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How Viable is Your Church in the Marketplace?

Posted in Other, tagged , , , , on January 8, 2013| 2 Comments »

marketplaceOur daughter is currently enrolled in a Masters degree program in Organizational Development, where she is learning how organizations tend to function, both successfully and unsuccessfully.

Her primary “business” experiences have been with Church–as both a member, the daughter of church leaders, and now the wife of a church minister—and Let’s Start Talking, a non-profit, faith-based organization that she has grown up with, volunteered for, and been employed by.  Because of this, her interest in this degree program is primarily in developing as a person so as to be able to help both churches and ministries like LST.

Sherrylee and I love that she is doing this because she is constantly sending us books and articles from her reading list that she feels might be important to us and/or to LST.  Recently, she sent us a paper by Michael E. Cafferky, presented in 2005 at a Christian Business Faculty Association conference, entitled “The Porter Five-forces Industry Analysis Framework For Religious Nonprofits: A conceptual analysis,”  a paper which introduced me to several new ideas.

Very briefly, I would like to share with you my thoughts from reading both the paper and other articles to which it led me.

In 1979, Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School introduced a framework of five forces which he believed would describe the attractiveness/profitability of a market. At first, it was assumed that churches and non-profits seemed to work outside of a competitive framework, so for many years his model was assumed inappropriate for a religious marketplace.

Professor Cafferky’s paper, however, challenges this assumption and looks for intersections and congruities. I believe, at the least, the exercise of using Porter’s Five Forces Analysis could stimulate churches and religious non-profits to examine the dynamics of their own environment in a more productive way.

Let’s look at these Five Forces and try to raise specific questions about the current religious marketplace:

1.    Threat of New Competition:  Profitable markets that yield high returns will attract new firms. This results in many new entrants, which eventually will decrease profitability for all firms in the industry. We recently did a search around our new office facility and found 74 churches listed within a five-mile radius.  Church planting is currently seen as the primary means of evangelism in the industrialized world, especially within the United States. The proliferation of house churches, often the strategy for new church planters, should be noted in the context of “new entrants.”  In contrast to all of these churches and all of these “new entrants” is the fact that around 4000+ churches close their doors permanently each year and the number of people who self-identify as Christians in the U.S. is declining.  Here is my first question: Is the proliferation of new church plants simply covering up the fact that the religious marketplace is much less “profitable”? To use the language of business: are we closing old stores and opening new stores, but that strategy in and of itself is not adequate to keep our business profitable?

2.    Threat of substitute products or services – how easy is it for the buyer to switch to a different product? The easier to switch, then the more likely to switch and make your organization less profitable. The ease depends on differences in cost, in quality, in availability of substitute products, and perceived differentiation among other things.  It seems to me that especially the evangelical churches have been rushing towards similarity!  Worship, jargon, buildings, services and community-building has gradually become one cloth. Doctrinal differences are held in low esteem and will likely disappear in the coming generation of young preachers in churches of Christ.  Post moderns come with very little propensity toward brand loyalty anyway, so switching within the American church context is extremely easy!  As the United States becomes more secular, the cultural pull toward syncretism will make even non-Christian alternatives more similar, therefore, more magnetic. My question: In an attempt to be relevant and more accessible, are Christians becoming less distinctive, therefore, more susceptible to our “customers” switching to alternatives?

3.    Intensity of competitive rivalry

 

(to be continued . . .)

 

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Top 10 Posts of 2012: 6 – A Response to Comments About Same-Sex Marriage

Posted in Family and Marriage, Other, tagged , , on December 31, 2012| 2 Comments »

Those who risked responding to my blog on same-sex marriage with differing viewpoints did us all a favor by kindly but clearly raising cogent arguments supporting same-sex marriage.  Neither Christians nor non-Christians should fear open and honest conversation; rather, I hope that we can all “speak the truth in love.”

