One of my joys in life is knowing Dennis and Sheila Cole. Dennis is Senior Pastor of LifeGate Church in Kentucky and one of the brightest men I know. He is also a red neck so he hates to admit that he is smart.
Dennis and I met many years ago when I was deeply involved in the Jesus Movement and he was a student at Cincinnati Bible College. I have had the privilege of working with Dennis and his people for many years and God is making a lot of changes in the people and the church body.
Two Sundays ago I was able to speak to the church about the various phases of spiritual growth. You can listen to it on the church web site.
http://www.lifegatenky.org/pages/sermons PHPSESSID=2692cea4cf3694f929a5f7e2977c0193
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Blog Report
People seem to be interested in the topics I have thrown up recently for the numbers of hits is increasing. However, few are courageous enough to comment on the blog itself but some are writing me off line.
I do love to get feedback. Your comments keep me sharp and also alert me to what you all are thinking and feeling. I need to state clearly a few of my assumptions.
Being a Pastor is one of the most difficult careers known to humanity. I worked on a church staff for 16 years and it was a great experience. However, I was not the Senior Pastor so the entire weight of leadership was not on my shoulders.
I was a pretty good "Second Banana" but I think I would be a terrible "First Banana". Jerry Kirk was the Senior Pastor and he was made for the role. It came to him as effortlessly as swimming to a fish.
While at CHPC some people said "You should get a congregation where you could be the Senior Pastor. You preach so well that you should be in the pulpit more often." I certainly loved to hear the warm affirmations but I knew that being a Senior Pastor was not for me.
Leading a congregation is less, much less about preaching than making sure the staff and team and congregation all work toward a common goal. Preaching skills help but motivating, mobilizing and managing change is the real key to leading. Interpersonal Skills, especially listening well, are so much more important than talking.
Almost every ministerial failure arises from a lack of relational skills with the family, elders, staff and members. Yet, it is almost impossible to find a school or seminary that teaches ministers and leaders how to listen, solve problems and deal with conflict.
I did what was easy for me. I spent much of my time teaching the staff and elders how to manage change and conflict. As one pastor said, "Gary, you and I need to start a ministry in conflict management. I make it and you manage it."
We worked almost weekly on group dynamics, problem solving, communications and planning. This is one reason CHPC was so successful, dynamic and growing in influence. For the past twelve years I have focused on Consulting and Coaching Leaders. I am amazed that so few have been trained in the most basic skills of building solid relationships.
Preaching can draw a crowd but only involvement in an ongoing relational community builds disciples and changes lives. Truth without experience always remains in the realm of doubt.
Steve Griebling and I wrote a book that summarizes the best ways to disciple, coach, consult and counsel Christians. For a mere $20.00 you can also become an expert. Just read Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty.
I do love to get feedback. Your comments keep me sharp and also alert me to what you all are thinking and feeling. I need to state clearly a few of my assumptions.
Being a Pastor is one of the most difficult careers known to humanity. I worked on a church staff for 16 years and it was a great experience. However, I was not the Senior Pastor so the entire weight of leadership was not on my shoulders.
I was a pretty good "Second Banana" but I think I would be a terrible "First Banana". Jerry Kirk was the Senior Pastor and he was made for the role. It came to him as effortlessly as swimming to a fish.
While at CHPC some people said "You should get a congregation where you could be the Senior Pastor. You preach so well that you should be in the pulpit more often." I certainly loved to hear the warm affirmations but I knew that being a Senior Pastor was not for me.
Leading a congregation is less, much less about preaching than making sure the staff and team and congregation all work toward a common goal. Preaching skills help but motivating, mobilizing and managing change is the real key to leading. Interpersonal Skills, especially listening well, are so much more important than talking.
Almost every ministerial failure arises from a lack of relational skills with the family, elders, staff and members. Yet, it is almost impossible to find a school or seminary that teaches ministers and leaders how to listen, solve problems and deal with conflict.
I did what was easy for me. I spent much of my time teaching the staff and elders how to manage change and conflict. As one pastor said, "Gary, you and I need to start a ministry in conflict management. I make it and you manage it."
We worked almost weekly on group dynamics, problem solving, communications and planning. This is one reason CHPC was so successful, dynamic and growing in influence. For the past twelve years I have focused on Consulting and Coaching Leaders. I am amazed that so few have been trained in the most basic skills of building solid relationships.
Preaching can draw a crowd but only involvement in an ongoing relational community builds disciples and changes lives. Truth without experience always remains in the realm of doubt.
Steve Griebling and I wrote a book that summarizes the best ways to disciple, coach, consult and counsel Christians. For a mere $20.00 you can also become an expert. Just read Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Balance in Life
In the previous post I quoted recent news stories about educators and police agencies who seem to have lost their balance when it comes to "safety". Americans are worried about the Federal Government spying on citizens but this is unhealthy fear.
The stories about police and school intrusions and over reactions indicate another problem in American life. The lack of emotional balance. After the terrible crimes at Columbine investigators indicated that officials failed to act quickly enough on signs and symptoms of the murderers to prevent the killings. However, now many agencies and school officials are over-reacting to the slightest evidence.
