he continued to work on rescue and relief, securing freedom for several thousand more Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Polish, and French Jews.

In the closing days of the war, Kersten acted for Himmler in negotiating freedom for Jews with the Swedes and the Allies in Stockholm; he was instrumental in arranging a meeting in Germany on April 19, 1945 between Himmler and Norbert Masur, a Zionist German living in Sweden. One result of the meeting was the freeing of 7,000 women from Ravensbruk to a haven in Denmark and Sweden. The World Jewish Council credits him with saving 60,000 of Jews from the concentration camps.

Kurt Warner Retires

I just posted my thought about Kurt Warner's new career on my Seasoned Believer blog. Some of you may not know I have blogged in this topic for a couples of years. I have promoted the notion of encouraging "Lay Persons" to get deeply involved in practical ministries. My blog tells testimonies about that topic as well as theological and human reasons why volunteering is important to Believers.

We are currently experiencing an enormous increase in Christian volunteering. Just think about one example, Haiti. The situation in Haiti has focused the attention of the world on the importance of ordinary men and women to help victims of natural emergencies. Millions of people have organized themselves into bands of helping hands to gather, organize and send supplies to the people affected by the earthquake.

But something else has also happened. The chronic situation of poverty, pain and abuse has been suddenly revealed to millions of TV watchers. For most it is the first time they ever heard of the decades of evil just a few miles from America. Who would have thought that there is widespread child slavery a stone's throw from the wealthiest and freest nation on the earth?

I heard on TV that between 45,000 and 50,000 Americans are in Haiti at any time. What are so many Americans doing on that tiny country? Many if not most are volunteers from US charitable organizations. WOW! That is incredible.

Here is another amazing statistic. Some 80% of the Gross National Product of Haiti comes from charity. Here is my question. How much of this volunteering and charitable giving comes from Agnostics and Atheists?

How much comes from secularists?

How much comes from Christians?

What do you think?

Tipping Points

Sometimes silence is not only golden it is also wise.

If you have not read Malcolm Gladwell's little book, Tipping Point yet I strongly suggest that you get it and peruse it as soon as possible. Not only is Gladwell a very good writer who entertains while he informs, this book will surely help you think about ways to influence others.

This boo suggests that small things can make a very big difference when it comes to change in society and groups. Some small things are like a virus that spreads from person to person in a rapid fire multiplication that touches lots of people.

Gladwell says there are three key types of influencers: Networkers, Mavens and Salesmen. Networkers seem to know many people and are in touch with them about the things they like. They are, therefore, like a virus.

Macens are those who possess a lot of knowledge about a topic and who love to share that knowledge with others. Most of us know someone who is a maven and we often ask them for information.

A sales person is able to "close the deal". They not only know people and have knowledge, they can get others to buy into the change process.

In the Wall Street Journal online there is a story about how one small event brought down the Berlin Wall and Communism. I hope you read the entire story, but here is the summary.

BERLIN -- The world believes Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev or peaceful protests brought down the Berlin Wall 20 years ago next month. But for those who had front-row seats, the argument boils down to Ehrman vs. Brinkmann.

Riccardo Ehrman, a veteran Italian foreign correspondent, and Peter Brinkmann, a combative German tabloid reporter, both claim they asked the crucial questions at a news conference on Nov. 9, 1989, that led East German Politburo member Günter Schabowski to make one of the biggest fumbles in modern history.

Mr. Schabowski was supposed to announce a temporary bureaucratic procedure that would make it easier for East Germans to travel abroad, a tactic aimed at shoring up the Communist regime in the face of mass demonstrations.

Instead, he inadvertently opened the Berlin Wall.

When his fellow Communist leaders decided on new travel regulations, Mr. Schabowski was out of the room. Later that evening he skim-read the executive order, stuffed it in his briefcase, and headed off to meet the world's media.

Pressed on the meaning of the new travel policy -- When did it come into force? Did it apply to West Berlin? Did people need a passport? -- the flustered apparatchik rustled his papers and gave confusing answers that led the news media to believe the border was open, with immediate effect.

The result, once East Berliners had seen that night's news on West German television, was chaos at border crossings across the city.

At Bornholmer Strasse, one of the main checkpoints in central Berlin, confused border guards couldn't get clear orders on how to deal with the crush, and debated whether to open fire. Instead, they opened the barrier, and the Berlin Wall was history. The events have been chronicled by Hans-Hermann Hertle, a historian who specializes in the fall of East Germany.

