They risked their life for you. What would you do for them?

November 9, 2015

Wednesday is Veterans Day, 2015; it’s the day we honor the men and women who have served in our armed forces. Whom do you plan to honor?

The Census Bureau is the best source of statistical information about the American populace; here’s their current inventory of the men and women who have served us in uniform, and are still alive for us to seek out and lift up:

–  There are 19.6 million veterans in the United States; 8% are women
–  9.3 million are over-65; 1.6 million are under-35
–  3.6 million have a service-connected disability

Since the draft was abolished in 1973, the decision to serve the country in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force or Coast Guard has been voluntary. The patriots who have dedicated themselves to that role have been willing to place themselves at the disposal of their nation’s leadership – to serve our international defense needs – with the knowledge that they were likely to risk their life in the process.

Paul used military metaphors to describe the challenge of living as a soldier in the continuing battle between the god of this world and the God of Heaven: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:2-5)

Nations recruit armies to defend their borders and protect their values. The Kingdom recruits believers to assume the mission that was launched by the Lord Jesus while he was here: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) The prisoners and the oppressed – spiritually – are still waiting for their rescuers to arrive…

We – The Master’s Program – got a jump on Veterans Day this year. A few months ago, we recognized an opportunity to honor the veterans whose lives have been dedicated to serving us through the challenging years of the Gulf Wars. Phil Brown – one of our core team – has led the charge on a powerful new initiative: we’ve extended scholarships to qualified veterans to participate in TMP.

These are service heroes who are nearing the end of their military careers, or have just re-entered the private sector. Well-schooled in military leadership, they recognize the value of our mentoring offer to help them explore, expose and exploit their Kingdom Calling as they find balance, margin and focus in their new life, outside government/military career service.

We currently have 20 participants who have come into various TMP cohorts alongside our existing participants, and they’re already adding significant value to these groups. They are being sponsored by TMP grads and friends of the ministry… but we have about five more who are waiting to begin as soon as we find the funding partners who will help make that possible.

Here’s a bold request, for Veterans Day: would you be willing to help us honor these champions by helping to underwrite their participation in TMP? If you’d like to talk with Phil to explore this patriotic Kingdom commitment, click here. He’ll e-mail or call you to share the details.

Thanks, God, for the brave Americans who have placed their lives on the line for us all…

Bob Shank

Can You Fight with Your Hands Folded?

November 2, 2015

It’s been called “The Most Contested 37 Acres in the World.” We were there last week.

Most know it as the Temple Mount; it sits within the Old City of Jerusalem. Site of Solomon’s Temple – built about 3000 years ago, but destroyed about 400 years later – it’s history is profound. Likely the spot where Abraham was sent by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac (rescued by God’s intervention and the divine provision of a ram as the sacrifice), it has played a part in Israel’s history with Jehovah for four millennia.

Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians in 586 BC; rebuilt 70 years later by Zerubbabel, it was expanded/enhanced by Herod the Great – during the lifetime of Jesus – and was ultimately utterly destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman General Titus as part of his defeat of the Jewish rebellion against their Roman occupiers.

Muslim armies seized Jerusalem in the 7th Century, and built the Dome of the Rock at the spot they believed to have been occupied by the earlier Jewish temples. Since 1967 – and the outcome of the Six Day War – Israel reclaimed possession of the Temple Mount, but Moshe Dayan granted control of the Temple Mount to the Muslims. One requirement that has been established and enforced: none but Muslims can pray on the Temple Mount.

Since then, the three religions – Judaism, Islam and Christianity – that regard the place as a historic holy place have been at odds over the compound. Most Jews and Christians believe that there will be a third Temple built there one day, and that aspiration – founded on biblical prophesy – incites violent reaction from the Islamic Camp. The most contested 37 acres in the world…

That isn’t the only real estate where religious conflict is waged today. In Bremerton, Washington, Ground Zero has been declared at the 50-yard line, in the football stadium of Bremerton High School. That’s where Joe Kennedy – the assistant coach of the varsity football team – has been leading a participation-optional after-game prayer since 2008.

After Game Photo His inflammatory chants go something like this: “Lord, I thank you for these kids and the blessing you’ve given me with them. We believe in the game, we believe in competition and we can come into it as rivals and leave as brothers.”

The Seattle Satanic Temple (no joke) became incensed, and planned to force their way onto the field to offer their own post-game invocations. The brouhaha forced the hand of the local school district, who issued a cease-and-desist order to Coach Kennedy – who refused to be refused. Two weeks ago – after their game against Centralia High School – coaches and players from both schools joined Kennedy at midfield, to exercise their Freedom of Religion (see: the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, First Amendment).

In Judaism and Islam, the House of God has GPS coordinates; two sides claim the same turf, and prayers from that position are either encouraged or denied. In the Christian faith, the temple is also the place where the Spirit of God resides, and where prayer is promoted.

Where – exactly – is that? “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

What’s Joe Kennedy supposed to do? “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

In Jerusalem, the fight is between Jews and Muslims. In Bremerton, it’s between Christians and Satanists. Prayer must be a powerful thing; it brings out the most significant opposition…

Bob Shank

Maybe playing it safe is the greatest danger

October 26, 2015

I don’t know what you did for dinner last night, but I’m sure it was a bit different than mine.

Despite the American headlines, Cheri and I are in the middle of a trip to Israel, along with 25 friends from the Master’s and Barnabas communities. Sunday evening, we were in Sderot, a city of 24,000 in the southwest of the country, just one mile from the Gaza Strip – the 24 x 6 mile area in which 1.5 million Palestinians reside, harboring hatred for the Jews who live next door.

In an 8 month period in ’07/’08, 771 rockets and 857 mortar bombs were fired from Gaza into Sderot. It is called “The Bomb Shelter Capital of the World.” Officials say that 75% of the children 4-18 suffer from PTSD. Many of the people living in Sderot are older Jews who immigrated from Eastern Europe.

In collaboration with Jews for Jesus and Chosen People Ministries, we hosted 40 Holocaust survivors from Sderot for dinner. Music – along with spirited Hebrew folk dancing – was on the program, along with an unrehearsed chorus (our travel group) singing Christian praise songs and meaningful testimonies of faith. Many told us – through interpreters – how grateful they were to have us there, since few Americans venture into their community because of the risk. Our only explanation was the love of Jesus that we came to share…

Yishai Fleisher is an Israeli journalist whose editorial appeared on Thursday in the Jerusalem Post, under the headline: “10 Things You Should Know About the Latest Wave of Jihad.” You’ll not find it in your local American newspaper, but it’s worth pondering. A summation of his proposition to the beleaguered Jews in Israel:

  1. We should stop feeling guilty. The current attacks are unprovoked, and young Palestinians are ambushing soldiers and police with knives, guns and cars. The lethal response is called for, and appropriate.
  2. The Jewish fighting spirit is back. Terrorism seeks to demoralize, but the Jewish community is standing firm, and supporting their public servants. They will not shrink back.
  3. When we’re terrified, they win. Bullied for thousands of years, the establishment of the Jewish state demonstrated – and continues to affirm – the Jewish resolve to overcome their enemies, whatever their strategies.
  4. Don’t mess with us. You’ll lose. The current administration in the USA – and, the UN – are standing with Israel’s attackers and invoking recrimination against the Jews. The Jews don’t care about their clouded public image; they care about their survival.
  5. Thanks, “World,” but we can take care of ourselves. If Israel was waiting on reinforcements from the international community, they would wait forever (or, until a sea-change of political sentiment in America). They’re self-reliant, by necessity.
  6. The jihad is a force of chaos. To quote Fleisher: “This fight is between two forces in the universe: the creative and the destructive. Israel is about life, innovation, clean water, farming, education, medicine and health and prosperity… But jihadism is like a veil of darkness, repressive and regressive. It sees no value in individuals and only seeks to suppress people into conformity…”
  7. Our kindness goes too far. Again: “…while jihadism is the enemy, out-of-control liberalism is its real enabler. Jihadism exploits Western liberalism as a weakness and a portal to spread its (jihadism’s) venom…”
  8. Don’t mess with Allah. Fleisher graciously uses Allah to refer to the Muslim God as another name for Jehovah, and demonstrates from history that God – by any name – has demonstrated His favor for Israel against the hate-driven destructive attacks of her enemies. Mess with Israel: mess with God. You’ll lose.
  9. We will never leave. The extremist Muslim position is the utter destruction of Israel: the elimination of its six million Jewish population. The declaration of the Jews in their homeland: they will never – ever – vacate their Promised Land.
  10. Jerusalem is at the heart of it. The United States; the United Nations; UNESCO: there is a conspiracy of power brokers out to create a false history that gives equal – or, greater – legitimacy to Muslim claims to Jerusalem than those held by the Jews about their ancestral, historic capital city. Jerusalem is not an option; no amount of declaration by vaunted modern world political leaders can effectively rewrite history… except for the uninformed – and, often highly-educated – gullible village idiots whose grasp of reality is wanting.

Most of America’s news machine has become a mouthpiece for fallacy and political correctness that turns a blind eye to Muslim extremism and a critical stare to the Jewish people who returned to their homeland in 1948 to establish their presence in the place God promised Abraham, 4000 years ago.

I felt safer last night in Sderot than I would have felt in St. Louis: the leadership in Israel is committed to standing up to violent extremism, while our leadership in America has adopted the recurring habit of blaming the victim, and then condemning them for self-defense.

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (God, to Abraham, in Genesis 12:2-3.)

America may want to consider which side of that binary equation we’re on, today. As for me and my house? We’re blessing Israel…

Bob Shank

What’s your heart language?

October 19, 2015

When you live in Southern California – and travel a lot – the grief is just a fact of life.

People – are they jealous? – love to poke fun at Californians for our “distinctives.” The two top grief-getters are our lack of seasons (palm trees don’t change colors); and, our earthquakes (fearful, for people who only do hurricanes and tornadoes).

Recently – while in the South – I heard about a North Carolina State Trooper who spotted a pick-up truck without plates and pulled it over. He walked up to the driver and asked him, “You got any ID?” To which the driver replied, “’Bout what?” Say what?

Across America, there is an intriguing challenge that exists: we mistakenly believe that we share a common language. Presidential candidates – in both parties – are trying to sophisticate their syntax as they endeavor to reach a national consensus. If you live in just one place, hanging around with just one crowd, watching national network anchors do the talking, you could be lulled into complacency, believing we all speak the same language…

In a barbecue joint, in the South, I stared at the placemat. It was a primer for Yankees (now, from out west, we don’t feel like Yankees … but, if you ain’t from the South, you’ve got no choice but to be a Yankee!) to learn just enough local English to get along. Samples:

    A-Fixin’: getting ready, as in, “We’re a-fixin’ to go to the store …” 

    Smart:  To hurt, as in, “It shore smarts where I got hit.”

    Askeered of:  frightened or afraid of, as in:  “He’s askeered of his own shadow.”