In John 9 when Jesus heals the man born blind, Jesus’ disciples did not really see the blind man as Jesus did. They saw a theological problem: who sinned, this man or his parents?  They might have continued their conversation while walking right by the man himself.

Jesus, however, saw a person in need of healing, both physical and spiritual, for the glory of God.  I try to remind myself that in all of these difficult conversations, we are talking about our neighbors, our family, our church members, about classmates, co-workers, about people whom God loves!  That helps me with my tone of voice when responding.

But the love of Christ compels us (2 Corinthians 5:13-15) to speak and to say what God would say because “Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.” I believe; therefore, I speak out.

So let me extend the conversation in response to those comments:

Argument:  Christians should not force Christian views on non-Christians.

Response:  I agree completely.  God doesn’t force people to believe, Jesus did not force people to follow him, and those who follow Him should not either.  However, my counter-question is how should it work in a democracy or representative government as we have when the political question involves what Christians believe to be a God-revealed truth?  Can only non-religious people have a seat at the table? Can only non-Christians campaign and vote on these issues?  Why are Christians who speak out and vote according to their faith “forcing” their views on non-Christians? And should any majority OR minority group, simply because they believe their cause to be moral and right, be silenced,  be segregated, be harassed, or be hated?

Argument: Marriage is a civil institution, not a religious one; therefore, the definition of marriage can and should be determined by the State.

Response:  I agree and disagree with this argument.  There is certainly a civil aspect to marriage. The State (and I am not using that term pejoratively) regulates the societal aspects of marriage in many ways, such as:

  • Who can get married?  Not 10-year-olds, not siblings, not people currently married, etc.
  • When can people get married? Some states have waiting periods; some require blood tests, etc.
  • Who can legally perform weddings? Some states allow anyone; others require ordained ministers and/or particular government officials.
  • Which marriages are recognized?  If you marry in a foreign country, the U.S. may not recognize your marriage. This is regulated by federal law.

In my opinion, everyone—including Christians—should “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” We all should submit to the legal authorities in every way with one exception, and that is, if required by law to violate the higher laws of God.

But I also disagree that marriage is only a civil institution. Marriage precedes the existence of civil states.  Marriage exists outside of political states.  For example, I was just watching “Finding Your Roots” with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who discussed the fact that prior to the Civil War in the United States free African-Americans could marry legally, but slaves could not.  He continued to say, however, that, of course, slaves did marry, but that it was not recognized by the State.

Marriage, according to Jesus (Matthew 19:6) is God joining people together.  The earliest biblical revelation states that the reason for marriage was that “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Adam was meant for Eve and Eve for Adam.  No legal ceremony occurred, only God joined them.  And the writer goes on to explain that because of God’s actions in the beginning, future men who marry will “leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (Genesis 2:18,24)

I also believe all of the references describing Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as His bride made repeatedly from Matthew to Revelation are witnesses to the holy nature of marriage. And the metaphor is consistent with the Genesis passages and the words of Jesus in that only God joins people to Christ. We are born again, not by human will but by the will of God (John 1:13).

This is the “holy” side of marriage that Christians want to preserve.  Of course, they carry those convictions into the political discussion—and don’t they have the right to? They are just one voice, not the only voice, in the political debate.

Next we will talk about the argument that opposing same-sex marriage is bigotry—a very serious charge.

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Top 10 Posts of 2012: 4-Same-Sex Marriage and Shades of Grey

Posted in Family and Marriage, Other, tagged , , , , , on December 29, 2012| 1 Comment »

The President’s choice to come out for same-sex marriage disappoints me greatly, not really because of the politics, but rather because of what it says about the moral predicament in our country.  I am strongly in favor of equal civil rights for all Americans, regardless of their immorality, unless, of course they cross the line into criminal behavior—and even then, they should have equal access to the processes of law.