This reminds me of the importance of hearing God when we are trying to be influencers in the world. I am always leery about my friends and colleagues who try too hard to force change. For example, a person running for the school board near my home advertises as a "Conservative Christian". This morning while drinking coffee with some friends the conversation focused on the fact that none of them would vote for a person who was agressively attempting to force her views on the school board and the kids.

This person may be a wonderful and sensitive Believer. I do not know. But the way to make friends and influence people is not by force or pressure but applying a small amount of networking, sales wisdom and knowledge at the right time and the right place. Small things can bring great changes.

At Sweeten Life Systems we teach people how to be gentle, caring and wise influencers. It takes patience, wisdom and understanding. All of which are in short supply in the world and one reason we teach Christians how to manage their own thoughts and feelings. If I cannot manage me how can I manage others?

Rearing Special Needs Kids

For several months we have been interviewing parents with special needs children about the stresses,strains and pressures of life. They are legion.

That is not surprising. As a father and grand father I know first hand how stressful it is to mom and dad to have the emotional, educational and spiritual responsibility to rear, clothe and feed any kid regardless of their special needs. When a child is born with a serious disability the stresses are multiplied many times over.

That is not surprising but this fact may be. Many of these parents are innovative, creative and resilient to the place where our research team calls them "Heroes!" They are heroic not because it is good thing to do but because they are the best experts their kids have.

Yes, there are fine Doctors, Psychologists, Educators and Physical Therapists but they are usually isolated from the children. Mom, Dad and Siblings as well as family members and friends must come up with practical solutions.

Want to know another secret??? The professionals do not know about the solutions or the problems families face. "Why?" you ask. They ask the parents and do not See the parents as important to the tasks performed by the pros.

We call our project, "It takes a whole village" because rearing a special needs child or caring for a special needs adult requires everybody to pitch in. When I taught school I had special needs kids in my classes. I ignorantly did not even think about the difficulty faced by Mom and Dad. Now I think about it a lot.


Jim Donovan, of Donovan Research, and the Director for our project says, "These families have arrived at solutions to many of the problems they face. However, they are often alone and the solutions have not been well distributed." Sweeten Life Systems is trying to not only discover problems and solutions but discover ways to broadcast those solutions to other families.

One more point. When parents face the fact that their child has special needs they often become increasingly interested in church, religion and spirituality. However, few churches are ready for such a challenge. This leaves the parents isolated and longing for a church that can minister to them.

Pray with us about our next steps in the project "It takes a whole village"(R).

See the web for more information. www.sweetenlife.com

Oh Ye With Great Faith

I am on the list of Disabled Christianity . It is all about the need for Christians to reach out to disabled persons in our communities. They recently published an article about a miracle of faith. I hope you will read it.

We received a grant from The Hatton Foundation to do "Ethnographic Research" with families with special needs children. Last Sunday we came together to share our insights about the heroic nature of the people who are opening themselves to our probing questions.

Without exception, these folks are outstanding and hard working people. The reason each one gave for taking the time to be involved with us at least ten hours each month was, "We want to help other people." (And believe me when I say, these parents do not have the time to give ten hours each month.) They want to GIVE!

Gary Sweeten's July Report to The Hatton Foundation

We interviewed each family as a precursor to enrolling them in the project. We also asked each couple to fill out an extensive report on their situation, support systems, stresses and needs. Each family is then interviewed by a team of two persons. Every session is audio or videotaped so we can intensely review the family’s sharing. Emerging insights early in our process:

1. A strong desire not to be victims but victors that rise to meet the daily challenges of disability. This admirable attitude can, however, limit the family’s ability to seek available support.

2. The lack of coordination among treatment professionals. Families are sometimes left to their own devices to find and access assistance that is due them.

3. The immense financial costs of rearing a disabled child and the need for sensitive, well trained professionals in law, insurance, financial planning, etc.

4. The ignorance, avoidance and sometimes anger of professionals about the insights, strengths, pressures or needs of the child’s family. The approach of many professionals comes across as accusatory, punitive and distrustful.

5. The amazing level of resilience that families must possess to deal effectively with the medical, educational, insurance and personal systems while facing the pressures of caring for a family. The families that are responding best to those pressures have a great deal of help from family members, friends and church fellowships.