    You’ns:  You or you all, as in:  “You’ns ain’t gonna get no vittles.”

Without a little coaching, Yankees could find themselves linguistically stranded in a foreign land called The South. Once you try it on a bit, however, y’all can get into it, if you try. It is a form of English, even if it ain’t the form you growed up with …

If you don’t want to be understood, you don’t have to try so hard. That’s why the candidates spend the big bucks for those campaign advisors: to teach them how to speak union, or e-commerce, or Hispanic immigrant, or soccer mom, or whatever dialect they’ll next address. Language is the bridge that connects people with a message and people with ears.

That’s nothing new; God figured it out a long time before the management at the restaurant, or the consultants to the two major parties. God didn’t just have a message; He was the message:  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him … The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen His glory …” (John 1:1-14, selected).

God wanted so badly to get the message of His love to us that He learned to speak our language; He became one of us so that He would be understood. People who can’t understand God haven’t tuned-in on His #1 Communication: it was His Son, Jesus, in the flesh. Get to know Him, and you’ll hear heaven’s message, loud and clear. Yankee or Rebel, young or old: everybody can understand that Word!

Bob Shank

Are you Addicted to Approval?

October 12, 2015

Be careful when picking heroes.

Every aspect of life operates with the same basic ground rules: pick a category, and you can populate the space. The players come in-order, on-cue: first, the Originator (syn: creator, discoverer, pioneer, innovator); these are the few who live “to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before” (Star Trek).

Next on scene are the Organizers (syn: coordinator, designer, developer, arranger, facilitator); these come after the Originators – once the risks have been resolved and the opposition has been suppressed – and help to civilize the pioneer’s New Frontier. The Originator lived in tents; the Organizer builds buildings – with their name on the cornerstone – in a declaration of permanence that bespeaks their ability to mobilize the community toward the erection of edifice.

Last in line are the Operators (syn: everyone else) who come long after the discoveries of the Originators or the constructions of the Organizers. They live in environments that exist only because of those who have come before them, but live as if the domain must have created itself – forgetting their forebears – or, worse, denouncing the innovators for their human foibles.

It’s only been 523 years since Columbus spotted one of the small islands in the Bahamas, making landfall the next day and declaring the New World on behalf of Spain, his sponsor. Just 445 years later – in 1937 – Columbus Day was declared a National Holiday in the United States.

But now, in the 21st Century, holidays introduce controversy. For some, Columbus Day and Thanksgiving highlight what they brand as “Western Imperialism,” and denounce the resultant conquest of the peoples already inhabiting the newly-discovered territories. Efforts to transform October 12 to become “Indigenous People’s Day” are underway in communities across the country.

One person’s hero is another person’s villain in the revisionist world of the modern era. It brings a challenging question to the table: are the significant milestones of the past best remembered, or renounced?

Don’t go to an Indian reservation in America’s southwest today looking for a Columbus Day picnic. Don’t walk into a Microsoft Store looking for posters promoting Steve Jobs (the movie). Don’t call your local synagogue – or, City Hall – to see if they have plans for a Christmas program. Don’t look for fireworks extravaganzas in England on July 4th. Don’t circulate among the crowd – hundreds of thousands – who assembled in Philadelphia two weeks ago for mass with the Pope and ask if they plan to celebrate Reformation Day – honoring Tyndale, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and their peers – on October 31st . One person’s hero is another’s villain.

Originators live with risk. In their lifetime, they flirt with utter failure when they venture into territory that others would never explore. Most pioneers end up with more arrows in their chest than medals around their neck. Even winners can’t declare victory with certainty: long after their efforts have become beneficial to others, their motives or outcomes will often be reexamined and renounced.

The contract for Kingdom Originators has some important fine print: “They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11: 37-40).

Thank God for the Originators! May the Kingdom Originators continue to lead the way into the future!

Bob Shank

Do you have the courage to say “Yes?”

October 5, 2015

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”

Frank Morgan appeared in over 100 movies while he was under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but his title role in The Wizard of Oz gave him the one-liner that would be his signature line. While Toto-the-dog pulled back the drape – revealing the huckster who had convinced all in Oz that they were under the power of the supernatural – the Wizard’s last option was to try to control the attention of the audience, pointing them away from the now-obvious reality.

It didn’t take long for the White House to call a press conference, addressing the mass murder at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. The theme: pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. At a news conference Thursday afternoon regarding the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Umpqua, Oregon, President Obama said gun control is "something we should politicize." 

Christopher Harper-Mercer (the name Christopher means “bearing Christ”) is in the news: his preoccupation with mass murderers and their success in achieving notoriety were factors in his actions last Thursday in his English classroom, but his choice of victims was faith-founded. The survivors reported that he asked the students – one-by-one – if they were Christians. If they claimed that faith, he said, “Good: because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in just about one second,” and then shot them in the head. If not, he delivered a non-lethal gunshot to an extremity.

The U.S. Department of Justice defines hate crime as “the violence of intolerance and bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.” The definition seems rather straight-forward, and has been offered as the underlying motivation behind many cause célébre incidents during the last few years.

But, days after the Roseburg incident – and the reports from the surviving victims themselves – the term “hate crime” has not been attached to the tragedy. A lack of adequate legislation for gun control is the real issue here: pay no attention to that man behind the curtain…

The Lord Jesus Christ – the One after whom the shooter was named – knew the risk that following him would carry:“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).

On Friday, Cheri and I spent two hours in the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York, where the 2,977 victims of the terrorist attacks are remembered. While not singled out for their personal faith, the motivation of the Al-Qaeda effort was to deliver a kill-strike in a holy war against what the radical Muslims deemed a Christian nation. The destructive power of hatred cannot be understated; animosity birthed in religious fervor can destroy people and property in devastating degrees.

My friend Tom Doyle has explored the real-time experience of converts to the Lord Jesus Christ in the Muslim Middle East in his new book, Killing Christians (Thomas Nelson, 2015). Tom is active in ministry across the region, and tells the stories of people half-a-world away from Umpqua’s Rebecca Carnes, Quinn Cooper, Lucas Eibel, Lucero Alvarez, Treven Anspach, Jason Johnson, Sarena Moore, Kim Dietz and Lawrence Levine (youngest-to-oldest), who simply said “yes” when asked if they were Christian. It’s happening with ISIS in Iraq and Syria; it’s happening in classrooms in America. The common denominator: a personal relationship with the Prince of Peace.

“Are you a Christian?” What would you say… with a gun to your head?

Bob Shank

In a dead heat… who’s the loser?

September 28, 2015

Cut the baby in half.

That seems an unreasonable directive… if you don’t know the whole story.

It was about 3000 years ago – a few election cycles in the past – when the new king of Israel was in his freshman year. Solomon was the come-from-behind winner of the Game of Thrones when he took over the palace from his father, David.

A young man – not the youngest in Israel’s history, but 20ish – when he ascends; one of his earliest challenges is to respond to a once-in-a-lifetime offer from God: “Ask for whatever you want me to give you” (1 Kings 3:5). What would you request?

He doesn’t miss a beat in his answer to the question: “…Give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” (v. 9).

God is so impressed with Solomon’s answer that he delivers exactly what he asked: “I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be…” (v. 12).

The first case before the new king involved two prostitutes who bring their challenge to the crown: both had infants, and they lived in the same home. During the night, one of the babies died, and his mother switched the dead baby for her housemate’s live child. In the morning light, the conflict arose between the two, and the question finds its way – immediately – to Solomon. Before the advent of DNA testing… how could one discern the truth?

The classic ruling has become a landmark case: Solomon ordered the live baby cut in two, with both mothers going home with a dead victory. Sadistic… or, shrewd?

Solomon knew that the real mother would rather lose her baby to another mom than to see her son lose his life: “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him! (v. 26). Verdict rendered: the sacrificial mom didn’t want to see her son sacrificed. “When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice” (v. 28).

In the latest polls in the race for the White House – with only 13 short months to go before the general election – the Republican field has tightened-up: “Donald Trump and Ben Carson are running neck and neck in the national Republican presidential horserace… according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll” (NBC News, yesterday).

In the last few months, Mr. Trump has been broadly quoted regarding his perspectives on various issues. One area of inquiry has been his personal – and, very private – faith. He is quick to reveal his personal statement of net worth; far more than his personal statement of faith. “Presbyterian” is his affiliation… but, his conversations with God are a bit more redacted. Has he ever sought forgiveness from God?

His original answer was, “No.” For what? When that didn’t set well – especially among Iowa’s conservative Evangelicals, he clarified: “When I drink my little wine – which is about the only wine I drink – and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed.”

We may be watching a fascinating face-off, between the Poster Kid for Pride and the surgeon who really did cut the babies – conjoined twins – in half. Wisdom is not merely the acquiring of knowledge, but the skillful living of life in submission to God’s will.

Bob Shank

How Bad Can It Get?

September 21, 2015

Things are getting really, really bad.

You knew that, already; anyone who is not comatose – and, can get their eyes off their smart phone/video game for a few minutes of perspective – would reach the same conclusion. But, no; it’s worse: That same headline could be posted over almost every category of life right now – in America, and beyond – without anyone contesting the conclusion. Things are getting really, really bad.

The California Republican Party met last week in Anaheim; it’s no surprise that they hosted numerous presidential candidates on their platform. One of them – (former) Governor Mike Huckabee – caught some attention because of his perspective: “Quite frankly, we have so much government because as the moral code of our population begins to break down, we demand that there be more government. More cops on the streets, more counselors dealing with people with addictions. We demand more people regulate the industries so that they don’t cheat us if we’re in the same industry. The best government that we will ever have is the self government of a moral code internally that tells us that it is better to be right than to be wrong.”

Huckabee echoes the declaration of Ronald Reagan, in his 1981 Inaugural Address: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Things are getting really, really bad.

The same headline is parked over the articles lamenting the compounding effects of the prolonged drought on the West Coast. Fires are out-of-control in multiple states; millions of acres, thousands of homes and dozens of lives have been lost to the infernos that begin – some from lightning, some from arson – and then create their own wind and weather as they consume everything in their path. The cause, according to many in modern government: global warming, caused by people whose carbon footprint is the culprit. Things are getting really, really bad.

It’s so bad that, in June, 500 people attended an “interfaith gathering” at a mosque in Chino, California to pray for rain. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, the host – Imam Mohammed Zafarullah – led attendees of all religions through a prayer for rain for the drought-ravaged state: “Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Universe, the Compassionate, the Merciful, the Master of the Day of Judgment. There is no god but Allah who does what He wishes. O Allah, Thou art Allah, there is no deity but Thou, the Rich, while we are poor. Send down rain upon us…”  I wonder what the “Christians” in the room were doing during that “interfaith prayer?”

About 2800 years ago, Israel – the Northern Kingdom – was in a moral tailspin. Ahab and Jezebel – the royal pair who had done their part to eliminate the worship of the One True God by accelerating the return to the gods of the Canaanites, Baal and Asherah. God had commissioned Elijah to become His spokesman, and Elijah informed Ahab that “there would be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except by my word,” (1 Kings 17:1). God then directed Elijah to go undercover, while the heavens dried up and the local economy tanked.