The poll numbers show an American public divided almost 50-50 on the issue. What really disturbs me even more than what the president did is that polls also show that 71% of 18-29 year-olds support gay marriage. I was pretty shocked one day in the LST office to hear a wonderful Christian young woman say, “I wish God hadn’t come down so hard on homosexuality!”   I suspect what these numbers show for young Christians (who certainly have to be in the 71% mix) is their sensitivity to social justice issues in conflict with what might appear to be the more restrictive biblical imperatives.

Before I write another paragraph, let me state that God so loved the world that He gave His Son!  God’s love is all-inclusive, me with my sin and you with yours.  And the Creator God who defines the essence of reality (Truth) by His Word has set homosexuality outside of that which is pronounced “Good!”  The question is not about choice, nor about love, nor about equal rights, but rather about submission.  The question for all of us is whether we live out “not my will, but Thine be done!”

I’m also disappointed in us for making the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy the best-seller on everyone’s list. Romance novels have always sold well, so that’s nothing new, but this particular trilogy seems to be a hit because of its kinky eroticism—especially aimed toward women’s fantasies apparently. I haven’t read it, but here just before Mother’s Day to have all the best-seller lists led by what the reviewers often refer to as “mommy porn” is a sad commentary on us!

Both of these phenomena are possible partly because we Christians have separated our physical bodies—including our sexuality—from our understanding of the image of God, the incarnation (God in us), and the indwelling of God’s Spirit¸ which makes our bodies a temple!

This skewed thinking probably starts as teenagers, when we are taught which sexual activity is right and wrong, but never hear anyone say that sex is for anything other than fun! And adults/church are always trying to keep kids from fun things, so how is sex any different.

I also firmly believe that we Christians have also completely removed the “holy” from holy matrimony.  Although held in church buildings, most of our marriages are secular services, sometimes with an occasional nod toward God who is sitting in the back of the auditorium.

Three things I would like to see:

  1. I’d like for our children to be taught that their bodies are the temple of God. I think once that is our predominant message, we will learn how to help them understand the implications for their life.
  2. Secondly, I would like to see us appear before the throne of God in our wedding ceremonies and not just come to the marriage altar and sign a legal document.
  3. And, lastly, I would like to see us re-mystify our sexuality, acknowledging it as a God-breathed gift, not only for our personal benefit, but because creating and loving is a reflection of God in us!  The oneness of sex is the same mystery as the oneness of God. The joy and pleasure of that oneness should be transcendent, not sado-masochistic.

I pray for the president; I pray for us.

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Remember Your Baptism (from 08/2402010)

Posted in Bible Study, Other, Uncategorized, tagged , , on November 5, 2012| 3 Comments »

Sherrylee and I are taking a week of vacation, so I am going to use the opportunity to post some of my early blogs that many of you have not seen.  I hope you find them helpful and interesting.

From August 24, 2010

As I was writing, I was reminded of my sister-in-law Janet, who lived with her family in a pretty rough part of New Jersey for many years. Her children grew up walking and riding public transportation through city parts that would frighten lots of parents in more suburban settings.

She made it a practice as they walked out the door into the challenges of their world to arm her children with these words: “Remember your baptism!”

I was talking to a very good Christian friend recently, who was describing to me moments of doubt, doubt about whether he was good enough, doubt if he was the example he wanted to be to others, even a hint of doubt about his salvation.  He is sometimes angry about how his parents raised him to believe, and he is definitely angry about the great sense of guilt and eternal uncertainty that he received from the church he grew up in.

In an attempt to help this friend, I found Janet’s words to be perhaps the most appropriate thing I could say: “Remember your baptism.”