6. The importance of spiritual resources to the families but their paucity in the community.

7. The uneven availability of educational, medical, spiritual and psychological resources in the Greater Cincinnati area. (And, we assume, other areas as well.)

8. The importance of educating professionals and spiritual leaders about the benefits of understanding what the parents can contribute to the child’s and the medical, educational systems’ welfare.

9. The need for each family to have coaches, mentors and wise support systems in place to walk with them and advise them each step of their journey.

10. This new approach to research which actually asks the clients what they need is desperately needed by medical, educational, financial and religious systems to get the whole picture.

Go to my web page for more information.

Sowing Seeds of Life

There are many benefits of growing older. Our families grow as do our friendships. We get to see children grow up and change from children to friends. Life in the love of God grows sweeter and sweeter each day.

All those things are true but the one grace gift I want to emphasize today has to do with ministry. After teaching about developing great relationships with God, self and others for decades I can see so much good fruit coming up all over the world.

Hardly a day passes that I do not hear from someone whose life has been touched by Teleios training and Lifeway ministry. I recently received a note on Face book telling me how God had used our training to help them be a better husband and parent. Why does it take so long to see fruit from our teaching?

Think of planting a tree. All of us are enjoying shade from trees that are older than we. It takes decades to grow a tree and years to see people's growth and healing. Then growth becomes so evident that the glow is noticeable to all who know them.

When a person learns to open his or her life to the truth of God's word for mind renewal it make take a year or two of weekly application to see the results. But after a while the peace and security of knowing how to apply God's truth to my life will burst forth into bigger smiles and more pleasant personalities. When one person grows and heals it touches all around them and the cycle of health breaks the cycle of sickness. The healthy body of Christ we call a Christian community grows as an entire group when any member grows.

Christ in YOU!
The hope of GLORY!

Gary Sweeten

Jesus House Reunion

The Jesus House in Cincinnati held its reunion yesterday but I couldn't attend. Grand Kids here and that trumps everything else. Take a look at the blog put up by the Jesus House curator of memories, Terry Fisher to learn more.

The Jesus Revolution started in the late Sixties and expanded for about ten years as millions of people from all walks of life came to faith in Jesus. That was the beginning of The Fourth Great Awakening. According to Nobel Prize winning economist Robert Fogel, we are in the midst of a spiritual "Hinge of History" right now because the mature members of the Jesus Revolution are Seasoned Believer with the wisdom, wealth and wit to change the world. (See Fogel's book, The Fourth Great Awakening.)

It is God's timing for Seasoned Believers to rise up and make a difference in education, health care, business, art, music, foundations and politics. For example, my friends and I who were deeply touched by the Jesus Revolution have just begun a research study on ways to empower, support and educate parents of Special Needs Children.

This project has the potential to change the way we do health care. The system of health care is deeply flawed. Doctors, Mental Health Counselors and others in health care are hampered by Byzantine bureaucratic rules set down by local, state and Federal Governments as well as paranoid regulations by health insurance companies. For example, Doctors ignore the parents and extended families of sick children, and they are the experts in the care of such children.

Chairman Ow is dead set on nationalizing health care and infusing it with more bureaucracy and more rigid rules. We all know that the politicians who make these rules do not have to live under them because all Governmental Health Plans are exempt.

We who came to spiritual and emotional maturity in the Spirit must mobilize ourselves and be positive influences in our communities. Speak up!

Gary Sweeten

No Job? You Can Volunteer

The Wall Street Journal has an article today on the importance of laid off workers staying involved by volunteering at non-profits. Sweeten Life Systems is, of course, a 501c3 not for profit organization recognized by the IRS and Ohio Attorney General.

The WSJ's article is by DANA MATTIOLI.

Volunteer jobs are catching on among the growing ranks of laid-off workers, giving them valuable career experience and offering strapped nonprofits access to a bigger talent pool.

Charitable organizations say they are benefiting from a class of skilled volunteers ready to lend their expertise to a cause. And volunteering is giving out-of-work professionals the opportunity to develop skills, as well as network for job contacts in the process. For some people, it may even mean a new career when the economy does turn around.

We have some important things cooking that you might be able to help us with. Write me at gary@sweetenlife.com if interested.

Innovation

Read Guy Kawasaki's speech at the NAIS web.

Guy is a fantastically talented innovator who helped Apple Computer develop its verve and beauty.