Ahab sent his posse everywhere, looking for Elijah; Ahab held Elijah responsible for the drought. Three years passed – things were really, really bad – when God brought Elijah back to Israel from Sidon, to confront Ahab. Elijah arranged the encounter; the opening line, from Ahab: “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” (18:17).

Elijah called him out. Mt Carmel would be the site of the Spiritual Super Bowl. Four hundred fifty prophets of Baal assembled to go against Elijah, who was solo. The Rules of Engagement called for each side to build an altar, cut wood, slaughter a bull… and call for their God to deliver fire from heaven to consume it.

A great story: Elijah wins, and Baal’s 450 are killed by the crowd as an act of divine judgment. As a demonstration of God’s power, Elijah summons rain from a blue sky. First fire, then rain from the God of heaven.

Baal has retired; Allah has taken his place. The voices from the other side are calling for rain from heaven… but Elijah’s successors aren’t saying much.

“Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops,” (James 5:18).

Huckabee is right; America’s moral code is missing. There’s a face-off between competing deities. Maybe it’s time for us to call the prayer meeting?

Bob Shank

Caution: you might be a poser…

September 14, 2015

There aren’t many leaders... but there are lots of posers.

Vision. Strategy. Assignments. If you’ve been around me in the context of The Master’s Program, you’ve had that trilogy drilled into your thinking. If not, you are rightly curious. What’s up with that?

I’ve declared those three elements as key indicators of real leadership. Find where those essentials are sourced within any community – or, team – and you’ve found the wellspring of real leadership. Vision answers the “Where are we going?” question. Strategy addresses the “How will we get there?” confusion. Assignments gives the “If I’m part of the team, what am I supposed to do?”  inquiry a clear response.

If that’s important for an enterprise, it’s important for an individual – or, a couple – as well. Proof: a constant string of books, cable programs and magazine covers that propose some version of the “10/1000 Things to Do/Places to Visit/Experiences to Share Before You Die” feature. People who want to live an extraordinary life are on the lookout for Vision and Strategy that takes them places seldom visited by the people who just go with the flow of the crowd, or settle for going back to the same comfortable place – or activity – year after year.

Cheri and I have operated for decades with a new-adventures list, with a commitment to check ‘em off as frequently as we can, replacing them with a next wave of nominees. We fear life becoming a “second annual; let’s do it again” replay. No “Next Adventures?” No vision. No vision, no amazing future…

The same thinking holds importance regarding the part of life that connects with Eternity. What we address in TMP under the consideration of Kingdom Calling warrants the same kind of intentional leadership as the professional and personal aspects of my lifetime on Earth. When you get serious about maximizing your Eternal Kingdom existence, what kind of  hot list makes sense?

Evangelicals aren’t a political target group; they’re serious Christians who are marked by three key distinctives: they embrace the Authority of the Scriptures, the Necessity of Conversion and the Responsibility of the Great Commission. What happens when you hitch those to the qualifiers for leaders?

It means, in my life, that I must have Vision, Strategy and Assignments in mind for my role in God’s game plan – namely, the “Great Commission” – to reach “market saturation” (the whole world) with His “core product/service”(the offer of forgiveness and salvation through the Cross of Jesus Christ, which He called “the Gospel”). If I took that approach with my business career (and, I did), and I do that with my personal life today (which I do), how can I explain one day – to Him – that I failed to employ the same intentionality with Him?

My hero – Paul/Tentmaker/Apostle – was laser-focused. He spent two years in Ephesus. During that time, his scribe – Luke – reported that the entire population of the region had the chance to hear Paul’s message and decide for themselves. When he completed his mission in that key city, he left behind a church with the people who accepted his message about the Authority of the Scriptures and the Necessity of Conversion. How did he know it was time to leave? He made his criteria for exit clear to the church’s elders when he said:  “…Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God…” (Acts 20:26-27).

He had said everything he had to say, and he had said it to everyone he was responsible to reach. He could leave with closure; he would exit with integrity.

Maybe you have a “10 Things to Do…” list. Here’s a question: do you have a “10 People to Reach” list, as well? If you are to be “innocent of the blood” of those closest to you, what would that require?

Paul took on the responsibility for the Roman world of his day, one regional hub at a time. He kept his career – tentmaking – active as a funding source, but found the time to get the Gospel message in front of entire populations.

Your message is your story, found within His Story. Your audience is your network of family, friends and acquaintances. If you have a Vision for people you care about joining you for dinner, for the evening… shouldn’t you have a Vision for them joining you in Heaven, for Eternity?

“The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed” (Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland Mission).

Bob Shank

Learn to Trust Your Gut

September 7, 2015

Welcome back…. or, shame on you!

You’re either reading this on Tuesday – after making Labor Day a real holiday – or, you’re cheating yourself and your family by checking your e-mail while pretending to relax, on Monday! Either way, welcome back to the “new year,” which really begins the day-after-Labor-Day!  

As you start this new season of your leadership life, let’s play a game: following are two statements-of-fact; both are possible, but one is more right than the other. Which is most true, to you?

A.  You can achieve anything you want if you believe in yourself, set clear goals, and work hard. or,
B.  You can achieve many (more) things if you prepare for opportunity, see it, and act on it.

Most savvy business people know that "A" is the right answer… right? The science of strategic planning – seasoned with a few doses of John Maxwell or someone like him – would produce "A" as bumper stickers, to sell at the book table alongside the presenter’s autographed writings.

According to Columbia Business School professor William Duggan, the better answer is "B." His apologetic for this contrarian position is the substance you’ll find in his book, Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement (Columbia Business School Publishing; 2007).

His argument, in a nutshell: Instead of setting goals first, it’s better to watch for unexpected opportunities with large payoffs that can be seized at low costs. Then, set your goals and do your strategic planning. The more common perspective – captured in "A" – has it backwards.

Duggan laces his position with myriad examples – from Napoleon to Gates – and paints the value of strategic intuition as the precursor to vision in the classic leadership continuum.

The book paints the profound differences between ordinary intuition (a feeling or gut instinct that has no clear basis or origin), expert intuition (the snap judgments that flow out of years of experience that are situation specific) and strategic intuition (clear thought that is slower than the expert variety, but draws insight from various spheres and situations to provide a breakthrough insight that is game-changing). All three have value… but his research proposes that strategic intuition has set incredible leaders apart through the annals of history.

His observation: business makes progress by following the opportunistic innovation model of strategic intuition, but governments and social causes aim at rigid social goals that reject unexpected opportunity and resist creative transformation.

Entrepreneurs demonstrate a predisposition toward strategic intuition; bureaucrats – from large business institutions, government and established church and ministry organizations – find it disquieting. These more inflexible models are still laboring to embrace the practice of strategic planning; explosive, world-changing markers like Microsoft and Women’s Suffrage succeeded because of someone’s strategic intuition. This understanding weaves through The Master’s Program!

Most enterprises – businesses and ministries- operate on tradition more than intuition; too often, they claim extraordinary potential while using ordinary intuition. The ones that accelerate into exemplary status are usually practicing strategic intuition, without knowing it.

“Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see… So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants” (Ephesians 5:11-17, The Message).

We invest in leaders – in our non-holiday activities! – by helping them trust and exercise their strategic intuition; in their career leadership, and in their calling…

Bob Shank

The letter I never received

August 31, 2015

Tomorrow is a game-change day. Give me a break…

Cheri and I have six amazing grandchildren; they range from 17 to 5 in age. Jackson was first; I was 45 when he was born (my dad was 45 when I came along). I have season tickets – on the front row – to the major events of his life. Tomorrow is a biggie: he starts his senior year in high school… and, he starts his first “real” job. I’ll let you look over my shoulder as I offer my patriarchal advice to him, on his way to his first day in the trenches, at work; I’ll write to you next week, on Labor Day.

    Dear Jackson,

    You’ve heard me say it all along the way: I’m proud of you, again. You’ve worked hard during your first three years in high school to get your college prep courses finished, and now you’ve got room for work experience each day for class credit. Good job, pal. You pursued the internship this summer at the county courthouse – with no paycheck – and learned a lot about what it takes to show up and take orders in a place where you had nothing to gain but experience. Your character was refined.

    Your parents – and, your grandparents – know lots of people; you could have leaned on us to find you a job… but you took the initiative to chase opportunities down yourself. You were smart to apply at Chick-fil-A – since the owner knows your parents – but you went through the process on your own, and landed a spot. Big lesson: most of the best moves you’ll make in your career life will probably involve personal relationships, rather than cold-calls where you’re just a résumé in a stack.

    Here are four commandments that will put you in the top 10% of your competition: 1) show up on time; 2) say “please” and “thank you;” 3) do what you said you would do; and, 4) finish what you start (stolen from the Strategic Coach Program). You’ve already learned to look grown-ups in the eye when you meet them – and, when you talk to them – and to shake their hand with a firm grip. Keep that up; most of your generation are looking at their smart phone instead of into an adult’s eyes.

    The training at Chick-fil-A is great: they’re telling you to smile at people, and respond to every request with “it’s my pleasure.” That attitude – in that company – will imprint you for the future. Among working adults in America, 50% have worked in a restaurant at least once, and 25% had their first job in a restaurant, so you’re in good company.

    In the next 30 years, you’ll have lots of jobs; the average American has 12 different jobs between 18-48. Learn from each of them, and as you leave each of them, make sure that there are people who are sorry to see you go. Nothing in your life will be permanent except your faith, your family, and the wife you’ll someday marry; live with your eye open to future opportunity.

    The workplace has always been an important place for Christians to make their faith attractive. Paul wrote with that in mind: “Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work.” (Colossians 3:22-25, in The Message). Follow his direction, and you’ll more than meet the expectations at work.

    I’ve been giving Christians input about their work life for the last 40 years or so, and I’m ready to do that with you as well. Your teachers – at Foothill High School now; at Biola next year – will give you great instruction; a mentor will give you great advice. I’ll volunteer for that role, if you’ll have me…

    Again, I’m proud of you already – and it only grows as you grow! Love you, buddy,

    Bob-o

Two words that say everything

August 24, 2015

Choose two words to describe Donald Trump. What would you say?

Let’s make sure we’re talking about the same guy. White Pages (whitepages.com) says that they have 43 listings for “Donald Trump” – in 15 states – and 42 of them are not the person-in-question. There’s only one Donald Trump. Just two words…

The website experienceproject.com asked that, and got these answers (among others): Ugly monster. Media whore. Ugly hair. Buffoon entrepreneur. Worldclass ego. Wigged peanut. Strange dude. You’re fired. Orange narcissist. Apparently his supporters don’t frequent the Experience Project.

He’s outdrawing everyone, in live appearances. Last Friday night, 40,000 people came to Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama to hear him. “Now I know how the great Billy Graham felt” was his response to the crowd.