Such an over reaction indicates what we call "Societal Regression". Such a regression occurs when society at large seems to lose its balance and ability to calmly respond to events that might be dangerous. There is an automatic REACTION of anxiety that is actually worse than the original "threat". Before Columbine the police REACTIVELY ignored clear signals of danger. Their anxiety stopped them from intervening in a serious threat.
After Columbine the OVER REACTION was and is just as great. Police anxiety is still present but in the opposite direction. Now officials REACTIVELY INTERVENE in clearly non-dangerous activities. These REACTIVE INTERVENTIONS make violence more likely. They look like they are "crying wolf" and produce callousness in the public over time.
Anxious and REACTIVE people are in churches, families and community organizations. Parents are especially vulnerable to regressive anxiety and become over any mild threat faced by their children. One local mother went to the school board to complain that a six year old kid had called her son a bad name and wanted the offending child punished.
OVER REACTION and OVER PROTECTION is unhealthy. Children grow best when they can learn how to take care of themselves when other kids "bully them" and all we are teaching bright kids is to have a strong distrust for leaders who are so rigidly reactive.
The stories about police and school intrusions and over reactions indicate another problem in American life. The lack of emotional balance. After the terrible crimes at Columbine investigators indicated that officials failed to act quickly enough on signs and symptoms of the murderers to prevent the killings. However, now many agencies and school officials are over-reacting to the slightest evidence.
Such an over reaction indicates what we call "Societal Regression". Such a regression occurs when society at large seems to lose its balance and ability to calmly respond to events that might be dangerous. There is an automatic REACTION of anxiety that is actually worse than the original "threat". Before Columbine the police REACTIVELY ignored clear signals of danger. Their anxiety stopped them from intervening in a serious threat.
After Columbine the OVER REACTION was and is just as great. Police anxiety is still present but in the opposite direction. Now officials REACTIVELY INTERVENE in clearly non-dangerous activities. These REACTIVE INTERVENTIONS make violence more likely. They look like they are "crying wolf" and produce callousness in the public over time.
Anxious and REACTIVE people are in churches, families and community organizations. Parents are especially vulnerable to regressive anxiety and become over any mild threat faced by their children. One local mother went to the school board to complain that a six year old kid had called her son a bad name and wanted the offending child punished.
OVER REACTION and OVER PROTECTION is unhealthy. Children grow best when they can learn how to take care of themselves when other kids "bully them" and all we are teaching bright kids is to have a strong distrust for leaders who are so rigidly reactive.
Strange Educational Policies
Every once in awhile I read about schools suspending a young kid for committing an egregious crime like, drawing a stick figure of a person and a fire arm. I do it because I think it is further evidence of mental illness sneaking into our society under the guise of "security" or "politically correct thinking". Sometimes the only way to stop idiocy is to make fun of it.
For the second time in as many weeks, an Arizona eighth-grader has been suspended for drawing a gun--that is, for creating a visual representation of a gun, not for removing an actual gun from its holster. This time it happened in Florence, southeast of Phoenix:
The eighth grader at Florence's Walker Butte K-8 school was suspended for three days on Friday for sketching a gun during class.
Stephanie Vardarkis said her son, Joshua had drawn the images on index cards, sort of like a cartoon that included a stick figure holding a gun.
In one image, the boy included the name of the school resource officer. Rather than it being a threat, Vardarkis said the character was meant to be calling the officer for backup.
Larry Cline, a spokesman for the Florence Unified School District, said the student was told by the teacher to put the cards away. He didn't and the cards were confiscated. Cline said the cartoon content warranted suspension "because it is the intent of the district to provide a safe environment in which to learn."
Can anyone tell me what is unsafe about a ten year old kid drawing a stick figure?
In the Denver suburb of Centennial, meanwhile, "sheriff's deputies and bomb squad members searched Peakview Elementary School [Thursday] after a 10-year-old student reported receiving an image of an explosive device on a cell phone," reports the Rocky Mountain News:
The incident was reported about 9:30 a.m., and deputies locked down the perimeter of the school to make sure the building was safe, said Sheriff's Capt. Mark Fisher. . . .
A criminal investigation is continuing as authorities try to determine who sent the image to the student, he said.
It is no wonder that our kids are dropping out of school in droves. They have to worry about the cops showing up and shutting their school down if their cell phone receives "an image of an explosive device".
Every news program in America shows dozens of photos of bombs, guns, rockets, tanks, airplanes, helicopters, Humvee, foreign terrorists, IUD devices and other modern means of killing every hour of the day and night. Thus, any time a kid in school watches Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS or the local news they can expect a squad of black vested men to swoop in and shut down their school.
"An investigation will be forthcoming to see who sent the image to the student," they say. Well, knock on any TV station door and you will find out who sent the image. Anyone who has a cell phone will find it near impossible to avoid seeing violent images as well as nudity, child porn, sex toys, ads for Viagra and pictures of Victoria's Secret and Hooters.