Helping Special Children Grow

We recently received a grant from the Hatton Foundation to research the needs of families with special needs children and develop models for meeting those needs. This is a huge and exciting venture.

One of our dear friends and former students in Denmark is Kirsten Callesen. She left her former position to get a Masters and Doctorate with specialties in Special Education. Kirsten took the materials she had learned in the

Apples and RCT classes and developed her unique approach for helping kids with Aspergers.

You can see her work at the CAT Kit web site.

It is very exciting to see Seasoned Believers take on such large challenges, especially when they are doing a great job.

Take a lool at this video on how they are working with kids.

Pray that we will be able to develop ministries that are as great as my friends in Denmark. I will visit with Kirsten in March when I go there to teach.

Gary Sweeten

Are You a Change Agent?

I have been trying to help people change things for a very long time. This means that I am an expert at failure. Yep, failure. Plans and intentions to change people never survive the first battle. Why? Because Seekers have their own objectives and their ideas about if and what to change.

Change is hard. If that were not true we would not be seeing commercials for weight loss programs every five minutes on TV. Half the people in Outback Steak House just came from a weight loss class and are eating to deal with their lack of losing weight.( My joke.)

If you are in a position of helping people change it is helpful to learn about the things that help and the things that hurt your efforts. In other words, you and I need to CHANGE the ways we try to help people CHANGE.

If you are interested you need to read my book Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty and keep reading these posts on change. Preachers, teachers, parents and sales people can all benefit to say nothing of counselors. Here is the first hint.

The change must be desired by the Seeker not just by the Helper or the Seeker's family. Helpers often try to please themselves or a family member and miss the central fact that the Seeker must decide to change himself before anything positive happens. Have you ever said, "If only they would listen to me they would be OK." I have.

This boils down to the old saying, "God loves you and I have a plan for your life."

So, what to do? Listen carefully to what the person wants. What are his goals, objectives, values and interests? Does he know what they are? Few people do. This is a major way to help people change. If goals are clear then it is much easier to start working to accomplish them. If not, all the work in the world will not produce much more than confusion.

Next time it's timing.

Gary Sweeten
www.sweetenlife.com

President Bush Honored for Charity

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2008 – President George W. Bush was honored on the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day with the "International Medal of PEACE" given by Pastor Rick Warren on behalf of the Global PEACE Coalition during the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health.

The award, given in recognition of the President's tireless efforts and unprecedented contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS and other diseases, came on the heels of the President's announcement that his Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) had fulfilled its commitment to support treatment for two million people ahead of schedule.

Go to Panera for Fellowship

Panera Bread is a great place to meet and have fellowship around the fireplace as we drink some tea or coffee and eat a sweet roll. This afternoon Karen and I went out to Milford to get the kids from school while Julie and Dave celebrated Dave's birthday.

I needed to download a patch from the Internet but I did not have the password for Dave's WI FI and I was stuck. What could I do? I was frustrated for a few minutes before I remembered that there is a new Panera Bread in Milford and I jumped into my car and drove up to seek their free WI FI connection.

I stopped in front of the store and opened up my browser and was immediately rewarded with a connection. because it took so long I had to leave and pick up Lily from school but I returned to Panera and did my computing. while there I overheard two mature males discussing the Bible and Jesus. They carried on their chatting for thirty minutes and got up to leave, when I said, "sitting by the fire and discussing the Lord is pretty sweet isn't it?"

The two men stopped and we had a great little chat although we had never met before. With believers no formal introduction is needed and we exchanged cards, blog information and web addresses. The address for the leader's church is one I suggest you look up. http://www.prodigal180.com/ tells all about their vision and it seems very good to me.

Both of these men are Seasoned Believers who have served and followed God for many years. But now they are interested in getting off the "padded pews" and into some meaningful ministry.

I am fascinated by the numerous fellowships, groups and chatting societies that gather at Panera. Maybe we need to learn from the Bread Company how to develop an attractive space for people to gather.

Gary Sweeten

http://www.sweetenlife.com/

Honoring Mentors

Last Friday I attended the Memorial Service of Marge Miller. The sanctuary of College Hill Presbyterian Church was half full and it seemed that most of us were torn between grief over the loss of a wonderful friend and, at the same time, filled with joy because we knew she was now at the side of her husband Jim and son David.