ESPN covers all-things sporting. In 2003, they added the World Series of Poker to their roster of covered competitive events, with no requirement for athletic prowess as a qualifier for airtime. It may not be long before the Super Bowl of Presidential Primaries snags prime-time coverage: the league is constantly expanding to include more competition (Biden?), and the games are played, daily. We’re in 24/7/365 mode until the Conventions: Republicans, July 18-21 in Columbus, and Democrats, July 25-28 in Philadelphia.

The New York Times, yesterday: “Mr. Trump has built a broad, demographically and ideologically diverse coalition, constructed around personality, not substance, that bridges demographic and political divides. In doing so, he has effectively insulated himself from the consequences of startling statements that might instantly doom rival candidates…”

Allow me to suggest two words that might describe Donald Trump, 442 days from now: President Elect.

Please do not read this as an endorsement; it’s certainly not. But I’m watching what you’re watching, and asking: Why?

Our current president ran on a bumper sticker: Hope and Change. He drew widespread support in 2008 and 2012 from people who bought into his Unique Value Proposition. What was it that delivered him from long-shot rookie senator to the Oval Office? Two words: vigorous vision.

Mitt Romney brought a dramatically different résumé to the interview: stable strategy. He lacked stirring oration, and his policies (that’s government lingo for “strategy) required thoughtful reading. Mr. Obama was a crowd-pleaser with his speechmaking, and a generation that gave up reading when Siri offered to answer their questions verbally had no interest in the details. The same generation is getting ready to make another hire, for the same office. How will they do that?

If, once again, it comes down to Vigorous Vision vs. Stable Strategy, I’d place my bet on VV. Check the stage at the recent debates: SS outnumbered VV, but VV is on top of the polls, prior and post.

Put Vision and Strategy together, and you change the world. Embody a desirable outcome with an inclusive plan and a compelling personality, and people will sacrifice themselves for the cause.

Perhaps you’re likely to do what I do: something in me keeps looking for a candidate who might be a political messiah. He’s already come… and, he’s coming back. In between, we’ll keep looking… and settling for something less than the Best.

Two words that describe Jesus: what would you say? If someone watching you were asked the same question… what would they say?

Bob Shank

Are you at risk for a toxic event?

August 17, 2015

It was once called “The River of Lost Souls.”

Named by Spanish explorers in the 1700s, what is now the Animas (Spanish: “souls”) River, in Southwest Colorado, flows south out of the San Juan Mountains – past Durango – into New Mexico, where it ultimately joins the San Juan River on its way to join the Colorado River at Lake Powell.

The Animas River is a vital source of potable drinking water and agricultural irrigation to the people who draw from it in Colorado, New Mexico and – after its confluence with the San Juan – Utah. In the spring and summer, thousands of vacationers spend days in whitewater rafts enjoying its free-flowing drop through the canyons. Native American tribes – including the Ute and Navajo peoples – draw from it for human consumption and crop irrigation. Though challenged with a multi-year drought that has parched America’s southwest, its vital role in the region has been even more significant…

About two weeks ago – Wednesday, August 5th – workers with the Environmental Protection Agency were running a backhoe at the Gold King Mine, a site near the headwaters of the Animas that had been abandoned for nearly a century. They were there because of a long-running “leak” of contaminated water – at about 50-250 gallons a minute – that contained arsenic, lead and other heavy metals that had been left behind from the mining activities that, in its 30-year productive period, produced 350,000 ounces of gold. An irritation: stopping this relatively minor ooze from the mine site was their ultimate objective.

Their backhoe breached an earthen dam wall at the mine, and three million gallons of toxic waste water was released into the Animas River, affecting everyone in its downstream path.

The yellow plume has dramatically altered August, for recreational paddlers and subsistence farmers. Governors are declaring disasters and committing cash for cleanups. Officials at the EPA – the federal agency charged with being the watchdog enforcers for all-things environmental – are speechless to explain how it happened, or what its long-term effects will be.

Long term effects; unintended consequences; collateral damage: terms that attach to real-life will undoubtedly be included in the retrospective writings that archive this unnatural disaster. Gold is a necessity of modern life: jewelry, investments and dental inlays all draw from the gold supply. Cell-phones have about 50 mg of gold, worth 50¢ currently; the cell-phone industry uses $500 million of Au (the chemical symbol for gold) every year. Blame the miners? No; they’re giving us what we want…

Life is messy; human activity leaves a ring in the tub of history. The same agency that is decrying carbon footprints by private industry is now responsible for a toxic spill of epic proportions. No one has figured out how to supply a consumer society without consuming.

If you can’t get what you want – in this case, gold – without some messy byproducts, what’s the solution? Simple: clean up after yourself in real-time; don’t leave it for someone else to deal with, later.

Relational life parallels material life: while you go about the demands of every day activities, byproducts that are potentially toxic – when accumulated over time – need attention. In gold mining, everyone knows that arsenic presents a problem: when will it be addressed? In relationships, the push to produce and the pursuits of professional objectives can leave residual, toxic effects on the people who are “working in the mine,” and who live downstream in the relational network.

Monitoring waste in relationships is a daily nuisance… but, without that discipline, the potential for a future spill that can be significantly destructive is real. Find offenses fast, and use the confess/repent/apologize/restore formula to assure that the inevitable build-up never releases to your downstream relationship connections…

Bob Shank

The things we love tell us who we are (Aquinas)

August 10, 2015

Take a minute; let’s talk about stuff.

First, let’s make sure we’re talking about the same stuff. Stuff comes in three varieties. Stuff 1 (its synonym is “dunk”) is a verb; if you’re in the NBA, it’s one of your monetized assets. Outside sports, it can be literal (as in, “to pack tightly”) or, figurative (as in, “gorge”). Stuff 2 is often a noun of generalization; used by teenagers to avoid specifics (“we’re just going to do stuff”), or by adults without an agenda (“I have some stuff to do at the office”) who are looking for some relational space.

The stuff I’d like to talk about is Stuff 3; that’s the tangible noun that we use to describe most anything of material substance that is not real property; depreciating consumables of every variety.

The Wall Street Journal prints a weekend edition on Saturdays that is a slight change-up from the international markets-and-politics emphases in the Monday-Friday versions. Assuming that their readers are able to be more genteel and urbane while out of the workday frenzy, their editorial features tell stories designed to ring personal bells. In this week’s Off Duty section – dedicated to eating, drinking, style, fashion, design, decorating, adventure, travel, gear and gadgets (from the masthead) – was the weekly high-class Celebration of Stuff 3 (hereinafter, just “stuff”).

Gear and Gadgets were pages 11 & 12, and they were reaching for my envy button, hoping to trigger a reaction. A full page was devoted to a review of the BMW X6 M. Dan Neil’s opening paragraph: “(It) costs $ 109,995 as tested, and is yet remarkably useless. Your head starts to spin the moment you open the driver’s door; Whoa, the cabin is tiny…” The last words of the page: “Where am I going to put the groceries? Never mind. More than metallic paints and fine hides and a towering price tag, the X6 M qualifies as a luxury item by virtue of its divine spark of uselessness.” I was rescued by page 11; the spread – with pictures – was a side-by-side review of three electric skateboards.

Somewhere between the high school punk with a hoodie and a death wish and the helmeted geek riding the Segway through Central Park is the market for the electric skateboard. From the three models described – the Boosted Single, Evolve Carbon All Terrain, and the Yuneec E-Go – most of us could find the best fit for what is probably, right now, an empty place in our Stuff inventory.

Priced from $700 to $1800 – with top speeds from 12 to 23 mph – I could focus on my off-road adventures or my daily commute (neither of which are part of my life) in making my selection. With recharging times from 1 to 5 hours, my carbon footprint would probably land me an invitation to a Bernie Sanders rally… into which I could ride any of the three, with a fair amount of crowd acceptance.

Like I need more stuff! In my lifetime, the rise of Stuff  – in quantity – has created new demands on so many levels. One trip to Costco – with a flatbed cart – brings home more Stuff on a Saturday than most last-gen families acquired in a year. With Saturday’s new stuff, the recent – but, now displaced – stuff in the house goes to the garage. Last year’s stuff – still under extended warranty, and mostly unused – is exiled from garage to self-storage, down by the train tracks. The dusty stuff that was in the storage unit is now delivered to the Salvation Army – in exchange for a tax-deductible receipt – and the lifecycle of stuff  reaches its practical end.

None of my stuff will last as long as I do; my kids will have to dispense with any of the stuff that I leave behind. They won’t want my stuff; they have their own. God help me: I’ve spent so much time in my life envying stuff, shopping for stuff, buying stuff, storing stuff, insuring stuff, fixing stuff, moving stuff, breaking stuff, selling stuff, giving away stuff.

“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” (Luke 16:9) Jesus’ good advice: invest in people instead of stuff. I’ll leave my stuff here… and the people will be waiting for me, there.

I’m canceling my order for the new BMW and the Evolve Carbon All Terrain skateboard,

Bob Shank

22 Years Ago Tonight

August 3, 2015

Some days are more memorable than others. It’s been 22 years – today – but the effects of August 3, 1993 are still powerful, for me.

I was in my second year as senior pastor at a large church with larger challenges. I was in my Sabbath month break – in the Colorado Rockies – with Cheri and our daughters, then 19 and 15. My plan: go to dinner in Fairplay – a historic mining town – about 45 minutes from our place, driving through scenic South Park. Our Ford Explorer – factory-equipped with Firestone tires – was just a year old, and the graded dirt road had a late-summer washboard surface. We were halfway there…

My memory stops about 15 minutes before the incident. Cheri recounts: we were going about 30, in a flat S-curve when the SUV went out of control. She thinks we rolled about six times before landing upright – roof flattened, windows all gone, car totaled – and the dust settled. She – and our daughters, in the back – were still strapped-in, with some minor abrasions. They found me about 75 feet away: seat-belt released, ejected that distance from the force and head-first into the dirt at the side of the road.

Some of the crazy details: I was unconscious, Cheri performed CPR to get me breathing again. The girls ran to call for help, at a ranch about a mile away. It was an hour before the off-duty, rural fireman arrived. Another hour passed before the Flight for Life helicopter arrived. Three hours after the incident, I was offloaded at a Denver hospital… and the odds weren’t good.

Massive concussion, with frontal-lobe brain injuries – the life-threatening issue. Prayer – across the country – was huge; God was gracious. Eight days in Intensive Care; released with this caution: “We don’t know if your mental edge or memory will return.” Out of the hospital, with orthopedic issues that were undetected by the neurologists who were my crisis team: fractured femur, fractured pelvis, fractured ribs, and two Grade-III shoulder separations. My family’s experience: four days of “will he live?” followed by weeks of, “how ‘recovered’ will he be?” Traumatic brain injury does its thing; the effects can remain long after people forget about the incident that caused it. I knew who I was before the accident; who would I be, after?