If you don’t really connect with these words, I suspect you grew up in the same kind of church I did, where baptism was unintentionally perverted.  Without impugning what was taught because we don’t always hear what was intended, here is what I learned about baptism:

  • The ritual act of baptism is what is most important.  This had to be because our preaching was all about immersion over any other form, about the age to be baptized, and occasionally about the words that were spoken by the baptizer. If any of these ritual elements were tainted, then most likely, the baptism was not effective. I have seen people baptized again because their arm did not go under the water with the rest of their body, because they were too young to understand everything they needed to understand, and because the person who baptized them did use the triune formula, rather just baptized in the name of Jesus.
  • Baptism was a rite of passage. You had to be 11-12 years old—anything younger and you were suspect. At baptism, you became a member of the church—which, if you were a boy, meant you could not only take communion, but serve communion and lead public prayers.  Girls could only take communion.
  • Baptism separated the saved from the unsaved.

At this point, you may be surprised to hear me say that I still have a very high view of baptism. I might even say I still believe the above—just much differently. Let me explain:

  • The biggest change in my theology of baptism is an understanding that it is all about what God does in baptism and less about what we do. Rather than “getting baptized” which is how it is generally described where I go to church, I wish we would talk about “receiving baptism” as I’ve heard in other churches. The first emphasizes the initiative and activity of the person, the second is more passive. The person is the recipient of the grace, created and extended by God through Jesus, separate and apart from anything we might do to earn it.
  • The symbol of burial and resurrection inherent in immersion is indisputably connected to the meaning of the sacrament. If you mess with the symbolism, you start opening doors to new understandings of the rite.
  • I still believe baptism is a rite of passage, but of passage from darkness to light, from blindness to sight, from carnal to spiritual, from the old man to the new, from the old creature to the new creation, from death to life.

So, here’s the BIG question: does baptism separate the saved from the unsaved? The real answer is that the blood of Jesus separates the saved from the unsaved. He died to destroy Sin and was raised to bring Life.  As Paul said in Romans 6, those who participate in His death will share in His resurrection. Paul says, “Remember your baptism!”

  • Remember that you have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus.
  • Remember that your old life was buried in the tomb with Jesus.
  • Remember that you are new—not old or refurbished–resurrected!
  • Remember that you are not your own. You were bought with a price.
  • Remember that on the day of your baptism, God worked the miracle of salvation on you.

God says in baptism that He is for you!

And if God is for you, who can be against you?

That should be enough to get you through your day!

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What I Have Learned About Branding!

Posted in Other, tagged , on October 17, 2012| 1 Comment »

With the move into LST’s new facility have come lots of opportunities to re-think ourselves.  For instance, since we have a new address, LST must produce new business cards and letterhead stationery. That gives us the opportunity to re-think how we present ourselves to the public. In addition, we are having to reprint all of our recruiting materials for the fall, both for college students and for church members.

Early last week, the recruiting team ran a brochure design by me that they were thinking about using. I looked at it and knew right away that although it was attractively done, it was going to need some re-working.  There was this big wave in the design, and LST has never used waves. Several new, bright colors were introduced—which looked good perhaps for a stand-alone piece, but if you lay it down next to other LST materials, it not only was going to be completely unidentifiable as from LST, but these bright, new colors were going to clash with the other materials.

Then, the text was borrowed from previous materials and was way too long—too many words (and I may have been the one who wrote that treatise myself several years ago!!). Anyway, too many words, so much had to be re-done.

Re-doing this one brochure threw us right into the middle of a lengthy discussion about branding.

So I’ve learned a lot about branding in the last week.

For instance, branding was originally a mark of ownership. Cows were branded, horses, and in darker times slaves were branded to unmistakably identify the property with the owner.

Later, branding was used, not just for ownership, but to identify quality.  We have an old wooden wine box in our kitchen that we picked up from a pile of things to be thrown away in Belgium one year. The box is branded with the name of the vineyard—not to say who owned the box, but to say that the contents of this box are of great value.

Now we are not wine aficionados, so the name meant nothing to us, but to people who know wines, I’m told, it is a name that can be trusted to have produced a great wine.

Anyway, back to our branding conversation at Let’s Start Talking:  we got into a lengthy conversation with our graphic designer about which color gray to use for the little talking heads in our logo. We talked about horizontal logos versus stacked logos—all kinds of subtleties that make a difference but that most of us do not consciously recognize as important.