The mixture was particularly strong when we sang some of Marge's favorite songs. She was Welsh and loved singing as much as anyone I ever met. The music brought back sweet memories of our great days together at CHPC as well as the reminder that some day a group will be singing that music at our service.

Marge Miller was on the edge of the huge shift in theology and practice of lay ministry. It is common today to see churches with numerous lay volunteers who do everything but the sacraments in churches. However, when I joined the staff at CHPC in 1973 it was unusual, especially in an Mainline Presbyterian Church.

Marge had been the Interim Minister of Christian Education when I came full time in that position. Marge took me under her wing and mentored me, coached me and showed me the ropes. I was a Baptist kid from a tiny village who knew nothing of Presbyterian polity, theology or practice. Marge was warm, caring, funny and straight forward. She was my life saver.

Thanks to Marge Miller and all the Marge Millers who labor in God's vineyards behind the scenes. They are the keys to how a church operates and few people recognize it. Most of the accolades and fame goes to the clergy who speak on Sunday mornings. They write the books and get quoted by Christianity. But it was Marge and Marie and Doris and Carole and Jim and Tom and Peter who made it all work.

Thanks Marge. The lights you lit in others will shine brightly for generations. God has blessed me and thousands more through you so now you can enjoy your reward.

Models of Missions and Ministry

Listen with Love

In line with the last post, I am writing about the need to promote world and national missions with a model that unleashes the ordinary Christians in churches. Any other model sets up a system that causes the target audience to be dependent upon outsiders. For example, I have a book titled, When Charity Drives out Dignity, written by a missionary named Glenn Schwartz. It lays out example after example of failed attempts of outside missionaries with pure motivation who came in to rescue the nationals. Many of these efforts failed because the nationals were overly dependent upon Western dollars and ideas.

The Western model of Professionalism and Schoolization has led us to deny the biblical model of Socialization through spiritual communities and empowered Believers with little education. St. Paul was a brilliant and well educated man. However, he consistently down played his credentials to emphasize the power of faith and the Holy Spirit.

I have a Doctorate in Counseling and I have learned some things that are important to treating people with severe problems. However, what I know and what the research from the past forty years shows is how powerfully helpful ordinary people can be when they love and listen to those in emotional pain.

Yes, I have spent the last thirty years training lay care givers to be more effective. However, I carefully avoid teaching all the psychological theories from Freud, Jung and their offspring. I recently listened to the tapes of a Professor at a Christian College and Seminary. He spent 90% of his time teaching a beginning group of ministers and lay volunteers about the in depth psycho-spiritual models of counseling and psychotherapy. I listened in alarm. It was unhelpful and even harmful.

This is one reason it may be dangerous to ask Clinical Therapists to train ministers and Christian laity to care and counsel. Most have been trained to look as "Clients and Patients" who are mentally ill. These folks do need expert intervention, but that is not enough. Research from the past forty years of clinical practice shows deeply hurting people need more than medication and psychology. They also need love and prayer and biblical truth.

There are several people who train lay volunteers to do intensive healing interventions such as inner healing, prayer therapy, formation prayer, theophostics, etc. I am thankful for those interventions and know they can be helpful. However, the techniques are often taught to men and women who are emotionally fragile and unstable. These techniques can never replace listening in love, renewing the mind and mutual support.

The Most Important Factors in Emotional Healing
1. Expert Interventions: A small factor
2. Hope of the Seeker that we can help them: The same as the expert intervention
3. Helper care, empathy, respect: As much as the first two put together
4. Seeker Motivation and Support: More helpful than anything else.





Learn to listen. Learn to pray. Learn to encourage.

The Power of Giving

Jesus Gave Freely

One of the reasons that Jesus was so powerful as a teacher and man of influence was his understanding of human relationships, motivation and psychology. This, along with his amazing ability to use words and phrases that stuck in the mind of his hearers allowed him to become the greatest leader in history.
One of my favorite authors is Robert Cialdini whose , Inside Influence Report, I get online every month. Dr. Cialdini's research and well written insights are in very close accord to the way Jesus led and taught. For example, the most recent article in the newsletter has to to with what Cialdini calls, "The Law of Reciprocity". It was summarized by Jesus in this spiritual principle: "Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together and running over as it is placed in your lap. For by the standard you use to measure is the standard you will receive." Luke 6:38

If we want to lead and influence others we need to find ways to give to them and others who are not even involved with us. Allow others to excel and grow and it will come back to us. But, if we hog the time and light we will always be disappointed. It is our choice.