Three life-impacting lessons from that game-change experience are still with me, today; let me share them with you as my family remembers God’s graciousness to us on that August evening:

Our plans are often not His plan. We were on vacation, heading for dinner; I had just turned 40, and wasn’t yet at “halftime.” Discovery: life can change course – or, end – at any time, without warning or consent. Ready or not, you may be in the midst of the final act of your personal story… or, it may be just a chapter that is wrapping up, with another taking its place. Be ready…

Pain can be a liability, or an asset. Make it an asset. My memory starts-up again, about 10 days after the accident… and every waking moment since has been marked by chronic pain – in both shoulders. Pain speaks constantly; some activities make pain scream. “Thorn in the flesh;” I get that. Pain either preoccupies me… or I relegate it to the background of my consciousness, and engage something more important. I’ve learned that, through pain: focus – constantly – on something bigger…

Disconnect my identity from my entity. Leaders can become their enterprise… and lose themselves in their assignment. If I could not return to my assignment after the accident, was I finished? From my recovery months, a vision for the church became clear to me… which I set in motion when I regained my capacity. Back to Lesson #1 – our plans are often not His plan: I left the church position 24 months after I came back from the accident… but my vision for the church was accomplished without me – after I left to pursue another vision, which became The Master’s Program.

Thanks, God: I wasn’t finished on County Road 59, 22 years ago tonight…

Bob Shank

America Needs a Coach

July 27, 2015

Don’t bother me right now. I’m getting ready for my meeting…

Tomorrow morning, I’ll be with George Andrews. It’s my quarterly sit-down to get my tune-up. I’m accountable for what I’ve done the last few months, and I need some counsel about the road ahead. George is the Managing Director for Ronald Blue & Co. in Southern California, and he’s my financial coach. Q: Who needs a “coach,” in any category of life? A: Someone who wants to win.

America needs a coach, and some accountability. At the end of 2004, National Debt was $ 7.9 trillion. At the end of ’14, it was $ 17.8 trillion – an increase of 141%. Using a debt/GDP ratio for perspective, we were 60% debt/GDP in ’04; today, it’s 101%. We’re out of control…

Cheri and I are doing better than the USA. Our debt has shrunk to zero; our ratio makes our country look like a third-world operation. Personally, we’ve weathered the Recession and advanced. Reason: we’ve had good coaching, and our performance has reflected that influence.

Here’s a highly historic idea: we will always be better off if we structure our life – at all levels, including the realm of our personal finances – based on the counsel of the Scriptures. That’s what George – and, the folks at RB&Co. – do: God knows more about how things work than the talking heads on the networks. For 30 years, I’ve given financial advice to my community based on the Scriptures… but I know that no one can hold their own feet to the fire as well as an objective, outside voice. Let me be that voice; let me give you some mid-year counsel to help you outperform the USA:

» Tithe. If you’ve been giving the first 10% of your income to God, keep it up (only one-out-of-ten Christians do). If you haven’t been tithing, start now. Today. Don’t wait! If you don’t make ANY OTHER CHANGES to improve your financial life, DO THAT. You want God on your side, and He focuses His attention on the people who take Him seriously. Tithe.

» Change your oil. Every 3000 miles. Then, keep your car for 150,000 miles… and stop taking the depreciation hit every time you drive the new one off the lot. If you’ve been changing cars every three years, go to seven. You’ll save a bundle. I’m at 55,000 miles in four years… and shooting for 100,000 in ten. Want a new car? Keep your old one looking new! Wash it!

» Retire your mortgage, not your career. You get a Bible badge for getting out of debt; you have no verses that applaud your efforts to trade meaningful work for meaningless leisure, as a way of life. The old logic said to put your extra dollars into stocks instead of retiring mortgage debt. Care to reconsider? Anybody jumping off buildings because they prepaid their 30 year fixed rate home loan?

» Pay cash, or don’t buy it. Sure, you can use your credit card for convenience, but if you’re carrying any balances, paying any interest on plastic, you’ve become a chump to the card company. The only “good” interest is the kind you collect, not the kind you cough-up. Your FICO shouldn’t matter… because you shouldn’t be borrowing, anyway.

» Be understated. Your accountant should be impressed; your neighbors shouldn’t. Your house isn’t an investment; it’s your family’s home. If you need a trophy, join a bowling league.

» Build a bunker; put your family in it. Security isn’t what you pledge for a loan you shouldn’t pursue, it’s what your family enjoys when they know that the equity in the place they live isn’t on-the-hook for a risky business proposition. Protect your family; don’t expose them…

» Get married. Single people never match the financial stability of committed married people. “I’m waiting until I can afford it?” Wake up: you can’t afford not to. Find a fellow believer who makes you better than you are by yourself, and say “I do,” and, then, do. You’ll be a winner on all fronts.

The folks in Washington are out of your control. It would be real sad if YOU were out of your control. It’s time to get serious… and be counter-cultural. As for me and my house, we’ve been working that list for decades, and it works.

         Maybe George should run for President.

What Makes a Leader

July 20, 2015

It’s where folks go with questions these days; ask Google “What makes a leader a leader?”

The results come back quickly… with 910,000,000 listings (that’s 910 million). It seems like the question is prone to produce a contested answer.

The query also generates more uncertainty. Are leaders made, or are they born? Is leadership measured by followers? Or, can one exhibit leadership with a delayed-reaction among their ultimate constituencies? Is leadership more likely among a particular personality type? Or, does a leader require a particular mix of natural talents? Must leaders have a title – or, a position – to be legitimate? Or, can one play the role without recognition of their contribution?

Allow me to suggest some qualities that – by themselves – do not assure leadership… but, without which, leadership would be a difficult position to fill.

Discerning. It’s hard to imagine an effective leader who lacks clarity about the information germane to their area of influence. But, they’re more than informed: they’re also intuitive. Complete information is seldom assured; there will always be a delay in acquiring some of the critical data that would assure a leader of a full knowledge of their environment. Does the leader wait until all that can be known is clarified? Urgency usually disallows that delay… and, in the face of the deficiency, the leader leans on his/her intuition to close the gap. The leader is discerning.

Decisive. If time was not of essence, you could send out for leadership. Package the information and the conclusions that are needed, and send it off to a proven leader who can exercise distance decision-making. That’s a luxury most efforts cannot afford: action is usually packed with urgency, and an on-board quarterback who can come to the line of scrimmage and call an audible can make the difference between failure and achievement. Most leaders make decisions more quickly than their followers would be able to match… and, they’re right more often than a delayed follower would likely be.

Determined. Second-guessing is not a luxury most leaders can afford. Once a conclusion is reached and communicated, the extraordinary leader steps out – in faith, in their own leadership – and creates confidence among the timid that they are putting themselves on the line to validate their certainty in the path now chosen. Once on the path, a leader cannot be stopped by difficulty or opposition…

In the historical books of the New Testament – four Gospels Acts – “leaders” are mentioned 39 times, anecdotally. In the Epistles – the instructive books of the New Testament – leaders are only referenced eight times. Exercising leadership seems to be more important than claiming a title that must be demonstrated constantly to be believable.

Discerning. Decisive. Determined. If those are valid markers for a credible leader, how characteristic are those traits in your recurring life model?

“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:57-58).

In the absence of a cultural consensus… can you reduce the recipe to the vital essence, and work to refine your reliable influence in the way you set the pace among those who are desperate for dedicated examples who can take them closer to the future they long to experience?

Bob Shank

The Apprentice

July 13, 2015

“You’re Fired!”

Certain lines move from generic to become trademarks for celebrities. What Donald Trump made famous in his regular installments of The Apprentice ricocheted back at him last week. NBC signed-off with The Donald over his inciteful observations about immigration during his speech, announcing his run for president.

Trump knew that campaigns were expensive, but he wasn’t worried: “I’m using my own money. I’m not using lobbyists. I’m not using donors. I don’t care. I’m really rich.” He may have calculated the conventional costs, but had no way of considering the opportunity costs: since the furor over his slams on Mexican migrants, Macy’s, Serta, ESPN, NBC, the City of New York and other companies have separated their ongoing business activities from all-things-Trump. The price of his candidacy mounts…

What does it cost to campaign for president? What does it cost to campaign for the Kingdom? Case in point: the recent Supreme Court decisions regarding the definition of marriage, and who is eligible to participate. Some mainstream Christian denominations heralded the decision, and are all-in to endorse the marriage of homosexuals. Other Christian entities – individuals, churches, denominations, ministries – are sticking with what they believe to be the Biblical boundaries for marriages that are sanctioned by God: one man and one woman with a common faith, committed to fidelity until death.

What will happen in the future when these Christians – who align with the Supreme Deity instead of the Supreme Court – express their views, destined to be in conflict with correctness?

The question has both political and economic implications. While the executive and legislative efforts – after future elections – may move to protect the outspoken Christian legally, what about the economic earthquakes they may experience? If Trump has lost business opportunity for revealing his unpopular stands… can Christians expect similar treatment in our American future?

Run the clock back about 4000 years, and zoom in on Abram and his nephew, Lot (Genesis 13). They were entrepreneurs with successful enterprises, and they could no longer operate in the same neighborhood. Abram – the gentleman – gave Lot first pick: choose a new field of engagement, and Abram would settle some distance away, allowing each to prosper without competing.

Lot was immediately drawn to the Jordan Valley – and the city/state of Sodom – and declared that as his new home. Abram stayed away from the population hubs and pitched his tents in the open (though the markets for his flocks were the occupied cities).

The story unfolds with significant drama: later, Abram must mobilize his employees as a militia to intervene in a conflict between multiple allied cities/kings. He rescued Lot and others who had been taken from Sodom, then turned down a reward from the King of Sodom. Abram regularly heard from God in the wilderness, while Lot’s connection with God was marginal, at best.

Fast forward: the cultural norms in Sodom and Gomorrah sink below the tipping point, and God determined judgment to be imminent. He notified Abram first, then – using angels as special forces – removed Lot and his family before utterly destroying the cities that had renounced all that was holy.

It cost Abram one of the markets for his business; it cost Lot everything, professionally. Initially rescued with Lot, his wife didn’t survive, and his daughters had been morally compromised. Total loss.

What’s in our future? Consider your strategies: stay close enough to serve, but not so ensnared that judgment intended for others hits you as well:  “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a person is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them…” (Ephesians 5:5-7).

Bob Shank

IGBTY

July 6, 2015

“I’ll get back to you.”

When’s the last time you heard that Grand Finale? You were feeling pretty good, because you just made your case better than ever before. Whether at the end of a first date, or after an appointment to present the opportunity found in your professional niche to a prospect, those five words (six, without the contraction) say something very different than their face value. “Let them down easy” is the theme song playing in the background; the conversation is now… over. IGBTY is the bell, tolling for you…

It’s a plague: give two people the same input, calling for the same decision… and one says, “Yes!” while the other says, “IGBTY.” Follow the two, over time: which is more likely to succeed?