Does this make you think of Acts 11:26 as it did me?  “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.”

We don’t really know if the early followers of Jesus took this name themselves or if it was applied to them by outsiders—perhaps even derisively—we just don’t know, but it was a brand name that has stuck!

My brief education in branding gave me these insights into what this might mean for us:

  • Christian is a mark of ownership. To wear the name and not be owned is false advertising, fraud, and lots of other bad words.  It’s serious to be branded with the name Christian.
  • Christian is a mark of quality.  Just like the wine crate may be years removed  from the harvest and thousands of miles from the vineyard, we may be many years away from the establishment, i.e. the naming, but the brand name is supposed to mean that the quality has been preserved.
  • Christian is a brand name only as good as the trust it engenders.  When people have bad experiences with a brand, then they lose trust and they quit believing that it is a mark of quality.

We Christians have been divinely branded, not because of our own goodness, but because we have been purchased for a great price. We are owned.

And we have been washed and given new clothes so that even outwardly we can represent our Master as someone of quality.

And if we know who we are and live as we should, then others will trust the name Christian to be something good.  If our neighbors and our community do not trust us, then our first actions should be to check ourselves to see if we are meeting the standards of the name we wear.

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What Should A Church That Is Dying Do?

Posted in Other, Uncategorized, tagged , , on October 13, 2012| 19 Comments »

Like 3500-4500 churches each year in America, this church was thinking about closing its doors.  Just over eight years ago, there had been enough energy and hope among somewhere near 200 church members to add a new 300-seat auditorium and several classrooms to their small, aging facility.

But by the end of 2011, in spite of several soul-searching attempts at revival and renewal, church membership was about 50 members with little hope left of turning things around.

This church had a very limited number of choices; without knowing what actually took place, I’m confident that some members probably wanted to hold on and keep trying to grow. “If we just work harder, . . . .”  Other members may have been for searching out a partner and merging with a larger established congregation. Other small churches in this area have done that in the last few years.(See “Southlake and The Hills ).  I hope none were tempted to maintain their identity until the last person walked out the door and locked up the building, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

Ultimately, the church and its leaders decided that even this process could be damaging to those members still left, so the best thing to do for this congregation was to encourage all current members to seek other church families and to become involved with them.  Sunday, May 27 was the last communion service in this building which had been home to this church family for three decades.

But what about the building? What happens to all the things, including the building, when a church disbands?

By law, non-profit organizations—which includes churches—upon dissolution cannot just sell everything and distribute the proceeds to the members. It doesn’t take long to figure out why! Virtually all of the money used to purchase all of the assets would have been charitable donations for which all of the donors received tax benefits.  The church property had been tax exempt. And much of the money given charitably to the organization would have been given by people who were no longer associated with the church.  The principle is the no one is allowed to “profit” from the sale of a non-profit!

So what happens with all the assets when a church disbands?  A church building, for instance, can be sold, but all the proceeds must be distributed to other non-profit organizations.  I have known church buildings which were sold and all of the proceeds went to build Christian camps; others gave their funds to other congregations to support mission work; still others have given their funds away to facilitate new church plants.

This church decided to sell the building and distribute all of the funds to a variety of ministries with which the church had been involved.

Let’s Start Talking was a ministry in search of a home; we were going to be evicted on September 30 of this year to make room for a new airport freeway.  On July 16, the day after the “For Sale” sign appeared in front of the church building, we contacted the church leaders, who by that time were the only “members” of the congregation left and the ones who were personally maintaining and funding the building.

Because they knew and had actually participated as a church with Let’s Start Talking, they were eager to talk.  From the very beginning, they made it clear that they were willing to sell us the building well below its appraised value in order to make it possible for LST to purchase the building.

After just a few conversations, the church leaders made LST a firm offer that could be accepted, a purchase price that was just over 50% of what the church was asking others to pay.