We have all seen people who jealously guard their turf from others. Many years ago I was at a Pastors' Conference in St. Louis. My boss at the time was great friends with a famous Preacher from the West Coast. A discussion arose about who was preaching in their absence and most of them said without hesitation that they would never allow an Associate to speak in their place lest they develop the appreciation of the congregation and lessen the honor given to them.

I was shocked to hear this because our Senior Pastor, Jerry Kirk, spoke only about 30% of the time and the Co-Pastor Ron Rand another 30%. The other 40% of the time members of the ministerial team spoke so they could generate a following and support as well as experience in the pulpit.

Our Pastor, Dr. Jerry Kirk, was practicing the Law of Reciprocity or The Law of Sowing and Reaping or of Giving and Receiving. He gave his power and authority to others and it came back to him in abundance. And, as Jerry shared the pulpit his reputation grew as did his influence. The size and influence of our congregation also grew.

If you want to grow in influence and reputation give your life and honor away for it will come back to you in a grand multiplication.

Leading the church is one of the most difficult tasks ever taken on by a man or woman. I was fortunate to be on a team of wonderful men and women and men at College Hill Presbyterian and we learned a lot about teamwork, sharing, speaking truth to one another and empowering the members to do the work of the ministry.

I will always be thankful for those lessons. Contact me if you would like to chat about the lessons God taught us. They are not the things you will hear at the big, famous conferences.

Sweeten Life Systems

A lifetime of great relationships.

Give and It Shall Be Given Unto You

Recent research sponsored by the AARP on the value and commonality of volunteer service among Seasoned Citizens, especially Boomers, indicates some interesting results.

The research found that:
1. Fifty-five percent of Americans in the 44 to 79 age group believe they will leave the world in worse condition than they inherited it, while only 20 percent believe they are leaving the world in better condition. Those most actively engaged in volunteering feel less pessimistic.

2. Fifty-two percent of older Americans said their desire to “help people in need” was a very important motivational factor in their volunteering. Forty-eight percent said the desire to “stay healthy and active” was a primary motivator.

3. The rate of volunteering is highest among those who attend religious services regularly (86 percent); college graduates (85 percent); professionals (84 percent); those with annual incomes over $75,000 (83 percent); and evangelical Christians (80 percent).

4. Eighty-three percent of Republicans said they volunteered for an organization in the last year, while only 67 percent of Democrats said the same. Sixty-nine of those who identified as independents said they volunteered in the past year.

5. Baby Boomers, those born from 1946 to 1964, were most likely to increase their volunteer hours, according to the survey.

Those who volunteer live longer, stronger and more joyful lives!

A Lifetime of great relationships-With myself!

An article on the blog Out of Ur has the following article that I hope you find challenging to you and the church. Take a look at it and see what you think. Are these of concern to you?

August 12, 2008
Great is Thy Effectiveness?
There’s danger in rooting our identity in ministry rather than in Christ.
Something’s wrong. We pastors are the stewards, the spokespeople, the advocates of a message of hope, life, and peace. And yet so few of us seem to be experiencing these qualities in our own lives. Something’s wrong. In a world saturated with fear, insecurity, and stress, we are to show a different way. And yet those at the center of the church are burning out and leaving ministry at a rate of 1,500 per month. If that’s what’s occurring at the heart of the church, why would anyone on the fringe want to move in closer?

Why is the church so ineffective in ministering hope, peace and joy when these are the fruits of the Spirit and the central issues of the Christian life?

Optimism is Warranted

I realize it is the "Silly Season" of a National Presidential Election when Leftist politicians spout gloom and doom by the bucket full, but I am still an Optimist. The story reported below is from Philanthropy Today and it tells a remarkable story of success in helping the homeless.
A federal effort known as “housing first,” which seeks to find permanent shelter for the chronically homeless, is being cited as a reason the number of chronically homeless people living in the streets and in shelters dropped by about 30 percent, reports The New York Times. The data, which cover 2005 to 2007, are part of a new Bush administration study.
The decline may also be a result of better data collection and reporting by cities and towns, the paper reports. But at least one researcher, Martha R. Burt, calls the drop in homelessness “nothing short of phenomenal,” adding that with the right support and housing, the homeless population will not end up back on the street.

Read coverage in The Chronicle of Philanthropy of the housing-first movement and efforts to end homelessness by 2014.