Ken Goldstein’s blog  is CorporateIntel; his resume includes roles with Disney Online and Chair/CEO at shop.com. He writes: Those who tell you they will get back to you and don’t are not at the top of the food chain, no matter what they think. They are insecure, weak, or hiding something. These are people who are there when they need you, invisible when you have nothing to offer them. They are not just disingenuous, they are deceived.

In the 21st Century, the majority of Americans are suffering from Vitamin D Deficiency. Causes include lack of sunshine on skin and vegan diets, among other things. In an effort to be healthy, the unintended consequences of insufficient D include higher risk of cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment and cancer.

In the 21st Century, the majority of American Christians are suffering from Commitment Deficiency (CD). Causes include worries and wealth: “The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.”  (Matthew 13:22.) The unintended consequence is an unfruitful life that creates no eternal value.

The marketplace is suffering from CD: when a better option comes along, people are no longer reliable. Marriages are suffering from CD; dating partners are more likely to make babies than to make vows, and married partners are too often caught by surprise when their covenant partner is now linked to someone else.

Peter knew that the Enemy would specialize in attempting to expose CD in Christians. His caution: “…do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.  If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.  However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.  For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, ‘If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” (1 Peter 4:12-19.)

When’s the last time you were impacted by someone who was suffering from chronic CD? Did you see what it did to their potential for impact? Did you see the effect it had on you?

Here’s my challenge today: run a spiritual CT scan on yourself, and make sure that there are no seeds of CD that may be festering. Cut them out… or suffer the consequences!

Bob Shank

Not Ashamed

June 29, 2015

“You should be ashamed of yourself!”

In an earlier era, that was a common maternal reaction to an out-of-bounds kid. Parenting wasn’t as complicated as it is today. The approach to family oversight was a simple, two step process: 1) lay down the law; and, 2) enforce it. Enforcement would begin with a warning, followed by some kind of meaningful consequence. Simple, but effective: master the approach, apply it beginning with toddlers… and repeat until adulthood.

That methodology seems to have unraveled in the 21st Century: parents are more likely to lay down a credit card – for some device that will keep the kid preoccupied, so the parent can be distracted by their own issues – than to lay down the law. All behaviors have – apparently – become “acceptable,” so the need for absolutes has been eliminated. With no limits, there’s no need to apprehend the violator. Kids do their thing; parents do their thing; enforcement is no longer practiced, and nowhere to be found.

Families are the building blocks with which you build a culture. A culture is the sum-total of the households – people and practices – who represent its population. Government is to be the arbiter of culture; the “parent” to the culture’s “kids.” The role of government: 1) lay down the law; and, 2) enforce it.

Last week, the boundaries were greatly modified: the limits drawn around the institution of marriage – and, in that act, the nature of the future American family – have been erased and resketched by the Supreme Court. The population celebrating around that decision is larger – and, more vocal – than the population who, in shell-shock, are wondering what to do in the face of the erosion of standards originally established using the Bible as the principle benchmark.

“I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed” (Jonathan Swift). Swift – Irish writer and cleric, Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin – lived 300 years ago, but his observation could have been a caption under any of the weekend photos of Rainbow parades in cities coast-to-coast. “These things have always been part of society,” the non-alarmist offers… but, in earlier times, shame kept them in the background.

David Platt is a young evangelical firebrand for Truth. Just 36 (missed Millennial generation status by a year), he holds a PhD, and has served as a seminary leader, megachurch pastor, and – now the President of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. His new book is a must-read this summer: A Compassionate Call to Counter Culture in a World of Poverty · Same-Sex Marriage · Racism · Sex Slavery · Immigration · Persecution · Abortion · Orphans · Pornography.

His opening paragraph throws down the gauntlet: “The Gospel is the lifeblood of Christianity, and it provides the foundation for countering culture. For when we truly believe the gospel, we begin to realize that the Gospel not only compels Christians to confront social issues in the culture around us. The Gospel actually creates confrontation with the culture around – and, within – us.” Platt is not out to rant; he’s out to rescue.

This is a crucial time in the history of America. We are faced with momentous challenges. Sin has become increasingly shameless, while we seem to be increasingly silent. Paul’s counsel: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16-17).

Get Counter Culture; we have work to do. Not to rant, but to rescue shameless sinners with the Gospel…

Bob Shank

Fathers

July 22, 2015

“Who’s your daddy?”

Back in ’68, Zombies weren’t starring in prime-time television (The Walking Dead); instead, they were a British rock band with the hit, Time of the Season. Their lyric asked the question: “Who’s your daddy? Is he rich like me?” Their question has been abbreviated, and is still asked as a rhetorical question in a culture looking for pejorative ways to dismiss peers…

In modern America, the culture has dismissed fathers as unnecessary donors who can be replaced by an archived sample with no contribution beyond the 23 chromosomes an egg needs to propagate. With dads who missed the boats getting more headlines than the ones who went down with the ship, it’s no wonder that fatherhood has taken a major hit in modern thinking.

Back in the Zombies era, dads were still heroes; today, a dad must be complicit when Dylann Roof kills nine people in a Charleston church. Franklin Roof is fearing for his life after phone messages threatening his life. If the 21-year-old shooter goes off the rails, his father must be responsible, right?

Who’s your daddy?  My friend Greg Laurie’s mother had seven husbands. Greg’s biological father was in that line of succession, but the man whose last name Greg chose was the dad, not the DNA.  Anyone can contribute a specimen; the decision to deliver fathering is much more challenging. Biology is over in a moment; a blessing has the power to last a lifetime.

The New Testament epistles are an important portion of the inspired Word of God: their principle focus is to instruct Christians in living-out their faith in a manner that will demonstrate God to a watching world. In those books – 21 in all – there is not a single verse telling a mother what to do with her children. Does that mean that God has no unique intention for Christian parenting?

Here is God’s important directive: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4, NASB).

By God’s design, a father is mission-critical in the family system, not an optional player whose contribution is spurious.

The Heavenly Father demonstrates what He directs: He never provokes anger among His children, so earthly dads should do the same. And, in the positive provision of parenting, there are two facets critical to success: discipline and instruction. Discipline sets the boundaries, and enforces them; instruction provides the insight and encouragement to mature into the full expression of God’s creative genius in each of His earthly children. Read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation: discipline and instruction form the outline in which God’s timeless guidebook delivers truth.

In America today, one out of three children live in fatherless homes. Choose your issue: poverty, behavioral problems, health, crime, incarceration, sexual activity and teen pregnancy, child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, obesity, education: there is a direct link between a present and active father and the best side of each of these crises (check it out: fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistics).

Ed McGlasson is a good friend – former NFL lineman, local church pastor, graduate of The Master’s Program – and a dad who gets it, and helps other guys get it as well. His Kingdom Calling focuses on the father factor in America, and has never been more important than it is today.

For many of our generation – men and women alike – there’s a dad-hole in our emotional fabric that only God can stitch closed. For dads with kids today, figuring out how to deliver healthy sons and daughters into their God-designed futures takes more than we learned in our families of origin.

Check out Ed’s provisions – books and blog – at edtandymcglasson.org.

Who’s your daddy? He’s in heaven, and you’ve got all you need – from Him – for life!

Bob Shank

A Generous Mindset

June 15, 2015

Wow: that guy is really generous.

Just two weeks ago, Harvard University announced its largest gift ever: John Paulson – hedge fund billionaire – is giving $400 million to endow the engineering school that would bear his name. Paulson made big news in 2007/2008 by making $1 billion betting against investors who bought his Abacus fund – a collection of “securities” that were bundled, toxic mortgages – through Goldman & Sachs – and was both applauded and vilified for profiting richly from the Great Recession.

Malcolm Gladwell – author extraordinaire – set the Twitter world on fire the next day with: “It came down to helping the poor or giving the world’s richest university $400 mil it doesn’t need. Wise choice John!” An eruption of emotional lava spewed in tweets, many in defense of Paulson (113th on Forbes list with $11 billion) and Harvard (1st among school endowments with $36 billion). Generous?

The Jordan River is not one of the world’s great rivers (Nile, Amazon, Mississippi, Rhine, Yangtze), but it flows through the middle of God’s country, from north-to-south. Small river; big name.

Just 156 miles long, it is sourced in four springs (two in Lebanon, two in Israel).  It feeds the Sea of Galilee (64 square mile surface), then runs 70 miles to the larger Dead Sea (234), where it terminates. Central to the story of God’s story – from Abraham to now – it is far more than a geological feature.

In 1964, the Arab League determined to divert waters from the Jordan away from Israel – to Arab countries nearby – which would have reduced its flow by 34%, and increased its salinity dramatically. That decision was one key factor behind 1967’s Six Day War. The Jordan River is a critical factor in the equation of peace in the Middle East.

The Jordan is the source for both seas: Galilee and Dead. They are unique bodies of water: Galilee at -696 below sea level; Dead at -1400 (Death Valley is -282). Galilee is a gathering place for Jordan’s fresh water, which is Israel’s primary source. Though four times larger, Dead is of no practical value for agriculture or human consumption: the salt concentration fluctuates around 31%.

The comparison is fascinating: what water is to biological life, money is to social existence. River flow is like cash flow: most experience money as a moving stream that passes them by, while providing their sustenance. For others, they are able to dam the flow and capture excess that flowed past others on the way to their control. Once they accumulate the excess from the upstream source(s), the decisions they make determine the value of their reservoir.

Here are the options, once you control the valves: 1) Retain it: create a Dead Sea of capacity that benefits no one. 2) Recycle it: pump it back-and-forth between holding ponds. 3) Release it: allow the river to continue its journey, benefiting the people and fields downstream.

Retain it? Scott McNealy – co-founder of Sun MicroSystems – decries Gates and Buffett, saying charity is misspent and reinvestment in business is the superior choice. Recycle it? The 50 largest individual donations in 2012: 34 went to elite schools (Harvard et. al.), nine went to museums and arts organizations; the rest to medical institutions and fashionable causes; none – 0 – went to the poor. Release it? “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work… you will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:8-11)

Rich-to-rich isn’t generosity; it’s recycling. True generosity goes from more-to-less, believing that God controls the upstream flow and will replenish what is discharged, when the release is done to benefit others for redemptive purposes.

Start this week with a generous mindset; spend three minutes now in Psalm 37 (click to read),

Bob Shank

Commencement

June 8, 2015

It’s a really, really good month for pastors.

That’s just my opinion, but I think I’m right. June delivers two retail opportunities; you see it in stores, incessantly. Dads and Grads have pushed May’s Mothers out of the cash register spotlight. Brides used to share the June billing, but with marriage on the decline, D&G is the push…

Get the Old Guy golf balls or a tie; he’ll need the tie to attend commencement for his June co-star, the Grad. Back to the pastors: they finally get a break, because this is the month when people find out what a really bad sermon looks like: welcome to Commencement Speakers 2015.