This morning, October 12, we sat around the table with the banker and the lawyer, and the deed to the facility passed from these faithful church leaders to the Let’s Start Talking Ministry.  The papers were signed quickly, but afterwards we all just stood around and talked about how God had once again provided in a way that exceeded our imaginations.

Sherrylee asked some of the church leaders if there were any pangs of remorse.  Of course there is some sense of loss, but these men all reassured us of the joy it brought them to know that what had been of such great benefit to them was now going to continue to be used for the work of the kingdom and through a ministry in which they believed God was working.

LST is the beneficiary of this great blessing, and we know that all good gifts come from the Father, but we want to commend these church leaders for faithful stewardship of all with which they had been entrusted—to the very end!

They are a great example to the leaders of all of those 3500-4500 churches that are closing each year. The end of your story is not the end of God’s story for you!

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The Story of the Yellow Stationwagon!

Posted in Other, tagged , , on October 3, 2012| 1 Comment »

Not exactly like our yellow stationwagon, but close.

We have a great family story that has meant a lot over the years because of what it taught us at a very crucial time in our lives.  Would you like to hear it?

Many of you know our story of coming back to the States from Germany in 1979 under less than desirable conditions: no home, no job, no funds, and no understanding why we were back in the States and what we were supposed to do. God, of course, had a great plan for us, but we were in the pain of the moment, and our vision of the future was very short-sighted.

Piece by piece our future path started opening up in front of us.  After a couple of months, I got a one-year temporary teaching position at Oklahoma Christian—which turned into a twenty-four year career. OC was very generous and provided free housing during the summer before the semester started, which meant I could also walk across campus to get to work—all good when your total income that year was going to be $12,000.

About six months before leaving Germany, I had taken an auto loan from our local bank and bought a used Opal stationwagon for our growing family (Emily had just been born the previous October).  As our story goes, we had about two-weeks’ notice, causing our departure from Germany, selling almost everything we owned in order to buy five one-way plane tickets to the States.

Our “new” car was pretty easy to sell, but knowing that we had no money, no income, and not knowing how long we might be in that condition, I asked our local banker to let me keep the proceeds from the sale of our car and continue paying monthly on the car loan.  We had a good history with this bank, so he readily agreed.  That car loan money was all the money we had from April until the end of September—except for a few odd jobs that I was able to pick up.

And now the story begins:  One day, Sherrylee and I went car shopping! Surely you know what a terrifying experience that can be—especially if you have not been living in the States for eight years and you don’t really know how the whole car-selling thing works, and you have almost no money to spend.  By the end of the day, we were exhausted and discouraged, but we stopped at one more big car lot just to see what they had.

And what they had was a leftover “new” car that was over a year old—and it was canary yellow—which explains why it was leftover.  They wanted to get rid of that car so badly that they found a way to sell it to these two ex-missionaries with no income, no credit, and a very small down payment.  I’m sure they popped corks after we left—but in our exhausted state of naiveté, we couldn’t believe that we had just bought a new car! We were so proud of our yellow stationwagon! Only providential care could have made that happen.

We knew what a gift it was, so we washed it, cared for it, and made sure the kids didn’t trash out the inside of the car. 

One day that car—a kind of balm for our wounds– was sitting in the driveway in front of our little house in Edmond, Oklahoma. I came out to find that Benjamin (not quite 3 years old) was sitting on the hood of the car. In his little innocent hands he had a small, sharp tool with which you pick the meat out of pecans.  We’ve always said he was scratching his name into the yellow paint. I don’t know if it was his name or he was just “coloring,” but there he was, scarring, marring our yellow stationwagon—our gift from God!

I learned that day a lesson that has been reinforced many times since: nothing and nobody in this world is perfect—and even things/people who start out perfect are going to get scratched up, damaged, and/or scarred.