I sure am happy that the police are spending millions of dollars every year to discover who is sending dangerous and enticing images through the Internet.
For the second time in as many weeks, an Arizona eighth-grader has been suspended for drawing a gun--that is, for creating a visual representation of a gun, not for removing an actual gun from its holster. This time it happened in Florence, southeast of Phoenix:
The eighth grader at Florence's Walker Butte K-8 school was suspended for three days on Friday for sketching a gun during class.
Stephanie Vardarkis said her son, Joshua had drawn the images on index cards, sort of like a cartoon that included a stick figure holding a gun.
In one image, the boy included the name of the school resource officer. Rather than it being a threat, Vardarkis said the character was meant to be calling the officer for backup.
Larry Cline, a spokesman for the Florence Unified School District, said the student was told by the teacher to put the cards away. He didn't and the cards were confiscated. Cline said the cartoon content warranted suspension "because it is the intent of the district to provide a safe environment in which to learn."
Can anyone tell me what is unsafe about a ten year old kid drawing a stick figure?
In the Denver suburb of Centennial, meanwhile, "sheriff's deputies and bomb squad members searched Peakview Elementary School [Thursday] after a 10-year-old student reported receiving an image of an explosive device on a cell phone," reports the Rocky Mountain News:
The incident was reported about 9:30 a.m., and deputies locked down the perimeter of the school to make sure the building was safe, said Sheriff's Capt. Mark Fisher. . . .
A criminal investigation is continuing as authorities try to determine who sent the image to the student, he said.
It is no wonder that our kids are dropping out of school in droves. They have to worry about the cops showing up and shutting their school down if their cell phone receives "an image of an explosive device".
Every news program in America shows dozens of photos of bombs, guns, rockets, tanks, airplanes, helicopters, Humvee, foreign terrorists, IUD devices and other modern means of killing every hour of the day and night. Thus, any time a kid in school watches Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS or the local news they can expect a squad of black vested men to swoop in and shut down their school.
"An investigation will be forthcoming to see who sent the image to the student," they say. Well, knock on any TV station door and you will find out who sent the image. Anyone who has a cell phone will find it near impossible to avoid seeing violent images as well as nudity, child porn, sex toys, ads for Viagra and pictures of Victoria's Secret and Hooters.
I sure am happy that the police are spending millions of dollars every year to discover who is sending dangerous and enticing images through the Internet.
Where Do Seasoned Believers Go for Teaching?
Several months ago I received an iPod as a gift from Van Cochrane, the Pastor of Cincinnati's newest Vineyard Church. I have been enjoying it a lot because I am using it to download quite a few pod casts as well as carry music around with me. In my view, it is much better at playing pod casts than for playing music in the car because the fidelity for automobiles is poor.
So, I have been subscribing to several groups' pod casts and downloading a fair number of their presentations for my times of exercise and driving. Here is my reaction. Not many of them are well produced, especially the Christian presentations. Most of the Christian pod casts are simply taped sermons with all their inside jokes and poor quality. And, worst of all, the sermons are skim milk for babies in the faith.
Rick Warren has a regular pod cast for pastors and leaders. They are mostly technical and strategic discussions about the church. Even Rick needs help in editing and thinking about how to make the presentations suitable for an invisible listening audience. Rick's discussions are the best of the Christian lot for mature or Seasoned Believers but there is still a need for some teachings for those of us who have been in Christ for many years.
Does your ministry or church have any program or ministry to the people who have known Christ for decades? If so, let us know what they are?
So, I have been subscribing to several groups' pod casts and downloading a fair number of their presentations for my times of exercise and driving. Here is my reaction. Not many of them are well produced, especially the Christian presentations. Most of the Christian pod casts are simply taped sermons with all their inside jokes and poor quality. And, worst of all, the sermons are skim milk for babies in the faith.
Rick Warren has a regular pod cast for pastors and leaders. They are mostly technical and strategic discussions about the church. Even Rick needs help in editing and thinking about how to make the presentations suitable for an invisible listening audience. Rick's discussions are the best of the Christian lot for mature or Seasoned Believers but there is still a need for some teachings for those of us who have been in Christ for many years.
Does your ministry or church have any program or ministry to the people who have known Christ for decades? If so, let us know what they are?
Saturday, September 01, 2007
What is Christianity Supposed to Accomplish?
I am eagerly awaiting the comments from our readers. I know that the experiences, wisdom and insights from you far outweigh anything I can write.I was talking with my son Timothy tonight and he made a comment about the fact that so many Seasoned Citizen Believers are bored and dropping out of church. His comment really struck me. He said something like, "This is very interesting Dad. The church is supposed to be a Launching Pad not a Landing Zone."
Who is helping you launch out into the creative zones of life with all your wisdom and insights? The Seasoned Citizen Believers who have served God faithfully for several decades have great Wisdom and it needs to be transferred to the next generation.
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Remember, Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones himself, is 60 this year and we need the experience of guys like him and wisdom of folks like you.
The Reveal Book
The two posts that follow discuss the research in this book. I think the data are interesting and somewhat disturbing. Read the posts and respond with your insights.
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