The quotable out-takes from ’15 are still being formed and flubbed, but some of last year’s winners are already history. I like one from Charlie Day – actor (Horrible Bosses, Always Sunny in Philadelphia), producer, musician, screenwriter – at Merrimack College (25 miles north of Boston) last year: “I don’t think you should just do what makes you happy. Do what makes you great. Do what’s uncomfortable and scary and hard but pays off in the long run… Let yourself fail. Fail and pick yourself up and fail again. Without that struggle, what is your success anyway?"

That one gets life beyond-the-lectern, because it’s like brisket at a vegan barbeque: a Hollywood goof-ball who is disagreeing with a best-selling swap meet tee-shirt bearing the culture’s counsel, in a phrase: “Do what makes you happy.”  The Hedonist Society just revoked Charlie’s membership…

That’s the filter for behavior, in a world no longer structured around moral boundaries. Cowboys with guitars said it with Cole Porter’s lyrics: “Don’t fence me in” (1934). Every age cohort frames it in their own terms, but the default goal in life recurs across time and space: don’t follow the dictates; follow your desires. If it feels good, do it.

God wants you happy. That’s the compelling message of the Feel-Good faith guys – the “Prosperity Gospel” preachers – who make the case for health, wealth and happiness: the Three Commandments that replaced the Ten. They don’t need graduation platforms in June; they have television platforms that rake in their own health, wealth and happiness from watchers who get their theology from their clickers instead of the Epistles.

If God was sending out tee-shirts to summarize his choice for me – and, for you – what’s the silk screen sentiment that I would be wearing into life, and using to frame my most-important decisions?

Invite Peter to be the commencement speaker, and here’s what he would say: “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’ ” (1 Peter 1:13-16)

Ask 1000 graduates if they want to be happy, and you’ll get a thousand common responses: “Duh?” Ask their Creator what he wants for them, and his reply is instant, and unchanging across the generations: Holy: dedicated or devoted to the service of God; saintly; godly; pious; devout; having a spiritually pure quality.

Here’s the problem: if all you have is a diploma, holy will never happen. It isn’t about a degree; it’s about a decision. Become a child of God, and that decision leads to a direction that is now the ultimate pursuit, for all who want to be the Father’s favorites: be holy in all that you do.

God’s input: Do what makes you happy, and you’ll never end-up there. Do what makes you holy, and you’ll gain strength, confidence, courage and joy… with frequent happiness along the way.

Aspirations aplenty, with schooling past and life on the horizon; what advice will you give your favorite graduate, in their congratulations card?

Bob Shank

Road Warriors

June 1, 2015

Short night (270 minutes between the sheets; sounds better than 4.5 hours); early morning (4:00a alarm); beat the traffic from home to Los Angeles Int’l; remote garage, check-in, TSA precheck (yes!), then head for the bus to the remote commuter terminal… all before 6:00a. My internal autopilot was locked-and-loaded for the Admiral’s Club by Gate 44D.

In the middle of that marathon course, there’s a narrow escalator that funnels everyone into a single lane shuttle to the tarmac level. The woman with the roll-aboard – at the top of that escalator – hadn’t had her coffee yet (my excuse, for her);as she glanced back-and-forth between her boarding pass, the signage over the top of the escalator, and the general backdrop of the nearly-empty terminal. Her hesitance stalled her at the rolling step that was 12” in front of her, unwilling to commit. I nearly plowed her down as she – apparently – played a spectator role in the directional debate that was going on in her head. She was in front of me – making her, temporarily, the leader in my journey – but her hesitance disqualified her ability to stay at the point. The system – a 36” wide escalator – disallowed me passing; I had no choice but to be subjected to her leadership, despite its inadequacy.

Tentative: Not fully worked out, concluded, or agreed on; provisional. Indicating a lack of confidence or certainty; hesitant.

She was sharply dressed, and carrying a high-dollar leather case that shouted “take-no-prisoners” to the conference room crowd. I’m sure that her business card and security pass places her in a high-up status in some professional niche where she fits the demands of her workday world… but, in the road-warrior community, her status at the shop didn’t transfer. Put someone in the context of their confidence, and leadership commands respect. Take the same person out of their familiarity, and their leadership fades to black. World-class at the office… but lowest-quartile on their frontier.

As I rode the bus out to the small-plane complex, I thought about how that phenomenon repeats in the bigger issues of life. Men and women spend thousands of hours – and, tens-of-thousands of dollars – to become sophisticated in the ways of the world of their work. Experience is the accumulation of confidence in the roles – and, the environments – where transactional life orchestrates the exchange of goods and services in the career life that consumes the majority of their waking hours. They’re professionals… and, likely, leaders whose prominence grows as they reach higher rungs on the ladder of career achievement.

Take those same commanders outside their familiarity – drop them into the climate of eternity; what Jesus calls “the Kingdom” – and many become uncomfortably tentative: not fully worked out, concluded or agreed on; provisional. Indicating a lack of confidence or certainty; hesitant.

Perhaps the only thing worse than a leader being tentative is to be brash: presumptuously forward; impudent. Hasty or unrestrained without regard for consequences. Arresting, pronounced or ostentatious.

The easiest thing to do is to confine one’s activities to the area of one’s expertise and experience, and to avoid entry into alternative environments. Even better: develop the level of sophistication warranted by the importance of one’s participation in other settings. Once again, the easy thing to do is not the best thing to do, if one wants life to be rich, rewarding and recognized.

I propose that someone offer some service to confident Christian marketplace leaders – who perform with extraordinary excellence in their career pursuits – who find themselves likely to be tentative or brash when they move into the domain of the divine and look for their calling in the Kingdom.

Oh, someone has already done that: it’s The Master’s Program.

Bob Shank

Memorial Day

May 25, 2015

The name was changed, but the focus was not.

Decoration Day. Originally practiced beginning in 1868 – after the Civil War (or, to some, the War Between the States) – when an organization of veterans from the Union Army declared a particular day in May for people to visit and honor the graves of the soldiers who fell in battle. Decoration Day grew in a viral manner, from the North to the South. It came to be observed on May 30th.

In 1882, the rebranding to Memorial Day began. It was not until 1968 that Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, making the last Monday of May the official, national commemoration for the men and women who gave their lives as members of our military forces in battle.

In America, our national ethos presumes our military actions to be just and honorable, instigated for defense of freedom or sovereignty rather than acquisition and conquest. It makes Memorial Day an appropriate recognition of the patriots who have made the ultimate investment in something bigger than their own safety and comfort.

Saving Private Ryan will be a higher-than-normal viewing choice this weekend, for people who are going deeper than ballgames and ballpark franks. In our generation’s exposure to war – in the entertainment format – it has been called one of the most thoughtful and accurate depictions of the brutal realities of combat. In the first 27 minutes of the movie, Steven Spielberg captured the Invasion of Normandy on D-Day in a way that has been etched into minds and history.

The emotional summit of the epic drama happens four decades later, when the elderly James Ryan visits the cemetery at Normandy with his family – wife, adult children, grandchildren – and finds the grave of Captain John Miller – played by Tom Hanks, in the movie – who led the eight-man squad commissioned to find and extract Ryan.

Miller’s dying words to Ryan had been defining: “James… earn this. Earn it.” Miller and two of his men died in the mission to save Ryan; as he was dying, Captain Miller challenges Private Ryan to live a life worthy of the cost paid on his behalf. Miller’s mission was to save Ryan; Ryan’s mission was to repay the favor with a life well lived, sacrificing himself in some meaningful way, as pay-back.

At Miller’s grave, Ryan gives the most powerful monolog of the 169 minute movie: “My family is with me today. They wanted to come with me. To be honest with you, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel coming back here. Every day I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. I tried to live my life the best that I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that, at least in your eyes, I’ve earned what all of you have done for me.”

As the trailer for the movie described it, “In the last great invasion of the last great war, the greatest danger for eight men was saving one.” For business people who think in terms of cost/benefit, the transaction makes no sense. Risk eight; lose three; gain one? It’s foolish, on one level; it’s inspiring, at the highest level. Men who don’t cry much lose their composure in Saving Private Ryan; it touches something deep within the vault of values and meaningful sacrifice.

Ryan wasn’t saved because of his good life; he lived his good life because he was saved. He didn’t earn his rescue; instead, the actions of the eight on his behalf called for him to live his life as a continuing memorial to the sacrifice they made for him.

Without quoting him, Miller captured the counsel of the Apostle Paul: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” (Ephesians 4:1)

For the America’s military who died defending us all, Memorial Day happens once a year. For the Savior who died redeeming us, every day is Memorial Day: “earn this…”

Bob Shank

Winding Up

May 18, 2015

“I couldn’t do that. Could you do that? Why can they do it? Who are those guys?”

That’s what Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) said to Sundance (Robert Redford) from the top of a cliff, as the posse that unrelenting – and, gaining on them – was tracking them through rocks (1969).

It could have been the comment by Peter – to James and John – as Jesus had climbed up on a hilltop, and met two men who had just appeared out of nowhere. The three of them had been brought along by the Boss…

Jesus was “transfigured before them;” (Matthew 17:2) his man-mask was temporarily removed, and his radiance replaced the camouflage he adopted for his trip to Earth. If that wasn’t enough, two characters – who seemed hauntingly familiar – appeared out of thin-air, and began talking with Jesus. The three tag-along fishermen watched as the dialog intensified, as if they had relationship among them that stretched back into the past.

Peter, James and John watch as Jesus, Moses and Elijah engage in interaction about things that were beyond them. What a scene: three men who would become famous in the future watch as three men who were famous from the past get caught-up.

There were interesting moments of dialog for these three icons. Moses had been in the wilds – working as a herdsman – when a bush-on-fire started a conversation. It was God in the bush. Later, he would spend 40 days on Mount Sinai, and the God-from-the-bush would be the God-on-the-mountain. Now, he’s on the Mount of Transfiguration with him, again engaged in deep discussion.

Elijah had heard God’s voice, 800 years after Moses did – and 800 years before Peter and the guys did. He had selected Elijah for Special Forces duty, in the army of God. The target: a godless pair who had taken over the palace of Israel, posing as ordained royalty. Ahab and Jezebel were enemies of Jehovah, and God took them on, through Elijah. God had provided power for miracles, fire from heaven, and quiet insight while Elijah was cocooning in a mountain cave, on-the-run from Jezebel’s threats.

Jesus, Moses and Elijah: these guys had history, and they were frequently in the mountains when the encounters took place.

Peter was so impressed that he was ready to start a building program: “Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah!’” (Matthew 17:4). Jesus canceled the architect and closed the capital campaign down before it could get off the ground: he wasn’t looking for any buildings to be erected; he was looking for the movement to explode forward without being tied-down by real estate.

Jesus, Moses and Elijah: what’s special – beyond the obvious – about those three historic leaders in God’s plan and work through the timespan of history? Three things about the three men stand out.

First: each of them knew their personal mission – their calling – and they didn’t initiate the main season of their life work until they were mid-life, or beyond. Seasoned, experienced, with their career years as a foundation for their next initiatives. Their historic performance started when most of their age contemporaries were winding down.