It’s like the pain you feel as a parent with your first child’s first wound that leaves a scar.  Robert Frost said, “Nothing gold can stay.”

At LST, we just moved into a new building of our own. We invited all our friends to come and see everything, freshly painted, newly decorated—and the night before our Open House, it rained heavily and we found out the roof leaks in two places, one of them dripping into our new main hall!

What must God have felt when Adam and Eve sinned!  Or when His perfect Son was spit on, beaten, and nailed to the cross!

The flawed conditions of this world make pessimists of many who have no hope, but we Christians believe in restoration and reconciliation. We believe in a new heaven and a new earth—a real perfection of creation that cannot be scratched.

So I learned two big lessons that day:  Expecting perfection in this world leads only to pain and disappointment; however, living in a flawed world must not cause despair! We are being guided through these imperfect landscapes to a time and place where we will never be disappointed, never be scarred, and never be scratched.

 

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A Daddy/Daughter 9/11 Dialogue

Posted in Other, tagged , on September 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I was going to write my own thoughts about 9/11, but my son-in-law Tim Spivey posted this blog which captured my own emotions well.  

This morning I made the daily trip to Reidy Creek Elementary school with my first-grader, Anna, in-tow. The drive is only about a half-mile, but is full of traffic. We have some of our best talks during this time. Anna, like many first-graders, has a deeply inquisitive mind.

Her leadoff question this morning was a doozy. Daddy, what’s 9/11? How do you explain something like that to a kid? I was unprepared. The dialogue went
something like this:

“Well honey, 9/11 stands for September 11. It’s a sad day for grownups.”

“Why?”

“Because on September 11, some really bad men flew some airplanes into buildings full of people and a lot of people died that day. So we remember them and pray for their families today.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“Well sweetie, you weren’t born yet.”

“Oh.”

“Should I pray for the families too?”

“That would be great! And we should remember to be thankful every day for each other.”

“OK.”

“OK. You have a great day at school and remember your mommy and daddy love you.”

“I know. (She exits the car, and blows a kiss to me…and runs off.)

And I thought about the moms and dads and husbands and wives and children who didn’t know they were blowing a kiss to their loved ones for the last time that morning.

And I prayed.

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Generosity Can Be Like Pulling Teeth!

Posted in Other, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on September 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

ImageFund raising—and giving—can be like pulling teeth! But when you pull them with a rocket, it’s a whole new experience!

Before we go any further, you need to watch the first part of this video—just the first minute and thirty seconds is enough!  VIDEO

Let’s Start Talking traditionally has used September for special fund raising efforts. We call it our Month of Generous Giving.  Most years, we are simply trying to make up budget deficits so that we can end our fiscal year in the black.

This year is special!  LST has been given a huge gift—a kind of matching gift in a way.  Last May, we were put on notice that we would have to vacate the office space that we have occupied for the last eleven years because the owners of our building were closing it.

While driving home in July, I noticed a “For Sale” sign in front of the Mid Cities Church building, so I called one of the elders to inquire. He told me they were selling their building for 1.26 million dollars—but that they really appreciated Let’s Start Talking and would sell it to us for much less.

On August 16, we signed a contract to purchase this building for just over 50% of the asking price. The leaders of that church gifted the ministry with a building worth twice as much as what we will pay for it.

What does this mean for LST? 

  • A nice new home in a central location with plenty of room to grow into the future!
  • Our own large training and event area. The auditorium seats 250 and is attached to a large kitchen.
  • More room for special uses like web conferences, recording/video studio, and continuous FriendSpeak usage.
  • A strong financial asset.

It also means that we need to raise an additional $104,000 for our down payment this month!