Second: these three led during the brief points in Bible history when God used miracles to get the attention of the distracted. Moses, Elijah and Jesus presided over the supernatural phases of God’s patient efforts with the rebellious race.

Third: each of these gave serious attention to training their successors. Moses prepped Joshua; Elijah tagged Elisha; Jesus trained the Twelve – Peter, James and John among them – so that the miracles could continue, and the work would accelerate after each of the three had uncommon endings.

I wonder if there’s anything to learn from those three…

Bob Shank

All of the Above

May 11, 2015

“God doesn’t need your ability; he needs your availability.”

I put that in quotes, because I didn’t say it. And, I didn’t cite a source, because there is none to be found in the www universe. A sentence like that is ubiquitous – “present, appearing, or found everywhere” – and, therefore, not subject to challenge. Word processing apps have automatic spell-check; wise writers use snopes.com to fact check… but where do you go – when “God” is in the quote – to doctrine-check?

The Line shows up in church bulletins, when someone is recruiting volunteers for some ministry role that has to be filled. Zealous announcement-givers use it to route the faithful to clipboards in the lobby, where one’s name-on-the-line becomes a holy vow of service. Pastors use The Line to enlist parishioners for a pet program (but the next time he interviews a prospective staff hire, he wants evidence that the candidate has a past record of success that confirms that their talents prequalify them for the position).

“God doesn’t need your ability; he needs your availability.” Nuggets like that come out of people who are also likely to say – just before the offering – that “God doesn’t need your money; he just wants your heart.” Okay, we’ve taken both talent and treasure off-the-table in our Kingdom conversation. Let’s be clear here: all he really wants is my time?

I’m pretty much done letting people speak-up for God when he’s already spoken, for himself.

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully” (Romans 12:6-8).

So, let’s be clear: God gave us all abilities… and, when we’re working for him, he wants those abilities to narrow the focus of our service to those assignments that employ those talents. Instead of using our talents Monday-Friday to make money, and then leaving them at the office when we are working for him… we’re supposed to use our talents as a pre-qualifier for the jobs we accept in the Kingdom! News flash: God wants your ability, along with your availability.

And, while we’re on it: “ ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty” (Haggai 2:8).  “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today” (Deuteronomy 8:18).

That foolishness about God only wanting your heart, and not your money? A doctrinal reset: he wants both. If your passions aren’t aligned with his passions (that’s how he “gets” your heart; you get close to him, and come to like what he likes, and disdain what he despises), start there… but don’t end there. If your heart is reflecting God’s heart, holding back your treasure will be impossible. The best single measure of your heart for God is the line on your tax return that reports last year’s charitable contributions. Don’t even attempt to claim you have a heart for God if you’re not releasing the money that he has entrusted to you – for his purposes – back to the things that advance his Kingdom.

Sometimes, with God, the right answer is, all of the above. Ability or availability? All of the above. Heart or money? All of the above. Time, by itself? Not much value; that’s the currency of slavery. Time, talent and treasure, combined: that’s the divine formula for high-capacity living. It works in this present world, and it works even better when you’re working toward the Kingdom!

Bob Shank

Sage Deductions

May 4, 2015

This is an unusual post, for me: normally, it’s baked fresh, every Monday.

This week, I’m writing on the weekend. When you get this, I’ll be in a 90°+ desert environment, hitting balls for one day so that we can elevate leaders all year long (not too late to sponsor me; click here).

The nature of America – c. 2015 – is curious. Success is now a fleeting and ambiguous tagline; few would even claim it in Andy Warhol’s 15 Minutes of Fame culture. Today, celebrity is the enviable status. Headlines are the new bottom line. Whether it’s the Wall Street Journal or the Huffington Post, to be among the most-mentioned on Twitter is worthy of heralding on one’s headstone.

There are two buzz names on this first weekend of May, and they have virtually nothing in common. One you’ve never heard; the other has become ubiquitous.

Marilyn Mosby has grabbed front-page coverage, after just four months on the job. The young attorney – just 35 years old – is the Chief Prosecutor in Baltimore, Maryland. Her official biography notes that she is “the youngest chief prosecutor of any major city in America.” Days after the riots and looting in her city made live continuing, preemptive broadcast happen, she has indicted six police officers on felony charges regarding the death of Freddie Gray.

One section back – in the WSJ – a man born 29 years before Mosby managed to gain coverage. Warren Buffett is 84, but he’s not consigned to stodgy senior status in the public eye. This weekend, the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway will mark the 50th anniversary of Mr. B’s takeover of the company. The meteoric rise and continuing performance of that stock has made the people who follow and trust Buffett wealthier while avoiding most of the roller-coaster glee that boom/bust day-traders experience.

Their headline – “Lessons from 50 Years of Buffett” – seeks to explain, in 29 column-inches, what mere mortals can deduce and emulate from “The Sage of Omaha.”

Buffett explains his approach pretty openly. He says he has three powerful weapons in his investing arsenal: cash, emotion and information. Cash is obvious: in up-markets, cash is king; in down markets, cash is king. ‘Nuff said. Emotion is inversely emotional: he plays-off other people’s emotions. When they’re afraid, he’s bold; when they’re bold, he becomes fearful. And, information speaks volumes: he looks at everything, but only sees the important, whether obvious or subtle.

No one is calling Ms. Mosby “The Sage of Baltimore.” She was a clerk in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston and Washington, spent time in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s office and then went to work for an insurance company. She built a resume that enabled her election in January… but questions are already being raised concerning conflicts-of-interest regarding her outspoken, activist husband who has been calling for action against the police and her personal mentor who is counsel for Freddie Gray’s family. Time will unfold concerning the crisis in Baltimore; truth may indicate the outcomes…

In a celebrity-crazed culture, it seems like the path to Mosby’s notoriety is more easily followed than the rocky road to Buffett’s seasoned, second-section status. Which is superior, for you?

David – the man who started tending sheep in Bethlehem and ended up tending Israel from Jerusalem for 40 years – recognized the value of time in the confirmation of his convictions: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” (Psalm 37:25). His perspective: “I wouldn’t have known this when I was starting out, but let me tell you what I know, now…”

What do you know, now… that you didn’t know when you started?

Bob Shank

Words to Please

April 27, 2015

How are you?

That question will be posed billions of times today, in English. If asked of a person – via satellite phone – who is on the streets of Katmandu today, dealing with the devastation of a 7.8 earthquake, they would likely express gratitude for life, but their helpless need for everything to survive.

But that’s Nepal, not New York. We’re on the North American continent, and pleasantries are expressed just to get the conversation jump-started: you can get into trouble if you are just learning the language, and think that the query is posed with a desire to hear an honest reply.

Listen to an Eastern European university student in America trying to figure it out: “One of the most challenging aspects of being an international student is that you not only have to master a foreign language, but also to recognize the meaning that hides behind the words…

“Almost every day I am asked, ‘How are you?’ or ‘How are you doing?’ I’m expected to respond, ‘Good’ or ‘Fine,’ and ask the other person how they are, to which they will also respond, ‘Good…’

“To this day, this style of greeting strikes me as an abuse of a question with which people show care and concern to one another in my culture. When somebody asks, ‘How are you?’ in Hungary, I assume that person is truly interested in my well-being and wants to listen to what I have to share. In the U.S., this expression means, ‘Hi,’ and does not imply that the person is the least bit interested in my personal life…”

Throw-away answers aren’t just private exchanges; every talking-head on live television falls into the same mind-numbing prater. The host: “Welcome to the program.” The guest, “Glad to be here.” Chatty Cathy was a 60’s doll with eleven recorded answers: pull her string, and she would give a random statement from her limited inventory. I think Cathy works down the hall from your office…

Get around the Christian subculture and our dialect becomes even more intriguing. Go ahead: ask your friends who are serious about their faith the caring question: “How are you doing today?” If their theology chip is in-place, their auto-reply is likely to be, “Better than I deserve!” That 18-letter statement defines the five-letter word key to our faith: grace.

What if you could come up with a new, personal response that didn’t have to be re-scripted every day… but forced your talk partner to listen and think? What if you were unique in your status, and could stimulate a response rather than waste your breath?

I’m a wordsmith; this may be more important to me than it might be to you… but, the thing that makes relationships powerful is the words that create the weaving that constitutes the connection. Why use throw-away words, when meaningful, valuable vocabulary could be retained and revisited?

That assignment has me working on my own signature declaration. Here are my finalists:

   •  Always contented; never satisfied 
•  Pleased with my progress, but consumed with my calling 
•  At peace in the present, but urgent about Eternity

So… if you only have a phrase to indicate your current GPS coordinates in the flow of life, what would you declare, to make your life experience compelling?

Paul’s personal status response: “…we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it…” (2 Corinthians 5:6-9).

Bob Shank

Earth Day

April 20, 2015

Happy Earth Day.

I don’t know what you have planned for Wednesday, but don’t drive there. Unless you have a Tesla, your bike is your best bet. Avoid all GMO foods – breakfast, lunch and dinner – and go without lights, air conditioning and all-things-comfortable. Forget about flying; paddle a canoe, maybe… but unless you can grab an empty seat on Al Gore’s jet, you’re better off staying where you are and not leaving a carbon footprint.

I’m not “anti.” Whenever I run, I pick up trash along the way. We’re changing our cooling units at home next month to the high-efficiency versions, and we recycle. I’m not anti…

Wednesday marks the 45th re-enactment of Earth Day. I confess: I don’t plan to attend any rallies, or sing the Earth Anthem with a passionate choir:

Joyful joyful we adore our Earth in all its wonderment /  Simple gifts of nature that all join into a paradise / Now we must resolve to protect her / Show her our love throughout all time / With our gentle hand and touch / We make our home a newborn world (to the tune of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy).  

I can find no record of any Earth Day celebrations kicking-off with an invocation, directed toward the Creator of said planet. Somehow, His influence and perspective is absent the whole effort, now the collaboration of over 5000 environmental groups in 184 countries.

What – exactly – is God’s perspective on the Earth… and what does He project its future to be? Paul’s inspired answer, from his letter to the Romans: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.” (Romans 8:18-24)

The creation – Earth, and more – are “groaning,” and “waiting.” There is a future redemption – promised to those who have become children of God – that will have a direct effect on the Creation.

From Peter’s last epistle: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:10-13)

Is the planet showing its age? Are we conscious of the Creation winding-down, and losing its capacity to support – in a healthy manner – the limitless future of our inhabitation?

To those questions, a resounding “Yes!” Sin has corrupted everything it touches; the antagonism toward God that began with Adam and Eve and continues today within a fallen race has directly affected everything, including the environment. Groaning and waiting… the solution will not be found in solar farms and farmer’s markets: it awaits a massive reset. God will eliminate the entire, corrupted system, and replace it with “a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells…”

The ultimate solution: in the meantime, “live holy and godly lives as you look forward…”

Bob Shank