Those of you who are very sharp will now see the connection between the video and fund raising. It’s only taken me four days to figure it out:

  • The little boy had a big idea, but had to completely trust his father to accomplish it!  I’m the kind of person who has lots of ideas—some that work and many that don’t—but it was a wonderful day in my life when I gave the burden of success over to God and learned that “the horse is made ready for battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord” (Proverbs 21:31)
  • The boy had to push the button!  The dad could have done everything, but he asked the boy to make the decision and push the button.  God’s sovereignty does not make us Christians passive, as some would argue; rather, He has entrusted us to choose and to act upon those choices.  We have signed this contract and made commitments, believing that our Father wanted us to push this button.
  • The moment came suddenly!  Even though the preparations were made and even though the boy had to push the button, the actual moment of launch and loss of the tooth were sudden and surprising!  We were not even dreaming of purchasing in May, and our first inquiries with banks about financing were unanimously discouraging.  This new building burst on the scene unexpectedly, and within days we not only were able to come to agreement with the selling church, but we had secured initial financing from a local banker.  And now we are moving in on September 15!!
  • I think I see first fear, then thrill in the little boy’s eyes!  And I know how he feels. This may always be how people feel who are learning to walk with God.  You may feel this way too when you think about a gift more generous than you have ever given before! It’s scary sometimes to walk with God—but the thrill will follow!

I don’t want to stretch this metaphorical essay too far.  You certainly will have your own feelings about the video and what it says to you.

Let me just say that in this Month of Generous Giving at LST, we are blessed to receive not only the love and affection of thousands of people who make both large and small contributions, but each year, we are given a front row seat to watch and experience the goodness of God!  He is the Giver of every good gift (James 1:17).

Fund raising—and giving—can be like pulling teeth! But when you pull them with a rocket, it’s a whole new experience!

 

If you would like to make a donation to help LST during our Month of Generous Giving, just click here DONATE.

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Hail To The New Chief at Oklahoma Christian University

Posted in Other, tagged , , on August 29, 2012| 2 Comments »

Today I marched in the processional among the Professor Emeritii (the really old guys!)for the inauguration ceremony of Dr. John deSteiguer as the seventh president of Oklahoma Christian University.  Sherrylee and I made a special trip to Oklahoma City for this ceremony, not only because we have many friends there, but because we believe in what Oklahoma Christian is and does!

In 1964, my parents took me on a rainy day to Oklahoma City to have a look at Oklahoma Christian College. I had never seen so much red mud in all my life. The college—as I remember it–was just four buildings in the middle of nowhere!

I did not choose to go there—until 1979, when I began my teaching career as an instructor on a one-year, temporary contract.  That year turned into twenty-four, twenty-four years with wonderful colleagues, thousands of students, and way too many freshmen essays to read!  We loved our years at OC!

Dr. J. Terry Johnson was the president when we came in 1979.  In 1996, after 22 years, he stepped down, and was followed by Kevin Jacobs and Alfred Branch in a transitional time for the university.

Dr. Mike O’Neal left Pepperdine and became OC’s sixth president in 2002. Mike, a good friend from Harding days, brought financial stability to the institution, and left many new buildings and stronger academic programs. He retired this year from office with the gratitude of the OC community.

President deSteiguer steps into office when OC has an excellent enrollment of about 2,250 students from fifty-six countries.  With the enthusiasm that he is bringing to the office, I can’t imagine anything but growth in the future of OC.

I wish there were space to list all the academic achievements of this outstanding university, but you should know that OC was named a “Best University—Master’s in the western region in U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges.”  OC has excellent programs in Language and Literature, History and Political Science, Biology (95% medical and graduate school placement), 3 ABET accredited engineering programs (very rare!), and a Gaming and Animation program that was selected as one of the top undergraduate programs by Princeton Review.

Well, you can tell that I am very proud of Oklahoma Christian, and I believe that the Board of Trustees has selected an outstanding man as its new president. He has a proven track record professionally, but his family and his personal life are shaped by a deep and evident faith in God.  Above all, his professed dependence upon God is what gives me confidence in the future of Oklahoma Christian.

Congratulations, President deSteiguer.  Our prayers are with you!

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